I’m not a Star Wars enthusiast, I must confess. I mean, I only watched the last trilogy and I liked it a lot but I can’t say I love the saga ‘till I’ve seen all the movies…
Ok, I’ve got to be honest. I watched the first two trilogies when I was I child, and I loved it so much that every year I forced my entire family to watch all the six movies, especially during Christmas time… but I absolutely don’t remember this, so it doesn’t count, right?
One thing in particular got me to watch the serie: Baby Yoda!

It is undeniable: at least the 50% of the people who watched the serie, did it thanks to Baby Yoda…

[FROM HERE ON THERE MIGHT BE SOME SPOILERS] 

…but at the end of the serie I was intrigued by Mando, a great character. Great big congratulations to Pedro Pascal!

First things first.
The serie was created by Jon Favreau and produced by LucasFilm. It was set 5 years after The Return of the Jedi and 25 years before The Force Awakens.
The pilot is outstanding. Filoni’s direction is assured and precise, the writing impeccable. It ends with the meeting between Mando and Baby-Yoda, the narrative hook of the whole first season. The first episode shows the strengths of the series: western appropriation, a strong and profound protagonist, a cute and sweet Baby-Yoda… Everything in the first thirty-nine minutes.

The following episodes tell us more about Mando, his past and his personality, with standalone stories. They add almost nothing to the main storyline, but Mando, Baby Yoda and their adventures always deserve to be followed. The leading couple have a formidable understanding, and the two already became iconic characters.

The last two episodes are small miracle of direction and screenplay. They present the true villain of the series: not the Mysterious Client but Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito. His entry certainly gives lifeblood to the series for the second season. It was the perfect example of a charismatic villain.

The plot and the script focus on essentiality: the episodes are relatively short, the synthetic dialogues, almost always necessary (with the exception of the wonderful, funny duet between Stormtrooper) to carry on the narration.
Despite not involving the most loved faces of Star Wars, The Mandalorian is Star Wars in its purest state and the primeval trace that led Lucas to the creation of his saga is evident. As has been noted several times, Star Wars has been strongly influenced by some works that have characterized the nature and definition of the essential elements.
Just like the Classic Trilogy, The Mandalorian seems to work more precisely on an emotional level than on a purely narrative one. Which does not mean that the Favreau series is weak in its structure, but that it mainly relies on a winning component: pure adventure. The serie doesn’t lack on epic and frantic battles, as the theme of the journey is presented in a compelling way and the alien component, typical of Star Wars, is used with intelligence.

Everything in this first season of The Mandalorian seems to be working perfectly.