Mandalorian II: The Mandalorianing (Spoilers)

The Mando and Grogu, sharing a moment. (Credit: Disney+)

Last year, Andrew wrote about about Disney+’s delightful hit, The Mandalorian. The series just wrapped up its second season, which saw more advancement along the overall arc, the return of beloved characters from the movies and other series and a finale that got the internet buzzing. Let’s talk about it!

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

Overall, I think this was a great second season, building on season one, continuing to expand the universe and deftly advancing the overall narrative arc. Whereas the former series established new characters, this brought in characters from the extended lore: Boba Fett, Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze and Luke Skywalker all played major roles.

While this might be derided as “fan service”, I thought it was done right. My problem with fan service is not fan service, per se. There’s nothing wrong with pleasing the fans. It’s that fan service should not come at the expense of telling a new and original story. Peter Suderman probably put it best:

Oh man, the season finale of The Mandalorian.

Oh man.

It really kind of got to me.

This is what I wanted from the movies, but didn’t get: new stories, new characters, and a wider world, connected to what I already love.

Filoni and Favreau deliver.

— Subscribe to Cocktails With Suderman (@petersuderman) December 19, 2020

Good fan service reminds us that the stories take place in a familiar and beloved universe while not distracting from the main story. When familiar characters appear, it should make sense (Boba seeking to recover his armor; Luke hearing Grogu’s call; Bo-Katan hearing of a lone Mandalorian running around). Rogue One is another example of doing this well (Leia receiving the stolen plans; AT-ATs being deployed on Scarif; the fatal flaw in the Death Star being a combination of Imperial arrogance and an architect undermining them). It shouldn’t just be, “Hey, here’s Chewbacca. You love Chewbacca, right?”

Here’s a good test: if this were the first part of the franchise you had ever watched, would it make sense? I would say that The Mandalorian passes that test. Even if you had no idea who Luke Skywalker was, the appearance of a fearsome Jedi to rescue Grogu would not seem amiss.

Clone Wars, Rogue One and Rebels did fan service well; the sequels did it poorly. The sequels gave us new characters with potentially interesting backstories and very skilled actors and chose to … make everything about the original trilogy, either recreating its beats or revolving around the old characters. The most original and interesting idea — the Force Dyad between Rey and Kylo — had to take a back seat.

But putting the fan service issue aside, the second season did things right in the same way the first series did. In Andrew’s review, he noted how often the series relies on implication rather than exposition, giving us a main character who says little, a sidekick who says even less and a world where a tilt of the head or a gesture can say a lot. He drew a sharp contrast between this and the sequel trilogy’s “tell me, don’t show me” approach:

This use of restrained storytelling is in sharp contrast to the current set of Star Wars films, the third of which is upon us. Unlike The Mandalorian, the latest trilogy has been a narrative assault, demanding the importance of characters and stories without them actually earning their right to demand anything from an audience other than brand name. The reach for epic then feels forced, the fetch quests seem distracting, and the Macguffin of each just never seems quite worthy of the three minute screen crawl that opens each film. They aren’t bad, but just good enough in a Star Wars film isn’t going to cut it. It takes confidence to do something subtle and let it grow into something great, not just go big and hope the bigness sticks as greatness. The Last Jedi sure felt that way, which is the brilliance of letting The Mandalorian be its own self-contained thing.

The second season did a little more expositing, but usually in brief moments of dialogue that teased rather than explained. What is Moff Gideon doing with Baby Yoda? We get a few images and bits of oblique dialogue, but we still don’t really know. What was Boba Fett doing between the time he as supposed gobbled by the Sarlacc and showing up here? It’s implied by his scars and minimal dialogue (and his actions in a post-credit teaser) but never stated. What is Bo-Katan going to do now that she can’t legitimately claim the Dark Sabre? We don’t find out, but her body language speaks volumes. How did Luke know where to find them? Well, it was explained earlier, and the series trusts us to remember. There’s a lovely moment when Ahsoka Tano says that she’s seen what strong attachments can do to a Jedi, “even the best of us”. A lesser series would have her mention Anakin by name; this series has the confidence to just imply it.

Nowhere is this willingness to show not tell exhibited than in the relationship between Grogu and Jin. Jin never says that he loves Grogu or anything so direct. Just as in season one, everything is implied rather than stated. His actions speak louder than his words and his words speak loudly for there being so few of them. There’s a moment, after her learns Grogu’s name, where he keeps saying the Child’s name and laughing slightly when the kid reacts. Minimal dialogue, helmet on, no facial expression. An animatronic/puppet creature and a man in armor. And it tells you everything you need to know.

And while the epicness has grown, the stakes are still reasonable. Even the grand finale concerns a single medium-sized Remnant ship, a platoon of Dark Troopers and a disarmed Moff. It’s bigger than season one, but not gigantically so. Eventually, we may get to a bigger conflict and heavier stakes, but it’s taking its time to get there. It’s earning those increased stakes.

