This recap and review will contain SPOILERS!!
RECAP:
We find our hero and The Child once again making their way across the deserts of Tattoine when they fall into a road trap set by alien pirates, which destroys the speeder. A fight breaks out and the Mandalorian finds himself making a deal with one of the roadside bandits who holds a knife to the neck of The Child. You should get a kick out of how the Mandalorian finds his way out of this.
The Mandalorian gathers his things and heads back into town. He once again enters a cantina and meets up with my favorite, Peli Motto, who is playing a card game with a huge ant-like creature she calls Dr. Mandible. He has a contact who has information on a Mandalorian covert. After striking another deal for this info, Mando returns to Peli Motto’s shop with her to eat the dragon meat (see chapter 9) and meet the contact to help him find the covert he is looking for. But there is a catch.
In comes Frog Lady and the scenes you may have already heard about. In her frog language translated by Motto, the lady tells the Mandalorian her husband is waiting for her on Trask, a gas giant just one system over. Her husband holds the knowledge he seeks. She just requires safe passage to get there for him to fertilize her eggs to carry on the legacy of her people. No Hyperdrive. So you can already tell trouble is bound to happen. Once she’s loaded onto the Razorcrest and The Child saw the tank of her eggs, his eyes lit up like the Death Star had exploded a third time. You can already tell where that’s going. It doesn’t take long after they take off for the Child to have himself a treat. Just after putting the Razorcrest on autopilot The Mandalorian looks to get some rest and tells Frog Lady to do the same. When he goes to his bunk, he finds the child is not inside. Instead, he is hovering over the eggs with the lid off having himself a feast. Mando quickly runs over and shuts the lid and tells the Child NO! They both go to sleep, but you can already tell it is not going to be the last time the Child goes for those eggs.
The nap ends quickly when alarms go off as the Razorcrest has some recognizable visitors hovering on each side of the ship. It is two X-wing starfighters, which immediately brings those nostalgic feelings out of you. It starts out with a normal New Republic procedure. The back and forth, who are you junk. Then they ask the Mandalorian to do something he simply cannot comply with and he takes off and is chased onto an Ice planet. With twists and turns and cool flying CGI action, the Mandalorian finds himself escaping from the two X-wing pilots and hiding in a cave. All seems safe for a couple of seconds until the ground gives way and the ship plummets into a dark ice-filled cavern. The Razorcrest is a mess and the cold air is no good. There is a big hole in the ship. The Mandalorian goes to check on the eggs and once again finds the Child having himself a snack. NO! The Mandalorian again admonishes the Child and now they have more problems to deal with. The Child does burp here and it is stupid cute.
Another nap quickly ends when Frog Lady rigs a dead battle droid’s vocabulator to speak to the Mandalorian. She expresses her worry for her eggs and reminds the Mandalorian that he made a deal and swore to protect this woman and her future children. He then steps outside the ship to begin the repairs to get them out of there. You can see smoke and wires and sparks everywhere as the Razorcrest is in bad shape. Soon after the Child comes out to get The Mandalorian’s attention. He shows him footprints as Frog Lady has left the ship. They set out to find she is in a warm spring and has let out all her eggs to stay warm in there with her. The Child immediately starts grabbing for eggs and The Mandalorian sets him off to the side to stay out of trouble, but he does the exact opposite.
There are little snow-covered pods all over the cave floor and the Child cannot help himself and decides to break one open and have himself another snack. It was some sort of ice spider and this did not sit well with the surrounding pods. They start to break open and suddenly there are little ice spiders all over and moving toward the child. The Mandalorian and Frog Lady see and hear this and the panic sets in as they quickly gather up the eggs to get out of there.
At first, it seemed like they could escape these spiders and make their way back to the Razorcrest easily. Then out of the darkest part of the cave comes the biggest ice spider you will ever see and the race to get back intensifies greatly. Rockets, bombs, and flames come from our hero as the narrow escapes from the giant legs of this Spider get closer and closer! They make it back to the ship and it seems like they have rid the cave of this giant ice spider as the little ones keep invading. They get in the cockpit and attempt to take off. Then from above the giant ice spider appears and strikes the Razorcrest back down to the ground. All seems lost and they are about to face death when blasters from outside the ship rain down upon the giant ice spider and all the little ones around the Razorcrest. The Mandalorian steps outside the ship to see he was saved by the two X-wing pilots who were chasing him earlier. They found who he was and decided to save him and let him go on his way with a little warning.
The Razorcrest cannot get too far but it makes its way off that planet and just before then end credits roll and a final nap is had. The Child eats one more egg and winks. It was so adorably creepy I cannot stop thinking about it.
Review:
Sometimes episodic television needs filler episodes. This episode kind of felt like that. Just something for us to enjoy until we get back to the main story and the mission at hand. The filler is usually filled with too much dialogue. This is not the case here. The Passenger still feels like a great part of this adventure. I will admit the croaking language from the Froglady was irritating to the eardrums. Almost like someone had something stuck in their throat and they were just trying to get it out. Other than this I enjoyed most aspects of this episode. The action was awesome again. The fight scenes. The Mandalorian using his weapons and skills. He just seems like the perfect soldier. The visuals are stunning. The giant ice spider will make your skin crawl if you are afraid of the eight-legged freaks. The story gives you feelings, good, bad, and cringey. This is a late review so I already know that social media is bugging out about the possible genocide The Child may have committed. I found it cute still. The Child is just like Yoda and if you recall when we first met him he was a hungry old man. I think the Child is still the cutest fictional character we got, and I will continue to enjoy his character and the many others I am sure they have yet to introduce to us. I cannot wait to watch the next episode and that’s what makes a good show. When you just want more and more and you can watch them over and over. This is a series I know I can watch over and over again.
4.5 out of 5 stars for Chapter 10: The Passenger
