The Mandalorian, Season 1 (2019) Review

“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold”

https://youtu.be/aOC8E8z_ifw?is=VfheJMKbxMrIwOgz

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED SERIES. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

In the 21st century, it remains impressive that Star Wars has maintained a strong fandom in more platforms than one. Obviously through its many films has there been strong discourses, but that is just the beginning due to multiple video games. In the realm of television, it has also thrived in the animation department but for the first time, the Disney+ streaming service went big with the franchise’s first live action series, The Mandalorian.

PLOT

The series takes place roughly 5 years after the events of Return of the Jedi.

The series pilot ‘Chapter 1: The Mandalorian’ follows bounty hunter Din Djarin, nicknamed by many as Mando, who was adopted by Night Watch during the Clone Wars where his family in planet Aq Vetina were killed by battle droids. Growing up, he trained to be devoted to the creed with rules such as protecting his tribe and to never remove his helmet in front of living beings. The story’s present begins after collecting another bounty being paid by Greef Karga, leader of planet Nevarro. He then goes to an unnamed client and his colleague Doctor Penn Pershing (Omid Abtahi) who hire him to bring back a target alive. They give him beaker steel as down payment and he gives it to his leader, an armorer, who forges a pauldron for him. The last coordinates of the target take Mando to planet Arvala-7 and is guided by local farmer Kuil who grows tired of bounty hunting business occurring near his home. With the encampment guarded heavily, he is backed by a droid named IG-11 and they find the target to be a fifty year old child of the same species from Jedi Master Yoda. IG-11 is ordered to execute it, but Mando shoots the droid and keeps the child alive

‘Chapter 2: The Child’ shows Djarin in conflict with Jawas that steals part of his ship, Razor Crest. Kuil guides him to where their sand crawler will take him and he is able to negotiate collecting an egg from a mudhorn in exchange for the parts back. It starts out difficult until Mando pulls off stabbing its mother thanks to the child using the force to levitate it. Once giving the egg to Jawas does he get his parts back as planned and Kuil helps him repair his ship before leaving.

‘Chapter 3: The Sin’ shows Mando return to Nevarro with the child that he surrenders to the Client as hired. He’s given 20 bars of beskar steel this time as payment, but he asks for the first time what will happen to the child, only for him to be told not to worry about it. Once he upgrades his armor with the new bars, he prepares a new deal from Karga, but feels guilty abandoning the child and ultimately goes back for him. He stops Pershing from experimenting on him, but still spares his life. Karga demands his surrender and when he refuses, other members of the creed help him escape in the firefight. 

‘Chapter 4: Sanctuary’ shows Djarin reach planet Sorgan where he encounters mercenary Cara Dune who asks him to leave quickly, as she is in hiding and doesn’t want him drawing attention. He considers it until fishermen ask his help to drive off klatoonian raiders attacking the local village. He accepts in exchange for lodging and uses their credits for Cara’s help. As he would be housed by the widowed Omera (Julia Jones), Mando & Cara are able to drive away the Raiders successfully by destroying an old imperial AT-ST they were using. He considers leaving the child behind as he believes he’d be safe on the planet, but that idea is dismissed by a guild bounty hunter. Cara is able to kill the enemy, which forces the dynamic duo to retreat.

‘Chapter 5: The Gunslinger’ shows Mando land on Tattooine and asks Peli Motto to repair it following a dogfight against other bounty hunters. He goes to a cantina to pick up a job that’ll pay for the repairs, which is where he meets aspiring bounty hunter Toro Callican (Jake Cannavale). Toro offers him a job to capture assassin Fennec Shand as that can officiate him into the Bounty Hunters’ Guild and Djarin agrees to help in exchange for her high reward. The two do find her and capture her after she destroys one of their speeder bikes. The Mandalorian would go get a dewback for transportation and in his absence, Fennec would try negotiating with Toro of helping him collecting his bounty since he betrayed the guild by stealing the child. He turns down the deal and shoots her instead, leaving her for dead until she is picked up by an unseen force. When reaching the repair dock, he holds Peli and the child hostage until Mando disorients him with a flare as a distraction to kill him. Before leaving with the child does Mando pay Peli with Toro’s money.

