is sponsored by Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order.

Here's how the shocking ending to the Mandalorian

episode seven sets up the finale.

Now despite everything going on

in the wide world of Star Wars this week,

there's one thing that every fan can agree on.

This week, the Mandalorian delivered

one of its finest episodes yet

with chapter seven, the Reckoning.

And we're reckoning that the week and a half

we have to wait to see the Mandalorian season finale

is going to be excruciating because of that one thing

that happened, oh and then that other thing!

It was cool, and thrilling, and scary,

and well, it was all just pretty awesome.

But we're not gonna mention what those things were

until after this handy dandy spoiler warning,

because this episode of Nerdist News

is gonna dive deep into everything that happened

in this week's Mando.

So if you haven't seen it yet,

please take the 45 minutes or so to watch it,

and then come back and watch this.

- We all will be quiet.

- However, if you're sticking around,

why not take this moment to both like and subscribe?

So what happened in this episode?

Well, after several one-off stories,

all the threads get tied together

when bounty hunter, Guild Boss Greef Karga

offers a job to the Mando to kill the Client,

in order to rid the planet Navarro of its imperial presence.

Now in order to return, the Mandalorian gets

to keep the child and will be in good standing

with the Guild once more.

Sounds like a win-win situation, right?

What could possibly go wrong?

- It's a trap.

- I actually think there might be another way

to describe this.

- No, don't, it's a trap!

- Oh, you thought we were gonna do the other one,

but (chuckles).

- It's a trap! - Gotcha!

Anyway, even though the Mando enters

into this obvious trap of his own volition,

he tries to get the odds in his favor

by calling in his pals Cara Dune

and the Ugnaught Kuiil to back him up,

along with the newly rebuilt IG-11.

But now he's just kind of like T. Robot

voiced by Taika Waititi.

Oh my god, I just solved it!

- T. - Now a quick side note,

baby Yoda seriously needs a teacher

to instruct him on the right and wrong ways to use the Force

because look, we get it,

he wants to protect the Mandalorian,

but Force choking isn't the way to go about that.

There are rules to this game

and they only involve arms, you baby!

Now of course, the plan to betray the Mando goes belly up

after good Greef Karga has a change of heart

when the wee baby Yoda saves his life

by healing him with the Force.

A new plan concocted between the Mando and his friend-os

to allow them to go through with their original plan

of taking out the Client, but there's a twist.

And it all goes south, unfortunately,

when the Client's boss, Moff Gideon, straight up murders him

and like a bunch of Stormtroopers

in an attempt to recover the baby for himself.

- I would like to see the baby.

- And in true tragic Star Wars fashion,

this episode ends with the Mandalorian pinned down

inside the cantina while the wee baby Yoda

is in the hands of the Empire

after Kuiil gets mercilessly gunned down.

Needless to say, in episode seven,

things are looking pretty grim.

So where does this leave us for the finale of this season?

I mean look, this is a classic Butch Cassidy

and the Sundance Kid situation the Mando finds himself in.

He's surrounded by a bunch of fresh looking troopers

in the storm and death variety,

all in brand new, shiny armor.

Things could not be worse for him.

- You said four.

- Well, there are more.

What can I tell you?

- Well, if we add in all of the evidence

we've seen from the trailers so far,

we can assume that Moff Gideon will personally

get his hands on the wee baby Yoda

to whisk it off in his cool-ass TIE Fighter,

because we've literally seen that shot

of the Mandalorian hanging on for dear life.

Plus it looks like the Mandalorian's finally

gonna get his jet pack,

which probably means we can expect to at least

see the Mando-clando or the leftovers of their covert

in some form or another.

Now this episode will hopefully answer

one of the biggest questions of the entire series,

what does Moff Gideon, and by extension the Empire,

want with the baby?

- I would like to see the baby.

- Does he wanna make more force-sensitive clones

to bring back the Empire?

Is he secretly working for the First Order?

Does the baby's Midichlorians somehow tie

to Palpatine's return, as was teased

in the episode nine trailer?

Now a few weeks ago, the description for the season finale

revealed that the Mandalorian is gonna come up

against an unexpected enemy.

At the time, we posited this would be Boba Fett's return,

as he was hinted at in episode Five.

We still think this could be the case,

however to be fair, anyone we recognize

from the Empire or the nascent First Order

could also fit that description.

The other big X-factor still in play

is the newly rebuilt IG-11.

Will the Mando need to put his life

in the hands of what he hates most, a murder bot?

Will the droid seek revenge for the death

of his sorta-father Kuiil?

Or did the droid's old programming somehow come through

and now IG-11's the one that killed Kuiil

and let the scout troopers scoop up that wee baby Yode?

Now considering how much screen time was given

in this episode to how IG-11 had been reprogrammed,

we'd expect that he's gonna wind up being a major asset

in the season finale, and the Mandalorian's

gonna have to wait to do what Kuiil told him to,

and trust the Ugnaught's work

in order to get out of this mess.

But we'll just have to wait and see how

that all shakes out when the season finale

of the Mandalorian drops on December 27th.

But tell me, what do you folks think?

How will the Mando get out of this mess, though?

What do you wanna see in the show's second season?

And did that ending leave your jaw on the ground, too?

Let's discuss. (upbeat music)

Thanks again to Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

for sponsoring today's episode.

You play as Cal Kestis, a Jedi padawan

who narrowly escaped the purge of Order 66

following the events of episode three, Revenge of the Sith.

On a quest to rebuild the Jedi Order,

you must pick up the pieces of your shattered past

to complete your training,

develop new powerful Force abilities,

and master the art of the iconic lightsaber,

all while staying one step ahead of the Empire

and its deadly Inquisitors.

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order is available now

on XBOX One, PS4, and PC.

(upbeat music)

(electronic chiming)