Summary: Mando gets information that another Mandalorian resides on Tatooine in Mos Pelgo. Mando arrives there and meets Cobb Vanth who bought Boba Fett's old armour from some Jawas to save his village. Mando comes to a deal with Cobb: Cobb will give him his armour if Mando helps defeat a krayt dragon that's terrorizing the village. Mando and Cobb form a plan to defeat it and ally with the Tusken Raiders. The village people and the Tusken Raiders battle the krayt dragon and Mando defeats it. Cobb gives him the armour and Mando leaves. Boba Fett watched him go from a distance.
The Good: The opening sequence provided a lovely return to the star wars universe. It was a tense and fun sequence with some brilliantly choreographed action that was a ton of fun to watch. Furthermore, it neatly pushed the plot forward by sending Mando on a mission to Tatooine to locate another Mandalorian. The sequence worked well and got the episode off to a hot start. The rest of the episode strayed away from a plot focus however. I was surprised to find out that "The Mandalorian" chose to open season 2 with a self-contained story rather than a more serialized episode. I actually thought that this worked in favour of the show. We were given enough of a plot hook to invest us early in the episode, and the big reveal at the end of the episode certainly suggests that Mando's trip to Tatooine will play an important role in the story even if we don't know exactly what it is yet. So even as a self-contained episode, this had enough significance to work as a season premiere. What helped this episode most was how good the main story was. Unlike the half-baked and sloppy self-contained episodes of last season, this episode had fantastic world-building, intriguing character development and explored some interesting themes. There was much more purpose to this episode and I found myself being much more actively engaged in the storylines here. What also helped was the decision to make this episode 50 minutes long. One of my biggest complaints from last season was the short episode length and thankfully that was rectified here, allowing this episode enough time to explore its potential. The Mos Pelgo storyline was really engaging. It was tons of fun to visit a new settlement on Tatooine, allowing us to explore the planet in ways that we never did before. The amount of worldbuilding we got here was outstanding with new depth given to the Tusken Raiders, their relationships with the townsfolk, the cultures of both communities and also the various species that reside on Tatooine like the krayt dragons and those new wolf-like creatures. I also greatly enjoyed Cobb's backstory and the history of Mos Pelgo that was shown through it. I really like how the show is addressing how the dissolution of the empire has affected various areas around the universe. This was easily some of the best worldbuilding that Star Wars has ever seen, and I enjoyed every second of it. I thought that the krayt dragon was handled magnificently. Not only was it a lovely nod to "A New Hope" (a krayt dragon skeleton is seen) and apparently some of the video games as well, but it provided an engaging threat for the heroes to deal with. Unlike the AT-ST from season 1's "Sanctuary", taking down the krayt dragon felt like a genuine struggle for the characters and there were times where victory looked difficult. I appreciate the effort that was taken into making the krayt dragon a credible threat that made sure that the heroes didn't seem needlessly overpowered. Additionally, the visuals for the krayt dragon were outstanding. The episode also nailed some smaller details. The western influence of the show is still a joy to watch, and I loved how western everything felt when Mando first arrived in Mos Pelgo. I really liked the return of the mechanic character from season 1 at the start of the episode. It was a harmless cameo that continued to make the world feel lived in. I also loved things like the addition of a pearl inside of the krayt dragon, the weird blue drink that was served in Mos Pelgo and Mando hitting Cobb's jetpack in a similar way that caused Boba Fett to fall into the sarlacc pit in "Return of the Jedi". These little details are satisfying additions to the show. The Bad: Standalone episodes still suffer from the fact that it's obvious that the heroes will succeed and that the events of this episode likely won't have much consequence on everything else. Luckily, this episode avoids that for the most part with its outstanding worldbuilding and the Boba Fett reveal making this stand out further. But it still doesn't completely avoid this trapping and I was still convinced throughout the entire episode that Mando would succeed and that the krayt dragon would be killed without any major losses. While I appreciated that this episode tackled a lot of deeper concepts, I thought that a lot of them were half-baked or rushed. The conflict between the Tusken Raiders and the village folk was incredibly rushed. Cobb treated it like it would be a big deal for the village people to accept working with the Tusken Raiders. Yet somehow there was never any issue aside from one minor altercation when an explosive was dropped. That's very disappointing and I wish that this conflict was explored in more meaningful fashion. Since it wasn't, and since it was obvious that the village folk would work with the Tusken Raiders, all of the scenes with Mando and Cobb trying to convince the village folk to ally with the Tusken Raiders were a complete bore. The Unknown: How did Mando learn how to speak with the Tusken Raiders? Last time he only used the sign language and didn't actually speak. What has he been up to in the time that we haven't seen him? How does the Tusken Raider language work? They seem to be able to communicate either verbally or through gestures. Both seem to work. Do they have multiple languages or is there some other system at work? I would love to learn even more about them. So Boba Fett is alive. What has he been doing all this time? Was he the mysterious person at the end of "The Gunslinger"? What are his current motives? Does he want his armour back? What does he make of Mando? When will we be seeing him again? I'm very curious. Best Moment: I really liked Cobb's backstory. It was an enjoyable 5 minute short story. Character of the Episode: Mando. Conclusion: This was a solid return for "The Mandalorian". This episode won't blow everyone away but it was a very well executed self-contained story with a lot to enjoy. I might be a little kinder to this episode than most, but I had a blast watching this. A good way to start season 2. Score: 65
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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