The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 2: “The Passenger” Review
“The Passenger” has dropped on Disney+ and Din Djarin’s search for more of his kind continues. Peli Motto is around to drop some knowledge on Djarin, but only after essentially scamming him out of some cash. That’s life on Tatooine.
Motto connects Djarin with someone who knows where another Covert should be. In exchange, this person just wants a lift. But when you live a life like Din Djarin, nothing is ever that simple. Not even close.
“The Passenger” is from an amphibious species and carries a clutch of eggs in a tank. She needs to get to her husband on another planet before the opportunity for fertilization passes. The catch is that the journey has to be at sub-light speeds as using a hyperdrive could kill the eggs. Mando is desperate for Mandalorian intel so he agrees.
Ultimately, the only aspect of the episode that pushed the overall story forward was the potential covert Djarin has learned about. But that was the end of the revelation as nothing else about it was resolved. Next week, hopefully.
While this episode wasn’t necessarily bad, it also wasn’t particularly great. After the classic Western vibe of the first episode, this one went in an entirely different direction. It didn’t really feel like it advanced the plot at all since the focus was solely on the trip.
Boba Fett, Please (No Spoilers)
There is no follow up to Boba Fett’s appearance at the end of the previous episode. Boba Fett being alive was a huge moment for most Star Wars fans. But Djarin spent most of this episode off of Tatooine and didn’t interact with him at all.
There’s a plan to give Boba Fett his own Disney+ miniseries. Still, The Mandalorian needs to follow up on the huge plot point they dropped in the Season 2 premiere. If that’s all of Boba Fett fans get this season, they won’t be happy and understandably so.
That being said, Djarin still has Fett’s armor. If the legendary bounty hunter is going to get back in the game, he’s going to want his gear back. A meeting between the two Mandalorians may be all but inevitable.
Monster of the Week (Spoilers)
Two episodes of Season 2 are now on Disney+ and this season is already cultivating a “monster of the week” vibe. The first episode’s Krayt dragon worked because it served the plot and was an interesting piece of Star Wars lore. This week was a much different story.
Crashed on an ice planet, Djarin, The Child and The Passenger encounter a gigantic spider monster and its offspring. It’s a random threat that comes out of nowhere and doesn’t have any substantial impact on the story. Djarin just has to fight it because it’s there.
The ice planet itself was an interesting swerve. It appeared in the trailers. Fans speculated about it being Hoth or Ilum. If it was either planet, that didn’t come up. This was actually nice as it helped The Mandalorian from becoming nothing more than a tour through Star Wars’ nostalgic past. Not everything in the show needs to have a long franchise history.
Bounty Hunters Strike (Spoilers)
The episode opens with The Mandalorian and The Child making their way back to the Razor Crest which was left in the care of Peli Motto. They are ambushed in the Dune Sea by what appears to be a group of bounty hunters who are specifically after The Child.
The Marshall somewhat removed the tension from Djarin’s mission as no one seemed to be chasing them anymore. Having the bounty hunters attack was a smart move as it shows that there are people out there still hunting The Child.
An obvious answer to who hired them could be Moff Gideon, though he might be tired of bounty hunters at this point. There’s also always a chance that this could have been a test set by Boba Fett to learn about Din Djarin.
Another possibility relates to an unresolved plot point from Season 1, Episode 1. Mando and IG-11 were both hired by The Client to retrieve The Child from a fortified encampment run by Nikto mercenaries. But who hired them and why they wanted The Child has never been addressed. Those people may want their prize back.
Yummy Eggs (No Spoilers)
The Child’s legendary appetite comes up once again in “The Passenger”. The eggs The Passenger carries float in a clear tank that she carries on her back. And they are incredibly important as they’re the last of her genetic line.
It’s kind of rough that The Child keeps eating them. His carnivorous nature has been well established at this point so it should come as no surprise that he keeps cramming them in his mouth. What is surprising is that The Passenger doesn’t seem to notice any are missing.
He takes things even further later in the episode when he eats what turns out to be a spider egg off of the ground in a cavern. The Child really needs to stop eating every random egg he finds as that one caused them some major problems.
