It seems fitting that at the point where everyone has the most going on in their lives Disney decides to release a new season of “The Mandalorian.”
Between everything that is going on with the pandemic and now finals, they release new episodes of every “Star Wars” fan’s favorite show exactly when people have no time to watch it.
Despite the fact that I should have absolutely zero time to sit down and watch an hour-long episode every week, I somehow find the time.
For anyone who has been living under a rock, “The Mandalorian” follows the adventures of the Mandalorian as he travels with The Child, or Baby Yoda as he is more commonly known, in a galaxy far, far away.
Through their travels, they encounter many new characters, and each week, they must help a new person or group of people, while at the same time furthering their search for others like The Child.
The show doesn’t play out like many of the long-form series that have been coming out on streaming platforms in recent years. Each episode isn’t a small part of a single large storyline; instead, each one has its own beginning, middle and end. There are plenty of elements of the show that harken back to the Western serials of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and that is no accident.
The showrunners and directors are constantly making homages and references to the stories of the Old West throughout “The Mandalorian,” which gives the show a unique feel that has rarely been felt since the very first film from 1977.
While some people have found the jumping from storyline to storyline a bit jarring, I have rather enjoyed it. I know that if I want to go back to a specific episode of “The Mandalorian” it’s not going to be like starting a movie halfway through.
How many single episodes of “Stranger Things” have you rewatched? I’m willing to bet it’s not many.
All that being said, not every episode is a winner, which is to be expected, but there is so much to get out of every episode that even if the story isn’t the most intriguing that week, it’s still enjoyable to watch.
And notice that I said “that week,” because each new episode of “The Mandalorian” comes out a week after the last, just like the olden days of network television. I love this way of releasing a series.
It builds hype for the next episode and gives people time to watch the show and catch up. The best part about the delayed release schedule is that I don’t get anxious that I haven’t watched all the episodes yet, and have to constantly be looking over my shoulder to avoid spoilers.
Maybe that is just me, but I think a lot of people can agree that carving out eight hours in a weekend at this point in the schedule to do nothing but watch television just isn’t feasible.
While I previously said that I shouldn’t be able to take these one-hour breaks, it is definitely more possible to stay up a bit later than I should one night a week and watch an episode as opposed to a whole block of time.
Between its commercial appeal with the adorable Baby Yoda and its ties to the golden age of television, there is something in “The Mandalorian” for everyone, including people who don’t even like “Star Wars.”
When you take a step back and look at the series as a whole, it becomes readily apparent that the people who are making this have a love of the craft of filmmaking, and have a deep connection to what they have made. At the end of the day, there is little more that you can ask of a show. “The Mandalorian” alone is worth the price of Disney+.