*******Spoilers for the second episode of The Mandalorian below*******
After discovering a mysterious child with a massive bounty on its head earlier this week, the Mandalorian (Mando, as Kuiil calls him) went on a wild hunt this week for an oddly furry egg.
Things kicked off quickly as Mando and the child are attacked by other bounty hunters while making their way back to his ship. He makes quick work of them but is forced to camp out for the night to tend to his wounds. The next day, the unlikely duo make it to Mando’s ship to find it’s been taken apart by Jawas. He’s unable to get anything back from them and goes to Kuiil for help. The local alien helps by brokering a deal with the Jawas for Mando to reclaim his ship parts if he gets a mysterious egg for the Jawas. Upon reaching the cave where the egg is, Mando discovers a deadly, aggressive creature that nearly kills him. However, the child reveals its power in the force and saves Mando, lifting the creature long enough for him to kill it. With the egg in tow, Mando returns to the Jawas and gets his ship parts back. He and Kuiil then put his ship back together and Mando heads off on his next adventure.
So, last week, though a lot of fans welcomed the first chapter in this new Star Wars adventure, many others took issue with it for not really showing anything substantial. This week threw those complaints out the window. Filler episode is often synonymous with an unnecessary or unrelated event that only serves to up the episode count of a series. However, this ‘filler episode’ is exactly what The Mandalorian needed. We got more action and excitement than the first episode by far. And, Jon Favreau and co are hitting the ground running with the child and its connection to the force. Plus, the inclusion of the Jawas and return of Kuiil were welcome world building as this show starts fleshing out its place in the Star Wars cannon.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that The Mandalorian has already proven to be more of a space western than anything else in the franchise to date. The lone-gunslinger motif was turned up a level in Chapter Two as the first ten minutes (a third of the episode) didn’t feature a single word of dialogue but did feature some of the most compelling scenes in the show so far. Again proving that Pedro Pascal is able to convey a surprising amount of emotions through just the physicality of his performance alone. Add in Ludwig Göransson’s incredible score and Rick Famuyiwa great direction and I honestly think Pascal could’ve said three lines this episode and delivered the same performance.
We’re only two weeks in but, so far, The Mandalorian is shaping up to be the newest hit show and exactly what Disney+ needs to come out of the gate strong in the streaming wars.
The next episode of The Mandalorian will drop Friday, November 22nd exclusively on Disney+.
