Star Wars discussion (SPOILERS INCLUDED)

[Beveridge]

Maybe the end will be a transition to animation.

[tifosi77]

Mando, Ch 17 "The Apostate"

There were individual elements I quite liked, scenes that harken to a great ride. But overall.......... woof, the writing felt like some prequel amateur hour pap. "Giant creature! *Grogu being cute* There's a goofy alien! *Grogu being cute* Let's go visit this recurring character while they vomit up some expo. *Grogu being cute* Conveniently explain away the permanent absence of a character because the actor playing her is a dips**t! *Grogu being cute."

A y could get worried.

[Kane]

I liked the bit with the multiple Babu Fricks. Like, you just know that Din was pulling great faces at Greef's "translations".

[nocera]

Mando, Ch 17 "The Apostate"

There were individual elements I quite liked, scenes that harken to a great ride. But overall.......... woof, the writing felt like some prequel amateur hour pap. "Giant creature! *Grogu being cute* There's a goofy alien! *Grogu being cute* Let's go visit this recurring character while they vomit up some expo. *Grogu being cute* Conveniently explain away the permanent absence of a character because the actor playing her is a dips**t! *Grogu being cute."

A y could get worried.

For once, you and I are on the same Star Wars page. At the risk of changing pages, I'll add another grievance. The season 2 finale was the natural conclusion to Grogu's part of Mando's story. It set up a new direction for the main characters and opened up Mando for new challenges. Instead, it's like Disney freaked out that their baby Yoda cash cow may not be the center of attention... or maybe Favs and team got cold feet and were worried that they couldn't make Mando work on a new level without the crutch. So instead we got the nonsense of Boba Fett and a throwaway line in this episode so we can have Grogu back and keep the status quo. It feels like we're treading water, repeating the same beats as the previous 2 seasons, unwilling or unable to take any real chances.

[tifosi77]

I was extremely disappointed to see Favs was the only credited screenwriter. Lucas got his customary "from and inspired by" credit, but the actual writing felt like it came straight from his dome piece.

[DigitalGypsy66]

My wife watched Mando with my sons and I last night. She's watched the films, enjoyed them, and vaguely knew Grogu and Mando from various memes. She enjoyed the episode without knowing too much backstory. I did explain the helmet on/off thing, Mandalorian Creed, etc.

But overall the story was weakened and felt diluted coming out of the Boba Fett storyline. Which the Mando stuff in Boba Fett was probably the best part of that show.

[tifosi77]

The Armorer has been in Mando since Ch 1. And somehow I only just realized a very specific design element of her helmet.

I am clearly very late to the game with this epiphany, but it could mean that she is a Darth Maul loyalist. A brief survey of various internettings shows this to be a fairly common take, and I feel silly for not recognizing it until now.

For a brief (lol) rundown of why this might be significant for the way Se 3 unfolds, here is a brief history of the Darksaber.

https://www.starwars.com/news/what-is-the-darksaber

The possible connection/conflict between Bo-Katan and The Armorer is exciting, especially as we know the latter's sidekick buddy boy Paz Viszla has already tried to claim the Darksaber for his House. Let's hope Favs brings a better skillset to his typewriter if that be the case.

[meecrofilm]

Yeah, I think especially coming off of Andor, the writing and overall feel of this was a bit of a shock. Especially since the S2 finale and the good parts of Mando-Fett are what loomed largest in my memory going in. Just gotta recalibrate moving forward.

[tifosi77]

From what I've read Ch 17 was mostly meant as a giant expo dump, 45 minutes of "meanwhile at stately Mando Manor". Ch 18 is the real start of the new season.

[nocera]

It pains me to say this, but Lucasfilm is a **** mess.

[tifosi77]

Ch 18...

....another bit of a mish-mash, if I'm honest. Some more uneven writing and confusing action, but once Bo-Katan arrived on Mandalore things picked up considerably. Was surprised that she gave the Darksaber back to Din; she totally could've peaced-out with it, but instead she freed him from his rotisserie (?) and returned the weapon to him after wielding it in combat without so much as a word. I've seen people compare BKK to Maul in that their character arcs are very sisyphean, that they sort of exist to be the heel. I tend to disagree with that, mostly because there's no rule-of-two nonsense for Mandalorians. They are, however, relegating her to largely expo so far, which is a bummer.

I spent a year since BOBF thinking Se3 would be about Din questing back to Mandalore to bath in the waters, and, like, he he did that right away. So now what? lol

Mythosaur ftw

Will someone please tell me why is Peli Motto

[nocera]

My shorter and snarkier ch 18 review: this is not the way.

[meecrofilm]

Ch 18...

....another bit of a mish-mash, if I'm honest. Some more uneven writing and confusing action, but once Bo-Katan arrived on Mandalore things picked up considerably. Was surprised that she gave the Darksaber back to Din; she totally could've peaced-out with it, but instead she freed him from his rotisserie (?) and returned the weapon to him after wielding it in combat without so much as a word. I've seen people compare BKK to Maul in that their character arcs are very sisyphean, that they sort of exist to be the heel. I tend to disagree with that, mostly because there's no rule-of-two nonsense for Mandalorians. They are, however, relegating her to largely expo so far, which is a bummer.

