The Super Powered Fancast

The Mandalorian

Disney Plus

Season 2 Episode 1

Chapter 9: The Marshal

Mando and the Child head to some familiar stomping grounds to track down rumors of another.

Mando is on a mission to return the Child to its people, but life on the fringes of society continue to bring their own set of dangers for the pair. After a violent encounter during a Gammorean fight, Mando discovers that there have been rumors of Mandalorian activity on, of all places, Tatooine. Favreau writes and directs the first episode of the second season and the opening scene has the same wild west outlaw tone that made the first season work so well.

There is a dangerous, rough quality to the fringe areas of the Republic and the production designers do a great job of making the sets and backgrounds dark and ominous.

After getting the information he needs, the Razor Crest returns to Tatooine and we get the return of Amy Sidaris’ Peli Motto. She serves her purpose in the episode in as much as she has what is needed to get Mando and the Child on their way to a hidden town as well as a geography lesson about Tatooine itself (courtesy of R5). When the pair arrive at Moss Pelgo, we are gifted with both fan service and two twists in the form of the marshal of the town wearing a very familiar set of armor.

I don’t want to spoil what armor and who is under it, but the episode quickly subverts our expectations in the best, most efficient way so the story can continue as the Marshal and the Mando have to team up with each other and the local Tusken Raiders to take down a threat to everyone in the area.

There are some classic Cowboys vs Indians tropes at work in this episode with the miners teaming up with the Tuskens and Favreau does a good job of building up that tension without it overpowering the fact that they need to work together. The third act gets heavy into the action and both the stunts and special effects are movie quality from start to finish. It is beautifully shot and thrilling.

The first episode of the second season keeps the tone and pace of the previous one really well. There were more quips and humor in the dialogue than previous episodes and they strayed a little close to being unbearable, but the episode kept its eye on the prize and delivered big action, great story and interesting callbacks to the bigger Star Wars universe.