The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian (season 1 and 2)

Creator: Jon Favreau. Cast: Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Chris Bartlett, Carl Weathers.

I’m possibly slightly late with this review. By this time everyone who’s fan of Star Wars must have already seen these two seasons, but I wanted to watch it all with the family (and my 8 years old in particular, who’s becoming a biggest Star Wars fan than I am) to do my assessment of it.. and hopefully I might be able to convince those latecomers who are not so crazy-maniac-Star-Wars-devotees to give it a go.

Star Wars has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old, for better or worse. I’ve grown up with dreaming of flying the Millennium Falcon, terrorised by Darth Vader’s breathing, in awe of the many different planets, in love with R2D2, wanting to be Luke first and then Han as I grew up a bit more. I’ve been through the 3 trilogies (originals, prequels and new), through the standalone movies, I watched the animated series (loved “Rebels” and slowly going through “The Clone Wars”, which actually is getting better and better I’m on season 4), I’ve even read some books, collected stickers, bought the merchandising… and don’t get me started with the Lego sets, T-shirts and all the rest.

Through all this, I’ve obviously been disappointed by some of the outcome more times than I care to admit, but always found a way to forgive the many faults of several of the instalments. It’s Star Wars after all… it’s never meant to be “pure perfection”.And then “The Mandalorian” came along. In the beginning I thought it was all a bit slow and not Star-Warsy enough… I thought it was taking itself a bit too seriously and it seemed to lack the sense of fun and adventure that made me fall in love so much with the whole thing as a child… How short-sighted I was! Having now been to the end of season 2, this has been an absolute joy! Not just a love letter to the whole saga, but a wonderful way to expand its scope without betraying the spirit of not just the films, but the animates series as well as some of the books.It is an incredible achievement, not just technically (some of the sequences are better than any blockbuster I’ve seen on the big screen), but also emotionally: by the last episode I had tears in eyes and my son next to me was clapping his hands like I was when I was his age. What a treat! The magic of the galaxy far far away is back and it feels as fresh and groundbreaking as it felt back in 1977.

I’m in awe at what’s been achieved here and cannot wait to see where it all goes next. Well done DisneyPlus!!