I have to admit that I was never the biggest fan of The Mandalorian. Don’t get me wrong, I
enjoyed the first season, but it didn’t capture my imagination like
it did for so many other Star Wars fans.
That all changed for me with season two, or specifically, one episode in season two. And no,
it’s not the final. I may be late to the party, but in just one
episode I went from being fairly apathetic about what the series had to offer, to thinking that
The Mandalorian has the potential to completely revitalise this franchise
that I have loved my whole life. So what changed between season one
and two? How did this series build on what it achieved in its first season, and use the world
and characters it had introduced to make this a Star Wars story worth telling? What was the
moment when I realised the potential of The Mandalorian, and what it meant for the
future of Star Wars? In short, when did the
Mandalorian go from being good, to great? Ah there we go. There we go. And we are off.
Like I said at the start of this video, I never really got as excited about season one as other
fans did. After the years of polarising debate about the sequels, an underwhelming spin off
movie, and the shall we say disappointing
conclusion that was The Rise of Skywalker, its fair
to say I was feeling a bit of Star Wars fatigue back in 2019 when season one was released.
That said, I still enjoyed the show. I especially loved the aesthetic and world building. The
production design is incredible. It picks up the gritty, lived in feeling of the original trilogy,
and really takes the ‘space western’ theme literally. Showrunner Jon Favreau said he wanted
the show to explore the “scum and villainy of the Star Wars universe” and oh boy, did The
Mandalorian deliver on that. I also really liked some of the themes the first
season established – in particular the idea that the galaxy wasn’t happily ever after following
the events in Return of the Jedi. Introducing some moral nuance into the Star Wars universe
is a great way to broaden the scope of the world and the stories within it.
But the narrative of the show never really captured my imagination, and I never really
connected with the characters – despite some good moments.
Part of this was, for me, the lack of a consistent story arc throughout the season. Sure, there
was a bigger arc, but it wasn’t a big feature in a lot of episodes, and that gave the season this
very episodic, ‘monster of the week’ kind of feeling.
My favourite episode of the first season was the last one, though I admit episode 6 is a close
runner up, but maybe that’s just because I’m a sucker for heists.
You son of a bitch, I’m in. But what I liked about the final
was that it picked up exactly where the previous episode left
off, and it connected all of the story threads that had begun in the first episode or two. It
helps that Taika Waititi directed it too, but I’ve talked about him before so let’s leave it at
that. But despite this strong ending, it didn’t
leave me desperate for season two. I heard people raving about the series, and while I could kind
of understand where they were coming from, I just didn’t think the story of season one was
particularly compelling, and the episodic structure diluted this even further.
So what changed? Well, skip ahead a
year to season two and, to begin with, it felt largely similar to season one.
The early episodes were quite standalone, some were even filler episodes that didn’t really
drive the main story at all. Yes we had some cool moments, I’m not disputing that, but like
season one, cool moments aren’t enough to carry five and a half hours of story.
But then, exactly halfway through the season we get The Jedi, directed by Dave Filoni. I’m so
glad he got to bring Ahsoka to life in live action,
and I think Rosario Dawson nailed it in the role. She gives the character this world-weariness
that makes an interesting progression from her in The Clone Wars, and the whole
wandering samurai aesthetic is reminiscent of Obi-Wan in A New Hope.
See one of the things The Mandalorian does well, and what was missing entirely from the
sequel trilogy, was not only acknowledging the prequels, but embracing them.
I mean, sure they have their problems but there is a whole generation of fans who grew up
with these movies, and over time others have grown a new appreciation for them – partly
due to the work people like Filoni have done with The Clone Wars.
So it was great to see The Mandalorian try to rekindle some of the prequel trilogy magic, and
this came to a head in The Jedi. The episode is beautifully shot, Dawson
carried every scene she’s in, and we have some excellent character moments between Mando and
baby Yoda the Child
Sorry Grogu
Sorry look you know who I mean! Pedro Pascal has the grace to know that this
episode is not about Mando, and is happy to step back to let Ahsoka’s
story take centre stage. Plus we finally get some lightsabres!
