The Mandalorian introduces a pivotal character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Chapter Eleven, “The Heiress”, finds Mando (Pedro Pascal), Baby Yoda, and the Frog Lady (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) finally reaching the estuary moon of Trask. He finds the secret Mandalorian covert, but they are not what he expected. The Empire rears its ugly head with a brief appearance from Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). He has something that Mando’s new allies desperately need. They will lead Mando to the Jedi for a price.
“The Heiress” opens with the Razor Crest limping into the orbit of Trask, a blue water world. Everyone is asleep in the cockpit until an alarm blares. “The landing array is not responding,” Mando updates. The Frog Lady helps him at the controls as the ship plummets to the watery surface. Trask landing control warns he’s coming in too fast. Mando engages reverse thrusters.
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The Razor Crest lands with a thud on the landing platform, then tumbles into the water. A crane walker lifts it up and puts it back. A Mon Calamari technician looks at the battered ship. Mando pays him to repair it. He promises to “make it fly.” The Frog Lady sees her blue-skinned husband at the port. They embrace each other and the container of eggs. Baby Yoda eyes the eggs hungrily. The Frog Husband points Mando to an inn nearby to find news of his “kind.” A shrouded woman in black watches everything from afar.
Mando and Baby Yoda sit at a table. He orders chowder for the child, and information from the Mon Calamari waiter. Who has seen others with beskar armor. The waiter points to a tentacle-faced Quarren sitting nearby. A squid leaps out of the chowder and attaches to Baby Yoda’s squealing face. Mando stabs it and puts it back in the bowl, “Don’t play with your food.”
The Quarren promises to deliver Mando to others of his kind by boat. On the water, the Quarren crew lure Mando and Baby Yoda, in his floating pram, to a feeding platform. The Quarren betrays them and pushes the pram into the feeding pit. Mando leaps in as the pram is swallowed by a ravenous creature. A gate locks him underwater as the Quarren gloat, “The beskar is ours.”
They stab at Mando underwater as he struggles with the gate. Suddenly, three Mandalorians in blue painted armor land on the boat. They easily dispatch the Quarren crew with blasters, knives, and fists. Mando is pulled out of the water. One of them dives into the water. Blasts are seen, then she flies out of the pit with Baby Yoda’s bent pram. Mando opens it to find a safe, if startled child.
Mando is stunned as they take off their helmets. Drumroll please, their leader is the red-haired Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff). Mando doesn’t believe they are true Mandalorians. “He’s one of them,” her companion mutters. Bo-Katan tells Mando her armor has been in her family for generations. She is a Mandalorian and fought in the Purge. She is the last of her line. “You are a Child of the Watch,” she tells him. They were religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal is to re-establish the ancient ways. “There is only one Way of the Mandalore,” Mando replies. He takes Baby Yoda and flies off the boat. They also fly away and destroy the boat.
That night back at the port. Mando is surrounded by angry Quarren cutthroats. “You killed my brother…now I’m going to kill your pet,” their leader gloats. The other Mandalorians land at Mando’s side. “I killed your brother,” says Bo-Katan. The Mandalorians work together to wipe out the attackers. Bo-Katan offers to buy Mando a drink at the inn.
She explains that Trask is a port for illegal weapons. The Empire is collecting arms that are needed to save Mandalore. “That planet is cursed,” Mando replies. Bo-Katan refutes that ideology. Their enemies want to separate them. Mandalorians must “work together.” Mando isn’t there to fight for Mandalore. He explains his mission to find the Jedi and return the child. Mando admits to knowing nothing about the Jedi.
Bo-Katan takes Mando to the dock where they watch an Imperial freighter being loaded. They want to attack the ship before it ascends into orbit. Help them take the weapons and she will lead him to the Jedi. Mando takes Baby Yoda to the apartment of the Frog Lady and her husband. He leaves the child in their care. Mando tells Baby Yoda to watch his manners. The child gurgles as an egg hatches in the container.
