the mandalorian

Ranking The Mandalorian Episodes Worst to Best

Now that all The Mandalorian episodes are out and the first season is done, it’s time to take a step back and look at the season overall. What worked? What didn’t work? I figure the best way to do that is to rank all The Mandalorian episodes individually and talk a little bit about each one.

8. Chapter 5: The Gunslinger (Dave Filoni)

It’s not that this is a bad episode, because the show was great overall, including this episode. I did really like Amy Sedaris’s mechanic character. What threw me about this episode was how fan-fictiony and out of place the rookie bounty hunter seemed. He just didn’t seem like he fit into the world. It felt a little bit like someone won a contest to be on the show and make up their own backstory. Everything else about this episode was fine, but that character just didn’t do it for me, including his bloodthirsty backstabbing of the target (why not turn her in and The Mandalorian, you goof?).

7. Chapter 3: The Sin (Deborah Chow)

This episode is only at this point on the list because there was nothing particularly special or memorable about it. It was sort of a necessary episode that had to advance the plot. It did its job. It was a load-bearing episode in terms of holding up the structure of the show, but it didn’t have the overall artistry a lot of the other standalone episodes and more climactic plot episodes carried. That said, it has a pretty cool sequence with the armor forging and showcased a little more of the Mandalorian armorer who turned out to be such a cool character.

6. Chapter 2: The Child (Rick Famuyiwa)

I mean, this episode just focused so much on Baby Yoda, who we’d just been introduced to. It did its job in terms of setting up the whole show, but more than that, it did its job in terms of delivering exactly the right amount of Baby Yoda that we all wanted to see after the end-episode reveal in Chapter 1. Baby Yoda lifted up a Mudhorn. What a little badass. This episode wasn’t overly flashy, it was just a very solid second episode that did what it needed to do; episode 1 needs to provide a hook, episode 2 needs to secure the audience’s attention, and this episode did that.

5. Chapter 7: The Reckoning (Deborah Chow)

The first half of this episode focuses a lot on Kuiil, who turned out to be an incredibly likable and memorable character, and the backstory of IG11 who, again, turned out to be a welcome inclusion in the cast. It puts the whole squad together: Mando, Cara Dune, Kuiil, IG, Baby Yoda and Greef, and we get some good interpersonal banter from each of them. The back half of the episode kind of tapers off a bit and ventures ever so slightly into plot contrivance, but it still does a great job at teeing up the finale. As far as The Mandalorian episodes go, it was a pretty good one.

4. Chapter 1: The Mandalorian (Dave Filoni)

It’s the introductory episode and obviously, if it was bad, no one would have watched a second episode. However, it had all sorts of attention-grabbing moments. Mando is introduced in a classic Western-era cowboy saloon scene kind of way that immediately tells us all what the tone of the show is going to be like; it introduces the landscape in terms of the scope of the planets we’re going to be visiting, as well as the barren and isolated nature of them; it has a really cool action scene with IG11 & Mando teaming up, and then it hooks the viewer with the big Baby Yoda reveal at the end. All done with great pacing. Just, solid television. When I compare this episode to other shows I’ve seen recently, like Lost in Space or The Witcher, The Mandalorian feels like a textbook example of how to do a pilot.

3. Chapter 4: Sanctuary (Bryce Dallas Howard)

Some people didn’t like this episode, but I liked this episode quite a bit. First, it introduced Cara Dune, who I thought from her initial introduction was a solid character. Second, it basically had Mando play out the plot of The Seven Samurai, which I liked. I like that this show is doing some of these plot homages to classic Westerns. I feel like it makes the show work on an additional “film education” sort of level that makes the overall vibe of the show feel more sophisticated. In addition, I thought seeing Baby Yoda playing with the other children was pretty interesting, and I felt like it did a good job in furthering our understanding of Mando’s increasing attachment/concern for the child.

2. Chapter 6: The Prisoner (Rick Famuyiwa)

This episode was off the chain. You sort of don’t know what to expect from the outset, because it’s hard to see Bill Burr as a character and not just “Bill Burr”, and a few of the other crew members came off as campy/overacting in the beginning, but as the episode plays out, the intrigue, the suspense and the cinematography all more than make up for those aspects. Bill Burr, for what it’s worth, does a fine job with the character; theTwilek’s initial overacting feels more natural as the episode goes on, and Mando’s “hunt” is probably overall the best moment of the show as a whole. Even though this episode is totally filler, it’s great. Easily one of the best The Mandalorian episodes.

1. Chapter 8: Redemption (Taika Waititi)

This is where the series really levels up to the next tier of television. It’s not just the direction of the show, which is totally good, fine, etc., but it’s the plot elements of the show that are introduced here. It starts off with a pretty funny camp moment from the perspective of two stormtroopers (I actually laughed a bit when he aimed really carefully and tried to shoot the can or whatever it was and missed). That almost reminded me of those old cartoon skits they used to play before a movie. Anyway, from there, the show immediately got into the action. For the most part it was ranging from fine to good, IG11 got some real standout moments, and then when it went into the sewers is where it really picked up. The armorer’s last stand was an awesome little piece of fight choreography, and IG11’s sacrifice was surprisingly emotionally impactful. Then, Mando’s jetpack stunt to blow up Gideon’s Tie Fighter was just a super cool, climactic moment that was totally believable, exciting and appropriately in-line with the internal logic of the show. Finally, the Gideon dark saber reveal excellently set up a lot of intrigue for the next season.

That about does it in terms of ranking the Mandalorian episodes from the first season. What do you think? Do you agree with these rankings, or do you have a different idea? Let me know in the comments below, or let me know on Twitter.

Author

  • Ryan Night

    Ryan Night is an ex-game industry producer with over a decade of experience writing guides for RPGs. Previously an early contributor at gamefaqs.com, Ryan has been serving the RPG community with video game guides since 2001. As the owner of Bright Rock Media, Ryan has written over 600 guides for RPGs of all kinds, from Final Fantasy Tactics to Tales of Arise.

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