"This is the way."
Hello everyone!
Tonight, we're buckling up and heading back into one of the most beloved corners of the franchise, well, at least that's what I think.
Based on responses online prior to this release, it used to be!
I still feel like it is.
Then again - and I may be in a minority - I could sit and watch several seasons of Dadalorian and his little green frog-eating spawn traipsing around the galaxy getting in trouble and figuring out how the heck to get out of it again.
I mean, if we can have over twenty seasons of Grey's Anatomy ...
But I digress.
Grab your lasers and dust off your Force skills, we're looking at The Mandalorian and Grogu!
Last we saw Din Djarin (famously voiced by Pedro Pascal, who dons the armor on the rare occasions we get to see his handsome visage make an appearance from under the helmet), he was happily semi-retired on Nevarro, Grogu by his side, but he'd also made a deal with the New Republic to help them hunt former Imperials and bring them to justice.
Which is where the movie opens up, natch.
He literally walks into a fully fortified base, everybody who was there being told they have to pay MORE for protection by said Imp (who didn't really do a good job at it, either, considering they were all complaining nothing was being protected) points in the direction the Imp ran off to, and then Mando jumps into the seat of probably the most ridiculous Star Wars transport contraption to date.
It looks a bit like a mechanical kangaroo, and he and Grogu use it to mountain ski down the slopes trying to get their runaway. After a battle with the famous Hoth machines, the Imp literally goes boom, and Zeb (he of Rebels fame) is like "you know, bringing them in HOT might work better".
Meh, says Mando, whatever.
Sigourney Weaver's character says the same thing, and she gives the air of someone who is literally done with the galaxy as a whole, has seen stuff you wouldn't wanna talk about, and she can probably run laps around you while you're still figuring out if she started left or right.
But she's alright with another Imp off the board, and then gives Mando another card with just a name, Coin, and a refurbished Razor Crest.
It's not the one that fell apart originally, but it IS a fantastic ship altogether because this is what Mando used to drive, so he's like, hell yeah, I'm taking this advance and heading to ... the Hutts.
Yeah. It's always the Hutts.
The Twins tell him they'll share what they know about Coin if he rescues their nephew Rotta, who just so happens to be the son of late Jabba the Hutt, and so off Mando goes, to find little Rotta ain't so little anymore.
In fact, he's a gladiator in the fighting pits, feels pretty good about himself and being out of his dad's shadow, and has no intention of leaving with Mando, not even when Mando meets his handler and learns his supposed last match is a set-up to kill him, so he'll never walk free. Instead, he gets MANDO caught as well, and so our Mandalorian is forced to fight in the pits, which I find funny because he looks weak trying to evade Rotta, until he ACTUALLY starts fighting, then beats the Hutt in three moves.
And, because the handler's no fool, he launches a bunch of fighters at them, and in the chaos, the protective ring around the pit gets turned off, so the monsters all flee into the night.
So does Rotta. Mando, who's probably thinking he's getting too old for this, gives chase, but once he has Rotta in his clutches, he makes a different decision than taking him back to the Twins, who, Rotta says, will kill him: he'll go after Coin directly.
See, Rotta actually has information. The handler? HE'S COIN.
Rotta, Mando, Zeb and Grogu go get him, and while they do get tangled with the Stormtroopers, they're never in any real danger because Zeb drives like a maniac and Mando knows his stuff.
He just maybe has to teach either Grogu or Rotta how to drive, then he's golden when he has to make quick getaways (the scenes of him trying to help Grogu navigate the controls is absolutely hilarious and reminds me of me trying to explain something via phone call to someone at home; same energy).
So the group delivers Coin, Sigourney's like, the Hutts hold a grudge, but I'll see what I can do, you basically did the job, and Mando sends Rotta on his way.
He invites the Anzellans to his home on Nevarro so they can do some work on the Razor Crest, because, and I quote, "Whatever's holding her back has gotta go".
And our man wonders where his green boy got his need for speed!
Unfortunately, as far as reunions go, this one's terrible because a bounty hunter attacks the homestead in the night, grabbing Mando and towing him off. Grogu and the Anzellans follow, because one of theirs got nabbed, too, and of course it's back to the Twins now.
They're mad about Rotta, even though they have HIM, too, and are torturing him, which pisses Mando off since he's a big softie and collects stray waif kiddos (even the big burly gladiator ones) wherever he goes. Then they take off his helmet, thus shaming him, and threaten Grogu, and all bets are off.
He gets dumped into a water pit where he fights off some giant snakes, and the helmet gets dropped in with him because, of course. But then a huge ass albino snake shows up, and it's a whole different kind of fight, though luckily Grogu and his henchmen are already in the sewer drains, with Grogu activating an explosive because he totally can.
They get flushed out into the open and race for the ship, which is about the size of a toy car and Mando realizes there's no way.
So he tells Grogu to get out of there while he protects their escape, but he's growing sluggish and groggy and eventually collapses.
That white snake? It bit him and managed to get some of its poison in between his armor plates.
Man is legit dying.
The local fauna knows this, too, with all the nasty critters coming out to feast ... only to become the feast as Grogu chomps on them.
He then does the most heartbreaking rendition of Simba trying to wake Mufasa up, until he realizes he's all alone and it's up to him, at which point he fashions a shelter and Force-shifts Mando in there (we do not speak of how the man's helmet gets in the way and prevents him from getting in there whole, the metallic clunks are hysterical, and if he has a headache when he wakes up ... sorry buddy!).
Then he goes to investigate, and finds a random alien living in the swamp, who he eventually communicates with and gets help from, both in hiding from the bounty hunter who's after them, and in getting medicine for Mando.
Feeding the thing to his dad - not taking the helmet off, by the by - he then curls up in the crook of his arm and falls asleep, and I'm not crying, you're crying!
By next morning, Mando's bright eyed and bushy tailed again, and he sure as hell isn't leaving without getting revenge and saving Rotta, so he and Grogu return to the palace, using an Axe Woves maneuver by ramming a gun runner's ship right into the palace walls for forced entry (Axe does this in season 3 of the show where he drops an Imperial Star-destroyer into the heat of battle on Mandalore).
They then proceed to kick ass and take names, and kill the Twins by dropping them in with the snake, who gleefully eats them.
Rotta being free, they all run for the nearest exit when the Anzellans show up again, having brought in the New Republic to help, including all the fan favourites next to Sigourney, Dave Filoni among them. They bomb the Hutt palace, fish out the stragglers, and head back home.
There, Rotta decides to stick around and help them, particularly since they now know the Twins were actually double crossing everybody, working with the New Republic AND Imperials, while Mando's like ... yeah, I need a break.
So he packs himself and his kid away, and does the only sensible thing left: teaching Grogu how to pilot the Razor Crest.
Considering this whole story STARTED with him physically removing the little guy from his control panel as he was trying to steal a ball handle, it's the cutest ending ever!
Funny, fast-paced, and to the point, The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn't have any huge, galaxy-wide crisis to work through, but the contained atmosphere suits the overall vibe, as Mando's show in general was much more straightforward and with less outreach than, say, the Skywalker Saga.
It's a perfect thing to watch on a rainy afternoon and enjoy some swashbuckling, gunslinging glory. I just wish we were still getting a season 4, but hopefully we at least get to see this duo on screens again sooner rather than later!
Because no matter what anyone says, Pascal DELIVERS when it comes to the Mandalorian ad being the overprotective father figure.
He deserves more time to shine in that Beskar armor!
10/10 recommend.
xx
*images and video not mine
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