The Return Of The Jedi Callback You Missed In The Mandalorian Chapter 9
The Star Wars spinoff series on Disney+, The Mandalorian, just premiered the first episode of the second season, "Chapter 9: The Marshal." The new season continues where the first left off, with Mando (Pedro Pascal) galavanting around with The Child — affectionately known by fans as Baby Yoda — trying to return him safely to his people as he develops stronger powers.
In the first episode, Mando continues to raise and protect The Child, and they travel together to Tatooine in search of other Mandalorians after word spreads that one was seen there. Instead, they find Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), a local town marshal who somehow got his hands on Boba Fett's (Temuera Morrison) armor, and is reluctant to give it up. Mando challenges him to a duel to the death, but they are interrupted by the rumbling of a krayt dragon, which has been terrorizing the local town.
While audiences have rightfully been focused on consequential moments like Mando's battle with the dragon and Boba Fett's looming return, the episode has plenty of Easter eggs and smaller details that you might be missing. One of these is a callback to an iconic moment in one of the original Star Wars films, Return of the Jedi, which occurs during the big fight at the end when Mando and Cobb face off with the dragon.
Mando sends the marshal off in his jetpack just as Solo did to Boba Fett
In order to get Boba Fett's armor back, Mando agrees to help Cobb kill a huge krayt dragon, the first living one on screen in the Star Wars universe. Along with the local Tusken Raiders who also want the dragon gone, the group travels to the creature's cave and lure it out. Both Mando and Cobb have the advantage of jetpacks, which give them the ability to attack from above. Once the unlikely tag team realizes that their original plan isn't working, Mando comes up with a new one on the fly, and is determined to finish the fight by himself. In order to get Cobb out of the way, Mando slams his weapon into Cobb's jetpack, sending him off into the sky and away from the krayt dragon.
If this imagery feels familiar, it's because it's a pretty clear homage. In Return of the Jedi, during the Sarlacc pit battle very reminiscent of this one, Han Solo takes out Boba Fett in the same way, though entirely by accident. Chewbacca warns him that Boba Fett's nearby, and as he turns around to see, he accidentally hits the back of his jetpack, sending the bounty hunter flying. As Mando and Solo are both antiheroes of a kind — men with darker histories who are dragged into the fight of good versus evil — it's cool to see this direct connection between the two characters.
Definitely keep a lookout for more Easter eggs to come in season 2 of The Mandalorian, premiering weekly on Disney+!