The Emmy Award Winning Show is Back for Season 2 With Our Beskar-Clad Hero

Nominated for 15 Emmys and winner of 7 Emmy Awards, The Mandalorian, one of the most anticipated fall shows, is now back streaming every Friday on Disney Plus. With the romantic image of “ a lone gunfighter makes his way through the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic,” the original Disney+ show seduced us with its compelling hero, Mando. Season 1 introduced us to Baby Yoda and other main characters. The premiere last week on October 30 was a reintroduction to the easygoing, slow-paced yet action-filled pacing of this unique show.

The 45-minute first episode of Season 2, “The Marshal,” brings familiar elements from the first season: Mando riding along with baby Yoda, interacting with friends, some Star Wars treats and then uniting with locals to fight off a weird, destructive enemy creature and winning at the end. Director Jon Favreau, known for The Iron Man among many other successful movies, equipped Mando and all Mandalorians with jet packs, which you get to see in action in this episode. Set on the desert planet Tatooine, this episode invokes the original Star Wars trilogy with Jawas, Tusken Raiders and Krayt dragons from the sci-fi author Frank Herbert’s one of a kind, Dune series. The Star Wars franchise drew obvious inspiration from Herbert’s science fiction series set on a desert planet with nomads; scary sandworms; a passionate young boy who was eager to go on a quest to fulfill his destiny; a mysterious order with unknown powers; and an overarching story of an intergalactic war with an evil emperor. While George Lucas had not formally acknowledged his inspiration, director Jon Favreau has done so through his work in this series and thus completed transformed the characterization of the sand people.

The show starts off with a cyberpunk aesthetic in what appears to be an urban ghetto that nonetheless is appealing due to our Beskar-clad hero. Without giving the story away, we can share that there is some excellent hand-to-hand combat set to ‘80s guitar music till Mando and Baby Yoda or “The Child” head to Tatooine to find another Mandalorian, who is apparently living in the mining settlement of Mos Pelgo. Mando wants to find this member of his helmeted warrior clan to help him take The Child to the Jedi. At the end of Season 1, Mando promised to do this as part of his practice in the Mandolorian way.

When Mando and The Child arrive in Tatooine, they discover that the man Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) dressed as a Mandalorian is not a Mandalorian, which prompts Mando to retrieve the valued Beskar armor. In the first of many nods to prior Star Wars cinema, Cobb is actually wearing the armor of Bobba Fett. Choosing Timothy Olyphant, the star of Justified and Deadwood, to be the sheriff of this desert outpost in the space western world of The Mandalorian was an excellent choice as he provides just the right amount of swagger, ruggedness, easy charm and self-deprecation that you would want to see in such a world.

The episode ends with a close-up of a silent bounty hunter in the background wearing Boba Fett’s outfit, but the man is not Boba Fett. Boba Fett was the famed bounty hunter who first appeared on the big screen in 1980's Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and who apparently died in 1983's Return of the Jedi as he fell into a “sarlacc” pit.

Who is he? Since Boba Fett was a clone, could this be the father of the clone, Jango Fett, played by the actor Temuera Morrison in Attack of the Clones possibly? Fan rumors tend to push this theory out, circulating with this image.

Well, we’ll have to wait till the end of this week to find out more.

You can watch The Mandalorian now streaming on Disney Plus.

Grade: B+