This is Star Wars! The Mandalorian episode two has given us so much to enjoy. It feels like an original trilogy story from the aesthetics to how the scenes are shot. We have a lot to talk about this episode so let’s get into it!
Opening Battle
Much like the first episode we are treated to the Mandalorian bounty hunter kicking some butt. After showing mercy to the baby Yoda at the end of the last episode, we see him on the long trek back to his ship. He senses someone nearby and three people jump him. Next, we get a pretty good choreographed fight scene with staves and spears. It showcases the Mandalorian’s combat prowess with many different proficiencies and it’s just fun to watch.
Whether these three were after the same bounty, having the tracker to it or thugs that came back to their compound and found the tracker he had used I’m not entirely sure. I doubt he would leave his tracker back there, so I’m going to go with other bounty hunters after the child.
First Glimpse at The Force?
After the fight, our favorite bounty hunter is scene repairing his armor and a wound he received. It appears that baby Yoda is attempting to use The Force to try to help. We see a signature Force pose from the young Yoda creature but is stopped each time by the Mandalorian. It’s a cute, little scene that foreshadows later in the episode.
Jawas!
The prequel trilogy gave us several new creatures, each digitized and new. We weren’t really comfortable with it. I’m looking at you Jar Jar. Thankfully, with this series, creator Jon Favreau pays great homage and nostalgia with this world, bringing back old creatures from the original series. This means those scrappy little Jawas!
They haven’t changed their ways and are still scrapping everything to build up their massive moving fortress and sell to travelers.
We get to see a bit more then we have traditionally, and really get to experience their behavior. They’re like a bunch of six-year-olds really. Single-minded on one thing, and thinks everything’s theirs. I still love them though and having them come back to antagonize The Mandalorian was fun and giving him a task to trade for his own parts they stole. Again, six-year-olds!
This is also where we get a fun line from The Mandalorian. Upon second meeting with the Jawas to get his parts back, they request he remove his rifle and blaster. To which we get the line, “I’m Mandalorian, weapons are a part of my religion.” It’s a small line, but I got a kick out of it.
The Egg, The Creature, The Force!
Towards the end of half of the episode, we get his mission from the Jawas. Receive ‘the egg’ in return for his ship parts. Typically he may be one to just blast them and take his parts anyway, but we saw how that turned out earlier. He reluctantly agrees and goes down to a quarry in search of this egg.
This is the heart of the episode I think, we see The Mandalorian getting slammed and rocked by this creature, losing his rifle to a mud jam, presumably dropping his pistol, tries his flame thrower and even his grapple rope, resorting to only his vibro-knife.
Thankfully, at the last moment, we get to see The Force in action! Baby Yoda holds his little hand up and with all his fifty-year-old child might, freezes the creature and lifts it off the ground, giving The Mandalorian time to get up and thrust his knife into the beast, killing it. It gave me shivers, and even The Mandalorian had trouble believing it.
This was an absolute favorite moment for me and introduced The Force into the series, a counterpart of Star Wars since it was created.
Trivia
This trivia is sourced from www.imdb.com
- The Mandalorian uses his weapon to disintegrate several enemies in this episode. This subtle reference could explain why Darth Vader told Mandalorian character Boba Fett “no disintegrations” in The Empire Strikes Back.
- The Jawa’s eyes on the planet Arvala-7 glow red rather than yellow as they do on Tatooine.
- When the bounty hunter first climbs aboard the Sandcrawler, the Jawa steers the massive tank into the side of the canyon wall forcing the bounty hunter to quickly jump up onto the tracks of the great vehicle, the whole sequence is a nod to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- The “child” (or baby Yoda) is a practical effect and not CGI, carrying on with the original saga of Star Wars, it uses animatronics to give more of an authentic performance.
- Often mentioned in the Star Wars book and comics, this is the first live-action appearance of a Vibro-knife. Vibro-knives or Vibro-blades have internal generators that make the blade vibrate to cause more damage.
