Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3 episode 2.

The second episode of The Mandalorian’s third season, “Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore,” marks a refreshing return to form after a shaky premiere. Whereas last week’s episode was all setup – setting up Mando’s journey to redemption, Bo-Katan’s grudge against him, and the band of space pirates on his tail – this week’s installment is a thrilling straightforward adventure story. In a bid to redeem himself with a cleansing ritual, Mando ventures into the underground ruins of the Mandalorian homeworld. Before long, he finds all kinds of sinister creatures and nefarious baddies lurking down there. Earlier seasons might have taken a couple more episodes to get Din Djarin to Mandalore, but series creator Jon Favreau appears to have listened to fans’ complaints about the show’s abundance of side missions and jumps right into the main quest.

Last week’s premiere seemed to set up an endless subplot to locate the right memory chip to bring IG-11 back from the grave to help Mando explore the home planet of his people. But, within a few minutes of the second episode, Mando abandons his plans to bring IG-11 and brings a new droid along for the ride instead. It’s always a delight to see the hilarious Amy Sedaris as Tatooine mechanic Peli Motto, who appears early in the episode to sell R5-D4 to Mando to see if Mandalore’s mines are still breathable. As it turns out, a breathable atmosphere is the least of Mando’s concerns.

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Rachel Morrison makes her Mandalorian debut in the director’s chair for “The Mines of Mandalore.” While she’s also an accomplished TV director, Morrison is primarily known as a cinematographer. She became the first woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for her work on Mudbound. Morrison worked with director Ryan Coogler on Fruitvale Station and the first Black Panther movie, so she’s adept at handling both intimate character work and big, VFX-laden genre fare. As the result of having a world-class cinematographer at the helm, this episode is full of stunning imagery. There are no omniscient camera angles (except when starships are zipping through space); the camera always has a tangible perspective. When Mando is throwing club-wielding cave-people off a cliff, the camera cautiously peers over the edge to watch them fall. Morrison makes interesting use of the Darksaber and the flashlights mounted on Mando and Bo-Katan’s helmets as sources of light.

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Following the plant-bearded pirate captain and the Terminator-like half of a resurrected IG-11 seen last week, “The Mines of Mandalore” has even more awesome creature design. The creepy cave-dwelling creatures hiding out in the mines are reminiscent of H.G. Wells’ Morlocks. The little bat dragon that swoops out at Grogu and the droid that’s just an eye swimming around a glass dome, attaching itself to robotic bodies of varying sizes, are pure pulpy sci-fi. The Mythosaur is a frightening Lovecraftian terror whose gargantuan scale is conveyed by the fact that, up close, Bo-Katan can only see its eye ominously glaring at her.

Favreau’s script for “The Mines of Mandalore” is a lot tighter than last week’s premiere. The first half is full of foreshadowing, like Grogu showing off his somersaulting skills, pointing out the moon where Bo-Katan is staying, and reintroducing Mando’s clunky use of the Darksaber. Then, the second half is full of payoffs, like Grogu flipping out of his floating crib into the N-1 cockpit, flying over to Bo-Katan’s moon to recruit her help, and Bo-Katan grabbing the Darksaber to fend off a cybernetic crab more gracefully than Mando can.

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Grogu takes the lead in a lot of the episode’s action. The “Baby Yoda” puppet is often used as a prop, providing audiences with an adorable distraction while Mando does all the fighting. But this week, he shows off the Jedi tricks and quick thinking he learned from his brief time training with Luke Skywalker. When Mando is taken prisoner by an even spookier half-droid half-monster than General Grievous, it’s up to Grogu to save him. It’s fun to see Grogu involved in a chase scene all by himself and partnering with a different Mandalorian for a change. Also, as a side note, it’s heartwarming to hear Bo-Katan refer to Mando as Grogu’s “dad.”

While the premiere was made up of teasers for the rest of the season, “The Mines of Mandalore” is more interested in setting up shifting character dynamics than plotlines. Initially, Mando’s acquisition of the Darksaber seemed to set up Bo-Katan as a villain. But now, it’s looking like they’ll make an unlikely team and ultimately rule Mandalore together. Going back into The Mandalorian with the status quo restored in an entirely different show was a dubious prospect, but season 3 is already shaping up to be an exhilarating installment in The Mandalorian saga.

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