Countdown to ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3: Revisiting Chapter 14 ‘The Tragedy’
As we start to gear up for the release of The Mandalorian season 3 on March 1, 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 until the premiere of season 3. 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 each episode, and we’ll link to them at the end.
Chapter 14 might still be my favorite episode of The Mandalorian, as it encapsulates everything the show stands for — a father-son story between Mando and Grogu, where the former takes care of the latter so that the latter can learn more about himself (and in the process, Mando also learns about himself), that is also interconnected with previous episodes and the Star Wars galaxy at large. Plus, it finally made Boba Fett cool for me.
Right away, we go to Tython, where Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka told Mando to bring Grogu so that he can finally connect with other Jedi.
Following Star Wars tradition, Mando is able to find just the spot he’s looking for on the entire planet in less than two minutes, and he quickly sits Grogu on the seeing stone. In this episode, Din Djarin quickly becomes the annoying, impatient father as he expects something to happen as soon as they reach the stone. When something doesn’t go his way, he needs Grogu to finish his business and leave.
An unexpected ship shows up — it’s Boba Fett! Though we don’t really learn that for another bit. And he’s brought a friend too: Fennec Shand.
Din is very confused, but he must buy Grogu some time. He goes to confront his new soon-to-be companions and quickly learns they are not his enemies — though his enemies are on their way.
Two squads of stormtroopers show up on Tython, forcing Mando, Boba Fett, and Fennec to team up and fight them. It’s interesting that we don’t really have concept art from the fight, though director Robert Rodríguez has already explained why — the script he was given was very short on descriptions, and it was Rodríguez who came up with the entire sequence on his backyard with the help of his son, playing with their action figures.
While they are able to knock out every stormtrooper on that hill, it doesn’t really matter because Moff Gideon has two aces up his sleeve. First, he destroys the Razor Crest, giving the title to the episode. Then, he deploys his secret weapon: the Death Troopers.
Grogu’s kidnapping might have been a tragedy for Mando too, but we, as the audience, know that they’ll get him back. The Razor Crest, though, is another story…
This piece of concept art above is quite interesting, since it hints that the energy field that Grogu created around him on the seeing stone was still up when the Death Troopers arrived. It’s unclear whether or not this is from a different version of the script, or if this is just the concept artist having some fun.
Moff Gideon wins this one when the Death Troopers take Grogu with him with no effort.
Boba Fett and Fennec Shand tell Mando that they are in debt with him and will help him get Grogu back.
But first, they must make some recruitments, starting with Cara Dune and Mayfeld.
We close the episode with Grogu and Moff Gideon spending some quality time together… after The Child knocked out every stormtrooper sent to watch over him. Gideon has plenty to discuss with him, starting with his shining Darksaber.
If you are interested, you can find our original review for Chapter 14 of The Mandalorian right here.
Our “Countdown to The Mandalorian Season 3” series will continue next week, when we’ll be revisiting Chapter 15!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
