I think you missed a couple of things in the show that contradict your core assertions here.
- The Mandalorian doesn’t undergo character development or fundamental change.
Yes, he absolutely does.
He starts the series as a professional that always delivers and doesn’t pass moral judgment or get involved.
There is an exceptionally well done scene in I think Episode 3 where without facial expression or dialogue, we see Mando change fundamentally.
He had decided to take another bounty and leave Baby Yoda to the Imperials. He got his loot, got his upgrades, and got another job. All it would have taken was a piece of his soul and he could have gone on about his business.
He reaches for the control that Baby Yoda had unscrewed the top of and decides that there are some things more important than his job. That leads to a change not only for him, but for his entire clan as they choose to come out of hiding to oppose the Imperials.
2. In the Taratino-eque heist episode… first off, he was lied to about the nature of the mission. Part of his code is that he kills in order to do his job, but he doesn’t do it unnecessarily and he definitely doesn’t want to kill anyone from the New Republic.
It was always the rest of the gang’s plan to leave or kill Mando, and he does virtually all the heavy lifting on the job. The poor decision he made was working with them at all, not anything that happened after that point.
It’s an artifact of his fundamental character change that he leaves the rest of the group alive. It is a genuine surprise to the audience to find that is the case. He would have absolutely killed them all for betraying him pre-Baby Yoda.
I agree that the middle episodes lacked any kind of overarching theme and could effectively be viewed in any order. Other than the introduction of Cara Dune and whoever that was who came to meet the bounty hunter he killed on Tatooine, not a whole lot happened in terms of overall arc.
That said, the series started out strong and ended strong. It sagged a little in the middle, but overall it’s a solid start for Star Wars first ever live action show and far superior to garbage like Star Trek Discovery or the latest Star Wars films which don’t even seem to understand the universes they’re set in.
That’s a far cry from being “Bad.”
