Ranking Every Episode of THE MANDALORIAN
In honor of Star Wars Day, here is my ranking of every single episode of The Mandalorian (so far).
By: Josh McCormack
May the 4th be with you!
Over the past few weeks I have gone through the entirety of Mando's first two seasons in preparation for May the 4th and I will now go into a deep dive of each episode, ranking them from worst to best.
This is the way.
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Sorry, I had to do it.
16. THE SIEGE (Season 2, Episode 4): Dir. Carl Weathers
One of the things I noticed in rewatching all the episodes of The Mandalorian is that the show tends to get redundant with its action sequences. While some of the battles are incredibly inventive, too many of them revolve around our heroes running down a industrial, grey Imperial hallway aimlessly shooting at stormtroopers. Carl Weathers directed a very dull episode that relies on this style of action filmmaking practically throughout the entire episode. There's a couple cute Baby Yoda moments, an interesting hint to the origins of Supreme Leader Snoke (maybe?), and some solid Carl Weathers acting to salvage this thing from being completely pointless, but it's so pedestrian in its storytelling, so visually uninteresting, and features a dreadfully unfunny Horatio Sanz.
15. THE GUNSLINGER (Season 1, Episode 5): Dir. Dave Filoni
The Gunslinger is Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni's sophomore episode, and it is one of the strongest showcases of bad acting in the Star Wars universe...and that's REALLY saying something. I have to believe that Jake Cannavale (son of the great character actor, Bobby Cannavale) watched Hayden Christensen's oft-maligned performance of Anakin Skywalker and said to himself, "I'm going to do everything he's doing, but worse!" On top of this, Amy Sedaris' character...*checks notes*...Peli Motto--an intergalactic mechanic clearly modeled off of Ellen Ripley from the Alien series--is introduced and continues to be an out-of-place sense of comedic relief throughout the series. I hate to say that, because I absolutely love Sedaris in everything else she's in, but she just doesn't quite work for me in this universe. It is cool to see Mos Eisley again and how it's changed since the events of the original trilogy, but while there are many great "filler" episodes in this series, this one proves to be one of the worst thanks to awful performances and a very anti-climactic finale.
14. THE SIN (Season 1, Episode 3): Dir. Deborah Chow
Here's a great example of why I'm so glad I did a rewatch of each episode before writing up this list. While I initially thought I loved this chapter, I found myself incredibly bored throughout the majority of its runtime while watching it again. Yes, this episode is certainly more plot-heavy than the episodes that came before it (Mando gets his new armor, more information on the Mandalorian culture, hints at what the Empire wants with Baby Yoda), but it also feels very circumstantial and claustrophobic in comparison. One of the things I noticed in season one is that a bad habit of the writers and directors is going back to the same locations again and again. Nowhere is this more evident or egregious in this episode where director Deborah Chow practically recreates scenes shot-for-shot the way we saw them two episodes prior, particularly with the Mandalorian's hideout on Navarro. It also leads to a very video-gamey narrative, wherein our protagonist must go get his armor upgrade at destination A and then receive his next bounty at destination B. And after all this repetitiveness, we fall back into the frustrating pattern of aimlessly shooting in dimly lit corridors that I voiced my disdain for earlier in this post. What keeps this episode afloat is the strong bond being built between Baby Yoda and Mando (the ball from Mando's Razor Crest console, being a wonderful device to illustrate this throughout the entire episode) and a more than welcome return from the legendary Werner Herzog, who should have remained as the series' main antagonist.
