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The Passenger; gave us an idea of what this season of The Mandalorian is shaping up to be, that is an extremely linear story. Picking up moments after the last episode ended, it also had a theme of long roads as we start with Mando on his speeder rushing back to Mos Eisley only to get clotheslined by bandits. I think everyone watching held their breath as Mando, and especially as The Child, went flying from the crash. It won’t be the last close call either.
After a brief but well choreographed skirmish, the last bandit standing holds The Child at knife point and demands Mando’s precious jetpack in exchange. Now I really thought he was going to get away with it here. I’ve been waiting for them to ‘depower’ Mando as I can’t imagine flying scenes are very cost effective. But no! Instead we got a hilarious turn as Mando uses a remote to launch the bandit high in the air with the jetpack with him falling back down in a very Wile E. Coyote style.
Upon finally trekking back to Mos Eisley, Mando meets back up with Amy Sedaris’s character again who just so happens to have a lead on Mandalorians through her ant man friend. I only mention the giant ant alien because this episode was directed by Peyton Reed, who just so happened to direct both Ant-Man films!
The lead to these Mandalorians is a lizard woman carrying her eggs, ready for fertilization, but surprise! They can’t be transported by lightspeed so again the long way round must be taken. And wouldn’t you know it? She speaks one of the few languages Mando doesn’t know. Once on their way we get the first of a running gag through the episode that was frankly quite disturbing. Mando goes to check the ship and catches The Child chowing down on the lizard lady’s eggs! Number one: gross. Number two: through the episode we see how loving she is of this bundle and eventually tells us that it’s her last cycle. I mean I get what they were going for but it was kind of horrifying to watch that cute little guy slurping those eggs down, and getting repeatedly scolded by Mando.
Now when they made such a big deal about traveling outside of lightspeed it was obvious something terrible would happen as a result. Were space cops doing a traffic stop, my first guess? Probably not. But that’s just what happens as two X-wing fighters come in to investigate Mando’s lack of a beacon for his ship. This quickly becomes like a traffic stop with Mando promising to fix it and as the pilots ask more questions Mando gets cagier. Eventually trying to make a run for it to a nearby ice covered world. This short chase was beautifully done and so exciting. Mando stalling his engine and plummeting only to pull up at the last second. Banging into icy walls and finally skidding to a rest, barely managing to lose the New Republic pilots.
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But that was only the start of trouble as the ship crashed through the ice into a cavern, ripping a hole and leaving them stranded. We got our typical comedy actor cameo here though it is a bit of a cheat as the lizard woman finds the remains of the droid killer from last season and uses his translator so they can speak. This is how we get a brief but still entertaining Richard Ayoade moment. She invokes the Mandalorian code to guilt Mando into getting her out of this mess in time for her fertilization. A lot of credit must be given to the actress who was in the suit, Misty Rosas, as she managed to really give us a maternal and loving look at what is a silly character design. The physicality brought this ridiculous creature to life and made you care for her and a bowl of eggs.
Seeing as how we now feel for her, it made perfect sense for the episode to suddenly turn into a horror film as a hot spring nearby turns out to be the center of an alien spider nest. With small flower-like sacs that most definitely invoked an Aliens look. Triggered by The Child eating one of these spiders, my skin was absolutely itching as hordes of the things emerged from their sleep and descended on the trio. Hundreds if not thousands of these disgusting things would be enough but we’re almost at the end so it’s time for a boss fight as Momma spider comes into the picture and she is one big bad ass. The ensuing chase was as thrilling as it was terrifying with the small spiders leaping at them from everywhere as momma came barreling down on their heads.
Mando pulls out bombs, guns, and his trusty flamethrower but all it does is get them back to the ship alive as they are overtaken by the horde swarming and busting through the small battered craft. It’s only at the last possible second that help comes through and saves them. Here is where things fell apart for me just ever so slightly.
The help is set up as some big reveal. Who could be coming to the rescue with that kind of fire power? Well of course it was the pilots from earlier! That’s no twist. Having them run his record and recounting the events of season one, both good and bad? That was clever, his good deeds last season keeping him out of jail this season. A nice call back, sure. But then when Mando asks for an assist with his ship they just take off? Seriously? For all they know that’s a death sentence. The saving and sudden abandonment gave me whiplash. It was so sudden. Luckily Mando is able to seal his cockpit and make it back on his way to their destination, which I assume means we’ll pick up once again right where we left off this week.
This episode was mostly fantastic. That end beat of odd motivation really did sour things a bit, but placing it aside I loved the horror elements and how small of a story had such a big execution. It’s crazy to think we’re already a quarter through the season and no answers on Boba Fett, the surviving Mandalorians, Moff Gideon and the Darksaber! I mean there are a lot of things that need to be addressed and we took this long sidequest. It shows me a confidence the showrunners have this season and so far … well earned!
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!
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