So, I think this was fine. And I’m looking forward to the next season, which may hit our screens…uh… in 2022?

A few more random thoughts:

• The second serial continues to do right by its women characters. They all have agency, arcs and agendas of their own. And it never draws attention to itself. In the finale, four women assault an Imperial cruiser, fighting their way to the bridge. And it was only halfway through that it occurred to me that it was an all-woman crew. And, moreover, that crew had earned their battle skills as a veteran drop trooper, an experienced bounty hunter and two members of a warrior caste. They didn’t suddenly learn how to fight. Nor did they need to tell us how good they were. They’re already showed us. And, in a refreshing change of pace, they were mostly older women. Gina Carrano is 38. Katee Sackhoff is 40. The oldest, Ming Na, is 57.¹
• The music of the series, from Ludwing Goransson, was uniformly good, keeping with the minimalist aesthetic of the series but occasionally incorporating leitmotifs from the original trilogy. He outdoes himself, however, in the finale, with the hectic “Dark Troopers” theme followed by the wondrous “A Friend” theme when Luke shows up and takes care of business.
• There is some lovely attention to detail when familiar characters are brought in. The thing I noticed most was fighting style. Ahsoka fights exactly like she does Clone Wars, using acrobatics and her dual light sabers to fend off attacks and outmaneuver her opponents to strike from the darkness. There’s even a lovely moment when she ignites her dual lightsabers that exactly mirrors a shot from the Rebels series. Luke, by contrast, shows the heavy overwhelming style his father did, dispatching a platoon of Dark Troopers in a hallway scene that is a reflection of Darth Vader’s hallway scene in Rogue One.
• Speaking of Luke. One of the complaints about The Last Jedi was seeing Luke as a disgruntled bitter old man. I don’t think the complaints were about that, per se. It was that we never got to see Luke in his prime. It felt like his bitter exile had not been earned, with the events that led to it only being hinted at in, yes, another voice-over. Getting the opportunity to see Luke in his prime, cutting through fools like a knife through hot butter, delighted my inner kid. And it retroactively makes The Last Jedi better, at least in that respect.
• That being said, I would like to see another actor take over the role. I don’t think this de-aging thing is quite there yet.
• Whoever is in charge of keeping leaks down in The Mandalorian needs to teach one of those Master Classes or something. They did an excellent job of hinting at what was going to happen to build up fan interest but still holding their cards close enough to the chest to spring some surprises. They told us that Ahsoka was coming, but then completely subverted expectations by revealing her in the first seconds of the episode. Luke’s appearance, one of the biggest reveals in franchise history, was kept a complete secret for over a year but then masterfully rolled out in a series of moments that sent the fan base into a collective orgasm. A mysterious X-wing flies in; the Dark Troopers and Grogu react to a new presence; a cloaked figure appears; we realize it’s a Jedi but only see them on black and white security monitor footage so we can’t tell who it is; then we see the green saber²; then the gloved hand; finally the face. It’s not only an exciting moment; it’s a moment that deliberately and knowingly plays with the audience’s expectations without being insulting.
• Giancarlo Esposito was great and Moff Gideon has shaped up to be a strong villain. His ability to be one step ahead of everyone (or, at least, be confident that he is) makes him a refreshing change. In a bit of fridge logic, you realize that the reason he went to Grogu’s cell is that even if he lost to Din, it would be a defeat for Bo-Katan. And the way his confidence completely melts away as his Dark Troopers are destroyed — again, told in actions and facial expressions, not words — is beautifully done.
• I also like the way Pascal plays Din with his helmet off: as if he’s not used to interacting with people that way. His face is stiff, his expressions minimal, his demeanor uncomfortable. But he still manages to show emotion and feeling with his eyes.
• One of the other things the series did well was portray the Empire as a real thing. There’s a scene where Din and Mayfield successfully bring a convoy into an Imperial base and are surrounded by applauding troops. In a later episode, one mentions the millions who were killed when the Death Stars were destroyed. I’m reminded of a moment in A New Hope where two random troopers talk about the T-16’s. It’s a bit of utterly irrelevant dialogue that makes the world feel real and lived in.
• I really think that streaming services should stick to releasing an episode a week rather than releasing the entire series for bingeing. It does a much better job of building moment and excitement within the fan base. The finale was so much fun, in part, because it was preceded by weeks of speculation. People literally stayed up past midnight so they could watch it as a community at the earliest possible moment. I also appreciate that while the series is nominally 45-minute episodes, it had the confidence to have shorter episodes and not bloat its season finale.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

1. I had to double check that because Ming always seemed younger than me and doesn’t look 57 now.
2. This was the moment when it clicked for a lot of fans. Again, the approach of the series with minimal exposition: using just a saber color to tell you something.