Spoilers for The Mandalorian’s Chapter 12 “The Siege”
Chapter 12: “The Siege” of The Mandalorian was released on Disney+ last Friday and it has changed the direction of the show. From Baby Yoda eating macaroons, to Mando teaming up with Greef and Karga again, episode 4 of season 2 proved to be a chaotic, light-hearted, adventure.
In the very first episode of the series, Mando signs up for a top-secret job with the Imperials. After acquiring their secret package, the Child, it is revealed that the tiny being is wanted for some sort of experimentation. It was only teased at what they wanted with the Child, and it wasn’t sure if this story thread would be explored again. The story thread returns in “The Siege” and reveals that the Child’s “M-count” is being sought after.
Yes…the m-count. For those that are unaware, m-count is a shortened term of midi-chlorian count. The controversial concept was first introduced in 1999’s The Phantom Menace. Most Star Wars fans, at the time, criticized the piece of lore because there was already an explanation of the Force. Remember Obi-Wan Kenobi’s line, “Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together…. A Jedi can feel the force flowing through him.” This line of explanation was simple and to the point, and it echoed the sci-fi fantasy Star Wars was aiming for.
Flash forward 22 years and the idea of the Force is given a much more scientific explanation. Ironically, it is Obi-Wan’s master, Qui-Gon Jinn who states the new definition of the Force. He said, “Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life form that resides in all living cells.” He adds, “Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you’ll hear them speaking to you.” Yeah…George Lucas went there. If you ask me, it totally ruins the concept of the Force but I’ll let George Lucas do his job.
Ever since Disney took over the Star Wars brand, midi-chlorians have not been much talked about until now. It will be interesting to what level the series takes this. Mando and the gang stumble upon what appears to be a cloning facility. Will the midi-chlorians be extracted from Baby Yoda and injected into these deformed beings? What seemed to be a tease at a familiar character, with the image of a deformed humanoid seen in the tank, and not to mention a very familiar theme. As we found out at the very beginning of The Rise of Skywalker, the sequel trilogy antagonist, Supreme Leader Snoke, was created by the Emperor himself. Since The Mandalorian takes place about 25+ years before those events take place, it is certainly plausible that the series will explore a bit of those origins.
The ending itself was not light at all. We finally get a physical appearance of the main antagonist, Moff Gideon. Gideon is seen aboard his space cruiser watching over his army of Dark Troopers? The very familiar looking troopers first appeared in Star Wars books and comics in the 1990’s. Who knew he had a super soldier army ready at his disposal. It is unclear to me if the humanoids in the tanks were these future super soldiers or the two are completely separate. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long to see Moff Gideon’s true intentions. Mando is also now being tracked by Moff Gideon? The stakes have definitely been raised. The next episode of The Mandalorian streams this Black Friday!