"Out of all the leaps of logic and fantasy taken in Disney+’s The Mandalorian, the fact that we’re supposed to connect with a hero so mysterious and reserved that he’s never even going to take off his helmet might be the biggest ask of all," says Amanda Prahl. "But good news! There’s a simple solution staring us all in the face: Let Mando sing! 'Mando' is a fantastically jazzy name, perfect for a gutsy, cheeky musical hero. And after all, Disney+ is quite proud of the fact that its Star Wars content can be found in the same place as Ariel, Belle, and Elsa—so why not carry that to its logical conclusion?" Prahl adds that it's hard to connect to Pedro Pascal's Mandalorian character because of his lack of personality and because he's always behind a mask. "That’s the problem with The Mandalorian," says Prahl. "For all its production value and incredible attention to building out the world of the story, we know remarkably little about the unnamed protagonist we’re supposed to be following. He’s given a brief flashback that establishes that, like Anakin, Luke, Jyn, and Rey before him, he’s a classic Star Wars protagonist with terrible childhood trauma and a missing family. He’s shown to have a moral code, when he discovers his target is an infant and decides not to harm it. But … that’s it. It’s hard to get emotionally invested in a story when its protagonist is so remote. For now at least, The Mandalorian seems more interested in maintaining mystique than giving us a character we can connect with."
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TOPICS: Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Disney+, Trump Impeachment Hearings