'The Mandalorian' Season 2: Why it actually made sense to give Baby Yoda less screentime in Episode 1
Intense action, a major 'Star Wars' tease, the introduction of new characters, and the adorable, melt-your-heart phenomena, Baby Yoda all but ensured a grand opening for Season 2 of 'The Mandalorian'. However, one of the things that fans have been talking about is how less of Baby Yoda/The Child was showcased in a one-hour premiere. And while that comes in as a bummer to some, it does actually make sense as to why Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni might have made that call.
To start with, even Season 1 of 'The Mandalorian' showed Baby Yoda in the final few minutes. And with the new installment essentially all about Mando/Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) on a quest to find the origins and more of the little one's kind, the idea was to highlight the characters the duo would encounter in their mission. Timothy Olyphant's Marshal Cobb Vanth wearing the Boba Fett armor was a necessary part of the opener and while we may not have seen a stand-off between him and Mando, the pairing up to take down the Krayt Dragon was a brilliant plot twist.
Speaking of twists, the Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) glimpse at the end of the episode was an absolute shocker, and maybe, more of Baby Yoda would have taken off the surprise element that was provided in the form of Vanth and Fett. The episode starts with Mando and The Child/Baby Yoda searching across the galaxy to find the home of the little tyke and find out more about its kind. In order to help accomplish the quest, Mando searches for another Mandalorian who could help him in his journey. A tip from Gor Koresh leads him back to Tatooine where he hopes to find a Mandalorian but ends up meeting Vanth, the Marshal of the town. He wears the Mandalorian armor and helmet after striking a deal with the Jawas.
For Mando to reacquire the armor and the helmet, he strikes a deal to kill the dragon with Vanth and enlists the help of the Tusken Raiders. Initially not happy, Vanth eventually gives in and an electric battle between the creature and the men follows. Mando successfully kills the dragon and in the final minutes, the actual wearer of the armor, Morrison's Fett was shown.
From the Tusken Raiders to the new characters and old, there was a lot in the premiere. That makes absolute sense to sideline the green, big-eyed frog muncher at least for the opening episode. There was enough of the cooing to keep fans happy and with seven episodes left, there's plenty of Baby Yoda coming in.
'The Mandalorian' Season 2 drops in with new episodes every Friday on Disney+.