An elegant weapon... …from a more civlised age.
But this isn’t the episode that took the Mandalorian from good to great.
The Jedi definitely got me paying attention again, but by design it was standalone. It relied
more on viewers being familiar with Clone Wars and Rebels than The Mandalorian, and
much of the backstory Ahsoka delivers is stuff the audience already knows. The main arc is
only really progressed by Mando learning more about the Jedi, and being directed to the Jedi
Temple on Tython. But the next episode – The Tragedy – is
where it all changed for me. Let’s look at why. First of all – it’s basically one prolonged scene.
There are no time jumps or location changes until the epilogue – which is fine because
it’s the start of another heist. You son of a bitch, I’m in.
For pretty much the whole episode, we’re on the planet watching the story play out almost
in real time. The bright sunshine and greenery is a refreshing change from the gloomier early
episodes. It was actually the only episode they filmed on location because of it’s scope.
We start off with some character work between Mando and Grogu, then quickly move to the
temple. From this moment on, the tension starts building. The Force shield from Grogu is an
excellent device to keep the action centred on the temple, and clearly establishes the
geography of the rest of the scene. Slave I appears, and we know who is in it before
Mando. But will he be a threat or an ally? I have to say, it’s just so awesome seeing
Temuera Morrison back, even though as a New Zealander, hearing a Kiwi accent in the Star
Wars universe is always a bit jarring. After you put down the jetpack.
Boba’s scene with Mando clearly establishes the dynamic and the objectives of the
characters, and cleverly takes Mando’s jetpack out of the equation, before jumping right in
to what is hands down the best action sequence in the series yet.
What makes it so good is that the scene perfectly employs the most important storytelling
device in action: reversals. What’s a reversal? Here’s Shane Black explaining it:
Guys in an airplane. And the guy falls off the plane ‘that’s bad.” And you say ‘no that’s bad
because he had a parachute.’ And you say ‘oh that’s good.’ ‘No that’s bad because the chute
didn’t open.’ ‘oh that’s bad.’ ‘No it’s good because he had a reserve chute.’ ‘Oh that’s good.’
‘No it’s bad the reserve chute didn’t open!’ Every time you give something you take it away
and you twist things constantly so you go ‘oh my god they’re safe, oh they’re not safe, oh but
they’re going to make it, oh they’re not going to make it.’ And the more that you can do that
throughout a story … Giving people a surprise and keeping them jumping and knowing that they can’t
just sit back and expect what’s coming next. In The Tragedy, there are fourteen
reversals in a ten minute sequence. The stormtroopers arrive, but the heroes can
hold them off, but then they bring heavier weapons, but then Fennec destroys them,
but more stormtroopers arrive, but then Mando comes back, but then he and Fennec get surrounded,
but then Boba saves them, but then they escape, but Boba destroys their ship,
but then the Razorcrest is destroyed and Grogu is captured, but Boba pursues them in Slave I,
but Mando calls him off. Throughout the action, the fortunes of
the protagonists are constantly changing, and director Robert Rodriguez and cinematographer
David Klein perfectly support the whole sequence with wide, steady shots that constantly
establish the geography of the action, and allow us to clearly see
how each moment plays out. But the action and storytelling aren’t the only
things that make this episode great. You see, like the episode before it with Ahsoka,
everyone here knows who the star is. That’s right, it’s Boba Fett.
Boba’s scenes in this episode are quite simply the best Star Wars fight that doesn’t involve a
lightsabre. Instead of the slightly unbelievable Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One, here we have
Boba wielding his gadderfii with absolute menace and strength shattering Stormtrooper
helmets left and right, and backed up by an epic performance from Tem that draws heavily
on his Maori heritage. This guy has seen the inside of a Sarlacc pit…you do NOT
want to mess with him.
Then, after seeing what is pretty much the single most badass performance in all of Star
Wars, it gets better. Because Tem puts on the armour.
Seeing Boba Fett in action is all anyone has ever wanted out of Star Wars. Even before this
character was on screen, he was a fan favourite.
