I’m leaving the written review of the first episode to our resident Star Wars expert, Lorn Conner. However, I would like to provide a few first thoughts on the premiere day.
There’s a lot to like and there’s a lot to worry about when it comes to The Mandalorian. Much of Disney Plus is riding on this thing. It was the first big series for The Mouse’s streaming platform — the highs it reached were incredible. Din and his little green companion managed to become the number one streaming property online for a single episode during the first season. That was an astronomical achievement given the low number of Disney+ subscribers at the time. But stressors have arisen and many Star Wars fans have exited stage right once they determined the handling of Gina Carano was indicative of how Lucasfilm viewed conservatives and traditionalists at large.
With North American subscriber numbers now stagnant in terms of Disney+ growth, The Mandalorian is unfairly tasked with once again lifting the whole platform. Can it excite fans and restore faith in Star Wars? Will fans return to Jon Favreau, believing that he and Dave Filoni are separate from the rest of the muck and mess that is Lucasfilm?
Having watched the first episode in this third season — and might I add, I had to wake very early to do so — I don’t think that’s likely. I also don’t want to whine too much. I know Lorn Conner was up for nearly 24 hours waiting for the episode to drop so he could get the video review done. And while I have listened to what he has said (video coming to the WDW Pro Channel at 10:30 AM EST), and while I have provided my own thoughts there, there’s one area that I didn’t touch on enough.
I’m worried that The Mandalorian, if it maintains this level of quality we see in the first new episode, just isn’t destined to reach the same heights. Without those heights, there could be significant falloff in fans. That’s not something I’m rooting for. But for far too much of the episode, it feels like we’re being sent on side quests that are superfluous to the story. We’re killing a giant “meth gator” for no discernible reason other than they needed an action sequence. It’s silly. We’re off to salvage a droid that was destroyed in the first season. Why can’t we just use a different droid? Who knows? Then when the droid doesn’t work, we’re looking for a memory card to stick in the droid. Of course all of this requires questing — but none of it advances the main story of going to Mandalor to atone for Din’s sins.
I know I’m not a Star Wars normie, but I think I can easily put on that hat. And in that regard, I worry that this show might become something more enjoyable for children and Star Wars fanatics. There’s just not enough meat here to keep me interested; I worry that’s true for others.
The polish is insane, the quality is fantastic. But this thing needs more story and less giant gators popping out of puddles for us to randomly destroy. Let’s hope they can make that happen.
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