I was skeptical when my husband suggested I might like the Mandalorian. I was so underwhelmed by the last Star Wars movie, that I haven’t watched the last two. My husband advised me not to even say that because people’s opinions about Star Wars gets more heated than the presidential debates. I grew up watching the original Star Wars, so everything after that gets compared to those (disclaimer: I watched the Battle for Endor and liked it).

After watching the first episode of Star Wars Mandalorian, I dreamed about Baby Yoda (even if he technically isn’t baby Yoda), so here are my reasons for watching the Mandalorian.

1. Baby Yoda. ‘Nuff said. But it case it isn’t, and you can’t visualize him, he is soooo cute. I love baby Yoda.

I want my own Baby Yoda. I suspect George Lucas had no clue how marketable Star Wars was with all those cool robots, furry aliens, and lightsabers every kid wanted. Yes, he was smart to keep his marketing rights, but Jarjar Binks is a great example of how he had no idea what he was doing or how to do it again. People saw that character as a transparent attempt at comedy that didn’t work, rather than as a potential merchandise. But Disney knows how to create marketable products from movies. Soon, Baby Yoda will be coming to a universe near you. And near me. I hope he is a puppet so I can make him move.

2. In some ways this feels more like the original Star Wars in the way it features a reluctant hero resisting the call. It feels very much an archetype and calls back to the hero’s journey. Also, it still has the Force.

3. The Mandalorian is an interesting and complex character with good internal conflict. For never taking his helmet off, I’m impressed by how well he infers thoughts through body language.

SPOILER FROM THIS POINT ON IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FIRST EPISODE: 

I can see his Irreconcilable Self as outlined by the teacher and author Eric Witchey, the idea that he has a duality of opposing forces inside him battling. A very simple IS might be: I am a good bounty hunter vs. I am a bad bounty hunter. Digging deeper we might see something like: “I am a guild member and by those rules I am done with this bounty hunting job,” versus the other half of himself that asks “What is going to happen to this kid now? I have to break rules to find out.” And then there is more internal conflict with what it means to be a Mandalorian, enemy of the Empire but taking a job for the empire. His deepest wound is his childhood and the death of his parents. I can see how this pushes his Irreconcilable Self because he was also a foundling and views his bounty as such.

4. Baby Yoda. He makes it to this list once, but twice. ANOTHER SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FIRST EPISODE: There is good mystery surrounding him. What were they going to do to him? Who had him before? Where did he come from? Is he a clone? Is he Yoda’s son, grandson, relative?

Or maybe this is a female Yoda?