REVIEW: The Mandalorian: Season One
The idea of a live-action Star Wars TV series has been in various stages of development and planning for years, with George Lucas himself, at one point in the 2000's, considering making a live-action series focusing on the criminal underworld. Obviously, that never happened, with Star Wars TV focused exclusively on animation with Star Wars Clone Wars, The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Resistance.
Now, years later, in 2019, not only do we get our first live-action series with the Mandalorian, which is focused greatly on the criminal underworld, put it was positioned and marketed as the big launch title for Disney+. Unlike the sequel trilogy, which has garnered a mixed response from fans, most fans seem to either love or really enjoy the show, breathing new life into the franchise.
How do I feel about the show? Overall, I really enjoyed it. I'm not in love with it like a lot of people, as there are some parts of it I didn't like. However, the beginning and ending of the season was fantastic, with an intriguing storyline that will hopefully lead to the show getting bigger and better in season two.
First, let's talk about the main character himself, the Mandalorian, or, as people call him, "Mando." For the sake of spoilers, I won't reveal his full name here, though rest assured, he isn't Boba Fett.
Overall, it's amazing what the show was able to craft with the character, as he is compelling, interesting, and full of intrigue and mystery, while never taking off his helmet*. To me, he is everything that Boba Fett should have been. Pedro Pascal does an amazing job portraying the character by voicing him and him being in the suit most of the time (there are two other performers in the suit).
The show does a good job at making him feel badass and capable of defending himself and others, while at the same time, making him feel vulnerable and human, because he gets hit and shot at, a lot, sometimes a little too much to me.
The show also does a good job at slowly presenting his backstory and his connection to the Mandalorian culture and lore, as well as his relationship with the other Mandalorians in the show. To me, he represents how to do a masked, mysterious character well.
The other main characters include Gina Carano as ex-rebel shock trooper Cara Dune, Carl Weathers as a leader of the Bounty Hunters Guild Greef Karga, Taika Waititi is the bounty hunter droid IG-11, and Nick Nolte as the ugnaught Kuiil.
To me, all four of the characters are interesting to a degree, as they give you enough appearances for you to connect and identify with them, as well as with their pasts, but not enough, at least to me, to be fully developed. I think a part of that is intentional, as the show has a vibe of an old western with new companions and adventures every week, Still, I liked all four of them, and thought each character had stand-out scenes, and were acted well by each of their respective actors.
I also wanted to mention Emily Swallow was fantastic as the Mandalorian armorer, who provides equipment and guidance to Mando, and thought Giancarlo Esposito and Warner Herzog were entertaining as the main villains of the season, former Imperial Moff Gideon and the Client respectively.
OK. You know I had to include a special section about the standout character of the show, that completely stole the spotlight, the Child, also known by the internet as "Baby Yoda." Essentially, Mando accepts a job from the Client to pick up a "50-year-old target" for a surviving sect of the Empire, which is of course, the child. From there, Mando, feeling guilty, rescues the Child and goes on the run for the rest of the season trying to protect and hide the child from members of the guild and the Empire.
It's pretty safe to say for me that the Child is my favorite part of the show. I love everything about him. For one thing, it was a hell of a twist I didn't see coming. Also, this is only the third member of Yoda's species in canon, following Yoda and Yaddle, so it's cool to see another member of his kind, who, like the other two, are force-sensitive.
Let's get the obvious out of the way first, he is 100 percent adorable. I mean, just look at him, how can you not love that little face? But for me, the best part of him is the dynamic he has with Mando, as some of my favorite scenes from the show involve Mando trying to watch or take care of him. It's a great relationship that allows Mando to grow more as a person, and to care more about others.
For this section, I'll go over what I liked about the show, which does outweigh the bad to me. First off, the show looks great. While the show doesn't have the same budget and resources as the films, the effects still look pretty good, and the action scenes were really well handled and felt more grounded than the over-the-top action of the most recent films. The show has a lot of great practical effects and sets, and as far as the mood and atmosphere, feels dark, gritty, and downtrodden, which I thought fit the premise and tone of the show perfectly.
