The Mandalorian Review: Chapter 11 “The Heiress”

Katee Sackhoff in The Mandalorian. Photo © Disney +

The Mandalorian Review: Chapter 11 “The Heiress”

By Michelle Gonzaba

After fighting off giant spiders and freezing temperatures, Mando and his crew finally make it to the planet Trask. Although the ship almost burns up on re-entry and then lands in the water, they don’t seem too fazed with their luck. This was all worth it for the frog lady; she is finally reunited with her husband. While Mando speaks to the husband about the elusive Mandalorian, he notices he is being watched from the shadows. Is it a friend or an enemy? Mando will soon find out.

The frog man leads Mando to his contact, a Quarren. This Quarren says he can take Mando to the Mandalorian, but the only way there is by ship. Leaving the frog couple behind, Mando and the Child join the Quarren on their journey across the ocean.

On their way, the Quarren crew are preparing to feed their on-board water beast, a mamacore. Mando isn’t interested, but the Quarren say the Child will enjoy watching the feeding. The lead Quarren is a little too pushy about them watching and quickly shows why he was so adamant they do; once the mamacore’s gate opens, he pushes the Child into the beast’s mouth. Mando immediately dives in to save it. Unfortunately, this is what the Quarren wanted to happen. They shut the gate and trap Mando so they can steal his beskar armor. Even though at times, it seems like he’s all-powerful, Mando can’t breathe underwater. He needs help and he needs it fast. Suddenly, three people in beskar armor fly in and kill the Quarrens while saving Mando and the Child. Finally, after all of his fighting and searching, he has found more of his kind.

His relief is shortlived; these Mandalorians immediately take off their helmets to speak to him. To Mando, this is a big no-no; true Mandalorians never take their helmets off. He doesn’t believe they are real Mandalorians, but they also have their own wariness about him. They take his comments as evidence that he is a Child of the Watch. Bo Katan, the leader (Katee Sackhoff) explains that the Watch is a group of religious Mandalorian zealots who want to re-establish the ancient ways. Mando doesn’t want to hear it; he still believes they are liars. So without giving the group a chance to explain, he jets off the ship with the Child in tow.

After the Mandalorians save Mando and the Child again from the Quarren, he agrees to speak with them. Bo Katan explains their situation; she and her two-person crew are taking weapons from Trask’s black market so they can use them to reclaim the planet Mandalore. This is all to help their kind, Bo Katan tells him, so they can be in power once more. Mando couldn’t care less; his only mission is to reunite the Child with his own kind, the Jedi. Luckily, Katan has information on where a Jedi can be found. But this information isn’t free. She’ll tell him the Jedi’s location after he helps the Mandalorians steal weapons from an Imperial freighter. With no other options, Mando agrees to the deal.

After leaving the Child with the frog lady and frog man, Mando jets off with the Mandalorians to the freighter. After quickly fighting off the galaxy’s worst stormtroopers, they make it to the cargo hold filled with weapons. Mando thinks the job is done, but Katan has other plans. She doesn’t just want the weapons, she wants the entire freighter. Mando says he didn’t agree to that, but Katan doesn’t care; she needs everything she can get to fight her enemies and rule over Mandalore. Before Mando can make any decisions, the captain of the freighter (a surprising cameo by Bosch star Titus Welliver) has been ordered to destroy it; better the weapons are destroyed than end up in enemy hands. The Mandalorians fight their way to the captain before he is able to crash into the ocean of Trask. While Mando and his counterpart attempt to gain control of the freighter, Katan demands that the captain tell her where Moff Gideon is. Why does she want to know? Because she wants the Darksaber! Before she can extract any information from the captain, he offs himself with some type of cyanide-ish electric shock in his mouth.

They successfully land the ship and Mando demands the information he was promised. Katan tells him there is a Jedi located on the planet Corvus. The name of this Jedi? Ahsoka Tano! It looks like Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan will play an important part in Mando’s quest. He bids the Mandalorians farewell and sets off to Corvus with the Child right next to him.

Highlights and Observations:

• Ahsoka Tano is finally getting the attention she deserves! Fans of the animated series The Clone Wars will be especially hyped to see her in the next episode.
• Villain Moff Gideon makes a quick appearance; he hasn’t been seen since last season’s finale. It looks like he’ll be showing up more since we now know Bo Katan is trying to find him and his Darksaber.
• The frog lady and frog man are the nicest creatures in the entire galaxy. They not only agree to watch the Child while Mando is away but seem sort of happy to do it! The Child ate, at the very least, three of their eggs. Would you want to babysit a creature that ate your offspring? I don’t think so.