A New Joy...
WARNING: Spoilers for
the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, so if you haven’t seen it then piss
off.
On a weekly basis I
watch two sci-fi shows. I look forward to both of them, one more than the
other. On Thursdays it’s Star Trek: Discovery which, after the magnificence of
the second season, has now gone right up its own gender non-specific orifice and
become a mess of virtue signalling and wagging its finger at the audience (hint
to the writers: Star Trek isn’t suppose to be trying at inclusivity, the future
it has portrayed since 1966 is that it is no longer relevant because human
beings have evolved past petty prejudice). The other is on Fridays and it’s the
wonderful STAR WARS: The Mandalorian.
For those not in the
know, this show is set IN the Star Wars universe, roughly 5 years after the
destruction of the second Death Star. A bounty hunter from the planet of
Mandalore (who has sworn an oath to NEVER remove his helmet in front of another
living being) is tasked with finding a child and when he does it looks like a
baby version of the Jedi master Yoda. Ignoring his mission and instead becoming
a surrogate father to the child, the Mandalorian (named Din) goes on adventures
trying to keep his adopted son safe and, in season 2, becoming involved with
the few remaining Jedi that are left after Order 66 way back in Revenge of the
Sith.
I have always enjoyed
this show, mainly because it is Star Wars for grown ups and not the woke crap
that the new trilogy has become (Force Awakens is pretty good, Last Jedi and
Rise of Skywalker are fair to middling at best). It is hard hitting and the
fight scenes look like two or more people actually trying to hurt one another,
not the rendition of Swan Lake you get when Daisy Ridley or John Boyega pick up
a light saber. I have been a fan of Pedro Pascal since Game of Thrones, through
Narcos and the Kingsman sequel. He’s a top rate actor and has proved his acting
chops here by taking on a role where his face is only revealed once in the
first season and twice in the second. Karl Urban stated when he played Judge
Dredd in the 2011 movie** that he had to emote with his nose and mouth due to
Dredd’s helmet never being removed. Pascal has to emote with voice and body
language only for 99% of The Mandalorian, and achieves it magnificently.
The show references
and pays respect to established canon but it did not feature any main or even
secondary characters from days gone by until we got to season 2 where Boba Fett
was reintroduced along with one or two characters from the Star Wars cartoon
shows. The remnants of the Empire are still kicking about, including a Moff
(sector governor) and the name of Grand Admiral Thrawn has been spoken.
Stormtroopers still can’t shoot for shit and the Empire have retained their
penchant for creating dangerous walkways above massive drops (or even open
space) with no guard rails. The series was glorious because it was its own
thing. A selfish, isolated and violent man and his awakening
conscience due to his bond with a small child. The action and adventure were a
separate entity to the main canon, similar to the events of Rogue One, which
effected the story of A New Hope but were their own thing.
The show rocked
because it had a grown-up feel to it. Forget the Casino Royale Grand National
from The Last Jedi and taking out Tie Fighters with backflips, this was a show
where ammunition was used sparingly and people’s decisions would come back to
haunt them. Din doesn’t fight fair, he gets his job done and makes no attempt
to show mercy unless it is to his own advantage. Dying from his injuries in
season 1 he refuses medical help because this would mean removing his helmet.
“No other living thing can see my face” he tells the droid attempting to help
him. After a pause the droid replies “I am not a living thing”.
We also got to see
the story from the perspective of the imperial troops. Some were evil but, in a
poignant moment, an imperial soldier angrily castigates a survivor from
Alderaan for the millions of people who died when rebels blew up both Death
Stars. The lack of order in the galaxy now the Empire is gone is noted on
several occasions.
The Mandalorian is
awesome because it took one of the primary joys of my childhood and made it
into a show I could enjoy as I neared my 50th birthday.
And then we had
Covid.
Netflix and Disney+
and HBO Max and all the other streaming services have now become a lifeline for
many people. I spend my days fluctuating between teaching English (100% of my
lessons are online now) and finding something to do to avoid going insane from
boredoem. I cycle a lot and do yoga and meditae and clean my apartment and try
to focus on a day when all this mask-wearing, distance-bearing, not-shagging,
misery will be over.
TV shows have been a
crutch for me, along with movies, since I was a child. This has become more
apparent now with the isolation that the Corona restrictions have brought. I
live in Rome and in May and June remember the utter boredom of being at home 6
days a week; only going out to empty the trash (this I began to look forward
to) or on that magical seventh day, going shopping (where I had to queue like a
gimp along with everyone else just to get in the supermarket). The rules
changed again yesterday and over Christmas we have even more lockdowns. Last
Christmas Day I spent the day with a female friend who had walked to my house
from the centre of Rome. It took her about three hours and we spent a pleasant
day eating, watching films and fucking. This year I’ll be watching Die Hard
alone and might treat myself to a walk to the park if the rules allow me to.
So…back to The
Mandalorian.
In the final episode
Din launches a rescue mission to get the child back and encounters many
obstacles on the way. This episode was already very good but the ending took it
to a new level, in the best way possible.
Cornered by dozens of
scary, red-eyed, Cylon-esque Dark Troopers (Terminators with no skin on) the
heroes are trapped on the bridge of a space cruiser with no way out, while two
Troopers hammer down the blast doors. When it seems all hope is lost a single
X-Wing fighter appears in the background, docks in the landing bay and a
single, cloaked and hooded, figure emerges. Through security camera footage we
see this person cut through the Troopers with ease while wielding a light
saber. We then see the figure for real, and the light saber is green. The
person is blatantly a Jedi and he’s got a green lightsaber and his right hand
has a black glove and….and…AND
IS THAT FUCKING LUKE
SKYWALKER!!!???
No, it can’t be.
They’re just baiting us. We can’t see the face so this is going to be a fake
surprise. This show’s biggest Original Trilogy name so far has been Boba Fett
for Chrissakes! No way is that THE biggest star of the entire franchise.
But then as the
figure despatches the last of the Troopers (by Force crushing the fuck out of
it, like it was a tin can) and enters the bridge, we finally see the face and
it is indeed Luke Skywalker.
Now…I watched this on
Friday night and I felt that joy rise up within me that I haven’t felt watching
Star Wars since I heard the line “I am your father” when I was 10 or 11 years
old. As soon as the X-Wing hoved into view in the background I hoped where this
was going and it didn’t disappoint. I felt emotional, I felt elated and above
all, I forgot for just a few moments that I have gone from holding down three
jobs last April and working about 30 hours a week, to having one job and being
contracted for only 4 hours, with sporadic freelance work to back that up.
The videos that have
cropped up on YouTube in the last couple of days include compilations of grown
men and women crying and joyfully freaking out when they slowly start to
realise who the badass is that’s cutting his way through ranks of elite
imperial soldiers. The one that had the biggest impact on me was the guy crying
while his girlfriend/ wife affectionately places a hand on his shoulder and
says “It’s OK babe”.
Seeing Luke “Fucking”
Skywalker swinging his lightsaber again gave a very simple joy and a much
needed dose of dopamime to people who are potentially very close to their own
Godzilla threshold. One of the biggest heroes of the 1970s and 80s was again
back on form and it made people feel good.
John Favreau…I thank
you.
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** I stress the 2011 movie and not that pile of dogshit that Sylvester Stallone made back in 1995.
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