After ten months of patiently waiting, the familiar jingle of Disney+ brought me back into the world of The Mandalorian.

With the first episode of Season 2 premiering on Oct. 30, the show beloved by Star Wars fans returned after the shocking cliffhanger at the close of the Season One finale when Moff Gideon wielded the infamous darksaber. So far this season, the show continues to prove itself as the best Star Wars show of all with its first five stellar, and surprising, episodes.

BEWARE: SPOILERS AHEAD! 

The season started with Chapter 9’s episode, “The Marshal,” which immediately set anintense tone of bigger and more fearsome foes, and once again introduced fan-favorite characters onto the show. Seeing Boba Fett’s armor on Cobb Vanth made Star Wars nerds, like me, freak out, because here was the legendary armor, rescued out of Return of the Jedi’s Sarlacc pit. 

The episode’s climax, the krayt dragon fight, felt like watching an old-school Godzilla film. The monster bursting out of a mountain while Mando and Vanth used their jetpacks to meet their foe, was the kind of intense action that made Season One such a thrill to watch. As Mando raced off across the binary sunset on a speeder bike (an allusion to Anakin in Attack of the Clones) the man, the myth, the legend Boba Fett graced my screen. If I wasn’t freaking out already, this made me realize the enduring magic of The Mandalorian.

Chapter 10, “The Passenger,” while not as exciting as other episodes, was still fun. While I did not fully enjoy the character design of the “frog lady,” I loved seeing the iconic X-Wing fighters acting as obstacles to Mando, instead of being depicted as the heroes of the story.

The space spiders, on the other hand, gave me chills, especially when they gathered on the Razor Crest, the second-fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. This would be the start of the ship being completely wrecked every episode, and I love it. 

Chapter 11, “The Heiress,” is an incredible episode all-around, from the opening scene of the Razor Crest crashing onto an ocean planet, the ominous scenery, and Clone Wars character Bo Katan making her live-action debut. Bo Katan looked exactly how I imagined her to look in her Mandalorian armor. When Katan asks Mando to help attain Imperial infantry in exchange for information on the whereabouts of a Jedi, I knew something jaw-dropping was to come.

Also surprising: stormtroopers putting up a fight instead of their usual uselessness and errant shooting. After a few minutes of gunfire, and the darksaber once again being named-dropped, I was still not prepared for what was to come: Ahsoka Tano. 

After months of rumors online about her appearing on the show, I couldn’t believe this iconic animated Star Wars: Clone Wars character was finally making her long-awaited live-action debut. Chapter 11 was when I realized that the series had so much more potential for the future of the franchise.

Chapter 12, “The Siege,” brought the show back to its roots, with Mando, Greef Caraga, and Cara Dune teaming up to face an Imperial base. I assumed it would be a fun filler episode taking Mando back to the lava planet where he first started but boy, was I wrong. Test tubes of clones, TIE Fighter battles, and the death troopers from Star Wars: Legends, caught me happily off guard. 

Chapter 13 was a beautiful tribute to The Clone Wars series, as well as establishing the future of the Mandalorian. The threatening aura of the Corvus environment kept me on my toes, and did not prepare me for Ahsoka at all. With Ahsoka being an animated character I wasn’t sure the show could bring her convincingly to life. Fortunately, everything about live action Ahsoka felt perfect, from her head “tails” to her familiar cloak. Seeing Ahsoka and Mando team up was exhilarating, and watching both Mandalorian and Jedi combat working with one another reminded me of the “Siege of Mandalore” arc in The Clone Wars series. 

However, the biggest reveal was once again a name-drop, with us finally getting the official name of The Child: Grogu. Grogu fits The Child perfectly, and matches perfectly with the child-like personality of the little green character, and even has echoes of the iconic Yoda from The Empire Strikes Back. Grand Admiral Thrawn, a major antagonist of the Star Wars: Rebels series, was also named-dropped. Now viewers have a second major villain to worry about.

The first half of Season 2 has been one heck of a ride from start to finish. From the fan service to the world building of The Mandalorian. Disney and Lucasfilm continue to produce the most entertaining show on TV.