The Mandalorian is a spin-off taking place after the events of the original trilogy but before the events of the Sequels, the idea being this show bridges the gap between the two trilogies. Similar to how other spin-offs such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars Rebels bridge the gaps between the original films and the first three prequels. Anyway, The Mandalorian stars, well, The Mandalorian (played by Pedro Pascal), a grizzled, battle-hardened bounty hunter trying to make a living in the lawless corners of the known galaxy. Armed only with his wit, his fists, and a few home-made weapons, he goes on a variety of adventures throughout the Star Wars universe.
Things get complicated once he discovers his latest target is a baby (specifically a baby of the same species as fan-favorite Yoda). The Mandalorian may be a mercenary, but he's also a man of honor with strong moral values. So he turns in the bounty, spends all the money he got on updating his armor and weapons, breaks into his client's safe-house, rescues the baby, and runs off. I've already reviewed episode one by itself (spoiler alert, I loved it and gave it 10/10), so this review is just a general outlook on the series so far.
Most of the series is spent with the titular Mandalorian looking for a safe haven for the baby while still supporting himself the only way he knows how; through fighting. A criticism some have of the show is that a lot of these these episodes are "filler" episodes, like in an anime series. However, the important thing you need to keep in mind about The Mandalorian is that it first and foremost a Western set within the Star Wars universe. The biggest inspirations for this series are (by show-runner Jon Favrou's own admission) Walker Texas Ranger and the various Clint Eastwood movies. Series like this back then were largely episodic in nature. Jon Favrou himself is known for his episodic, self-contained stories. And the idea that all TV Show episodes MUST be plot-relevant is only a recent notion created as a by product of streaming services letting us marathon entire series consecutively. While there is an overarching plot, most of the series is spent with the audience slowly learning more about the Mandalorian as a character, and what kind of world the Galaxy far, far away was like before the New Galactic Republic rebuilt itself. So keep that in mind. Personally, I actually really like the episodic nature of The Mandalorian. It makes the show feel kind of old-fashioned (in a good way), and I can respect that.
Something I like about the show is how it has a strong emphasis on non-verbal acting and story-telling. The Mandalorian himself is a man of few words, and there are several episodes where he goes over a third of the episode's run time with no dialogue at all, communicating solely with body language. Which is doubly impressive, because we never get to see the Mandalorian's face save for a single moment during the Season 1 finale. He just wears the signature full-cover helmet the entire time. So kudos to Pedro Pascal's acting skills.
Something that might bother people is how the show regularly employs classic Western tropes almost to a fault. It may come across as cliche in some episodes. Episode 4 is literally just the "Grizzled veteran fighters teach an isolated village how to defend themselves" trope played 100% straight with no twists. But the important thing to remember. At the end of the day it is nearly impossible to tell a completely unique story without relying on at least a few tropes and cliches. Additionally, just because something is cliche doesn't make it inherently bad. Lord of the Rings is your typical run-of-the-mill Hero's Journey (no, Tolkien did not invent the Hero's Journey, Joseph Campbell beat him to it years before Tolkien started writing) . That didn't stop it from becoming one of the most beloved literary classics of all time, spanning a trilogy of live action films so great they revitalized interest in the fantasy genre (and a second trilogy that, while not as amazing as the first three films, were still good adventure films in their own right). Why is that? Because the execution of the trope makes it feel more innovative than it actually is. And no matter what, it doesn't matter how well thought a concept is, the execution of the concept can make or break the story as a whole.
