Prep For The Mandalorian Season 2 Finale With Chapter 15 Recap and Breakdown

The Mandalorian Chapter 15 might have set up the latest Star Wars spinoff and it definitely set up a grand finale with some Star Wars-loaded spectacle. Chapter 15: The Believer is the first episode of The Mandalorian to be completely without Baby Grogu in it but it was still very pulse-pounding and the set up for last episode of Season 2 is wild. Spoilers ahead, we’re taking a detailed look at the latest episode as it pertains to the larger Star Wars universe, the callbacks to Season 1, and just how it might have sent one character off to join a newly announced spinoff series.

We start in a Carthon chop field, lots of tie fighters are being scrapped here, which makes sense because they always lose battles. Mayfield is serving his prison sentence here but is recruited out and quickly meets Boba Fett, who repainted his Mandalorian armor. Mayfield isn’t thrilled to see Mando after their shared history in a Season 1 episode but he really doesn’t have much of a choice other than helping with this week’s side quest.

We see inside the Slave I ship, which is cool, especially when we get to see how it keeps the passengers upright when we see out the window how it goes from horizontal landing mode to vertical flight mode. Mayfield knows the Imperial clearance codes that Mando needs to locate Moff Gideon but he needs access to an internal access point to get them. So, this week’s quest is off to Morak where an Imperial base is hoarding Rhydonium, a hugely volatile substance responsible for one of the biggest explosions we ever saw in Clone Wars.

There’s a debate over who is going to Trojan Horse it into this base with Mayfield. Boba Fett can’t do it because they’ll recognize his face which is a reference to Clone Troopers having been important during the Clone Wars and making his face quite recognizable but also Boba literally served Darth Vader directly for the Empire.

It’s Mando and Mayfield who are going in by high-jacking an Imperial tank, which looks a lot like a Juggernaut from Rogue One or the Clone Turbo Tank. It’s being driven by a couple of Stormtrooper’s who suits look like gray-painted versions of the Shore Troopers from Rogue One.

When they get the ship, Fennec radios, “Phase One complete,” which ties the dialogue to the Jango Fett: Open Season comic, which basically had Boba’s grand daddy communicating similarly and maybe offers insight to how Boba runs battle plans.

Mando and Mayfield have a heart to heart which confirms through the mouth of Mayfield Mandalore is really gone (or at least everyone really believes it is) but also that Mayfield operates in a grey area where he just wants to survive with the people he cares about and above all himself.

Pirates attack the tank, trying to stop the Rhydonium from being made into a weapon, and Mando has to fight them off. He might feel guilty about this later but there’s nothing coming between him and the Kid. He does use one of the pirate’s spears against them, showing off a skill that might soon come in handy because he did just obtain a Beskar steel from the Magistrate a couple of episodes back. Ultimately, the first ever accurate Tie Fighters and Stormtroopers come to the tank’s rescue and we do see some Shore Troopers, too.

Inside the base, Mando is willing to break his own code as a means to get Grogu back, which we see when he takes his helmet off and shows his face. Valin Hess, a high-ranking Imperial jerk, gets weird vibes from Mando’s awful undercover body language, so they all end up having an investigative drink together. By the way, this is sort of Game of Thrones reunion, because Hess is played by the Night King actor Richard Brake, and, well, we all know what happened to Pedro on that show.

Things don’t go well on trio’s first date after Hess suggests they toast to Operation Cinder, which was essentially Palpatine’s dead man’s switch to punish his people if they couldn’t help him survive. It first appeared in the Shadowed Empire comic. Mayfield shares that he fought on Burnin Konn during Operation Cinder and lost his whole division. So, when Hess suggests the Rhyodonium they delivered is going to be a better weapon than Operation Cinder, Mayfield isn’t having it. Mayfield blasts Hess and they have to flight their way out.

They get to the Slave I, jet out of the base, and use a Void-7 seismic charge to waste the two tie fighters chasing them. Those weapons first appear in Attack of the Clones, being used against Obi Wan.

Mayfield continues his face turn, using a Cycler Rifle which Boba Fett took from Tusken Raiders on Tattooine to blast the Rhydonium and probably destroy at least most of that Imperial base. For his good deed, Republic Officer Cara Dune declares Mayfield died in the explosion, and he is essentially free to go. He wanders off into the trees and wil probably get scooped up by the Rangers of the New Republic spinoff which was just announced!

In the end, Moff Gideon gets a message from Mando — he is coming for the Child, and our boy Din Djarin uses Gideon’s own line against him — “he means more to me than you will ever know. ” Well, us, too, Mando. Go get our boy.

What do you rate The Mandalorian Chapter 15 out of 10? Did you catch any Easter eggs or Star Wars references? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram!