'The Mandalorian': Season 1 Review

I have never written a review for a series before simply because I prefer watching and reviewing films, but since I got Disney+ and I'm a major Star Wars nerd, I decided that it was time to start reviewing a show. And I picked the perfect one.

Spoilers will follow for Episodes 1-8 of The Mandalorian.

Here we go!

The Mandalorian is a space western web television series created by Jon Favreau. The series takes place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi and it stars Pedro Pascal as a bounty hunter on the run as he protects a baby that people all over the galaxy are after.

When I first heard about this series, I wasn't too hyped about it because I didn't really know what a live-action Star Wars TV show would be like, but as it turns out, I really liked this series.

I'm gonna go through the show episode-by-episode and give some thoughts on each one, and then I'm gonna summarize my feelings on the show as a whole.

Chapter 1: The Mandalorian

Our pilot episode does a fantastic job of introducing us to the world of the show. It brings us back to the galaxy of Star Wars five years after the fall of the Empire, and the crime that remains throughout. We see a new part of this world, and it's fascinating.

The story is a bit thin, but I did like how the Mandalorian was introduced to us, the shootout with Mando and IG-11 is very fun to watch, and I really loved the ending of the film with the reveal of Baby Yoda. The misdirection with the offscreen blaster shot that makes us think the child was shot when IG-11 was actually shot was really effective.

It's not one of my favorites of the season, but I did like it enough.

Chapter 2: The Child

I found this to be a slight improvement over the first episode. It is the shortest episode of the series, but it remains quite enjoyable. We see Sandpeople in this episode, and it was nice to see them again given they were some of the first creatures we saw in the Star Wars galaxy.

This episode has a really thrilling action sequence on a sandcrawler which I had a lot of fun with, and Baby Yoda uses the Force in this episode. It may seem like a filler episode, but I think a lot of Mando's feelings toward Baby Yoda are due to the fact that he saved his life.

Chapter 3: The Sin

During the first half of this episode, I didn't love it because it was lacking in action, but by the end of it, it became my favorite episode at that point in the season.

It gave us a bit more insight on the Mandalorian's past and the second half of this episode where he saves Baby Yoda was epic in every way. It has some incredible Star Wars action and it shows how much the Mandalorian actually grew to care about the child.

This is the episode that sets the series in motion and he goes on the run from his friends in the Guild, and I really liked it.

Chapter 4: Sanctuary

I enjoyed this episode, but I think it's very derivative of other stories where a skilled hero must train a civilization of people to defend themselves against a common enemy.

Gina Carano was a nice addition to the series and the battle with the AT-ST walker is quite entertaining. It's a very unique Star Wars battle because the way it's setup is very different from what we've seen in the films. And we have my favorite Baby Yoda moment in the entire series.

Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

This episode was, in my opinion, the weakest of the series. The story is very forgettable and it is very much a filler episode. The performance from Jake Cannavale is subpar, and it doesn't feel like a very interesting episode overall.

However, it's still enjoyable enough to watch. It has a few good scenes, and Ming-Na Wen has a pretty awesome character, though I feel like she shouldn't have died at the end, because I would have wanted to see more of her character.

And the cliffhanger ending of this episode hasn't been resolved yet, as we don't know who approached her dead body but hopefully, this will be answered in the future.

Chapter 6: The Prisoner

I quite liked this episode even though, like Chapter 5, this is another filler episode with a story that feels inconsequential to the overarching story. It has some nice cameos from Matt Lanter (voice of Anakin in The Clone Wars) and Dave Filoni (writer/director/producer of Star Wars shows) as well.

The ensemble cast is pretty fun to watch, and the action is pretty fun to watch. I loved seeing the Mandalorian trap all of them after they betrayed him, and without a doubt, my favorite scene in the episode is the scene which uses flickering lights in the most epic way imaginable.

Chapter 7: The Reckoning

Personally, this was an episode I found to be pretty good. I don't think it's a particularly memorable episode but I liked how they brought back some characters to get ready to tie the series together and bring it to a conclusion.

The action sequences are fun as usual and it shows us Force healing, which ended up tying into The Rise of Skywalker. I liked the character choice they made with Greef Karga, and the cliffhanger ending was amazing, and it made me anticipate the season finale so much more.

Chapter 8: Redemption

Our big finale episode wraps the season up in dramatic fashion with some fantastic scenes. It has a wonderful sacrifice from IG-11 and I loved seeing Mando get upset over his death after previously showing hatred for the droid.

It was also a great reveal to see Mando's face for the first time, and the TIE fighter sequence was an inventive idea that was very exciting. I'm hoping Baby Yoda will have some training in the next season, and the Darksaber showing up at the end was...astounding.

And overall, this was a pretty great season. The sequel trilogy of Star Wars has been quite divisive amongst fans, but I believe a majority of us can agree on this: The Mandalorian is a riveting show, and Baby Yoda is so damn cute.

I personally would have wanted a few more tiny connections to the Star Wars films, but overall, I think this show stands on its own as a very well-paced series that gives us a very fascinating part of the galaxy aside from the Jedi, the Sith, the Empire, and the Rebellion.

The western elements work really well, and I hope we get a glimpse at other characters and locations (a live-action Ahsoka would be awesome, for example). It's a really cool show that has a lot of potential for the future.

I'm gonna give The Mandalorian an 8/10 (B+).

Thank you so much for reading and I will be back soon with another article on Star Wars.