Following on from the first season, which managed to launch an entire streaming service, brought numerous awards, and managed to reignite interest from a fanbase that has long been torn apart, it is fair to say both the anticipation and pressure on The Mandalorian in its second season was very high. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni return as showrunners, bringing together their unique mix of fanboy knowledge, industry experience, and cutting-edge visual effects work, to create this pop culture phenomenon.
The show is packed full of great surprises so I won’t break down episode by episode the events, but I will say that the second half of the season is much stronger than the first in general, as the main plot really comes into place. The standout episodes (apart from the finale, which I will discuss with spoilers and in much more detail at the end of this review) are; the opening episode titled ‘The Marshal’, which plays like a standalone western and brings us back to Tatooine, and gives Timothy Olyphant a chance to really shine. The episode ‘The Jedi’, which introduces us to Ahsoka Tano, is a real delight and truly felt like animation come to life. The Boba Fett central episode titled ‘The Tragedy’, directed by none other than Robert Rodriguez, is a short but frenzied episode packed full of reveal and non-stop action.
While the show isn’t particularly an acting showcase, the performances remain very important, and in particular the performance of leading man Pedro Pascal. Even though the majority of his role is voice work, due to Mando barely ever removing his helmet, you feel Pascal’s presence constantly. His voice work is subtle and effective, always remaining within the quietly spoken realms that the character operates in, and never slips into melodrama. In the two moments he removes his helmet this season and we get to see Pascal himself, his acting is extraordinary, especially in the finale. He raw emotion and heartbreak we can see in Pascal’s eyes is beautiful, and even though it is right for this specific character that he has the helmet on the majority of the time, it is still great to be able to see Pascal at his very best.
The much-discussed finale delivered on many things the season had been building towards, with the large ensemble of characters that Mando has met on his travels uniting to rescue Grogu (Baby Yoda/The Child) from Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). It is great to see all these characters interacting and the tension is very high, with a brilliant fight between Mando and Gideon proving one of the highlights, and the reuniting, and soon to be separation again, of Grogu and Mando being the emotional heart. However, in the final moments, as the Dark Troopers approach our heroes, a lone and hooded Jedi appears, and in a brilliant sequence fights them all off and then approaches the heroes. As he removes his hood, it is revealed to be Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), digitally de-aged to look like he would just after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983). While the de-aging is jarring and slightly takes you out of the show, it is amazing to see Hamill return to this role one more time, and get to show off as the all-powerful Jedi we know Luke became. Many have argued this was just fan service to those who wanted to see a different Luke than the one in The Last Jedi (2017), but for me it fits perfectly within the narrative of the show, and actually validates the direction Rian Johnson chose to go down all those years later.
Overall, even with an ending that divided people, this proved to be another highly entertaining and incredibly enjoyable piece of entertainment. Having a new, and well crafted, entry in the Star Wars universe drop weekly is a pleasure, and a novelty that hasn’t worn off yet. While it is public knowledge that Disney is going to rapidly move ahead with many new Star Wars shows (one teased in the end-credits here), it is still important that The Mandalorian is the flagship show, and it carries that tag proudly. Really great entertainment.
Rating = 4/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 