The Mandalorian, Season One
- DB
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
A bounty hunter with a conscience meets a tiny Force of nature.
This is what I've been watching and playing over the last seven days...
MOVIES
Like a number of Guillermo Del Toro's movies, I think this film is sorely underrated and would've loved to see where he would've taken things in a proper sequel - it's still just as much fun as seeing it the first time.
GAMES
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I thought I was close to the end of Act II last time, but was apparently mistaken although surely it has to be soon...
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Still plodding through and hoping things pick up to at least make for an enjoyable climax, although it's all rather hum-drum at the moment - no idea how far into the game I am yet either.
Also currently playing: Batman: Arkham City, Hitman: World of Assassination, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)
TV
The Mandalorian, Season One
Season summary: In the Outer Rim, a Mandalorian bounty hunter accepts a job only to discover his target is a Force-sensitive child. Choosing to protect the foundling, he becomes a fugitive, hunted by the remnants of the Empire and forced to forge uneasy alliances.
Episode 1, “The Mandalorian”
A decent opener, even if the Mandalorian’s chatty nature later in the episode makes his refusal to talk in the opening sequence feel even more forced in retrospect than it already did anyway.
Episode 2, "The Child”
This felt a bit meandering, like they couldn’t choose a particular theme or focus for the episode, resulting in a lot of small sequences that tell enough of a story to keep things moving, but little else.
Episode 3, "The Sin”
My favourite episode so far, with a simple, strong story from start to finish and a great action sequence to round out the episode – I’m liking the live-action Mandalorians more than I do the animated ones.
Episode 4, "Sanctuary”
A nice one-and-done episode like something from the 90s/00s and all the better for it – and they made an AT-ST seem threatening!
Episode 5, “The Gunslinger”
Another enjoyable one-and-done, this time bringing Fennec Shand into live-action!
From what I know of the show, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t stay with this format – but I really hope it does.
Episode 6, "The Prisoner”
Wow, a truly stinking episode, with a very obvious set-up and betrayal by some stupid, boring, uninteresting, obvious villains.
Episode 7, “The Reckoning”
Much better than the last one, and good to see that Imperial forces are still not just a threat, but a large threat due to their numbers – just because the Emperor ‘died’ above Endor doesn’t mean the rest of the military went away after all.
Episode 8, “Redemption”
A really fun finale filled with loads of action, while hitting a few well-earned emotional beats along the way, including finally learning the main character's real name – looking forward to season 2 now!
I'll admit that I wasn't expecting great things when I started this show and, well... I was right.
The Mandalorian's first season isn't great by any means, but the good comfortably outweighs the bad and, "The Prisoner" aside, it didn't feel like I'd wasted my time watching it either. [7/10]
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