TL;DR – We return to the familiar but also the safe

The Mandalorian: The Siege Review –

One of the significant issues I had with the first season of The Mandalorian was several episodes just felt like filler and not good filler at that. I had a feeling that we would see this return in the second season, but so far that has not been the case. However, we have been edging closer and closer to this territory, and this week is no exception.

So to set the scene, in last week’s The Heiress, the Razor Crest had seen some better times, and that was after they had tried to repair it. There is no way that Mando (Pedro Pascal) and The Child could make it to Corvus in one piece, so they decide to visit some old friends. Landing in Nevarro, they have greeted Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), who are there to help, but also could use some help in return. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

In this chapter, the show returned to a lot of the familiar beats of last season, with both its location, but also the themes. Where this worked, of course, was with Baby Yoda, who once again championed the absolute cuteness. You first see this in the opening with a scene very reminiscent of the Baby Groot moment from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as he tries to get the wires in the right order. Then, of course on the planet, we get the most relatable use of The Force that I have seen in Star Wars with a quick force pull to get some space-macaroons.

However, while it was good to see that Nevarro had recovered since last we visited, parts of the story did fall flat for me. The inclusion of Mythrol (Horatio Sanz), felt forced from the moment he showed up on the screen until the end. He didn’t add anything to the proceedings and even the ending where it looked like they were going to pay off some of the action from the episode, but nothing happened. There was also some awkwardness with how the Imperial Base was filmed. I am not sure if it was the editing or the lack of sets they were working from, but something felt off.

While this awkwardness abounded, the episode shined when the action started. When you hire Gina Carano, at the very least you get someone with the physicality to pull off the hand-to-hand combat scenes, which was on full show in the opening of the episode. It was also lovely to see a full-on sci-fi car chase scene with the return of the landspeeders.

In the end, do we recommend The Siege? Look, while this felt a little like rehashing old territory, the production qualities are so high that it just works. There were some hints to the broader Star Wars story in this episode, and we will need to see how that develops in the future.          

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen The Mandalorian yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Mandalorian
Directed by – Carl Weathers
Written by – Jon Favreau
Created by – Jon Favreau
Based On – Star Wars by George Lucas
Production/Distribution Companies – Lucasfilm, Golem Creations & Disney+
Starring – Pedro Pascal with Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Horatio Sanz, Omid Abtahi, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee & Giancarlo Esposito