Chapter 9 

The second season of the acclaimed Disney original starts out with a bang, providing one of the series’ strongest episodes yet. The premiere is the show’s longest episode to date, clocking in at roughly 52 minutes. However, instead of becoming boring as some longer episodes sometimes do, every minute in Chapter 9 is used to full effect, which allows the show to deliver an opening scene that catches us up on what the titular Mandalorian and The Child have been up to since the end of last season, the introduction of a new and amazing character who can be fleshed out, and one of the best action scenes in any Star Wars media. 

*Additional note: this review will contain no spoilers. 

Every show is only as good as its characters, and Pedro Pascal once again assumes his role as the Mandalorian. Similar to last season, Pascal does such an amazing job that even though his face is covered for the entirety of the episode, he still portrays a highly expressive and fluid character. Whether it’s his small scenes of caring for The Child or his brutal scenes of interrogation, Pascal’s performance was on point. Speaking of characters, Chapter 9 introduces viewers to a new face portrayed by Timothy Olyphant. Though the identity of his character will not be discussed in this article , Olyphant works his magic and will surely be claiming the title of a fan favorite. Rounding out the main characters of this episode is of course The Child (probably best known as “Baby Yoda”), who continues to provide his adorable antics. 

One highlight of the episode is just how well it showcases how massive and widespread the Star Wars universe is. Every fan has a favorite part of Star Wars, whether it’s the original trilogy, the older video games like Knights of the Old Republic, or TV shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Chapter 9 will have a nod to all of these different parts of the universe. There are callbacks to the prequel movies, Timothy Olyphant’s character actually made his debut in a novel from the expanded universe, and at the very end, fans of the original trilogy, and all fans for that matter, will be rewarded with a moment that has been anticipated for a long time (watch the episode, you’ll know what is meant). 

The Mandalorian is back and better than ever before. Directed by Jon Favreau , it still captures the more grounded and self-contained aspect of season 1 while starting to incorporate aspects of the larger universe, something that future episodes will no doubt take to the next level. Chapter 9 should be the standard that every season premiere strives to be, and the episode deserves a 10 out of 10.

Chapter 10

While the second season of The Mandalorian started with a bang , the second episode could not quite keep up with the first. Now, this is not to say that this episode was bad. In fact, it had quite a few enjoyable moments. However, chapter 9 was perfect in almost every way, and so chapter 10 was probably always going to be perceived as less. But even then, chapter 10 isn’t really trying to be very ambitious or to be on par with chapter 9. While some could argue that the second episode needed to be more tame due to the bombastic nature of the first one, this is not a reasonable excuse to not try. 

*Additional note: this review will contain no spoilers. 

After the events of the last episode, the Mandalorian continues his quest to reunite The Child with its kind, the jedi. As stated in the opening of chapter 9, he is searching for other Mandalorians to help him track down the jedi. This leads to him taking up an escort job to gain information as to where he may find them. 

Overall, this episode is kind of boring. Most of it takes place either in the Razorcrest or another location, and there isn’t a lot of room for creative set design. The action is not nearly as impressive as it is in chapter 9. In addition, The Child engaged in some questionable activities, which has led the Internet to seemingly cancel him (it’s kind of ridiculous but google it anyway). Furthermore, the main climax of the film revolves around another alien monster, and after having him fight a way cooler monster in the way cooler chapter 9, it was not really breaking any creative boundaries. If there was one positive aspect that can be taken from this episode, it’s that it transitions seamlessly from the previous chapter. That is to say that the first scene before the title drops serves to tie up loose ends from the previous episode so that the rest can instead focus on the new plot. 

Despite the above criticisms, the episode wasn’t terrible, it was just painfully average. Directed by Peyton Reed, Chapter 10 is not horrible but it is not great either. That’s why it is deserving of a 6 out of 10.