Why Couldn't It Be 'Follow the Butterflies?' - Review of "The Mandalorian," Chapter 10

Another great episode, another worthy excuse to wake up before dawn on a Friday morning.

As before, I'll give a nice big buffer zone between my spoiler-free reactions and spoiler-related discussion. Fear not, for fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering and all that.

If you were to ask me for a prediction about overall reaction to Chapter 10, it'd be that a lot of people will feel about it much like they felt during episodes 4-6 of season 1: that things aren't progressing fast enough. I can see where that feeling comes from, and to some degree I agree, but it also doesn't bother me that much.

There IS progress in the Mandalorian's mission to reunite Baby Yoda with its people (whether that means the Jedi or the Child's actual species...or both) but it's relatively small. This is, like Chapter 9, more of a "we need to take care of this side quest first and foremost" situation, so there's little movement in the overall "who is The Child and why does Moff Gideon want the Child and what's the deal with the Child" picture.

That said, this was a FUN episode. It's got the appearance of the X-Wings we saw in the trailer (though I won't say in what context) and it's got some really great set pieces. The main setting of the episode is at once familiar and alien in its feeling, and there's a section of the episode that should remind one of one of sci-fi's greatest films.

The Baby Yoda cuteness is, once again, in full swing, and we get to see some AMAZING moments of Mando/Baby Yoda parenting (parents who have had kids that legit put EVERYTHING in their mouths will really relate). They're sweet, they're funny, and even though he's still not dad of the year, Mando is learning.

In its own encapsulated way, this is a great episode and a fun little Star Wars romp. I do count myself among those desperate for more movement in the bigger macro story. That said, we're already supposedly getting two more seasons beyond this one, and if the Gideon arc is to be the main one, then we've got more slow burning to do, and I'm more than happy to go along with it.

OKAY, SPOILER TIME!!

GO AWAY IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THEM! TURN BACK!

MORE ELLIPSES!!

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Okay, here we go. Not as many this time.

- My absolute favorite part is the section where we feel like we're watching Alien again. You knew when Baby Yoda wandered toward the eggs there would be trouble, and when you saw the egg moving, your heart just DROPS. And then there are a billion ice spiders. NOT a great moment for arachnophobes (I am a mild one, I made it through okay). Also, DEFINITE deja vu from watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

- THE FREAKING KNOBBY WHITE SPIDER!! This is kind of a deep cut, but the giant spider that tried to kill our heroes is none other than the star of a really old piece of Star Wars concept art for Empire Strikes Back by Ralph McQuarrie, the guy who basically designed Star Wars' look:

The idea was Luke had to face one while training on Dagobah. When I first saw the spiders, I wondered if they were supposed to be kinraths, a spider-like creature on Dantooine in the Knights of the Old Republic games. But when big Bertha showed up, I knew IMMEDIATELY what I was seeing, and the kid Star Wars fan in me screamed (not adult me, because that would have woken up the wife and her wrath, which puts any knobby white spider's to shame).

- Baby Yoda loves to eat stuff. It's cute, it's funny, but in the case of Frog Lady's eggs, it's rather sad and kinda devastating. She says in no uncertain terms these are the last of her bloodline, and the Child eats at least 3 of the eggs. Part of me hoped he would maybe yak them back up or something but nope, he just wants his snakky snack.

- I love that we get real old-style naming for new characters, like Doctor Mandible and Frog Lady. Great little callback to when characters from the Mos Eisley had unflattering names like "Hammerhead" (Momaw Nadon), Yak Face (Saelt-Marae) and Snaggletooth (Zutton).

- Legit thought the blaster fire taking out the spiders and rescuing our heroes was gonna be Ahsoka Tano, whose appearance has been much-rumored on the internet. I'm bummed it wasn't her, glad it was our X-win friends.

- I'm guessing the beat-up Razor Crest is going to be the opening shot from the trailer, as we see it drifting, damaged, over a Jupiter-like planet toward a planet looking like Earth. 

Alright, that's it for this week! Have a great weekend!