Reviews

"The Mandolorian" Episodes 1-5 Review

Reporter Brady Landry

The Mandolorian episode one released on November 14, on the streaming service Disney Plus. The series stars an unnamed Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, on an adventure around the galaxy, going after bounties.

The first episode, named “Chapter 1,” is set five years after the fall of the Galactic Empire. This has been an era explored multiple times in books and comics, but the first team we see it in movies/ television. The first episode does not disappoint, with the shocker at the end revealing the bounty he's tracking is in fact, a child of Yoda’s species. I would give “Chapter 1” and eight out of ten, with my praise going toward the visuals and genuine Star Wars feel of the series.

The second episode, called “The Child” continues the adventures of Mandalorian and the child. This episode is one of the best of the series, as it introduced a new alien, goes into a little bit more details on the Jawas, and finally showing clone wars characters in live action with trandoshans appearing in the episode. My rating for “The Child” would be a 9 out of ten for, once again, the excellent visuals. The visuals include perfect transitions between scenes and different planets.

The third episode, called “The Sin,” chronicles the effects of the “Mando” after he keeps the child when he should have turned him in for his bounty. The episode features a faced-paced battle at the end of the episode where the Mandalorian gets confronted by the Bounty Hunters’ Guild for not turning in the child. As expected, the Mandalorian walks away unscathed, but starts to become worried after finding out more bounty hunters are after Baby Yoda. I would give the episode an 8/10, with the episode not really gaining ground until the final minutes.

Episode four, named “Sanctuary,” has to be my least favorite of the series. The entire episode has a very corny “we can do it” feel to it while the Mandalorian and his newfound friend, Cara Dune (a former Rebel fighter”) defeat the invading raiders attacking a small village Mando and the child are staying. The best part of the episode is when Mando and Cara have to fight a modified AT-ST with glowing red windows that look like eyes. Overall, I would give “Sanctuary”a 6 out of 10. The corniness of the whole episode is what ruins it for me, like scenes with children ogling over Baby Yoda.

Episode five, called “The Gunslinger,” is by far my favorite of the series, with a return to Tatooine and nice callbacks to Star Wars episodes one and four. The episode features great and funny performances by Amy Sedaris and Ming Ya- Wen, playing a mechanic and an opposing bounty hunter respectively. There are funny scenes, like the return of pit droids, and tense scenes, like when Toro (a rookie bounty hunter) gets persuaded by Fennec Shroud (Ming Na-Wen’s character) to kill the Mandalorian in order to join the Bounty Hunter’s Guild. I would give “The Gunslinger” a solid 10/10 with neat callbacks to the Han and Greedo fight.