IR TV Review: THE MANDALORIAN - EPISODE 7 ("The Reckoning") [Disney+]
The path of redemption always comes with a price. There cannot be victory without sacrifice. The question becomes what is being fought for. In “The Reckoning," Episode 7 of “The Mandalorian”, the series has built its house of cards and, at least, for this progression of the narrative, it needs to be reconciled. Mando can only be on the run for so long. What is interesting in this episode, is not so much about sides taken but in the draw of what discerns good and evil and the gray in between. Carl Weathers as Greef, Mando's would be employer has his own skin to think about. That is why the instinct of The Child is interestingly polarized. His actions bely a darker progression, like all those with the Force. A healing trajectory shows a different possibility.
As a form of the Imperial Guard seems to close in, a greater pressure seems to be building up. Because of actions taken by those who set these events in motion, a larger pressure seems to be building, as if The Child is a certain catalyst either for genetic manipulation or action to be taken. Mando, never one to trust, begins to take a chance on people, whether or not that might place his allies in danger. But no journey is without risks. The question with the series has been the detailing out of information but the key here is establishing a world which sometimes takes standing still. Character, unlike plot, cannot move at the speed of light but there needs to be enough crumbs to make the journey memorable. "The Mandalorian" still, at its heart, is a Western where the gunfight always builds to a pinnacle and the victor lives to fight another day.B+
By Tim Wassberg