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S02E61: Rapidly Rewatching Mando, S2E7
26 Plays7 days ago
Who's actually the Believer in this episode? Mando? Migs? Both? We forgot to talk about that, but we talk a lot more about the next-to-last episode of this season of The Mandalorian! Come listen!
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview of Episode
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, I'm a believer now. You'll find out why real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a star trooper?
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper, where we are deep into our watch slash rewatch of The Mandalorian Season 2. In fact, we are about to wrap it up here with our friends Phil Salmo and Ben Dyer.
00:00:29
Speaker
Today, we are talking about Episode...
Episode Discussion: "The Believer"
00:00:33
Speaker
Well, it's episode 7 of season 2, which is chapter 15 of The Mandalorian, called The Believer, written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, whose name I'm still not sure if I'm pronouncing correctly.
00:00:47
Speaker
i For reference, it first aired on December 11th, 2020, right before my birthday. um And it was in the middle of COVID. I don't remember that, but I guess it was, right? 2020?
00:01:01
Speaker
Let's go up there. Let's talk about the summary. Okay. ah With Grogu captured by Moff Gideon, Din assembles his team to locate the Moff's cruiser.
00:01:11
Speaker
They spring ex-Imperial sharpshooter Migs Mayfeld from a New Republic prison labor camp, and he leads them to a secret Rhydonium refinery on the planet Morak. Disguised as Imperial transport drivers, Din and Mayfeld infiltrate the facility.
00:01:27
Speaker
Din is forced to remove his helmet for a facial scan, breaking his creed. After a tense encounter with Mayfeld's former commanding officer, Mayfeld snaps and shoots the man dead, igniting a firefight.
00:01:40
Speaker
The team escapes with the coordinates and Din sends Moff Gideon a chilling message. He's coming for Grogu. Setting up the finale, which we'll talk about next week. But this week we were talking about this most excellent episode of The Mandalorian.
Key Moments and Themes
00:01:55
Speaker
Ben Dyer, going to start with you.
00:01:58
Speaker
i think you also agree this is a most excellent episode, as I recall. I think as we've as we've been saying, and this episode is just evidence, these last few episodes of this season are amazing. I think this was so much fun. And it's fun because of the big moments, and it's fun because of the quiet moments. But you know the big moments are the ones, obviously, where they've got to fight their way out of this facility.
00:02:21
Speaker
But man alive, did I enjoy watching Bill Burr have that tense table conversation Um, I, it's funny because now the sort of the impact of, of the Mandalorian taking off its helmet is a little bit blunted. Of course I'm, I'm jaded and I'm old in this. going be really curious about what, what Phil thought about that. But for me, when I watched this again, that's the high point of the episode is, is when, you know Mayfield is just kind of slowly creeping up on this guy with his sense of, I'm just not going to handle this anymore. This guy's done.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah. Great. Phil Salmo, what are your thoughts? This was a great, great episode. It was it was most excellent, Bob, for sure.
00:03:04
Speaker
ah It had action, it had comedy, it had really, really tense moments and it had real, and I think as Ben said, those quiet moments, Mando taking off his mask, you know real kind of you know gasp, hold your breath moments. And that tense conversation, I'm sure we'll talk about a little more with with the commanding officer was great. i This maybe is my favorite episode of the season. i'd have to go back and check, but it's certainly up there in season two for sure. Yeah, yeah. And as I always already said, i think it's most excellent. This is one of my favorites and you guys are hitting the high spots for me.
00:03:46
Speaker
That moment where he takes off his helmet, it is kind of a breathless thing. you're You're just shocked that he goes ahead and does it, but he really has no choice. Although yeah there's only one complaint I have about this episode is I think the whole idea of him taking off his helmet and getting scanned is a plot hole because like, how does the security on this thing work? They just need a face. like rage yeah Hopefully his face isn't in the Imperial database somehow. Maybe they'll go back and patch that at some point, but It worked for me. That was fine if ah Rick Famuyiwa wanted to use that as the driving force for him to having to make that life or death decision. Do I stick with my relationship with this child or do I stick with the tradition and creed of my culture?
00:04:35
Speaker
And he made a choice, which ultimately I think we're going to see when we get into season three. kind of loses some of its oomph. Sorry for the spoilers. It's all right. I do feel like something interesting about that reveal is they're teasing it throughout the episode when they have to go under the cover and put on the different work uniforms when they have to drive that truck.