‘Chapter 6: The Prisoner’ shows Djarin accept a prison breakout offered by former partner Ran Malik (Mark Boone Junior). In a five man job, he is tasked to free one who blames him for New Republic imprisonment, Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordana). His teammates include Qin’s sister Xi’an (Natalia Tena), strongman Burg (Clancy Brown), ex-imperial sharpshooter Migs Mayfield (Bill Burr) and droid pilot Q9-0 (Richard Ayoade). They do infiltrate the New Republic ship Qin is held in after fighting off security droids and killing a security chief, but a security beacon goes off and the crew tries leaving Mando behind. Thankfully, he escapes in time to leave them behind first with the exception of collecting Qin as planned. Q9-0 overhears a message from Karga related about the child and he almost kills him when finding him until Mando shoots him down. Only after this does he give Qin to Ran, but gets the last laugh by planting the New Republic beacon on his ship as he leaves. 

‘Chapter 7: The Reckoning’ shows Mando listen to Karga’s full message that the Client has many stormtroopers guarding the town due to looking for the child. He proposes having the child be bait to kill the Client, but the mandalorian senses a trap, thus recruiting Cara and Kuil for help. When regrouping with Kuil, he shows to have rebuilt and reprogrammed IG-11 to protect the child. When meeting Karga and some of his associates, they run into a reptavian that injures him. When the child uses the force to heal him, he returns the favor by killing his associates rather than sticking to his secret plan to kill Mando for him. The new plan involves Cara pretending to turn Djarin in just to get close to the Client while Kuil gets the child back to the ship. That plan backfires however when the Client’s superior, Moff Gideon, arrives aware of deception and sends scout trooper to pick up the child, killing Kuil in the process

The season finale ‘Chapter 8: Redemption’ shows Gideon vowing execution if he doesn’t have the child back, but IG-11 is able to save him and defend the others in a shootout against his forces. Mando gets a severe head injury in the process and ultimately removes his head in front of the droid so he can treat him with becta spray. The droid would stay behind and self destruct to hold off the incoming stormtroopers. Once Mando catches up with the others, the Armorer gives him a jetpack to help him shoot Gideon down from his TIE fighter. After burying Kuil does he part ways with Cara & Karga and begin a new quest to find the child’s kind. The season officially ends in a cliffhanger where Gideon escapes his damaged TIE fighter via Darksaber. 

