Warning: SPOILERS ahead of The Mandalorian season 2, episode 2, "Chapter 10 - The enger."
Two seasons in, great space battles. Space battles have long captured the imaginations of Star Wars fans, with the trench run in Star Wars, the battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, and the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. Star Wars is known for using space battles to push the boundaries of technology and storytelling, providing thrills while also moving the plot forward.
Likely due to a combination of budget constraints and story scope, the space battles in The Mandalorian have embraced the smaller scale, even intimate approach of the Star Wars original trilogy, something that's mostly lacking in Disney's sequel trilogy, which tends to prefer high octane action and spectacle. Season 1, episode 5, for example, opens with Din Djarin and the Razor Crest trying to shake another bounty hunter in a smaller, more nimble ship. Without any other ships, or objects of any kind in the area, the dogfight takes on a classic cat and mouse chase seen in a number of original and prequel films, but not in the sequels.
When Din Djarin departs Tatooine with Frog Lady and her eggs in season 2, episode 2, we get another great encounter as he's confronted by two New Republic X-Wings. Djarin attempts to dodge the pilots’ questions before diving toward the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker leaned on speed and spectacle The Mandalorian simplifies things with just two X-Wings chasing Mando’s Razor Crest and not even firing a shot. The sequence even dials back the score, relying instead on the sound effects of the ships themselves to establish the mood.
Stepping away from the sequels’ bigger-is-better philosophy, this cat-and-mouse game feels organic and easy to follow. Similarly, the battle avoids the sequel trap of invulnerability by establishing the weaknesses of the Razor Crest and the fragility of the ship’s cargo. The battle surely nods to the nostalgia of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, even that chase goes too over-the-top in a way that starts to lose the audiences in its own noise, contrasted against the simple intensity of Mand0's ice canyon flight.
The sequence also advances the story and adds key world-building elements. The context of the New Republic officer back in season 1.
Space battles are naturally a core component of a franchise titled Star Wars, and The Mandalorian has carved out its place in the saga in large part on its innovative chase and battle sequences. Where the sequel trilogy was often caught up in raising the stakes to escalate tension, the space battles of The Mandalorian add excitement by stripping it down to more intimate and vulnerable explorations of the cockpit, while ensuring that those sequences serve the story.