'The Mandalorian, Season Two' – Episode 11: 'The Heiress'


Monday has come round once more and, once more, that means it's 'Mandalorian Monday' time here in the Library; a little slice of alliteration that I can't believe no-one else is using. Surely someone else is... anyone? Maybe it is just me then :o)

Either way, we're onto Episode 11 now and I'll confess to a little bit of nerves, coming into this episode, as 'The Passenger' didn't quite meet the standards that this show has set itself. As far as I'm concerned. 'The Mandalorian' has a lot of credit in the bank so I was prepared to write last week off as a bit of a 'blip' but even after a blip, you can't help but wonder where a show will go next. Will it get back to winning ways or will it plod relentlessly downwards? Yep, I'm looking at you 'Walking Dead: World Beyond'...

It turns out that I didn't need to worry, 'The Mandalorian' is too good to let one slightly off-key episode define it. 'The Heiress' is a return to form.

The Mandalorian, and the Child, have reached the planet Trask and are ready to continue the search for any clues that will lead them to the Jedi. Before they can go any further though, our questing hero must help a Mandalorian enclave relieve an Imperial cruiser of its cargo and on the way, will learn a few things about his heritage...

I'll be honest, I'm not bad at keeping up with the movies but I have never seen 'The Clone Wars' or 'Rebels' (ok, I've seen one episode of 'Rebels') My animated 'Star Wars' journey began and pretty much ended at 'Droids' and 'Ewoks', which shows how old I am... 'The Heiress' won't have meant as much to me then as it would to anyone who has watched 'Clone Wars' or 'Rebels' as the Mandalorians that our heroes meet have some heavy connections to those shows (or at least 'The Clone Wars', I'm really not sure).

What's better than one Mandalorian shooting his way through an Imperial freight ship? Four Mandalorians doing the shooting of course :o) That was my experience of the show but anyone with a little more knowledge of Mandalore, and it's people, will get so much more out of it as the show both opens up the universe a little more while giving the show more of a grounding by connecting it to others.

I think the bottom line is that whatever you're bringing to this episode, there's something here for everyone and that's what gets us over the slight bump that was 'The Passenger'. We get to find out a little more about the Mandalorian and this raises questions that will be interesting to see drive his character over the next few episodes (possibly into the next Season as well). It's also slightly reassuring to see that the Child probably isn't the genocidal eating machine that we were all starting to think it was (although it would still be cool if it was) Things are starting to get back to normal on that front. Well, as normal as they can be.

We also have a more than healthy dose of what makes any Star Wars show great, loads of action and Stormtroopers basically lining up to be gunned down by very cool looking Mandalorians. You can't ask for a lot more than that really and we're given it in some style.

Most importantly for me though was the return of the feeling that this was all tied in to a much larger story. Much like 'The Passenger', 'The Heiress' is another transitional episode but this time it feels like this episode is deliberately laying strands of plot that will tie in to whatever's going on next week. I get it, sometimes things just happen in real life and they don't tie into anything else. That doesn't work so well with a serial though so it was good to see those plot strands laying the foundations for more to come. Just what is Moff Gideon up to and is he still after the Child...? And I haven't forgotten about the mysterious stranger in the season opener...

An awesome return to form then that has something for everyone, I almost feel guilty for doubting 'The Mandalorian'... ;o) Now I'm back to being really excited for the next instalment.


Who was the strange disappearing lady though...?

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