Star Wars: The Mandalorian Initial Thoughts

The Star Wars universe became just a little bit bigger today!

After what feels like years of anticipation and buildup, the first episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian has finally been released on Disney+, and man, is it a doozy. I'll have a full review and breakdown later, but I thought I would give some of my initial thoughts on the show right away, and just to get it out of the way now, The Mandalorian is awesome!

From the very opening shot, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and the rest make the show feel completely Star Wars yet something brand new, interesting, and more adult. Giving us the perfect introduction to our titular character and the kind of universe the show is going to explore. This feels like the natural progression of the underworld we saw in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but not as lighthearted as it was portrayed in that film. This is the underworld we've always wanted to see in live-action Star Wars, and it's so, so cool.

This first chapter is the live-action directorial debut of Dave Filoni, and in a lot of ways, parts of it feel like an episode of Star Wars: Rebels or The Clone Wars. Especially the part of the episode where there's a bit of a training sequence. Calling upon the rich heritage of the Mandalorians as well as giving us a glimpse of what has become of them since Rebels ended. It’s an intriguing view into the state of the galaxy with no mention of the Rebellion or Jedi, the underworld has somehow become even more lawless after the “bad guys” lost and brings in more complexities than what I was expecting.

Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian is the kick-ass protagonist we all thought he would be, somehow able to convey a wide range of emotions all while his face is covered up. More than that, the amount of small character moments in just the first episode has me incredibly excited for what our bounty hunter will go through this first season. It mixes the morality of the Jedi and the honor of the Mandalorians in a unique way that gives us something completely new and original.

In the interest of staying spoiler free, I would stay off social media before you watch this because the ending is something completely unexpected and kind of wonderful that I’m glad it wasn’t spoiled for me. It answers a long thought about Star Wars question that I genuinely never thought would be answered and now I’m glad they did, and now I can’t wait to watch the next episode!

As I said, I’ll have a full review/breakdown a little bit later, but what a way to introduce the world to The Mandalorian!

Godspeed Rebels!

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