Are we all in need of a little distraction this week? Me too. This week on The Mandalorian, Mando agrees to help escort a passenger across space to her husband where he can fertilize her eggs in order to continue the last of her line. Unfortunately, Mando runs across a couple of problems in this Peyton Reed (Ant-Man series) directed-episode of The Mandalorian Chapter 10.
Picking up right after the events of last episode, Mando is recklessly speeding back toward the Razor Crest but his way is cut off when he runs into a trap and comes into contact with a group of bounty hunters. They’re here for the Child. Mando, the Child, and all his stuff go tumbling everywhere and the two of them barely make it out of the encounter alive. Remember last episode when I said Mando is a bad dad? I stand by it! There was no reason to be going that fast with a child in the vehicle, Din.
Forced to trudge back to Mos Eisley with his stuff, the extra Mandalorian suit, the Child, and a huge hunk of krayt dragon, he returns to Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris, back for more) disappointed at the lack of any leads. But, lucky for you, Mando, Peli has another lead. It’ll just cost you 500 credits for Dr. Mandible to tell you where to go. You gotta respect the hustle when it comes to Peli Motto, that and she’s good at spotting suckers.
Back at her hangar (with the roasting krayt dragon meat), Dr. Mandible’s contact arrives with the promise to lead him to a Mandalorian covert that is close by, in the same sector. Mando hopes that they might be what is left of the covert at Nevarro after the events of Season One, but there’s no confirmation. In exchange for details, he must take a passenger to the estuary moon of Trask and he must do it at sublight speeds because hyperspeed will kill her spawn. The passenger, known only as Frog Lady, also happens to be voiced by Star Wars veteran Dee Bradley Baker, known for his voicing of the clones in The Clone Wars.
Without the use of his hyperdrive, travel to Trask will be slow and the journey could make them vulnerable to pirates or warlords hunting open space for victims. Unfortunately for Frog Lady’s eggs, pirates and warlords aren’t the only concern to their existence. Baby Yoda, a fan of frogs and clearly a fan of eggs, looks at her container of eggs like he’s looking at a delicious snack. While Mando and Frog Lady get settled, he’s got the container open and is feasting on these eggs like there’s no tomorrow.
Snatching up the Child, Mando reprimands him for eating the eggs and tries to get some shut-eye before he’s awakened by the sound of someone trying to get in contact with the Crest. Good news, it’s not pirates! Bad news, it’s Republic sentries sweeping the airspace. Captain Carson Teva, played by Kim’s Convenience‘s Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, and Trapper Wolf, played by Dave Filoni (!!!), inform Mando that the Crest is now required to run a beacon. They’re searching for Imperial holdouts and ask Mando for a ping, who tries to evade their prying. Unfortunately, this is where we find out Frog Lady is likely a prison escapee from a prison transport.
Realizing the jig is up, Mando fires the Crest into action and leads the X-Wings on a chase through the clouds and into the canyon of an ice planet. Although he loses the tail, the Crest ends up trapped in a hole in the icy base of the planet. Frog Lady, being cold-blooded and requiring a warm environment, is immediately concerned when she sees that there is a hole in the hull from their crash and she and her eggs might freeze. Desperate to instill a sense of urgency into Mando, she reprograms the droid head on the wall so that she can speak through it.
The droid in question is Q9-0 aka Zero from “Chapter 6: The Prisoner”. He was a part of the mercenary crew sent to free Qin and was voiced by Richard Ayoade, who returns this episode for a guest appearance, this time acting as a voice box for Frog Lady. She is not content to just sit around in the cold and wait for her family line to die. Drawing on a Mandalorian’s honor, she is able to guilt Mando into action. At this point, the Crest is two steps away from being completely trashed, but Mando dutifully starts on repairs.
After a bit, the Child shows Mando that their passenger has left the Crest. I have to say, I felt a bit of sympathy for Frog Lady this episode. Sure, she is assuredly an escaped prisoner. But she’s also doing her best to keep her spawn alive. That includes being trapped on a ship where the man flying you can’t speak your language, his kid is eating your potential future kids, and then you end up trapped on an ice planet with freaking kryknas chasing after you (because the said kid is obsessed with eating eggs and needs to be taught self-control). All she wanted was some warm water so she and her eggs could maybe survive this turmoil.
Credit: Disney+
But, as mentioned above, Baby Yoda’s insatiable hunger for eggs leads them into deadly peril. After cracked into a krykna egg and devouring the gross baby spider inside, this triggers a domino effect. In a scene straight from my nightmares, the eggs start cracking and soon the group is running at full speed to get away from a THOUSAND kryknas out for blood. Even with all of Mando’s tricks, the krykna invade the Crest and the group is confined to the cockpit. But even then, their escape is thwarted by a SECOND giant krykna.
For a moment, I was expecting the Child to use the force as kryknas can be tamed with the Force. In Star Wars: Rebels, Kanan was able to tame them using the force. However, I don’t think the Child could convince them that they had good intentions (even if he knew what to do) seeing as he just ate some of its eggs. But all this sound has brought the X-Wings back and with their aid, the krykna are defeated.
Captain Carson and Wolf are willing to essentially let Mando off with a warning. With a second callback to “The Prisoner”, Carson reveals that Mando’s willingness to protect Lieutenant Davan back during “The Prisoner” combined with the fact that he has apprehended culprits from the wanted register makes them believe he’s not a threat. But, they’re not so friendly that they’ll help Mando fix the Crest. Telling him to fix the Crest and get a beacon, the two of them fly off.
The Crest, now with a punctured cockpit and looking like it’s ready to be broken down for parts, is patched up enough to limp to Trask, where he will be able to complete the job. It seems like next week we will be picking up right after arriving at Trask since Frog Lady said that her husband has seen Mandalorians there. For me, this was an exciting episode and yet it had the same feeling as “The Marshall”. Full are callbacks, fun cameos, and good action, but can we get to the meat of the story soon? I am eager to see some of the fan predictions play out this season, and while the opening sequence with the group trying to take the Child inspires a sense of urgency, it feels like we’re still in the exposition of the season.
Will Mando teach the Child a little more restraint when it comes to eggs? Will he be a better dad next week? Will the Crest ever be in decent working condition again? Time will tell.
The Mandalorian streams new episodes every Friday on Disney+.
