Yeah, so, this is a father-son duo you are powerless to resist, no matter how good this show actually is
Two words: Baby Yoda. Do I even have to say anything else for this review? The mere creation of the most beloved character to come out of the Star Wars universe since the original trilogy is probably enough to justify this show existing (and it’s certainly enough for entire episodes to coast on, apparently). I’m not sure anything else about the series is even worth discussing, but let’s give it a shot anyway.
Created and produced (and usually written) by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian is for once, a series set in the Star Wars world that doesn’t really have anything to do with Sith, Jedi and the Skywalkers. This is a good thing, since it frees up the material to deviate from mythology and lore (for the most part) and sets up a brand new protagonist who exists entirely apart from all that other stuff. He is a bounty hunter who has no name and whose face is covered by a helmet that makes him look like the Rocketeer. He resembles the Fetts of course, but there’s no apparent relation to them either, and he’s played by Pedro Pascal, who has an appealingly gravelly voice and does the stoic, alpha lead well enough. It’s kind of a take on the western, as our lone hero decides not to hand over a bounty one day, because it turns out to be the adorable baby Yoda, who also has no real name and exists in the form of an actual puppet- a doll that has enormously expressive eyes and coos baby noises even though he’s about 50 years old (in Yoda years, that’s an infant- remember, he died at 900).
The human leads aren’t too interesting, aside from the Mandalorian himself
Baby Yoda doesn’t speak or do much of anything, but the mere sight of him was enough to inspire a thousand memes. He’s so cute that he must be protected at all costs. That’s what you think when you see him and the show agrees with you, as “Mando” takes on that task and starts to wander around with the baby in tow, from planet to planet. That’s the premise of this show and that’s basically the execution too. Not every episode is gold. In fact, most of them aren’t. Any time spent with Mando and the history of his Mandalorian people is laugh out loud silly and there’s something about anything set in the Star Wars universe that feels inherently like a fan film, no matter how expensive this one looks. Pascal is solid, but the dialogue is flat out bad, and the characters who pop in and out of the show are thinly developed at best (despite all the amusing cameos from Jon Favreau’s celebrity pals). The episodes veer in length from 25-42 minutes, and it is so episodic that nothing seems to matter from one to the next, except of course, for Baby Yoda’s cuteness.
Can you really hang an entire show on this? I don’t think so, but the last couple of episodes finally start to improve in terms of story, as Gina Carano and Carl Weathers join Pascal to give him something resembling a supporting cast, and the stakes are raised with the introduction of Giancarlo Esposito’s bad guy determined to kidnap “the child” (Baby Yoda does display some uncontrolled Jedi mind powers that everyone wants). When the drama started to pick up I could finally feel some sort of investment creeping in, but boy does this show takes its time getting there. The truth of the matter is, I don’t care who Mando fights from one episode to the next, but I would definitely watch a half hour of him changing the baby’s diapers, singing him to sleep, and talking to him on the ship as his lone companion in the loneliness of space. Give me an episode of that and it’ll be worth a whole letter grade.
Grade: B-
A superstar is born- Disney can already hear the chimes of millions of cash registers in merchandise sales for this little guy