THOUGHTS

Walt Disney Pictures had a lot of pressure to get this show right due to the constant criticism of each film they’ve made after purchasing Lucasfilm. Whichever film you prefer in that conversation, it is safe to say this met my expectations as a Star Wars fan. What is the one way you can differ this from what we’ve seen in the animated predecessors? Make it a western based adventure and that’s exactly what you’re getting. With Dave Filoni & Jon Favreau involved as showrunners and getting multiple acclaimed directors involved in each episode, the passion is visible. To differ from John Williams, Ludwig Goransson cooked in making an ecstatic score that gives constant suspense and exhilaration throughout. This is Star Wars we’re talking about so all the VFX/practical effects are gonna cook. All the costumes and set pieces are outstanding thanks to ILM being put to a phenomenal use in establishing how otherworldly it is to live in a galaxy far far away. I think what is going to be the biggest takeaway in terms of practicality, it’s going to be the puppetry done for the Child, whose name will be discovered in the second season as Grogu. It goes without saying he is goddamn adorable throughout and he becomes part of the show’s hilarity. Like any child, he’s curious and that makes him a little clumsy such as messing with one of Mando’s knob levers. Even him staring while having soup and munching on frogs made me laugh so much. When you see a cute alien like that, you don’t expect him to display multiple times how strong he is with the force, from lifting a mud horn, to healing with a thought, to choking and to even block an inferno. That’s the cutest badass you’re ever gonna see in Star Wars at this point. And since his age makes him much vulnerable, it’s sweet to see him have an unlikely protector. While I do respect Brendan Wayne & Lateef Crowder being the stunt performers of Din Djarin, Pedro Pascal is bound to be more recognized as the voice and face of the character when unmasked. He’s the kind of protagonist you’d want for a western where he’s a stoic guy that is all about honor in the life he swore into. He won’t say it aloud, but he did see himself in the child hence having more empathy for him that he chose to protect him from the Empire going forward. Has it put them both in constant danger? Definitely. Has it been worth it so far? Absolutely because he knows the child deserves a chance to live the way he has gotten to. The bond he quickly grows with him does teach how duty will always be overridden by personal responsibility which is what becomes their arc going forward. With the rest of the supporting ensemble, they sure inspire Mando which direction to take. The Armorer is quite interesting of a character because through Emily Swallow’s performance, she’s all about teaching to be uncompromising when the going gets tough. She knows Djarin has that gripe which is why she gives him the personal mission to take the child to his kind which are the Jedi. Besides a good mentor, it’s a relief to see him make good allies. Amy Sedaris was sweet as Peli because she’s sappy enough to stick up for herself in terms of business yet still has her own softness when encountering the child. Similar to Mando, Misty Rosas does the costumed performance of Kuil while the voice performance is provided by Nick Nolte. This was a standout character because like the armorer, he’s got his own wisdom to pass down that motivates him in how to approach the obstacles that follow. If it wasn’t for him expressing disdain for bounty hunters, he likely wouldn’t further inspire him to be a protector to the child, thus becoming such a tragic loss to the point where he was respectfully buried after a small victory. Interestingly, Taika Waititi gives his own impressive voice performance as IG-11 because while programmed to be earnest, he still has compelling loyalty that Djarin respects enough to let go of his overall animosity of droids he had in the past. Carl Weathers joining Star Wars is long overdue since he’s already part of other past franchises that peaked in the 80s, and he fits right in as Karga. Although he started out as a shrewd leader who would rather suck up to threats just to get out of conflict sooner, loyalty became reality for him when the child saved his life. Had that not happened, Nevarro would’ve not thrived without his self improvement. It’s so fitting that Cara’s first language is action when played by mma legend Gina Carano, which makes her a natural when it comes being cynical yet has her own stoicism. That backs why she gets along with Mando so well to the point she’d have his back without him even knowing it. If you got that kind of friend, you’re set for life in my opinion. While there are allies, there are still people to avoid encountering to minimize the risk of creating a new enemy. Ming Na Wen was cool as Fennec because even when unmatched, she’s got the best confidence no matter the level of the predicament. She definitely didn’t expect to get shot, but she sure had better luck than Mando when it comes to survival. Speaking of enemies, while Werner Herzog did come off as a formal yet calculating figure as the Client, Giancarlo Esposito really tops that vibe as Moff Gideon. He’s the kind of leader who waits it out in stepping in until he has to because he has big plans in mind, the complete opposite of what the Armorer does. Considering he’s got the Darksaber on him for some time does imply he has better motivation to get what he wants. He may have been delayed thanks to Djarin, which only makes him more motivated to take the child from him.This show is awesome, but there were some things that confused me upon rewatching. While I did roll my eyes with the fact the mythrol could’ve gone for a blaster if he didn’t want to be taken in, but the Client should definitely give Mando the full chain code if he wants to make sure he can find the child. And if it’s necessary to ride a blurg to get to the encampment, how does IG-11 get there on his own unscathed? He may be a formidable droid, but he’s very lucky it wasn’t that hard for him to cross. Hell, I’m surprised how when it came to the mudhorn egg, Mando doesn’t leave the child with Kuil. I know that would prevent him knowing how strong he is with the force, but if he’s so protective of him, that would’ve been a good idea at that point. I don’t even believe the Client when he says finding Mandalorians are harder than finding beskar steel. The armorer and her creed have a hangout in the area and it doesn’t come off like they’re hiding. It’s already convenient Mando would land near Tattooine post dog fight let alone that Cara was able to protect him from a bounty hunter on Sorgan which makes you wonder how lucky could he have been if she wasn’t there, but it’s so dumb he allows Toro to memorize the tracking location of Fennec and destroy the tracking fob. That’s dumber than leaving his ship open if he didn’t want the child to leave and interact with Pei. Hell, he should’ve picked up on Ran’s inconsistency that he says he’s welcome anytime, only to say Razor Crest is the only reason he was welcomed back. And Mando definitely is too confident to say to Kuil the doors to the ship won’t be breached when the Jawas took it apart anyway. It’s even a crazy coincidence how Kuil got spotted due to his communicator set having the same frequency as the local scout troopers. I mean Kuil should’ve tested it before the plan went forward. There’s even no reason for Gideon a whole night to Mando to surrender when he could just kill him on the spot and expand the search party. Thats dumber than his TIE fighter not having a shield to block Mando’s offense on him. Other than that, The Mandalorian still kicks ass in its first season for simultaneously having the spirit of Star Wars in a different tone of atmosphere. If you got Disney+ and identify as a fan of the sci fi franchise, see this show now.