‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 review: May Grogu Be With You

Oh. My. God. Who do you think is the Jedi who came in response to the Child’s call? Spoiler alert. It is Luke Skywalker! Yes, Jedi robes, metal hand in black glove, green lightsabre and all, Luke (a de-aged Mark Hamill) strides into dastardly Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) cruiser in the action-packed finale of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, aptly called ‘The Rescue’.

Through eight episodes, a Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) has been looking to return the little green guy, fondly known as Baby Yoda, portentously called The Child, to its people. The Child’s name is revealed to be Grogu in the fifth episode, titled ‘The Jedi’, which also marks the live-action debut of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson).

After safely delivering Frog Lady (Misty Rosas) to her husband at Trask and ensuring Grogu does not scarf down any more of her eggs, Din is directed to an inn for information on other Mandalorians who will tell him of where the Jedis are hanging out. When he is set upon on a fishing vessel, he is rescued by Mandalorians led by Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff). In exchange for information about the Jedis, the Mandalorians want Din’s help in relieving an imperial cruiser off its weapons. Bo-Katan directs Din to Tano who tells him to take Grogu to the ancient Jedi site of Tython, make him sit on the Seeing Stone, and see if any Jedi answers his call—and we know who does.

Din catches up with his friends Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune Gina Carano at Nevarro, when his ship, The Razor Crest, needs further repairs. Karga and Dune have become respectable and are the magistrate and marshal respectively. They have rid Nevarro mostly of the Imps (as the Imperial forces are charmingly referred to), but there is still one outpost where wicked Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi) is doing evil experiments for which he needs Grogu’s blood, as it has a high M-count.

Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) makes his appearance in Tython and tells Din the beskar armour Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) wore belongs to him as it was his father’s, a foundling like Din. Vanth was introduced in the first episode of Season 2, and fought alongside Din and Tusken raiders to rid the town of a gargantuan dragon. Vanth had told Din he got the armour from the thieving Jawas.

The action is unrelenting, and after a time, becomes a tad repetitive and there isn’t as much fun and humour as one would expect from Jon Favreau, who kicked off the Marvel juggernaut with Iron Man, but had a light enough touch to make the Stark’s head of security, Happy Hogan (Favreau) a fan of Downton Abbey… Also those Dark Troopers looking like sad Terminator rip-offs do not pose much of a threat.

With Luke taking Grogu, and that sneaky post credit sequence (please wait for the credits to roll; don’t be seduced to the Dark side of previews), is it the end of the Din and Grogu arc? Gideon is alive and might get up to other dirty tricks, while Bo-Katan wants the Darksabre to set herself up as the ruler of Mandalore.

The Darksabre, incidentally seems to have Excalibur-like powers and the one wielding it is the legitimate ruler of Mandalore. As Din defeated Gideon to get the weapon, Bo-Katan has to win the weapon off Din—he cannot give it to her. So will he sit on the Mandalore throne? Also, is Grogu’s blood responsible for resurrecting Palpatine? And will Grogu meet Kylo in Jedi training when he was simply Ben Solo?

Questions and more questions, which will be revealed if and when season three comes around to a screen near you. Till then we can watch Din try out Grogu’s name and the Child gurgle and coo in delight. Aww…

Season 2 of The Mandalorian is currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar