The Mandalorian: Ranking Every Episode From Worst To Best
3. Chapter 2: The Child
If the first episode was a mild misfire, then this episode was just shy of a miracle.
With its true objective purely in view following the Baby Yoda reveal at the end of Chapter 1, the show was finally free to really show its cards and show them it did. Directed by Rick Famuyiwa, this episode set a tone and pace that the rest of the season would follow to great success. The first several minutes of the episode play out in complete silence as Mando and Baby Yoda march across the barren wasteland, and yet it is utterly captivating to watch thanks to Famuyiwa's inspired direction.
The episode is full of thrilling and impressive setpieces (the Jawasandcrawler chase scene is straight out of Mad Max: Fury Road and the showdown with the Mudhorn has delightful callbacks to one of the best moments of Attack of the Clones) but where Famuyiwa really excels is in capturing the early blossoming of the relationship between Mando and Baby Yoda. It's the thread that would make the show such a phenomenon and its only so captivating because of how intensely focused on building it through dynamic motion and emotion Famuyiwa was here.