This is the way.
The Mandalorian Season 2 is a 2020 space western show created by Jon Favreau. The show streams directly to Disney+ and has for both seasons. A third season has been confirmed. The show is a spin-off of the Star Wars universe. It stars Pedro Pascal and Gina Carano. The show was nominated for one Primetime Emmy award, but did not win.
"I've been quested to bring this one back to its kind." -The Mandalorian
Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Overall
Plot
The Mandalorian continues his quest to bring The Child back to the Jedi. As Mando ventures across the galaxy, he meets new allies and fights new enemies. Unbeknownst to him, the ruthless Moff Gideon is still very much alive and will stop at nothing to get his hands on The Child. Nothing can prepare Mando for what is in store.
Review
I'm going to go through, episode by episode, doing small reviews of each one and then giving my thoughts on the full season and what they should do moving forward.
CHAPTER 9: THE MARSHAL
The Marshal started off the season a lot like a Season 1 episode. Just a bit of context: I was not a fan of Season 1. I thought it wasn't very interesting and the characters were confusing and boring. That's pretty much how Season 2 starts off. However, it did start off a bit different. We immediately head to Tatooine and meet Cobb Vanth, The Marshal. The most interesting thing about this was Boba Fett's armor. The entire episode was a throwaway story that didn't have anything to do with overarching narrative. That's why I didn't like it. The entire thing with the sand dragon may have been a little bit entertaining, but the episode as a whole was not.
SOUR
Fun Factor: 6/10
Quality: 5/10
CHAPTER 10: THE PASSENGER
This may have been my least favorite episode in the entire season. The Marshal was a throwaway episode, but this was even more of that. Mando's ship is damaged while taking the Frog Lady across the galaxy. I thought Jar Jar Binks was my least favorite Star Wars character, but not anymore. Nothing really happens in this episode. We get the most bland action sequence with these ugly, giant spiders. This episode is forgettable, not exciting, and the Frog Lady is very annoying. I haven't even gotten to the part where Grogu is eating the Frog Lady's eggs, which carry actual living organisms. It was a distasteful, boring, and downright terrible episode.
MOLDY
Fun Factor: 4/10
Quality: 3/10
CHAPTER 11: THE HEIRESS
After the abomination that The Passenger was, The Heiress was a nice rebound. This had much more to do with the story. We get some fun action with the Imperials. This episode had an interesting story. I liked our new characters. It setup a good return in the finale for Bo-Katan. We see Moff Gideon for the first time in the season. The action is fun. This is why I kept watching The Mandalorian. Episodes like these are the ones that I have fun with. There are a few problems, like a bit of a confusing story and some throwaway characters that come alongside Bo-Katan, but it's a pretty fun episode.
SAVORY
Fun Factor: 8/10
Quality: 8/10
CHAPTER 12: THE SIEGE
In The Siege, Mando reunites with allies Greef Karga and Cara Dune. This made for a fun return of Carl Weathers and Gina Carano. The episode itself had some of the better action in the series. We have a pretty exciting mission as they track down an Imperial Base. We get some very cool shots that are obviously parallels to A New Hope. Just some great fan service. The story itself isn't really anything special, but it's our heroes tracking down the Imperials, so I enjoyed it. There are some big plot reveals involving Grogu that made the episode increasingly interesting. We also learn that Moff Gideon planted a tracker on Mando's ship, which is huge. Overall, this is a really fun episode that does a good job of tying into the larger narrative.
SAVORY
Fun Factor: 8.5/10
Quality: 8/10
CHAPTER 13: THE JEDI
This is where The Mandalorian redeemed itself. Up until this point, I was still conflicted as to whether I liked the show as a whole, but The Jedi confirmed that I did. The introduction of a live-action Ahsoka Tano is very fun, as are the ties to the Skywalker Saga. We get all of the Jedi-ness that we want. The lightsaber action is great. There is even a good story at the core. They come up with a good and emotionally compelling reason why Ahsoka can't train Grogu. This episode sets up the shocking and exciting moments in the finale, and I love it. This episode was so great and so much fun, and it is probably the first episode of The Mandalorian that I would say I loved.
