Last Updated on July 30, 2021
EPISODE: "Chapter 2: The Child" – written by Jon Favreau and directed by Rick Famuyiwa (DOPE)
SYNOPSIS: Target in-hand, The Mandalorian must now contend with scavengers
REVIEW (WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE): The first episode of The Mandalorian was enjoyable but not what I was expecting. Obviously, one episode is nowhere nearly enough to make a fair judgement about Jon Favreau's series as a whole and this second chapter makes a compelling case for sticking with this show before deciding how good (or bad) it may be. If the questions I had in the premiere were centered on the uneven pace and lack of narrative flow for the story of the titular bounty hunter, this second chapter puts the show on a clear path that is part STAR WARS and part INDIANA JONES and I am not complaining about that in the least.
Set entirely on the planet where the Mandalorian has acquired the baby of Yoda's species, keeping the story from bouncing to various locations and star systems helps anchor us and spend some time getting to know our main character. While Pedro Pascal still does not utter many lines, he speaks twice as many as he did in the premiere, and there is actually some range to their delivery. From anger at dealing with the Jawas to some snappy one-liners, this Mandalorian is not the gruff killer that Boba Fett was. That also ties in to his connection with the alien baby in his care. He is protective of it as he would be any bounty, but when it tries to heal his wound after the opening fight scene, he pushes it away. Through the episode, there is clearly a wall the Mandalorian is putting between himself and the child that he seems to question time and again.
The infant Yoda was a major twist at the end of the first episode and it is hard not to compare this story to the STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS film from several years ago which found Anakin and Ahsoka Tano protecting a baby Hutt. It still remains to be seen why this child is so important, but as we find out during the Mandalorian's fight with a giant horned alien that it appears all of Yoda's species are force sensitive. This child is so young that using the Force knocks it unconscious, but maybe the Remnant of the Empire wants to claim this potential power for themselves.
It also helped that this episode had only three characters to focus on. While The Mandalorian himself was the lynchpin, we get to see some of what makes the Yoda baby so important. This also highlighted the well balanced use of puppetry and CGI to bring the little green creature to life. The expressive eyes and ears alone give the child more nuance than we ever got from the CGI Yoda in the STAR WARS prequels. I was also very happy to see that Nick Nolte's character Kuill was not a one-off for the premiere. The Ugnaught moisture farmer was a welcome but of levity in the first episode and here provides some much needed support for the Mandalorian, both literally and in the form of some important words about freedom and servitude.
Director Rick Famuyiwa deftly handles this action heavy episode which features three major sequences: the opening combat with the Trandoshan bounty hunters, the massive Jawa chase scene, and the fight with the horned creature to retrieve an egg for the Jawas. That glossy, digital look from the premiere is not as noticeable here and the episode crams more big screen caliber action into half an hour than many feature films. While it remains to be seen if The Mandalorian will be a series of partially standalone adventures connected by an overarching story, this episode proves that the concept of this show still has a lot of potential. I anxiously look forward to what comes next.
STAR WARS UNIVERSE REFERENCES: The Mandalorian opens by fighting some Trandoshan bounty hunters (the same species as Bossk). The Jawas! Seeing the little junk scavengers in an extended appearance that gives them more screen time in this seres than in A NEW HOPE and all the STAR WARS movies combined.
COOLEST SCENE: The Jawa chase scene is the highlight of the episode and reminded me greatly of the tank scene from INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Seeing the Jawas was a nice throwback to the original saga and made me wonder if this was Tatooine or a different species of the diminutive aliens (after all, these Jawas were clad in grey rather than crimson robes).
FINAL VERDICT: The second episode is a lot better narratively than the first with the pacing more even and a lot more dimension to Pedro Pascal's performance. So much is communicated non-verbally in this series that not bouncing from planet to planet like in the series premiere allows us to look at each scene and focus on the three primary characters in this chapter. Even though it runs ten minutes shorter than the first, the second episode of The Mandalorian is already showing improvement. (8/10)
NEXT ON THE MANDALORIAN: "Chapter 3" premieres November 18th on Disney+: The battered Mandalorian returns to his client for reward.
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