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Episode 2 picks up right after Episode 1 ends. I guess its not a spoiler anymore that Mandy’s bounty target is a baby Yoda! Not THE actual Yoda, but whatever Yoda’s species is called. George Lucas always called him a frog and even once jokingly referred to him as “the illegitimate child of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.” No further information is provided about the species origins or home world other than physical descriptions on Wookiepedia:
Episode 2 picks up right after Episode 1 ends. I guess its not a spoiler anymore that Mandy’s bounty target is a baby Yoda! Not THE actual Yoda, but whatever Yoda’s species is called. George Lucas always called him a frog and even once jokingly referred to him as “the illegitimate child of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.” No further information is provided about the species origins or home world other than physical descriptions on Wookiepedia:
Members of the species were much shorter than an average Human, most standing below 70 centimeters, with lifespans of many hundreds of years (though their average lifespan is unknown because all known members of the species were Jedi, who generally lived longer than ordinary members of a species). Adults of the species were characterized by sharp, elfin ears, ridges on their foreheads, tridactyl hands and (most commonly) anisodactyl feet. Their leathery skin and blood were both light green. Their sharp teeth suggested a carnivorous diet. The diet of the most famous member of the species, Jedi Master Yoda, consisted of nutrient most other beings considered disgusting.
It was established in episode 1 by the bounty droid IG-11, that the bounty target was already 50 years old, but when we see the child he (or she) is the same size as a human infant. Anyway, Mandy has captured the target and after several scenes that gave me straight up Lone Wolf and Cub vibes including a fight with several Trandoshan (i.e. Bossk) bounty hunters, he returns to his ship he notices that it is being stripped by Jawas.
Lone Wolf and Cub in space…. I like that.
The rest of the half hour episode (Really? Only a half hour?) Mandy is fighting and later hilariously negotiating with Jawas to get his weapons and missing parts of his ship back, climbing up the side of a moving Sandcrawler and fighting a Mudhorn (similar to the rhinoceros beast from the arena battle in Attack of the Clones). The Sandcrawler scene is a throwback to the old western tv shows and movies, with a dash of Adam West Batman wall crawling, where the hero jumps from his horse to a moving stagecoach or train only to get tossed over the side once he makes it to the top.
After that exercise in futility, Kuiil and Mandy negotiate for his missing items. The Jawas tell him to get “the egg” from the lair of a Mudhorn, which of course he unhappily obliges. In the final stage of the battle with the Mudhorn, Mandy is miraculously saved by baby Yoda who uses the force to levitate the beast to allow the fatal blow to be struck, thus proving that Yoda’s species is indeed strong with The Force from a very young age.
If I can talk about the Mudhorn and baby Yoda really quick… The monster is completely digital; however, baby Yoda seems to be a combination of both CGI and puppetry. At least I think so. Sometimes the child looks well rendered with tiny grey hairs on his head slightly moving in the breeze and his little mouth curling over tiny teeth and other times it straight up looks like a hand puppet operated by a kindergarten student in a school play. A little strange if you ask me and at times not well done.
Another complaint that I didn’t address in my review of episode 1 is how flatly Pedro Pascal delivers his lines as The Mandalorian. I realize that in general Mandalorians don’t speak very much, but I would hope that your lead character at least does something to make what little dialogue he has somewhat memorable. Nick Nolte as Kuiil is far more interesting to listen to and spices it up a bit with his, “I have spoken.” This I remember. After watching I can’t easily recall one line of dialogue uttered by what should always be the coolest character on the screen.
The episode ends with a touching scene with Kuiil where Mandy thanks him for negotiating with the Jawas and helping to repair his ship before taking off into space to return the child and retrieve his fortune. Since Mandy doesn’t really let us viewers in on what he’s thinking were left to suppose that he has formed a bond with the child and won’t be too eager to hand him over. At least not without asking some questions first. I’m willing to bet that is what the rest of the season will be about: Mandy not handing over the child and now he is the one who is hunted by all the colorful bounty hunters the galaxy has to offer.
It was a solid episode for what it was, but to me the biggest missed opportunity at the end of the show is not having a preview to what comes next. I guess I’m conditioned for that but not having that small inkling of what happening next and how the story is progressing makes each episode feel like they take place in a void. You may or may not agree, just something to think about.
I give The Mandalorian Episode 2: The Child a: B-
What did you think of episode 2? What do you think will happen next? Is the Mandalorian hitting you right in the Star Wars feels?
Comment below and let me know!
Last night a cast and creative teamQ&A took place for the Disney+ live action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian. Headed up by Kathleen Kennedy, the event was broadcast live on the service and Twitter. Here is the replay along with cast and crew pictures live from the red carpet.
Last night a cast and creative teamQ&A took place for the Disney+ live action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian. Headed up by Kathleen Kennedy, the event was broadcast live on the service and Twitter. Here is the replay along with cast and crew pictures live from the red carpet.
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. The series depicts a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. The series depicts a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.
