Jose Romero
campus editor
Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, and The Child crash landed on a snow planet after escaping rebel forces. They are escorting Frog Lady to another planet.
“The Mandalorian” season one set gal-axy-sized expectations for the series. Season two has delivered on those expectations so far.
The first episode of the new season fol-lows the events of season one. Pedro Pascal’s character, Din Djarin/The Mandalorian, and the child – more commonly known as “baby Yoda” on social media – are traveling through the galaxy to find the child’s species.
Din’s relationship with the child has ad-vanced to an almost father/son type bond. The character development is a shining point of the series. Without having to tell the audi-ence directly, the show uses subtle character moments to illustrate how they’re changing and what they’re feeling.
The supporting cast of characters is just as memorable. Cara Dune and Greef Karga, played by Gina Carano and Carl Weath-ers, help expand the ever-expanding Star Wars universe. New additions like Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth make it worth watch-ing season two alone.
Each character’s costume is beautiful-ly designed. They also find themselves sur-rounded by stunning environments brimming with unique aliens that would leave science fiction fans with their jaw agape. The show’s use of practical effects helps sell an immer-sive otherworldly experience. It truly has eye candy from top to bottom.
The set pieces are another highlight of the series. It’s common nowadays to direct action sequences with an abundance of CG visuals, but The Mandalorian uses well-cho-reographed and well-shot battles to enhance the scale.
Ludwig Göransson’s score for epic fights and lax moments factor into the show’s abili-ty to transport the audience into a new world. The main theme is an earworm that will re-peat in a viewer’s head over and over again.
The fan service has been dialed to 11 for season two. Season one had familiar planets and characters from the films, but this new season has doubled down on bringing back iconic heroes, villains, vehicles and locations. So far, the show has kept fan service tame rather than relying too heavily on it.
Each Friday a new episode will be released for a total of eight episodes.
Some negative attributes of the show are that season two has a little bit of a slow start. The pacing at the start of season one felt bet-ter. The show also wraps up sticky situations with plot conveniences too often, but it’s eas-ily overlooked after watching a bounty hunter take down a space dragon.
Jon Favreau has created something spe-cial. The Mandalorian is the type of product made when fans of a franchise are the ones tasked with creating it. Season two is a return to form from the original trilogy. This is the exact kind of Star Wars media that fans so heavily longed for
