Series Mandalorian Season three is just okay
Mandalorian Season three is just okay.
The Mandalorian Season 3 is fine. It continues to stumble forward with the story of the Filoni-verse, now lumbered and encumbered by trying to make sense out of "Somehow, Palpatine Returned," in The Rise of Skywalker.
First, the good. The production values continue to be sky-high by any standard. Directors Bryce Dallas Howard and Rick Famuyiwa continue to hone and level up their formidable directing skills at visual storytelling.
But there are major issues with plot, characterization, and theme.
In the first two seasons, the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin's, internal conflict and personal growth are personified by his helmet, a headpiece his revanchist Mandalorian faction insists must be worn at all times in public. Removing his helmet, first to get his face scanned as part of a ruse to locate Grogu when he is held by Moff Gideon, and then to say farewell to him as he goes off the Luke's Jedi Academy, represent him seeing a wider world than the narrow fundamentalist views of The Children of the Watch.
Grogu gets back together with Mando during a strange interlude in the middle of the Boba Fett show between Mando seasons 2 and 3. So the cliffhanger of Mando and Grogu being separated perhaps permanently, by Grogu going off with Luke to be trained as a Jedi, are resolved essentially offscreen on another show. Then in Season 3 of Mando, Din accomplishes his mission to bathe in the Living Waters under Mandalore and be redeemed of the sin of removing his helmet with relatively little trouble and without notable personal growth.
Redeemed, he rejoins the tribe where The Armorer, set up as a fundamentalist oppositional figure to Din and Bo-Katan, somehow forgets her obduracy over the whole helmet issue, nominates Bo-Katan, whom she previously condemned for cursing Mandalore by accepting the Darksaber from Sabine Wren rather than winning it in combat, to be the new ruler of Mandalore.
We have the major MacGuffin, Excalibur, and Chekov's gun, and ultimate Star Wars coolest weapon, The Darksaber, accepted as a gift and not in combat ONCE AGAIN by Bo-Katan, with the grudging acceptance of Axe Woves and The Armorer. How does The Armorer not think this is cursing Mandalore once again?
Then the Dark Saber is summarily crushed in Bo-Katan's hand by Moff Gideon in his beskar powered armor suit. How is the beskar Dark Saber crushed and bent, but not Bo-Katan's hand fractured in multiple disabling bone breaks? Both the plausibility and the internal consistency of the plot are dangling there.
We have two Dr. Pershing episodes of the eight episodes this season which seem to have been orphaned from the cancelled Rangers of the New Republic, with some nice world-building with ex-imperials in a re-education camp on Coruscant, but it has almost nothing to do with Mando or the rest of the show.
We have the forgettable Jack Black and Lizzo cameo-filled episode which muddles the whole premise of Star Wars, which is warring to defend democracy against fascism, by making the direct democracy on Plazir 15 an effete and decadent stagnant society entirely supported by droid unpaid labor in which the droids more or less willingly engage as the alternative is to be scrapped and effectively killed.
The last two episodes effectively wrap up some plot threads. Mandalore is freed, the Mandalorians at least superficially united, Mando officially adopts Grogu, again, and Din Djarin has his new house on Nevarro and his new self-appointed task as an off the books New Republic Bounty Hunter.
Gideon's cloning project, the reason Grogu was captured and then being pursued by the Empire remnant, is revealed to be force sensitive clones of Gideon himself, we get a jump scare of a clone suddenly opening their eyes and... Mando kills them all by pressing a few random unlabeled buttons. Really?
The plot resolution feels by-the-numbers, it certainly has none of the electricity of last season's amazing finale.
Instead of with personal growth and change, the third season, and perhaps the entire show, closes with a return to status quo, with Din Djarin and Grogu resting up and preparing to go about the galaxy on a series of Lone Wolf and Cub adventures.
Season 3 of Mando stands well enough on its own as serialized space opera/space western/space ronin fiction. But is suffers on every front of plot, characterization, writing, editing, and acting, compared to Andor Season 1.
Here's hoping Ahsoka is better.
Mando season 3 overall, 3 of 5 stars.
Series Season 2: Now the Cloying Starts
To paraphrase my review of the first season, I liked getting a throwback to Spaghetti Westerns, combined an unburdened series that felt Star Wars enough without hammering in the fan service. I don't think I can feel quite the same about Season 2.
I like the first episode, in which our Mandalorian hero teams up with Timothy Oliphant to kill a giant worm. It's very much in the same vein of the initial series, but it's on the conclusion of this that we see Season 2 fall into a pattern: Mr Mandalorian goes to a planet, he wants something to help baby Yoda, the local who can help him refuses unless he completes a side quest first. Mando does the side quest, and the local gives a miniscule amount of information, forcing Mr Mando onto another planet to do the same thing again, next episode.