00:04:57
Speaker
There's a little reference to you know Mando having to you know take off his helmet. And he they don't show him doing it. They show him like in the new you know the new attire. And they do it, obviously, in the confrontation um with Migs Mayfield.
00:05:11
Speaker
and ah and Mando when he's like, oh no, like i'll like I can't go in there, I can't scan it, we have to leave.
Mando's Helmet Removal: Significance and Impact
00:05:18
Speaker
And Mando's like, I'll do it. So it's a real, like they're really building up to it. And and it's a real, i I do feel like the payoff is there. It's a really strong payoff.
00:05:27
Speaker
Well, I want to add to what he does when he has it off is really interesting too, because it's right after that, that the whole, you know, Migs conversation happens. Right. And you can see him through the whole thing being like on the back foot, really like he is not,
00:05:44
Speaker
prepared to deal with the world outside that helmet. you know yeah um There's even a little bit of like body language I caught this time through when Migs is starting to kind of like spool up on, I'm gonna unload on this guy. you know do you remember this thing? Do you remember all the people you killed? And you could see Mandalorian kind looks at and goes, shake his head like, don't do this. What are you doing? you know right And we've never just seem never really- It does seem like Mando's in shock.
00:06:08
Speaker
I like what you said, like taking off the helmet, he's now kind of in a state of shock. which Migs does a great job of of playing off that he's half deaf. I'm sorry, Ben, I cut you off. Well, no, I was gonna say, all we're seeing here is we're seeing a whole bunch of like little subtle tones and nuances and things that that Pedro Pascal couldn't do in the helmet. you know The way his eyes are moving, the way that he's using little bits of like body language to signal intentions ah had to be kind of a relief for him, I would expect.
00:06:36
Speaker
And i do all I've always wondered how much of the whole thing of the Mando not taking off his helmet is as much part of the story as it is they knew that they weren't gonna get Pedro Pascal actually on set for that much because of his scheduling when they first signed the contract. I remember there were rumors that he was circling around the part for a long time before they officially announced him. And I could totally just see his agent going, well, okay, look, he'll do this show for you, but you got two days on set and four days of voiceovers and that's all.
00:07:08
Speaker
so who knows Okay, but I'm not going to go the cynical route. but What I did like, because that is where we are are at in the story, was how Migs Mayfeld is really baiting him while they're driving in the car, like you were saying. You know, like, well, what is it? Like, you can't take it off, or it can't be off, or, you know, why is it okay that you took it off to put on this other helmet? Is it that you have to hide your face? And Mando just doesn't respond.
00:07:38
Speaker
at all. But then I do think that when Mando makes the decision to break his creed, to save his son, that that does really give a positive influence to Mayfeld of like, okay, this guy does believe in something that I think is more important than his silly religion. And so I think that kind of gives him a little bit of a oomph to take action and stand up for what he believes in as well.
Character Interactions and Psychological Themes
00:08:06
Speaker
I mean that I mean maybe we could talk just for a moment, I think it's a nice transition into that scene with the commanding officer, which is just an incredibly tense and I don't know the name of that character actor but i've seen him in. countless things I know he's pretty known for I haven't watched Game of Thrones sorry to any viewers out there, but our listeners but. I i know he's pretty famous for Game of Thrones and I've seen him in a bunch of other stuff. He is a great baddie in this, in the like five or six minutes he gets of screen time. He is so good.
00:08:35
Speaker
And that scene is so incredibly tense and the implications of what Migs has gone through and the horrors of that war and the, you know, the callousness with which the like, you know, the Empire has, they discard life.
00:08:49
Speaker
And it's yeah it's it's a real it's a real kind of insight into the mindset of the Empire and the you know the violence and destruction that they impart. And obviously we see it throughout you know the universe, but it's a really, really interesting, tense face-off here.
00:09:04
Speaker
Well, you know what's interesting about that too, Phil, is you're watching it from the perspective of having seen Andor first. Yeah. Right. But I feel like this is one of the first times that we really got the idea of, yeah, the empire was just evil and awful and seeing the deep psychological ramifications that it made on people that then they built on for and or.
00:09:28
Speaker
Right. I was going to. By the way, was that guy's name? I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right. The actor. Yeah. Well, i was just going to add on to that real quick, too, that the the the The interesting kind of discussion we're having in the in the juggernaut, I think they called the vehicle.
