“Chapter 9 – The Marshal” was written and directed by “The Mandalorian” showrunner, Jon Favreau. On a quest to return The Child to his kind, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), often referred to as “Mando,” requires assistance from fellow Mandalorians. 

If there’s one thing that kept people subscribed to Disney+, it was “The Mandalorian.” This show was released upon the subscription service’s debut last year, and, for the most part, it’s the only big thing that we’ve received since all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows have delayed productions due to COVID-19. 

Season 2 kicks off with a bang and really brought what I truly love about this show. It doesn’t rely solely on nostalgia of the classic “Star Wars” movies, but rather takes those classic locations, characters and other things and expands them into something new. Also, this was the longest episode so far, running at 55 minutes. In the previous season many of the episodes restricted themselves to about 35 minutes, making each one feel very rushed from a storytelling perspective. I’m curious to find out if this new length will be consistent or not, because it worked out extremely well. 

The episode opens with Mando (Pascal) searching for information on where to locate other Mandalorians, which he will receive from Gor Koresh, voiced by John Leguizamo– it wouldn’t be “The Mandalorian” without a cameo from a comedian. Koresh’s intel leads him back to the Outer Rim, on Tatooine, in a region we’ve never seen, Mos Pelgo. Upon arriving in the Mos Eisley landing bay, Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) tells Mando that Mos Pelgo is a ghost town and is home to very few villagers after being overrun by a mining company and raided by sand people in the wake of the Death Star II exploding and the fall of the Empire. This is extremely important to know  because we were all under the impression that at the end of “Return of the Jedi,” everyone would sing “Yub Nub” and live prosperously; it was the exact opposite. The Empire was the government that was keeping everyone in line, but, once it was wiped out, chaos erupted. Perhaps we may find out in later seasons how the creation of the First Order came to light as it was never explained in the sequel trilogy. Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), the town’s protector, wears Boba Fett’s suit of armor, which he purchased off of Jawas, and he promises to return it to the rightful owners as long as Mando helps him kill a creature terrorizing his people. 

Cobb Vanth was a character that was introduced in a “Star Wars” novel, the same novel that brought Boba Fett back from inevitable death in the Sarlacc pit so it is completely understandable as to why people may be confused when these characters show up. For diehard Star Wars fans, their appearance means much more. While I have not read the Star Wars novels, many events that take place are canon in the timeline, so it is awesome to see Boba Fett return after “Return of the Jedi.”

In search of the sand creature’s home, Mando and Vanth are ambushed by Tusken Raiders, who we find out also want to kill the creature. The sand creature’s visual effects are absolutely stunning. It really goes to show how much money Disney is pouring into their news shows. Also, since we found out a few episodes into season 1 that this whole show is filmed on a soundstage, it’s insanity how real this show can look. The two sides coming together and making a plan takes up the majority of the episode but I’m glad we got a completion of the story instead of an extensive amount of one-offs. A large problem that I had with past episodes was that Mando had little purpose being in the situation that was shown; it never felt that he was getting anything out of it, which failed in developing his character. Here, he is getting something in return and, although we have no idea what is going to happen with the suit of armor he obtained from Vanth, I liked the change in hopefully making this season an overarching story. As the episode concluded, it left us with a surprise for next week, not a “Baby Yoda” level surprise, but a big one. It took me a few seconds to realize it was him, but Temuera Morrison will be around as Boba Fett a lot more than suspected.