The Mandalorian: Season 2
Showrunners: Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau
Warning: spoilers ahead.
The premise of season one of The Mandalorian was simplistic and heartfelt—the relationship between Baby Yoda and Mando. This unlikely pair evoked the perfect isolated relationship between a father and his son, a foundling and his rescuer. While the plot was always destined to become something far beyond the original Western-in-space motif, it brought Star Wars back to its roots, focusing once again on relationships between characters above all else. Season two builds on this momentum and continues this special connection between these characters while still keeping a Jedi story grounded in the small scale realities of the galaxy.
Similar to season one, season two is initially a slow burn. Some episodes feel a little too removed from the wider world and halt the plot almost entirely, leaving the weekly episode consumption feeling a little frustrating. The season starts off strong with the introduction of Cobb Vanth (another instance of Timothy Olyphant as a badass Western marshal) and a teaser of a possible return of Boba Fett, after a spectacular battle against the Krayt Dragon. While the episode feels somewhat removed from the larger series, the action serves its purpose and seemingly leads us back on track with Mando’s journey to reunite Baby Yoda with his people. However, this episode is immediately followed by a prolonged arc with the Frog Lady which quickly becomes a very forgettable, frustrating journey, feeling more like episodic padding rather than linking in with the path fans want Star Wars to go. It feels too much like the creators intentionally taking a sharp left at the intersection rather than going straight through the set of lights. (I won’t weigh in on the ‘egg debate‘ that stemmed from this Mandalorian storyline, except to say that it is a fittingly redundant discussion for an internet community driven insane from isolation this year.)
The highlight of this season is by far the addition of the new characters that Star Wars fans know and love. The introduction of Clone Wars‘ Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in episode 5 is absolutely amazing, renewing a compelling character who was sadly absent from the prequel trilogy but nevertheless deserving of a live-action appearance. Her innate wisdom and connection to the force allows for several stunning reveals—Grogu’s name, her pursuit of Rebels villain Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the existence of a Beskar spear. Ahsoka’s appearance probably means a lot to Star Wars fans, but her introduction doesn’t necessarily feel like it isolates the larger audience with too much insider information. While it was a shame to see her opt out of training Grogu (but a fair call on her end due to her previous master’s experience), the announcement of her own spin-off series offers some excitement.
Equally, seeing Clone Wars‘ Bo-Katan brought to life with none other than her own voice actor Katee Sackhoff is incredible. Not only is her casting perfect, but the character allows the show to investigate the question posed on many forums: ‘Why do some Madalorian’s take off their helmets?’. With the ‘reveal’ that Mando’s section of Mandalorians are considered a radical group, Mando’ meeting with Katan and her crew provides him with his own arc of discovery, questioning the rules given to him as a small foundling. Watching four Mandalorians absolutely kick ass on an air ship is a dream come true, demonstrating the amazing strength of this warrior race (no matter what sub-group they come from).
Finally, the addition of Boba Fett was something I had been expecting but didn’t have high hopes for. After all, how could the show bring in this many highly-anticipated characters without inundating us? Fett was an example of how the original trilogies weren’t necessarily perfect. For a character to be ‘Boba Fetted’ unfortunately stemmed from the misuse of this seemingly awesome-looking character. But The Mandalorian season two was clearly hell-bent on righting this wrong, re-introducing us to the character and made. Him. Awesome. His fight scene in episode 6 filmed expertly by Robert Rodriguez (known for his excellent action sequences) screams from the rooftops that the real Boba Fett is back.
This season also brings us something that the modern film and TV world seems to be trying really hard to get right: an authentic female fight scene. In the finale, there is an excellent moment where our badass female cast takes on the heavy artillery while Mando goes off to save Grogu. This moment, easily unnoticed to be all female, demonstrates when the plot can authentically create this moments and enhance a scene. Thank you Dave Filoni. Maybe Marvel can take some hints from this?
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the scene where we finally get to see OP Luke Skywalker save the day. The show expertly builds the tension in this sequence as the Dark Troopers advance on Mando’s team. Even though as an audience member you are shown his X-Wing, his green saber and his black gloved hand, it was still hard to believe in the moment after so many hints and teases that this might be Luke himself. George Lucas once stated about Luke and Vader that “like poetry… they rhyme.” And sure enough, this turn out to be Luke Skywalker returning for his very own hallway fight scene, demolishing the Dark Troopers with every Jedi trick in the book. When Luke’s identity is finally revealed, his youthful face is achieved through CGI/Deep fake technology with Mark Hamill’s voiceover. While this has created some discussion around the quality of the image, it was clear that the storytelling was more important here in the moment. While the lack of fidelity is somewhat distracting, the scene is well worth it just to see a fully realised Luke (especially after the disappointment we saw in the sequel trilogy).
Going forward for The Mandalorian, there are a few concerns I have after watching this second season. Will Grogu ever return, or have they closed the chapter on this particular story in order to keep Mando’s world from being just another Jedi story? Will The Mandalorian become a launching pad for other spin-offs at the risk of inundating itself with existing Star Wars characters, ostracising its non-Star Wars audience? And finally (though this less of a ‘concern’): how much will the showrunner try to use The Mandalorian to bridge the gap between the spotty sequel trilogy and the more accepted Star Wars lore? While examples of this so far have not been all bad, I would hate to see this great show—grounded in real relationships and smaller arcs—to become the dumping ground of sequel trilogy bullshit.
Ultimately, The Mandalorian continues to succeed in giving fans (all fans) what we have wanted from Star Wars ever since we heard there would be a new trilogy. I have faith in Filoni and Favreau to continue giving these characters meaningful storylines and showing a genuine love for the series and its characters.
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