The Mandalorian Season 1, Episode 1 Recap and Review – “Chapter 1″

The Mandalorian is out and hunting bounties, and while it took us a little time, we now have our recap and review of the show’s first episode, which is just simply titled, “Chapter 1”.

Head on down below to check out the recap and review in video or scripted formats!

Recap

Hey now fans of not Boba Fett, Matt Heywood here to recap and review The Mandalorian S1E1, aka, Chapter 1.

The episode begins with a shot of the Mando holding a tracking fob as he hunts down a target. We’re taken into a bar where thugs are rouging up a blue alien when the Mandalorian walks in and commands everyones attention. 

Of course the thugs try to pick a fight with Mando, but he quickly dispatches of them and then approaches the guy they were harassing. 

It turns out that this dude is Mando’s bounty, so he chooses to go with him alive rather than get blasted. 

Mando and his bounty are ridden out to the Razor Crest in a busted ass speeder, but before they can fly away the ship gets attacked by an ice beast, but the Mando makes quick work of it with a shock to the face.

On board the Mando’s bounty uses an excuse to take a leak so he can look for a way out, but he just makes it easier for the mando to slap him into a carbon freezing pod for safe keeping. 

The Mando takes his bounties to Greef Carga’s bounty hunter guild on an unnamed planet and asks for more bounties. Greef mentions that there’s only one high paying bounty available, but it has to be taken on from outside channels, so the Mando agrees and goes to meet a mystery client. 

At the client’s hideout we see that the man who is hiring Mando is none other than Werner Herzog’s character who I’ll refer to as the client now. He reveals to Mando a bounty for a person that is 50 years old, and this person is wanted alive by a Dr. Pershing, so after Mando collects minimal details on this bounties whereabouts, he heads out. 

We see him enter what appears to be some sort of Mandalorian hideout on the same planet as the client and Greef’s hideouts. 

Here he gives some Beskar steel to a Mandolorian blacksmith to be forged into new armor for himself because it’s the proper metal for a Mandalorian. As she forges the piece we learn that the Mando is a Foundling, which means he was probably orphaned during The Clone Wars and then picked up by Mandalorians and raised. He then offers the rest of his steel to be used for more foundlings, so he clearly has a heart of gold.

From here he heads off to an arizona like desert planet to find his next target. Here he get attacked by blurgs, but he’s saved by an ugnaught named Kuiil who pledges to help him find his bounty. 

Kuiil trains him how to ride blurgs because they have to use them to reach the target, so after a few falls, he masters his Blurg and they head out. 

Upon arriving at a secret base Kuiil tells Mando he’s helping him to root out bad guys from this rather peaceful planet, and then he heads off. 

The Mando scans the base and finds all sorts of henchmen protecting the asset, but before he can make a stealth move, IG-11 shows up and gets the party started. 

After revealing himself to be a fellow guild member, the two agree to work together to get inside the base to find the target, but they have a massive, and awesome looking shootout first with the rest of the henchmen. 

Once they break into the base they find the target, and it is revealed to be a baby, but not just any baby, a freaking Yoda species baby! WHAAAAAAAATTTTTT.

Just as IG-11 is ready to blow the baby away the Mando shoots him in the head, effectively putting a target on his back and kicking off what will surely be the main plot of Season 1.

The End. 

Review

What can I say about the premier of The Mandalorian outside of it being pretty much everything I wanted a live-action Star Wars show to be. 

From the beginning to the end it was a compelling watch, and while I’m not a huge fan of the 40-minute runtime, I do feel that it made the episode as efficient and fast paced as possible. There is literally no BS from start to finish, as the plot unfolds in a way that has each beat connecting to the next with zero exposition to bog the pace down. 

I found it to look and sound as Star Wars authentic as possible, and the tone feels just about right. It’s not a hardcore adult only show, but it’s also not made just for kids. There’s a great balance I feel for young and old Star Wars fans. 

What I enjoyed the most though is the mystery to the series’ two biggest threads, which are the Mando’s identity and past, as well as the character that is revealed at the very end of the show.

Getting treated to a Mandalorian hideout with other Mandalorians was unexpected, but the tease of him being a Foundling will surely offer up more on his past and how it may tie into larger Star Wars plot threads. 

And don’t even get me started on the Yoda baby reveal, which is now clearly going to drive the rest of the series’ main threads. I mean where do we even go with this baby, which could very well be the last of its kind considering Yoda peached out in ROTJ. 

The ending sealed the deal for me on Mando, not that I needed much sealing, because the whole episode was solid for kicking off the series and season. 

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