More than a few times I’ve declared Jedi are boring. They are. This is the inherent problem with the Prequels is that the main characters are all either stoic people with magical powers who think emotions are bad, or people who want to become stoic people with magical powers who think emotions are bad. Now look, I have no problem with individual Jedi. In the original Star Wars, Ben Kenobi is a great character. Though, he doesn’t really identify as a Jedi anymore, going as far to say he was “once a Jedi Knight.” Though the rules about what Jedi even were in the first movie are vague and certainly not what they are in the world of Star Wars now. It seemed to lean more into being part of an army than a way of life. And if there no longer was an army, you were no longer a member. And it wasn’t clear if Jedi had any powers at all, frankly, other than some slight of hand and deception. Anyway, my point is, when you get a bunch of Jedi together, that’s when things get boring.
I’ve always leaned more into the ragtag randomness of the Star Wars galaxy that we see in the Original Trilogy and, to an extent, in movies like Rogue One and Solo. And, for a good while, what we saw in The Mandalorian. Just stories about people without magical powers trying to make their way in this galaxy.
This is why I enjoyed this week’s episode of The Mandalorian so much. Bryce Dallas Howard’s episodes always seem to have an affinity for the stuff I enjoy from this galaxy as opposed to lore. The whole episode was a side-quest, but that’s the way The Mandalorian used to be, all side-quests. Hey if The Mandalorian wants what the Jawas have, you need to get this egg for them. To get the egg, The Mandalorian will have to kill the Mudhorn. Good fun! And this week, Din Djarin and Bo Katan met with their new pals, Jack Black and Lizzo, who were willing to help, but had a little favor to ask first about some malfunctioning droids, which sent the pait from task to task as they tried to solve this mystery. And we even got to hear Christopher Lloyd screaming about what a great visionary Count Dooku was. You know what? More good fun!
But this season has really gotten embedded into the lore of the Mandalorians. And, at first, I gave it a chance. Maybe their lore is interesting. Well, so far, it’s not all that interesting. To the point I don’t care. The Original Trilogy version of Boba Fett takes a lot of modern criticism for getting a lot of attention for not doing all that much. But at the time of The Empire Strikes Back, that’s what made him fascinating. He was just a bounty hunter. His name is never even said in Empire and is just kind of mumbled by Han Solo in Return of the Jedi where if you don’t know that’s what he’s saying, there’s not much chance it can be deciphered. But Fett could be anything. Which made Fett interesting. Well, it turns out when you get a bunch of characters together who all look like Boba Fett, it stops getting all that interesting.
Madalorians, as a collective, might be more boring than Jedi. I don’t care about their religion, which is all they seem to talk about. When they train, it looks like some sort of SPECTRE lair getting ready to take on 007. And yeah, it’s annoying I can’t see their faces because I am someone who enjoys watching actors act and all I’m watching is … actually I have no idea who I’m watching because who knows who is in the costume on a week-to-week basis. After watching Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us, my goodness I just want to watch this man act. I have no idea what his contract is with Lucasfilm, but if I were Lucasfilm, I’d want to have this guy front and center of every episode, not just his voice. But the show is going the opposite direction where Din has recommitted to never taking his helmet off. Great. One of the most charismatic actors working today and we don’t get to see him. (I assume there was an overlap between his work on The Last of Us and The Mandalorian and all of this wound up being a workaround, but it’s still baffling.)
I find myself openly rooting against this plan to bring all The Mandalorians back together and reclaim Mandalore, which I’m not sure is the desired intent. But episodes like this week’s remind me why I still enjoy watching this show so much. And what I loved about it from the start. Just this loner, making his way through the galaxy. But now we get to hang out with hundreds of Mandalorians and they are about as interesting as all the Jedi hanging out together. I wish the Mandalorians would tell Din to take a hike so he can take his helmet off and go make some money collecting bounties.
You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.