The Mandalorian - Season 2 - TV Review

Sometimes we are on the edge of defeat when a miracle happens. It doesn't just happen in fiction, but in real life as well. It doesn't really happen much with digital media though unless a lot of changes happen beforehand. For example, The Walking Dead season 8 was so poorly received by fans that the showrunner at the time, Scott Gimple, was removed from that position and replaced by Angela Kang. Season 9 then happened and the show was not only a lot better, but also correctly executed a ton of new things, even with the backlash of last season. Last year we got something similar, this time with Star Wars, with The Mandalorian and now it's back for another epic season!

The Mandalorian season 2 is about Din Djarin (AKA Mando, played by Pedro Pascal) on a new mission after discovering something about Baby Yoda (AKA The Child) at the end of season 1: His powers indicate he a member of the Jedi and it is now Mando's task to deliver the Child to his people safely. The Empire, especially the faction led by Moth Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, are after the child though for some mysterious reason. Now Mando must search high and low for one of the rare, almost extinct members of the Jedi order.

Season 1 of The Mandalorian blew me away when I saw it. I mean I did also see The Rise of Skywalker and that was a complete trainwreck finale to an already disappointing Star Wars sequel trilogy. I've ranted about it so much and at the end of last year I wrote not just a review of the movie, but also a whole article for myself to vent my last frustrations about the film. To put it simply, that film almost put Star Wars in the grave. However, along came The Mandalorian, a weekly TV show that gave Star Wars fans exactly what they have been craving for. It focused on new characters, new worlds, new stories and plots that we hadn't seen in a big Star Wars production, all while using advanced technology, both new and updated with showrunners that really understood the source material and what fans have been wanting. When I watched it I felt like I was part of the Star Wars universe, much more than in any of the sequel films.

Now we have returned for more and this season was even more exciting than the last one! The biggest addition that this season does is start introducing a few characters from previous Star Wars entries. I'm going to try and not spoil any of these characters because almost every one of them made me go, "Woah, they're bringing them into this?!" In fact there was one character that, while not shown, was mentioned and most definitely will appear in a later season or in another Star Wars show (they announced so many last year) that hearing their name made my legs go out from under me. I fell back onto the couch behind me, eyes bulging out of my head like never before, just saying out loud to myself, "No... No way... No frickin' way... They're bringing back [REDACTED]?! OH MY GOD!!!" Then I paused the show and started pacing my living room for 10 minutes, jumping in uncontrolled ecstasy at what I just heard. Just thinking about that moment right now is making my body all loose and relaxed.

This leads me to something that could be an issue if done wrong: The show originally started out as its own thing, had barely anything to do with important characters or story elements from other points in the Star Wars movies, shows, or lore. That's one of the main reasons people watched the hell out of the first season. However, I am concerned about what this could do with the story and where it's heading. I'm kind of scared that the show will introduce so many previously introduced characters or make these characters so prominent in the show that The Mandalorian will lose a lot of its charm. I do like we have some connections and references to previous Star Wars content and that's okay to do for a bit. But you have to earn the right to do that by standing on your own. The first season absolutely did that, but the show still has to be able to stand on its own in the later seasons as well.

This issue is kind of exemplified by the story of this season. It's not bad, none of the episodes do I consider as bad (unlike season 1 which did have one stinker). But a lot of this season felt like the plot of a video game, one where you keep having to meet somebody or go to some place to find answers, only to learn that you got to go to another place to get those answers, and this continues for a while. It just didn't feel right to keep saying we're about to get to the end when we have a new objective to replace the old one. First we need to find another Mandalorian to tell us where a Jedi might be, but then we got to find another person who might know, and then another person who might know, and it was kind of irritating. That might bother some people and they got to have a different story structure next season or the show is going to get dull real fast.

Even with this story structure problem though I had a blast with this season because there is so much adventure! Mando gets into quite some trouble and danger throughout the season and it's very exciting, I still really worried that he might be in danger despite never seeing his expressions under the helmet. Plus of course Baby Yoda (who now gets an official name that I won't say) has to be protected and acts like a little kid so much that it's adorable. We want to be Mando, we want to keep this little cute creature alive, especially since he now has a greater sense of value as a possible Jedi. Mando, while still a ruthless bounty hunter, becomes almost a father to Baby Yoda and it's heartwarming how they grow closer this season because the first season he's just something that's wanted. In season 2 though there is more of a bond between them. Plus there is so much new dangers that Mando faces, from ice spiders to pirates to the Empire. He can't do it alone and some of his companions from the previous seasons need to help him out in his new adventures.

Additionally there are some new elements to the story that really excited me. The first big one is learning more about what the Empire is doing now. I mean yes the storm troopers remain (mostly) as incompetent as ever, but the Empire has been making plans to replace them with some new stuff, stuff that genuinely terrified me. I almost feel like they're keeping the troopers on now because they need some sort of military while they're finalizing their new plans and they don't want to throw away a military so uncaring if they get killed or not. It's like they have a plan to rise back up after Palpatine and the second Death Star were blown up and I'm very curious, scared, and excited to know what will be revealed next season.

The second new element to this story that I fell in love with is The Force. At a certain episode we finally meet a Jedi and the way they try to explain things to Mando and The Child felt exactly like how the original Yoda explained The Force to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back: Mystical, not just physical, but the mental, and it is a part of all life around and in us. It almost made me cry how wonderful it was hear it talked like that instead of being something you can measure with a blood sample like in the prequels or like a ridiculous superpower that can do anything like in the sequels. It was just right and remains almost magical in its essence in The Mandalorian.

The production of the show still remains as good as ever. There were a few moments where I could tell some things were CGI, but I honestly wasn't caring at all that I did notice because I was so wrapped up in what I was watching that it just felt right. Plus so many of the backgrounds and special effects are made with Unreal Engine 4, a video game engine, and it all looks stunning! Plus Baby Yoda was still a puppet that people could hold, the character designs and clothing were really good and mostly practical effects/ makeup instead of CGI, and we saw some great new worlds beyond just the usual desert wasteland. The acting is also very good, especially from some of the new additions. Everyone seems very happy with the show while taking some risks in what can be done and I love it for that. The real problem I have with the production is that the episodes vary in length. Some are just over 30 minutes and some are almost an hour, but there isn't must consistency with length.

The Mandalorian season 2 is even better than last season. Still looks pleasing to the eye with great CGI and editing, compelling stories, intense action, and expansions on the lore that are so greatly desired. It does need a new kind of story structure for next season, however, and while it does bring in characters from other pieces of Star Wars media I am a little worried over if the original characters and plot will become overshadowed by stuff we've seen already. Still, this was an excellent next step in Star Wars and I hope the next season, as well as the myriad of new Star Wars shows, are just as good, if not better, than what we've seen in this season. After this season I don't want to be a Jedi anymore, as cool as that can be... I want to be a Mandalorian.

Tentative Score: 9.25/10

Definitive Score: 9/10

Got to say one last thing: The ending of this season was mindblowing. Truly out of this world. And they somehow kept it hidden/ unknown to people for so long... I got to give them a round of applause for that.