Like I mentioned previously, I liked the main characters and their acting, and most of their characterization. While not a grand story, there is a lot of lore-building that adds to previously mentioned stories in the franchise, or adds onto Mandalorian culture and lore that we haven't seen before.
Overall, I really liked episodes 1 and 4, and thought episodes 3, 7, and 8 were fantastic, as they had great action, mystery, intrigue, and compelling and satisfying moments. Also, I thought the music of the show, which was provided by composer Ludwig Göransson, was fantastic, and felt really unique to the franchise.
That being said, I don't think this show is perfect. As mentioned previously, I don't think the side characters are as developed as well as they could have been. I also thought some of the CGI they use for the space scenes weren't as good as it could have been. I also thought episode 2 was fine, but minus a few action sequences, wasn't as compelling as episodes 1 and 3.
However, my biggest problems with the show mainly surrounds episodes 5 and 6. To me, they were nothing but filler, that didn't really add much to the overall story. Granted, there were cool moments in the episodes, but overall, I think they were inconsequential at best, and annoying at its worst.
Especially episode six. I know a lot of people like this episode, but I'm sorry, Xi'an and Burg annoyed the shit out of me, and were hard to watch at times, which is sad, because Burg is played by Clancy Brown. I also thought the characters of Toro Calican and Fennec Shand in episode five were unneeded and a waste respectively. To me, the show would have been a lot better if they used those two episodes to expand the main plot more, develop the other side characters, or show more backstory and lore for Mando and the Mandalorians.
I know people have issues with episode four, but to me, the episode worked well enough because it introduced Cara, and felt needed because after the end of episode three, it made sense for the Mando to try and hide with the Child. My biggest problem with episode four was that it was another Seven Samurai plot, which we've seen before in Star Wars.
Overall, if I had to give this show a ranking, I would give it a solid 8.5 out of 10. At it's best, it's entertaining, compelling, and shows that Star Wars can work great in live-action on the small screen. On the other hand, there are episodes and moments that I thought were either not great, could have been fleshed out more, or was average. That being said, I enjoyed how this season ended, and I hope Disney and Lucasfilm sees the success and popularity of the show, and gives the show more of a budget to fully expand the show, in terms of scale and storytelling, for season two.
I have spoken.
(Note, instead of a spoiler article, I will be doing a small section below on some of the major spoilers of the season, so look below with caution)
To me, the biggest spoilers and reveals of the season revolve around Mandalorian culture and lore, which I'm totally invested in, though I was sad by the deaths of IG-11 and Kuiil.
For lore building, we find out that you don't have to be from Mandalore or one of its surrounding moons to be a Mandalorian, as there are characters, such as Mando himself, who are called "foundlings," or are orphans that are adopted into the culture and lifestyle. I really liked that development, and how they explained the way Mandalorian society and tribes operate, such as never being able to remove their helmets unless you are ready to go into exile or settle down.
The Mando's backstory, who was born as Din Djarin, was revealed when his family was killed by Super Battle Droids during the Clone Wars, before being rescued and taken in by Death Watch, which I thought was great.
We also learn that there was a "Great Purge," for the Mandalorians, by the Empire, after the events of Rebels, in which the Empire killed many Mandalorians, causing the remainder of them to go into hiding, and still be in hiding, even though the Empire collapsed.
I'll be interested in learning more about this tragic incident in season two, considering that Moff Gideon, who survives the events of the season, has the darksaber. First off, it's amazing to see the darksaber for the first time in live action. But also, it makes me wonder what just went wrong for the Mandalorians after Rebels, especially for the last person who had the weapon -- Bo-Katan.
Finally, the season ends setting up Mando trying to find the homeworld of the Child, which if that happens, will be the first time we really explore Yoda's species in either canon or legends, as George Lucas always originally wanted Yoda and his species to be a mystery.