13. THE TRAGEDY (Season 2, Episode 6): Dir. Robert Rodriguez
Yes, this is the official return of Boba Fett. And yes, it is kinda cool...for the first few minutes. As much as I berate major studios for leaning too heavily on nostalgia bait and fan service, I can't pretend--especially after a lifetime of loving Star Wars--that I'm immune to seeing a fan favorite side character finally get his moment to truly shine as the badass we all imagined him to be. And I even kind of love how there's a clear passage of time in the character's fighting style, posture, and wardrobe. But all of this "cool" stuff comes at the expense of our two main heroes, Mando and Grogu. This episode includes the Child reaching out through the force to communicate for the first time, Mando's beloved ship being completely obliterated, and our lovable infant Jedi being kidnapped by the Empire, yet that all seems secondary to director Robert Rodriguez; an established filmmaker who time and time again has shown that if there's a choice between strong, emotional character development or badass action, he'll choose the latter. 75% of this episode is just Boba Fett and his pal obliterating stormtroopers and the real drama gets lost in all the mayhem. Believe it or not, I'm not completely against bringing back fan favorite characters. It just needs to feel natural and not take away from the real purpose of the narrative.
Speaking of which...
12. THE RESCUE (Season 2, Episode 8): Dir. Peyton Reed
I'm not going to spend too much of my time talking about how I don't think Luke Skywalker's inclusion is necessary or why I feel it thematically messes up some of the elements I loved so much about this show, because I already wrote a whole, long ass blog post about it that you can go read. I'll be honest, I've softened a bit on the inclusion of Luke. I still think it's really lazy and a cheap way to get your audience invested, but I admit it does pick up some of this episode's slack. Until the return of Luke, this chapter is only sporadically entertaining. Again, the episode is still chuck full of the dreaded imperial hallway shooting (and eventually hallway lightsaber slashing) and it still just doesn't hold my interest at all. What works here is Mando searching for Grogu and a pretty awesome, but brief duel with the villainous Moff Gideon. There's also an interesting tease for where this show is headed in the future with Mando inadvertently becoming the ruler of Mandalore. But with Luke Skywalker taking Grogu away from the main team, I find myself quite worried for how season 3 will be able to engage its audience if viewers less initiated with Star Wars lore won't be able to see Mando and his little green companion together again for quite some time. Personal feelings aside, I feel like they really wrote themselves into a corner with this one and if this was a series finale as opposed to a season finale, I'd be much more forgiving.
Also, despite being a not-so-subtle commercial for an upcoming series, I can't help but enjoy that post-credits scene of Boba Fett reclaiming Jabba's palace. It's really fun.
11. REDEMPTION (Season 1, Episode 8): Dir. Taika Waititi
Alright, from here on out I actually quite enjoy each episode. The season one finale is phenomenal for the first half or so. Jojo Rabbit aside, I'm a pretty big fan of Waititi's work and his very distinct idiosyncrasies shine through in these opening scenes. The biker scout cold open is genuinely funny and I am shocked Disney let the jet black humor of punching Baby Yoda slide. The entire battle in the streets of Navarro is incredibly entertaining as well and works as one of the best showcases of action in this entire series. The same can be said for the Mando vs. Tie Fighter sequence that the episode concludes on. The problem with this chapter I had after rewatching it, was how dull the entire middle chunk feels. Lots of exposition, another visit to the armory, as well as a full--ridiculously long--flashback to Mando's past that we already got massive pieces of in the previous episodes. This one also stops dead in its tracks for a pointless fight sequence between the Armorer and some stormtroopers. Other than that though, this one's still pretty solid, full of the aforementioned Waititi comedic edge and charming references to not only other Star Wars properties, but other sci-fi classics as well (gotta love the Terminator 2 callback with IG-11's sacrifice). A fine finale to a great first season.
10. THE HEIRESS (Season 2, Episode 3): Dir. Bryce Dallas Howard
Here we have another episode that falls into the trappings of dreaded imperial hallway shooting. Luckily though, that comes at the tail end of this adventure, everything leading up to that point is quite enjoyable, if just a tad bit too lore heavy for my taste. Seeing some kind of fishing community in the Star Wars universe--complete with Mon Calimari and Quarren species--is really neat and I love the first fight sequence of this episode wherein Mando and Baby Yoda get double crossed by pirates only to be saved by a group of Mandalorians. The leader of these Mandalorians is fan-favorite Clone Wars alum, Bo-Katan. Her inclusion is one of the more natural entrances of a legacy character into this series, and that's probably helped by the fact that I didn't know quite as much about Bo-Katan before the show as I did Boba Fett, Ahsoka Tano, or Luke Skywalker. Not much to say about this one, but it's another solid directing job from Bryce Dallas Howard, who also directed one of the most underrated chapters of this series. But I'll get to that in a bit.