— Jon Favreau
This is the Star Wars that I’ve wanted for a while now. The Mandalorian is a well-deserved respite from The Jedi and The Sith, Kessel runs and trench runs, lightsabers and force lightning and the ultimate battle of good versus evil. The Mandalorian is, in the words of Jango Fett, “Just a simple man, trying to make his way in the universe.” It’s a story about what happens after. Five years after the collapse of the Empire, empire credits aren’t worth a damn on backwater planets, people are out of work and hives of scum and villainy are all over the place.
Enter The Mandalorian, a lone gunfighter/bounty hunter going about his way collecting bounties, just making ends meet until he is given an off the books, high paying bounty by Greef Karga played by Carl Weathers, who really isn’t given enough shine in the 39 minute runtime. Greef is the leader of the bounty hunter guild who gives ol Mandy a high value target to recover (recover alive specifically) at the behest of his deep pocketed client played by Warner Herzog.
The client is hold over from the Empire days. Complete with his gigantic empire chain and dusty Stormtrooper bodyguards who look ragged and like they have missed a few meals. The client is willing to pay in Beskar. He gives Mandy an ingot of Beskar and tells him he has a cargo hold full of the stuff as payment for completing the bounty.
I wasn’t familiar with Beskar, so I looked it up on Wookiepedia and learned that:
“Beskar is also known as Mandalorian iron. It was an alloy used in Mandalorian armor, notable for its high tolerance to extreme forms of damage. The metal was durable enough to withstand a direct blaster shot and could potentially withstand the slash or glancing blow of a lightsaber, though could be penetrated with a direct stab. The metal could also be reforged to any warriors liking.”
Read more about Beskar here: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Beskar
After leaving The Client, we see ol’ Mandy head to his local hideout where he takes his Beskar and has it reforged into a shoulder pauldron by another Mandalorian. A pauldron is a component of plate armor which cover the shoulder area.
Here is where I feel like the show misses a key moment in storytelling. At this point the show should try to give us some idea of what the Mandalorians purpose is within the show. What is he seeking? Why are we watching? What are his goals? Is he looking to forge a complete set of armor made from Beskar? Who knows. We see the other Mandalorian blacksmith pound the pauldron into shape and each ring of the hammer triggers a flashback of Mandy being violently separated from his parents as a child. The history and mythos of The Mandalorians could and should have been fleshed out a bit more here.
Again, from Wookiepedia:
“Mandalorians were a predominantly human ethnolinguistic cultural group who originated on the planet Mandalore. Mandalorians had a particularly unique role in galactic history as legendary warriors against the Jedi and could be commonly found not only on the Mandalorian homeworld and its moon, Concordia, but across Mandalorian Space and the galaxy at large on worlds such as Kalevala, Krownest, and Concord Dawn.
Originating from the planet Mandalore in the Outer Rim, the Mandalorians’ history was one of warriors who would become feared throughout the galaxy, gaining a reputation as mercenaries and bounty hunters. They were also known to ride Mythosaurs. (which is actually referenced in the show) Even prior to the formation of the Old Republic, war dominated their way of life.
Mandalore had a largely martial history, but by the time of the Clone Wars the pacifist and reformist New Mandalorian political faction controlled Mandalore’s government, led by Duchess Satine Kryze. This led to internal conflict with other Mandalorian groups like Death Watch, who wanted to maintain the warrior ways of their Mandalorian heritage.
This life of war eventually turned to dreams of expansion, and a group of Mandalorian warriors known as the crusaders began waging war against other people to conquer their worlds. Armor-clad and wielding swords, the crusaders lay waste to many worlds during their wars. The crusaders conquered several worlds and systems beyond their own, among them the planets of Krownest and Concord Dawn. This world bore the scars of a hundred wars, as almost a third of its planetary mass was fractured and reduced to space rubble. These early conquests remained part of the Mandalore sector during the later years of the Galactic Republic and into the reign of the Galactic Empire.”
Once completed with his shiny new shoulder guard (which hilariously doesn’t match anything else he’s wearing) Mandy trots off to the desert planet Arvala-7 to learn to ride a Blurrg (think: a much smaller Dewback), chat with the local moisture farmer voiced by Nick Nolte and collect his bounty target.
Upon reaching the bandit hideout (at this point, I was getting some serious The Outer Worlds vibes) he finds that another bounty hunter from the guild has already shown up, IG-11!
IG-11 is almost indistinguishable from the classic IG-88 from Empire. He’s voiced by Taika Watiti (Thor Ragnarok and Thor: Blood and Thunder) and in my opinion steals the show. He’s funny, irreverent, insanely deadly and is always trying to blow himself up when cornered.
I’ll leave it there to avoid spoilers for the end of the show, but to sum it all up The Mandalorian is a good show for Disney+ first foray into additional Star Wars content. The cliff hanger for episode 1 has to be seen to be believed. It’s incredible and I’m hooked for the next one.
I just wished they would have fleshed out Mandy’s motivation for bounty hunting and maybe delve deeper into the history of Mandalorians. But this is just the first episode. The next episode comes out Friday November 15th. (See below for the rest of the release schedule) There are a total of 8 episodes and judging by the strength of the ending for episode 1, it’s going to be a wild ride.
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