Creator: Jon Favreau
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Ming-Na Wen, Temuera Morrison, Katee Sackhoff, Rosario Dawson, Mark Hamill,Timothy Olyphant, Bill Burr, Mercedes Varnado
Original Airdate: 2020
**The Following Review Contains Major Spoilers For The Second Season of 'The Mandalorian' **
★★★★ (out of ★★★★)
While not among those disappointed by the frequently maligned big screen Star Wars sequels, it's still hard to deny Disney was always walking a thin line with them, regardless of the result. It's tricky balancing the needs of a notoriously cranky adult fanbase desperate for their nostalgia fix with the desires of kids and more casual watchers clammoring for fresh content. What we got was a battle of wills, wherein an unspoken compromise had to be reached where there could be certain callbacks and a reliance on classic, iconic characters just so long as it was in service of newer faces and more forward-looking stories.
Even if Disney fared much better than they've been credited for in their efforts, it can't be ignored that neither contingent of fans walked away completely fulfilled. If returning the franchise to its heyday of the late 70's and early 80's by reigniting the feelings that sorrounded the original trilogy was already a tall order, using it to effectively lay the groundwork for
Star Wars' future would be close to impossible.
So how did creator Jon Favreau, with his only mildly anticipated Disney Plus series The Mandalorian, manage to do again for this franchise what J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson and even George Lucas himself at one point couldn't? You have to think he first probably recognized just how burnt out even the saga's biggest supporters had become after an inundation of big screen content that left everyone wanting a break. If all the sequels and spin-offs were universally beloved that would be one thing, but with wildly mixed notices, something had to change to justify this besides receipts or it wouldn't last.
The best received spin-off, 2016's Rogue One, worked because it felt as if it had temporarily released us from the shackles of this mythology, demonstrating that there's plenty of fringe universe yet to be tapped (through novelizations, games and the animated series), featuring fresh characters and missions unencumbered by baggage or expectations. And to balance things out, the film also marked until now what had been Disney's most successful use of a classic character with Vader's sensational corridor rampage, showcasing him at the peak of his powers in way that completely complimented the plot.
When the pilot episode of
The Mandalorian premiered in November of last year, Favreau revealed the magic ingredient."The Child" (AKA "Baby Yoda") In wisely withholding the reveal in all the show's pre-release promotional advertising, fans were reminded what it's like to be surprised, as lone Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) looks inside the floating carriage to discover the "asset" he's been hired to protect exceeded our highest expectations, causing hearts to grow about ten sizes that day. And that was it.
Taking place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the series debuted as the perfect blend of familiar and new, using the remnants of a beloved but somewhat still mysterious character in Yoda to posit the theory that there could be others like him. And it's accompanied by a lot of possibilities when one of them is a scared, occasionally mischievous, but adorable alien baby of about 50 years-old. Even while partially digitized, the creation harkens a return to the realistic, practical effects and puppetry that defined the original films, while also revisiting one of the series' most prevalent themes of parentage and fatherhood on an even deeper level.
As just the starting point for an initial season that Favreau and producer Dave Filoni spared no creative expense on, Mando begrudgingly protects the Child, who has yet to master his Jedi Force powers, even as his gift could become a curse if exploited by others. That's the intention of a dangerous Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) who's attempting to restore order to the Galaxy after the fall of the Empire, eyeing this force-wielding baby as his path to do it.
If the show had been mildly, but unfairly criticized for anything during its first season, it was for settling into a procedural format during which Mando, with Child in tow, would embark on missions of the week with or for various characters. These weekly adventures were frequently transactional, featuring an exchange wherein Mando would reluctantly work with someone who couldn't be completely trusted in order to gain something he needs.
Some of these forty-minute weekly missions were undeniably better than others, but the world and character building that took place in all of them proved essential in getting to the Season 2 end game, retroactively resulting in an even stronger set of episodes than its inaugural season. And this format comes as a relief for returning the franchise to its roots as a space Western while temporarily shelving that "big picture" blueprint, supressing concerns about how everything and everyone will fit into some larger plan fans will complain about. If a weight was lifted by first making the show good and then taking it from there, it's still kind of astounding all the small and even considerably more substantial details Favreau gets right. Whether that's a soaring Ludwig Göransson score that's up there with anything John Williams has previously done, or the storyboard artwork incorporated into the closing credits.