Episode 5, while I do like it more than Episode 6, also has a few problems. The aforementioned issue with Mando not bringing his rifle to a situation that would have greatly aided him, in addition to wasting a pretty cool antagonist in the form of Fennec Shand, an Imperial Sniper with a body-count in the hundreds. From what we got to see of her, she's cunning, manipulative, and dangerous enough to make even the Mandalorian himself reluctant to pursue her bounty. She even has skills in martial arts, easily subduing Toro Calican (the rookie hunter) and would have killed him had Mando not intervened. But there's a lot of plot contrivances that hurt this episode more than it helps. Ignoring the sniper rifle problem, there's also the issue of the Mandalorian's plan to wait till nightfall before attempting to engage Shand. And I was left wondering, "Why doesn't Shand just leave?" She knows the Mandalorian and Calican are hiding out in the sand dunes, and there's nothing stopping her from leaving, aside from giving up the cliff-side sniper's perch she's camping out on. She doesn't even have a motivation to stay in that position, she herself said (once she was captured) she was on her way to meet with a client of her own and was apparently working on a tight schedule. And then when she reveals that the Mandalorian himself has a very valuable bounty, Calican kills her and betrays Mando, figuring that bagging a Mandalorian would be well worth the street cred. But Mando says earlier in the episode, "She's no good to us dead." implying that the bounty on Shand was to bring her in alive. So my question here is, "Why didn't Calican try to turn them BOTH in?" Normally, if given the choice to do a lot of small things that add up or one big thing, most people go with the big thing. But if you do both you get the benefits of both choices. So if Calican really wanted to prove he was a capable hunter he would've cashed in the bounty on Shand and then go after Mando. But what's worse is just how effortlessly he takes out Calican. First he blinds him with a flash bang (Mando's strategy for Shand was reapplied here), then he just shoots him once with his pistol. Boom. Rookie hunter died because he bit off more than he could chew. It was honestly anticlimactic. He didn't even get a chance to trade blows. Literally every other named antagonist got a chance to at least try to attack the Mandalorian. But no. Calican went down faster than a generic Storm Trooper. Think about that.
One thing that I feel everyone can agree on is that when it comes to action sequences and fight scene choreography, The Mandalorian knocks it out of the ball park. Every shootout, bar brawl, and stealth mission is to be frank, exciting. I actually find the action in The Mandalorian to be more engaging than the action from the main films. There's a real sense of weight to everything, helped by the show's plentiful use of practical props and only using CGI when it left with no other choice. I especially like how the show manages to make the Mandalorian look absolutely brutal once a fight breaks out. One moment he shoots the controls to automatic door to cut a criminal in half, another moment he's using his grappling hook to strangle an Imperial Storm Trooper while stabbing him with a knife. The Mandalorian's grittier fighting style is a welcome departure from the poise and grace that most Jedi have during their duels. One minor criticism I have of the show is concerning the Mandalorian's signature rifle. After using it rather extensively in the first four episodes, he just leaves it behind on his star ship. While I can understand leaving it in some cases, such as in episode 6 when the Mandalorian needs to break into a prison ship to free a fellow mercenary. The prison ship is small, and filled with compact hallways with little cover. The Mandalorian's rifle is for all intents a purposes, a sniper rifle, dealing intense damage at long range, but takes a while to set up properly, and thus it would be impractical to bring such a weapon to such a tightly packed environment. But in episode 5, when he needs to help a rookie bounty hunter terminate a notorious Imperial sniper, he doesn't bring his rifle with him. If he did, he could have fired potshots at the sniper until either she moved out of cover or until one blaster bolt got lucky enough to hit. But instead, he (and the rookie hunter) have to come up with an elaborate plan to get close enough to subdue the sniper.
I also really enjoyed the supporting cast for the show. Such as the Armorer (played by Emily Swallow). And yes, I do have to refer to her as the Armorer because I trend I've noticed with the show is that a lot of the characters either don't have known names or do have names that are not spoken until a much later episode (it took seven episodes before we learned that the alien hermit Mando befriended in the pilot episode is named Kuiil, for example). The Armorer is the closest thing the Mandalorian has to a mentor, giving him sagely wisdom as well as being the person who makes all the wonderful toys that Mandalorians everywhere get to use. I remember thinking back when the pilot episode came out that when the finale came the Armorer was going to do something to prove why she is the leader of the Mandalorians (or at least the small tribe we see in the show). Turns out in addition to being a wise mentor, she is (as to be expected from a Mando) a dangerously skilled fighter, easily dispatching an entire squad of Storm Troopers by herself, in under a single minute, using nothing but the tools of her smithy. Easily one of the best fight scenes in the show (so far).
