‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Finale Receives Critical Acclaim

The final episode from the second season of The Mandalorian was released on the Disney+ streaming service last week. The episode was titled “The Rescue” and was directed by Peyton Reed (who also directed the second episode of the season titled “The Passenger”) and written by Jon Favreau. After the episode was released, it received instant universal acclaim from both fans and critics, who praised the climatic finale, performances from Pedro Pascal and Giancarlo Esposito and uplifting but also heartbreaking ending. Many fans are calling “The Rescue” the best episode of the show, with people even calling season 2 better than its predecessor.

In the season 2 finale “The Rescue,” the titular Mandalorian (Pascal) recruits the help of recurring ally Cara Dune (Gina Carano), fellow Mandalorians Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks) and the iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and his sidekick Fennec (Ming-Na Wen) in order to help him save the powerful child Grogu after he was captured by Moff Gideon (Esposito) and the remnants of the Empire. After breaking into Gideon’s ship, the group is almost instantly overpowered by Gideon’s powerful droid army called “The Dark Troopers.” The Mandalorian and his friends are just barely able to get away as they overtake Gideon’s ship. The Mandalorian defeats Gideon in combat and retrieves the mythical Dark Saber, which the latter had stolen from Bo-Katan. Unfortunately, the rules of the Mandalorian people dictate that whoever desires to have the Dark Saber must defeat the owner in combat. Even though the Mandalorian is willing to give up the Dark Saber, he would still have no choice but to fight for it as the rules of his people require it.

While the Mandalorian is in no mood to deal with this dilemma, Bo-Katan considers fighting the former and was more than likely to do so before the group is cornered by the Dark Troopers. Before they are all killed, a Jedi arrives out of nowhere and easily destroys all of the Dark Troopers. As the hooded Jedi unmasks himself, it is revealed that he is none other than Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who offers to take Grogu away to train him. The episode ends on a bittersweet note as Mando reluctantly gives up Grogu and parts ways on a tearful goodbye with the child. After Luke Skywalker says the iconic line “May the force be with you,” and the credits roll, the episode has a post-credits scene where Boba and Fennec travel to Jabba the Hunt’s old palace where his servant Bib Fortuna (Matthew Wood) has taken over the Hutt crime family and gotten fatter in the process. Boba kills the crime boss before stealing his position as the leader of the Hutt crime family, before the season ends with a title card that advertises the upcoming series The Book of Boba Fett.

Now that the second season of The Mandalorian has concluded, fans are looking forward to both the third season and the upcoming Boba Fett spin-off.