The Mandalorian Best chapter and ranking (Season 1)

Vote your favorite chapter and rank all of them in the comment section.

 

2
3
7
1
8
6
5
4

 

Maybe:
7
3
2
8
6
1
4
5

 

7
3
1
8
2
4
5
6

 

2
8
7
3
1
6
4
5

 

Top tier:
3, 6, 7, 8

Mid tier

1, 2

Low tier
4, 5

I'm going to have to do a few re-watches before I fully decide order and vote!

 

7
3
8
6
4
2
1
5

Director rankings
1: Chow (and not close)
2: Taika
3: Rick F
4: Howard
5: Filoni (love Filoni for Clone Wars, but something about his episodes didn’t click for me quite as well as the others)

 

Chapter 8 by far
8
2
1
3
6
7
5








4

I really didn’t like 4

 

Voted for The Gunslinger because it is by far the most underrated episode so far. Beautifully done, the most Space Western episode in the season, in a show that advertises itself as a Space Western.

My ranking:
Chapter 5 - The Gunslinger
Chapter 7 - Reckoning
Chapter 1 - The Client
Chapter 8 - Redemption
Chapter 2 - The Child
Chapter 3 - The Sin
---------------------------
Chapter 4 - Sanctuary
Chapter 6 - The Prisoner

The line is there to portray that I have no complaints with the six episodes I placed on top. Some of them are perfect 10s, other are 9s.

 

I voted 2. Just loved the whole madness of the Jawa episode.

5. The Gunslinger needed more meat to it, but it was still fine.

3. The Sanctuary needed 10 more minutes to flesh it out, but again a lot to love in it.

And all the rest were just awesome.

 

Technically you were supposed to just vote your personal favorite episode, and not what you wished was more appreciated by other people, but it's fine, if it makes you feel better we are all happy.

 

It IS my favorite episode. But I love at least 3 episodes equally, including this one.

 

This is really tough, because different episodes excel in ways that others don't. I have to with 8 because that's where we get the best story developments. However, in terms of original, memorable contributions to Star Wars, it's probably 2 or 1.

I think the whole season would have been better served if we'd learned Mando's backstory up front at his first forge session. It would have made everything he does feel more complex and interesting. Also, they should have allowed him to take off his helmet more, as the one moment we get feels a bit wasted, even though it is very cool. Pedro is such a great actor, keeping him covered up is just not serving the project like they think it is.

 

2
7
8
3
6
1
5
4

 

I don't really like ranking movies / TV shows / etc anymore because I love them all and I will often find something within each visual story that I really like.

But I will offer my favourite Chapter - and that pretty much comes in a tie with 2 and 7. If I had to narrow it down to just one, 2 edges out 7 by the smallest of margins.

And the reason for that is the characterisation of the Jawas. During this first season, there have been many things that have left me speechless, really excited and thinking about the show for hours after I had seen it. There have been many wonderful highlights, but with what Famuyiwa did with those Jawas, that's the pinnacle for me. I was left in complete bewilderment for many hours after I saw Chapter 2 because Famuyiwa had just produced something incredibly special and amazing. His characterisation of the Jawas was faultless to the point where he actually built upon their characters and gave us even more than what George had given us many years ago. For the upstart to de-throne the Master in this one small area, that takes some doing and something really special.

From that moment on, I really started to think along the lines of Filoni doing the initial world-building and capturing the detail, Famuyiwa is handed the reigns of characterisation and Chow does the action - and it was because of Famuyiwa's ability to capture characterisation (but to be fair, Chow is equally at brilliant in all of this stuff too with what she did with Chapter 7).

This TV show is really special stuff and Season One was amazing.

 

6- Loved the cast of shady characters. A cool crime heist episode and our first look at the New Republic. A lot of fun!
8- Great emotional finale. Can't believe I was sad for IG-11
5- A lot of people disliked this one, but I enjoyed it. Was fun to see Mando train a young cocky kid. Reminded me a bit of a AOTC era Anakin in a way.
7- Good episode. A nice narrative build compared to the other episodes. Quill tho...
3- Fantastic action. A lot of drama and the Mandalorians at the end was badass
2- May not be the most entertaining, but it definitely was fun. Just a dumb, fun, hijinks episode
1-Cool if cliched start. But pales in comparison to the rest of the show. A starting episode more about world-building than plot
4- Definitely my least fav. Needed to be longer for me to care about the village. The Seven Samurai vibe to it felt a bit repetitive to previous SW material (a TCW episode) that did it better

 

I love them all but
6 has to be my most favorite
8 to be my least favorite.

 

Agreed. Lots of phenomenal episodes, but 2 is next level. So simple, yet to me, the most profound - visually and narratively. You could start an entirely new religion based solely on that episode. It’s a modern fable in the best possible sense.

 

Couldn't agree more.

And that's it, that is what Star Wars is to me and why it works so well. They (the movies, the TV shows, etc) are simple storylines underpinned by a series of complex relationships between memorable characters that resonate deeply with familiar and non-familiar behaviours and interactions. That is probably the best I can describe the thoughts in my head.

Also within these characters and their interactions with their own kind and with other species, you have a sub-story unfolding too; in which these sub-stories all form back into the main storyline. And the characterisation does not stop with the humanoid and the alien species, the robots/droids are given individual characterisations too that distinguishes them from other droids.

Famuyiwa appeared to have really understood this core concept in Star Wars and his Chapter 2 reflected this. The storyline was simple, retrieve an egg to get the parts back for your ship, but Famuyiwa's characterisations sold the brilliance; ranging from Jawa's simple view and expectations, to the Mando not being overpowered when it came to fighting the Reek-like creature or battling the Jawas. And in between all of this, you have the wonderful Kuill with his abilities and his take of the world and all of this is backed up, as you say, by great visuals.

I also agree about this being a modern fable. I could see something like this in a timeless and classical fairytale book because of how the story is brilliantly told and how the characters interact.

I dearly hope that Famuyiwa gets a crack at the Gamorreans that are rumoured to be in the next series. I really think it should be him because his characterisations are top level stuff.

 

7 - 8/10
2 - 8/10
8 - 8/10
3 - 7.5/10
1 - 7/10
5 - 6/10
6 - 5.5/10
4 - 4.5/10

EDIT: Added my ratings as far as I remember them

 

Unfortunately relatively few people voted, so we don't have a big sample for the statistics.

With what we have, the general consensus seems to be that 7,8 and 2 are the most beloved.
3 is also very often in the top 4 but few people consider it to be the best.
6 is the most polarizing, since there is a good number of people who put it in the top 4 but also several people who put it in the bottom.
1 is around the middle for virtually everyone.
5 is usually in the bottom 4, but there are exceptions here and there.
4 is generally considered the worst.

 

Already posted my ranking in the season one thread, but I’ll do it again here real quick:

8
3
2
1
7
4
6
5

 

7
8
3
6
2
1
4
5