CS Scene of the Week: Baby Yoda Saves the Day in The Mandalorian

Welcome to ComingSoon.net’s CS Scene of the Week column where we dive into the best scenes and performances television has to offer. For the week of November 11 to November 17, the Star Wars fandom fell in love with Baby Yoda — also known as The Child, aka, the 50-year-old baby belonging to the same species as the original Jedi Master Yoda — and his Mandalorian guardian, introducing our favorite new space duo in addition to all of the glorious new memes the internet has to offer.

MVP of the Week

The second episode of The Mandalorian, aptly titled “Chapter 2: The Child,” hits the ground running with equal amounts of exhilarating action and overwhelming adorableness. The beginning sequence of the episode was a strong contender for this week’s MVP slot as “Chapter 2” opens with no dialogue, Mando protecting The Child while fighting off Trandoshans, getting hurt and then rejecting Baby Yoda’s efforts to help him (how could you not audibly “aww” when the baby was trying so hard to heal Mando’s wounds?) while attempting to hide that he is slowly becoming attached to his bounty.

But the scene that left the biggest impression took place closer to the end of the episode. In order to get back his stolen ship’s parts, and following a negotiation mediated by Kuiil (Nick Nolte), Mando agrees to collect The Egg for the Jawas. The Egg happens to belong to a rhinoceros-type species known as the Mudhorn who inevitably attacks Mando as the two engage in a brutal fight. With parts of his armor destroyed and a very angry Mudhorn charging right at him, things don’t look promising for the Mandalorian.

Suddenly, the Mudhorn is halted and lifted up into the air, legs still furiously kicking, and Mando realizes The Child has saved him. Using every bit of the Force the little green guy has in his tiny body, The Child picks the enraged beast off of the ground, long enough to buy the Mandalorian time to stare in awe (well, we assume his face was full of awe underneath that helmet) and prepare his weapon before Baby Yoda’s strength is zapped and the little one passes out, leaving the Mandalorian to plunge a blade into the Mudhorn before they both collapse to the ground, one dead and one exhausted.

Baby Yoda saving Mando in such a spectacular and self-sacrificing way not only reveals how special and powerful The Child is but is significant in strengthening the bond between the bounty hunter and his new charge. We might not be able to predict the future, but now that the Mandalorian’s connection with The Child has deepened, especially thanks to the little one saving his life, this will make Mando’s bounty hunting duties trickier as he has to grapple with returning the baby to The Client, who no doubt only has nefarious plans in store for our favorite new Star Wars character.

Runner-Up of the Week

Mr. Mercedes is one of the best, and one of the most underrated, series on television. Based on the books by Stephen King, the show’s stellar cast of regulars is led by the ineffable Brendan Gleeson who plays private detective Bill Hodges. In the third season, Gabriel Ebert joined the series as Morris Bellamy, whose scenes often opposite the brilliant Kate Mulgrew proved to be some of the most enjoyably dysfunctional moments in the show’s history.

The most memorable scene in the Season 3 finale, titled “The Burning Man,” stems from Ebert’s excellent portrayal of Morris’ desperation and slow descent into madness. The guy is dealing with a lot, in all fairness, as the walls are closing in around him after a season of crime, murder, and betrayal. He has just found out his disturbed older lover Alma (Mulgrew) killed his girlfriend who then tried to kill him when he figured it out so he had to kill Alma instead and is, in the middle of everything, also currently holding frustrating negotiations with a terrified teenager named Peter whose mother, Marjorie, is being held hostage by Morris who wants the one-of-a-kind manuscripts the kid stole that belonged to the late author John Rothstein (Bruce Dern) who Morris obsessively idolized but also ended up killing in a robbery gone wrong in addition to realizing that the ever-determined Hodges is on his tail. As I said, he has a lot on his plate.

After another phone call that leaves the already erratic Morris even more enraged as all he wants is those manuscripts and to dive into more stories of his fictional hero Jimmy Gold (their mind-blowing monetary value be damned), he grabs his gun before loudly announcing, “This is how tight I’m wound,” and, in front of Peter’s poor tied-up mother, opens up a freezer and unloads multiple shots into Alma’s dead body. After letting out a scream, Morris stares at the terrorized Marjorie before saying, “I’m killin’ dead people now,” in an award-winning delivery that is both dark and hilarious. He then shoves a chloroform-covered rag into Marjorie’s face, holding her head and closing his eyes as he tells her to breathe over and over, attempting to calm himself down. The scene is every bit a showcase of Ebert’s talent (Morris will be sorely missed) as it is a highlight of why this show maintains some of the best dialogue and stars on TV.

What did you think of our CS Scene of the Week choices? Are there other television scenes from last week you feel deserve a shout-out? Sound off in the comments below!