Star Wars: The Mandalorian's Most Emotional Episode Yet Ends With a Heartbreaking Final Scene

Disney+ and Lucasfilm released the seventh episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian on Wednesday this week, instead of its usual Friday, in order to avoid any conflict with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this weekend. On one hand, this is great news for fans of The Mandalorian, because we don't have to wait until Friday to see what the penultimate episode has in store. However, after watching the episode, it's easy to feel exactly the opposite. The new episode of The Mandalorian, "The Reckoning", is easily the show's biggest and most emotional to-date, leaving things on a cliffhanger heading into the season finale next week. Now we have to wait 10 more days to see what happens, and to sit with an absolutely devastating final shot.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the new episode of The Mandalorian! Continue reading at your own risk...

This episode of The Mandalorian gets back to the story that began in the series premiere, as Mando returns to Navarro at the request of Greef Karga, to take out The Client once and for all, essentially securing freedom for himself and The Child, aka Baby Yoda. To try and accomplish this task, Mando recruits some of the friends he's made over the course of the season, like Cara Dune, Kuiil, and IG-11, who has been reprogrammed by Kuiil to be a service droid. Joining Greef Karga, the group takes on The Client, and things don't end well for everyone.

The first major death of the series comes toward the end of this episode with the arrival of the mysterious Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito. We learn that he is the one who has tasked The Client with retrieving The Child and clearly isn't pleased with the job being done. In a shocking twist, Gideon has stormtroopers gun down the entire building where the transaction is supposedly taking place, killing The Client. But that's not the death that cuts the deepest. A few minutes later, the beloved caretaker Kuiil meets his end.

A couple of stormtroopers overhear Mando and Kuiil talking on their communicators and know that Baby Yoda is out near the ship, and they take off on speeders to try and stop him. The last couple of minutes cut back and forth to the chase sequence and it seems as though Kuiil might make it back to the Razorcrest. Sadly, he doesn't get there in time. The episode ends with the troopers scooping up Baby Yoda and Kuiil laying on the ground, just a few feet from the ship, with smoke rising from his back. Unless something unexpected happens in the finale, Kuiil has spoken for the last time.

What did you think of this new episode of The Mandalorian? Let us know in the comments!