The Mandalorian
Showrunner: Jon Favreau
Episodes: 8
Let’s talk about the new Star Wars. This seems like an appropriate place to start to really display my hatred of the new films, but my overall love of the franchise itself. You can check out our review here, but unfortunately, I have some very different views of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I did not like this film. It was a hot mess of a narrative and what could only be described as a directorial temper tantrum for J.J. Abrams. It isn’t necessarily due to the shift to Disney, but something in the writer’s room had gone terribly wrong since the days of the originals or even the animated series’ Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. I was losing faith in the franchise. And while congruently watching Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the television series The Mandalorian, it is clear that Star Wars has not completely lost their way in their Disney+ universe.
Jon Favreau is a bloody storytelling prophet. Some could argue he essentially launched the Marvel Universe and took the first steps in making Tony Stark (and by proxy Robert Downey Jr.) into the hero he is today. So, when I saw he was being trusted with a Star Wars television series, I was ecstatic. And boy, did he deliver. His beautiful stylistic approach with a Samurai film homage with a Western influence made this not only feel like Star Wars again; without just recreating moments play-by-play (e.g. Star Wars: The Force Awakens); but brought Star Wars into a new era of storytelling while broadening the Star Wars universe from the eyes of someone who truly loves the franchise.
The characters were simplistic while incredibly likeable. The Mandalorian (simply known as ‘Mando’ for a majority of the series) is a typical bounty hunter and man of few words. While this may not seem original or compelling, the pairing of Mando and The Child (affectionately called ‘Baby Yoda’) brings about this unexpected Western storyline of a space cowboy trying to save an innocent life. Baby Yoda is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I don’t care if it was a simple and obvious cash grab for toys. He is adorable and I will protect him with my life. I have spoken. This intense feeling is made all the clearer for Mando himself as he has the same internal battle on whether to protect the child or claim his bounty reward. The primary antagonist (although late to the series), Moff Gideon, is a formidable opponent as opposed to the joke that was General Hux in the new Star Wars saga. Even though we have little development to his character in the two episodes he appears, there is a real sense of power and cunning. To get that darksaber, you can tell he must have done some dark shit. The main characters in the series go through some interesting redemption arcs, each displaying further backstory and characterisation, creating simple tension and intrigue for the rest of the series.
This is where The Mandalorian is at its strongest: the simplicity of the plot. After stewing all night on the hot mess of a plot that was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, all I could think about was The Mandalorian television series and how simplicity is just what this franchise needs right now. Think back to Luke Skywalker, a farm boy on a typical Hero’s Journey. Somewhere along the way, the Star Wars films lost sight of that (sometime when midichlorians were big) and with the dismal display of basic storytelling of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, this only resonated with me further.
After all of my gushing, I can understand the complaints about a ‘lack of action’. For eight episodes, each released with a week in between, fans and those new to Star Wars were getting restless. “What is the plot?” “Where is Mando going exactly?”. However, I believe this is due more to the fact that we have become spoilt in this age of streaming services and expect things to happen often and happen quickly. The Witcher, a Netflix series I also thoroughly enjoyed, suffered similar complaints albeit for a desire for game characters to meet sooner or have the relationships already cemented before the series begins. When the Star Wars trilogy was originally released, it had three years between each film. This made it a spectacle and held the audience on the edge of their seats. However, now we release at least one Star Wars film every year. This is what I believe is the root of why the quality in Star Wars narratives has dropped so much. I think the ‘slow burn’ of The Mandalorian is a breath of fresh air. If you have a show you are enjoying so much that you want more content and more action, does this really count as criticism? In my eyes, this demonstrates that people are loving what Jon Favreau is doing with the franchise (whether he realises it or not).
The Mandalorian is one of only two Star Wars products that has felt distinctly ‘Star Wars’ since the originals (the other being Rogue One). Simply put, I have converted to the Mandalorian creed and Baby Yoda is my new lord. This is the way.
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