The only real episodes I didn't really care for were Episode 6, The Prisoner, and episode 5, The Gunslinger. First, let me explain why I dislike episode 6, since it's honestly the bigger offender. Ignoring the fact that it is the third episode in a row focused on world building and character development but with little advancement in the main plot, it also has probably the weakest supporting cast. Namely, Xian the Twi'lek. She was (apparently) a former love interest for the Mandalorian, and is a sociopath with no morals whatsoever. She reminds me of Harley Quinn but no in a good way. Rather than the goofy, yet sympathetic anti-villain with a jester motif, Xian seems to be channeling the Suicide Squad version of Harley. You know, completely insane, trying way too hard to be funny, and generally hamming up every second of screen-time. The actress also seemed to give the character a high-pitched squeaky giggle that got really annoying really fast. You know, I think the main fact I don't care for Episode 6 that much might be because the entire first half of the episode reminded me a little too much of Suicide Squad. That's not to say that the episode was terrible. It was just "okay". I did like how the episode turned into a pseudo-horror film once the Mandalorian gets betrayed by the other mercenaries and he decides to stop putting up with their nonsense. That I greatly enjoyed.
Episode 5, while I do like it more than Episode 6, also has a few problems. The aforementioned issue with Mando not bringing his rifle to a situation that would have greatly aided him, in addition to wasting a pretty cool antagonist in the form of Fennec Shand, an Imperial Sniper with a body-count in the hundreds. From what we got to see of her, she's cunning, manipulative, and dangerous enough to make even the Mandalorian himself reluctant to pursue her bounty. She even has skills in martial arts, easily subduing Toro Calican (the rookie hunter) and would have killed him had Mando not intervened. But there's a lot of plot contrivances that hurt this episode more than it helps. Ignoring the sniper rifle problem, there's also the issue of the Mandalorian's plan to wait till nightfall before attempting to engage Shand. And I was left wondering, "Why doesn't Shand just leave?" She knows the Mandalorian and Calican are hiding out in the sand dunes, and there's nothing stopping her from leaving, aside from giving up the cliff-side sniper's perch she's camping out on. She doesn't even have a motivation to stay in that position, she herself said (once she was captured) she was on her way to meet with a client of her own and was apparently working on a tight schedule. And then when she reveals that the Mandalorian himself has a very valuable bounty, Calican kills her and betrays Mando, figuring that bagging a Mandalorian would be well worth the street cred. But Mando says earlier in the episode, "She's no good to us dead." implying that the bounty on Shand was to bring her in alive. So my question here is, "Why didn't Calican try to turn them BOTH in?" Normally, if given the choice to do a lot of small things that add up or one big thing, most people go with the big thing. But if you do both you get the benefits of both choices. So if Calican really wanted to prove he was a capable hunter he would've cashed in the bounty on Shand and then go after Mando. But what's worse is just how effortlessly he takes out Calican. First he blinds him with a flash bang (Mando's strategy for Shand was reapplied here), then he just shoots him once with his pistol. Boom. Rookie hunter died because he bit off more than he could chew. It was honestly anticlimactic. He didn't even get a chance to trade blows. Literally every other named antagonist got a chance to at least try to attack the Mandalorian. But no. Calican went down faster than a generic Storm Trooper. Think about that.
The three biggest supporting characters in the show are Kuiil (the aforementioned alien hermit), Cara Dune (a former Rebel Shock Trooper), and Greef Karga, the Hunter's Guild leader who hands out bounties to the various hunters of the Star Wars universe. Greef Karga is the most interesting to me. He starts out as a friend of Mando, betrays him once he rescues the baby, and switches sides again when his town is overrun by the Imperial Remnant and he has no choice but to cooperate with the Mandalorian to restore the town to its former glory. He carries himself with a theatrical air, but is also host of the show's best gags. Cara, I don't find to be as engaging as Greef, but I do like her. She is the one fighter in the show who is able to match the Mandalorian himself in skill, and honestly she feels like the one person that could believably become his partner. Honestly I'm surprised that the Mandalorian didn't try to recruit her as a new Mando. She'd be perfect. Kuiil is a supporting character that I and many other fans of the show have immediately fell in love with. A humble rancher who used to be a slave to the Empire, who managed to earn his freedom by working off his people's debt over the course of "three human lifetimes." He's a skilled mechanic, makes some really good points on how droids are not inherently evil creatures, only being a reflection of their creator, and his catchphrase, "I Have Spoken" has been turned into yet another infamous Star Wars quote.