9. THE MANDALORIAN (Season 1, Episode 1): Dir. Dave Filoni
The Mandalorian's pilot starts out with a bang. While I don't believe this is one of the best episodes of the series--it's practically all just setting the stage--the tone for this entire series is set quite perfectly by Filoni in just the first couple minutes of this first episode. Right off the bat, we are seeing a Star Wars as done by Sergio Leone, complete with its own Man(do) With No Name. The opening bar fight is just wonderful and Mando's first line ("I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold") is perfectly iconic and just what the kind of dialogue I want this show to be full of. Sure Horatio Sanz is annoyingly distracting in the few scenes he has, but luckily he's carbon frozen rather quickly. We also get to meet Carl Weathers' gregarious Greef Karga, as well as the introduction to Werner Herzog's unnamed villain only credited as "The Client". Herzog is the centerpiece of this episode in my opinion, with his incredible line delivery being second to none. Nick Nolte voices an ugnaught named Kuill (perfect casting), there's a fun shootout with IG-11, and we get our first peek at who would become the biggest tv star on the planet, Baby Yoda, in the final scene. Compared to the rest of the series this pilot isn't too substantial, but it's still a very strong foundation for the rest of this story.
8. THE RECKONING (Season 1, Episode 7): Dir. Deborah Chow
Deborah Chow's second episode is far better than her first. While this chapter's purpose is basically only to pull the story away from its more disconnected episodes that came before and place it back on the track of a narrative in preparation for the bombastic season one finale, there's a lot of fun seeing all these characters you've met from the past several hours coming together. The relationship Kuill has developed offscreen with a now reprogrammed IG-11 is very charming and I love that this one ends on a really dark cliffhanger, I truly did not expect them to kill of Kuill the way that they did. Giancarlo Esposito also makes his grand entrance as Moff Gideon in this episode, and while he's basically just playing Gustavo Fring in space, he still makes for a very reliable bad guy. Sadly though, this is the last time we see Werner Herzog in The Mandalorian as he is completely obliterated by Death Troopers.
Pour one out for my boy.
7. SANCTUARY (Season 1, Episode 4): Dir. Bryce Dallas Howard
Here's an episode that a lot of fans seem to be rather down on for some strange reason. Whenever I'm talking to someone who isn't quite a hardcore Star Wars fan, but they're interested in watching this show, I almost always show them this one. Like many of the episodes you'll see on the list from here on out, I find myself really attracted to the stories of The Mandalorian that are somewhat self-contained. I love a good, overarching narrative in a lot of television shows, but I just find that this show is at its best when its operating as a weekly serial with new problems and different adventures from week to week. It also allows for more internal character development as opposed to just moving forward the machinations of the plot, which I'm just more drawn to. For example, we learn so much about Mando's emotional conflict with wanting to be living as a normal man amongst the stars but being loyal to his Mandalorian oath just through the quiet moments between him and a female villager who takes a liking to him. Same can be said for the bond he is now developing with Baby Yoda, which is now showing real signs of parental love by the time we reach this episode. Cara Dune is not a very interesting character (just as Gina Carano is not a very good human being), but she serves quite well as a reliable sidekick in this episode and I love that the final battle relies on her and Mando basically pulling a Seven Samurai to teach an unarmed village how to take on a single, hijacked AT-ST walker. Plus, there's some really sweet moments with Baby Yoda interacting with little kids. This one's just cute and charming, and there's nothing wrong with that.
