Believe it or not we are now officially about five days away from finally getting Star Wars back where it belongs on the big screen. With the lates movie being a film version of The Mandalorian as such there really was no better tie in review to do then then the very first episode of the show as that's the episode that really did introduce these characters to the world and so then join me as I review the episode that gave the world Baby Yoda with the episode in question being called simply just "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when he tasked with finding and killing a mysterious target a long Mandalorian finds his faith shaken when he finds out the target is a baby. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The plot for this episode was one that was kind of refreshing as instead of it hinging on a character deciding to join a war it instead focused on this character who for alot of the episode is portrayed very much as the bad guy choosing to do the right thing. With the plot of the episode using the stranger comes into town and ends up doing something life changing method of telling it's story and to be fair it is something that does work well in this plot as for a large portion of the episodes plot we do have to question if we can trust this unnamed Mandalorian and while yes the plot of this episode could have been better in some respects as the episode does take a good while to really get going with its plot but when it does get its plot moving that's when we get to see just how special that this was in it's early years as this show had to prove that Star Wars could make for a good TV show and what better way to help prove that then by giving us a plot that does make us want to watch not only the next episode but the rest of the first season as well with this episodes plot also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian , Carl Weathers as Greef Karga and Werner Herzog as The Client. Also starring in this episode is Omid Abtahi as Doctor Pershing , Nick Nolte as the voice of Kuiil , Taika Waititi as the voice of IG-11 , John Beasley as The Bartender , Horatio Sanz as Mythrol , Tait Fletcher as Alpha Trawler , Ryan Watson as Beta Trawler , Dmitrious Bistrevsky as Quarren Trawler , Christopher Bartlett as The Ferryman , Brian Posehn as The Speeder Pilot and Emily Swallow as The Armorer.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The episodes acting was quite frankly alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this episodes acting should have been really bad due to the fact that we have a main character that not only doesn't speak for a vast majority of the episode but also never shows his face with the episode having to rely on its other actors alot of whom aren't that well known to carry the episode from an acting point of view. Yet even so the best actor in this episode is quite easily Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian as even tho he doesn't say alot of in this episode and he doesn't take his helmet of both of which things that could have been seen as holding an actor back it now means that Pedro has to rely solely on body language alone alot of the time and this is something where he does shine as you can tell from scene to scene if he's feeling angry , sad , happy or confused just by how he is standing with that being something that s hard for any actor to pull off as alot of the time live action actors use there faces to give us those emotions and yet it's when those tools are stripped away from them that we see how good of an actor that they really are with Pedro really getting his character right from the second that he walks on screen as just gives us this mysterious stranger type of vibe that does blend well with the character with it being something that does help to sell you on his performance as the character as well. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's n this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is Important Looking Pirates , the legends and the greats that are currently over at Legacy Effects and Virtuos. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Even for a TV show this episodes CGI was of a really high quality with this being something that wasn't totally unexpected as not only do more modern day TV shows have some really good VFX in them but if you look at who was doing the VFX for this episode that it does make alot of sense as to why this episode did have some really good looking VFX in it. The thing that did help the VFX work as well as they do is the fact that this whole show was filmed on a large volume screen with the makers of this episode being to see the effects in real time and won't have to wait months to see them which does mean that the lighting for the effects can now match what was filmed on the day alot more better and while where will always be an argument for filming on location and not on a volume stage when the results are this is good it is something that that does make a strong case for shows being filmed on a volume stage. While the episodes effects do look good they don't look as good as they perhaps could have done with a few of the effects in the episode looking like they came right out of a video game and while it is understandable that not every effect can look good for the first episode especially there should have been more of an effort into making the episodes effects look as good as they possibly could have done.
This episode did of course introduce the world to Baby Yoda with him basically carrying the show for alot of it's run due to the fact that he is so cute. With this being something that the makers of this episode must have realized pretty straight away as in alot of the episodes when things are getting to tense an episode will just cut to him doing something cute just to get the audience to go "Awwwwww" which is fair enough as he is an adorable character but constantly doing that and not letting the tension of the episodes scenes just stay with us does take away from any of the episodes that it's in as while having more comedic moments is still great those moments won't be able to hit as hard when there just undercutting the tension of the scene. Thankfully due to he fact that the character barely appears in this episode we don't get any such scene in this episode and guess what the episode is all the more better because of it as now we the audience are left with an episode where we have to question if this Mandalorian is a good guy or not with us really only finding out that he is somewhat of a good guy at the end of the episode when he sees Grogu and doesn't kill as he was instructed to do so which yes granted is a small moment but its one that works due to the fact that the episode didn't cut away from the more tension filled scenes to a scene where Grogu is acting cute and while yes there is a more comedic scene in the episode that happens when there isn't anything going on in the episode and therefore it has to no scene to undercut the tension from in the first place. To be fair tho the idea of having this supposedly deadly target that this person must kill is a good idea as it makes us wonder what is so powerful about this creature in the first place and it also gives the character of The Mandalorian the chance to reveal the fact that he is somewhat of a good guy by not killing him.
