The Mandalorian: The Siege - All references and quotes from the Star Wars saga
As always, being within a narrative context such as that of Star Wars, it is inevitable that The Siege also contains references and quotes from the George Lucas saga. Although this is an episode that does not expressly aim to create inside jokes with the rest of the saga, The Siege contains some goodies that will not escape the fans.
ATTENTION: The following contains a series of important spoilers on the twelfth episode of The Mandalorian
Old Friends
The Siege sees a face known to fans of The Mandalorian in the director's chair: Carl Weathers. One of the agreements between the actor and the production was that the unforgettable performer of Apollo Creed would be allowed to direct an episode.Entrusting Weathers with the direction of The Siege was a decision we are witnessing the return to scene of two of the characters most linked to Mando: Greef Karga and Cara Dune.
The former has passed from the role of rigid controller of the Bounty Hunters Guild, able to take sides against Mando in order to recover the Child, to defender of the little one, siding against Moff Gideon in time of need. After the events seen in Redemption, we did not hear from Karga until the Siege.
We discover that Karga has made Nevarro a focal point for trade in the sector, giving life to a thriving community, with the intention of transforming this remote outpost into a milestone for local trade routes. In short, Karga has become an administrator, a role that makes him not very different from another famous businessman in the saga: Lando Carlissian. Like Karga, Lando too, after a past as a smuggler, had tried to create a new life, more peaceful and profitable. Or at least that was his idea when he embarked on the Cloud City venture, and we all know how it ended (if not, it means you haven't seen The Empire Strikes Yet).
In the early scenes on Nevarro, set in the former Mandalorian enclave, we witness a shooting involving a gang of criminals Aqualish and the local Sheriff. Which turns out to be another well-known and loved face: Dear Dune. The massive Rebellion fighter played by Gina Carano seems to have taken the Nevarro community to heart, siding alongside Karga as guardian of order. A role that brings to mind the character of Timohty Olyphant in The Sheriff, but which also becomes a turning point for Cara's character development, especially in the finale when referring to her losses after the destruction of Alderaan. Event we saw in A New Hope, when Tarkin uses Cara and Leia Organa's home planet as a demonstration of the power of the Death Star.
Cara's military past, however, is not long in showing up and he does so with the face of Teva, the X-Wing pilot seen in Il Passeggeto, apparently still on the trail of the Razor Crest. After speaking with Karga, the New Republic officer offers cara a role as guardian of order, not just in a lost land like Nevarro, but across the galaxy.
In addition to Cara, in the new Nevarro's company led by Karga also finds space for the first bounty we saw captured in Mando: Mythrol.
The nice alien, we discover, was an old partner of Karga who had combined some wizardry with the Guild funds, becoming a target. Thanks to his accounting prowess, he was apparently pardoned by Karga who freed him from carbonite by commuting his sentence into a partnership to start Karga's project to make Nevarro a nerve center. Although carbonite, the punitive method made famous in The Empire Strikes Back, remains a threat that poor Mythrol often hears about.
Disreputable aliens
Speaking of Cara's return, we mentioned the band of marauders who seem to have established their lair in the old Mandalorian enclave of Nevarro. The members are all Aqualish, a race originating from the planet Ando, who made their first appearance in A New Hope.Representing them was Ponda Baba, one of the two henchmen who targeted Luke in Mos Eisley's tavern , lending a hand when Obi-Wan Kenobi intervened.
Teacher droids
It is no small surprise to see that Karga has also added a school to her community, run by an exceptional teacher: a protocol droid. This type of drodi, made famous by C3-PO, are known to be versed in similar tasks, as well as serving as translators. In this case, the protocol droid has to limit himself to teaching, a task performed very well as we see when he mentions to his students some of the typical locations of Star Wars, such as the Via Hydiana, Coruscant and the Maelstrom Akkadese.Coruscant era the capital first of the Old Republic and then of the Empire, while the Maelstrom is an integral part of the myth of Star Wars, considering that it is where Han Solo passed to complete his legendary Route of Kessel in less than twelve parsecs, as we discovered in Solo : A Star Wars Story.
Imperial Secrets
At the heart of The Siege we have an assault on an apparently abandoned imperial base. From the first glance it appears as familiar to fans of the saga, from the classic conformation of the elevators to the presence of the defensive turrets on the outside.To move inside the base, Mando and scoi use a cylinder hierarchical, a typically imperial device that allows you to access computers and restricted areas, depending on your permissions. Usually, imperial officers keep these devices in a pocket on the top of their uniforms.
The goal of Mando and his companions is to destroy this installation by blowing up his reactor. To do this, it is necessary to interact with the reactor cooling controls, placed in a rather uncomfortable position, as the poor Mytrhol discovers, forced to move on a narrow platform overlooking a lava lake. The scene recalls the difficulty that Obi-Wan also had in A New Hope, when he deactivated the controls of the tractor beacon of the Death Star
During their wandering around the imperial base, Din Djarin ends up with his companions in that which looks like a scientific laboratory of horrors. Inside some cylinders are contained some failed experiments, with monstrous shapes, part of an experimental program initiated by Doctor Pershing, which appears in a holomessage directed to Moff Gideon. Pershing, who first appeared in Chapter I, was the scientist in charge of testing the Child after his capture, and his message to Gideon refers to the 'M value'. Since we are talking about the Child as a blood donor, this index could refer to the count of midichlorians, the Force-sensitive blood cells that allow you to use the Force, first introduced in The Phantom Menace.
But what purpose do these experiments have? We find out in the episode's finale, when we follow Moff Gideon into a laboratory aboard his spaceship in which black battle armor is preserved. The style of these equipment is reminiscent of the Dark Troopers, an elite formation of the imperial forces introduced in the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces.
The video game is not considered Canon, but the Dark Troopers are also present in the mobile game Star Wars: Commander, considered instead an integral part of the new continuity of Star Wars. To make everything even more interesting is the presence of a particular logo in this laboratory, that of the Imperial Department of Military Research, a secret section of the Imperial Navy that appeared in 1989 in the Star Wars role-playing game.
The Mandalorian: The Siege
The Siege is presented as an episode well inserted within the horizontal plot of The Mandalorian. While it doesn't offer the usual amount of quotes from the Star Wars universe, it has the merit of bringing beloved characters from the series back onto the scene and opening up new possibilities for them to evolve. Above all, The Siege begins to give answers on the questions that accompany Mando and the Child, primarily why the little creature is so desperately wanted by the Imperials.In this episode we see the Child again using his powers , for a decidedly less noble and more cunning purpose, but his affinity to the Force is once again confirmed. Combined with Pershing's holomessage, this detail begins to become an index of imperial interest in the little creature, as well as bringing us even closer to the most awaited moment of this second season of The Mandalorian: the encounter with the Jedi. Or rather, with Ahsoka Tano.
Carl Weathers, impeccable like Karga, also proves to be skilled as a director, showing that he knows how to enhance the plot of Filoni. After an intense and perfectly shot episode as The Heir, it was not easy to find a stylistic figure that could hold a candle to Bryce Dallas Howard, but Weathers found a way to excite with a dynamic adventure seasoned with a good dose of irony. .
The Siege has the merit of having included in this frenetic context some central details in the myth of The Mandalorian, an advantage that overlooks some somewhat forced aspects, such as the very rapid repairs of the Razor Crest. The luck is that, within an episode so rapid and full of emotions, these small imperfections slide quickly, leaving us with the curiosity to see what the Mandalorian awaits now.
This is the Way.
