The Hero is the one the show is named after

Major spoilers for the finale of season 2 of The Mandalorian ahead. You have been warned. Turn away now.

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My major beef with this season of The Mandalorian is that the titular character takes a back seat to other characters who “save the day”. First there was Bo Katan and her Mando-pals, then Ahsoka, then Boba Fett, and finally Luke Skywalker.

On principal I don’t have an issue with including characters from other stories. But if you’re going to include them they need to:

1. Move the story forward via their unique backstory or perspective
2. Be subordinate, or an obstacle, to the protagonist of the story

There are some exceptions to this. Having a throw away cameo is fine. A good example of this is R2-D2 and C-3P0 being in the hangar at the start of the final act of Rogue One asking where everyone is going. That’s just a bit of fun, it doesn’t take away from the story being told.

Only two of these “better-than-Mando” characters were potentially integral to moving the plot.

1. Bo Katan could become an antagonist, and the focus of the next season, given how the episode ended with Mando “winning” the Dark Saber. This is ok. She was established in other media to be an heir to the Mandalorian throne. Having this be “someone else” would be kind of silly when you already have that character waiting in the wings.
2. Luke Skywalker takes the Baby Yoda off to train him to be a Jedi, which was Mando’s entire purpose, to get him to “his kind”. This is also theoretically ok because given the era, what other Jedi are there? Who would be around to train the Baby Yoda?

The Fan Service

So let’s get on with the characters who didn’t need to be in the show.

Ahsoka was just gratuitous fan service and her information could have easily been imparted by a brand new character we’d never seen before. Watch as I re-write her episode with ease…

Previous episode Bo Katan says “I’ve heard rumors of a Jedi living on the planet Glarbulgubal. They may be able to help you.” He goes there, and finds not a Jedi, but a mystic similar to Chirrut (Donnie Yen) from Rogue One. The mystic is in the same situation as Ahsoka, resisting some ruthless warlord who has enslaved the population. In exchange for Mando’s help overthrowing this warlord she will tell him of a sacred place where the Baby Yoda can find more Jedi. Mando fights the big baddie alongside the mystic, they win the day. The mysic says “go to the ancient Jedi planet Tython, there’s a magic Jedi ham radio there to call other Jedi”.

Why does this work better than Ahsoka? Because Ahsoka didn’t need Mando’s help. She’s an indestructible prequel era Jedi who murdered every single person in her path. The fucking episode climaxes with her facing off against the big-bad and Mando just standing in the street in front of Hicks from Aliens, before finally icing him without any real fight. In my version of things the mystic was outmatched and needed Mando’s fire power. Without him she would have failed. She needed the help of… cue the music… The Mandalorian.

Boba Fett also had no business in the show. He could have been replaced by literally anyone with their own ship, or just eliminate Mando losing his ship, and the story wouldn’t have changed one bit.

“Oh? But what about Boba Fett’s armor and the Krayt Dragon episode?”

That episode only exists because they wanted to set up Boba Fett’s inclusion. Eliminate it altogether. Find some other story to tell in that same vein. Maybe he shows up to that town only to find that there isn’t a Mandalorian there, not anymore. He left years ago and is nowhere to be found. In exchange for a tip on where to find more Mandalorians he offers to help defeat the dragon.

“And how does Mando get off Tython when the Empire blows up his ship without Boba Fett’s help?”

How about his ship doesn’t get blown up? How about things play out almost exactly the way they do? The Imperials land, Mando goes to fight them, but they are a diversion. The Dark Troopers swoop in and take the Baby Yoda away. He gets in his ship to give chase, but only catches a glimpse as they fly off.

Literally Ahsoka and Boba Fett are just ultra powerful side characters whose actual back stories play no part in moving The Mandalorian plot forward. You could replace them with anyone else and the stories work. Hell, how about Fennec Shand still comes back into the picture and the two of them battle, with The Mandalorian getting the upper hand and her seeing reason and deciding to help him for the sake of the little Baby Yoda? I like her because she’s a new character. She isn’t more of the same shit we’ve seen before.

Spin-Off Bait

“But they did all this to set up spin-off stories! MORE STAR WARS!!11!11!!”

Fine. How about instead of them showing up both characters are rumored?

Maybe in the Krayt Dragon episode the marshal shows him video footage and it’s Boba Fett smoking some guys in town and he explains that this asshole was a merciless thug. He says quite clearly “After Jabba the Hutt was killed these guys were just running amok, nobody to keep them in check.” Wait… after Jabba was killed? Wait a sec… Boba Fett lives!!!

