“Chapter 14 – The Tragedy” was written by Jon Favreau and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Mando (Pedro Pascal) takes Grogu to Tython after learning from Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) that a Jedi will find them there and help train the kid.

As the habit has been for the entirety of this season of “The Mandalorian,” you may expect this next episode to be yet another side-quest. As I said before, if that’s where the journey takes us, it all works out with me. But to my surprise, it wasn’t. Even though this is the shortest episode of the season so far, and possibly the series, it wastes no time giving the viewer a variety of information to work with within a runtime that doesn’t even hit the half-hour mark (excluding the recap and credits.) My big complaint this season, as you may know, is the redundant story structure. Changing up the storyline is something the writers should’ve kept in mind, and I’m glad they’re finally doing so. After landing on Tython, Grogu is plopped on a rock at the Jedi Temple to do some sort of Force meditation in order to reach a Jedi. A barrier of Force energy surrounds him, preventing the pair from leaving until the process is complete. Not only does this contain “Baby Yoda,” it contains the whole episode. With such a shortened length and other ships continuing to arrive on the planet, you know that you are going to be in for an action-packed episode

You may remember the cliffhanger episode one left us with. The mindblowing reveal, and return, of the bounty hunter that was swallowed by the Sarlacc Pit, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison.) Not only him, but Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), who was left for dead on Tatooine during last season, both arrive on Tython in Boba Fett’s ship, the Slave I. Boba Fett has not been tracking Mando because he wants to kill The Child, he simply wants his armor back, although we still don’t quite know how it was removed from his possession. Mando agrees to only return the armor to its rightful owner if the safety of Grogu is assured.

But the situation they are in gets a little more complicated when Imperial ships holding Stormtroopers begin to arrive. As a huge fight breaks out between the two sides, Mando, Boba and Fennec need to hold the Empire off until the meditation process has completed. When I say a fight breaks out, I mean the action completely dominates this episode. Mando mainly takes a back seat during the fight because he needs to rotate between killing Stormtroopers and protecting Grogu. Boba smashing the Stormtroopers helmets in with his Gaderffii and Fennec, pulling off some moves with her sniper, is what we primarily focus on, and it’s awesome. Boba has some character development in this episode, and that’s really nice to see because this is the first time we’ve seen him in live action since “Return of the Jedi” in 1983. Back in the original trilogy, Boba Fett was cool and all appearance-wise, but he never really did anything. The action he is given finally lets everyone know why he is one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy. However, like I said with last week’s episode, this season has felt like it was only meant to jumpstart future Disney+ shows. Boba Fett even has his confirmed, the new show will start filming soon, if production has not already begun.

The viewer learns that Moff Gideon’s cruiser is what released the Stormtroopers on Tython, and after blowing the Razorcrest to pieces, another ship containing troopers is set down to distract the group while Dark Troopers are deployed to take The Child. If Mando had only stuck around the “shrine,” this wouldn’t have been the result of the episode; he does make a ridiculous amount of reckless mistakes during this episode. Grogu being taken at some point was bound to happen, it’s just that it should’ve been in a situation that was far less preventable. As we begin to learn more and more about The Child and his potential, not to mention the strong father/son relationship and bonding between him and Mando, this show begins to take shape and will function much better if Grogu sticks around. 

Since the promise has not been fulfilled, Boba and Fennec are in Mando’s debt and agree to help him retrieve The Child. This means the show will probably be centered around these characters for the remainder of the season, because I couldn’t imagine that everything could be resolved next week. I’m down for anything that gives me more Boba Fett. By the looks of it, Mando’s trying to put together a team to rescue The Child. The Slave I brings Mando back to Nevarro to receive information from Cara Dune (Gina Carano) about the whereabouts of Migs Mayfeld (Bill Burr), who was arrested at the hands of Mando. At this point, the remaining two details I know about this season have occured: Slave I appears at some point and Robert Rodriguez directs an episode. The finale of this season better be something special.

It is disappointing how short this show is. Eight episodes per season with runtimes that vary from 30-55 minutes breaks the consistency, and I could be mistaken, but producers promised that episodes would be an hour each prior to debuting season one. They made this same promise for each of the Marvel shows to come out on Disney+, starting with “WandaVision” on Jan. 15, 2021. We are in the middle of the streaming wars, along with new announcements of HBO Max releasing their entire 2021 slate of films in theaters and on the service at no extra charge on the same day. Back when Disney+ started up, I originally paid for the one-year deal because it was cheaper than paying monthly. I understand that the current circumstances have made it hard to go into production, but they should’ve had much more preparation. “The Mandalorian: Season 1,” “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Season 7,” “Hamilton (which technically wasn’t supposed to come out until late 2021),” and “The Mandalorian: Season 2” is all we have an entire year in. If Disney+ continues to provide nothing to its audience over a year past its start date, what warrants subscribers to stick around?