SWEET
Fun Factor: 9/10
Quality: 8.5/10
CHAPTER 14: THE TRAGEDY
While The Jedi may have been a fun and very cool episode, as it ties into the larger Star Wars universe, The Tragedy is really the start of the finale. This is where the story goes into full swing. It's now a fast-paced adventure that has stakes and has urgency. The episode starts off great with the return of Boba Fett. That, in and of itself, is enough to make the episode entertaining. The action is great. We see Fett and his sidekick, Fennec, kick the stormtroopers' butts. This was also the first time that something had emotional weight. It's a pretty big gut punch when the Dark Troopers take Grogu. This episode is very well written and well directed. Where it falls is that we spend more time with Boba Fett and Fennec in this episode than Mando. This show is still called The Mandalorian. It's about Din Djarin (That's Mando's name). I still want to see him have the most screen time.
SAVORY
Fun Factor: 9/10
Quality: 8/10
CHAPTER 15: THE BELIEVER
Out of the good episodes, I do think The Believer is the weakest. The stuff that they did with Migs Mayfeld was good, but the episode in itself has a pretty thin story. Mayfeld and Mando basically disguise themselves as stormtroopers to get into the Imperial Base and track Moff Gideon's ship down. They sneak into a large cargo truck. Halfway through their trip, some pirates attack them. They get in, try to escape, and blow up the place. That's the episode. There were some emotionally poignant moments, like Mando taking his helmet off to find Gideon's ship. Beautiful performance by Pedro Pascal. You see the reaction that even former Imperials have to what the Empire did and what they represent when Mayfield blows the base up and kills the officer. That is what made this episode good.
SAVORY
Fun Factor: 8/10
Quality: 7.5/10
CHAPTER 16: THE RESCUE
Easily the best episode of The Mandalorian, this finale was darn near perfect. Even without the huge end, it's still a pretty fun episode. It's essentially a version of the Death Star part in A New Hope, but with different characters and slightly different scenarios. They had some very good payoff for all of our characters. The episode is written very well. There is a moment where you think that Moff Gideon may be good, but then he tricks Mando. The action is handled very well. And the emotional moments at the end hit pretty hard.
And then...Luke. Just a brilliant way to end this finale. This is basically the reverse of the Darth Vader sequence from Rogue One. As soon as the single X-Wing appeared, you knew something was up. Then Grogu's ears perk up. Then we see this cloaked figure on the black-and-white monitor destroying the Dark Troopers. Then we go to what is actually happening and we see that the lightsaber is green. There is a black glove. And this cloaked figure is Luke Skywalker. I had a massive grin on my face throughout the entire sequence. He was there for the perfect amount of time. Now, I will say, CGI Mark Hamill looked pretty terrible when he was moving his face. Standing still, he looked fine, but when he talked, it looked pretty bad. Either way, this finale was fantastic and ended Season 2 of The Mandalorian on a very, very high note.
SWEET
Fun Factor: 9.5/10
Quality: 9.5/10
Overall Thoughts/Final Score
This was a huge improvement over Season 1. I would've given Season 1 a Sour rating. I was not a fan and I was very worried when Season 2 started off the same way. However, the story developed, you began caring about Mando and Grogu, we got ties to the bigger Star Wars universe, and it ended with one of the most memorable and shocking sequences I've ever seen. I am going to be very skeptical when they release Season 3, because I think that this was the perfect ending to a show that I did not originally love. However, Season 2 was a pretty fun ride for the majority of it, and it definitely changed my opinion on this series.
I will give it a Savory rating. Age range is 7+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great)
Savory (Good)
Sour (Bad)
Moldy (Terrible)
"The Mandalorian"
Fun Factor: 8.5/10
Acting: 8/10
Story: 8.5/10
Characters: 8/10
Quality: 8/10
Created by Jon Favreau
Rated TV-14 for sci-fi violence and action, disturbing themes and images
Episode runtime: 40 minutes
Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin/The Mandalorian
Gina Carano as Cara Dune
Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon
Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze
Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett
Carl Weathers as Greef Karga
Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand
Bill Burr as Migs Mayfeld
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano