The Mandalorian is it a bit of a quandary. Does it continue to emulate the comic book style of storytelling that is directed to a younger audience, or does it mature in a manner similar to Andor?
We were spoiled with how Star Wars could be dark and interesting and include complex storytelling of a more adult nature with Andor. There are a lot of people that loved Star Wars growing up and introducing more adult content that they can continue on with is loved by them.
Any watching of the shows that are tailored more towards a younger audience , like Mando, will always be seen as a let down or not going far enough for the group of people mentioned above.
If you look at Mando purely as a continuation of the existing storytelling style that was introduced 2.5 seasons ago, then I would have to say it has been successful. It feels like we never let the narrative during its hiatus. They are continuing the march to some large goal that will eventually be revealed to us as an audience. I enjoy that characters we left a while ago are starting to pop back into the narrative. I am also enjoying how they are tying in character-types from other parts of the galaxy.
Who does not love Babu Frick and the Anzellan race?
I understand they are chopping the narrative up into 30-minute chunks to keep with the existing storytelling model, but I sure wish we got a little more detail surrounding Bo-Katan and what has happened since we last saw her. How everyone has abandoned her. How she seems to have lost her motivation to recover the Back Sabre. There is so much potential for an interesting storyline here that seems to have been glossed over to keep the plot moving for Mando and Grogu. Who would not love more Bo-Katan and her focus on winning the Back Sabre and her quest to lead. I am hopeful that they will continue this at some point, but the way it came across in episode 1 feels like they were just trying to wrap it up and put any rumors from the fans to bed.
Overall, I enjoyed the first episode and cannot wait for more!
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I didn’t even think of it that way but that’s exactly what it looked like 
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Because Andor was setting up brand new stories and information. This episode of Mandalorian felt like a bunch of gratuitous cameos and rehashing previous stories for the sake of a 2 year hiatus.
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I very much like both styles of storytelling – Andor and Mando. One is steak and the other is a hamburger. Sometimes I want steak but it would be boring if that’s all I ever had.
Objectively, I kind of agree that episode 1 was a lot of table setting, but that doesn’t bother me because:
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it was only 30+ minutes and I’ve heard episode 2 is better (some of the podcasters were allowed to preview the first two episodes last week). And …
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there was a lot of cool stuff in episode 1 besides the table setting! Starship battles with pirates, a space mosasaur attack, and a visit to Fraggle Rock with Grogu and the Anzellans. Loved it.
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I do and am looking forward to whatever the merchandise department comes up with in relation!! 
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I disagree.
I watched a recap of S1 and S2 before watching S3E1 and even with that found the holler back to the storylines helpful to re-set me into the story.
“When we last left our hero…”
“Previously on Lost…”
“Previously on Survivor…”
Shows do this all the time and it’s not gratuitous at all – this just happened to be a longer, more in depth “previously on” than that.
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In the 60 second prologue, not the entire episode.
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As I said.
Those shows are 1 week or a couple of months later
THIS show is over 2 years from last episode
It needed more time for the tablesetting… otherwise known as storytelling
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Grab one at Droid Depot before the price goes through the roof. I saw them on the shelves in early February.
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I’m rewatching The Mandalorian season 2 and this is making the new episode feel more and more like Book of Boba, less like Mando 
I really hope it improves significantly in the upcoming episodes
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Have you heard he removed his helmet? By choice?
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Only if you missed several episodes of this and Book of Boba.
Edit: Really I was just poking fun at it. I’m of the “I like Mandalorian and I’ll give this time to play out” mindset but it certainly likes to repeat itself in the dialogue.
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Well who has the dark sword? She used it in battle… Yes? No?
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I loved this episode! So much tension and also cool action scenes, mythology, character development, etc.
I, too, am glad they didn’t drag out the search for the living waters. But I wonder what the longer term conflict is going to be this season. 
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Yeah that’s my guess too. But not sure how much can happen in one season.
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I almost included this exact sentence in my response 
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