I will try to get back to commentary on major real-world issues soon. But for now, a few thoughts on "The Mandalorian."
NOTE: There are SPOILERS below. Repeat: SPOILERS. Those who fail to heed this warning, and then complain about it will feel the power of the Dark Side!
- There is some good world-building here, which gives us a sense of what the Galaxy is like a few years after the defeat of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic. The latter clearly lacks any real control over numerous systems, which is consistent with canon.
- The eponymous Mandalorian is actually a great main character. His gradual development and broadening horizons are interesting to see, as he comes to question his own rigid ideology, and becomes more attached to "Baby Yoda."
- Speaking of "Baby Yoda," many of his scenes will move a heart of stone. When he is in jeopardy (as is often the case), it can even be hard to watch if you have small children of your own.
- The series offers good critiques of the trope that bounty hunting is glamorous, exciting, and an easy way to make money.
- Mandalorian culture and politics gets some further development. Indeed, the Mandalorian society is perhaps the most throughly developed in the entire Star Wars mythos, thanks to Clone Wars, Rebels, and now this show.
- It was great to see Ahsoka Tano, one of my favorite characters from earlier shows, in her first live-action appearance. And, overall, that appearance works well.
- However, Ahsoka appears to have learned all the wrong lessons from her experiences. She refuses to train Baby Yoda, because his emotional attachment to Mando would make him a dangerous Force user. This is an obvious reference to the idea that Anakin/Darth Vader (Ahsoka's one-time master) went bad because of his refusal to abjure emotional attachments. In reality, the fault lay much more in the Jedi Order's ridiculous efforts to to suppress normal human emotions, which predictably led to disillusionment and backlash. Anakin would likely have been fine if the Jedi had helped him rescue his mother and allowed him to live a normal life with Padme, when not "on the job." In the original series, Luke Skywalker showed that emotional attachments and relationships can be a strength, not a weakness.
- This is NOT the direction in which I would have taken Ahsoka, the character who, after all, left the Jedi Order, because she came to realize how rotten it was. But, perhaps, it makes a certain kind of sense that she would cling to this aspect of Jedi ideology, even as she rejects others. She may also regret her own attachment to Anakin, which arguably blinded her to his growing corruption.
- The Storm Troopers are just as incompetent in this series as in the original trilogy. They can't shoot straight, and their tactics are terrible. So much so that the protagonists occasionally point it out! Of course, these are the guys whose elite legions were defeated by stone-age teddy bears in Episode 6, and who only prevailed in the Clone Wars because they were fighting even more incompetent droids.
- Moff Gideon's development of the Dark Troopers finally begins to address this problem. They are vastly more capable than either Storm Troopers or the separatist droids in the Clone Wars. It does, however, create a continuity problem: why didn't the rump Empire use them to rapidly reconquer the Galaxy, and why have they apparently disappeared by Episode 7?
- Luke Skywalker showing up to wipe out the Dark Troopers and seal Gideon's defeat was a cool moment. But, if you think about it, his adoption of Baby Yoda and promise to train him is a disaster waiting to happen. We know from the sequel trilogy that Luke failed spectacularly in his effort to train Ben Solo (who ended up turning to the Dark Side and becoming Kylo Ren!). He also did a terrible job of training Rey (who ultimately succeeds more in spite of Luke's "training" than because of it). Luke is a truly terrible teacher/mentor. Under his tutelage, Baby Yoda is likely to get killed or turn to the Dark Side! That, BTW, must be why we never see him in the sequel trilogy, despite the fact that his powers would have been of great value to the Resistance had he completed his training and survived.
- But perhaps Disney will get out of this bind by declaring that Episodes 7-9 are no longer canonical! Many fans would no doubt cheer such a ruling. Then Luke might turn out to be an effective mentor of Jedi apprentices, after all. And he and Baby Yoda might forestall the rise of the First Order.
- It was sometimes fun to see Boba Fett return in this series. But I don't think the character added much to the plot, and the idea that he somehow survived the Sarlacc monster stretches my suspension of disbelief (even by Star Wars standards!).
Overall, this was a great series to watch, and certainly vastly superior to the badly flawed prequel and sequel movies. But it's not quite as amazing as most people seem to think. Still, I look forward to Season 3, and the various spinoff series.