The freighter takes off with the four Mandalorians streaking beside it. They land on the side and fight the outer stormtroopers. They breach the ship. The Imperial Officer (Titus Welliver) on the bridge is warned of the pirates attack. He orders the pilots to ignore harbor protocol and climb into space now. The ship lurches upward into the air leaving a huge wake below.
Mando, Bo-Katan, and the others fight their way through the ship. It’s a laser fire barrage as they cut down stormtroopers. They launch smoke grenades and use their thermal imaging. A frightened officer traps them in the cargo control room. That’s a mistake as Bo-Katan opens the bay door and the soldiers are sucked outside.
Bo-Katan radios the cockpit, “Thanks for packing up this gear so nicely.” Her team reviews the crates of weapons. She then announces “they are taking the entire ship.” Mando is stunned, “This is not what I signed up for.” Bo-Katan tells him her true goal. They have something she needs to rule Mandalore. An angry Mando chastises her “for changing the terms of the deal.” Bo-Katan curtly responds, “This is the way.”
The Mandalorians reach the heavily guarded cockpit. The Imperial Officer receives a holo message from Moff Gideon. He needs back up immediately. Gideon knows the ship is lost, “You know what to do…long live the Empire.” The Officer shoots the pilots. He takes the controls and plunges the ship toward the surface.
The stormtroopers at the cockpit have the Mandalorians pinned down. The ship spirals to its doom. Mando springs into action. He runs toward the cockpit. Absorbing blast after laser blast with his formidable beskar armor. He tosses grenades into the squad of stormtroopers. They are blown to pieces.
Bo-Katan enters the bridge and grabs the Officer. The other Mandalorians take the controls and pull the ship up. “Where is it? The Darksaber…does he have it?” Bo-Katan throttles the Officer. He laughs, “If you’re asking…you already know!” The Officer activates a suicide device in his mouth. He’s electrocuted as Bo-Katan screams angrily.
The Mandalorians prepare to jump to lightspeed. Bo-Katan asks Mando again to join them. He cannot. She takes off her helmet. “Take the foundling to Kaladan, the city of Corvus…there you will find Ahsoka Tano. Tell her you were sent by Bo-Katan,” The Heiress of Mandalore keeps her word. She thanks Mando for his bravery, “This is the way.” Mando jetpacks off the freighter as it enters space.
Back at the Frog Lady’s apartment, Baby Yoda plays with a hatched tadpole. Mando returns and thanks them for watching him. At the Razor Crest, Mando looks in disbelief at the cobbled together repair, “I gave you a thousand credits, this is the best you could do?” The Mon Calamari shrugs and gives Mando a pad to complete the payment.
In the Razor Crest’s cockpit, Mando negotiates around wires strung everywhere. The ship’s exterior looks the same, but the holes have been sealed with awkward metal plates. The ship lurches upwards. Mando sighs, “Mon Calamari…unbelievable!” A starfish-like creature with tentacles drops down to attack the child. Mando stabs it, then hands over to a delighted Baby Yoda. The repaired Razor Crest leaves Trask as Baby Yoda slurps a tentacle.
Bo-Katan was the leader of Mandalore’s Death Watch, at the time a terrorist group, during the Clone Wars. Her sister Satine, the Empress of Mandalore, was killed by Darth Maul and his brother, Savage Opress. She then allied with Ahsoka Tano to rid the planet of Darth Maul during Order 66. During the period of Star Wars Rebels, she united the Mandalore clans and was given the Darksaber by Sabine Wren. The true leader of Mandalore wields the weapon. Katee Sackhoff voiced the character in both animated series as well.
The Heiress was an entertaining, if somewhat clunky episode. I thought Mando was too easily deceived by the Quarren. But at least the plot is now pointing towards the bad-assed Ahsoka Tano, former padawan of Anakin Skywalker. It’s a safe bet that the cloaked figure at the dock is Sabine Wren. She and Ahsoka Tano were searching for the missing Ezra Bridger at the conclusion of Star Wars Rebels. The timelines of both series have finally come together. We’ll see how Mando reacts to learning he’s a Child of the Watch. The Mandalorian returns next Friday on Disney+.
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