The latest episode of The Mandalorian, The Siege, directed by Carl Weathers, who also plays the role of Greef Karga in the show, might be one of the most important episodes not just for the series, but for the entire Star Wars continuity. While the first season of the show actively tried to avoid the most popular Star Wars tropes, the second season has been surprisingly integrating itself into the much larger Star Wars universe. After more Mandalorians and the highly anticipated appearance of the Jedi, The Mandalorian has gone an extra mile and revisited a highly controversial element from the Star Wars prequels.
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The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin/Mando, a lone bounty hunter from a radical group of Mandalorians. In a classic Spaghetti Western-style, the show has been following the adventures of Mando and the Child as they travel across the galaxy to reunite the force-sensitive Child with its own kind. While the origins of the Child are still unknown, the show’s main antagonist, Moff Gideon’s interest in capturing it has finally been revealed in the latest episode.
Chapter 12: The Siege brought back the fan-favorite Cara Dune, an ex-Alliance shock trooper, and Greef Karga, an agent of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, as Mando and the Child arrived on Nevarro to repair the battered Razor Crest. Not the one to stay away from the action, Mando teamed up with Dune, Karga, and the unnamed Mythrol to destroy an old Imperial Base on Nevarro.
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However, what seemed like a small-scale operation quickly turned to be a full-out blaster battle as dozens of Stormtrooper attacked Mando and his team. Though all of them came out unscathed, owing to Mando’s Beskar armor and a little bit of plot armor, they discovered a much more sinister operation at play which takes us back to the controversial theory of George Lucas which many fans vehemently opposed to date.
In the base, a hologram recording of Dr. Pershing reveals why Moff Gideon wishes to capture the child. The secret facility turns out to be an experimental base with scores of cloned bodies in liquid-filled chambers. But most importantly, the force-sensitive part of the Child comes into play as Dr. Pershing talks about ‘M-Count’ and his unsuccessful attempts at creating the desired clones.
The mysterious M-Count refers to the midi-chlorians, a controversial topic ideated by George Lucas for the Star Wars trilogy. Instead of keeping the mystical aspect of the Force intact, Lucas tried to put a scientific term to it through midi-chlorians. Midichlorians are intelligent microscopic life-forms that symbiotically live inside the cells of every living organism. However, the quantity of the midi-chlorians determines if an individual can be force-sensitive.
In the Star Wars saga, Anakin Skywalker had the highest midi-chlorian count ever recorded. With 20,000 midi-chlorians, Anakin Skywalker was supposed to become the Chosen One who could have brought balance to the Force. Unfortunately, he fell to the dark side and became one of the most powerful Sith Lords to terrorize the galaxy.
But the question arises, why did The Mandalorian revisit such a controversial element of the Star Wars that has been vehemently opposed by fans for years? Is it merely for the sake of advancing the plot or trying to connect the show to something as big as Supreme Leader Snoke?
As the latest episode neared its end, Moff Gideon made his appearance, but with an armor inspired by Darth Vader and dozens of battle-ready suits which clearly indicates Dark Troopers from the Star Wars: Dark Forces. But by opening the can of worms from the prequels, the M-Count is surely going to play a major role in not creating just a fearsome army of Dark Troopers, but rather an invincible army of Force-Sensitive Stormtroopers.
Baby Yoda’s M-Count is undoubtedly much higher than normal Force users as demonstrated in the show. Be it levitating a raging Mudhorn to stealing a few macaroons, Baby Yoda has just put a juicy target on its head. But then, with the Jedi almost extinct in The Mandalorian‘s timeline, Ahsoka Tano should be able to sense a disturbance in the Force.
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Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi feebly attempted to purge this controversial element by making Rey, an unknown girl from a wasteland, as a Force-Sensitive user, only to be undone by J.J. Abrams in The Rise of Skywalker to establish that in the end, Jedi and Sith are all results of a few powerful bloodlines. And sadly, The Mandalorian has just re-affirmed that in its latest episode.
The Mandalorian returns on 27th November, 2020.
