Yesterday we reported that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had become the second most divisive Star Wars movie. This has been decided by comparing the Tomatometer’s critics score to the audience score, with the percentage disparity between the two revealing how divisive they’ve been. With a 55% critics score vs. an 86% audience score (that 86% albeit a very suspicious number), it’s second only to The Last Jedi. But there’s one property that everyone agrees is awesome: The Mandalorian.
For once the critics and audiences are on the same page, with a 94% vs. 93% difference of just a single percentage point. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out this conundrum, either: it’s because The Mandalorian is genuinely awesome.
Prior to its release, I was interested in the show, impressed by its ambitious casting (Werner Herzog in Star Wars!), its setting and the gritty tone we saw in early photos. But even that didn’t prepare me for just how cool the finished product would be, quickly reminding of me of the stripped-down, stylish action of Samurai Jack (which itself cribs from classic Westerns and samurai movies).
But even though I was loving it, I wasn’t expecting the final three episodes to knock it out of the park so well. The Dirty Dozen prison break outing was fantastic, but the two-part finale that introduced Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon was maybe the best bit of Star Wars media I’ve seen in a very long time (and it successfully washed away the bad taste that The Rise of Skywalker left in my mouth).
Fortunately, the wheels are already spinning on the second season. Showrunner Jon Favreau has said it’s due out in Fall 2020 – roughly a year after the original premiered. Personally, I can’t wait, and I just hope Disney and Lucasfilm let Favreau do his thing on The Mandalorian without too much interference.