TV Recap & Review: The Mandalorian: “Chapter Ten – The Passenger”

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The Mandalorian on Disney+
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The Mandalorian: “Chapter Ten – The Passenger” will likely be the most popular episode yet. It dropped at midnight pacific time. The first episode of the new season was the gift wrap, but the second was the contents inside. “Chapter Ten” was loaded with all the right Star Wars ingredients without the artificial flavor of overly done fan service. The opening shot was an indication that the storyboarding and backgrounds were going to be a work of art inspired by Ralph McQuarrie’s concept paintings.

After a well-designed ambush and the best choreographed fight scene on The Mandalorian yet, our hero (Pedro Pascal) is forced to make a deal with a hostage-taker to save The Child. We get an entertaining dose of the features on Din Djarin’s backpack jets that will have you fumbling through the lyrics from the MC Chris song “Fett’s Vette.”

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We’re still on Tatooine, so Mando pays a visit to his totally platonic friend Peli Motto, played by Amy Sedaris (her character is getting warmer with a bit more depth). They pay a visit to the best local haunt in town. Anyone know the name of the Cantina? Or is it just like some hipster bar called The Bar? It could still be Chalmun’s Spaceport Cantina. Wookiees live a long time. Something tells me we’ll meet him in live-action one day. Peli is pretty good at Sabacc. She probably spends a lot of time at Chalmun’s, sharking travelers passing through the Outer Rim. She earns some information for her Beskar buddy, and he sets off to follow the lead to find other Mandalorians.

But wait! There’s a catch. Mando has to take a job as a Lyft driver to deliver a frog and her eggs. Little Baby Yoda thinks it’s Uber Eats, and, well, you know the rest. The Child will go on though the rest of the episode providing comedy relief as he yearns for the addictive flavor of early embryonic tadpoles. We also get to see him provide a decent amount of emotional portrayal. The puppetry is Empire Strikes Back inspired false floor genius. His movements have improved, and his articulations have increased so much, even without the CG touchups.

It’s necessary for the crew to travel sub-light, so they are intercepted by an X-wing patrol. A chase ensues that brings us back to The Art of The Empire Strikes Back. They race through the clouds, leading to a crevasse pursuit. It’s clearly inspired by movies like Firefox (1982) with Clint Eastwood. Don’t take your eyes off the screen for a moment in this episode. It’s the most beautifully designed and filmed depiction of the Star Wars universe on the small screen yet. It so closely resembled the visual drama of cinematic action that we may be ready for a feature length Mandalorian story. “The Passenger” was written by series creator Jon Favreau, and directed by Peyton Reed. Let’s all hope they enjoy working together.

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Mando evades his pursuers, but finds himself in a fix, and his passenger in hot water…literally. Gotta keep those eggs warm. They’re stranded on another frozen planet. Or maybe they crash landed near one of the poles of a temperate one. Whatever the case, AAA doesn’t go there, so our guy has an inner battle with his own scruples. He grabs his tool box and gets to work. A deals a deal, so abandoning his cargo is out of the question. Lassie, er The Child comes along to alert Mando to a new setback. Froggy’s gone for a sauna. But it’s dangerous in this unexplored territory.

A few Alien and Xenomorph references later, the action begins again. You think mynocks are creepy? Try ice spiders [note: stay through the credits to see the concept art for the spiders. You won’t be disappointed]. The scene plays a little like the notorious bug scene from Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005). The trick to those shots was the sound, or lack thereof. The clicks of frozen exoskeletons will give you goosebumps if the temperature doesn’t. The frozen effect on the hull of the ship and Mando’s armor was a nice touch. The environment was well conveyed.

Through much of the second half of the episode, there was a tone that I felt on Mimban in Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. It can be described as classic and innocent action inspired by action hero movies from the black-and-white serial days of The Lone Ranger or Flash Gordon. There’s nothing you can’t follow, and the flow doesn’t rely on quick edits or camera tricks. It’s all on the actors and puppeteers, and of course some immaculate CGI.

After a bit of difficulty escaping, the Razor Crest is grounded once more by the mamma of all ice spiders. It’s got the ferocity of a rancor and the gaping, toothy mouth of a rathtar. It’s hideous in its detail, and frightening in its simplicity. Luckily for Mando, he’s a wanted man. He gets a little help from some friendlies who are still looking for him. He’s humbled by his previous pursuers. X-wing pilots are cool, y’all. And don’t you forget it. Don’t try to pull a Han Solo trick on them. They are not TIE pilots.

Not a lot that happened in the episode was evidently relevant to the arc of the season, but what you saw may not have been all that you got. Look for the armistice between Mando and the X-wings to be applicable to some future episode necessity that requires a returned favor between Mando and the New Republic. See where I’m going with this? His foot is in the door. With the Razor Crest being in alarming disrepair, might we catch an eventual lift from the Ghost? Next week can’t come soon enough.


Check out all of our coverage for ‘The Mandalorian’ here!

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