The second episode of The Mandalorian season 2 is out, and it’s loaded with chills (literally), thrills, disturbing developments for Baby Yoda, and a number of lingering unanswered questions. Chapter 10, “The Passenger,” focused primarily on a simple survival story with a wampa cave flavor, but it also left some things open for fan speculation.
“The Passenger” picks up right where the season premiere left off, with Mando riding back to Mos Eisley on his borrowed speeder bike with Boba Fett’s armor in hand. He’s attacked by a group of bandits seemingly after the Imperial bounty on Baby Yoda’s head, but quickly escapes. Din then gets a lead on a nearby covert of Mandalorians in the next system from Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and agrees to escort an amphibian passenger to her husband so that her eggs can be fertilized, in exchange for the information. The journey is interrupted by a pair of New Republic soldiers, leading to a crash landing on an ice planet and a battle against an army of spiders. Oh, and Baby Yoda eats a lot of the eggs.
While “The Passenger” feels smaller-scale than the season opener, it still builds out the Mandalorian world in some interesting ways. Din’s latest encounter with the New Republic foreshadows more entanglements to come, and the ongoing hunt for other coverts remains, well, ongoing. Let’s get to the episode’s biggest hanging threads.
Where Is Boba Fett?
Anyone who watched “The Marshal” likely turned on “The Passenger” with one main thing in mind: Boba Fett. After the stellar reveal of Fett’s survival at the end of the season 2 premiere, fans have been abuzz with wondering what role he might play going forward. He knows Din has his armor and may know he’s searching for other Mandalorians, but he hasn’t made himself known to our hero yet.
The natural assumption is that Fett is still on Tatooine. It seems likely that he’s intentionally remained in hiding for one reason or another since his presumed death in the sarlacc pit. Very little has been confirmed, however. Historically, Boba Fett has captained one of the most feared ships in the galaxy – Slave I – as his father Jango did before him. It’s unclear at this point if he’s retained command of the vessel, but given its iconic status in Star Wars lore, an appearance from the ship in the future seems likely. With that in mind – and since Din didn’t travel through hyperspace in “The Passenger” (meaning he could be easily tracked) – Fett could be on his trail.
Who Is The Frog Lady?
While many viewers might have been holding their breath for Boba Fett to be Din’s mystery passenger, it turned out to be someone else – a mysterious f rog lady of a previously unseen species. The titular passenger doesn’t speak Galactic Basic, though she understands it, suggesting her race isn’t physically capable of creating the sounds. Her mission of preserving her bloodline establishes the overarching theme of the episode, which is paralleled by Din’s relationship with the Child, and the giant spider’s relationship with its many frightening baby spiders.
Any new species introduced in Star Wars is cause for curiosity in itself, and there’s plenty intriguing about the Frog Lady. The fact that the eggs she’s transporting are her last chance to continue her family line suggests that she is either older than she seems, or that her species simply doesn’t reproduce often. She also seems to know her way around a blaster, and she has a very, very fun way of running.
The Frog Lady doesn’t seem particularly important, but given The Mandalorian’s knack for bringing back minor characters, it’s likely that viewers haven’t seen the last of her. It’s unclear why she wouldn’t have left Tatooine with her husband. Her knowledge of the Mandalorian covert’s location is also curious, given the lengths clans go to in order to preserve their secrecy. With luck, there won’t be any more problems on Din’s journey to find them. But if there are more roadblocks in store, can the Frog Lady be trusted to tell the Mandalorian about them? She helped him not become a skeleton in the ice cave, but if she doesn’t deliver on the information, he could have a bad time.
Will The New Republic Be Allies Or Enemies?
X-wings returned to The Mandalorian in “The Passenger,” and they brought Mando into direct contact with forces of the New Republic. The two pilots forced Din’s crash landing and subsequent spider problem, but they also saved him, the Child and the Frog Lady at the end after learning how he defended a New Republic captain in season 1. Could this pave the way for better relations with the Republic going forward?
It’s unclear. On the one hand, the pilots’ willingness to overlook Mando’s past criminal actions because of his good deeds could foreshadow more direct cooperation with the New Republic in season 2. Given that Moff Gideon and the Imperial remnants remain his most dangerous foe, an allegiance with the former Rebels seems likely and beneficial. On the other hand, Mando is still a bounty hunter. He likely hasn’t broken the law for the last time, and his precious cargo could make him a target for the New Republic as well as the Empire. Only time will tell.
Where Is The Mandalorian Covert?
Din Djarin’s agreement to escort the Frog Lady was dependent on one thing – that she would point him to a Mandalorian covert once they arrived on Trask. Given how his search for others of his kind has gone so far, it’s unlikely to be as easy as getting directions and showing up. The season so far seems structured around locating another covert, but that contact could send Mando and the Child off in a whole new direction.
So much about the current Mandalorian culture remains unclear that meeting new characters could shed some major light. The exact nature of the Great Purge, for instance, has only been alluded to, and the whereabouts of many previously established Mandalorian characters remain unknown. Could Sabine be returning? Could Bo Katan? Or will this new covert introduce new characters in a more self-contained story? Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.
Why Is Hyperdrive Dangerous For Eggs?
“The Passenger” featured an interesting new technical detail for the Star Wars universe – specifically, regarding hyperspace. The Frog Lady demands sub-lightspeed travel to Trask, and the eggs she’s carrying are the reason why. Lightspeed hasn’t exactly been explained in painstaking detail in the primary Star Wars content (for the best probably), so it’s possible that entering hyperspace could have physical ramifications on different lifeforms, especially ones that are more vulnerable. Din makes a point, however, of clarifying that sub-light travel is actually rougher, which means the concern is likely something about the nature of hyperspace itself.
Nothing quite like this has been alluded to before. Padme travels through lightspeed incredibly late in her pregnancy in Revenge of the Sith with no apparent concern, for instance. This could simply be a biological difference between species, but it's intriguing nonetheless. A lot has been added to hyperspace lore since Disney took control of Star Wars, with the sequel trilogy and Star Wars: Rebels both adding significantly to the canonical understanding of how it works. The Mandalorian now seems to be adding some new details of its own to the mix.
What Are the Limits Of Baby Yoda’s Appetite?
There are two kinds of people in the world – the ones who watched “The Passenger” and thought the giant spider was the villain, and the ones who thought it was Baby Yoda. The Child’s ravenous appetite and consumption of eggs – both spider and Frog Lady alike – is a bit unsettling. Of course, the Child’s carnivorous diet has been alluded to before in the series.
Baby Yoda’s baby-like desire to eat at all costs is played mostly for comic relief in “The Passenger,” but that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant. The Mandalorian has always been a callback-heavy show, and the Child’s egg-devouring tendencies could be a sort of Chekhov’s Gun for later in the season. Or the increased appetite could be a sign of physical growth to come. Either way, fans of The Mandalorian may not look at Baby Yoda the same way again after the latest episode.