In late 2019, the primary live-action Star Wars TV present arrived within the type of The Mandalorian. It ushered in a wave of programming set in a galaxy far, distant that’s solely streamable with a Disney+ subscription, however the Pedro Pascal-led sequence continues to be arguably probably the most well-known of the bunch. In spite of everything, Din Djarin and Grogu are making the leap to the massive display screen in subsequent yr’s The Mandalorian & Grogu, the primary upcoming Star Wars film since The Rise of Skywalker. Nonetheless, one fan has made a critique about The Mandalorian that I’d by no means considered, although I don’t agree with it… for probably the most half.
This take comes from X consumer @JacobYLow, who was responding to a publish that share the top-rated episodes of Star Wars TV reveals on IMDB. The Mandalorian’s “The Rescue,” i.e. the Season 2 finale, was tied with Andor’s “Who Are You?” with a 9.8 rating, and the Andor episodes “Welcome to the Rise up” and “One Means Out” adopted with 9.7 and 9.5, respectively. Low described this rating as “wild” and claimed that “nearly all the issues with the Mandoverse may be traced” to “The Rescue,” saying:
No, the issue isn’t CGI Luke, it’s Luke showing out of nowhere as a deus ex machina. Sure, the E-book of Boba Fett was far worse and made the disastrous resolution to undo E8, however that call reveals they have been by no means dedicated to the break up to start with.
Okay, I’ll agree that Luke Skywalker managing to seek out Moff Gideon’s ship was convoluted, even when it does simply boil right down to pinpointing Grogu’s location with the Power. Nonetheless, it was established in “The Believer” that Din and Grogu had gone to Tython for the latter to seek out different Jedi on Ahsoka Tano’s suggestion. With Luke technically being the one Jedi round throughout this period (a minimum of in title), it solely made sense for him to indicate up, as he’d be the one coaching Grogu in his Jedi Academy.
Now, do I believe it was annoying that The E-book of Boba Fett nearly instantly undid Grogu embarking on this Jedi path? Sure, I completely do, and it’s a part of my bigger points with the miniseries turning into The Mandalorian Season 2.5. However going again strictly to The Mandalorian, I can’t totally get behind this subsequent assertion:
S2 E8 additionally marks the tip when the present stopped being an adventure-of-the-week vibes-based present, and have become a story-driven present (and that story isn’t very compelling).
This can be a little bit of a stretch. Sure, The Mandalorian did have these ‘journey of the week’ vibes in these first two seasons, they usually felt stronger in Season 1. However Season 2 nonetheless had an overarching story earlier than “The Return” aired. Din Djarin was touring across the universe looking for Grogu’s “folks,” and that introduced him into contact with characters like Boba Fett, Bo-Katan Kryze and Ahsoka Tano. Luke Skywalker’s arrival within the Season 2 finale solely added one more connective thread between this present and the broader Star Wars universe.
So whereas I don’t assume that “The Return” is on the identical stage of high quality because the aforementioned Andor episodes, I’m not going to agree that Luke Skywalker’s look was what brought on The Mandalorian to dip in high quality. I nonetheless loved Season 3 for probably the most half, and I’m wanting ahead to The Mandalorian & Grogu hitting theaters on Might 22, 2026.