Formulas aren't inherently bad, but they can result in a show feeling too repetitive. In the case of Mandalorian, I can't really remember much about what happens in each episode, beyond there always being at least two action scenes in which a badass hero smashes through an army of mooks with negligible difficulty. Sometimes it's someone other than the Mandalorian doing the ass kicking, but they still kick ass, chopping, shooting and punching their way through armies of men who might as well have not even shown up. Coupled with the sidequest element, it all feels a bit videogamey.
The season also turns up the references. Every episode there is a plot element taken from extended universe novels, games, and tv series. Coupled with the endless ass kicking, I feel like Disney took fan responses to "Darth-Vader-Hallway-Scene" too much to heart, and now have to feature similarly gratuitous fan service every episode.
It appears Season 2 is definitive ending of this show, even if Disney can't help but promise a second and aesthetically similar spin off series. I didn't have a terrible time with season 2, but it is a definite step down. It's still recommended viewing for Star Wars fans, especially those who want to be rewarded for having played some mid 90s Lucas Arts games.
Series Mandalorian Season 2 redefines Star Wars storytelling
The Mandalorian Season 2 has redefined our expectations for Star Wars storytelling, then constantly defied or extended them.
The Mandalorian combines a structure of a procedural, monster of the week show like the original Star Trek "Wagon Train" or "The Rifleman" in Space, with arc-based serial story telling, or Space Soap Opera. Watching the online speculation videos, it was clear that our structural expectations were anticipated and being gently played with and subverted. Though we could not anticipate all the plot developments, they seem right in retrospect. That's the genius storytelling and writing of Jon Favreau.
The plot is The Hero's Journey, as in all Star Wars and most science fiction in general. It's arguable, but I think the hero is Grogu. It is his origin story.
Din Djarin, the eponymous Mandalorian, is a classic anti-hero. Adopted into a fundamentalist cult, Din is at first an amoral bounty-hunter and ex-criminal gangster. His Lone Wolf and Cub adventures with Grogu lead him into contact with other Mandalorians and ways of thinking.
The kids in the sandbox and role playing nature of The Mandalorian mirrors how people themselves experience Star Wars and make it their own. So we get to see Mando level up, and get new gear and equipment as he does. There are a couple of hard-felt losses in season 1 which really add to the suspense of "anyone can die" except those with heavy plot armor such as Luke and Ahsoka.
The directing is uneven, with talented directors challenged by a new environment, The Volume, a circular set with an LED diorama wall which can be synced to give real-time parallax with camera motion in both the set and VR backdrop. The use of Unreal Engine for many of the sets and ambient lighting effects adds to the sense of this being a video game, or maybe high quality cutscene. The second season efforts of Bryce Dallas Howard and Robert Rodriguez are notable for their mastery of their own visual languages. Howard lovingly borrows from her father, Ron Howard, who directed Apollo 11 and Solo. Their episodes are very tight and have real technical mastery and economy to them.
Except the iconic named figures brought in from other stories, many characters are introduced as ciphers without proper names, such as The Client, The Child, Frog Lady, and The Mandalorian himself. This adds to a sense of mythic dimension. It's fun to sit down with Tvtropes or Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale and deconstruct the role of each character.
The Mandalorian deserves high marks for writing, direction, visuals, music, editing, in most cases, and physical and special effects.
This is the Way.
Review written Dec 18, 2020 immediately at the end of Season 2.
Series Disney Bad, Show Good
Before I get into The Mandalorian, I want to moan about Disney. Back in the 90s, movies got a staggered release internationally. Disney was one of the few big studios to carry this practise way into the internet age, and I remember it taking two months just for them to release Princess and the Frog in the UK. Rather than see things improve, we're now in 2020 and The Mandalorian gets released on a new digital platform that won't even be made available in the UK until five months after it debuts in the US. Total pain in the arse. Luckily I know someone who worked around it, and so I finally get to understand what the hell all these Baby Yoda internet memes are about.
The Mandalorian is a spaghetti Space Western about a "Mandalorian" bounty hunter. He has no name, he's good with a gun, he hangs around dusty border towns, he has an uncertain moral stance. From the first episode onwards, he gets stuck with a Lone Wolf and Cub situation. None of it is groundbreaking stuff, but the addition of the Star Wars setting is enough to make The Mandalorian feel fresh, whilst also including just the right amount of references back to the old movies to tie it in, without cloying fan service. Also, its refreshing to see something Star Wars that's not being crushed under the burden of decades of continuity. In more ways than one, The Mandalorian is like experiencing A New Hope for the first time.
Whilst there is a thread tying everything together, The Mandalorian is very episodic in nature, with each episode recreating some classic old West yarn. One lovely little detail is how every episode ends with painterly style concept art, styled to look just like the covers of some tawdry Western pulp fiction. It's more proof that this isn't aiming at anything lofty or ambitious, and we don't always need ambitious story telling.
