Summary
One of the better episodes of The Mandalorian‘s entire run ties together several eras of Star Wars storytelling while still delivering on the small-scale stakes.
This recap of The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7, “Chapter 23: The Spies”, contains spoilers.
Well, I think you could say it’s all coming together.
And by that, I don’t just mean this season of The Mandalorian. I mean the second season of The Bad Batch, too, and presumably whatever Disney has planned for the upcoming Ahsoka series.
There’s clearly a plan in place, and that plan seems to be explaining something people didn’t like – namely Emperor Palpatine’s random resurrection in The Rise of Skywalker – by connecting it to all the stuff people do like, which is basically everything Dave Filoni touches.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7 Recap
“Chapter 23: The Spies” begins in proper spy-like fashion with a clandestine meeting in the neon bowels of Coruscant. Elia Kane, the ostensibly “former” Imperial turncoat who betrayed Dr. Pershing in Episode 3, meets with a hologram of Moff Gideon.
We learn that the attack on Nevarro by Gorian Shard and his band of pirates was one of Gideon’s ploys, and can safely assume that the removal of Pershing was his scheme too. Between this and his escape, it’s safe to Gideon has been busy.
Who is on the Imperial Shadow Council?
Gideon hasn’t been busy alone. Since he’s worried by Elia’s news that united Mandalorians helped to save Nevarro, he takes this information to an Imperial Shadow Council comprised of at least two vital figures.
One of them is Pellaeon, the right-hand man of Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose absence is mentioned. The other is Commandant Brendol Hux, a key figure in the rise of The First Order.
Here, The Mandalorian introduces Project Necromancer, a thus-far unexplained Imperial scheme that we can safely assume is the cloning of Palpatine, thus tying together The Bad Batch, the Kaminoan’s original cloning efforts, Rebels, the Ahsoka series, Thrawn, and the sequel trilogy. In one scene!
And on top of that, Gideon’s fear of the Mandalorians potentially retaking Mandalore gives us our setup for this episode, as Bo-Katan leads the Nite Owls and the Children of the Watch back to Mandalore itself to recapture the Great Forge and set up a base of operations.
How is Mando captured?
While on Mandalore, the gang runs into some fellow Mandalorians who have survived in the wastes of the planet since the Purge, which we learn came after Bo-Katan surrendered and Moff Gideon betrayed her.
Finally on the same page, the Mandalorians all descend into the Great Forge, where they’re predictably ambushed by Gideon and a squad of super-commandos outfitted with jetpacks and armor made of beskar steel. Gideon himself is wearing a Dark Trooper suit made out of the same impervious material.
The Imperials greatly outnumber the Mandalorians, and they have the element of surprise when the gang stumbles into what seems like a hidden Imperial facility on Mandalore. Mando is separated from the group and captured. Bo-Katan refuses to surrender and instead cuts a way out for her and her fellow Mandalorians using the Darksaber.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7 Ending Explained
Who dies in “Chapter 23: The Spies”?
Paz Vizsla, though, remains behind to cover their escape.
It’s a swansong moment for the character who has received some surprising development this season. He’s able to take down the remainder of the Imperials, but he’s promptly ambushed by three Praetorian guards.
While we don’t receive explicit confirmation that Paz Vizsla has died, it seems pretty inevitable at this point, and the episode ends with him laying motionless on the ground as the Praetorian guards coldly walk away.
You can stream The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7, “Chapter 23” exclusively on Disney+.
