by Sydney Henry ‘20

Director Jon Favreau’s newest project, “The Mandalorian,” is an original “Star Wars” series made for Disney’s new streaming service, Disney Plus. Favreau expands the “Star Wars” universe through an eight-episode story that follows a lone bounty hunter as he makes his way through the galaxy. Although the series was originally intended to follow this bounty hunter, known as Mando, the Internet quickly took over and made the rising star a small child nicknamed “Baby Yoda” by fans of the show. This creature draws in viewers to the series because of his allure and funny interactions throughout the show. Baby Yoda’s scenes bring lightheartedness to the episodes, drawing away from the fact that Mando, played by Pedro Pascal, has little to no personality and is monotonous throughout the series.

Favreau has mentioned in interviews that the idea of having a character whose face you do not ever see (this character being Mando who wears a mask throughout almost the entire series), intends to bring complexity to the character as you cannot see his reactions and emotions through his facial expressions. However, Pascal does not bring this complexity through his voice, as he remains monotone throughout the episodes. And while some may say that this monotonous behavior has to do with him being a bounty hunter who is very decisive about his words and actions, it still creates a lack of character development throughout the series as he seems to be the exact same character in the very first episode as he is in the finale. The only character that seems to have a semblance of growth is Baby Yoda as the viewers learn more about his background and he explores new abilities and connections to the original movies.

As far as the plot goes, the show attempts to have a base storyline and then also delve into mini plots within the episodes. It isn’t as successful as the directors may have hoped, because after the first few episodes, the original plot is almost forgotten as it is not carried throughout or even brought up again until the last two episodes. While the mini plots are interesting, they once again draw away from the original plot and create a stretch between the first and last episodes where nothing is happening that actually affects the original plot. However, the last two or three episodes draw you back into the plot for the finale and leave you on a cliffhanger with some questions unanswered. Although season one wasn’t memorable enough to rewatch, watching season two (which is set to air in 2020) may be necessary to get the answers to these questions. But if you’re just interested in Baby Yoda, just watch clips on Youtube and don’t waste your time watching the entire series.

Grade: C+