The seventh installment of The Mandalorian's second season, "Chapter 15: The Believer,"
was a Grogu -free thrill ride on a new tropical planet. As always, there were
plenty of cool Easter eggs tucked away for fans to find. Here are a few you may have missed.
Chapter 15 opens on the return of Migs Mayfeld, the mercenary and former Imperial sharpshooter
who double-crossed Mando in Season 1. When we catch up with him this time around,
he's now under New Republic custody and working at a scrapyard.
Note the old AT-ATs repurposed once again as cranes, just like in Chapter 11.
Mayfeld's luck turns around when Marshal Cara Dune arrives to acquire his services
and knowledge of Imperial protocols as a part of the plan to locate Moff Gideon.
Not looking to turn down the chance to redeem himself, he departs the planet
with her and Mando's crew, passing by a familiar background alien on his way out.
Before he meets with Dune, Mayfeld walks past a wolf-like being known as a Hassk, which is a
fairly new breed to the Star Wars franchise, first appearing on screen in 2015's The Force Awakens.
We know from books and other media that their culture is limited in regards to their technology,
but once they figured out space travel, many chose to take on odd jobs across the galaxy
to help satiate their desire for chaos. And fans of Star Wars Resistance know that a
good number of Hassk joined the ranks of Quarren pirate Kragan Gorr during the New Republic era.
Now aboard Boba Fett's ship Slave I, Mayfeld is briefed on the situation concerning Grogu's
abduction and Mando's plan to get him back. The only issue is, for the ex-Imperial to
gain access to Moff Gideon's coordinates, he needs to use an internal Imperial terminal.
Thus, he points the crew in the direction of the planet Morak to find one. However, this won't be
an easy task, as a good portion of the Empire's remaining forces occupies and mines the planet
for a volatile fuel known as rhydonium, which has a long history in the Star Wars universe.
First appearing in the Clone Wars episode "Missing in Action,"
rhydonium is depicted as an incredibly dangerous and highly explosive chemical.
As a result, it's frequently used as a weapon of war, just as often as it powers military-grade
transports. Since its debut, rhydonium has made its presence felt all over Star Wars media
from Rebels to the Poe Dameron-centric comic book series and, as The Mandalorian proved,
when it does make the odd appearance, it's best to look for cover as soon as possible.
While scoping out a way to infiltrate the Empire's base on Morak,
Mando and his group determine that the easiest way to sneak behind enemy lines is for two of them to
take over an Imperial fuel transport and then disguise themselves as the drivers. Initially,
Cara Dune is more than prepared to join Mayfeld for this phase of their plan,
but he explains to her that she can't do so, since the installation has the
technology to detect the genetic code of those on New Republic records. Also,
he name-drops a subdivision of the Imperial war machine that appears to have dissolved with it.
The Imperial Security Bureau — or ISB, as Mayfeld refers to it — was a branch of the Imperial
Intelligence network that specialized in law enforcement during the Empire's heyday. Fans of
Rebels should instantly recognize the acronym, as Kallus made a name for himself as an ISB officer
before defecting to the Rebel cause. And those familiar with Clone Wars know that former Republic
Navy Admiral Wullf Yularen, who also appeared very briefly in A New Hope, became the commissioner
of the ISB shortly after the Empire situated itself as the galaxy's new governmental system.
As Mando and his team arrive on Morak, they quickly realize that getting to the Imperial
terminal will be anything but easy. The planet is crawling with Imperial loyalists and plenty
of pirates looking to interrupt their operation by any means necessary, but still, they go ahead with
their plan to infiltrate the local installation. Of course, the Empire didn't just send
run-of-the-mill stormtroopers to guard the mine and fuel refineries, and instead diversified their
ranks with some other recognizable trooper classes from different eras of the Star Wars universe.
First and foremost, the design of the rhydonium transport team's armor is reminiscent of Imperial
Hovertank pilots from 2016's Rogue One. Digging deeper into the spin-off film's
plethora of trooper designs, you'll notice that they also encounter a large number of Imperial
Shoretroopers not unlike the ones present during the battle of Scarif. Additionally, Cara and
Fennec Shand's sniping put A New Hope-style Death Star gunners in their crosshairs, driving the
point home that the backbone of this galaxy-wide regime isn't as disjointed as many believe.
Having successfully infiltrated the Imperial base with only a mild amount of trouble
from the locals, Mando and Mayfeld keep their eyes peeled for the terminal and
find it rather swiftly. However, they run into Mayfeld's former commanding officer Valin Hess,
who commends them for their successful delivery of the rhydonium, not realizing
their true intentions. In an apparent nod to the 1999 comedy Office Space, Mayfeld and
Mando attempt to elude Hess with an excuse about filling out "TPS reports," but it doesn't work.
"You apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your TPS reports."
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that. I forgot."
Mayfeld also fibs and claims that Mando is hard of hearing following an incident on
Taanab. Taanab is first mentioned on screen in Return of the Jedi, when Lando explains to Han
that a maneuver he pulled off during a battle on the planet got him promoted to General.
Valin Hess invites Mando and Mayfeld to join him for a drink and some reminiscing over the
Empire's "finest" moments — including the short-lived Operation Cinder,
made famous by the 2017 Star Wars Battlefront II video game.
After the death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the second Death Star, Imperial
Sentinels directed the remaining forces to begin carrying out a plan known as the Contingency. One
aspect of it, dubbed Operation Cinder, was devised by the Sith Lord personally; it effectively
destroyed planets across the galaxy that were once under Imperial control. Large, climate-disrupting
satellites placed above specific Imperial worlds annihilated their ecology and residents,
ensuring that the Empire and its enemies didn't continue in the event of Palpatine's death.
It's a pretty twisted concept, but it's fairly on-brand for a regime bred from the Dark Side.
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