Rick Famuyiwa and Bill Burr Return In The Highpoint of The Mandalorian's Second Season

 

As everyone should expect by this point, ‘The Believer’ does not move the plot forward. This is much more forgivable than usual as Rick Famuyiwa—who wrote and directed the episode—attempts to interrogate Mando’s code and what rules he is and is not willing to break. While the attempt is not entirely successful, it does open the door for future stories to continue to prod Mando and his dedication to the edicts of the cult that raised him. It does feature a payoff stretching back to the initial installment of The Mandalorian, though. Also, this episode is a quasi-sequel to one of the prior season’s finest offerings, ‘The Prisoner’.

Bill Burr reprises his role of Migs Mayfield from that episode and is, surprisingly, the highlight of this installment. While Burr’s prior appearance was grating and felt like he was not comfortable in the role, he acquits himself quite nicely this time by infusing Mayfield with extraordinary pathos.

Mayfield was an Imperial soldier prior to its dissolution. It seems what caused him to desert was having participated in Operation: Cinder on Burnin Konn. Immediately following the Battle of Endor (As seen in Return of the Jedi), the Empire used its dying breathes to launch assaults on numerous planets, killing most citizens and leaving many planets uninhabitable. Having been party to those atrocities, Mayfield left the Empire, but regret burns inside him to this day.

Thus, when he encounters the officer in charge of Cinder at this episode’s climax, he feels he has to inflict any possible measure of retribution. This includes a tense confrontation between the two (and Mando) where Mayfield recounts the horrors he witnessed before shooting the officer. While the encounter is brief, it is powerful, due mostly to Burr’s performance. The way his voice cracks just a smidge. The look in his eyes that tells of an internal debate about the officer’s fate. It is tremendous work; Bill Burr might have missed his calling as a fulltime actor.

Immediately following the brief firefight that comes next, the first thing Mayfield does, showing immense empathy, is hand Mando his helmet and let him know that no one has to know about the helmet removal. Mando having removed it in the first place—to pass a security check necessary to accomplish their mission—is the most important moment of the episode. Not only is it payoff for earlier moments of Mayfield questioning what parts of Mando’s code are and are not malleable, it is the first time the character has willingly shown his face and the clearest indicator he views Grogu as his child.

While I have often criticized The Mandalorian for having a dearth of interesting characters and virtually no plot, there has always been one believable through line: Mando learns to love his wrinkly frog son. The best moments are often quiet scenes of the two like last week’s opening sketch routine or the pair playing catch the episode prior. The single scene where we gaze upon Pedro Pascal’s visage is the culmination of that story.

Back in the show’s premiere, one of the first things viewers learned about Mando was he never shows his face. It is against the Mandalorian creed. As Mando learned this season, that is not true of all Mandalorians, only certain extremist groups. While he seemed not to have considered that information in the pivotal moment, it is no doubt something he will return to as he determines his path forward and evolves his code. After Mace Windu shows up to train Grogu, that is.