(🚨CHARACTER SPOILERS🚨) The lone Mandalorian warrior, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), returns with The Child after being tasked to explore the galaxy to find his “kind,” and to keep him out of the clutches of the Empire remnants under the command of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) who are still desperate to have him. Their journey leads them to new faces but also new conflicts that would change their lives forever.
Jon Favreau returns to helm the series alongside other directors (Peyton Reed, Bryce Dallas Howard, Carl Weathers, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez and Rick Famuyiwa) after an outstanding first season that showed that a live action Star Wars series was possible. Season 2 was highly anticipated by many, including myself, to see what new adventures laid ahead for the duo, and sure enough I’m happy to say we were satisfied with another absolutely phenomenal season.
The story structure is similar to last season. where there are adventures every episode that are all connected by narrative threads, with increasingly higher stakes and developing characters. There were a lot more themes this season, and the story also was much larger in scale; it felt like a Western, Arabian, Samurai hybrid epic all in one, powered by amazing directing, acting, writing, excellent humor, emotional impacts and spectacular visuals. It was relentlessly entertaining and engaging in every way possible and found ways to really raise the stakes and expand the universe.
It was really good to see certain things from season 1 get addressed, making the show feel complete and consistent. So much detail is present in every episode, which shows just how much effort was put in this show by all creators involved.
Now for this review I am going to talk about character spoilers. I won’t delve into story spoilers, but with the amount of major faces there is no way I can talk about this season without talking about some of them in detail. So if you haven’t seen season 2 and want to go in knowing nothing about the characters in it, then don’t read beyond this point.
Pedro Pascal returns as our lead and once again owns this truly unique role, playing a more evolved version of the character we had in season 1. He is still a deadly and intelligent individual that doesn’t like dealing with complications, but his connection to The Child is much stronger now showing his more open, softer side, which you can hear in his voice and see with his movements. Major things happen that again affect his life and challenge his views on the Mandalorian Creed, to the point where he may risk breaking it. Pascal really did an excellent job here and he really cemented his character’s place as one of my favorite characters in all of Star Wars.
The Child is once again fantastic and cute, but definitely a bit more mischievous this time around as he’s looked after by his adopted father. He does seem to be growing in his own way, getting development as he experiences adventure and danger, as well as learning more details about his origin, including his name. Yes the Child has a name now and I honestly think it’s adorable, I don’t care what people think.
Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) return, and both certainly have changed since last season, but still both are fun characters who add to overarching adventure. We do get some new information about them this season, not a lot but just enough to add a few more layers to their characters, which was a detail I really liked.
Several characters from season 1 surprisingly came back and were not throwaways, I’m glad that they actually have a purpose in the story. Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) was a welcome surprise back and was kicked ass, but then we also had the brief return of Mayfeld (Bill Burr), the former imperial sharpshooter who has his backstory explored a bit. Bill Burr delivered solid humor yet again, but he also delivered a very serious moment so well it actually got me invested in his character, and certainly redeems him a bit for being the slime he was last season.
Moff Gideon returns, having a more prominent role this season as the main villain. Giancarlo Esposito once again delivers a truly menacing performance, as well as giving our heroes hell in similar fashion to the Empire Strikes Back. He is in a way the Darth Vader of this story, but he certainly has enough differences to make him his own unique character, similar to Kylo Ren, and not a copy and paste.
Among the new characters this season are some seriously major faces you may recognize from other Star Wars media. Cobb Vanth, aka The Marshal, played by Timothy Olyphant, was a truly unexpected newcomer who was just so damn charismatic and fun that he pretty much became one of my instant favorites this season. He definitely added more to the western themes with his inclusion, and Olyphant really just delivered a fantastic performance.
Chapter 10 introduced what many people call the Frog Lady, who despite having a small role in the overall story, was a lovable alien that had so much character and life, thanks to extremely amazing practical effects and puppeteering. Like the Child, her design was adorable, and she added a lot lighthearted nature to the show, despite being in it only briefly.
We also have a recurring New Republic pilot, Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), who I also thought was a nice addition to the series. The way this show is able to make me love new characters instantly in their first appearance is by far one of its most unique qualities.
And then we have the crossover characters that are featured in this series, who I think we can all agree were some of the major stand outs of this season. We got Bo-Katan in live action, reprised by Katee Sackhoff, who along with other Mandalorians seeks to lead the people of Mandalore. Seeing her in the flesh was an absolute joy, and watching her kick serious ass made me and a lot of Clone Wars fans happy. She definitely seems to be set up for something larger to happen in the story, perhaps in the next season.
But I think the one character everyone was truly looking forward to and anticipating the most is Ahsoka Tano, who is played in live action by Rosario Dawson. She was fucking perfection, appearing in Chapter 13, which to me was the best episode of this entire season, and was directed and written by Dave Filoni. She is essentially a wandering ronin, on her own mission yet willing to help those in need, including our heroes. She has certainly gained more strength and wisdom since we last saw her, and she was displayed in such a perfect, beautiful and emotional way through dialogue and facial expressions.
Rosario Dawson truly honored the role and brought the character to life, making me emotionally invested with her every word and action. I never thought I’d see the day where Ahsoka Tano would come to live action wielding her white lightsabers and fighting in the style of a samurai, which I believe was inspired by Akira Kurosawa films. So thank you, Dave Filoni and Rosario Dawson, for bringing us Ahsoka in the flesh.
Another major face to make an appearance in this was none other than the Mandalorian that started it all, Boba Fett played by Temuera Morrison!!! Surviving the pit from Return of the Jedi, the reformed yet still deadly bounty hunter returns and gets fully utilized in this series as he never was in the movies. He carried a lot of weight in his performance, looked amazing and was absolutely badass in action. This was the ultimate redemption this series has made for the original trilogy, and we have Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez to thank for it.
The action is an absolute blast, featuring much more larger sequences that are all intense and exciting. Last season had excellent action of course, but it feels they have gone bigger this season, as they should. And they weren’t afraid to have it start right off the bat by having Din taking on a god damn Krayt Dragon, which totally sets up the scale of this season. And I noticed all the action sequences are themed too, ranging from major monster hunting to thrilling sieges to western shootouts and samurai styled duels. Every director contributed their own style for the action sequences and yet despite the themes being different they still feel consistent through the series.
Once again the practical effects, puppeteering and CGI are absolutely outstanding, making the epic worlds and the many beings in the galaxy more alive than ever. It was noticeable from the beginning that a lot more practical work was used this season compared to the last, which shows that Favreau, Filoni and the other directors involved know just how important it is to flesh out the characters and world in the best way possible, and make sure everything looks perfect. The CGI is stellar as it was before but much improved, probably thanks to its bigger budget, allowing for more larger scale scenes.
On top of that it’s worth noting that the cinematography is incredible, even more so than Season 1. They even change the aspect ratio during some episodes to make it a full cinematic experience despite being a TV show, and I absolutely loved that.
Also, once again, the music by Ludwig Göransson is perfection, adding so much life to the series in so many ways. It can range from roaring and adventurous to quiet and soothing, depending on the scenes. He even includes subtle reprises of familiar themes from the movies. He truly is becoming the next John Williams of Star Wars.
When it comes to the finale of this season I wasn’t sure if it was going to top the truly awesome finale of season 1. But holy shit, did this one do it. It was full of great tension and was hugely emotional in every way possible, giving us perhaps some of the biggest surprises. There also seems to be a really interesting set up for season 3, and I have no clue what could happen next.
Season 2 went beyond expectations and continues to make the show one of best Star Wars products in history. I’m going to give The Mandalorian Season 2 an A+.
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