And that, kids, is how Baby Yoda got hyperspace madness. He even started hallucinating!
(I do question the logistics of how he got to the front cockpit—I couldn’t see space for a door—but whatever.)
I’d rate it 7/8 on the fifty-cal scale, and be forewarned this review is way out of order.
Blaster-proof creatures are a pet peeve of mine, because EVERY even moderately large creature is blaster proof these days! (I’m looking at you, Bad Batch.)
Regardless of my frustrations with the constant stream of one-off, oversized, blaster-proof monsters, I enjoyed that scene. And that will be a running theme, I imagine.
The enjoying scenes part, hopefully not the monsters, but now that I say that I suppose it works for both.
IG-11 should’ve just been allowed to live out his death as a statue. Self-destructing with a thermal detonator is rather permanent. Or else … why would they have a self-destruct feature at all? Isn’t the whole point to keep his tech from being coopted/copied? I would have much preferred it if they just went “nope, he’s irreparable” and left it at that, but the scenes with him were fantastic. I just don’t like the new MacGuffin hunt.
As for things I do like: The scenes with the pirates were good. The “shoot the blaster out of his hand” is stupid, but it’s a western trope and I grew up on westerns (which this is), so I can forgive it here. The asteroid belt fight was excellent, and the pirates saying pirate-y things was campy and enjoyable. The Mandalorian owns what it is as a slightly campy cross-genre space opera and does it well. Perhaps leaning farther into it than the OT, perhaps too far, but it doesn’t have to be elementally identical to have a Star Wars feel. I like that it nods to the far end of the camp spectrum, while having a very serious underlying story.
The scene with the “helmeting” was excellent, both to see the armor forging and to see the age at which the child is given a helmet, because it lines up neatly with what I had surmised for the Children of the Watch in my Mandalorian armor article.
The scene at the end with Bo-Katan was beautifully flawless. Well-acted, well-written, and pretty much exactly what I’d hoped to see. It was also very sad, and that was both intentional and well done. The long walk through the lonely castle with the bitter queen was just perfect.
Nevarro seems to have grown too many trees too quickly, but we don’t know how much time has passed to see such a radical change in the city as a whole. But I like it, and Greef Karga now has a special place in my heart beside Lando, who is apparently his cousin or role-model or something.
So all-in-all, I’m enjoying it and looking forward to seeing more. I just miss Cara Dune. She would’ve been great for the first pirate scene, besides her general utility and the fun relationship with Mando.
