The Mandalorian - Season 1 - TV Review

It's no denying that Star Wars is having a rough time right now. After The Last Jedi and its very controversial reception, along with the failure that is Solo: A Star Wars Story and the newest film, The Rise of Skywalker, it's hard to like Star Wars anymore. Under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy we got forced identity politics with stories that aren't that good. Even diehard fans of the franchise are starting to feel gloomy over how poorly Disney has handled this franchise and I agree. It's just a mess right now and there wasn't much hope left for Star Wars. That is until, like The Walking Dead after season 8, some new blood came in and revitalized Star Wars! That new blood is John Favreau, the man who directed films such as Elf, Chef, and started off the MCU with Iron Man. And for Star Wars he started the first (of possibly several) live action TV show(s) for the franchise: The Mandalorian.

This is exactly what Star Wars has been needing for a long while. The first film came out in 1977, over 40 years ago, and throughout most of these years the plot of most of the stories have been relating to the jedi vs the sith or the light vs the dark side of the force. We've had some stories that have been different like Rouge One, but most have been the same old, same old. It's getting old and now, more than ever with the recent failures, the series needed to shake things up with something new and this show does that. No jedi or sith in this film, almost everything is about bounty hunter, the defeated empire, and droids. And a little something extra I'll get into soon.

So the story is about a Mandalorian (I'll get into that in a bit) that most normal people just call "Mando." He hunts people down for a bounty guild and he's very good at what he does. But he takes on a secret bounty and discovers that his target is something special and decides to protect it instead of killing it. However it's such an important asset that now everyone is after him and this asset and will do anything to end them both. This fits perfectly for something new with Star Wars and I'm all for exploring this story more in the future. Watching the show it still felt like Star Wars, but had enough differences to be its own thing and I love it for that!

Now to make it simple for all those who don't know, the Mandalorians were originally from the planet of Mandalor. Ones we have seen on the big screen before include Boba Fett and Jango Fett. But unlike them though, a normal Mandalorian is much more dangerous. Normal storm troopers/ clone troopers are dirt cheap knockoffs of normal Mandalorians. They're highly equipped for combat, very smart in terms of fighting, and almost religiously study weapons, fighting styles, and the crafting of such. But in the clone wars their planet was ruined and there are barely any left. Mando and the few Mandalorians we see on the screen reminded me a lot of Geralt and his fellow witchers from The Witcher. They don't speak much and their actions speak louder than their words. Along with that I see years of experience in combat and their wide range of tools to deal with many types of foes. They're not invincible though and they have to often deal with very dangerous foes that normal people would run away screaming from. With this type of characterization the show instantly got my attention.

Mando, played by Pedro Pascal (who played Oberon Martel in Game of Thrones) is excellent in this role. His face is never revealed to the audience because of Mandalorian code, but you keep on feeling connected to and worried about him when he's out there shooting bad guys and dealing with dangerous creatures. His interactions with this mysterious asset bring out some of his humanity and his choices feel very human and real. He's more than just a cool looking guy with metal helmet, you can follow him on his adventures and feel invested in him.

Okay, I've been hinting and putting this off, but we got to now talk about this asset. The show calls it "The Child," but the internet has dubbed it "Baby Yoda." That is a good name because it is an infant of Yoda's race and it is so damn adorable. Now I'm not all for appearances, there always has to be something more than just looks when it comes to characters and people. Thankfully the child does have some of that. Despite being an infant it does have some use of the Force and its interactions with Mando, as I said before, help him grow as a character. Also, this odd for me to say, but I also think it's a smart marketing tactic because at first people who see the show are like, "Oh it's a Boba Fett character... I guess he's going to die in a couple of episodes. Why should I care?" I mean I'm exaggerating a bit (I hope), but just having a cool bounty hunter would not (I think) attract too many people. But add in a cute character that relates to the something we all know from Star Wars in some way and not only will you get the Star Wars fans invested, but people who aren't as interested in Star Wars will be like, "Oh my God, that is so cute! That soldier guy has to protect it because if they don't I will!" In fact just today I talked with somebody about the show and they and their girlfriend watched the show and the girlfriend had never watched Star Wars before, yet was instantly hooked to the show because Baby Yoda was so cute.

