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'The Mandalorian' Episode 2 takes series to Star Wars' fantasy beginnings as Jawas provide comic relief you never knew you wanted

Though ‘Star Wars’ bears strong sci-fi aesthetics that have defined it more strongly as the franchise expanded, its roots are entangled with the classic fantasy camp. The stories of good and evil, of magic swords, of chosen ones and a mystical force. ‘The Mandalorian’ manages to avoid most of that

Episode 2 of ‘The Mandalorian’ saw our hero have to deal with a race of short, opportunistic scavengers with a cutesy language, power in numbers and who were mostly harmless when reasoned with. They offered the Mandalorian things vital to his mission, but first, he would have to defeat a monster in a cave to get them an item they needed.

If this sounds a bit familiar, it is - it’s a sidequest, a staple of nearly every fantasy story since the genre began. ‘Star Wars’ is no stranger to fantasy tropes -- it started out, after all, as a fantasy story thinly disguised as science fiction.

Though ‘Star Wars’ bears strong sci-fi aesthetics that have defined it more and more strongly as the franchise expanded, its roots are deeply entangled with classic fantasy camp. The stories of good and evil, of magic swords, of chosen ones and a mystical force.

‘The Mandalorian’ manages to avoid most of that, but it does still fall into some of fantasy’s less iconic, but still easily recognizable, trappings. The Jawas in particular, embody this.

When pulp fantasy novels were in their heyday, it seemed impossible for a hero to get through an adventure without running into grubby, adorable, short creatures that wear out the hero’s patience while providing comic relief nobody asked for.

Mostly they’re goblins, sometimes they’re imps, fairies, kobolds or gnomes. They rarely provide anything to the plot and they exist purely to delay the hero’s quest to satisfy their own selfishness or mischievious desires.

Even for those who don’t recognize it, the nostalgia factor as ‘The Mandalorian’ brings ‘Star Wars’ briefly back to its fantasy origins is felt throughout the episode. Even though they’re given new big-budget spit-and-polish, the Jawas feel exactly like they do when they first appeared in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope.’

They seem out of place in a story you’re meant to take seriously, but somehow, they grow on you and a serious show is given the comic relief you never knew you wanted. The Jawas are a useful bit of worldbuilding and it was fun to see them again before the Mandalorian headed off into space -- and possibly into a brand new genre aesthetic for the next episode, as well.

The next episode of ‘The Mandalorian’ airs November 22 on Disney+.