Disney’s viral Star Wars series “The Mandalorian” is premiering its second season, bringing back audience favorites the Mandalorian and the Child, as well as introducing new characters from the extended Star Wars franchise including Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze. With a new episode released every Friday from Oct. 30 to Dec. 18, the eight-episode season is primarily plot-driven and seeks to solve the mystery of where the Child, dubbed “Baby Yoda” by the Internet, comes from. Warning, there are some mild spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.
Arguably one of the primary reasons why “The Mandalorian” became popular last season, the Child took the Internet world by storm 2019, inspiring countless memes, edits and merchandise due to his adorable and child-like nature. Students and staff at Heritage even joined in the hype, with English teacher Mrs. Jennifer Estevez fashioning a Baby Yoda-inspired hat for her newborn daughter Eliana.
Producers, seeing the character’s popularity, weren’t going to pass up on the chance to feature more of the Child. From the first episode of the second season, it was obvious that the showrunners were going to continue milking Baby Yoda for maximum cuteness, featuring his toddler-like wobble, inquisitive mind and unwavering hunger. Unfortunately for him, it was this hunger that got him ‘cancelled’ on Twitter for eating some of the last surviving eggs of a nearly-extinct species of frog right in front of the eggs’ mother.
Others disagreed. “Just discovered that people are actually truly trying to cancel Baby Yoda for eating the Frog Lady’s eggs. She had plenty left over, and he was hungry. Logging off now,” another user posted.
The backlash didn’t stop bobblehead company Funko from creating merchandise to commemorate the fictional genocide. However, it seems that Twitter users have now forgiven the Child for his past actions after he himself got eaten by a monster a few episodes later. Don’t worry, he’s okay.
Baby Yoda is not the only important part of “The Mandalorian”’s complex and interconnected plot. At the end of the first season, the Mandalorian was tasked by the Armorer to find a fellow Mandalorian who could guide him to the Jedi. The second season picked up immediately where the show left off.
The Mandalorian eventually made his way to Tatooine, the desert planet that was Luke Skywalker’s home at the beginning of the original franchise. There, Star Wars fans finally got to see what happened to deceased bounty hunter Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armor: it was adopted by the self-appointed protector of a Tatooine village. The two later engaged in a large-scale, high-stakes battle against a cave monster, showing off the high-tech special effects and cinematography that have become synonymous with Star Wars.
This season also tied up plot holes presented in the series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” There, Bo-Katan Kryze was introduced as a Mandalorian coming from the origin planet Mandalore. She was fine with taking off her helmet and showing her face, something that the Mandalorian in this show notoriously refuses to do. When the two characters crossed paths in episode 4 this season, the inconsistency is finally explained: the sect of Mandalorians that the titular character descends from is more extremist and traditional than Bo-Katan’s. Overall, “The Mandalorian” continues to impress with its cinematography, special effects and plot. What started out as a simple quest to steal the Child has now become a high-stakes adventure to reunite him with his rightful owner, while at the same time trying to defeat the remnants of the Empire. This is (truly) the way to make a Star Wars show that stays faithful to the source material while still forging its own, separate identity.
