The Mandalorian Season 2 Premiere Review: Chapter 9 – The Marshall is a Western Delight

Back to Tatooine

The episode begins with Mando and Baby Yoda walking on an unidentified planet in search of more Mandalorians. He enters an arena featuring the Star War’s version of a boxing match. Mando chats with an alien named Gor Koresh played unrecognizably by John Leguizamo.

They have a quick conversation about trading Mando’s Beskar armor for the information. Koresh quickly turns on Mando, but despite the numbers advantage, Mando quickly disposes of the cronies. Mando strings Korush up, receives the information that there’s a Mandalorian on Tatooine and leaves the alien turncoat for dead.

Upon arrival to Tatooine, Mando and Baby Yoda meet up with Peli Motto with Amy Sedaris reprising her role from last season’s “The Gunslinger.” In light of the events in the season finale, Mando allows Motto’s droids to work on his ship. She quickly tells Mando about an old outpost on Tatooine and the makeshift father-son duo then head out towards the Tatooine outpost via speeder bike

The pair’s arrival in the town is met with awkward side glances. Clearly, these villagers aren’t accustomed to outsiders. Mando enters a tavern and asks the bartender if he’s seen any Mandalorians. The bartender plays dumb, but before too long in walks The Marshall in Mandalorian garb.

Thoughts: Sedaris is a gifted comedic performer, but for some reason, she just doesn’t fit within the tone of the show. However, Mando’s character development over the course of last season gives the scene a lighter touch.

The Marshall

He offers Mando a drink and even before sitting down takes off his helmet revealing Olyphant’s face, which makes it quite clear to Mando and us that this isn’t a real Mandalorian. This man is Cobb Vanth. Mando wants the Mandalorian armor, but Vanth is reluctant to part with the armor. Their wild west stare-down is interrupted by an earth-shaking ruckus.

We see a creature swirling the sand like a shark skimming the surface of the ocean and quickly devours a Bantha. The emergence of the creature is a source of inspiration for Vanth. He offers to give Mando his armor in exchange for helping to take out the creature: a Krayte Dragon. Mando accepts.

As these two characters head out to confront the creature, Vanth explains how he got the armor, which is different from Chuck Wendig’s novel: Aftermath. After the 2nd death star is destroyed, there was an all too brief moment of relief for Tatooine. Unfortunately, a local mining company decides to take advantage of the power vacuum on Tatooine and enslaves the village.

Vanth escapes with some valuable crystals and eventually collapses in the sweltering desert heat. He’s picked up by Jawas. They unlock the canister containing the crystals and offer Vanth anything he wants. Vanth notices the Mandalorian armor hanging on a wall and uses the armor to reclaim the village. He’s remained the Marshall ever since.

Thoughts: Cobb Vanth is an awesome addition to The Mandalorian. Pedro Pascal may be the series lead, but The Marshall is Olyphant’s episode. We learn about Vanth’s origin, see his chracter grow throughout the course of the episode and a promise of a return engagement in a future episode. Shoutout to Vanth using a Pod racer engine to power his speeder bike.

Time to Slay a Krayt Dragon

On the way towards the dragon’s lair (an abandoned Sarlacc pit), Mando and Vanth are stopped by Tuskan Raiders. After some beautiful translation from Mando to Vanth, we find out that the Raiders want to kill the dragon as well. Vanth and Mando decide to the Raiders at their camp. Vanth and the Raiders don’t have a harmonious relationship, but before the situation can deteriorate, Mando reminds both parties of what’s at stake.

The first attempt at slaying the dragon doesn’t go well. They decide to send one Raider down with a Bantha being used as bait. The dragon responds by eating the Raider, not the Bantha.

Luckily there’s a backup plan, but in order for it to work, Vanth has to convince the villagers to risk their lives alongside the Raiders. Since the dragon doesn’t venture far from the sand, the plan is to coerce the dragon out of his lair and setup explosives that will blow once the dragon hits that area. The plan actually works, but the dragon is stronger than they imagined.

Mando and Vanth take to the skies on their jetpacks. They both begin attacking the dragon, but after their attacks have little effect, the Mando attempts a sacrifice play. There’s a Bantha covered with explosives. Mando grabs the Bantha’s leash and seems to get swallowed by the dragon. Luckily, the dragon’s innards are no match for these explosives.

Vanth keeps his word and gives Mando the Mandalorian armor with a hint that Olyphant may return later in the season. As Mando heads back towards the ship we get a look at what appears to be Bobba Fett played by Temuera Morrison

Thoughts: The effects and design of the Krayt Dragon was top-notch stuff. I really liked the look of the acid the creature emitted from his mouth. The handicap match featuring Mando-Vanth and the Krayt Dragon was a ton of fun with each of these cunning characters staying cool throughout the episode.

Final Thoughts on The Marshall

Favreau’s direction in this episode gave The Marshall a cinematic quality that was better than last season. The chemistry between Olyphant and Pascal was outstanding, with the only downside being that we will need to wait a few episodes to Vanth again. From the crackling tension in their first meeting to grudging respect earned throughout the episode, everything just worked between these two badass characters. Ludwig Göransson’s score continues to set an exciting new direction for Star Wars music.

There’s no indication what direction the next episode will head in. Here’s hoping we learn more about Moff Gideon in the next episode.

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