Main cast: Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Werner Herzog (The Client), Omid Abtahi (Dr Pershing), Carl Weathers (Greef Karga), Emily Swallow (The Armorer), and Tait Fletcher (Paz Vizsla)
Director: Deborah Chow
Holy Sith, The Sin starts out pretty slow, but by the last act of this episode, I’m at the edge of my seat. I think I’m in love with Mandy.
Okay, we begin with him turning in Baby Yoda to the Client, and receiving his reward in return – all those metal bars that he then has the Armorer forge into an upgraded, shiny new set of armor. See, I told you this show is an RPG game – do fetch quest, turn in reward, try for armor upgrade, repeat and rinse. Or maybe not, as after some existential angst about his past and keeping to the Way of the Mandalore despite taking money from the very folks who almost decimated his people, Mandy decides to go full John Wick and get Baby Yoda back. Mind you, his opponents are Stormtroopers, which we all know by now are walking epic fails, so it’s not like he has his work cut out for him, but still… hot. I can never resist a tough bad boy killer when he goes all angry baby daddy on his victims. Seriously, he calls Baby Yoda “my kid”, so you know he means business.
Sure, he can’t take off his helmet in front of another living being, but he can take off the rest, right? Ooh, the possibilities… ahem.
Okay, this episode is tad messy. The pacing can be off at times, and there are more scenes of Mandy walking slow motion than I’d have liked. This episode has the most story elements of the three episodes to date, but for a long time, it’s also the least exciting episode. Something is way off here with the execution, and I’m also not fond of the whole “cavalry’s here… out of nowhere” thing that this episode pulls on me. That kind of thing always feels like a lazy cop-out kind of resolution to me.
Still, I’m sold. Mandy is the hottest papa wolf on the small screen at the moment. I still have no idea how this slow-moving series has somehow become one of the most exciting things I’ve watched in a while, but it’s mostly due to Mandy and Baby Yoda. The story so far is rather meh, but so long as the characters are the way they are, I think I’m going to have a hard time hopping off the train. This is the way, naturally. And ain’t that the way, indeed.
