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The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the first two episodes of The Mandalorian**.**
The second episode of the new Disney+ series, The Mandalorian is brief, less than 30 minutes of actual story. The title character doesn't even speak for the first third of that time, and, in the grand scheme of things, the larger story hasn't appeared to have progressed too far forward. And yet, it feels like we may have learned a great deal about the galaxy, far, far, away as it currently stands in the years following the collapse of the Empire, not by any knowledge we gain, but by knowledge that characters don't have.
Fans were left wondering just what the deal was when The Mandalorian discovered that his newest bounty was, for lack of a better term, a baby Yoda. The small, green, alien appeared to be an infant and was clearly a creature in very high demand. While we recognized what the alien was, what's clear now is that nobody else does.
The Mandalorian simply tells the farmer Kuiil that he believes the creature is a child, and Kuiil, for his part, just appears surprised that so much fuss is being made over the little guy...girl...thing. Neither of them have a name for it, this alien race is clearly new to them.
However, things get even more interesting in the episode, (which you can watch with a free 7-day trial of Disney+ by clicking here) when we discover that The Child has the ability to control the Force. This, by itself, isn't all that surprising to us. We've seen two other members of this species in Star Wars movies and both were members of the Jedi Council, so the idea that this race might have a particular natural affinity for picking up alien rhinos with their mind isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is that The Mandalorian apparently has no idea what he has just seen. He doesn't even bother trying explain what happened to Kuiil.
When we're first introduced to the concept of the Force in Star Wars: A New Hope, Han Solo says he doesn't believe in it, but he's at least aware of the concept. While Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker may have gone on to defeat Darth Vader and help stop the Galactic Empire, it seems that story hasn't made it the title character of The Mandalorian quite yet.
While the Empire may have been defeated, the galaxy may be missing a lot of the details regarding exactly how that came about. Certainly, Luke Skywalker and his friends are, concurrent with this show we're watching, trying to rebuild the galactic republic, but it doesn't appear they're doing a lot of marketing.
It would seem to indicate that little of what was going to between the Rebellion and the Empire became common knowledge. It would help explain how names like Luke Skywalker, became legend by the time of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it seems that these people and what they did may have never become entirely known to average citizens.
The Mandalorian is, in a lot of ways, similar to the Star Wars spinoff movies, but it's also the most separate from the Skywalker Saga we've ever been. The war is over and average people are trying to move forward with their lives, doing their jobs and making living. Even if, in this case, the job in question is bounty hunting.
Of course, that doesn't mean nobody knows about the Force. The fact that little baby Yoda has the ability is almost certainly why The Mandalorian's employers want it, and so many others want it dead.
The idea that concepts like the Force might be entirely foreign to many members of this galaxy certainly opens up the possibility for future tales in this galaxy that don't involve the Force at all. It also makes the future of this show potentially interesting. At what point, if at all, will the Mandalorian learn the things he does not know? Will that lack of knowledge be a serious disadvantage in whatever he comes up against next?
We still have a lot of questions after the newest episode of The Mandalorian. We may or may not start to get those answers next week.
