REVIEW: The Mandalorian – Season 2, Part 1

The coronavirus has not reached the margins: after the first, very successful season, the next stage of The Mandalorian is here, which makes no sense leaving the way to the inexperienced, because as its main character, it also adheres to its beginning. you know, “this is the way”.

Events on the periphery

After Mando promised to return the Child to him, he came to the conclusion that he would first have to investigate some of his mandalores, which would then set him on his way. Understand: you have to find someone first and then find someone else. This is how our hero gets to Tatuin again, including a mining town called Mos Pelgo (= a street, some mounds) whose sheriff wears Mandalore armor … sorry, he wears no other armor than Boba Fette. And the next shock is that he served this armor of the javas in such a way that he was just a mere mortal overseeing the order. Mando, of course, recovers the valuable outfit, and Cobb Vanth, made up of Timothy Olyphant, would be willing to return it if Mando helped dispose of the krayt dragon, which is very reminiscent of the sandworm Dune, which eats the bantha herd from area. Yes, but for that, the Mos Pelgo community alone is not enough: we must ask for the help of the inhabitants of the area, who, together with the people, put aside their differences a bit for the good of the common enemy. .

The good side, or what came

No short story, the series edited by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni remains an unrivaled example of the need to present a television series that does not seem like … well, a television series. The masks and puppets are varied and immaculate, the locations are authentic, and the sound and visual effects are absolutely immersive. Atmosphere and Above All: The episode, in which Jon Favreau co-directed for the first time as a director, not just as a writer / producer, perfectly highlights the samurai, western atmosphere that George Lucas created forty years ago. And to this is added the simple but good-sounding dialogue: the inhabitants of the world of The Mandalorian really only speak when they have to, and they say everything they really have to.

The part is also full of flashbacks in terms of action, although this time it is not only the hurricanes of bygone eras, but also the favorite moments of the first season. Favreau and co-creator Davi Filoni also follow this method in terms of retaliation – there are characters and items returning from the first stage, but the episode also hints at an ancient Star Wars fortune, and now we’re thinking not just about armor. from Boba Fett which is believed to have been lost, but that Vanth’s litter box was made from a part of a pod-racer. And if Vanth: Timothy Olyphant has never applied for an acting award, but his character is related to the Sheriff of Deadwood, and that’s not a bad joke, just as the Star Wars harams, the mounds, turn out not only for bullfights. and they understand evil.

The dark side, or what I didn’t find

We could already blame the first season for often looking like a “monster of the week” series, whose episodes are connected only by a thin story, and this is simply not the case for the opening part of the second season: what they see. tells practically the same story. , again like the second episode of the first season: Command needs something, in return he has to help eliminate a monster.

It can also be a turn for the eyes that the series also can’t part with Tatuin and reach God. Well, we don’t expect creators to rush back and forth in a never-before-seen world of never-before-seen systems, because while it’s nice to see them in a distant galaxy, it’s just a TV series and its frames. It seems more creative than a budget stalemate than Star Wars, and within that, The Mandalorian is returning to the same places and moles over and over again. And this time the superficiality cannot be limited to the shortage of playing time: with the second season, the series went out of the half-hour frame, 52 minutes in length, this start of season is the longest of the episodes of The Mandalorian. so far, but can not feel that extended playtime is the character. motivations and would possibly be spent on expanding the plot – the episode progresses along the same thin plot as in quite a few previous episodes, only this time progressing much more quickly.

Fixation in the direction of the double sunset, or what does the future hold for us?

We would be lying if we said that we can advance a lot in the history of Mando; The only event that goes beyond the narrative of the episode falls on the last moments when a mysterious figure appears on the scene, who later turns out to be Temuera Morrison herself, who can also be Boba Fett, but can also be just a clone.