What we do need is good characters though, and that's also something The Mandalorian gets right. There's a nice mix of humans, aliens and droids who each have their own arcs and quirks, and somehow its always the Droids that manage to be cooler than everyone else. The only piece of characterisation that doesn't really work is the show's justification for having a protagonist look and sound exactly like Boba Fett. Boba Fett in the old movies was just a guy who a neat costume that fans liked, but this series has to invent an entire, goofy religion that dictates how these Mandolorians must all dress identically. It reminds me of the whole "Corellian Bloodstripe" nonsense to explain how Han Solo could possibly own two pairs of trousers. Unnecessary!
When you get the chance to, I recommend you watch the series. It's pleasant, and I hope it acts as a nice assurance to Disney that they can afford to make more live action shows with the franchise.
Series The Mandalorian is a fine space opera samurai western
The Mandalorian, from writer and showrunner Jon Favreau and Lucas acolyte Dave Filoni, is probably the best expression of Star Wars roots since the original movie.
The Mandalorian is a Space Western or Space Samurai series, particularly calling back to Sergio Leone or John Ford's Westerns, and Akira Kurosawa's Samurai films as well as the Japanese manga and movie series, Lone Wolf and Cub.
The Mandalorian can be enjoyed as a bite sized serial adventure, like the old Republic thrillers. It doesn't take itself too seriously and it is nice to get the entertainment and fanservice without a lot of ponderous angst, ala Anakin Skywalker, or emo posturing and dysfunctional family drama, ala Kylo Ren.
On a more meta level, all the easter eggs and fan-servicy elements add very much to the world building. Filoni has been adept at welding different and sometimes disharmonious elements of Star Wars canons old and new and his episodes are filled with callbacks and possible call-forwards.
The writing, primarily by showrunner Jon Favreau, is funny and economical. "I have spoken."
The special effects are great, as good as the best in the 3rd movie trilogy. The integration of puppets, cgi, and live action is seamless.
The acting is something special, with talented character actors such as Gina Carano and Amy Sedaris having fun and giving scintillating performances. The music by Black Panther composer Ludwig Göransson, is evocative and catchy. Like the show itself, the score lacks the ponderous self-seriousness of the mainline movie sequels.
How do people experience Star Wars? They make it their own, through playing with toys in the sandbox, roleplaying, live action roleplay, online games, original art, tribute videos.
Favreau and Filoni use "How people experience Star Wars" in several ways.
Many of the episodes contain a "monster of the week" and a setpiece battle with space mooks like two kids might set up in a sandbox with their toys.
Mando and Child are walking along in the desert when, suddenly, two Trandoshans jump from above!
Mando has to retrieve an egg from a Giant, Wooly, egglaying? Space Rhino!
Mando is surrounded and under fire from the Bounty Hunters Guild when, suddenly, rocketing down from above, Mandalorians!
The Mandalorian works on the level of a stand-alone procedural "monster of the week" show which doesn't require any special knowledge of Star Wars lore to appreciate. The Mandalorian also includes a longer-term serial exposition of the permanent escort mission the Mando is assigned to protect and teach his small green stepson.
Production values are great, acting ranges from good to Werner Herzog (which is excellent).
This review covers The Mandalorian season 1, episodes 1-8, and was updated after the release of Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.
Review updated December 29, 2019, to cover full first season.
Series Season Three: The Mandatorian
I was not the biggest fan of Season 2, with its tedious and indulgent Star Wars cameos and thin, repetitive formulaic structure. Season 3 largely manages to avoid both, but in so doing lands itself with an entirely new set of problems.
The biggest is that there isn't really a story for the main character any more. Din resolved his robotphobia in season 1 and his relationship with Grogu the baby Yoda in season 2. What meaningful progression is there left for him? The show runners realise this problem themselves, especially now that Din and Grogu have been forced back together (by producer fiat), so their solution is to simply to ignore their faceless, generic, Wild West gunslinger lead, and focus on entirely different characters. That doesn't bode well.
It also doesn't work out well. The main plot is about Princess Bo Katan and her attempt to find a home world for the Mandalorians. We are not given a reason to care about this plight, we are just assured it would be nice for them to get it back. There is also another subplot about the efforts to rehabilitate former Empire officers, which feels like it comes completely out of left field.
Before we get to those however, we see Din undergo a quest to "bath in the waters of the mines of Mandalore". He says this exact line about a hundred times across the first few episodes, which underlines a broader problem with the writing in this show; there is a ton of redundancy. Every episode will have characters repeat information over and over for the sake of us stupid idiots watching the show. It is pointless too, because the action of the scene already illustrates what they keep telling us anyway. We hear the Mandalorian's plan to take down some pirates in one episode, and then the trope is ignored
when we see said plan go off exactly as described 10 minutes later without a problem. So why bother say the plan?
It all feels like filling time; a perfunctory season of ten 50 minute episodes that exists for the sake of having a season of ten 50 minute episodes. Oh, and also to serve as a teaser for the next Disney Star Wars season of whatever. I liked exactly one thing about the Mandalorian. It was a robot Bionicle monster that appears for half of the second episode. Do yourself a favour and don't bother to watch the show beyond that.