“Chapter 15 – The Believer” was written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa. After Grogu was captured by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), Mando (Pedro Pascal) forms a team to rescue him at any cost.

Mando took a devastating blow in last week’s episode. Not only was Grogu taken, the Razorcrest was destroyed after the long beating it had received throughout the series. Determined to get Grogu back, Mando, along with polished armored Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), go to Marshal Cara Dune (Gina Carano) to find a prisoner who may help them locate Gideon’s ship. That prisoner is ex-Imperial, Migs Mayfeld (Bill Burr).

We haven’t seen Bill Burr since late in season one and I’m glad to have him back. He added a new layer of comedy to the series, especially because he is a professional comedian. His comedic dialogue further proved that this show can be whatever it wants to be. From old-timey western, to sci-fi thriller, we’ve seen it all. I did say that this show is about the journey, but I’m glad we’re stretching away from the redundant structure that has been present for the majority of the season. As soon as the episode opens, we see our heroes coming to transfer Mayfeld, which basically cuts out an entire episode that could’ve been fit in about Mando breaking him out. Now that Dune has been appointed to New Republic Marshal, we don’t need to do that. The only reason Mayfeld is needed is because of his former access to Imperial clearance and protocol. To find the coordinates of Gideon’s ship, the posse of protagonists must do it through an internal Imperial terminal, one of which is suspected to be located on the planet Morak.

Upon landing, they all come up with a plan to infiltrate the refinery. Anyone who is wanted by the Empire would be easily identified, so they wonder who is to accompany Mayfeld inside. Fennec Shand has a bounty on her, Cara Dune is Republic and Boba Fett says they may be able to recognize him from previous encounters. Mando is the only option left, however, he cannot be seen wearing his traditional armor. The refinery holds Rhydonium, which Stormtroopers were transporting at that very moment. Mando and Mayfeld take out the two Troopers in the transport, strip them of their armor, and put it on themselves to disguise them, just as Han and Luke did in “A New Hope.” Along the way, they see explosions in the distance; pirates have been blowing up the remaining transports and are headed for the last one that Mando and Mayfeld are in. In true “Mandalorian” fashion, the series expands inspiration from other classic titles, this episode taking from “Speed,” only the Rhydonium transport doesn’t need to stay fast. It needs to move slowly, otherwise, it’ll blow. This doesn’t help Mando very much, as he has been on top of the transport taking out the many pirates.

They soon arrive at the refinery base after avoiding a close call, but Stormtroopers and TIE Fighters come in to save the day. Wasting no time, Mayfeld finds the terminal, although he sees a familiar face, Valin Hess (Richard Brake), from when he was in the Empire,  so he’s not able to do it himself. Otherwise, the mission will be blown. Mando says he will get the information instead, the only problem is that facial scanning is required. Mando is still a part of the “true Mandalorian religion,” which had been referred to as a religious zealot by Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) earlier. He takes his helmet off anyway because The Child means more to him than anyone truly realizes. And ditching the helmet-hair look he had in last season’s finale, Mando now has a clean look because he has had much more screen time with the helmet off. Before getting the location, Valin Hess addresses Mando to find out what he’s doing. Mayfeld comes in to defuse the confrontation and instead of being recognized, Hess invites them over for a drink because they were the only successful transport that day. In their interactions, the representation of Hess truly shows how morally wrong the Empire, or just a group in general can be, despite what cause they believe in.

So by this point, a lot of people have unknowingly seen a Mandalorian without his helmet on. At this point in the series, I don’t see why Mando wouldn’t just leave his helmet off. He hasn’t been seen by any life form for years, and now everyone’s seen him. Boba Fett is still Mandalorian, and while he doesn’t follow as strict of a code, he takes the helmet off during any other case of fighting or flying. I’m sure the ominousness of Mando makes him even cooler, but I would prefer seeing Pedro Pascal more often. Pascal mainly does the amazing voice work but he is rarely ever in the suit. In fact, he wasn’t even cast in the series until they were filming the final episode last season where his face had to be shown. 

Anyway, Mayfeld compromises their cover by shooting Hess for his own relief, causing the entire base of Troopers to be  after them. With the help of Fennec and Dune, Mayfeld blows up the refinery, and the two escape into Slave I but not without a showcase of some neat maneuvers by Boba Fett as he destroys some straggling TIE Fighters that are after them with a seismic charge. With Mayfeld finished with his contribution, he is set free by Cara Dune after showing his worthiness by blowing up the base. The episode ends with Mando sending a recording to Moff Gideon just to say that he is coming and he will be prepared to take back Grogu.

I was surprised to find out that Rick Famuyiwa directed and wrote this episode. It truly shows that this show has jumped to the next level. Famuyiwa directed two episodes last season, two and six, and they were fairly small in ambition. Not only was this week’s episode action-packed and thrilling, but it still managed to trick me into thinking I was watching a movie. The stagecraft technology being used to film all of the Disney+ “Star Wars” shows (“Andor,” “Acolyte,”Star Wars: A Droid Story,” “Lando,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” etc.) is nothing short of innovational. Also, it shows that this show can still be good without a single scene showing Grogu.

All in all, as a set up for next week’s season finale, I do think the amount of new information was a little underwhelming. We still have no idea who or if a Jedi is going to follow Grogu’s call through the Force. And with the recent news of two new “Mandalorian” spinoff shows: “Ahsoka” and “Rangers of the New Republic,” I don’t see Ahsoka showing back up anytime soon, although all shows are going to cross over at some point. Both of these new shows, which were announced at the 2020 Disney Investor Call, are being developed by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni as we speak. I suspect Ahsoka’s show will follow her search for Grand Admiral Thrawn, meaning we probably won’t see them show up in “The Mandalorian” again. While “Rangers of the New Republic” may follow Cara Dune on her missions, and from what we’ve seen in this episode, Fennec Shand could be joining her. No confirmation was released for the speculated “Boba Fett” show, but we do know that “The Mandalorian: Season 3” will be arriving on Disney+ in December of 2021 at the earliest.