Of course I have to talk about IG-11. IG-11 is a hunter droid that's voiced by Taika Waititi (aka that one funny comedian that voiced Korg from Thor: Ragnarok). And I gotta say, IG-11 might be the best example of a competent, combat-focused droid. It can bend its arms and legs to aim its blasters at pretty much any angle, its cylindrical head gives it 360 degree field of vision, and whatever metal this thing is made out of is strong enough to take a beating from a fairly powerful laser cannon. Honestly, this thing could give the Terminator a run for its money. I also like IG-11 as a character. I remember when the show first released, I expected IG-11 to be a sidekick/partner in crime with the Mandalorian, since the two of them had good chemistry just from the little interactions from the pilot. Then they killed it off. But brought it back in the simplest way imaginable. Its a droid. Droids are machines. What do you do when a machine breaks? You repair it. Kuiil managed to fix IG-11 and reprogrammed it into a nurse droid (for the baby). IG-11 is still capable of kicking an Imperial's behind seven ways to Sunday even with the reprogramming. .
Of course I have to talk about IG-11. IG-11 is a hunter droid that's voiced by Taika Waititi (aka that one funny comedian that voiced Korg from Thor: Ragnarok). And I gotta say, IG-11 might be the best example of a competent, combat-focused droid. It can bend its arms and legs to aim its blasters at pretty much any angle, its cylindrical head gives it 360 degree field of vision, and whatever metal this thing is made out of is strong enough to take a beating from a fairly powerful laser cannon. Honestly, this thing could give the Terminator a run for its money. I also like IG-11 as a character. I remember when the show first released, I expected IG-11 to be a sidekick/partner in crime with the Mandalorian, since the two of them had good chemistry just from the little interactions from the pilot. Then they killed it off. But brought it back in the simplest way imaginable. Its a droid. Droids are machines. What do you do when a machine breaks? You repair it. Kuiil managed to fix IG-11 and reprogrammed it into a nurse droid (for the baby). IG-11 is still capable of kicking an Imperial's behind seven ways to Sunday even with the reprogramming. .
The two-part Season 1 finale was, for the most part, great. It brought back major characters from past episodes, had some fantastic action sequences, a full dive into the Mandalorian's backstory, a face reveal for the Mandalorian(!), and just about everything it needed to end the show on a good note. Now we have to wait several months before we get new content to enjoy. I won't spoil exactly what goes down, given the recency of the show. Just know that it was well worth the wait.
As for presentation, the visuals are fantastic. The use of practical effects mixed in with minimum CGI give everything a weighted sense of believability. The set pieces look gorgeous, featuring vast deserts, grimy criminal underworlds, and tranquil forests, to name a few. The costume designs are slick, and feel like a modern take on the costumes used in the Original Trilogy without trying to blatantly imitate them. The Baby is adorable, partly because of the puppet they use to portray it. It does lead to mild awkwardness when characters pick up the baby, since it becomes almost completely stiff when this happens, which might break immersion for you, or not. They do a decent job at hiding the fact that the Baby is a puppet thanks to smart camera angles. But every now and again, you get a brief split-second of the Baby going completely stiff and lifeless when someone picks it up.
The sound design and music are both really good. I especially love the high-pitched tang that is the Mandalorian's personal theme. The end credits music is also great, featuring some guitar strings that reinforce the whole "This is a Western IN SPACE" aesthetic the show is going for. The acting is great. Like I said, Pedro Pascal does a good job conveying the Mandalorian's emotions and personality without the aid of facial expressions. It's all voice work and body language. Greef Karga is over dramatic, but in a way that makes sense for his character. IG-11 is funny, because he just has the generic humanoid robot voice prevalent in sci-fi, but it's done by Taika Waititi. And again, my only real complaint here would be the annoying giggle/squeak that Xi'an makes.
In conclusion, The Mandalorian is a great show. It may not be everyone's cup of tea. It mostly depends on how much you like older shows such as Walker Texas Ranger or the Clint Eastwood films. For me personally, I honestly feel like that this show is the best thing Disney has done since they bought the legal rights to the Star Wars franchise. Is it perfect? No. Nothing is. But what it does right, it does it very well. With that being said, I give The Mandalorian 8 self-destructing hunter droids out of 10.
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