TV Review: THE MANDALORIAN: Season 1, Episode 1: Chapter One [Disney+]

The Mandalorian Chapter One Review

Disney+‘s The Mandalorian: Season 1, Episode 1: Chapter One may be the beginning of the redemption of the Disney age of Star Wars. The Mandalorian is not perfect. At this point in Disney’s Star Wars, it doesn’t have to be. After Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Mandalorian has only to be competent. The Mandalorian is that and more.

Disney’s Star Wars needed to go back to the roots of George Lucas‘ Star Wars and it looks like they have done so with this TV series.

The Mandalorian Bounty-hunter

The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) is taciturn and single-minded but show creator Jon Favreau wisely gives him an internal monologue via flashbacks so that The Mandalorian is not one-dimensional. The Mandalorian has been designed to be a man of action and in the first bar scene, which turns into a brawl, he proves it. My question – the second bar-fighter that is running away through the bar entrance, why doesn’t The Mandalorian let him go? The fight is over but the viewer gets the reasoning behind the lassoing – it ends the brawl with pizzazz, and more gore, than the viewer is expecting.

The Little Things

There are “the little things” in The Mandalorian that make the episode shine with nostalgia without being heavy-handed **cough** the last two Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailers. **end cough**

Elements from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi are heavily referenced in Chapter One, e.g. Jabba the Hut’s door-knocker droid, as is the result of Return of the Jedi‘s finale on the Star Wars universe.

Results of the Empire Falling

All of the Stormtroopers are wearing dirty, worn armor (armor that doesn’t protect them from the primary weapon, the blaster, of their time period), denoting that a length of time exists since the Empire was intact (and they had access to new armor). These Stormtroopers are hanging on to what little they have left: 1.) the Stormtrooper Corp, 2.) a soldier’s discipline, and 3.) the visages of an authority system they used to be a part of.

New Fun Characters

Kuiil (Nick Nolte), with his quotable “I have spoken,” is a potentially rich character that the viewer will most-likely never meet again after Chapter One. The same goes for the bounty-hunter droid IG-11 (Taika Waititi), for a reason that becomes obvious at the episode’s conclusion. Though IG-11 doesn’t have the personality of K-2SO or C-3PO, the viewer is never able to take their eyes off of it while it is on-screen.

The Infant

And then there is the ending to the episode. This viewer is surprised by what shows up. I can’t even speculate on how this will change the Star Wars universe, especially if the Force is with this surprise.

Bottomline

Bottomline, The Mandalorian: Season 1, Episode 1: Chapter One is not a homeroom but it is the strong multi-base-hit that Disney’s Star Wars is in desperate need of.

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