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Since it won't be until late August that we get any more MCU or Star Wars shows, I thought this would be a good time to do a ranking of all the Disney+ shows so far (except What If, I still haven't mustered the energy to watch that). I'll avoid heavy spoilers.

Before doing the ranking, I would have thought the MCU shows would rank higher but, for the most part, I realised I still actually prefer the Star Wars shows. The MCU has long been criticised for not being visually interesting while impressive visuals are an essential part of Star Wars. So Star Wars shows with weak visuals tend to rank low on my list. But for both the MCU and Star Wars series, I generally found the shows that worked best tended to focus on character relationships, with an emphasis on focus. When actors and scripts are allowed to build chemistry organically over time, these shows do what television has classically been able to do better than most movies--give you a feeling that you live with these people. The shows that fail often do so because of a lack of this focus, coming across as scattershot and schizophrenic. The problem, in a word, is Disney. Or, in another word, morality. Superhero stories are traditionally stories of very simplistic morality, and so, as Alan Moore has somewhat recently said, they are inherently childish. Although Star Wars is commonly regarded as a story of good versus evil, it really isn't. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, the character at the heart of all the George Lucas films, occupies the role of both hero and villain and the films are interesting partly because they explore just what these roles mean. The Disney Star Wars shows have worked better the more they've drifted away from simplistic morality while the MCU shows have faltered the more they've steered closer to simplistic morality. Since this morality is likely composed of corporate memos, it's likely the kind of shallow morality more concerned with how one is supposed to feel than with how one actually does. The Star Wars shows have benefited from Jon Favreau's creative control, even though Faveau himself is not perfect. He does, however, show a good ability to recognise his own mistakes and improve.



12. Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Although the chemistry between the two leads on this series showed some promise early on, and Wyatt Russell's U.S. Agent was outstanding for his moral murkiness, this is easily the worst of the Disney+ shows. Its lack of focus could partially be blamed on rewrites forced by the pandemic (though, in retrospect, having a plot relevant to current events seems like it would have been more of an asset). But the confusing tangle of motives for the characters, particularly the villains, is likely due to more than that and, worst of all, the show was a really bad introduction to the Falcon's new role going forward.



11. Ms. Marvel

This is another one that started well--it started even better than Falcon and the Winter Soldier--but then got completely lost in ridiculous and sterile plot territory. A truly charming lead character is drowned in waters of meaninglessness by the end.



10. The Bad Batch

It's never as interested as Clone Wars was under George Lucas' creative control but certain episodes established and nicely built on the character of Omega. However, many episodes ran into the same problems as Star Wars: Rebels in which formerly lethal threats feel insubstantial, played for broad comedy with characters who don't seem particularly worried.



9. Loki

Once again, this show's biggest asset was chemistry between its characters, in this case between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson. But the show lost focus when it shifted attention to Loki and his female variant. Plot problems that were already apparent early on began to overwhelm the show once Hiddleston and Wilson weren't playing off each other. By the end of the series, Loki's behaviour was wildly out of character for no apparent reason. The scheming Shakespearan character everyone loved from the Thor films was gone with no justification.



8. Obi-Wan Kenobi

The first of the live action Disney+ shows without Jon Favreau's involvement and it shows. The writers don't seem to be particularly interested in Star Wars or the characters and there are many moments of familiar characters doing and saying things that too drastically contradict their previously established personalities (why the hell would Obi-Wan Kenobi give anyone a blaster holster?). A weak sense of stakes established by characters shrugging off fatal lightsabre wounds is only one of the more vivid examples of weak writing. But it did have some strong performances and some late script contributions from Andrew Stanton elevated the final two episodes.



7. WandaVision

I have to admire the boldness of this show's premise and the performances from most of the leads were terrific. Some of the stuff related to the series' villain is great though Monica Rambeau failed to establish herself as interesting enough to be the lead for an MCU film. The show also had the infamous "Boner" fake out, for which it loses a lot of points. But there was some genuine insight into how it explored Wanda's psychology in the end.



6. Moon Knight

Here's an example of great character chemistry that's even more admirable when you consider it's one actor in both roles. The penultimate episode exploring their relationship was truly great. Ethan Hawke gives a nicely nuanced performance as the villain and Konshu is one of the best cgi creations in recent years. Sadly, the female lead is weakly established and the plot is jerked artificially in too many directions by corporate mandates.



5. Hawkeye

Of all the MCU shows, this is the one that most felt like it managed to do what it set out to do. It didn't aim as high as the others maybe, but that's perfectly all right, especially when you've got that great chemistry between Hawkeye and Kate Bishop. The only real complaint I have about this show is in how it took a previously interesting and complex villain and turned him into a simplistic thug. But I'm far from alone in complaining about that so hopefully Disney will listen this time. Otherwise, this is a sweet, cosy little Christmas series.

4. The Mandalorian, season one

There are a lot of problems with how this show conceptualises the Star Wars universe but by the end it does manage to establish truly good characters with interesting relationships. Favreau's interesting casting decisions--particularly Werner Herzog, Bill Burr, and Carl Weathers--pay off big time. Taika Waititi's direction of the series finale elevated it considerably and cinematography by Greg Fraser in a few episodes gave this show the kind of beauty essential to giving Star Wars the sense of awe it ought to have.



3. The Mandalorian, season two

And here's what I'm talking about when I say Favreau is good at learning from his mistakes. He completely abandons the silly "bounty hunter guild" from the first season and a lot of the simplistic morality. This was a season focused on giving us action and adventure in a distant galaxy and at times it was even breathtaking. Robert Rodriguez's episode reintroducing Boba Fett reminded us why Rodriguez is one of the great action directors to come out of 1990s indie cinema.



2. Star Wars Visions

Although this series is a mixed bag, it's altogether a triumph. Unfettered for the most part by Disney's creative mandates, this series truly explored new territory in Star Wars, visually and thematically. "The Elder" is the only piece of Star Wars fiction under Disney that truly reflects an understanding of what the Jedi are supposed to be while "Lop and Ocho" has the kind of pairing of family relationship and pulp adventure that was integral to the original films. This is Star Wars. Although, ironically, it's essential to watch Visions with the Japanese language track. A lot of people discovered for the first time by watching Star Wars: Visions just how bad English dubs of anime tend to be, even with celebrity voice actors.



1. The Book of Boba Fett

This show had heart and made a truly interesting character out of Boba Fett. His integration into a Tusken Raider tribe and the changes it wrought in his personality truly fulfilled the promise of Spaghetti Western via Star Wars that Favreau had teased from the beginning of The Mandalorian. The relationship between Fennec and Boba was nice and subtle, too. I only wish there'd been more time to develop a relationship between Boba and Jennifer Biels. And once again, Robert Rodriguez brought the right kind of attitude for the material. I only hope he returns for season two after internet users orchestrated such a vigorous campaign against him for reasons that had nothing to do with the quality of his work.