The Mandalorian has officially kicked off its second season today, so I’m kicking off another series of breakdown videos to highlight each episode’s Easter eggs, references, and best moments. There will be no recap and reviews for now as we will do those on our livestream each week on Tuesdays, so get with the program for that content.
Head on down below to check out all of the eggs, references, and best moments featured in The Mandalorian: The Marshal, aka Season 2, Episode 1.
Eggs
1
Up first we can see all sorts of graffiti and I swear it’s anti-imperial thanks to the white helmeted looking characters, but also because of this guy, which kind looks like Vader, or at least a Cylon from the OG Battlestar Galactica. One could also argue that this could be 3P0.
2
We then get a cheapo egg in the form of some Gamorrean Guards fighting each other instead of getting eaten by Rancors.
3
I’m throwing this next one in here because of the whole Zuvio from TFA running gag. Dude at least sports the same helmet thing, and this same looking dude showed up in Mando S1E3, so he counts as an egg at this point.
4
And we get another cheap egg in the form of a Bantha on tatooine, i know lame, but needed.
5
As Mando lands on Tatooine we get a returning character reference in the form of Peli and her pit droids, characters Mando met in S1E5.
6
We also learn that R5 isn’t just a drunk and he doesn’t hang out in the old challums cantina all day because he now works for Peli. What a journey. He went from being a failed sale to the Lars homestead to becoming just another berated astromech.
7
When Din shows up in Mos Pelgo he meets a Weequay bartender, who is probably doing this job thanks to Luke and friends taking out Jabba in Return of the Jedi.
8
One of the cooler eggs in this episode is the reveal of Cobb Vanth, a character made canon on the Aftermath novels, but now he’s immortalized in live action canon as well. Oh, he also likes to drink Spotchka, Cara’s booze of choice.
9
The largest egg in this episode is literally huge, because for the first time we got to see a Krayt Dragon in action. A beast we’ve only heard stories about from Old Ben Kenobi previously.
10
While speeding out to find the dragon we learn that Cobb Vanth is sporting a modified pod racer engine for his speeder, and I have to say it looks a large chunk of it is from Anakin’s pod racer from The Phantom Menace.
11
During Cobbs Flashback we get mentions of the second Death Star explosion and what went down on Tatooine immediately after.
12
Also during his flashback we get another camtono full of precious materials, which also happen to be Easter eggs themselves as they’re Silicax crystals, which were introduced in the Aftermath books.
13
Cobb needed to trade the crystals with Jawas, so they provided our next egg in the form of CZ-3’s head, the creepy looking droid from ANH’s sandcrawler, which also leads me to believe that these are the same Jawas who peddled 3PO and R2 to Luke and Owen back in A New Hope.
14
Alright, this next reference is a bit loosy goosey but I’m running with it because I don’t think we’ve ever seen what it looks like to target things through a Mando’s targeting reticle, so I thought Cobb’s showdown was unique. Plus we got to see him use the rocket launcher, which reminded me of Jango’s fight with Kenobi from AOTC.
15
En route to the dragon the two dudes run into some Massifs, which are dog-like creatures that live with Tuskens, and I believe they first appeared in AOTC.
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Speaking of which, we also get to see a Tusken camp, another thing we haven’t seen since Anakin’s rampage.
17
While we are riffing on the sand people, I also wanted to highlight how we get to see them travel in single file to hide their numbers, a lesson we all learned from Old Ben many years ago.
18
When the heroes end up at the Dragon cave we learn that its actually an abandoned Sarlacc pit, and it’s abandoned because Krayt Dragons can eat them. Nice!
19
Din gives us a Dune Sea mention while recruiting the Mos Pelgo citizens to help them kill the dragon. A nod to an iconic location first mentioned in A New Hope.
20
After Din realizes that the Dragon is retreating he says Dank Farrick, which is Star Wars slang used by Mythrol in S1E1 after he and Mando survive the ice monster attack.
21
Alright this next one I do believe is an homage to Boba Fett’s jetpack mishap in ROTJ, because Din essentially mimics what Han did to quick fire Boba’s jetpack to Cobb to get him out of harm’s way before he became a living Mando grenade. I even think the sound effects were similar.
22
While the Tuskens are carving up the dragon one pulls out a big ass white ball, which is a highly coveted Krayt Dragon pearl, an item first discussed I believe in the KOTOR video game.
23
And finally, the biggest egg of the episode had to be Tatooine’s twin suns! No really, it was the maskless Boba Fett reveal. Yup, that’s definitely him, so now we know for sure he survived and has been milling around on Tatooine for a few years living like a nomad. I think it’s safe to say that he was indeed the mystery character from the end of S1E5 now, and his black garb does match the threads we saw standing over Fennec’s corpse.
Best Moments
1
I really enjoyed Mando’s outnumbered fight with Gore’s goons. Everything from the line about letting Gore live when he’s clearly outnumbered, to his headbutt punch block really helped to get us right back into Din’s world and how badass he is.
2
It was nice to see Peli again, so I appreciate revisiting past character like this. It just helps to make the world of Mando feel more connected and almost intimate, and besides her line about buying the Kid was pretty great too.
3
I found that Jon and team did a great job with the Cobb Vanth reveal in general. Everything from his contentious first meeting with Din to his little backstory vignette was really well done. I think his story was summed up perfectly for a canon book character that causal fans would have no previous knowledge on, and he worked really well in The Mandalorian. Hopefully we do see him again.
4
The whole Krayt Dragon reveal scene was pretty great, so it was awesome to finally see this beast in the flesh.
5
Ok, time for the guaranteed at least one Child best moment in each episode and it came when we find him hiding in a spittoon after the dragon attack.
6
Montage scenes are usually forgettable, but the Sand people/Mos Pelgo resident one was actually pretty unique because it’s not like we’ve ever seen Sand People in this capacity before, so it was a neat Star Wars moment.
7
How could I not mention the actual Krayt dragon battle! That was one helluva fight and it featured some awesome action moments, but I have to say my favorite aspect was seeing Din and Cobb jetpack off together, and of course Din’s boss move of letting himself get eaten so he could plant a bantha bomb in the dragon’s gut. What. A. Pimp.
8
I really enjoyed Cobb and Din together, so I appreciated their mutual respect for each other at the end and hopefully their goodbye won’t be their last.
9
And the final top moment was the big doozy of the episode and that was the reveal of Nomad Boba Fett. At one point in time the idea of Fett returning to this series made me itchy, but over time his potential to add great narratives to The Mandalorian have convinced me that he can be used in a solid way to give us more Boba canon, but also to bolster the legend of our hero Din.
