The Mandalorian looks and feels like Star Wars and proudly displays a level of visual gloss and polish that most television shows could only hope for. And yet it's the presence of a toilet on a spaceship that really made me think that we're about to watch something truly different.
Let me explain.
"Intimate" is never a word that's been quite applicable to Star Wars. Sure, comics and novels have had the freedom to go off the beaten path, but there's something about the lived-in nature of Star Wars that translates best to moving pictures. But even the films at their most tangible mostly focus on epic adventures, grand mysticism and awe-inspiring battles. No one (either those in the films or those making the films) has time for mundane things like showing off a bathroom, much less someone needing to use one. Within the first 10 minutes of The Mandalorian, we're privy to a level of granular detail inside the titular character's ship that hasn't really ever been shown off before, including the aforementioned toilet, and it feels like something of a mission statement by showrunner Jon Favreau: Here's something unexpected, with an attention to the smaller details the movies have never bothered (or had the space) to focus on.
And that certainly bears out within the 40 minute run time for the inaugural episode of what is clearly positioned as the headlining piece of original content for Disney+. Whether the rest of the streaming service's original content will be worthwhile remains to be fully seen, but if this first episode is any indication, The Mouse House isn't playing around.
As you might expect given the title, the show centers on a Mandalorian With No Name. We catch up with Mando (which is what I'm calling him for the rest of this review and until the show gives us a proper name) in the middle of a bounty hunt, and immediately he's about 100 times more cool, calculating and (most importantly) competent than Boba Fett ever was. (At least in the movies. No, I don't want to hear about what awesome thing he supposedly did in the comics or novels. No one cares. Those aren't canon anymore.) Within less than two minutes of screen time, Mando effortlessly becomes every inch the professional badass we all desperately wanted to believe Mr. Fett was but clearly was not. It's an unenviable task that Pedro Pascal has in front of him playing a character who may never take his helmet off, but he manages to draw some subtle but necessary details out via vocal inflection. I'm curious where both Pascal and the script takes the character from here. Likewise, I hope we continue to see this parade of Jon Favreau's Favorite People show up in supporting roles because Star Wars can always use more flavor from the likes of Werner Herzog* and Carl Weathers, with the former slithering seamlessly into this galaxy in a way that delighted me to no end.
If you're wondering why I haven't talked about plot at all, well, it's because there isn't much. Mando brings in a quartet of bounties, then gets commissioned for a high price to go after a fairly cryptic target. Said target is not at all what he — or likely anyone in the audience — expected. Smash cut to credits. Other than an off-hand remark that the Empire is long gone, we're not even given an indication as to when exactly this all takes place in regards to the films. It's an admittedly thin offering in terms of setup and story, although the final shot promises to take the show in a direction that feels very much in line with the lineage of Star Wars while kicking off a journey we've not yet taken in this galaxy far, far away. To say any more would be to ruin a delightful surprise, but if you watched the trailers and expected the show to be the Star Wars equivalent of Yojimbo (or The Man With No Name, if you prefer), let's just say that's not quite the samurai inspiration Favreau is drawing from.
But where Episode 1.1 falters in terms of narrative depth, it more than makes up for in terms of tone and detail. More than setting up a story, Favreau and director Dave Filoni** aim to immerse you in the dusty, forgotten corners of the galaxy that have long been overshadowed by the epic adventures of Jedis and Sith and smugglers with hearts of gold. They want you to soak in the detail of a market where Jawas rummage through bins of discarded droid arms while vendors slowly roast Kowakian monkey-lizard on spit over an open flame. They make us privy to foreign Mandalorian customs. They show us that not all Ugnaughts are trapped within the bowels of Cloud City and can in fact sound like Nick Nolte.
If nothing else, the show looks every inch the millions of dollars that were easily spent bringing this all to life. There's a fairly perfect mix of CGI and practical effects, with the former never overwhelming the latter. Save for a few minor instances, the episode is shot, lit and staged like it's made to be seen on, if not a theater screen, a screen bigger than most people will likely ever own. And that's a perfect balance, to be fair. There are moments and visuals that even the most intimate Star Wars stories need to feel appropriately part of the series and those are very much present here. But the fact that this first outing still manages to take the time to immerse itself in far more granular details is a choice I hope only continues throughout.
Some random episode thoughts …
— Bravo, Favreau, for having the gumption to make sure that the Star Wars Holiday Special is now canon in the post-George Lucas era of Star Wars.
— When I first saw IG-88 in The Empire Strikes Back, I've always wondered how such a seemingly lanky, fragile-looking droid could somehow be counted among the galaxy's fiercest bounty hunters. The climactic shootout of this episode provides a pretty surprising and spectacular display of how.
*It shouldn't be a surprise, but it's still such a delight to see how seamlessly Herzog slithers his way into the Star Wars universe. This franchise always needs more character actor personalities strewn throughout.
**After watching Filoni shepherd the animated Star Wars universe for well over a decade to spectacular results, it made my heart so happy to see him finally get to flex his muscles in live action.
