Okay, the title has nothing to do with the content of this post, really, other than I intend to evaluate Disney’s new streaming series The Mandalorian. I just thought I’d flex my extensive knowledge of literature. I’ve got to get something out of my ten years of college! (…even if I actually had to memorize that speech in high school)
By the way, SPOILER ALERT! I’ll be revealing things here.
So, Disney’s new series! I’ll admit, that’s the entire reason I started using Disney+. I was curious, and unlike CBS Access’ Star Trek offerings, I actually had hope it might be good. What I’ve seen of Jon Favreau’s work has left me reasonably impressed. He knows how to tell a good story, and he seems to try to stay true to the source material he works with.
Even so, I wasn’t an immediate fan. Initially the Mandolorian was more of an anti-hero. He’s good at what he does, but he doesn’t particularly care about the impact of his work. And he says so little in the first couple episodes I was beginning to wonder if they were paying Pedro Pascal by the word.
All of this, it turned out, was necessary to establish his character. He doesn’t become sympathetic until he meets The Child (no, I will not call him Baby Yoda! Can’t make me!) and that’s on purpose. We need to see how the kid changes him. Even then, his personality and dialogue are doled out in grudging teaspoons for much of the season.
But he grew on me. He is the world-weary warrior. He would like to be closer to people–or at least to someone. He does have a code he lives by, and while it’s not always what I would consider honorable, he sticks to it–or breaks it only for good reason. He’s a zipped-lipped Malcolm Reynolds without the attitude–or the sense of humor. And he always seems to attract honorable people.
So yes, I was pleasantly surprised, and I enjoyed the first season, even though it’s clear it was primarily laying the ground work for what’s to come. Thanks to Jon Favreau it felt like Star Wars–even more so than the flagship Star Wars movies. (And I do appreciate Favreau’s continual homage to previous canon, right down to the never-actually-seen-in-movies Imperial Troop Transport that was part of the toy collection when I was seven and at the height of my Star Wars infatuation. My inner Tommy “squee-d” with delight when that appeared on the screen!)
Only a few things threatened to ruin it for me, and I’m glad to say they failed. The first was the over-the-top reaction to The Child. Memes! Memes everywhere! You couldn’t escape him/her/it! It’s rare that Disney is ever caught off guard when it comes to marketing opportunities, but somehow The Child even flew under their pay-dar. How could they not have had toys ready for Christmas?!
I tend to dislike anything that gets too popular, and The Child was already popular–no, viral–well before I started watching. I wanted to despise the little critter. But I can’t. He/she/it is rather cute. And a little annoying. That’s to be expected, I guess. You can’t have an infant in a show without it being either a short term prop or…annoying. But I was able to overlook that.
What really blew me away, once I started watching the show, was the PC criticism. There weren’t any strong female characters! Too many men! It was as if they were determined to find something to dislike. They wanted to ding Disney for…something! Anything!
And it was entirely unjustified. The Mandalorian is a small show about a small story in a big universe. It doesn’t want or need a cast of dozens just to show its diversity cred. But who were its main characters throughout? The Mandalorian who, for all we know, could have been anyone. He could have been a female with a voice modulator for all we knew (and I still question why they had to show his face in the final episode.)
A guild boss of African-American descent. IG-11, an artificial life form. Cara Dune, a female special forces veteran. An alien who functioned as something of a father figure. A mixed bag of white males who largely turn out to be bad guys. A few other females (including the apparent leader of the Mandalorians, and the closest we’ve seen to a religious leader) who are interesting and strong in their own ways. A mixed bag of aliens. Yes, the show is about characters in career paths not generally attractive to women, but for such a small cast, it’s quite diverse.
Look beyond the script itself and you’ll see two women directors responsible for nearly half the episodes. Quite a few women involved in the production, too.
No, The Mandalorian is a lot more diverse than the critics cared to see. They just went about it quietly. I don’t recall anyone lauding their female producers and directors. No one played up the number of alien species represented, or actors of non-Caucasian descent. They set out to make a good show, to tell a good story, and they let their work stand on its own, not propping it up by playing to the special interests. They made a show for everyone. And they didn’t feel the need to brag about that.
Let’s get back to Cara Dune for a moment. Can I just mention how glad I am they didn’t succumb to the “kick-butt waif” trope with her? For once we got a strong, former elite military warrior woman who looked and acted convincing! As much as I loved Firefly, River’s big scene in Serenity where she’s punch-launching berserkers twice her mass was just so hard to swallow. Yes, there are things women can do to enhance their strength, but a 90-pound girl is still only going to be able to put so much force into a punch or a kick.
Gina Carano looked like she could hold her own. She was believable as someone The Mandalorian would turn to to watch his back. (Okay, I’ll admit the scene where she’s punching him in his full armor strained credibility some.) She looked like she not only knew how to use a repeating blaster, but could carry it for long periods of time. She sold the part, as far as I’m concerned. She could have her own spin-off show, and I’d watch it. People complain that the public won’t watch female action stars, but I maintain it’s only that we won’t watch stupid movies with female action stars.
As a side note, the most recent case of such complaining is the rebooted reboot of the 70’s TV show “Charlie’s Angels.” The show’s director had the audacity to complain that people didn’t watch it because they don’t like female action heroes. Hello?!?! This was a remake of a popular TV series that made the careers of its three stars. If what she claims were true, there wouldn’t be any remakes of “Charlie’s Angels,” because it would have failed miserably rather than running for five seasons and 110 episodes!
Speaking of five seasons, whatever happened to seasons of 22-24 episodes? Why do so many shows these days run only eight episodes to a season? It’s not like that enables them to release them any faster. We’ll be waiting just as long for the next eight as we used to wait for 24. And while the quality is unequestionably higher, it’s not that much higher.
Okay, enough ranting. Bottom line: The Mandalorian. Enjoyed it. Took me awhile. Good characters. Waiting patiently for next season. Stop criticizing things that aren’t there. Wow, I could have saved myself a few words…