The Mandalorian Review: The Rescue (Season 2 Episode 8)
The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 8, “The Rescue,” does pretty much what it implies and goes after Baby Yoda.
This season finale marks a weird and interesting transition point for the series— and conceivably the end, but it won’t be given what a resounding success this series has been. It also brings up an all too common quandary for the show to now deal with. If a series has a singular goal and then it is achieved, where do you go from there?
These past two seasons have really revolved around the Mando and Baby Yoda relationship and the quest to bring the latter to the Jedi, therefore keeping him safe from those that would want to harm him. The Mandalorian , now with two seasons under its belt, has fulfilled that driving plot.
Now it is a question of where do you go from that point? Is this a show that can even exist without that central relationship? Ultimately, it only has two options of where it can go from this point on a narrative level. It can either fabricate a way for Mando to be the continued caretaker or it can push out into totally new spaces.
Here’s the problem with that second option. Yes, Mando is the titular character, but we have not watching just for him. If this was just The Mandalorian, as the title suggests, the show would not be nearly as successful as it is.
Rather, we have all been watching for, at the very least, that central dynamic and we would be lying if we said that our interest fell pretty squarely with Baby Yoda. We can say that we’ve watched for the lore or for just being back in the Star Wars universe, and maybe that’s part of it, but what got us interested is the little green chaos demon.
So it’s difficult to then say that we have a show on our hands now without that foundational element to it. Watching Mando go off on his own to have adventures might be a fine show, but it is not the show that we have been watching. That leaves the show in this place where it could be fascinating or it could ruin itself.
Building up to that moment is really stellar, however. We’re given action set-piece after action set-piece in this really fluid flow that doesn’t give us any space to breathe until it all finally crescendoes. That moment of realization after so much adrenaline to what is going to happen next is really unparalleled.
This brings us to the big moment of the episode that has had everyone talking and for good reason. Out of all of the big swings that this second season has made — from Boba Fett to Bo-Katan to Ahsoka Tano — this outclasses them all and is a flex that is just downright impressive in its ambition.
The way that last few minutes teases out that Luke Skywalker is about to step out onto the scene is far from subtle but really well done, all the same. Starting with his X-Wing to the green lightsaber (an iconic callback to Return of the Jedi) and his robot hand, it’s giving us these warnings about what’s about to come.
Perhaps the most impressive thing of all is that de-aging technology for the character doesn’t look awful, which is a stark contrast to Tarkin on Rogue One, and actually looks rather good. It dips a little bit into the Uncanny Valley but not so much that it feels like you’re losing your mind.
What did you think of this episode of The Mandalorian ? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Mandalorian airs Fridays on Disney+.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.