How The Mandalorian Captures the Spirit of the Star Wars Prequel Era By Megan Crouse Moments like Cara Dune’s gun jamming reminds us Star Wars is a janky universe, its heroes subject to inconveniences as well as epic stakes. It was especially exciting because it’s a team of almost all Mandalorians and all women, armored and weighty. But at the same time, it was great fun to see a team succeed with such competence, the good guys well matched with the bad. More often than not I ended up wondering whether the cool stunts were going to get the good guys killed, their eagerness to get up close and punch seemingly unnecessary and unsafe when the stormtroopers have blasters. I’m also torn on the fight scenes with the infiltration team. The darksaber fight was cool, with the blade setting the wall on fire and Din using some impressive footwork, but the combat didn’t travel, didn’t tell its own story with acts and beats the way the best Star Wars duels do. Surely some of the time spent reminding us the beskar steel was strong, crafting a meticulous order of operations for how tough various types of metals and glass were, could have been traded for a more dramatic setting than a single hallway. As usual, the music does a lot of work here, diverting from the Star Wars method of leitmotif to give Luke a new, mystical and melancholic introduction.Įven the long-awaited fight between Moff Gideon and Din was more setup than payoff. Luke’s dialogue is sparse and lacks emotion. But as elsewhere in the episode, the build-up goes on a bit too long compared to the payoff.
Luke’s presence is clearly a case of Jedi ex machina, but I was so delighted to see him that I can’t present that as an entirely bad thing (there’s even a bit of “we called it” pleasure in there). Eucatastrophe appears in the form of Luke Skywalker, who in the best Jedi fashion, breaks all the rules to save the day.
Although Gideon’s plan is clear, it doesn’t work. It’s both a keen portrayal of the nature of power (someone always must be humbled, especially according to an Imperial who thinks of all of the good guys as “savages”) and a classic manipulative villain. To truly gain the throne, he says, Bo-Katan has to win the darksaber from Din in battle. Gideon tries to turn Din and Bo-Katan against one another, using his knowledge of Mandalorian tradition to initiate a fight. Stream your Star Wars favorites right here! But when Din delivers Gideon alive to his allies, it’s clear this is only less than half of the former ISB agent’s plan. Their two-pronged rescue mission goes surprisingly well, the squad of Mandalorians and Din himself taking out stormtroopers, dark troopers, and finally, Moff Gideon. Din finds the location of Moff Gideon and the captured baby with the help of Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Bo-Katan Kryze, and her lieutenant Koska Reeves. This isn’t the smartest show in the streaming world, but it is still one of the most fun. Unfortunately, at the end of season two, Din and the Child’s heartfelt connection doesn’t quite feel as central as it should. Instead of the twisted family relationships between the Skywalkers, Din and Grogu were a found family dream, propelling the Child into households everywhere.
#ROGUE STAR RESCUE REVIEW TV#
After the first live-action Star Wars TV offering proved in its first season that a story about a faceless Mandalorian could have so much heart (something I hope remains true in the many upcoming shows), that connection became even more vital to the storytelling in the second outing. The core of The Mandalorian has always been the connection between Din Djarin and Grogu. This Star Wars: The Mandalorian review contains spoilers.
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