What was clear late in the first season, but comes into even sharper focus here, is that Mando's strict, unwavering commitment to upholding a rigid code is cracking as his attachment to the Child grows, now seeking out a Jedi in hopes of returning the little one to his home, wherever that may be. The story heads in the direction we assumed it probably would and while an eventual showdown with Moff Gideon and his Darksaber surely looms, the path there is accompanied by more thrills than expected, along with some unpredictable bumps along the road. After enlisting the help of Mandelorian warriors Bo-Katan (Katee Sackoff, reprising her Star Wars: Clone Wars role) and Koska Reeves (Mercedes "Sasha Banks" Varnado) to locate this Jedi, Mando briefly reunites with Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) before heading forest planet of Corvus in the series' most revealing episode, the Filoni-directed "Chapter 13: The Jedi."
In introducing Ahsoka Tano (a pefectly cast Rosario Dawson) into the live action canon, a bomb is dropped in terms of the Child's background that actually gives at least one of the prequels a reason for existing, while revealing his given name. That Favreau manages to escape disappointing everyone with this reveal is noteworthy since it couldn't have been easy with expectations running so feverishly high. Grogu. Short, simple and sounds very
Star Wars-like. That's all you can ask for. It fits him. Supposedly, Favreau already knew it very early on in the first season and it just became a matter of when to pull the trigger, a decision made that much harder when Baby Yoda became a worldwide sensation. But the Band-Aid had to be ripped off at some point and this sure went down a lot easier than anticipated.
Ahsoka can't train Grogu since he's just too attached to Mando and she senses fear in him, the first hint that his egg eating, cookie stealing shenanigans may not have been as cute and innocent as it appeared, suggesting the possibility we may have another little Anakin on our hands, tempted by the dark side of the Force. But all hope isn't lost since she knows of a Jedi who can train him. Maybe. And with that comes the season's big mystery. Who is it? The possibilities should seem limited, yet are kind of endless when you start running through all the candidates.
Thanks to Ahsoka, Mando's comes into possesion of a Beskar steel spear we know he'll need, and against whom. The indelible image of a meditative Grogu sorrounded by an energy field reaching out for a connection at Tython's seeing stone eventually makes him a sitting duck for Gideon's Dark Troopers, giant black Transformer-looking droids that make the human-occupied Stormtroopers look like Ewoks. While the undeniable tragedy of the Robert Rodriguez-directed "Chapter 14: The Tragedy" is Grogu's kidnapping, the destruction of the Razor Crest ship at the hands of Gideon could easily compete with it given it's well-earned status as the franchise's most identifiable transport since the Millenium Falcon.
As far as surprises go, the return of Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) after being left for dead in the desert in last seaon's "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger" an expected, but welcome, especially considering who's with her. In another great example of how Favreau just "gets it," he knows that bringing back Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) after his sarlacc demise in
Return of the Jedi is a no-brainer, because, why not? If you could bother explaining away Emperor Palpatine's resurrection, this is almost downright logical. And why wouldn't you take the opportunity to do something more substantial with a seemingly minor character who became a major fan favorite by standing silently in a cool uniform for two movies? Now, with a detailed backstory and sense of importance that isn't merely speculative, we get what we always wanted.
Slightly older and more weathered, Boba demands his father and grandfather's armor back from an unwilling Mando, who got it from Mos Pelgo Marshal Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) in "Chapter 9: The Marshal." And so another one of the series' famous trades leads to Jabba's former bounty hunter once again donning the helmet and armor to help Mando kick some Stormtrooper ass. After being programmed for disappointment for so long, it's almost surreal to see such a bold creative choice pay off this well, both in concept and execution. And it's unlikely anyone could claim they ever expected to see Boba Fett take a tornado DDT from Sasha Banks.
Arriving well-prepared with the help of Boba, Fennec, Dune, Bo-Katan and Koska to save Grogu ("Chapter 16: The Rescue"), Mando's showdown with Moff Gideon carries an anticipation unmatched by any recent Star Wars battle, largely because of the stakes. Darksaber vs. Beskar Spear. It has to be acknowledged that Giancarlo Esposito's performance during this episode represents his best work of the series, alternating between pure, unadulterated evil and a maniacal glee, gloating at knowing a key detail concerning the power of the Darksaber that will undoubtedly carry into next season.
With an entire fleet of Dark Troopers for the group to fight off, the arrival of that sole X-Wing carries an overwhelming sense of importance the second we see it pull up, signifying the arrival of our mystery Jedi. And it's him. They actually did it.
Before we even see the hood, the green saber or the glove, we know it's Luke Skywalker because, of course, it had to be. In trying to come up with all the reasons this couldn't work, we ignored the one obvious explanation why it does. Yoda trained Luke and now student must become master and train Grogu, who deserves the most important character in the Star Wars canon clearing his schedule. The kid's earned it.
