‘The Mandalorian’ S2E1 Recap: A Classic Enemy Returns, And The Child Remains Very Cute
The season 2 premiere gave us more Mando brooding, Timothy Olyphant's perfect hair, and the Child being ridiculously cute.
"The Mandalorian" season two is streaming now, only on Disney+
This is still the way – the Disney+ Original series The Mandalorian is back for season 2. Good news: the Child (aka Baby Yoda) remains as cute as ever. But the bad news? Our helmeted hero has a new enemy on his back by episode one’s end.
This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2 premiere, so please be careful if you haven’t seen it yet!
Before we get underway, I have to be honest: I’ve never seen Star Wars. But that’s exactly why I’m diving into the deep end with The Mandalorian season 2.
Rather than miss out on the pop culture moment, I’ve caught up with a season 1 recap and am here to share my experiences of the show — albeit with a little fact- and name-checking afterwards, to make sure I haven’t missed anything too big.
Still, beyond not knowing how to spell Tatooine or knowing that those sand people are in fact actually called Sand People, I wasn’t confused at all this episode: in fact, between the out-of-this-world special effects, the fantastic action scenes, and the Child being the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen, I had a great time. Wait, is this why people like Star Wars so much?
Mando’s Still Got The Moves
When we meet back up with Mando (aka Din Djarin, played by Pedro Pascal), the bounty hunter is looking for other Mandalorians, believing they’ll have the info he needs to complete his mission: reuniting the Child with his kind.
That leads him to meet a source who promises info at an underground fighting ring, but surprise, it’s a trap — Mando finds himself surrounded by guns, but fights his way out of it thanks to some rockets in his armour. Before he leaves, he’s told that at least one Mandalorian is on the desert planet Tatooine.
On arrival, we get a short cameo from Amy Sedaris as the wise-talking, permed mechanic Peli Motto, who fawns over the Child and tells Mando to head to a quiet mining town.
In the town’s saloon bar, he meets the Marshal (Timothy Olyphant), who wears Mandalorian armour but soon takes off his helmet — a profane act for the Mandalorians, even if it’s clearly a crime to hide these luscious locks.
No helmet hair here.
Via backstory, we learn the Marshal isn’t a Mandalorian, but bought the armour from some Jawas (tiny, dark-cloaked figures who scavenge the deserts of Tatooine for scrap), and has been using its powers to save the town from various bad guys.
Mando is pretty offended by the whole thing, as it’s sacrilegious for anyone outside the Mandalorian creed to wear the armour, but before they can duel over it, a seismic rumble interrupts and causes the Child to hide in a pot.
A huge mood.
Oh that? It’s just a gigantic under-sand Krayt dragon, which will no doubt one day decide to swallow the town whole. The two make a pact: if Mando helps the Marshal kill the dragon, he can have the armour. Off they go.
So, How Do You Fight A Dragon?
Mando and the Marshal ride over to the Sand People (aka Tusken Raiders — I’m quickly learning that there are a lot of different names to remember in Star Wars) as they’re gonna need as much help as they can to tackle this beast.
There’s some bad blood between the town and the plunderers, but Mando speaks both Tusken and ‘defensive man’, and works out a truce — if the town helps tackle the dragon, then they’ll live in peace. Fair’s fair.
The Marshal doesn’t understand a single word, exuding ‘anxious person politely nodding along at a party and wishing they were anywhere else’ energy.
The Krayt dragon slumbers in a giant cave, and the thing is massive.
It is no surprise that these ropes do not hold.
Their plan is to draw the dragon from its cave and expose its tender belly to some explosives they’ve planted in the sand. It doesn’t go too well, at first — they can’t pull it forward far enough, especially after it starts spewing out acid which dissolves everything in its path.
Meanwhile, the Child watches a lot of people die from afar, and mostly makes this face.
Just when things are looking dire, Mando literally goes into the mouth of the beast with explosives and jetpacks his way out, and the job’s done. He takes the armour, which should be familiar to true fans (ie, not me): it’s Boba Fett’s – the deadly bounty hunter whose Mandalorian armour was the whole inspiration behind the series – who we see watching from afar as Mando drives away.
Looks like he survived falling into a Sarlacc’s stomach back in Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi. He looks mighty mad, too. It’s probably nothing to worry about, right? But perhaps he knows a thing or two about the Child’s home planet. Time will tell.
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The Mandalorian streams every Friday night on Disney+ and Junkee will be recapping every episode.
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(Images courtesy of Disney+)