The Heiress
With his ship on its last leg and a frog lady and her eggs onboard, the Mandalorian limps into Trask in the third episode of Season Two of The Mandalorian. After safely reuniting the frog lady with her husband, the Mando continues his mission to find others like himself. After a cruise gone wrong, our hero finds himself face to face with three Mandalorians with a different interpretation of “the way” and a leader on a mission of her own.
Spoilers ahead…..it’s inevitable with this episode.
I actually had this episode spoiled for me on the day that it was released. A photo depicting the three Mandalorians that our hero encounters, all of whom have removed their helmets, revealed that Bo-Katan was getting the live action treatment and she would be portrayed by Katee Sackhoff, the actress that gave the character a voice on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It also revealed that Mercedes Varnado would be playing a new Mando character, Koska Reeves, and Simon Kassianides would also don Mando armor as another new character, Axe Woves. WWE fans will most likely recognize Varnado as her alter ego, Sasha Banks.
Varnado and Kassianides do excellent jobs as Bo-Katan’s backups. I was very surprised by Varnado, who proved that she’s a better actor outside of the ring. Perhaps that is because of the direction of Bryce Dallas Howard, who continues to impress me with her work on The Mandalorian. Howard does an excellent job of keeping the story serious and fast-paced but also manages to throw in a little light humor as well. The child also takes a backseat in this episode and, in all honesty, that’s a bit refreshing in my book.
If there’s anything about this episode that falls short, it’s Sackhoff’s acting. Yes, much like every other Clone Wars fan, I was happy to see Bo-Katan on the screen. I even appreciated the fact that they used her voice actress in the role. That being said, Sackhoff has always had a very stiff delivery style that just doesn’t sit right with me. I know that she has tons of fans and I’m probably in the minority here, but she just seems to force every line and action. I’ve had this opinion of her all the way back to her Battlestar Galactica days.
My favorite part of this episode, aside from Howard’s directing, was the brilliant set designs. From the boat that the Mandalorian rides on to the port on Trask, this episode popped with amazing visuals. Maybe it’s because so much of this series has taken place on desert planets and I was just happy to see any color but brown for a bit, but I loved the look of Trask, all of its wonderful inhabitants, and the atmosphere of the episode as a whole.
Was this the best episode of the season? Nah. I prefer the first episode, but this one is a close second. It definitely opened up a few doors for later episodes and developed our hero more than any other episode this season. It dropped the name of a major character that fanboys and fangirls have been longing to see in live action as well. Here’s hoping that it gets even better as the season continues.
Thanks for checking out my post. Let me know how you feel about this episode in the comments section. See you again soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 