by Graham Skinker ‘21

Following a wildly successful first season, Disney’s hit Star Wars spinoff show, “The Mandalorian,” came into season two with tremendous expectations and midway through is starting to deliverSeason two started off very slow, falling into a bit of a similar trap as season one did. In both seasons the first episode was very action-packed while also giving a direction moving forward for the rest of the season. However, the second episodes for both seasons were rather unimportant to the overall storyline of the season. Season one episode two did introduce Baby Yoda’s ability to use the force, whereas, season two episode two consisted mostly of Mando fighting a bunch of giant spiders while transporting a frog-like being from one planet to another. It was very much a filler episode which comes as a disappointment to a lot of fans. 

Episodes three and four have really ramped up and given the season more direction. Many fans were concerned about whether the show would become too much a part of the mainstream Star Wars story with the introduction of characters seen in other Star Wars projects like Ashoka Tano, Bo Katan and Boba Fett. Through the first four episodes this does not seem to be the case as the show has stayed away from the mainstream storyline. 

Fans should be extremely excited to see how the rest of the season plays out, especially because it seems we will finally find out why Moff Gideon is so interested in Baby Yoda. Gideon was the main antagonist in season one, working from the shadows most of the time. In season one he sends multiple bounty hunters after Mando and Baby Yoda until he decides to hunt them down himself in the end. Gideon, unsuccessful in capturing Baby Yoda in season one, is still after the child in season two. Episode four suggested that Gideon has sought out other force wielding children in the past for some kind of experiment he is conducting; however, not much more detail has been given to this point. Season two has shown a lot of promise to this point but fans will just have to wait and see how the last four episodes play out.