The Mandalorian: Chapter 15: The Believer – Review
The following article contains spoilers for Chapter 15: The Believer.
I’m genuinely blown away by how good season two of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian turned out to be in the grand scheme of things. It all started off with an amazing bang with “Chapter 9: The Marshal” but after that, there were a large number of filler episodes that really didn’t expand upon the overall storyline of the show.
We did get some great episodes along the way, but the first half of this season was quite rocky which was disappointing to see after the first season’s relentlessly fast-paced and smooth execution. But the last three to four episodes of The Mandalorian season two have been so excellent that it’s to the point where I may actually prefer this second outing to the first now, which is something I wouldn’t have said about a month ago.
Last week’s episode, “The Tragedy” was an absolute dream for die-hard Star Wars fans all around the world, as it re-introduced us to everybody’s favorite Mandalorian (besides Din), Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison). Not only did it bring him back, but the episode made him ten times more epic than he was in the original trilogy. His fight scenes were brutal and close-quarters. There were some swings he took at Stormtroopers where he quite literally ripped their armor right off.
It was an incredibly short episode at just a little over thirty minutes, but in that time, we got perhaps the most non-stop entertaining episode of the series yet. And the episode before that one, “The Jedi” finally introduced us to Rosario Dawson’s take on the beloved Ahsoka Tano. It’s no wonder why we are officially getting an Ahsoka spin-off series with Dawson coming back to reprise her role.
Courtesy of Disney+
But at the end of “The Tragedy”, we saw that Grogu (formerly Baby Yoda or The Child) was taken hostage by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and company, where he examines his force capabilities. Fans all around the world were collectively biting their fingernails waiting to see what would happen to the lovable character, and while “The Believer” doesn’t provide any answers, it most certainly serves as an amazing and action-packed second-to-last episode of season two and has one exhilarating ending that will leave you hungry for the final episode.
“The Believer” brings back Bill Burr’s Migs Mayfield, who the Mandalorian needs to recruit in order for his help in trying to free Grogu. Cara Dune returns for this episode as well, making for an incredible cast of characters that we all know and love. Not only does this episode further expand season two’s story, but it provides us with even more awe-inspiring action set pieces that you’ll absolutely adore.
By far the standout sequence in this episode is a scene in which the Mandalorian takes off his helmet. Mandalorian’s never do that. And although Din did take his helmet off in season one, it was just before he thought he was going to die, so he thought he really didn’t have anything to lose. But here, he does it because he needs to complete this mission if he wants to get Grogu back and out of captivity. He’ll do literally anything for the child and he proves it with this episode. As a matter of fact, “The Believer” ends with the Mandalorian projecting himself as a hologram to the villainous Moff Gideon as he says that Grogu “means more to me than you will ever know”. All that we see after this goosebump-inducing monologue is a worried-looking Gideon as he prepares for what is inevitably going to be one doozy of a season finale.
Series Information
Certificate: TV-14
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bill Burr, Gina Carano, Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Giancarlo Esposito
Series: The Mandalorian
Network: Disney+
Directed by: Rick Famuyiwa