Why I love The Mandalorian

Without in any way minimizing the importance of the Covid-19 pandemic, I'll bet most of you are stuffed to pussy's bow with articles on the subject. I certainly am. So, this week I've been using my self-imposed social isolation to revisit some favourite shows.

I've started my second viewing of The Mandalorian which goes to show I really enjoyed it. Although I'm a Star Wars fan, I don't enjoy everything the franchise churns out. The prequels left me underwhelmed and I despised The Force Awakens. I haven't seen the last offering yet. It will happen in the fullness of time. But I did think Rogue One was excellent. And all of that got me to thinking. WHY did I like The Mandalorian so much?

 I expect anyone who's interested has probably already seen the show. This post isn’t going to be littered with spoilers – or at least I don't think so. But if you haven't seen the show yet and spoilers are a concern, please leave quietly and close the door behind you.

So… why does The Mandalorian work? Lots of people waving their hands around are shouting 'Baby Yoda!!!' And I can't deny that's part of the appeal. He's cute and powerful and very much just a kid. In that respect I think he's very well written (We're saying 'he' – but he could be a 'she', couldn't he?) The eyes and ears are very expressive – child-like yet, wise. And the behaviour is kid-like, too.

But for me it was more about the richness of the show's setting. 

The Mandalorian is set in a universe after the demise of the Empire. Removing Vader and his Emperor would have started the process but it would have taken years for the still-powerful Empire to fall completely – and even more for the New Republic to take over. Out there in the frontier regions pockets of Imperial loyalists would use what muscle they still had. We see Imperial stormtroopers in grubby white armour co-existing with bounty hunters and bandits. Law and order is sporadic and local. I can imagine this is the sort of thing that would have happened as the Roman Empire crumbled so I find that setting eminently convincing, made more so because I know what happened in the past.

The producers have called upon bits and pieces from the earlier movies without thrusting the analogy down our throats as was done in The Force Awakens. (Desert planet, cute droid, orphan kid, planet-killer death ray etc etc. Don't get me started.) 

In one of the earliest scenes in episode one Mando strides through a frontier town and we spy a creature being roasted on a spit. It's the same species as the nasty little critter we saw in Revenge of the Jedi sitting next to Jabba in his palace, enjoying Leia's torment. When Mando takes on the bounty, he is assisted by Kuiil, an Ugnaught who had been indentured to the Empire. The Ugnaughts appeared in The Empire Strikes Back in Cloud City, scavenging parts which turned out to be sections of C3P0, who had been blasted by Imperial troops. IG-11, the bounty-hunting droid which features in the Mandalorian, first appeared on the bridge of the star destroyer Executor in The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader sent out bounty hunters to find the Millennium Falcon. And so it goes.

What's nice about these characters from the past is that this show enables them to be more than bit players. Kuiil comes across as a real person with a past and some amazing skills. In the second episode, Mando's ship is looted (not trashed) by Jawas in a sand crawler. We all remember them from A New Hope when they picked up R2D2 and C3P0.

Characters like Cara Dune work, too, because they're placed in context. Cara was a Rebel shock trooper during the war with the Empire. When peace broke out she couldn't adjust and became a bounty hunter. She comes from Alderaan, which as we all know was blown to bits by Grand Moff Tarkin and the first Death Star. I can imagine, after that sort of history, she would have trouble settling down. I was especially impressed with the way she worked with Mando in their support of a village against bandits who had obtained an Imperial AT-ST. The episode was reminiscent of The Magnificent Seven. 

The other thing Disney did was learn from the failure of Solo. The movie itself wasn't bad - but 
fans couldn't accept anyone but Harrison Ford as Han Solo.Danny Glover as a younger Lando Calrissian wasn't quite as fraught with danger, but even so.

But back to The Mandalorian. So many of the episodes evoked "Star Wars" without in any way regurgitating the storyline. Sure, as with all Star Wars stories, you have to turn your credibility sensors right down when it comes to physics. I'll add that while the earlier episodes are spaghetti westerns in space, later episodes hint at something more that I hope will come out in the second series, due (I think) in October.

I'm looking forward to it - and I'd love to know what you thought.