The Mandalorian
"Chapter 10: The Passenger"
Air date: 11/6/2020
Written by Jon Favreau
Directed by Peyton Reed
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Djarin agrees to take on a frog-like passenger and her container of preserved unfertilized eggs in exchange for more intel on Mandalorians that allegedly live on her planet. The eggs are important to her — she needs to take them home to her husband to be fertilized — so when a hungry Baby Yoda starts eating them, of course we're hoping Mando stops him before things get too far out of hand.
I find it hilarious how the internet lost its collective mind over Baby Yoda eating Frog Lady's eggs. I read at least two think pieces on How Badly The Writers Miscalculated. Gimme a break. This was some mildly dark humor that grew from a place of simple logic. The Child is hungry. The eggs look like food. It's math. And yet, this is apparently the biggest controversy in the history of the show.
Shrug. "The Passenger" is another example of how this series uses simple stories (in this case, one that doesn't notably advance the series' plot) and executes them in great tactile detail, particularly with its physical settings and its set pieces. Take, for example, when Mando runs from the X-wing cops who want to run his plates. This leads to an extended, visually impressive aerial sequence through the mountains of an ice world that would stand up against any sequence in the Star Wars films. Ultimately, our crew ends up stranded in a crashed, broken-down Razor Crest in an ice cave.
This ice cave has a nest of alien spider eggs. Lots of them. When the Child tries to eat one — Don't do that!, we all yell at the TV screen — its massive mother and many, many, many siblings come scurrying out with a swarm attack, in an action-horror sequence that's impressive because it just keeps going and going and building and building as our heroes get ever more boxed-in. That they are saved with a last-second deus ex machina is okay, I guess, because they sure looked doomed up until then. There's not much to this episode, but it glides by effortlessly, boiling up the intensity just when it needs to.
Previous episode: Chapter 9: The Marshal
Next episode: Chapter 11: The Heiress
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15 comments on this post
Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 3:10am (UTC -5)
Fun episode though.
Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 4:18pm (UTC -5)
I commented on another review page on this site how The Mandalorian is very basic -- in a positive sense -- when it comes to its overall production design and story beats. Watching this episode, it also struck me how aptly this describes the show's more humorous side too! No convoluted setups that lead to "funny" payoffs, no intricate wordplay, just simple old-school comedic bits that nevertheless feel fresh and funny. That image of the Child staring into the "egg bowl"... priceless! This show is, simply put, supremely confident in its storytelling.
Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 5:23pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 10:26am (UTC -5)
Whereas discovery is using their huge budget to decorate the screen with effects, Favreau is using the money to create seemingly real cultures, and to create things that those cultures would actually USE. Plus, each episode maintains a good sense of humor.. the kind of humor Star Wars does best. things like the funny noises a creature makes
Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:09pm (UTC -5)
This is the worst episode of 'The Mandalorian' yet IMO. Baby Yoda eats eggs, then Baby Yoda eats "alien", the bug spider thing, blah, blah.
Nothing gained here at all. All spectacle. ... just like the new Star Wars movies.
I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
I have no desire to watch it again.
2 stars.
Mon, Nov 23, 2020, 10:09am (UTC -5)
Fri, Nov 27, 2020, 11:34am (UTC -5)
For anyone who legitimately had an issue with The Child’s egg eating, give me a break. You’re mad because a fictitious alien baby is eating the unfertilized eggs of yet another fictitious rando? If they’re upset or triggered by this kind of dark humor, stick with the other crap they offer on Disney+. Might I suggest Hannah Montana or Jessie?
If people are upset about this, imagine if they saw Futurama’s “The Problem With Popplers” in which humanity gets hooked on a tasty snack food, only to find out that it’s the young of an alien race, and even when they find out about it, they’re too delicious to stop eating. Here’s some dialogue:
Zapp: These would be great with guack-a-mole.
Lrrr: Stop eating our young! And it's pronounced guacamole!
This was way worse and aired 20 years ago, and was super funny. The only problem is that social media was way different back then, and now, anyone who can rub 2 brain cells together can write an angry tweet virtue signaling that eating a sentient being’s offspring is bad and we need to cancel this or cancel him or cancel her. Secondly, this baby may look like Yoda, but it isn’t Yoda. And for us to assume just because it looks like Yoda, it must be good, is equivalent to saying just because Senator Palpatine is humanoid like Obi-Wan they must both be good.
I’ll get off my soapbox for now.... 2/4 cool visuals. Also made me want an omelet.
Fri, Nov 27, 2020, 11:59am (UTC -5)
Fri, Nov 27, 2020, 4:58pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Dec 6, 2020, 9:13pm (UTC -5)
While I'm at it, the parent spider also evoked the creature that chases Chris Pine's James T. Kirk into an ice cave in the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot.
Odes a plenty here.
Wed, Jan 6, 2021, 9:34am (UTC -5)
Tue, Aug 3, 2021, 4:55am (UTC -5)
I was suitably horrified that The Child kept slurping up the precious eggs, but also couldn't stop laughing over it. Each time he slurped one down I had to crack up.
In the next two eps the kid continues to eat things that either aren't his or that are...um...still moving. (Ghagh is best when served live.) Growing kid's gotta grow!
Sat, Dec 18, 2021, 2:36am (UTC -5)
And then when he popped that face hugger in his mouth, I was like you bull$#'ing. Ain't no way on god's green earth or the ice planet for that matter. But once again slurp! I couldn't stop laughing.
And then the spiders came out. I'm like run. And they took their sweet time getting out of that pool. I'm like run! Then they're standing there looking while the situation's getting worse and worse. Run!
Aw, man, pure gold.
On another note, dude needs a new ship bad. There's no way that bucket of bolts is going to fly much longer.
Tue, Mar 21, 2023, 10:11pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Mar 26, 2023, 4:06pm (UTC -5)
But the good stuff is how I think Mando eventually appreciated the frog lady's situation and living up to the Mandalorian code just after he tells her the deal is off. Mando also has to supervise Baby Yoda more than ever with telling it not to eat the frog eggs. And then Baby Yoda goes and eats a spider larvae and then all hell breaks loose. Again, pretty impressive CGI with the attack of the ice spiders. This show takes a very simple plot and executes it like no other show I've seen -- that's really the "business model" here.
Mando's dialog picks up a bit here too -- has to lay out the situation of the damage, flying with just the cockpit pressurized, etc.. He actually had a lot to say here.
As for the New Republic -- they're trying to do a job but I think they are also fairly pragmatic. They know Mando's not the real problem and they have bigger fish to fry. That they help him with the ice spiders is the miracle needed.
2.5 stars for "Chapter 10: The Passenger" -- while there will seemingly always be an action/adventure component to the episode, the frog lady's story and its effect on Mando brought about a more "caring" side to Mando I think. So I think there was a bit better balance in this episode and I liked it a tad better than Chapter 9. But this one's also a bit more padding (albeit good padding) as, 2 episodes into S2, Mando still hasn't found another Mandalorian.
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