Anyone other than Luke would feel second-rate, and however anyone feels about his treatment in The Last Jedi, it takes only a minute or two before it's erased from our minds as he effortlessly slays Dark Troopers left and right in a chills-inducing sequence that brilliantly calls back to his father's aforementioned Rogue One appearance. With his hand on the monitor, Grogu looks on in wonder, as we once did, transfixed with the same sense of childlike amazement experienced during the original trilogy, but rarely felt again since. Until now.
"Open the door." And with those words speculation ends which incarnation of Luke we'd see and, more importantly, how. With Hamill now too old to play the character five years post-
ROTJ, would Favreau recast the role with another actor (Sebastian Stan was speculated), or instead go the equally risky route of relying on the same de-aging technology that was used for Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia and Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin in
Rogue One, and briefly for Luke and Leia in
The Rise of Skywalker flashbacks?
In going for the CG option, we're reminded there's still a long way to go before it can be reliably used without issues, but the digitized Hamill is a massive improvement over the the Fisher effort, and about equal to Cushing. But the more noteworthy achievement might be that we hardly care, with the narrative context overshadowing any perceived technological deficiencies. So, even if George Lucas would probably endorse the decision (for all the wrong reasons), this does stand as one of its better uses.
Luke's appearance only enhances the central storyline of Mando having to temporarily part with his son. And, yes, it definitely feels okay to refer to Grogu as his child because he's been that for a while, and even more so during the course of this season. One of the toughest sells of the show was always going to be having it revolve around a masked protagonist, limiting any actor who would have to convey everything through voice and body language. Not only has Pedro Pascal debunked those fears, he's completely conveyed the bond Mando and Grogu share through this helmet, adjusting accordingly on the very few occasions it's come off and we've seen his face.
The first removal of Mando's helmet occurred in the Season 1 finale ("Chapter 8: The Redemption") with the IG-11 droid taking it off to treat his injuries, and again this season in "Chapter 15: The Believer" when he and Mayfeld (Bill Burr) go undercover to obtain the coordinates to Gideon's cruiser and a facial scan forces him to remove it. Of course, this is a big deal because if the first time was a necessity, this one's a choice, or rather a sacrifice he makes for the Child.
At the start of the series we couldn't imagine the inflexible, unemotional Mando doing something like that, but through great storytelling and acting on Pascal's part, we've reached the point where he's now voluntarily removing the helmet so his son can touch his face and say goodbye, if just temporarily. To call it the most powerful moment in this season or even the series as a whole feels like selling it short, as it's tough to recall the franchise coming close to a peak like this within the past thirty years. It also serves a great parallel to Luke removing the helmet off of his injured father at the end of Return of the Jedi.
Of course any resistance from Grogu to go with Luke is tempered by not just by Mando's blessing, but the presence of R2-D2, joined at the hip with Luke, just as we remembered him at the end of
ROTJ. These are how classic characters can be used to service the stories of newer ones without getting it in the way. From a timeline perspective it also perfectly fits, as Luke's exact whereabouts shortly after the conclusion of
Episode VI were wide open and largely unestablished.
The big question now is what exactly happens with the future of the series. Will Grogu go on hiatus while he trains with Luke or could we actually see it? The latter seems far-fetched given technological hurdles, so it could be a situation where we have a flash-forward to whenever that's completed, posing another huge creative risk in having to age the Child. But there can be too much of a good thing and overexposing an insanely successful character can be just as damaging, which is why Favreau and Filoni deserve tons of credit for bringing this season's story arc to its logical conclusion, regardless of the creative challenges it'll probably present.
In successfully shifting the series from becoming the Baby Yoda show into something far more encompassing, there's a good chance Favreau and Filoni are prepared to handle what's next. The show's still titled The Mandalorian so it's a good bet it will continue to follow Mando's adventures and Grogu will return in due time. Aside from the fact he's printing too much money not too, he basically rivals both peak Luke and Yoda in importance at this point.
As the the The Book of Boba Fett post-credit sequence further solidifies, there's going to be an onslaught of new shows, spin-offs and features arriving over the next few years if the franchise can withstand it this time. But even as someone who thinks Disney's done a fantastic job since acquiring the property from Lucas, I'm skeptical of the Marvel-like direction they're taking it, bombarding fans with cross-over content that could be very hit-or-miss.
If there's a silver lining in this approach, it's that the franchise now has a much stronger foundation on which to build thanks to this series. It may seem hyperbolic to credit one person with "saving" an entire franchise, but that's undeniably what Jon Favreau did with The Mandalorian, giving credence to those suggestions that he and Grogu deserve their own statue beside Walt and Mickey at Disney theme parks. And now we can at least feel safer knowing that any future Star Wars project going through the pipeline will likely have his input or involvement.
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