So I lied to all of you amazing readers. I claimed that the next episode of the Mandalorian would be out on Tuesday and to my surprise the latest adventure for out nameless bounty hunter dropped late last week. I’m not sure if came out Thursday or Friday but all I know is I was shocked when I logged onto Disney+ and saw “The Child” was ready for my consumption.

The Mandalorian has been a hit so far and is ingratiating itself into the pop culture. As I stated in the previous review I think the non binging approach to The Mandalorian has been crucial to how popular it has become.People have been going crazy over Baby Yoda and the community has been coming up with great theories about who/what this creature is. The gap in-between each episode allows the viewers to digest what they are watching and appreciate every bit of each chapter.

So before we get into the review lets do some digesting of our own and talk some Baby Yoda. So who is he? So who is SHE? Where does Baby Yoda come from? and what does the fallen empire want with him/her? Soooooo many questions! Okay so here’s what I think makes the most sense (Also this is not my own theory I am repeating my favorite theory I have heard online, I’ll post the link to the video below). This creature is clearly force sensitive, and sensitive is an understatement after seeing what it did to the space rhino, making it an extremely valuable package for the empire. The empire clearly wants to capture this creature but here is where it gets good. The doctor guy who wants the creature alive…..wait for it…… he’s a cloner who is somehow tied with the cloners on Kamino. On his arm is a patch that people on the internet, who pay way more attention to details then me, noticed is the same patch that the Kamino cloners have. The empire is trying to clone Baby Yoda!CRAZY but please watch the video for a better explanation.

So lets get into the actual episode. “The Child” which was written by John Favreau, and directed by Rick Famuyiwa delivers another great building block in the early stages of this Star Wars epic. What stands out to me is that John Favreau is writing most of the episodes but each episode has a different director. Without doing any research to back this up, I feel like it is usually the other way around, there is a director of a series with different writers tackling each episode. I think this bodes well to a consistent story as Favreau is in charge of each beat.

I should probably mention that spoilers lurk ahead

The story of “The Child” is simple. Jawa’s scrap the Mandalorian’s ship and he must retrieve the “egg” in order for the Jawa’s to trade back the pieces. The first two episodes have established that this show will support itself on simple yet compelling narratives. As a viewer I am not focusing on convoluted political storylines but rather great characters, thrilling action, and beautiful sets.

This episode really used the Star Wars universe to its full advantage as it featured three fun species of alien who have all played critical role in the Star Wars Cannon. I’m about to sound like the biggest Star Wars geek in the world but who gives a nerf hurder i’m about to go all in:

1. Trandoshan- Just like the Mandalorians, Tradoshan’s are fierce warriors and many members of the race are bounty hunters. The Tradoshan who is most important in Star Wars cannon is of course Bossk, who is part of the monthly crew the empire hires to hunt down the Millennium Falcon. It was great seeing this race do what they do best…be bounty hunters. This gave a great opening act which not only showed off our Mando’s skill but proved how valuable of a package Baby Yoda is.
2. Jawa- Truth be told when I was a youngling watching Star Wars I always hated the Jawa Scene. I loved the action in the opening of A New Hope and I always felt like the R2 and 3P0 scene that followed it was extremely slow! As someone who has in theory matured I understand how this was needed to move the story along but as a 10 year old I felt like this scene was always keeping me from blasters and space dog fights. Our Mandalorian learned a value lesson about leaving his ship unattended. This made the world seem alive and created a sensible device to move the plot of this chapter. Not to be insensitive but watching The Mandalorian disinegrate Jawa’s was pretty incredible.
3. Reeks- Who would of thought Theon Greyjoy would be in The Mandalorian? Is it too soon for GOT jokes? Well anyway, we see a return of everyones favorite space Rhino, aka a Reek. Just like in Attack of the Clones we have a Reek v Mandalorain showdown. I really enjoyed seeing this creature as I always enjoyed its brief yet memorable appearance in the prequels. However, unlike the Reek from the battle of Gyonosis , this one did not go down without a fight. In all honestly I was almost routing for the Reek. I mean, it was hanging in her cave getting some shut eye when a Mandalorian comes out of nowhere trying to steal her egg. The Galaxy is a brutal world and ultimately the Reek was not able to protect it’s egg leading to a high protein snack for the Jawa’s. This was ultimately a really fun scene with a really fun Star Wars creature….and it also showed Baby Yoda’s force sensitivity!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut4WoDi-AEM

The Score

If you could not tell I really enjoy this show. As a Star Wars fan who has not been impressed with most of their recent content it has been a much needed breath of fresh air. A few areas of criticism, I saw the Baby Yoda force save coming from a mile away, and I thought it was a little toooooo easy and convienent that Nick Nolte could fix The Mandalorian’s ship. These are very minor, this episode was awesome! It reminded me a lot of Walking Dead episode 4 (I think) “Vatos”. An episode with a side quest esk story line that was able to be wrapped up in one episode. This episode did not have any huge reveals or major plot development but I can see myself going back to this episode if I am looking for a one off episode of The Mandalorian a few years from now.

I give this episode an 8.9