The Mandalorian

The best live-action Star Wars content since the original trilogy. These showrunners get it.

After 2 seasons, The Mandalorian has, through rough patches, established a solid western/sci-fi adventure show. My heart tells me this show is capable of telling more interesting stories but my brain reminds me Disney will not take any risk with the Star Wars property. I might be disappointed in the cookie-cutter storytelling but I think the showrunners at least understand their own limitations and maximize the things that work: tone, actors, production, and the established Star Wars universe.

Yeah, I know it's Lone Wolf and Cub with a Star Wars spray tan but I didn't know how much I needed that until I saw it. Top shelf production.

As good or better than ANY Star Wars property (although I still give the edge to Empire) Looks like Disney used the Michael Scott rule of business here - K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid! Just a bounty hunter trying to get Baby Yoda home, while dealing with space mercs trying to stop him. It's really all the plot I need. How do you get people to fall back in love with the Star Wars franchise? This is the way. I have spoken.

After years of abuse of Star Wars franchise, this was finally something that is close to the "thing" (I don't know how to describe it; that first moment I saw the opening credits of Star Wars when I was 6 is etched to my mind with a laser) that I fell in love with as a kid. What makes it exceptional is the music; Goransson is a genius (maybe a new P. Glass). The capacity of Disney for creating cuteness is magical too; they made the cutest thing based on f.cking Yoda man; how can you do that?

This is the way. I enjoyed this way more than the recent trilogy of movies. The tone is more interesting and I think I'm just not interested in the Skywalkers and ineffective Jedi. There's a wealth of gritty stories that could be told in the seedy underbelly of SW, much like Rogue One

Bloody love it. The world and the effects are really consistent with the original movies; that material and context we know in a refreshing format of 30 min episodes with story line, humour, characters all very authentic makes for a great time.

Overall, the first season of The Mandalorian has its ups and downs but finds itself by the end. While the pacing does meander a bit, it all feels real and grounded. Bringing in some top-notch talent behind the director's chair helped a lot (especially Taika Waititi's turn for the finale), accomplishing the difficult task of making an atmospheric sci-fi/Western blend. While I don't love every episode, I was never bored once, and because of that I think this show has a bright future.

No one needs more Star Wars but this is exactly what Star Wars needs. Mostly assembled from mediocre and cliched elements but its focussed and unpretentious manner in every area of production makes it feel fresh and enjoyable. Sticks to the essentials and avoids excess which is great to see from a modern action adventure story. Also its throwbacky structure really works with this type of material in this day and age.

The ManDolarian With No Name: The Space Western We Never Knew We Needed. I kept imagining it was Eastwood behind the helmet: a man of few words, complete with his battle-torn pancho/cape, and bullet-deflecting metal armor. Oh, and that sexy spaghetti soundtrack, mama mia!