Article contributed by Kate Rhoton
This week’s episode of The Mandalorian had a much different vibe than any other episode of the show so far. Maybe it was the cold environment that the characters found themselves in that so sharply contrasts the more hot and arid environments the show is usually set in. Maybe it was the horror movie elements of the episode. Or maybe it was the way that this episode seems to veer away from many prominent plotlines and slow down the story’s progression. Either way, it was definitely an episode that will be hard to forget.
Warning: this recap contains spoilers for episode 2.02, “Chapter 10: The Passenger” of The Mandalorian.
Season 2, episode 2 (aka “Chapter 10”) picks up where we left off last episode: Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Baby Yoda are on their speeder, heading back to Mos Eisley after obtaining what appears to be Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armour from Cobb Vanth at the end of the previous episode. After a brief encounter with a bandit that results in a comical, if wholly expected, jetpack gag and an adorable father/son moment between Mando and Baby Yoda, the two arrive at the Cantina where they check in with Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), who’s in the middle of a poker-esque match with a giant ant alien (a clever nod to director Peyton Reed’s previous work on the MCU’s Ant-Man series).
Peli then informs Mando that she may have a contact who can connect him with other Mandalorians, as long as Mando is willing to escort this being to Trask, the planet where her husband is located. Turns out Peli’s contact is a human-sized Frog-Lady who is carrying around a large glass vial of her unfertilised eggs that, if destroyed, will bring an end to her kind. Mando reluctantly agrees despite the fact that he can’t utilise hyperspace for fear of killing the unfertilised eggs and he, Baby Yoda, and Frog-Lady depart for Trask. The three face some hiccups along the way, including Baby Yoda’s continuous snacking on the unfertilised eggs, Mando and Frog-Lady’s inability to communicate, and a run in with Republic X-Wing fighters, which isn’t good considering Mando’s outstanding warrants.
This latter problem results in a white-knuckle chase that has Mando escaping the Republic pilots only to crash land in an icy cave on an icy planet. Frog-Lady is unhappy with Mando’s not-so-speedy efforts to fix his ship. (Freezing temperatures don’t bode well for the safety of her eggs.) She then proves that she is smarter than she appears when she hacks into the Q9-0 droid (Richard Ayoade) that we met in episode 1.06 in order to utilise its language-translating software to communicate properly with Mando. She pretty much tells him to get his crap together and get the ship fixed before she loses her babies and he fails the Mandalorian code to never break a promise.
After Mando is guilted into getting his butt moving, Frog-Lady sneaks out to find a hidden hot spring in the cave where she can warm up her eggs. After Baby Yoda tips Mando off to her escape, the two track her down. Mando has to stop Baby Yoda from snacking on one of the eggs (a running joke throughout the episode) and, put out, Baby Yoda then finds another egg sack nearby to snack on that contains a small spider-alien creature. It’s made clear pretty quickly that this is a big no-no, as the multitude of similar eggs in the area begin to hatch and the trio are soon fleeing an army of angry spider babies and their very large parents.
The trio are able to make it back to the ship and they lock themselves in the cockpit. Mando is able to get the ship started and begins to take off when one of the spider parents lands on the ship and knocks it back down to the ground. It then begins bashing on the cockpit window. The trio seem to be on their last straw when, low and behold, blaster shots come flying in and the attacking spiders are destroyed by the two X-Wing pilots we met earlier. They decide to let Mando go as they heard a rumour that he once saved the life of one of their buddies. Mando, Baby Yoda, and Frog-Lady then get back on course to Trask.
As noted earlier, this is not your typical Mandalorian episode. This is a completely new environment with a new challenge we haven’t seen Mando face yet. The episode felt almost like a short horror film, with a noticeable chunk of the episode involving the characters attempting to escape a vicious, angry horde of enemies. (Seriously, those spider aliens will give you nightmares.) There was also not much in terms of story progression. There were no references to or appearances from Boba Fett or Moff Gideon. The rest of the season will reveal just how important this episode was. If Mando’s efforts to save the Frog-Lady and her offspring have larger repercussions later on, then this episode will feel very important. If Mando’s trip to Trask proves a dead-end, then this episode will ultimately feel rather pointless. We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, enjoy the influx of Baby Yoda cuteness that was present in this episode.
