The Mandalorian 2×6 Review: Chapter 16 – The Tragedy

‘The Tragedy’ was one part Star Wars nostalgia, one part adorable Baby Grogu, and a heaping scoop of action.

While the nostalgia and action were fun, my favorite moment of ‘The Tragedy’ was actually the brief sequence at the beginning in the Razorcrest before they even make it to Tython. Mando saying Grogu’s name repeatedly and causing him to tilt his head in recognition is too cute for words. Even just hearing Mando laugh at his reaction made my heart so damn full. 

Does enjoying that moment more than the nostalgia and action make me a ‘bad’ Star Wars fan? Maybe! But I don’t care. We are living in a frightening apocalyptic hellscape and I’ll take the serotonin where I can get it. Just let people enjoy things! 

Thankfully the ‘true fan’ discourse hasn’t been too heavy in The Mandalorian subsection of Star Wars fandom, but I do see it crop up from time to time. Just stop, y’all. But anyway, let’s move on…

The father/foundling dynamic between Mando and Grogu is honestly one of the biggest draws for the series to me, so spending precious time to highlight these moments is a necessity for it to keep its charm. While I enjoy all things Star Wars (often regardless of quality), it’s so refreshing to have a plot revolve around a sweet familial bond between found-family. This theme is a favorite of mine, so I’d probably be drawn to the broader concept regardless, but in this case, they do spend a great deal of time establishing it as central to the story they are trying to tell.

That said, the nostalgia of bringing back Boba Fett was a major highlight of ‘The Tragedy.’ Yes, we saw him earlier this season, but most of us have been itching for him to actually enter the main story in a significant way. And, well here we are! At this point, I can’t tell if people were more excited for him or Ahsoka, but now we got both so fans rooting for either of them to return should be fairly satisfied.

He ends up in Mando’s orbit as he’s chasing down his former set of armor, which was passed down to him by his father Jango Fett. This causes tension between Mando and Boba Fett as it’s quite clear he isn’t part of this seriously strict creed that Din Djarin subscribes to. To be fair, neither did Bo-Katan and her crew, but they were undoubtedly Mandalorian. Boba Fett’s dad was a foundling, however, and the armor has been passed down to him in a legitimate way. Din Djarin eventually accepts that it’s legitimate, but his creed doesn’t make it an easy journey.

They eventually come to an agreement where Boba Fett will get his armor back in exchange for keeping him and Grogu safe from those who are after them. It’s not an easy battle to fight (despite the Stormtroopers having terrible aim and bumbling around quite a bit), and unfortunately, the child is lost to the Empire.

The return of Boba Fett, in ‘The Tragedy’, also brings the return of Fennac, who was left for dead last season, but picked up by a mysterious figure, which I suppose has now been revealed to be Boba Fett. I adore Ming-Na Wen, so this return is an absolute delight to me! Even better is that this appears to not be just a one-episode adventure. Boba Fett and Fennac have agreed to continue helping Mando until Grogu is safely returned to him. I hope that means they’ll be around for the rest of the season!

Now here is where I apologize. You see, I feel as though I personally cursed the Razor Crest by saying: “Whether or not he gets to a place that can repair it properly, or he just has to get a new ship entirely remains to be seen. At this point, his ship is basically iconic […] and I can’t imagine it’ll get entirely replaced.” I clearly spoke its grizzly death into being and I am so damn sorry.

Seriously. I’m never calling something ‘iconic’ again. It was in pretty terrible shape, however, and something needed to be done. I just wasn’t expecting that. RIP Razor Crest.

There’s a bit of revenge near the end of ‘The Tragedy,’ however. We see Grogu going full beast-mode against the Stormtroopers keeping watch over him, and thus tangentially avenging those who blew up his dad’s ship. There’s something remarkably charming about this sweet precious baby just kicking ass with the Force and flinging Stormtroopers across the room. I sort of hope that inspires some memes or merch or something. This was an incredibly entertaining scene.

This scene is also a major advancement of the ongoing plot, which I felt had been lacking in many of the earlier episodes. We get Moff Gideon and the Dark Saber. We get Dark Troopers. We even get a throwback to Dr. Pershing, whom I’m immensely curious about at this point in the story.

It also seems the plot is going to bring back Mayfield, which is actually somewhat surprising to me. I thought he was a one-episode character that was there for a side quest and would be done after that. Somehow he’s important, though, and he’s being brought in to help find Grogu and get him back. Unexpected, but not unwelcome! Let’s see how that plays out.

Despite the immense action and plot packed into ‘The Tragedy,’ it was surprisingly short, clocking in at just 30 minutes before the credits rolled. On the one hand, I’m glad the creators of The Mandalorian are given the freedom to set their episode length as the plot dictates it. But on the other hand, I crave more content. We should be used to this by now, though. The first season also had episodes of varying lengths, so this is just how it goes.

The next episode is by Rick Famuyiwa, who also wrote ‘The Child.’ He also wrote ‘The Prisoner,’ which is where we first met Mayfield, so we should have a good bit of consistency in this character as far as writing goes. I have high hopes for this episode! I only hope it’s a wee bit longer than 30 minutes. But if a shorter episode is what the plot demands to deliver the most impact, I will make peace with it.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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