“I’m a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion”
A short second episode follows the explosive first one and, well, if we’re talking pure plot, it’s entirely filler. But that’s not the point, of course; this is episodic telly, not cinema, and the advantage of that is that stories get a chance to be a bit picaresque, to breathe, to let the characters get a bit of development without rushing towards the resolution of the plot. One could almost say that good storytelling is like good sex. Ahem.
Anyway, this episode is essentially thirty-one minutes of the Mandalorian being delayed from leaving Tattoine with his baby Yoda quarry because some Jawa have nicked his ship. That's it. But so much fascinating stuff happens, not least of which is that the first ten or so minutes are free as the camera lingers on Mandy and baby Yoda in what I, as a geek, have to refer to as Tenser's Floating Crib (did I think of that, Dave, or did you once use the phrase in passing?) as they walk for a bit and discover the theft of said ship as Mandy does a load of impressive Indiana Jones stuff trying manfully to besiege the Jawas' big tracked vehicle thingy. Through all of this, the camera shows little Yoda watching silently and thinking its little baby thoughts. Film critics speak of the male gaze; this episode has a lot of the baby Yoda gaze.
The only other character is Mandy's mate from last episode, played by Nick Nolte under a lot of makeup for someone so famous. The subtitles tell me that he's an Ugnaught, which is a cool detail, and the two part on friendly and honourable terms.
The main bit of coolness, though, is of course where baby Yoda shows the Force is strong with him by raising his cute little hand and levitating the rhino thing. This is several layers of cool. Two episodes in and I'm enjoying this very much.
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