It’s official — the highly anticipated second season of the hit Disney+ live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, has finally arrived. At the end of season 1, Din Djarin, the Child, Cara Dune, and Greef Karga made a narrow escape from Moff Gideon, though not without some casualties — RIP IG-11 and Kuiil. As Gideon escaped the wreckage of the TIE fighter, it was revealed that he is currently in possession of the ancient Darksaber. Meanwhile, Din and the Child took off on their next journey — to deliver the Child to the Jedi. Keep reading to find out what happened in the first episode of the second season of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 9: The Marshal.”
The episode opens with Din and the Child as they walk through a dark urban area with ominous creatures lurking in the shadows. They venture into a fighting arena, where two Gamorreans are locked in battle, and Din settles down to chat with a shady looking character — Gor Koresh. He explains to Gor that he’s trying to find the other Mandalorians, because they can help him figure out where the Jedi are. The plan goes sideways when Gor shoots one of the fighters in the ring, the crowd rushes out, and his guards simultaneously pull their guns on Din. Uninterested in making any sort of deal with the Mandalorian, Gor just wants to rob him of his high value beskar armor.
Din’s whistling birds come in handy as he activates them and takes down a handful of the guards (and the Child is very quick to take cover). He fights off the rest of them and then chases Gor out of the building, threatening him for the information that he came for. Ironically, he learns that there’s supposedly a Mandalorian in the city of Mos Pelgo on Tatooine.
Returning to the desert planet, Din parks his ship in Peli Motto’s hangar in Mos Eisley. Though she’s quick to tell the droids not to bother touching the ship, Din casually tells her that the Razor Crest needs a once over anyway. “Oh, so he likes droids now.” And he doesn’t even flinch as the droids get tangled up in the ship parts — that’s character growth right there. Peli is absolutely thrilled to see the Child again, saying the words that have been on all of our minds since the tiny, green creature first appeared on our television screens.
Din asks Peli how to get to the city of Mos Pelgo and shows him an old map of the planet from before the war, pointing out where the old mining settlement was. Continuing with the show’s trademark Western vibe, Din glides into the tiny desert town on Peli’s speeder bike like an outlaw trotting in on his horse, and all of the townsfolk stop what they’re doing and stare at him as he passes. He waltzes into the cantina in search of where the supposed Mandalorian of the town is … and in walks … Great Value Boba Fett? No, really. What’s going on here?
The Marshal, who is wearing Boba Fett’s armor, sits down and takes off his helmet — cue Din’s jaw dropping from behind his visor. We learn that the man is Cobb Vanth, portrayed by Timothy Olyphant, and apparently he’s never met a real Mandalorian before (go figure). The two are about to go at it (Cobb clearly hasn’t the slightest idea what he’s up against) when the entire town starts to shake. Something monstrous approaches from the distance, gliding through the sand and disrupting everything in its path. The creature proceeds to eat a bantha and then disappears.
Cobb brokers a deal with Din — he’ll return the armor if he helps him kill the monster, which has been terrorizing the town for quite some time. They take off in search of its den. (Did anyone notice that the Marshal’s speeder bears a striking resemblance to the engine of Anakin’s pod racer from The Phantom Menace?) Din learns that Cobb traded with Jawas for the Mandalorian armor, and he’s been using it to protect the city ever since.
Their journey is interrupted as they’re met with a pack of massiffs, but Din smoothly placates them by speaking in Tusken to them (and even proceeds to pet one of them like a dog). A tribe of Tusken Raiders then approaches, and Din translates for Cobb and explains that they also wish to kill the krayt dragon. Cobb and Din return to their settlement with them to discuss their plans, and the conversation soon veers into argumentative territory because the city of Mos Pelgo and the Sand People have been locked in somewhat of a war for quite some time.
However, it soon becomes clear that the villagers and the Sand People will need to put their differences aside when they send a scouting party to go and check out the dragon’s den (which happens to, ironically, be an abandoned sarlacc pit). The Sand People are the resident experts on the creature, as they have been studying it for quite some time, but the dragon is so large that there’s no feasible way to defeat it without the help of the villagers as well.
Cobb and Din return to Mos Pelgo, and after some initial resistance, convince the townsfolk that the Tusken Raiders are their best chance at defeating the dragon — not to mention that they’re incredibly lucky to still be alive with the creature living so close, as it is. As a bonus, Din explains that this will also establish a peace treaty between them and the Sand People.
Weapons ready, the small army takes off in the direction of the dragon’s den. After confirming that the creature is asleep, they all quickly get to work burying explosives outside the entrance. The belly is its only weak spot, so they need to hit it from below. After some initial struggles, they manage to get the creature to charge far enough out of the pit so that they can detonate the bombs. However … it doesn’t work — the krayt dragon lives on.
Everyone panics, and the dragon makes its way to the top of the mountain over the cave, spitting its deadly ichor down on the villagers and the Sand People below, killing those in its path instantly. After another failed attempt at attacking the creature head on, Din gets an idea as he notices that one of the banthas is still strapped with a large amount of explosives. Without much time to prepare, he takes the detonator from Cobb and they beckon the dragon toward the bantha. Though the first part of his plan works, in which he intended for the creature to swallow the bantha whole, Din also finds himself in the belly of the beast. After a few tense moments, he uses his rifle to electrocute the dragon, escapes, and proceeds to detonate the charges. This time, the creature is very much dead.
As the Tusken Raiders rush over to harvest the meat from the krayt dragon, Cobb returns Boba Fett’s armor to Din and they bid one another farewell. The Mandalorian and the Child take off across the deserts of Tatooine once more.
In the final moments of the episode, the camera pans to a silhouette of a figure looking out over the landscape. They turn, and it’s revealed to be actor Temuera Morrison, who was said to be appearing in this season as Boba Fett. Based on all of the references to the classic fan favorite bounty hunter throughout the episode, it seems feasible that this may indeed be him, alive and well despite his supposed fate in Return of the Jedi. Keeping in mind that the initial news about Morrison’s casting also stated that his role would be “small,” it’s unclear as to whether the show will expand upon this brief appearance or leave it as an ambiguous nod.
Though the episode did not do much in terms of advancing the overall plot of Din’s search for the Jedi, it was exciting nonetheless. Much of the magic of The Mandalorian (and the subsequent appreciation that it earns) is found in the fact that this is the first time ever that Star Wars fans have been able to truly appreciate a live-action version of this galaxy far, far away on a smaller, slower scale without the loud, overarching grandeur of the films. Instead of only seeing worlds, weapons, ships, creatures, and characters in flashes throughout the quick pacing of a movie, we’re able to get up close and personal with things in the world of Star Wars that merely existed in the background once before.
For example, Tusken Raiders have long been a part of the Star Wars universe, but the brief time spent with them hasn’t always been in such a positive light (see also: Attack of the Clones). However, in this episode we were able to flesh out the characterization of this species into something far more layered than the barbaric, villainous creatures they have been made out to be.
At just over 50 minutes, “The Marshal” is one of the show’s longest episodes thus far, and it also confirms our suspicions that we’re definitely in for another epic season of The Mandalorian.
Episode 1 of season 2 of The Mandalorian is now streaming exclusively on Disney+. Episode 2 will premiere Friday, November 6.
