Ryan Shoots First: The Mandalorian (S1 Ep2) “Chapter Two”

Welcome back my friends to a very quick turnaround for Episode 2 of The Mandalorian. I believe the majority of the remaining episodes will be going up on Fridays so be sure to keep coming back as we recap and predict where the series may be heading.

Fresh of the heels of Baby Yoda this week’s episode of course just called “Chapter 2” is directed by Rick Famuyiwa who fun fact graduated from USC the same film school as George Lucas. Anyway, let’s get to the episode. 

The episode begins with Mando leaving the camp with Baby Yoda by his side. They are quickly ambushed while walking through the desert by scavengers. Mando makes quick work of them and finds they also were going after the “Kill” bounty like the Assassin droid from last week. While healing his wounds baby Yoda waddles over and appears to reach out with the force to possibly heal him. They return to the Razor Crest to find Jawas stripping it clean. He begins to snipe the Jawas using disintegration that would make Boba happy and hijacks their sand crawler. After fighting up the crawler he is nocked out awakes later to the Jawas gone and his ship stripped. They abandon the ship for now and begin walking to a nearby settlement which so happens to be Kuiil from last week’s episode. They track down the Jawas and attempt to get the parts back. The Jawa’s say they want some sort of egg in exchange for the parts and they take him to a cave where he is to retrieve this egg they want. 

In the cave, Mando finds a nest filled with bones and a giant eye awakens. He is hurled from the cave with his chest plate busted and his rifle damaged. He is dazed by the beast and it looks like he pulls a blade from his boot to end his life before baby Yoda uses the force to lift the beast. As Yoda passes out from the strain Mando finishes the beast with his dagger. He retrieves the egg as the Jawas are leaving and the Jawas chow down. They use a montage to fix the ship and everything is back up and running. Mando offers Kuiil a spot on his crew but he declines as he wants a life of peace. Mando and Baby Yodes set off for their next adventure.

This week’s episode was rather slow but I’m ok with it the visuals are so pleasing the music sets the tone that you just are along for the ride. The show has a slow burn and I appreciate that take. The fact the call the episodes chapters make perfect sense as they are less self-enclosed stories and literal chapters of a book playing out over the whole series. By the time it’s over I bet you could watch them in one sitting as if a single contained story. Many shows have overarching themes played out over a season but The Mandolarian seems to take that to the next level. 

Observations

• Man, baby Yoda is cute. 
• Has anyone in SW ever not been ambushed while walking through a cavernous desert?
• The “Offworld Jawa” as seen in the Black Series figure is slightly different than Tatooine ones. Grayer robes and Red eyes as opposed to yellow/orange. 
• Seeing all the Jawas popping out of their hidey holes was another moment of cool exposition to something we all know. 
• Rocky music is back
• Haha the flamethrower shot was nice. A lot of Jawa fodder in this episode
• Yoda may be the most well-behaved baby ever, I suppose he is a 50-year-old baby. 
• The shot he took in the mud was brutal
• Looked like he was prepared to take his own life as the beast charged. 
• If in the last 40 years of Star Wars if you ever wondered what Jawas eat now you know. 
• It’s almost as if people are not familiar with the force. Possibly they have just never encountered force users. I would think Mando would at least know the stories but he seemed shocked by what the baby was able to do. 
• More awesome credits art.
• I kinda dig the short run times reminds me of the Filoni style in animation but live-action. If the run time means the production quality stays high I am ok with that. 

Predictions

• In keeping with the western themes, I’m guessing Mando will uncover some plot and not return Yoda to the empire. 
• Even though Yoda looks to be a baby I think he is a little more aware than what his size would suggest.