Spoiler alert: this blog is published after The Mandalorian is released on Disney+. Do not read unless you have watched season two, episode two
There’s just one small skank in the skud pie ... – Peli Motto
A song of sand and ice this week, as Din Djarin and his priceless consignment leave Tatooine and spend a few dicey hours on an icy planet.
It’s an episode that shows off the vast array of life and threats to life that exist within the galaxy. It also provides striking evidence of the thermal qualities of Beskar metal. There’s danger, too, from ugly creatures and from unshaven enforcers of the Republic alike. In the end, everyone emerges just about unscathed, though there’s another expensive trip to the garage on the horizon.
The action begins where it left off last week, with Mando and Baby Yoda en route back to Mos Eisley after killing the Krayt dragon and bagging some free barbecue. A tripwire in the sand soon catches their speeder in full glide, however, and a heist is in train. Mando deals with the first two assailants with a wrestling clothesline, but the third must be negotiated with.
The bandit wants the Baby, but Mando points out that’s not a good idea. “If you put one mark on him there is nowhere you will be able to hide from me”, is the precise phrase, and negotiations move on to the little robber man (a Jawa in breathing equipment?) getting Mando’s jet pack instead. The exchange takes place, but as we all know, jet packs are machines with a mind of their own, and within seconds of launching into the sky, the bandit drops out of it and crumples into the sand.
It’s a funny piece of choreography from this week’s director, Ant-Man’s Peyton Reed, and there’s a streak of visual comedy that runs through the entire episode – even when the massive ice spiders are about. But before all that happens, Mando must first accept another passenger, a Frog Woman who knows where the Mandalorians are hiding, but wants to deliver a cargo of precious eggs to the same location.
Off the Razor Crest goes, but problems are never far behind. Not only do two X-wing pilots show up in space, suspicious of the ship’s bonafides, but Baby Yoda has decided that the Frog Woman’s eggs are an ideal snack. With regards to the latter problem, Mando hopes that positive reinforcement of the message “do not eat the eggs” will be enough. As regards the former, a more complicated response is required, and a space chase through a neighbouring planet ensues.
The planet is frozen, with deep ravines, emerald blue air and loads of nodules on the surface that look like the things that give birth to xenomorphs in Alien. So they’re fine, obviously. To cut a long story short, Mando and co elude the X-wings by crash-landing in a cave, which in turn collapses and damages the ship in the process. While Mando tries to fix a hole in the hull, Frog Woman wanders off for a mineral bath with her eggs. When Yoda finds out, it sets off an eggy craving, but with Frog Woman keeping them tight in a jar he has to make do with nibbling on nodules instead.
Of course, that is bad news because, the nodules contain baby ice spiders and there are also mid-size ice spiders, large ice spiders and a monstrous mummy ice spider hidden just around the corner. The action that follows is of the sort you usually get in a zombie movie, with ever more ice spiders slowly overwhelming our heroes, despite Mando’s expertise with the blaster.
You begin to wonder how a happy ending could possibly result, and a bit of Baby Yoda Force majeure seems the only option. But then there’s the sound of bleeping and the red beams of Republic blasters flash into view. The same cops who wanted to arrest Mando have now been made aware of some good behaviour during last season’s jailbreak and will help him out of this bind, provided he gets his transponder fixed (the galactic equivalent of a failed break light). The Razor Crest takes off, heading to Trask in search of repairs, and everyone breathes a big sigh of relief. All except Baby Yoda, that is, who’s got a hidden egg to scoff down while no one’s looking.
The moral of the story
Nothing is more important than family. That’s what’s driving Frog Woman to dash to a dangerous planet with a jar of eggs in tow. She wants to be reunited with her husband and to procreate (how frog IVF works, I don’t want to know). Meanwhile, mama massive ice spider gets her protective instincts provoked by the gang’s nodule noodling. Hell hath no fury like an arachnid outraged. And finally there’s the developing relationship between Din Djarin and Baby Yoda. No longer just a protector, Mando is having to teach his charge right and wrong, too, specifically in the area of Frog Egg consumption. Whether the kid is listening is another matter, but that’s the joy of parenting for you.
Featured creatures
Looking through the “amphibian” creature subset of Wookieepeedia leaves me no clearer as to quite what type of Frog Woman our Frog Woman actually is. We also meet some lovely ice spiders, and an insect creature with a jaw as long as its arm.
Cameo corner
Richard Ayoade gets to resume his voice role as Zero, the droid who was desperate to overheat the Razor Crest in his role as getaway pilot in last season’s prison heist. Here, Frog Woman shows she’s not just any old amphibian by rerouting Zero’s “vocabulator” allowing him to speak on her behalf.
Baby Yoda watch
As mentioned above, the kid is acting up. He won’t be confined to his room, he won’t sit in his chair, he certainly won’t stop eating Frog Eggs. His strong will and curiosity is increasingly a combination that’s getting Mando into trouble . But without trouble there’s no adventure, and let’s face it, the little hairy ball of snot remains irresistibly cute.
