Mando and the Child are back, with season 2 episode 1 now available to stream on Disney Plus it is time to review episode 1 titled The Marshal. With season 1 episode 8 - Redemption ending with the reveal that Moff Gideon has the Darksaber, it has felt longer than a year to pick things back up again. Season 1 was great (I wanted longer episodes), the best episode of the season came with Redemption. The action in Redemption was the best yet and the Darksaber reveal had me excited for season 2. The Darksaber is a Jedi lightsaber that was used by the first Mandalorian Jedi, it has special properties, and it is a cherished item to the Mandalorians. The weapon was introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars the animated TV show and later appeared on another show Star Wars: Rebels. The Darksaber was last held by Bo-Katan a Mandalorian. I am a Star Wars nerd; I think the universe that George Lucas created is one the best and biggest and I thought knowing more about the Darksaber might help those appreciate its significance.
SEASON 2 KICKS OFF WITH A BANG
The opening scene of the episode, the Mando and the Child at a pit fight was great. The episode as a whole was great and continued the episodic storytelling of season 1, this episode focuses on Mando looking for the remaining Mandalorians. The search takes him back to Tatooine, where he goes to a mining village and he finds someone wearing the Mandalorian armour. The armour in question belonged to Boba Fett who was dropped into the Sarlac pit and assumed dead. The character now wearing the Mandalorian armour is Cobb Vanth, who is now sheriff of the mining town. Vanth explains that he got the armour from Jawa's and that he used the armour to free his town from slavers. Mando wants the armour since Cobb Vanth has not earned the right to wear it, so they strike a deal, the Mando will help Vanth kill a very large krayt dragon.
WHO IS COBB VANTH
Cobb Vanth is a character that first appeared in the Aftermath trilogy of novels by Chuck Wendig. The Aftermath trilogy was three books that cover the time just after Return of the Jedi and the books detail the last gasp of the empire and the formation of the new republic. Cobb Vanth's role in the books was small but memorable, since he acquired the armour the assumption was that Boba Fett must have escaped the Sarlac pit. Vanth was played in the episode by Timothy Olymphant who has previously played a lawman on Justified and Deadwood. I hope we see more of Vanth, Olymphant was great and I could see him being an ally to Mando. After the dragon is killed Vanth and Mando go their separate ways with Mando taking the armour. As the episode closes, we get a look at a character watching the Mando leave, the close-up on the character reveals him to possibly be Boba-Fett.
IS THE MYSTERY MAN BOBA-FETT
The show does not confirm or deny who the mystery character is, the actor was Temuera Morrison who played Jango-Fett and the clones in the prequels. Jango-Fett kept a clone to raise as his son (Boba-Fett), so Boba-Fett is a clone of his father. Likely the mystery man is Boba-Fett, but he could also be a clone from the clone army, my guess is it is Boba-Fett. I think for what The Mandalorian has done so far in the series, the mystery man is Boba-Fett. I personally would not mind if they reveal the mystery man to be a member of the clone army, though I think we are going to see more of them at some point (likely animated). Boba-Fett was a fan favourite of the original trilogy, though I do not get it because he died so comically, it was hard to see him as such an opposing figure. I think there is a good story to be told, to redeem how the character of Boba-Fett met his end in the original trilogy.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There was no mention of Moff Gideon or the Darksaber in the episode though I know likely sooner than later there will be an appearance or at the very least a mention. The episode was great as a whole, the close focus on the attempt to kill the dragon kept the plot moving fast. The episode made a great point of humanizing the Tusken Raiders, who are seen as monsters in the original trilogy and the prequels. The show added a lot more reactions of the Child (baby Yoda), than in the previous season. The Child did not do much in the episode though he had some very funny and cute moments, there was also the cool image of Cobb Vanth riding a modified pod racer. The focus of the early part of the season will likely be Mando trying to reunite with the remaining Mandalorians. It was a great start to season two and now I cannot wait until next Friday to see episode two. I will be doing this article weekly as the episodes are airing, though because of work the upload time will vary as I will not always have Fridays off.
Post a Comment