00:09:46
Speaker
yeah ah The interesting discussion he's having, you know Mayfield and Mando are having like, and i think it's mostly even just Mayfield. I don't even think Mando's responding, but he's going, you know they're all the same. Do you think these people cared whether it was the Empire or the New Republic or whatever? And by the end of the episode, we're not really feeling that way the same way, right? Migs, I think, has a little change of heart there. Maybe maybe it's not quite all that one-sided. But one of the things I like about this episode is that you really do kind of get ah a little bit of a sly response to all the fans that ever said, like, what? So who cares if Darth Vader's dead? The entire Imperial War machine is still out there. yeah And it's still being the Empire, right? um It's not just because you blow up Death Star number two that all of a sudden the war is won. And ah so you do get the sense that like the new Republic is struggling. It's still in its infancy. There's, this is taking place after return of the Jedi at some point, presumably, and you know, they haven't got it all worked out. So what are we going to do? Well, you know, the empire's out there still trying to make havoc for us. The new Republic is, is dealing with its reputational battle among hearts and minds and stuff.
00:10:52
Speaker
So I love that they had this this thing where you could kind of see the emerging effort to create a
Operation Cinder and Empire's Cruelty
00:10:58
Speaker
new order. Because I think that lends a little bit of credibility to the fact that like later on when we get the sequel series, the Empire's always been around. They've been around since. It wasn't like they just went away. Maybe they've shifted a little bit and changed, but ah those struggles are going to be perennial.
00:11:13
Speaker
Well, that is important to bring up that this whole Operation Cinder that they referred to in this, that comes from the books. So it comes from the the newly recanonized extended universe. And the idea was the emperor had basically set up a scorched earth initiative that if he ever was to die, he was going to take out the whole galaxy.
00:11:35
Speaker
Like just literally destroy it. And so that's what Operation Cinder was. It was his last command to basically torch everything. And yeah, you can see how that would mess with people's heads. Wow. I just want to, and I mentioned at the top, I just want to talk about how action-packed this episode
Action Sequences and Cultural Impact
00:11:51
Speaker
is. And I think in particular, the chase sequence with the, is it redonium, right? The flammable explosive chemical.
00:11:59
Speaker
That is such a great chase scene with the pirates and just great, I felt like stunt and fight choreography. And for me, i you know, I'm going to maybe make a little bit of a film personally, leap but I'm going to do it here because I imagine that Rick Famuyua maybe was had this on the mind.
00:12:17
Speaker
That you know truck driving an explosive chemical feels very strongly like a reference to the 1977 film, William Friedkin film called Sorcerer with Roy Schneider in it. you saw And it's it's now become much more critically reevaluated. At the time, it was a huge box office bomb.
00:12:35
Speaker
Do you know why it's often attributed? That was a big off box office bomb. It was released within a month of the original Star Wars in 1977. So, and and critics now, even today, say that it have bombed at the box office because of Star Wars. So I wonder if, I wonder if Kamehameha had that on the mind a little bit when he was directing that action sequence. Just a thought.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah. that is That is a good, that is a good cut. There was one other quick story that I couldn't resist that I picked up from researching this episode, which is,
00:13:06
Speaker
Bill Burr, I knew that he was not a big Star Wars fan, but apparently he had a big habit of really mocking Star Wars.
Bill Burr's Journey with Star Wars
00:13:16
Speaker
And so Jon Favreau and his wife met Bill Burr.
00:13:22
Speaker
at a birthday party for Mike Binder, the director, and they started talking. And Jon Favreau said, wouldn't it be funny if you actually show up in Star Wars because you hate it so much? And Burr's wife, Nia, kicked him under the table to say yes.
00:13:38
Speaker
And so he reluctantly accepted the job. But later he called it one of the best things he's ever done in his career and added that Star Wars fans are cool as hell. So yeah, I think that's awesome.
00:13:49
Speaker
That's awesome. ah With that guys, it's probably about time to wrap up. Any last final thoughts we want to sneak out there?
Episode Conclusion and Tease for Finale
00:13:57
Speaker
Let's get ready for the finale. Exactly. Let's do it.
00:14:00
Speaker
All right. This is the way. This is the way. We'll see you next week where we will talk about the finale, Chapter 18, or 16, The Rescue. Until then, may the force be with you. we'll talk to you soon.
00:14:12
Speaker
Bye-bye. Use that mindless choice to do. Podcast, help you see them through. Star Wars is your favorite unit. Let's chat for 15 minutes. Aren't you a little short?
00:14:22
Speaker
Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a smorn trooper? Aren't you a little short for a smorn trooper?