Ryan Shoots First: The Mandalorian (S2 Ep1) “Chapter 9: The Marshal”
Here we go folks, 2020 needs someone to swoop in, blow some flames and get us out of this mess. Luckily I know someone… someone who is up to the job. Call me Mando!
Yes, after a long wait Season 2 of Disney Plus’s hit Star Wars show is back and we kick off this season with some huge news. There has been a ton of speculation all summer about which characters from other Dave Filoni creations would be joining the fray and which possible movie cameos we could expect. So settle in as the small self contained Star Wars story is about to get thrusted into the larger canon in a big way for better or for worse.
The episode starts with our favorite chrome dome and his Muppet baby walking into a somewhat nefarious looking establishment. The graffiti all along the walls is definitely something I’ll have to go back and check out frame by frame as there are some cool easter eggs. Mando and Yodes head into the underground Gamorrean Guard fights we have seen in the trailer. This is the scene where the person he is meeting tells him this is no place to bring a child and he takes them all out after Baby Yoda shuts the doors, an awesome moment that really made me pop in the trailer. Mando is on the hunt for other Mandolarians to try and find out more about the Jedi so he can find a safe place for Yodes. The mark eventually reveals to him he knows of a Mandalorian on…..Tatooine. That’s right and I think we alllllll know which mando he is referring to. Mando arrives on Tatooine complete with a shot of a Bantha and Tusken Raider, and heads to his friend from Season 1 who looked after Baby Yodes. He heads out to find a Mos Pelgo which is a mining town that was wiped out after the Empire fell. He encounters someone called “The Marshal” who is 100% wearing Boba Fetts armor but I’m guessing at this moment is not Fett. Probably scavenged the armor and a chance to look like a Badass cause honestly who wouldn’t. The Marshal takes his helmet off and it is actor Timothy Olyphant, he reveals his name to be Cobb Vanth and he bought the armor off some Jawas. Mando demands Cobb remove the armor and the two have a stand off but before either can make a move the ground starts to quake. A giant Krayt dragon comes through the town before emerging from the sand to devour a Bantha whole.
Cobb and Mando make a deal if Mando helps him kill the creature he will give him the armor. Cobb continues to be a scavenger of Star Wars lore as his speeder looks to be partially made out of one of the engines from Anakin’s Podracer. There is only so much to go around on Tatooine. Any way while on the trip Cobb has a cool flashback to the destruction of the second Death Star, the town was thrilled but the same evening the Mining guild moved in and took over. He fled for days in the desert before being saved by the Jawas. He bought the armor and returned to save the town. Mando enlists some Sand People to join the hunt and they all set out to slay the dragon and unites the town and the Sand People to take out the dragon, Mando is a peacemaker. The group decides to bury charges that they will detonate once the dragon comes out. This scene was just incredible as the dragon eats sand people and spews toxic saliva before the Marshall blows the charges. The explosion doesn’t kill the beast so Mando and Marshall fire up their jetpacks and go to work. Mando manages to lure the beast in to eat the Bantha they have strapped up with all the explosives. It seems he may have also been eaten in the plan but he emerges from the beast unharmed cause this is the first episode in the new season of the show named after him. He detonates the explosives and kills the dragon adding dragon slayer to his list of accomplishments. Cobb returns the armor to Mando and the two part ways hoping to see eachother again. As the episode ends however we see a man in robes atop the dunes looking down as he turns around it is the actor Temura Morrison who of course plays Jango Fett who Boba is a clone of and who redid all Boba’s lines in later releases of the OT.
That’s right fans Boba really is alive! Beyond that reveal this was an awesome episode. Olyphant playing the Marshal in Boba’s armor was just an awesome choice and was a great character playing the small town sheriff protecting the village with the help of the wandering gunman. Add in the amazing effects with the Krayt dragon which is already above and beyond any CGI stuff we saw in Season 1. This season really is gonna be bigger and better in every way with the huge success of Season 1. I hope we see Olyphant again down the road and surely this is not the last we will see of Fett.
Observations:
- Ok that’s THE R5 from A New Hope right???
- So that’s what the pointy end on a Tusken Raider staff is for.
- Mando speaks Sand People
- Cobb looks both badass and somewhat silly in Fetts armor I’m not sure if that’s what they’re going for.
- “They might be open to some fresh ideas” was the line of the episode.
- I can’t tell if the “not to scale” conversation was a dig and Star Wars collectors or not. I choose to think it was.
- If I was Mando I would replace my Mudhorn insignia with that of a Krayt Dragon cause that’s way cooler.
- BOBA LIVES!!!!!
