REVIEW: THE MANDALORIAN

REVIEW:  STAR WARS - THE MANDALORIAN


I love Star Wars.  I love the universe that has been created (and yes, I still appreciate what was ONCE the Extended Universe, now no longer), but I appreciate the effort that's being made to expand on it now.  And what I just witnessed through the first season of The Mandalorian---I get the SERIOUS feels, and excitement for this show's 2nd installment. 

Jon Favreau's brainchild was spawned upon us earlier this year, and it was an amazing tale of a bounty hunter who was adopted by the Mandalorians (played brilliantly by Pedro Pascal), and grew up in their culture and code, and thus never took off his helmet in public, as per their tradition, and became a bounty hunter.  The story takes place just after the fall of the Empire at the hands of the Rebel Alliance, but well before the rise of the First Order.  "Mando", as he's called throughout the series, accepts a job from the head of the bounty hunter's guild, Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), to track a valuable asset, and to obtain it.  Along his quest, he meets up with a character named Kuiil (voiced by Nick Nolte), who helps him find the asset---which turns out, after a battle with a rival droid bounty hunter and Stormtroopers, is a baby that is of the same race as Yoda (which many outside of Luke, Obi-Wan, Vader, and the Emperor), people had never really seen before.  He shoots the droid, and takes off with the kid, looking to return him to Karga for his bounty.  However, he grows a conscious when he figures out that what the people who wanted him had planned for him, he decided to violate the rules of the Guild, and take off with the kid.  

While evading the rest of the bounty guild, Mando finds odd jobs here and there in various places to gain credits, and decide what to do with the kid---who, as we discover, possesses Jedi powers, as it had saved Mando from a very large, rhino like beast, and tried to heal him contsantly throughout the show. At one point, he winds up on one planet, where he meets a kind woman named Omera, a farmer on a world where people live pretty peacefully.  He helps them out with a problem, and seems to have a connection with her.  Baby Yoda also seems to fit in well with the locals as well.

He also meets a former Alliance shock trooper named Cara Dune (Gina Carano), whom helps him out with saving the farmers from a local threat.  But he soon parts ways with them, as he has to keep on the run to avoid capture, and keep Baby Yoda safe.  He ends up running afoul of an old mercenary named Ranzar Malk, who needs a prisoner freed from a prison ship.  Along with his motley crew, they break into the prison, but ends up being betrayed by the crew, and they plan on leaving him behind.  However, he manages to turn the tables, and screw them at the last minute.  He DOES, however, bring back Malk's quarry, and they try to screw him again.  He ends up leaving the ship, but not before he planted bombs aboard and it explodes, just as he's made his escape.  He also runs into an assassin on Tatooine (Ming-Na Wen), aiming to kill him, while trying to teach and help a young kid (Rio Hackford), get into the guild.  He ends up killing him when he gets double crossed by him.  

He once again runs into his old pal, Karga, who says he's got a deal for him, and says to bring the kid back, and he can find a way to get him back into the guild.  Mando feels it's a trap, but he decides to go anyway.  At this point, Cara has joined him, knowing it was a trap.  They meet up with Karga, and they are soon under attack from a former Imperial leader named Moff Gideon, who was the benefactor in question.  Karga is injured, and the Baby Yoda heals him.  He realizes that the child possesses Jedi like powers, and now realizes that turning the child over to their benefactor would be a mistake.  The foursome are soon trapped in an abandoned bar, under heavy artillery fire from Stormtroopers.  They make their escape below, where they find one of the few remaining Mandalorians around, known as The Armorer.  She ends up giving Mando his marking as an "official" Mandalorian, as well as him getting his jetpack.  He, Dune, and Karga...along with the rebuilt IG-11, the droid bounty hunter from the opening episode, having been given more humanitarian instructions to protect the child by Kuiil before his death at the hands of Moff Gideon, manage to stop Gideon from getting the child.  Dune and Karga stay behind on Mandalore, while Mando leaves to find the child a new home that's safe.  We DO see, however, at the end of the episode, Gideon surviving his tie-fighter crash, and wielding a black blade...knowing the fight isn't over.

I enjoyed the flow of the series, the new characters (Gina Carano's in particular...badass fighter and soldier), and the cinematography was stellar.  I enjoyed spanning different worlds...especially seeing Mos Eisley and Tatooine once again, learning more about Mando, as well as his fondness and care for the child.  The puppeteers did amazing with with Baby Yoda, and the acting was incredible.  We had a litany of guest stars such as Bill Burr, Ming-Na Wen, Amy Sedaris, Clancy Brown, and so much more.  If you have NOT seen this series, you are missing out.  It's great to see another character in the Star Wars universe to have a story being told, and seeing the fallout of the Galactic War from another set of eyes.  This series gets a big thumbs up from me, and I can't wait for the next installment this fall....with any luck...virus permitting.

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That's it from a galaxy far, far away...