6. THE PRISONER (Season 1, Episode 6): Dir. Rick Famuyiwa
I think of all the filmmakers that have taken on episodes of The Mandalorian, Rick Famuyiwa is my absolute favorite. There's something so effortlessly cool about his episodes and you're gonna see his other two entries as I get closer to the top of the list. The Prisoner feels like Star Wars' take on a John Carpenter action film from the 1980s. There is not a single hint of pretension here as the plot is the kind that you can explain in basically a sentence; Mando is hired by a motley crew of mercenaries to free someone from a prison vessel. Now of course things go awry, innocent lives are lost, and Mando winds up getting backstabbed by the mercenaries and the remainder of the episode focuses on our protagonist fighting his way out. This is as generic as an action movie can get, but it's done so well and with a real palpable sense of tension that Star Wars as a whole rarely has. One sequence involving a standoff that leads to the death of an innocent New Republic soldier is seat-grippingly intense, no matter how many times I watch it. I also love how this episode slowly builds from Mando getting his ass handed to him to having Mando become as unstoppably badass as Batman and Jason Voorhees combined. There's so much to love in this episode and none of it is reliant on fan-service or pre-established story elements from Star Wars media of the past. It just works on its own.
Oh, and Bill Burr is surprisingly awesome on this show as the wiseass sharpshooter, Mayfeld. He might be my favorite side character on The Mandalorian, but we'll get back to him shortly.
5. THE JEDI (Season 2, Episode 5): Dir. Dave Filoni
As I mentioned earlier, season 2 of of Mando provided audiences with a slew of familiar faces from Star Wars' past. Of all the old characters that got a reintroduction, Ahsoka Tano's return is by far the best. What's incredible is that I was so nervous as to how this character could function in this series perhaps more than any other. I'm of the belief that Ahsoka got the perfect sendoff in The Clone Wars' finale which aired just over six months prior to this. While she definitely gets a strong arc in Rebels as well, I thought even her inclusion in that was pushing the fandom's goodwill of that character too far, and I'm still not quite sold on the idea of her getting her own tv show. However, in this particular episode, Ahsoka Tano rules. And what makes her rule in the way Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker don't is the fact that this is a self-contained story that I don't believe will interfere with the larger Mando narrative again. I'm fine with Mando and Grogu (finally named in this episode) brushing up with old characters from sagas that came before, as long as its brief and makes an impact. And boy, does this one make an impact. Filoni is a tremendous director of animation (not only in The Clone Wars, but the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender as well), but his live action work with Mando had been rather dull up to this point. Here though, Filoni indulges in the aesthetics of classic samurai films--particularly Kurosowa's Yojimbo--and lets his eye for visuals run wild in an episode that recalls the best of The Clone Wars aesthetically. The reveal of Grogu and his heritage is something I had dreaded for a while, but it's actually rather well executed and there's still just enough mystery to keep me happy. There's also a fantastic lightsaber v. Beskar spear duel, and the one and only Michael Biehn playing a bad guy! One of the most rewatchable episodes of Mando, and one of the most fun for the hardcore Star Wars fans.
4. THE BELIEVER (Season 2, Episode 7): Dir. Rick Famuyiwa
The best Star Wars stories--outside of the Skywalker saga--are the ones that take the tales we think we know and put them through a different lens. Not as an act of fan service or as an excuse to show off a familiar planet or whatever, but to expand the universe in a way that makes it feel lived in. Rick Famuyiwa's latest entry in The Mandalorian does an absolutely incredible job with this in ways that are subtle and unexpected. After Grogu has been kidnapped in the episode prior, Mando enlists the help of his old enemy Mayfeld (yet again played by Bill Burr) who can help him infiltrate a Imperial facility where he can find out the location of where Grogu is being kept. Again, much like Famuyiwa's The Prisoner epsiode, there's not a lot of "plot" here, but this streamlined script fills out its time with truly some of the best and most poignant dialogue in the whole show. As Mando and Mayfeld disguise as Imperial truckers, driving an explosive substance in their cargo, Mayfeld explains how choosing a side in the war between the New Republic and the now crippled Empire is pointless because both have the potential to exploit the resources of less technologically advanced planets. This is the basis for why Mayfeld left the Empire and now no longer "believes" any cause. And this is one of the best thematic through lines of any of the episodes. It all culminates in a very tense confrontation between Mayfeld and an Imperial Officer he used to serve under that just shows the trauma of having worked for a fascist army that doesn't care for the individual. Leading up to all of that, too, we have a tremendous truck chase that's Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The Road Warrior meets Freidkin's Sorcerer. And we get to see Mando take off his helmet in front of another human being and I still believe it's one of the character's most compelling sequences and shows just how much he's willing to sacrifice to save Grogu.
