The Mandalorian – Chapter One and Chapter Two Review

After watching “Chapter One,” the series premiere of The Madalorian (aka the one thing on Disney+ that millions of people were waiting to watch), I decided I should wait until I’d watched at least the series’ second episode (which was officially titled “Chapter Two,” but also used the title “The Child” within the episode) before writing my thoughts about this ambitious take on a new Star Wars tale. Now that I’ve seen both episodes, I’m both happy and frustrated to report that my general opinion of the series hasn’t changed much: It’s a perfectly fine series that hits on just the right Star Wars pressure points to entice while taking its sweet time to show us even a quarter of the full picture.

And that’s actually the thing I like the best about The Mandalorian – it’s paced so delightfully slow that you get time to sit in locales and take in the visuals (and there are some great landscapes – always one of Star Wars’ strong suits). Who is Mando, where does he come from (outside of the obvious), and why is the Child so important? Patience, my friends. Let’s just take a moment to listen to Nick Nolte’s strange alien character make a deal with some Jawas. You’ll eventually get your answers (Jon Favreau knows a thing or two about creating content for a major brand and he knows what he’s doing here). Let’s enjoy the journey.

But, while the relaxed pace of the series (save for two clear moments where things speed up – the Blurgg riding sequence and the ship repair montage – which stand out amid the tone, but make sense from a storytelling standpoint) helps align the show more with a traditional western and less with a sci-fi television series, there’s still something missing from The Mandalorian when it comes to dialogue and performance.

It’s great to take big swings with names like Nick Nolte, Werner Herzog, and Taika Waititi showing up in brief roles (one assumes Herzog will reappear down the line, but I think we’ve heard the last of both Nolte and Waititi), but you also need to give them something to do other than simply say uninspired lines. Nolte fared the best with his role, as Kuiil was close to fully-formed character compared to a droid who shots some folks, makes a joke, and gets killed. But I haven’t found myself drawn to any of the show’s characters yet (save for the Child, who is more an adorable puppy than an actual character). And the worst of these offenders is Mando himself.

This isn’t Pedro Pascal’s fault – I just want to get that out there upfront. It’s the fault of the writing. Pascal is doing the best he can with minimal dialogue and a helmet covering his face (and, presumably, a stunt double doing most of his stunts). There’s a fine line between creating a mysterious gunslinger and presenting the audience with a mostly blank slate. So far, we know Mando’s parents were murdered and he grew up as a foundling. And he’s one of the best bounty hunters out there. That’s it. We know absolutely nothing about him as a person. We don’t know his personality, his likes or dislikes (outside of droids – he doesn’t like droids), what makes him tick. One hopes that, once he inevitably falls in with characters for more than a single episode, we’ll get a bit more out of him, but until then, it’s hard to care that much about a cypher.

Perhaps I’m asking for too much from the series. After all, the first two episodes combined clock in at under an hour and a half – practically unheard of for a drama series (the second episode was shorter than the run time of a network drama). Maybe it’s all calculated in the pacing and length of the individual episodes. I’ll admit that the shorter run time for the series has made it easier to watch despite my issues with it, where a longer series would be incredibly trying. But I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something. I don’t feel super engaged with the story, I’m not rooting for anyone because I don’t know anyone. All I know is that I would like the Child to live because it’s adorable – but that’s not a great reason to want something from a series like this.

I have every intention to keep watching the series, and I’ll be reviewing it weekly, but it’s hard to review something that I enjoy watching but also find frustrating. I do hope that it begins turning toward a sweeping arc and spends less time on episodic vignettes (“Chapter 2” was, ultimately, a classic bit of episodic television – the protagonist deals with an issue that he can solve in the span of a single episode that, largely, won’t impact the future of the story). An occasional episodic beat is fine, but not this early in the game, and not with so many questions unanswered. I guess it’s great that it’s eliciting a reaction at all?