The Mandalorian season 1, episode 2 review – Chapter Two: The Child

“I’m a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion.” Minor spoilers for The Mandalorian season 1, episode 2 follow.

After finding his small prize, The Mandalorian makes his way back to his ship, only to see it being ransacked by Jawas.

In order to get his parts back, he must go and retrieve something that the Jawas deeply covet.

A ruthless anti-hero

In the premiere episode of The Mandalorian, we really got a feel of who the titlular character was. In this episode, we get an even deeper glimpse of that personality, and it very much defines him as an anti-hero. This isn’t really all that surprising given that he’s a Mandalorian bounty hunter, but it’s good that we have clear cut idea of the ruthlessness that he contains so that we have a more rounded idea of the character. Then again, it’s hard to be mad that The Mandalorian disintegrates a couple of Jawas as they are some of the most annoying little buggers in the galaxy.

Another great thing about The Mandalorian in this episode is that he is again shown not to be perfect. He really only wins in this episode because of luck and the only reason he survives at all is because his skills allowed that luck to occur. It’s a great way to really create a sense of fear surrounding the character because if the audience fears for his safety, then it’s easier to care about the character.

The softer side of The Mandalorian is shown as well, which provides nice dichotomy for the character. He is shown to care for the little Yoda (which will be the term usage for the time being as the species has yet to be named in canon) he is transporting, which endears us to both of them.

Little kid, big problems

With little Yoda in the picture now, there’s a lot that can be done story-wise and canon-wise. Everything down to the naming of the species is open to explore as there have only been two other members of the same species in canon, Yoda and Yaddle.

As much mystery as there is surrounding this child, the episode offers up even more mystery in such a surprising way that pulls you into the episode. Seriously, if you aren’t hooked by the final 10 minutes of this episode, this series probably isn’t for you.

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Now that The Mandalorian is transporting the little Yoda, this episode shows that there are still more bounty hunters after the prize. It’s really great continuity given the state of bounty hunting in the galaxy at this point in time, but it’s sadly not explored as much in this episode as it possibly could have been. This is probably due to the surprisingly short runtime and, while the issue flows well, it wouldn’t have hurt to have 10 more minutes or so added on.

Tying the old to the new

Like the first episode did, this episode relies on fan service, albeit in a much different way. As already mentioned, Jawas are a key portion of this episode as it builds their culture in a fun way. It’s absolutely something that didn’t need to be done in order for the Jawas to be fleshed out species, despite their limited appearances, but what’s done in this episode provides more context to a species that hasn’t gotten much play. They aren’t simply there to be like “Oooh Jawas!” They play an integral part in the story of the episode, which is one of the best ways to tie in older concepts to newer properties.

The action during certain portions of this episode feels like a throwback as well. Not every action, but certainly one involving the Jawas’ Sandcrawler. The way that the action is shot makes it feel straight out of Return of the Jedi, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because it’s fun to see that style again, but it’s very much a bad thing as it looks obviously worse than the rest of the action in the episode. Whether it be the opening fight with the Trandoshans (another deep cut) or the fight at the end, the worst fight is easily the one that tries to emulate a style of a time long past.

Despite a shorter than expected runtime and one mediocre action scene, the second episode of The Mandalorian provides enough fun character work and surprises to hook.