Countdown to ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3: Revisiting Chapter 7 “The Reckoning”
As we start to gear up for the release of The Mandalorian season 3 in February 2023, we’re taking a look back at each episode of the show so far through the lens of concept art. This will be a weekly series of reviews taking place each Thursday until the premiere of season 3 next year. You may find our previous entries in this series here.
While we will be revisiting all of the artwork displayed in the episode’s credits, bear in mind that this is not a fully conceptualized review of the episode. We still have those from when each episode came out, and we’ll link to them at the end.
Most fans of The Mandalorian probably remember this episode as the one that kicked the first season’s main storyline back into gear after a trio of mostly standalone adventures. I say “mostly” because while those episodes seemed like complete one-offs at first, they did introduce characters, locations, and plot points which would become relevant later on either in The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett. In fact, a prominent character from one of those episodes makes a reappearance here, but more on that in a bit.
The episode begins with Mando flying the Razor Crest through deep space when he receives a message from Greef Karga, his former boss. Karga reveals to Mando (though not the audience, as we previously saw him survive the fighting at the end of The Sin) that he is still alive. Not only that, but he has a proposal for his former associate.
Since the events of The Sin, the Client has brought Imperial reinforcements to Nevarro, effectively establishing himself as a local dictator while he sends an endless wave of hired guns after Mando and the Child. Karga proposes that Mando return with the Child and, using the infant as bait, help him set up a meeting with the Client. Mando is to kill the Client during the meeting, which would ideally throw the Imperials into disarray and liberate the planet. In exchange, Karga will wipe Mando’s slate clean with the Guild.
Mando just wants to keep his adopted son safe, so it doesn’t take him long to accept Karga’s offer. He makes his first stop at Sorgan, the setting of Sanctuary, where he seeks to recruit his old comrade, Cara Dune.
It’s here where we get our first scene that resembles one of the concept art pieces made for the episode as Cara has an MMA-style brawl with a particularly bulky Zabrak opponent. The final scene looks a lot like the artwork with only a couple minor differences. For one, it’s unclear which alien race Cara’s opponent is supposed to be in the concept image, but he doesn’t look like a Zabrak. Also, the bar in the artwork is more darkly lit than the one in the episode, which gives it a rather sinister appearance.
Mando approaches Cara right after she wins the fight and starts collecting her winnings. Cara is initially hesitant to join Mando, but she changes her mind when he mentions that the Client is an Imperial officer. He briefs her further once they’re on the Razor Crest, where a mishap involving the momentarily-unsupervised Child convinces them to find a chaperone for the little guy while they carry out the mission.
We get our next character reintroduction as Mando returns to Arvala-7 to ask Kuiil, his Ugnaught friend from the first two episodes, for help. This moment is almost identical to its corresponding concept art, save for some small details. The artwork depicts the reunion taking place shortly after sunset while the episode has them meeting earlier in the day. Also, the artwork has them doing what looks like a bow/salute motion which doesn’t appear in the finished product.
The pleasant small talk between the trio is interrupted when IG-11 suddenly enters the scene, which is a surprise given that we saw Mando shoot him in the head at the end of the first episode. Mando and Cara draw their weapons immediately, but Kuiil defuses the situation. He explains that he salvaged the droid’s remains some time after the battle at the thugs’ hideout and had it repaired and retrained to serve as a farmhand and protector.
Mando still doesn’t trust IG-11, but he asks for Kuiil’s help in watching the Child. Naturally, Kuiil agrees only because he doesn’t want the infant to suffer as an Imperial captive. Kuiil gets a lot of great dialogue here as we’re reminded again that he doesn’t care about money. He has his own personal code of ethics, and he does what he feels is right.
Kuiil also tries to impart some wisdom to his Mandalorian friend as he explains that droids aren’t good or bad. Rather, their actions and personalities are dependent on how their creators design and program them. The elderly Ugnaught’s counsel is spot-on here. IG-11 tried to kill the Child before because he’d been programmed as a hunter and a killer. Now, he’s been completely retrained as a helper and protector, so Mando and company have nothing to fear from him. Still, Mando can’t let his hatred of droids go just yet.
We then cut to the Razor Crest as it’s en route to Nevarro. Mando and Cara are having an arm wrestling competition when the Child intervenes by using the Force to choke her. Mando immediately tells him to stop, and Cara is able to breathe again. Kuiil mentions that he once heard rumors of beings with abilities like those of the Child. Mando then sets the Ugnaught to work making a new floating carrier for the baby.
This scene makes for an interesting companion to the previous one between Mando and Kuiil. We see that Kuiil’s words about the importance of proper teaching are as much true for babies and young children as they are for reprogrammed droids. The Child likely acted not out of malice, but because he either thought his father was in danger and wanted to help or because he just didn’t understand the harm his actions could cause. The Child, like IG-11, needs a father figure to show him the right path.
The Razor Crest finally arrives on Nevarro, and we get a rather tense reunion between Mando and his former employer, who is accompanied by three Guild members. Karga rather suspiciously suggests that Cara stay with the ship, an idea that Mando quickly shoots down. Given what we learn a couple scenes from now, it’s clear that Karga wanted Cara to stay behind so that he and his goons could more easily kill Mando and kidnap the Child. Once reintroductions are done, the group heads out, their uneasy alliance intact for the moment.
The party makes camp for the night, and Karga explains the plan again. He claims everything will go off without a hitch, and that any Imperial troops who might put up a fight once the Client is dead won’t be a problem. After all, the Client will only have four guards at most, and in his words, “Nothing can go wrong”.