Something that does make this show standout from other pieces of Star Wars media is the fact that this episode is essentially a western. With The Mandalorian acting as the lone character with a dark and shady past as he wonders in to this small town and has his life changed for the better with this being something that is all but confirmed when you take into account that you can here Spurs on the characters boots and the fact that the score for the episode does have more of a Western vibe to it then it does a science fiction action show and yet the episode never really looses the fact that it's set in the world of Star Wars as rather it embraces both the cliches that Westerns and Star Wars media do run into alot of the time. This is something that does make this episode stand out as it would have been very easy for this episode to just be a straight forward science fiction as that is something that you would expect from anything in Star Wars but the fact that the makers went out of there to make this episode feel more like a Western then anything else does show you that they are more then willing to take a chance and show us something that we didn't know we wanted to see in this world with them giving us all of the thigs that one expects to see in a Western but now there given a more Star Wars twist to them which is something that does make those idea and thoughts seem and fresh again. The only thing that does let this episode down quite alot is the fact that for a large portion of the episode it is hard to work out just what the main plot of the episode is meant to be as the episode does spend a large amount of time in showing us The Mandalorian getting ready for this mission and the steps that he takes to even get this mission which is just pointless as they add nothing to the episode as a whole.
As was mentioned earlier on in this review this episode does have a more comedic scene with The Mandalorian training to use some creatures essentially as a horse. With him falling off every single time this is a cute joke as it does show that this character isn't perfect at everything and given the fact that it is really the only scene like this in the whole entire episode it was also something that was needed as it does give us the audience permission to laugh before things get really serious nearer the end of the episode and with the scene not really undercutting any other scene it also doesn't take away from the episode either. Would the episode have worked just as well if this scene wasn't included yes as it is essentially a nothing scene as nothing about The Mandalorian himself is revealed in that scene but at the same time given the fact that he original trilogy had lots of cute moments where the characters were allowed to be silly and tell a joke and be the but of a joke it is also something that us oddly fitting for this episode. To be frank if this scene was dine differently like maybe we do get to find out something about The Mandalorian then maybe this scene would have worked even more better as then we'd be able to laugh with the character and we'd learn something about him in the process as it is it is a scene that works just as well as this is the calm before the storm in matter of speaking as right after this scene he does go out and finds Grogu after killing several people and droid and while that moment is dark as it can be it works all the more due to the fact that we've just had this moment if light comedy with the character and while the show would go overboard with it's comedy in future seasons here the comedy worked as it was just one scene that didn't undercut the tension of any other scene.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirty eight minuets and forty six seconds. This is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show as alot of this shows episodes are around that same time and yet at the same time this episode really could have been longer as it does have alot of plot to set and is just so good that having a longer running time would have made the episode be all the more better as we would get to see more scenes with characters that we really like with this episode having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. However tho the episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely in one regard as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot which is something that is fair enough as this is the first episode but at the same time tho the episode really doesn't add anything to its plot to make it feel fully formed and well though and while yes granted we could get lot more information in regards to this episodes plot in other episodes they are things that should have been added into this episode as you do always want to start with our best foot forward and part of that does include having a fully developed and more well thought out plot. Luckily the episode does take the time to fully develop its main characters as while alot of the shows other main characters either don't appear in this episode or if they do they get very minimal screen time The Mandalorian does go from someone who is the straight up bad guy to going to someone who could be the good guy something which is done rather subtly in the episode by having him kill someone who was about to kill Grogu bug I really will admit that this episode really does gave some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This episode does have some really good action in it with it being made clear as day that the makers of this episode really did put just as much thought and effort into this episodes action then they did everything else in the episode as much like with the films this episodes action was really good and creative with the episode doing a good job of making this character look all the more cool just in it's action scenes alone. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the attack on the homestead that is housing Grogu as we get to see not only just how good of show that The Mandalorian is in the first place something which we do get to see brief glimpses of at the start of the episode but we also get to see alot of cool moments like for example IG-11 taking alot of fire just so The Mandalorian can take out someone with a really big and more powerful gun that's right in front of them with the whole thing just being so cool to watch and while that whole sequence doesn't really last all that long when you think about it it would have been great if that scene had lasted alot more longer just so us the audience could really feel the danger that the characters are as this is basically a life or death situation and while it is a really good action scene just having the characters take there time to to really make the bigger moments be all the more impactful would have made it better with the rest of the episode action scenes being just as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst this was a really good episode only time well tell if The Mandalorian And Grogu will catch on as don't forget alot of the mainstream audiences wouldn't have watched this show in the first place and therefor won't know who these characters are in the first place, with this first episode being a really good debut episode for what was a really good first season of this show in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8.5 out of 10 from me and RIP Tom Kane.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and the official Star Wars fandom wiki page. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great the official Star Wars fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Star Wars fandom wiki page really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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