‘The Mandalorian’ Episode 2: An Egg-cellent Adventure (RECAP)
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This Is the Way
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[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 2, “The Child.”]
It’s a baby Yoda! A baby Yoda! Who knew babies of Yoda’s species would be among the cutest things in the Star Wars universe?!
Unfortunately, the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) doesn’t seem to care about the utter adorability of his asset, which is only the third member of its species ever seen on-screen. His goal is to make it back to his ship with the kid in tow and get off of the desert planet, but as he finds out, that’ll be far easier said than done. A familiar Star Wars species has scrapped his ship for parts… and if he wants them back, he’ll need to do something for them.
A Ship-Related Scuffle
As the baby Yoda and the Mandalorian head through the caverns, they’re ambushed by a group of raiders. Mando makes short work of them, but he’s injured in the process. He pauses to patch himself and his armor up, and as he does so, the child keeps getting free to approach him (do I sense some Force-sensitivity here?). He plunks it back in its cradle twice, and the second time, he closes it inside.
When Mando and the baby get back to his ship, they find it being ripped apart by Jawas. He vaporizes a few of them, which terrifies them into leaving, and he then pursues them and tries to take down their cruiser. This ends poorly (but comically), as his efforts are eventually met with a gun that short-circuits his armor and topples him from the roof. When he comes to, the baby is just staring at him, peaceful and calm. (Wonder what it was thinking throughout that whole bombastic battle?)
Let’s Make a Deal
With that, he and baby retrace their steps. Mando finds his ship is in a terrible state of disarray. It won’t even fly: It only belches black smoke. He’s left with no choice but to backtrack yet again, to Kuiil (Nick Nolte)’s farm. He tells Kuiil that his ship’s been destroyed, but his pal corrects him. “The Jawas steal,” he says. “They don’t destroy.” The Ugnaught floats him a new idea: He can trade for the parts of his ship he needs.
The trio then makes their way to the Jawas, who, as one might suspect, are none too pleased to see the Mandalorian. Weapons are part of his religion, so he’s equally displeased to have to drop anything resembling one, including his blaster. Both sides trade some insults — the Jawas tell him he speaks their language like a Wookiee, he uses the flamethrower in his armor as an answer to their taunts — but they reach an accord when the Jawas ask him to bring them “the Egg.” If he does that, he can have the parts for his ship.
Jawa Juice
They all travel together to a cave, where the Mandalorian encounters a creature that looks a whole lot like a rhinoceros (maybe it’s some form of a reek?). The creature unceremoniously tosses him from its cave, then proceeds to battle with him at the muddy cave opening. The bounty hunter is tossed around and unable to get the upper hand, his armor gets fried (again), and it looks like he just might be killed; but then, the baby uses the Force to levitate the creature, giving him the time he needs to regroup and figure out how to kill the thing with the knife he still has. Thanks, baby Yoda!
The creature out of the way, Mando’s heads into the cave and extracts the egg, which looks a whole lot like a coconut. That’s exactly what it is to the Jawas. They cut it open and dip their hands into yellowish juice, happily chanting all the while. Mando just wants to repair his ship, and thankfully, the Jawas honor their deal. Kuiil brings him, along with a speeder hilariously heaped full of silver parts, back to the ship. “This is going to take days to fix,” Mando groans. “If you care to help, it might go faster,” Kuiil responds. “There’s much work to do.”
A Handsome Reward
And much work is done. Mando’s ship gets fixed, but it wouldn’t have been without Kuiil’s help, and the bounty hunter knows it. “Please allow me to give you a portion of the reward,” he offers, but Kuiil declines it, saying that Mando was his guest and it was his duty to assist. He also turns down Mando’s offer to make him a member of his crew, saying he “worked a lifetime to be free of servitude.” Instead, the Ugnaught departs and wishes Mando well, saying he hopes the child survives and brings him a handsome reward.
At least the first part of Kuiil’s wishes comes true at the end of the episode, when the child, who had been unconscious since using the Force, finally awakens. Mando and the child head across the galaxy, but where are they going? Is he heading back to the Client and Dr. Pershing? Time will tell.
Other Observations
- OK, I’m going to be really bummed if we never see IG-11 again. Even with its relatively little screentime, it climbed the list of my favorite droids. Plus, it was voiced by Taika Waititi! Certainly they wouldn’t bring in such a well-known actor for such a small part… right?
- I knew the baby was going to be Force-sensitive! It’s probably not a huge logical leap considering both Yoda and Yaddle used the Force, but it’s interesting that babies of Yoda’s species have control at such a young age. If we assume adults of Yoda’s species live to be 900 (which is the age when Yoda died), and this baby is 50, and my math is correct, it’s the equivalent of a 3-year-old human.
- I have to commend Pedro Pascal for his acting so far in the series. We’ve not once seen his face, but the way he voices his character makes the Mandalorian likable and totally unique.
The Mandalorian, Fridays, Disney+
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