TL;DR – A fun return to form, with two adventures romping across the galaxy.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this show.

The Mandalorian Review –

When I left last week’s episode, it was the first time I felt deflated with the show. I respect that they were trying something different, but it all fell flat for me. Suddenly, I was concerned with where the rest of the season was going, so I walked into this week with more than a bit of trepidation. Only time will tell if this was warranted or not.

So to set the scene, we are in the hidden Mandalorian compound as all the foundlings train outside the cave. It is here where Grogu has to show that he has power and is not a tiny child unworthy of respect. But while this happens, a large raptor swoops down, collects one of the foundlings in its claws, and takes it off to places unknown but with murderous intent. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.    

Now, as the show is divided into the two stories of the different foundlings, that is how we will divide our review. It was nice that we spent some time with Grogu outside his relationship with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal). Those moments with The Armourer (Emily Swallow) were strangely compelling as we combined compassion and sternness. This is also a window into getting a touch more of Grogu’s backstory. The prequels have been mostly ignored in this new era of Star Wars, bar being touched upon in Obi-Wan. However, today we get it in all its glory. Seeing those clone troopers (Temuera Morrison) and end-of-Republic era ships was an absolute joy, given how well they are done here. Add to this a top-quality escape sequence, and I was there for it.

Conversely, we are back on the planet as Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) takes charge of the rescue mission to find the youngling alive … hopefully. We almost get a dual reinforcement of what it means to be a Mandalorian as Bo is also discovering what it means to walk in the way. We get another action scene as they try to take down the raptor as it escapes with the Foundling, which is fine. However, we discover an old adage of Star Wars: there is always a bigger fish. I did like that we got to explore a bit more of who Bo-Katan is as we got a moment where I was thinking, ‘what about the babies’ and the show was like, ‘oh, we know’. Unfortunately, during this sequence, you could feel the use of The Volume. It is not as bad as say Ant-Man, but it was noticeable.  

In the end, do we recommend The Foundling? Yes, we do. I was concerned after last week, but now I am right back on board. A friend of mine mentioned that the strength of Star Wars is that we can have the more serious Andor and the more adventurous Mandalorian existing in the same universe. This week I think, had proven that completely.       

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 – Dave Filoni & Jon Favreau
Created by – Jon Favreau
Based On – Star Wars by George Lucas
Production/Distribution Companies – Lucasfilm, Golem Creations & Disney+
Starring – Pedro Pascal & Katee Sackhoff with Emily Swallow, Ahmed Best, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder & Temuera Morrison and Wesley Kimmel, Jason Chu, Tait Fletcher