After a ten month hiatus, Disney+'s The Mandalorian returned this past Friday for its season 2 premiere. When we last left Mando and The Child (Baby Yoda), Mando was tasked with reuniting The Child with his home planet and people, whilst being pursued by the villainous Moff Gideon who was in possession of the Dark Saber. The explosive premiere was loaded with callbacks that can be recognized by Star Wars fans and teases for what's in store for this season, especially at the very end of the episode. Let's dive right into what transpired this week! WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
1) COBB VANTH
The episode started with Mando interrogating an informant to find the location of another Mandalorian, who he reveals is on the planet Tatooine (Luke Skywalker's home planet...as if I even have to tell you that!). When Mando and the Child travel to Mos Pelgo, he meets with "The Marshal" who is sporting a very familiar Mandalorian armor (more on that later!). He reveals himself as Cobb Vanth, who isn't really a Mandalorian and bought the armor off of some Jawas to protect the town of Mos Pelgo from Tusken Raiders and the Krayt Dragon. Mando demands the armor back but strikes a deal with Vanth to help him defeat the Krayt Dragon in exchange for the armor.
Timothy Olyphant did a superb job in the episode as Vanth and I sincerely hope that we see him again this season, and if not then in the next season. Vanth also detailed what happened in the immediate aftermath of the second Death Star blowing up, showing how Mos Pelgo became a slave camp overnight. It was a great way to link the story to the Original Trilogy and show some of the fallout of the Empire disbanding. Vanth proved to be a valuable asset to Mando in defeating the Krayt Dragon, and Mando even trusted The Child to him when it was possible he could die.
2) ANOTHER STANDALONE EPISODE
While the episode was a good one in my opinion, it didn't really do much in terms of the overall story of the show and was mostly a standalone episode. You would think after the showdown with Moff Gideon in the season 1 finale and teases of The Child's home planet would get picked up in this episode but not really. This harkens back to some episodes in season one as well that were standalone, such as Chapter 6: The Prisoner. I'm not saying the show lacks a cohesive story, but viewers are largely left with the same questions that they had at the end of season one, even if we didn't expect them to be answered right away. Moff Gideon, the big bad of the show, was not even mentioned in the slightest. Hopefully we get some more answers in this week's episode.
The episode also had a heavy focus on the Tusken Raiders, a group that all Star Wars fans are familiar with. Its one of the first times I can remember that portrays them in a more positive light, as they are normally seen as vicious raiders. It is interesting that the show is giving them somewhat of a redemption arc. Could this lead to something else coming up in the show? Or in the upcoming Obi-Wan miniseries? Only time will tell. On the bright side of being a standalone episode, there were lots of callbacks that Star Wars fans could pick up on. A Krayt Dragon skeleton is seen behind C3PO when him and R2D2 land on Tatooine in A New Hope, Vanth's speeder bike has a remarkable similarity to Anakin's pod racer in A Phantom Menace, numerous mentions of sarlacc pits and of course there is the subject of Vanth's Mandalorian armor. Which brings me to...
3) BOBA FETT IS BACK
At the very end of the episode when Mando and the Child ride off in the sunset to their next adventure, a figure is watching them. When they turn around, it is revealed to be Boba Fett. How do we know this? Well for starters, as I mentioned earlier, Vanth's armor belonged to none other than Boba Fett from the Original Trilogy. Vanth said that he bought it off some Jawas which indicates that Boba did indeed escape from the Sarlacc pit at some point after he fell in during Return of the Jedi. Secondly, the actor seen at the end of the episode was Temuera Morrison, who portrayed Jango Fett in the Prequel Trilogy. If you remember from Attack of the Clones, Jango made an unaltered clone of himself to be his son, so it would make sense that Morrison would portray Boba. Boba was also heavily speculated to be the mysterious figure seen at the end of Chapter 5: The Gunslinger in season one, which also took place on Tatooine.
So what has Fett been up to this whole time? How did he get out of the sarlacc pit? Did he lose his armor or give it away to the Jawas? The end of the episode definitely opens up a lot of questions as to what Boba has been doing since he escaped the sarlacc pit. Will he be a friend or foe to Mando and the Child? Hopefully these questions will be answered this season and soon! Either way, it looks like Fett will be a force to be reckoned with for Mando!
What did you think of this week's episode? Are you excited about this upcoming season and the appearance of Boba Fett? Sound off in the comments below and look for my next post on Friday for a recap of Chapter 10!
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