Maybe in the episode where Mando takes down the warlord enslaving the people our new Mystic character tells of having only met one Jedi, some years ago. She claimed to have fought in the Clone Wars and was the apprentice of the legendary Anakin Skywalker. This means nothing to Mando. He asks where she is now. The Mystic doesn’t know, but she can feel through the Force that this Jedi is still out there somewhere. Maybe the Jedi ham radio on Tython will put the Baby Yoda in touch with her?

The Hero Problem

The Bo Katan episode isn’t too bad with Mando taking a back seat to her pals, but he still should have been integral in their success. Not just with some blandly dumb running and gunning like the episode had. For starters the Empire needs to be a threat. They have been shown to be no threat at all to these guys. The Mandalorians are blaster proof and all crack shots. They run and gun out in the open mowing down hundreds of stormtroopers in their path. I have a whole blog post about how the stormtroopers were actually a threat in the original Star Wars. They were not always worthless cannon fodder and only received that reputation from cynicism and video games.

How about the beskar is blaster proof, but like getting hit while wearing kevlar, the impact is still felt. So getting hit still knocks you down and stuns you, leaving you vulnerable, so they have to be more careful while they fight. They duck and cover. They flank. They use covering tactics to advance. But in the end Bo Katan and her pals are pinned down and Mando looks ahead at the conduit near the stormtroopers ahead of them. He looks to his side at the panel next to him and he’s like “I have an idea” and he tears open the panel and gets to work.

“What are you doing?” Bo Katan asks.
“A little trick I learned, the hard way, from repairing ships with an Ugnaught friend of mine.”

Then he overloads the conduit and it stuns the stormtroopers. They’re able to advance and get to the cockpit.

Now we get to the finale and the real problem with this show. The finale literally ends with not just our hero, but all his heroic pals just standing there watching a monitor as a better character than them tears through the “unbeatable” enemies.

How about Luke shows up and the Dark Troopers go to face him, but even his Jedi powers and laser sword are no match for them. They are a real menace. Moff Giddeon knew his shit. He made them resilient to blasters and light sabers. Luke gets pinned down and he just can’t take them on. So our hero, The Mandalorian, rushes forward and hatches some crazy plan to split the troopers up and lead them away. He shouts to Luke that the neck is a weak point, if he can hit the neck he can disable them. And then he (with the dark saber) and Luke pick them off one by one, ending the scene with them side by side taking down the last one. Maybe The Mandalorian is even wounded during the fight, jumping in the way of one of the troopers trying to stab Luke. And the Baby Yoda comes up and uses his Force heal and Luke is like “I’ve never seen such a thing!”

Doing this also makes the Dark Troopers more of a threat. Even a Jedi can’t just show up and wipe them out. Maybe even just hitting the neck isn’t good enough, you have to hit like a really specific point, something that keeps Luke on his toes dodging until he hits the right spot. And if you go that route, drop the number of troopers from like 50 to 10, or something. More isn’t better. The threat is what makes it better.

Luke still gets to be Luke. He’s not losing because he sucks. He doesn’t win because The Mandalorian is “omg the bestest-er fighter ever” but because he had some tactical knowledge Luke didn’t.

How about some humanity instead of just laser swords?

Maybe we could even have an actual character moment between the greatest hero in Star Wars and the protagonist of our show?

After the Baby Yoda heals Mando, Luke closes his eyes and reaches out through The Force. “I sense much pain in you. You’ve seen so much death and destruction, but your love for him has made you strong.” He turns to The Baby Yoda “And his love for you has made him strong as well. But, you’re afraid. Afraid of what’s going to happen to him?”
The Mandalorian nods. “I’ve heard stories that the Jedi were ruthless sorcerers who fought my people and killed many others.”
Luke frowns and then smiles “Those days are long past. Those Jedi are all gone because they failed to understand that it’s our bonds with one another that make us powerful. I will train this little one, teach him to hone his gifts, teach him how to protect you the way you’ve protected him. And in time you will be with him again. You have my promise.”

WHERE’S MY FUCKING CHECK, DISNEY???

Instead what we got was a season where half the time our hero just stood there and watched other people do a better job than him. Hey, Jon Favreau, this isn’t some jerkoff comedy where the entertainment value comes from watching our dopey lead get shown up by smarter people. You opened the damn show with him using all these cool tricks to take out a bar room full of heavies. Now he’s just kind of a mediocre guy in the middle of mythical heroes.