THE MANDALORIAN - CHAPTER 10 - THE PASSENGER (Patreon)

Baby Yoda is a curious little nincompoop.

We know that already, but the latest episode doubles down with yet another reminder that pretty much all he does is wander around while poking, prodding, and eating things he shouldn’t. In many ways, it is delightful. But this time it honestly hit me in a weirder way, too. Because while I’ve talked about how much I enjoy the show’s laissez faire approach to casual murder (the episode’s opening is more proof of that), there’s something about Baby Yoda’s continuous eating of her precious eggs that strikes me as… morally odd. Don’t get me wrong, the first few eggs were funny. But in storytelling, it’s all about creating arcs and the things we do to learn and ultimately save the things that we would originally WANT to eat. But Baby Yoda has no such turn of kinship. At this point I’m even wondering he’s actually processing, given we’ve seen it it use force a few times like it actually understands. But it feels fast and loose, because here he is still the little idiot baby who doesn’t know the harm or good he is doing. And that’s weird because it feels like a perfect set-up for a real learning moment in the young consciousness of our favorite little green potato sack… But it goes un-arc-ed. Which means there’s something empty about that final button, where it’s hitting the same joke its hit before (well past the rule of three by that point). There’s just no evolution.

And that’s what Baby Yoda is right now: in stasis.

To be fair, the episode starts really promising. I know I keep saying “this is the best combat they’ve done yet!” with last few episodes, but I say it because it’s true. Here, the opening trap plays great, along with the way Mando gets out of it. I love the way he gains his balance with the jetpack. I love the visceral impact when he gets hit with the laser fire. I love that they put a knife to Baby Yoda’s throat (again, the way you make the audience care is threatening to kill the kitten, as Lucas said). And I love the ending beat with sending the dude flying off at the jetpack. It’s the part of the show that I feel they’re actually getting BETTER at.

But other aspects invite… mild concern.

Let’s take our titular passenger. As a viewer, we naturally regard non-communication as an obstacle, but I’m beginning to think that the show is just abjectly more comfortable with silence. Well, a certain kind of silence that is. Because here they’ve thrown yet another character who does not speak english or have subtitles at us. And at this point I’m wondering the deeper “why” behind this move. Because when we think about the function of this kind of dynamic in Star Wars, the first example is of course Chewbacca. But so much of what makes that work is the fact that other people understand him and it fills in blanks of banter in this really funny way that’s part of these big group conversations. But in this show, the largest extent of non-communication is just one on ones and us constantly piecing things together than feels more like work (and work for Mando, too). It’s not even really conflict per say, it’s the like the feeling of constantly being put out.

Which on one level is good because it’s about but putting your main character at disadvantage, but on another… it’s just this constant muddling feeling. And with all the non-dialogue in this show it almost feels like they’re hiding at this point. Just as I worry they’re starting to play the same little conflict tricks again and again. And I’m just not sure how much you can keep milking from these dynamics. Lone Wolf and Cub showed you how many ways you could skin a cat, but only because much of its conflict was philosophically and ethically driven. But here, I feel like we’re just touching on those concepts and running right past them.

Technically speaking, the episode is full of enough enjoyable spectacle. I like the scene where Mando is trying to avoid getting pulled over by the space X-wings. I like the little snow spider shelob-xenomorphs. There’s lots of fun little beats, but once again I feel like it all takes the form of “DANGER!” and not genuinely motivated conflict. And even those scenes keep feeling like they should SNAP into dramatic focus better. Which is all my way of saying they aren’t getting this stuff right on the page. It’s gotta call out objectives better or put the pressure on in the right way. Like, it may seem small, but like when Mando begins wandering off to find her it should be confirmed that the ship is fixed and they got to make a move to get out. Otherwise you’re just wandering around with a lack of motive and reaction.

But still… that’s not the big “it” with The Mandalorian that I’m worried about.Because once again the big thing I’m left wanting is something more substantial.

Spectacle? Technical precision? The kind of bare bones story function where you’re putting knives to the throats of cute things? They’re part of formula. But ultimately, you have to hang your show on something more personal. You have to open the door to something actually real. Something that makes the characters and what they want feel organic and important and human and messy and well observed and true to what you really feel in life. All good stories ultimately do this. And we’ve been letting this show build a runway of mere affinity for a while now. But like it’s main character, it’s using its shiny armor as a defense mechanism. So I’m still not sure what’s under the surface.

… And you can only keep me waiting so long.

RANDOM THOUGHTS!

-Love the quiet beat before the X-Wings put their foils into attack position.

-Is this the first time we’ve heard it called the Razorcrest? Or just the first time I noticed? Also I like the name.

-“Chapter 10” I really hate this naming convention! Do you like it? I don’t know it makes it hard to keep track of what takes place when. Like when people try to reference episodes of The Good Place, etc.

-Overall show cinematography stuff! Once again, I’m having a little trouble with the sterile-ness. You notice it most in the cantina scenes because 1) god it feels weird to take one of the most iconic scenes in film history and just keep milking that location with lackluster results, but 2) compare to the original and you’ll see how much less crowded it is, the lack of atmosphere, the lack of sweat and grime. Sure, we’re in Mos Eisley, but somehow it feels dead and blank and not teaming with vibrance as it did over forty years ago.

I hope this doesn’t continue to be a metaphor.

<3HULK