It’s Star Wars Month 2
We continue with the Mandalorian, what do the relics of the Empire want with a force-sensitive child? Let’s dig into episodes 3-4 and find out.
Chapter 3: The Sin
Mando’s ship arrives back on Nevarro as the child exits its
pod and contacts Greef Karga, his original contact. He tells him he needs to
deliver the child directly to the Empire directly to claim his payment. The child has
taken the knob of one of the ship's levers and is chewing it, Mando puts the child
back in its pod as they make planetfall.
Nevarro is a very diverse place, I like it, it feels more
rock quarry than desert quarry like Jakku or Tatooine. Mando makes the delivery
and the child is noticeably worried. The doctor runs a scan and concludes that
the child is in good health, so Mando gets his bounty. Mando asks what they
plan to do with the child but that’s not really the code of the guild, which is
to forget about these happenings entirely.
Mando collects his reward and leaves, right to his
Mandalorian clan. As he presents the bounty to the forge lady, who seems to be
the clan leader, other members of the clan approach. One in particular is not
happy that he’s done business with the Empire, the reason they had to go into
hiding in the first place. They scrap over it briefly but it ultimately doesn’t
matter. The metal is forged into a new suit of amour as well as some nifty
weapons. “Whistling birds” little wrist-rockets basically.
We see more flashes of Mando’s past including a number of
battle droids, he must’ve been adopted into the Clan sometime during the Clone
Wars. Mando enters Nevarro’s tavern, showing off his shiny new armour. Greef
tells him that pretty much everyone in the tavern had a tracking fob. He wants
a new assignment, and is happily given one, Greef himself having earned quite
the finders fee for Mando’s success.
The question turns to the child and we hear that the New
Republic that replaced the Empire does not have the most stellar of reputations
round these parts. Mando heads into his ship preparing to take off but finds he
can’t do it. He returns to the base, finding the pod the child was in in the
dumpster. He takes a snipers position on the rooftop, listening into the
conversation between the client and the doctor. Basically the Doctor has to
extract the genetic material quickly.
Mando begins the process of storming the base on his own,
slowly taking out the stormtroopers guarding the place using stealth. The doctor begs
for his life and says the child would be dead without him and that’s enough
that Mando spares his life, grabbing the child and making for the exit, taking
out any stormtrooper in his way with lethal prejudice. Surrounded he uses the
whistling birds to take out more stormtroopers.
He leaves but in doing so, the tracking fobs the other bounty hunters have are reactivated, including one belonging to Greef. Mando is soon surrounded by dozens of Bounty Hunters. Greef tries to keep things from escalating but Mando uses the speeder that was supposed to be a safe place for the child during the fight as cover making some distance before the droid piloting it is shot.
Mando holds out for a while using his impressive and expansive arsenal but he’s one guy and vastly outnumbered, that is until the other Mandolorians join the fray, and they have added jetpacks. Greef retreats as do most of the other bounty hunters.
The Mandolorian who Mando fought with earlier tells him to get to
the ship whilst they hold off the bounty hunters. They’ll have to relocate the
coven but as they say ‘this is the way.’ Greef is waiting for him on the ship but
Mando shoots him, he’s saved only by the steel in his pocket. The child reaches
for the knob thing and this time Mando gives it to him.
It’s another solid episode, further exploring what the
series is to become, a journey film featuring Mando and the child on the run
and trying to find a place to lie low, for now.
Rating 8/10
Oh yeah, I should mention how much I love the images they
use in the credits.
Chapter 4: Sanctuary
We see some children using woven baskets to fish in the
river. They chase frogs, run around and do all sorts of small village things,
but their peace is interrupted by gunfire, the gunfire on the water creating a
mess of fog. Another tribe invade the village, raiding their supplies. We don’t
actually see where the gunfire came from yet, only that its left devastation in
its wake.
Mando arrives on the planet Sorgan, the planet we just saw.
It’s sparsely populated so Mando thinks it might be beneath the notice of the
bounty hunters and allow them to lay low for a couple of months. Mando leaves
the ship and instructs the child to stay put… Like that was going to happen.
Surprisingly it can keep up.
Mando arrives at a Tavern and we’re introduced to, *sigh*
Cara Dune. He thinks she might be after the child, especially since she
disappears soon after he has eyes on her. They fight, both having each other at
gunpoint. She figured he had a fob on her and recognises him as part of the
guild, which is why she did what she did.
OK, I can’t really talk about Cara Dune without talking
about her actress Gina Carrano. She had a good role in this show, and was set
to be part of the New Republic spin-off unveiled last year but then she said
something stupid (actually several things) on a website known as Twitter.com
and Disney decided she was bad for the brand and cut her off, effectively
cancelling the New Republic spin-off at the same time. She’s unapologetically
transphobic and has talked about her dislike of face-coverings and vaccinations,
she’s not JK Rowling level bad but only because she doesn’t have that level of
influence, fuck both of them.
Cara tells Mando to piss off and he’s about to do so when a
group of villagers approach, offering everything they have in exchange for
Mando’s protection. He’s not interested until he hears they live ‘in the middle
of nowhere’ or as he calls it, the ideal hiding spot, he gets the credits and
offers them to Cara to join him, figuring an ex-shock-trooper like herself
should prove more than a match for whatever raiders are in these lands, more
than likely their mere presence being a deterrent.
They arrive at the village and the kids take to the child.
Mando’s set up in a barn and Cara is set up… somewhere else. We get a bit more
backstory for Mando but nothing more concrete than what I’ve laid out
previously. Mando never publicly removing his helmet is long-running arc.
Mando and Cara scout the area, finding the tracks of AT-ST
walker, the two-legged ones but deadly, especially to a peaceful group. They
tell the villagers they have to move but they refuse. Instead they need to get
trained up and fast. The make some defences and set a trap for the walker, but
there’s still a matter of the raiders so the Mando and Cara train them in staff
fighting and shooting.
That night, Mando and Cara raid the camp, Mando lays an
explosive, blowing up their main encampment and convincing them to bring out
the walker to attain retribution. It’s night time and the mist provides some
support. The walker stops short of stepping into the trap and begins firing on
the village, the raiders storming in to provide support.
Car draws the walkers fire and uses the water trenches as
cover to get a shot that breaches the walker’s hull, it steps into the trap, providing
an opening for Mando to throw a grenade into the breach and disable the water.
With the walker disabled, the raiders retreat. Mando believes all the ruckus
would likely attract attention and his best course of action is to leave, but
he’s leaving the kid here, not wanting his life for the child.
Unfortunately, that may not be an option, as someone with a
tracking fob has arrived to capture the child. Cara takes him down but since
they can find him here it’s no longer safe for the child either so Mando and
the child have to leave. It’s a bittersweet farewell.
Despite some problems, I really like these one and done
journey episodes.
Rating 8.5/10
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