The Mandalorian: Season 1 Review

Hey ya’ll!  It’s time for another Star Wars review and this time it’s for the live action series The Mandalorian. Season one, having only eight episodes, began in November and quickly wrapped up in late December.

The Mandalorian follows the story of, well, the Mandalorian.  He’s a bounty hunter, so, you know, not to interested in anything more than bringing in the bounties and keeping fuel in his ship and food in his belly.  So what happens when he goes on a hunt and finds out that his next bounty is a fifty year old baby…something?

The baby is collectively known as Baby Yoda, because that’s what creature he is; the same as Jedi Master Yoda.  We just don’t know what the creature is called, and Mando never named the baby, so he is still Baby Yoda to everyone.  He’s absolutely adorable, and right away, Mando starts getting attached to the little guy.  I mean, can you blame him?

He does bring the baby to the Imperials who had originally asked for it, but he just can’t bring himself to leave the child with them, because who knows what they have planned for him!  It turns out that the little guy is strongly Force sensitive, so the Imps could be planning anything.  So what does Mando do?  The only thing any of us would have done, I suppose.

He risked everything and went back to save the baby.  He broke in, took out anyone who got in his way, and spirited Baby Yoda away into space.  Obviously, he’s going to be hunted down now for stealing a bounty, but Mando will stop at nothing to keep Baby Yoda safe.

He meets some friends along the way, like the ex-Rebellion Shock Trooper Cara Dune, an Ugnaught named Kuiil, and others.  But he has his fair share of enemies too, since everyone seems to want to get their hands on the little green gremlin looking thing.  Everyone wants the rewards for bringing in the criminal who stole what must be the most precious bounty in the galaxy.

We knew we’d start to think of Mando as Baby Yoda’s adoptive father the instant he laid eyes on the kid.  He certainly acts like he is throughout the series.  He freaks when he can’t find the baby, hates other people for holding him without asking, and just generally kills whoever threatens Baby Yoda.  Just don’t touch the baby.  Don’t do it.  It won’t end well for you.

But with all of this cuteness and with everyone going “AWWW!”, The Mandalorian still keeps things entertaining.  The eight episode season is action-packed and there’s never a dull moment.  There’s old Western style gunfights, thrilling battles, and lots and lots of Mandalorians!  Also, considering that Dave Filoni himself (the director of Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars) is working on this show alongside Jon Favreau, it’s obvious that there’ll be some cameos and such that those who didn’t keep up with the two animated series might not understand.  In the final episode, we see the Mandalorian group known as Death Watch in one of Mando’s flashbacks, and we know them from The Clone Wars series.  A major point in the final episode was the reappearance of the Dark Saber.

Now, this new villain that showed up in the last two episodes of season one, Moff Gideon, has the saber with him.  The question everyone is asking is how he came to possess it.  If you watched Rebels, then you know that the saber jumped to a lot of people.  But it’s rightful owner is Bo-Katan, a member of Death Watch.  We will have to wait until this Fall to see how this plays out…

And another thing that needs to be discussed is the mysterious figure that was seen in the last couple seconds of episode 5.  Everyone’s saying it’s Boba Fett, and to be honest…I really don’t know who else it COULD be.  The way he walks, his armor, HIS CAPE.  I will be more surprise if it’s NOT him.  Who do you think he is?

All in all, The Mandalorian is a great show!  I loved every bit of it, and I’m looking forward to the next season, which will be releasing this Fall.  As for a solid release date, we don’t have on yet.

 

What did you think about the Mandalorian?  It certainly made the Star Wars fandom go crazy over Baby Yoda!  Start up a conversation in the comments below!

 

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