Naturally, something does in fact go wrong about a second after Karga finishes that sentence as the group comes under attack from a group of Nevarro reptavians (that’s what Wookieepedia calls them, anyway). They put up a strong defense and force the flying creatures to retreat, but not before they lose one of Karga’s bounty hunters and two of Kuiil’s blurrg.
Even worse, Karga has suffered a nasty-looking wound on his right arm. Cara reveals that it’s been infected with poison, and she’s unable to treat it. Karga’s condition is starting to look increasingly bleak. Then, the Child approaches, lays his hand on Karga’s arm, and the wound heals almost immediately. Everyone is understandably shocked at the Child’s display of healing power. This moment in the episode is one that director Deborah Chow recreates quite faithfully compared to its concept art, which is fitting given that it’s a key character beat for the Child.
I like how this episode keeps reinforcing the theme of nature versus nurture. We see here that the Child has the capacity for compassion and goodness as well as harm. This scene combined with Kuiil’s earlier lesson to Mando and the incident between the Child and Cara on the Razor Crest demonstrate how anyone can turn out to be good or bad. If the Child is kept safe from the Empire’s remnants and is raised with good morals, he could become an agent of good in the galaxy.
The surviving group members set out the next morning, and they soon approach the outskirts of the town. Karga’s bounty hunters carefully draw their blasters and approach Cara and Mando from behind. Karga then wheels around and shoots them both dead. He reveals that he and his bounty hunters originally planned to kill Mando and give the Child to the Client. However, after the Child saved his life the previous night, he changed his mind. Karga suggests that they modify their plan to kill the Client.
Cara wants to shoot Karga and leave Nevarro, but Kuiil advises they listen to Karga’s plan. The group soon agrees to a new strategy in which Mando will pretend to have been captured by Cara and Karga to get near and kill the Client. Meanwhile, Kuiil will run back to the Razor Crest with the Child and lock them both inside.
At this point, the episode enters its home stretch as our four heroes set their plan in motion at last. It’s pretty clear even from the group’s first interaction with the scout troopers guarding the town gate that the plan isn’t going to go as smoothly as they’d hoped. The scout troopers demand to see Karga’s chain code even after he mentions that he’s caught the fugitives that the Client wants. As they enter the town proper, they find that it’s chock full of troopers. Still, Karga insists that the Client will only have a handful of guards with him.
Even that turns out to be a false hope as the Client has a larger security detail than expected. The mysterious officer, who we see here for the first time since The Sin, is pleased to see Karga apparently arrive at the town cantina with Mando and the Child. In a particularly interesting monologue, the Client laments that Mando turned on him and took the Child, thus forcing him to put a bounty on their heads. He compares Mando’s actions to his people’s resistance during the Empire’s conquest of Mandalore, which is an event we learn much more about in The Book of Boba Fett.
The Client wants to open the floating carrier to see the Child. Karga tries to dissuade him from doing so because he knows that the Client will see through their ruse the instant he realizes the Child isn’t actually there. Luckily, a trooper approaches the officer to inform him that he has a call incoming. The Client excuses himself momentarily. Mando slips out of his manacles, and Karga sneakily gives him back his blaster.
The next few minutes are nothing short of spectacular. The Client takes the call, and we see his boss, Moff Gideon (played by the legendary Giancarlo Esposito), for the first time. Gideon makes it immediately clear that he’s on to Mando’s ruse, and he has a team of Death Troopers (making their first live-action appearance since Rogue One) shoot up the cantina. The Client and his security team are killed while Mando, Cara, and Karga take cover.
A large company of stormtrooper reinforcements arrives as Moff Gideon lands in the town square. Mando tells Kuiil to hurry back to the ship, but the scout troopers outside town appear to intercept the message and take off toward Kuiil. At this point, Deborah Chow starts to regularly cut between the events in the town square and the scout troopers’ pursuit of Kuiil and the Child. It’s an effective way to build the tension even further as we hear Gideon’s threatening speech to our heroes while Kuiil rides for his life.
Sadly, Kuiil gets gunned down just as he’s about to reach the ship’s boarding ramp. The scout troopers snatch the Child, and the episode ends with a shot of Kuiil’s comlink, which pans up to reveal the Ugnaught’s smoking corpse. It’s an ending so grim that the show’s main theme doesn’t play over the credits this time. Instead, we hear a much more somber tune play out over the parade of names and concept art as we’re left to wonder how Mando and his friends will get out of their dire predicament.
So, let’s recap this whirlwind of an ending, shall we? In the last few minutes we finally meet the series’ main villain, see how intelligent and ruthless he is, watch a beloved supporting character get killed off, and get one mean cliffhanger of an ending. Now that’s how you build up to a season finale, am I right?
Also, lest we forget, this episode originally dropped on Disney+ just a week before Christmas in 2019, and the finale wasn’t released until a couple days after the holiday. Viewers all over the world had to spend Christmas not knowing whether or not the Child would be saved from Moff Gideon’s clutches. Jon Favreau sure likes to break our hearts sometimes.
This episode is also the second (and so far final) installment directed by Deborah Chow, who would go on to direct the Obi-Wan Kenobi series which released earlier this year. Based on her work on this episode as well as The Sin, it’s no surprise that she was chosen to helm Ewan McGregor’s return to the franchise.
If you are interested, you can find our original review of Chapter 7 of The Mandalorian, from December 2019, right here.
Our “Countdown to The Mandalorian Season 3” series will continue next week, when we’ll be revisiting Chapter 8. Stay tuned!
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
