The Mandalorian (2019) – Episode 1

From IMDB: “The travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic.”

What I liked:

• The show introduces us to a brand new, mysterious lead character, played by Narcos’ Pedro Pascal. He speaks very little in this episode, adding to the mystery.
• The music to the show has an 80s western crossed with Rocky montage vibe going for it.
• The camera work is pretty good. Never forget that movies and tv are visual arts, and shots like this are supposed to look cool.
• This episode is 40 minutes, but it did not drag anywhere. I thought it was paced very well.
• It’s nice to see droid bounty hunter IG-88 get some love. My IG-88 figure is one of only four of the original Star Wars figures I still have from my childhood (Bespin Han Solo, Chewbacca and the Wampa are the others).
• The end credits feature what look like pre-production paintings, and they’re colorful, well-composed and BADASS (I can’t link to any here, they kind of contain spoilers).
• It’s nice to step out of the generally serious Jedi-side of Star Wars and play around in the blaster-centric underside. That’s one of the (many) reasons why I loved Solo: A Star Wars story so much, because it was a refreshing presentation of an area we hardly get to see.
• Like Solo, this show has a bit of humor, but the main plot was intriguing and not an emotional drag.
• I like that Disney+ is making us wait for each episode, instead of releasing all of them for binging (unless a person waits till all the episodes are online). Anyway, go outside and get some sun.
• First season is only slated for 8 episodes, which is something my short attention span can handle.

What I didn’t like:

• I wish the colors within the show weren’t so muted. The pre-production paintings that run during the end credits that I mentioned above look FANTASTIC, and the vibrant colors they’re painted with make them POP. I REALLY want the show to look like those. Unfortunately, most things have muted color pallets nowadays, and that does get visually boring.

Overall: A mysterious, well-paced and strong start to the series.

Jose Zuazua is editor-in-chief of Quick Lunch Break Reviews. He has an associates degree in film production. He’s on Twitter and Instagram, and is also currently writing his first short novel.