3. THE PASSENGER (Season 2, Episode 2): Dir. Peyton Reed
Here it is. The episode you are all wrong about. The Passenger is Star Wars pulp at its absolute finest, complete with space vehicles zipping through an icy planet, new creatures, and a terrifying final battle with an armada of creepy crawlies. It is also a textbook example of how great a "filler" episode can be when done right. I hate using that word "filler" because so many people I've talked with about this episode call it just that when talking about why it doesn't work, going far enough as to say "nothing happens". The people who say this are all part of a dangerous mindset that will eventually lead to more heavy, plot-driven storylines as opposed to those based on internal character growth. There is so much happening with Mando and Grogu here that I absolutely adore. By agreeing to assist Frog Lady (I love that she's only called Frog Lady) in delivering her eggs to her home world, Mando sees a true reflection of how far he'd go to protect Grogu in the way she would protect her line of succession. It's an episode where Mando truly learns to become a father and someone who does the right thing for others, as opposed to just him and his little companion. It's all so well done and so simple. Plus, as a monster movie fan, the spider creatures attacking the Razor Crest is just so much fun!
2.THE MARSHAL (Season 2, Episode 1): Dir. Jon Favreau
After a whole season of writing and producing, show runner and blockbuster filmmaker Jon Favreau steps behind the camera for the incredibly cinematic season 2 premiere of Mando. There is just so much to love in this episode from Ludwig's rousing score, to Timothy Olyphant chewing the scenery as an intergalactic Old West Marshal who protects his town with the armor of Boba Fett. What makes this one so much fun though, is the third act which pits our heroes (Mando, the villagers, and even Tusken Raiders) against a massive creature known as the Krayt Dragon (first hinted at in A New Hope). This entire sequence is just masterful, with the aspect ratio filling up the screen once the creature shows up and begins spraying acid onto its victims below. Seeing Mando work with someone else who is equipped with mandalorian armor as well, is a lot of fun and makes for some dynamic battle scenarios as the fight moves from different levels of elevation. This has to be one of the best season premieres of any show I've seen in the past few years and it's a showcase of what I love about Star Wars.
1. THE CHILD (Season 1, Episode 2): Dir. Rick Famuyiwa
Here is the episode that turned The Mandalorian into a phenomenon. While the pilot was a good jumping off point, this episode is full of all the elements audiences would wind up loving about this show. The Child is the first episode that fully features Baby Yoda and right off the bat, his puppetry and interactions with Mando make him an instant fan-favorite character. One of the many things I love about this chapter is that there isn't a single human face in the entire thing. This is just such a testament to the artists who created the costumes and creature design of this show that the episode I find the most engaging is one without a single human face. The escalation of threats in this episode is great. Starting with fellow bounty hunters trying to kill Mando to get Baby Yoda, to jawas scrapping his ship for parts, to having to fight a giant rhino-type creature known as the Mudhorn. It's all wonderful, and punctuated by the fact that at least 50% of this episode is dialogue free. My favorite moment of this whole episode, and perhaps the whole series so far, is seeing Grogu use the force in front of Mando and Mando not having any idea what the hell is going on. By having a protagonist so disconnected from the Jedi and Sith, Famuyiwa brought back the "wow" factor to the force that had been missing in this universe for decades.
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