THE MANDALORIAN Nearly Gets Wrecked by a Space Rhino in a Satisfying Second Episode

Note: The following article contains spoilers for Chapter 2 of The Mandalorian.

Hey everybody! Bryan Tann here, and I am back for another round of Mandalorian talk.

“Chapter 2: The Child” picks right up after the events of Chapter 1, and our Mandalorian now has the cutest travel companion, Baby Yoda, floating alongside him thanks to his automatic, wheel-less baby stroller that I’m certain you can pick up at Space Wal-Mart for $69.99 or 100 Republic Credits.

I began to question a few things in this episode. Not the tone. Not the quality. At this point, these things are without question. I began to wonder if the events of these episodes had taken us back to Tatooine because early on in “Chapter 2,” we see those pesky-ass “WOO-TEEE-NEEE” Jawas junking the Mandalorian’s ship!

There are a few things we know to be facts in pop culture:

1. You don’t spit in the wind
2. You don’t grab Superman’s cape
3. You don’t say ‘what’ to Jules Winfield
4. You don’t mess with a Mandalorian’s ship!

This breeds an action set piece with the Mandalorian chasing down the Jawas in their apartment building on wheels. I have to say, it was quite satisfying to see the Jawas being able to defend themselves against our titular character. It further disproves the idea (at least in my humble opinion) that the Empire’s stormtroopers aren’t good at their jobs. The Jawas were able to repel an assault from a superior enemy. It would have taken an awful lot for those stormtroopers to take down the Jawas in A New Hope, and we know how that ended.

This little set back leads our hero (?) back to Kuill (Nick Nolte) who decides to help the Mandalorian rebuild his ship (he has spoken). After negotiations, the Jawas agree to give the Mandalorian his stolen ship parts, but first, he must get them…the egg.

In yet another amazing set piece of Man(dalorian) versus big scary beast, we discover that the Force is still very much active, and it didn’t even require that much…awakening.

It turns out, Baby Yoda has a lot of power in the Force, and if he hadn’t displayed this power, The Mandalorian would have been among the shortest television shows in history.

Spoiler alert, our main character would have died deader than a red shirt in Star Trek played by Sean Bean.

“Chapter 2” is a shorter episode than the debut episode, and that’s a little sad. I would have loved to have an hour-long episode, but it has done its job by making me want more. One of my favorite things about this series is that it doesn’t let the narration get bogged down in exposition. The writers know that we know the Star Wars Universe, so they get right to the point of the matter.

One thing that is truly magnificent is that this isn’t a dialogue laden tale. The visuals tell the story, and even in a suit, our lead character tells us what we would see in his eyes and face by using body language. We get so much, with so little, and that isn’t easy to do. With that being said, I have not mentioned much about our lead, Pedro Pascal, as the titular Mandalorian until now.

While the writing isn’t telling the audience much of anything with dialogue, Pascal is giving the audience everything it needs. That takes amazing physical acting talent combined with fabulous writing and direction. The costuming department has given us a beautiful traditional Mandalorian battle armor, which the casual fan would see as similar to Boba Fetts’ armor, and made it unique to our lead character.

This is a home run on so many different levels. Boba Fett is a difficult character to have to follow because he got so little screen time and is still somehow incredibly beloved. The Mandalorian isn’t in Boba’s shadow at all. He’s making his own way, and that is a group effort from a stellar cast and crew that should not be ignored.

I will see you back here next week with a recap of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 3.”

Until then, what did you think of this episode and those pesky Jawas?

~~~

Follow The Plotaholics all over the web: