The two-part finale of the first season of The Mandalorian was, by far, the best part of the show. In fact, one could argue they were the only episodes that were of above average quality. But one would also have to acknowledge that the hints of where the series was headed were intriguing and full of potential. Under those expectations, one would have been disappointed at the lack of ambition and forward momentum in the extra long opener of season two. Guess what? It’s me; I am one.
Full Spoilers for this episode lie ahead. You've been warned.
None of this is to say that ‘The Marshal’ is a bad episode
of television. It’s actually one of the best the series has produced thus far.
It’s just a disappointing rehash of things we’ve already seen, both on The Mandalorian
and in the Star Wars films. Of course, that has always been one of this
shows greatest weaknesses while simultaneously being one of the things that brings
it the most praise: nostalgia. It feels like the original trilogy of
films. It has Tusken Raiders and Tatooine and a guy that looks kinda like Boba
Fett.
What The Mandalorian lacks, however, is new ideas. No
one ever needs to see Tatooine again. You want to introduce Boba Fett into your
show set after he died? Cool. Have him escape the Sarlacc Pit and leave this
backwater dust planet. There’s no reason he has to be on Tatooine other than the
creators wanted to go back to Tatooine. Again. You already pulled the Tatooine
nostalgia lever last season and it is widely considered one of the worst
episodes the show has produced. No one asked for more.
This show still has no interesting characters outside of
Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon, who has had a grand total of 15ish minutes of
screen time, maybe not even that. Mando is a personality-less suit of armor. Yes,
he does cool things in action sequences and someone occasionally writes a cool
line for Pedro Pascal to say through a voice modulator. But I don’t know anything
about him other than he used to be racist towards robots and now he isn’t
because Taika Waititi shot some Stormtroopers. But his cool helmet looks like
Boba Fett’s cool helmet so he too doesn’t need to have any individuality for people
to think he’s cool.
Speaking of Boba Fett, he’s back. Temuera Morrison (Jango
Fett in Attack of the Clones) makes a quick appearance at the end of
this episode. Having him back to play his previous character’s clone son is
pretty neat. But do we really need Boba back? Right now, it seems more like
another nostalgia play than anything meaningful. There’s still hope though.
Again, I want to reiterate this is not a bad episode.
Timothy Olyphant plays a smarmy sheriff in a middle of nowhere mining town. As should
be expected, he steals every scene he’s in, which is a high percentage. John Leguizamo
has a short-lived role as a sketchy one-eyed fight club owner with a love of
Beskar. Amy Sedaris’ mechanic character makes a brief return. There is a several
stories tall snake monster Mando defeats by getting swallowed, planting a bomb,
and jetpacking out before it explodes.
There’s a lot to like here. The Mandalorian has the potential to be a great and exciting show that pushes Star Wars forward. For as many comics and books set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens as there are, this era still holds many mysteries to explore. For now, however, it is content to rest on its laurels and produce decent television with few new ideas. That’s unfortunate. Hopefully, the rest of Season Two lives up to its potential and gives viewers something special.
As always, feel free to give your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter at @alexraysnyder. And if you like what you read here, consider throwing a couple bucks my way on Patreon to help cover costs.
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