Empire came and even though we never saw him in action, he was just so, so cool, and
quickly became the favourite character of any kid watching. But sadly, that was it. Return of
the Jedi gave this awesome character a very unceremonious death, and we never got to see
him show off the skills we just knew he had.
But because Boba Fett had such limited screentime, it has meant that over the decades fans
could build up their own picture of who this mysterious bounty hunter is. In this episode we
finally get to see it, and not only did it live up to expectations – it exceeded them.
Director Robert Rodriguez was fully aware of how much was riding on getting Boba Fett
right. I was nine years old
when the first Star Wars came out, I saw it again and again, and I was already a huge Boba Fett
fan even before Empire Strikes Back even came out. Boba was a star before the film even premiered. He
had us kids just so excited to see the movie and him in it. I ended up turning a three page battle
scene into a nine minute battle scene because I was just that excited to be bringing Boba back.
In another interview he said his aim was simply to
Make him super badass in this moment, and be that character that I imagined being when I
first heard about him when I was 12. That was my ambition, to just satisfy that 12 years old’s
fascination with the character. With Boba, like Ahsoka and so much of the
rest of the Mandalorian, the character is being handled by someone who deeply understands
what Star Wars means to so many people. He knows that it isn’t enough to simply bring Boba
back. He has to do it in a way that lives up to decades of fan expectations.
This is why Lando returning in Rise of Skywalker didn’t work. Sure, it was cool seeing Billy D
Williams come back…for like a second. But then what? If you don’t do anything with the
characters and are just trying to win some easy nostalgia points, then people will see right
through that. No, bringing these characters back to the screen needs to be done with
respect, and it needs to work in the context of the story.
After the return of Palpatine was completely botched in The Rise of Skywalker, and Rogue
One undermined this epic Vader scene with Darth Wisecrack.
Be careful not to choke on your aspirations. It was great to see a beloved character’s
return handled properly – even if there wasn’t a whole lot of established character to build on.
But this episode not only delivers us the best action scene in the show so far, and restores an
iconic character from the original trilogy, it also has genuine consequences for the main
character and wider story. The ending of this episode is
simply heart-breaking. We see Mando at his lowest point yet –
he’s lost Grogu and his ship, and even though we never see his face, we don’t have to.
Pascals’ subtle physicality brilliantly conveys everything we need to know about what Mando
is feeling here. This moment, which was set up at the start
of the episode, is the most I have ever connected with this character. When I realised that Mando
wasn’t going to save Grogu in this episode it genuinely surprised me, because in every other
episode he has come out triumphant. The episode reminds us how important it is
for the heroes to lose every now and then. If they always win, then there’s no tension or
conflict in the story, and no challenge for the characters to overcome. If you are going to tell
a Star Wars story set in this grey zone of scum and villainy, then you can’t end every
episode with the good guys winning. The ending of The Tragedy also feeds directly
into the two final episodes. Unlike previous Mandalorian episodes where the story was mostly
self-contained, the ending of The Tragedy makes us desperate for the next episode, to
see how this story will play out. Over the final two episodes of the season, each episode builds on
the last one, and all working towards a single goal.
It took one and a half seasons, but The Mandalorian finally embraced TV as a medium and
started to tell a longer, continuous story – and its one of the best Star Wars stories yet.
I have spoken. So that is how The Tragedy
took the Mandalorian from being good, to great. It took some time for the series to fully embrace
its potential, but I think what Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have done with season two
has the potential to completely reinvigorate the Star Wars franchise. These guys understand Star
Wars – they talk about it like I do with my friends.
Taking advantage of what this stage can do. Spinning’s a good trick.
You can feel this passion in The Mandalorian, and in The Tragedy they showed us
that they can use this passion to tell new stories in a creative and compelling way.
Like I said at the start of the video, I really did have Star Wars fatigue, even after season one
of The Mandalorian. But now, after finishing season two, I am excited about the future of
this franchise for the first time since the Force Awakens was announced.
Where once I reacted with apathy to the new announcements of Star Wars properties, now
my reaction to the new suite of Star Wars titles is,
to put it simply: You son of a bitch, I’m in.
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