Having found his prey, the Mandalorian bounty hunter now needs to make his way off the planet, but its inhabitants think otherwise.

With Chapter 1 ending on quite the surprise, things don’t progress significantly with Chapter 2, revealing the show’s episodic nature. While only 31 minutes long, it feels like it could have been covered off in a ten minute interlude in a feature, and I do suspect that an edited movie version could be produced.

This instalment will be remembered as ‘The One With the Jawas’ as it’s all about Mandy (can I call him that?) running in with diminutive scavengers, who have appropriated key parts of his spaceship. They won’t return them to him unless he barters something of value, and in this case they want the egg of a giant beast that hides out in the caves.

It’s a fun, old-fashioned story that’s ultimately light on consequence, beyond getting the ship off the planet and giving the young companion the chance to show off what he/she can do. The Sandcrawler is magnificent, boasting some upgrades since the remote model used in Episode IV, and it’s fun watching the little critter ganging up on the bounty hunter as he tries to break in to their vehicle. The Jawas themselves feel more like Minions now, and what they do with the egg did make me chuckle.

Verdict: Fun, but this feels like it’s treading water and relying on nostalgic feels already. This needs to kick into gear soon or is in danger of being episodic fan service. 6/10

Nick Joy

Having retrieved his tiny target, our protagonist must simply get back to his ship and fly back to collect his bounty, but that might be a little trickier than he imagined.

Last week’s strong opener gave us plenty to hope for with its slick action and its last minute reveal of a baby…Yoda (look, Yoda’s species has never been revealed by the powers that be at Lucasfilm so just go with me). The tiny creature doesn’t just look cute, he’s also a mischievous little so and so as well, and that cuteness spliced with naughtiness provides a lot of the appeal for the first half of the episode, as well as several tantalising shots of him reaching out with his little three-clawed hand with a look of intense concentration on his face, as if he’s about to… you know…

The episode also relies on the appearance of another familiar set of diminutive creatures any Star Wars fan will instantly recognise for another shot of nostalgia as well as the next Obstacle Our Hero Must Overcome, as they leave his ship in no fit state to take off. Thanks to his Ugnaught friend, he’s able to try a more diplomatic route once his own preferred methods have proven unsuccessful, and this leads to the Fetch Quest part of the episode – once again our protagonist must go and fetch a thing against seemingly impossible odds and… wait, are we sure this is the second episode?

The problem is, the show started strongly and seemed to imply that it was setting up a lot of important questions to be answered. Who is this tiny green infant? Why do so many people seem to be after him, either looking to kill or capture the little mite? What will the Mandalorian do with him? None of this really seems to be of interest to the writers this time out though, who seem content to let the thing gently spin its wheels, narratively speaking, while they get on with constructing cool action scenes and bringing back references the fanbase will get all nostalgic over.

It’s not bad by any means – director Rick Famuyiwa really has an eye for a nice Star Wars-ian shot, and the set pieces flow nicely, with the action never outstaying its welcome. If anything, it perhaps leans a little too hard on the cuteness of the titular green bundle, but in all honesty it’s forgivable because it genuinely is that cute – it’d just be nice if the show felt like telling us more about who it is and what the deal is. I get a sense that Favreau is trying to take a slow, patient approach to his world-building here, but it does on occasion here start to feel like its edging on self-indulgence. Star Wars is a universe that’s already been built. What we need to see is more detail on these particular characters, and more narrative travel for this particular thread. I can only hope things start to move quicker from here.

Verdict: Fun enough and still gorgeous to look at, but bordering on self-indulgence here. I have faith still, but they need to get things moving. 8/10

Greg D. Smith