The first ever live-action Star Wars television series debuted today with the launch of Disney+. How did the first episode fair? Keep reading, but be warned that there are spoilers that follow.
1. All vibe
With the exception of a couple of scenes, this pilot’s express purpose is just “make it feel like Star Wars.” We know very little about the titular Mandalorian or any of the other characters we’ve encountered thus far. In fact, you could almost exclusively and as extensively as possible describe everyone we’ve met by simply a title: the bounty hunter. The client. The doctor. The forger. The broker.
I don’t mean that as a bad thing; this show needs to establish its Star Wars bonafides quickly, and silence as many doubters as possible. It also needs to get us to come back for more and, aside from the last scene, which we’ll discuss in detail, the biggest pull to come back is to learn more about these people. Everyone is introduced very deliberately and given a clear role/place in this universe, even if the specifics of the universe are still somewhat fuzzy.
Some characters, like Nick Nolte’s unnamed native, get nice little bits of characterization, either via an instant catchphrase (“I have spoken”), or like the first target we see the Mandalorian grab, who continues the ‘every Star Wars property needs an obnoxious dickhead’ treatment. But overall, the show spends way more time establishing the macro picture, and that’s appreciated.
As for the world at large, it looks slightly different than most Star Wars worlds, with the CGI looking a little less pristine, but for the most part, the world looks, feels, and sounds like what we’ve come to expect. And, from director/Clone Wars and Rebels head honcho Dave Filoni, we should expect nothing less.
2. The dude himself
In this first episode, we don’t see Pedro Pascal take off his mask, or reveal very much about himself, other than one line “I was once a foundling.” With that line, we get flashbacks to a young child, presumably the Mandalorian, being carried by his parents through a war zone of some sort. The term ‘foundling’ seems to suggest that he is not of Mandalorian descent, which has been theorized before, but was rather either rescued or captured by Mandalorians and raised as one.
Of course, that could be totally wrong, but we’re dealing with very little information here. We see a piece of beskar melted down to become a piece of the Mandalorian’s armor by another person in Mandalorian armor. The voice and stylings would lead you to believe that this is a woman under the helmet, but again, we don’t really know.
We do find out that our dude is a member of a bounty hunter’s guild of some sort, and that he is considered both good and expensive. We see hints of both in this episode, and it is impressive how quickly the show has built up not just the world of the show, but also our main character, while revealing so little.
3. The music
The music of this show is really interesting, as it is the first time that a Star Wars soundtrack has, to my ears, used a guitar as a primary instrument. Not that the music is aping Morricone spaghetti westerns, but you get the sense that the music is set to be moodier and smaller than we’ve heard in the past. I’m a fan of this approach for a few reasons, but mainly because of all the types of Star Wars stories we’ve seen, we haven’t really had much variety musically. That’s not a knock on the legitimate GOAT John Williams, it is just a commentary on how the series has relied on him, or his style of music, nearly exclusively. It’s nice to hear Ludwig Göransson, best known for collaborating with Ryan Coogler, bring something new and unique to the sonics of Star Wars.
4. The references
This episode is chock full of references to past Star Wars adventures, but isn’t obnoxious with them. We see the Mandalorian using the carbon-freezing method pioneered by Darth Vader and Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back, we get a glimpse of some familiar species (the Trandoshian, in particular, stood out), and we get a reference to the best jump scare in all of Star Wars, where the Tusken Raider pops into Luke’s binoculars. Those elements, especially for a pilot, help immensely ingratiate the viewer into the world and remind them that, yes, this is Star Wars.
Continued belowThere are also allusions to classic westerns, specifically Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but those are more about establishing the show as something that isn’t exactly Star Wars.
5. The bounty
OK, so this is the biggest spoiler spot thus far, so proceed with caution under the picture of Arthur Fonzarelli to continue.
So, the bounty that acts as the MacGuffin for the episode, turns out to be a baby…Yoda? (Well, a 50 year old Yoda) Obviously, it isn’t actually Yoda, but unlike most of the creators in Star Wars, there is no name for Yoda’s species. In fact, along with Yoda and the unfortunately named Yaddle, this is only the third creature of this species that we are aware of. It is easy to think of this character as a Jedi, because that’s what we know, but it isn’t. It’s just a young…something.
But it does blow the walls of this show out considerably. For what was supposed to be a very grounded, western-influenced show, adding a small green sidekick is an unexpected move. I’m legitimately interested to see how it shakes out down the road.
What did you think of the pilot? Let us know in the comments!