This is especially true because the child is almost entirely (if not completely) a real puppet. Not CGI, but a real, physical, hold-able puppet. It was almost a CGI puppet, but one of the actors on the show, Werner Herzog, lost his temper when he heard these plans. He barely knew anything about Star Wars when he signed up, but he demanded for these people to tell them what they were thinking and called them out as cowards for even thinking of making the child CGI and his response is absolutely justified in my opinion. I know this is going to sound obvious, like really obvious, but having something that's real, that you can interact with and hold is something you can care a lot more for than something that's CGI and isn't really there. Because when it's there, you think it's real and worth your time. And my god does the puppet move like it's alive! I watched Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix last year and it also mostly consisted of puppets with a bit of CGI and it was amazing. I'm so so happy that practical effects are coming back!

Now I'm not saying everything is practical because for a live action Star Wars show that would be impossible. The CGI for the show is pretty good. The budget for each episode is reportedly 15 million dollars, and with there being eight episodes in the first season that leads to $105 million total. I mean that might be more than each episode it reportedly cost for The Witcher (around $10 million each), but I also compared the budget of The Mandalorian to the movies. The Last Jedi had a budget between $200 to $300 million and The Rise of Skywalker had a $275 million budget. That means for the show the special effects won't be as grand as the movies that's okay. Some of the effects look really good and some of them... not so much. But they're nowhere near as bad as the stuff from the Prequels, so I'm personally fine with what I saw.

So we got two great characters, one of them a real puppet that looks really cute and that you want to protect. So now we need a story for them. Well I think the stories in this first season are pretty good, they're very similar in theme to how the original trilogy was like the old science fiction stories such as Flash Gordon. With the force not being as prevalent in this series the characters and the stories are lot more down to earth there are situations that, when compared to other Star Wars media, become more tense and investing. There's a scene in episode 4 where Mando and a former shock trooper of the rebellion encounter a machine from the empire that in other Star Wars media isn't that big of a danger. But with two regular, non-force using people, it was almost like a moment in a horror movie with it chasing them down and they're running for their lives. The people writing this show really know what the source material and how to implement it.

Now the story isn't perfect because are some plot points that I felt weren't as strong. I also wished for just a bit more character development from some of the reoccurring characters. I wished for a few more episodes to just flesh out some of these characters out more. It's a not big complaint of mine, but it felt like we could have used two more episodes. But it's also a first season and often the first season is often the roughest because you're setting the stakes, tone, story, and characters of the world you're showing. There's just a few characters I felt could have used a bit more story to them.

There is one character though, I'm not going to spoil who they are, that... How do I explain it? Most often when I see a big actor or an actor I know suddenly walk onto the screen I just gasp and point them out. But this actor, the guy who plays the true villain of the show, when he walked onto the screen I felt my blood chill and my heart drop. It's just that the actor is mostly known for portraying a certain character who instantly puts you on your guard and who is extremely cunning, cold, and dangerous. Just remembering that reveal is giving me chills as I write it out.

In the end, The Mandalorian is a show that blew people away, me included. It feels new, but it also feels right at home in the Star Wars universe. We got a great lead character, a fantastic goal for the character with the child/ baby Yoda, a compelling story, and some great possibilities moving forward. This was a breath of fresh air and I cannot wait for more episodes. Hopefully the COVID-19 pandemic won't delay it for too long.

Tentative Score: 9/10

Tentative Score: 8.75/10

If Disney can bring out more unique like this to Disney Plus then their streaming service is going to last for a long time. I know we're at least getting an Obi Wan live action show with Ian McGregor returning to his role and I hope that goes well too.