Mando and Rogue One are similar in that they substitute any narrative substance or character with spectacle, production value and fanservice in the desperate hope that such baubles will distract the audience in sitting through the entire runtime of the story before they realize that there is no story.
Mando might even be worse in this regard, since because unlike Rogue One and its bloated emphasis on retrieving the Death Star plans, the show has virtually zero narrative utility or purpose at all: both seasons are a literal collection of side quests. The plot doesn't move for multiple episodes at a time, and the characters go places and do things literally because the show needs them to pad out the episode runtime--not because there's an overarching plot or deep-seated motivation driving any personal actions of either the protagonist, or anyone saddled with him. The show is aimless and directionless, and never exceeds the premise of "do odd job to get more fuel, to go to new place, and attain new odd job". And the only thing it does to lull the audience into complacency to this fact is shoe-horn meaningless cameos and memberberries of either OT regalia, or one-note animated characters that were already lifeless mannequins in their original show of origin. It's all there to dull you to the truth that nothing else is going on in this show. Nothing of value is brewing between the characters. No journey of growth is happening. No one will die, and when someone does you won't care, because their traits and contributions to the show's narrative outside of being quest-givers or party members are so anemic.
You might watch the first few episodes of S1, and you might be swept up in the false sense of security that this show is actually going somewhere; don't be fooled...it doesn't. Just like Rogue One and TFA, the show is designed to suck your attention one time, and not survive repeated viewings...to hoodwink you into sitting through whole seasons before you realize that you just wasted time watching 15 hours of empty characters plodding through decent production value and relentless fanservice, with nothing going on at its core.
And if you want an idea about how superficial and empty the show is, and how it would fall apart without all the slick visuals and high production values to prop it up...just look at The Book of Boba Fett. Because that is the EXACT show that Mando would be without its lavish production value...and the show it likely will be come S3, as we now live in the cost-cutting Chapek era where everything's being scaled down, and where Mando S3 will look just as cheap and ugly.
And when that happens, Mando won't have anything left, because it sure as fuck can't ride on its characters and story alone, not when both barely existed in the first place.
