The Mandalorian is a series famous for getting back to the roots of Star Wars and, with this episode, it went all the way back to The Seven Samurai for a tale of Mandi, Baby Yoda, and a new character defends a small village on a distant planet from raiders.
As far as story goes, this is probably the weakest episode of the series. It’s dialogue heavy and the plot isn’t as enrapturing as the previous three installments. I don’t know… the Mandalorian, to me at least, works best as a mostly silent character and, when he speaks, some of that mystique is lost. Sure, I don’t expect him to be silent forever, but I did hope that his personality would lead to character development over talking.
Still, the character development isn’t bad. I like how the Mandalorian is portrayed as just a guy. A capable guy, for sure, but he’s a guy who makes mistakes, has a vulnerability to him, and isn’t indestructible nor the best around. This makes him real and relatable and I like that.
If there is anything about this movie that I would consider an improvement over the previous three installments, it is Baby Yoda. I mean, come on… the little guy was stealing the show already, but in this episode we really got a good broad swath of his personality and what the puppet can do. He’s a bit of a stinker, a little bit of a rebel, and really does come off as a kid. I love him. I’ll die for him. It is the way.
While the episode was dialogue heavy, it was also action heavy and I have to hand it to The Mandalorian for making the AT-ST scary considering that the last time we saw the walker, it and a bunch of his friends were getting beaten up by Ewoks.
While it seems like I’m complaining about this episode, I really don’t mean to. I do think it’s the weakest installment so far, but it was still a good one and I enjoyed it. I liked the references and homages to The Seven Samurai, I liked the simplistic plot, and I like that the show has been given a chance to breath a little and do some character development on Mandi and the kid.
If this is the weakest that the show is planning to get, I will be more than happy.
Jason Gaston 