I spent a year since BOBF thinking Se3 would be about Din questing back to Mandalore to bath in the waters, and, like, he he did that right away. So now what? lol

Mythosaur ftw

Will someone please tell me why is Peli Motto

Re: the darksaber

I thought even more significant was how Din still struggles to use it, and Bo was wielding that baby around like it ain't no thang

And yeah, agree with Noce's take earlier in the thread. It really does seem S2 was the natural ending point (or at least, for Grogu, tho his usage has not been the issue thus far). Feels extremely directionless at the moment.

[Gaucho]

Ch 19: the first ten minutes were great. The rest was good, too. It had a bit of an Andor vibe.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I'm assuming the middle bit will go somewhere. Right?

[tifosi77]

Ch 19

As truly great as Andor is, SW can also be this and be enjoyably hootsome. Thought this chapter was a ton of fun.

- Bo-Katan's reaction to seeing the mythosaur, and the way her conversation with Din Djarin progressed (like, her phrasing and word choices) was super cagey, and now I'm sort of worried about her.

- TIE Interceptors may be a lot of firepower for a warlord, but not a displaced Grand Admiral. Just sayin'.

- "Taungsdays, amirite?" is a deep-cut reference to Mandalorian lore. (The very first Mand'alor was a Taung) This was, I believe, the first in-universe mention of days of the week in SW. *hat tip*

- Everything on Coruscant seemed to happen in a place that was somehow significant to Old Republic (maybe that's just the nature of the place). The Opera House, Monument Plaza, etc...... and much of it is tied to Anakin Skywalker, which is also a fall-from-grace story.

- I'm still hung up over who played the Mon Cala that put Dr Pershing in the mind zappy thing, or rather who voiced them. I'm convinced I recognize the voice, but I don't recognize any names in the credits.

- Saw a couple recap shows point out that Elia Kane "likes the red ones (wafers)" and has a red freezeepop thing. So she's clearly the bad guy lol. But I didn't see her trying to brain scramble Dr Pershing coming; I thought her goal would be a break out mission. She's a double-agent, so it's hard to tell if she's working still in service to Grand Moff Gideon or if she's been coopted to the cause of a bigger bad. (see above)

- Bo-Katan joining this particular Covert is a Very Big Deal, because of the presence of Paz Vizsla (the beefy heavy weapons mando that challenged Din Djarin for the Darksaber in Mando Se 2.5/BOBF) Historical animosity ftw! And it will also tie into the Mandalorian character Sabine Wren who will be in the Ahsoka series.

- The 'repurposing' of Imperial remnant......... stuff............. in the New Republic is alarming to see. From the way tech and ships find new uses, to the way people are known by numbers instead of names. It was pretty disturbing to see.

- Here is a video of an F-22 doing Bo-Katan's j-turn reposition move, because yaaaaaaay

[meecrofilm]

Ch 19: the first ten minutes were great. The rest was good, too. It had a bit of an Andor vibe.

The Andor comparisons end with the plot, IMO. The sets and dialogue in particular for that sequence couldn't hold a candle to what Andor offered in that regard. The less said about the "trap" reference (especially considering the circumstances) the better. I'd rather Mando sticks to what it does best. The speculation is that plot line will have a much greater impact on the universe as a whole (in terms of sequel trilogy specifically) -- if so, it seems like that's another instance of a show trying to do too much to serve the larger machine (and in this case, paying for the sins of said machine).

That said, looking forward to spending more time with all the mandos. There finally does seem like there is a clear path being set-up in that regard,

Bo/Din potentially ending up being the new leader by season's end

so that is good to see.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Why would they leave the lady in the transition program in the control room by herself?

[tifosi77]

When they got to the landing platform and I saw the chrome ship, I said "I swear if Jar-Jar Binks walks down that ramp to save Grogu....." I totally didn't recognize the actor playing the Jedi (or the character himself), so joke's on me I guess.

But it does set up the interesting situation where Grogu is spared from Order 66 by a Jedi allied to forces from Naboo, Sheev Palpatine's home world. But it simultaneously sets up Mando as another episode of Keeping Up With The Skywalkers because Naboo is also the home world of Luke & Leia's mum.

The design of the adult Raptor was pretty sweet. And I liked how Bo-Katan is playing the game of being a cult Mandalorian. But when the trope of not taking off your helmet was first introduced I was worried it would get old fast. It has, I no longer care. There better some sweet-ass payoff at the end where they all remove their helmets in a moment of triumph.

[Gaucho]

I'm a little over those constant battles with oversized local fauna. Is Bo-Katan now a Mother of Dragons?

[Gaucho]

But the Armorer is easily one of my favorite SW characters.

[DigitalGypsy66]

What irritated me yesterday, is that a major entertainment paper spoiled Mando's surprise guest at 5:45 am EST when I was eating breakfast.

"Ahmed Best gets a redemption arc"

I know the show has an international audience, as does the entertainment paper, but man...wtf. It was so early in the day I hadn't realized there was a new episode out already. FFS.

That being said, a great episode which appears to be moving the plot along. Not sure where yet, but it's moving.

Bad Batch is on a good run, too. I am fascinated with what happened to all of the Clone troopers after the end of the war. And now we're seeing what happens.

Back to Mando: cool to see live action Clone Troopers again too.

[DigitalGypsy66]

In Star Wars movie news, from the "I'll believe it when I see it" files, Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders and Rogue Heroes fame, has been tapped to finish the project/script turned in by Damon Lindelof (and Justin Britt-Gibson). OK.

Also the two dudes that wrote/produced/directed Everything Everywhere All the Time will be making a film.

I really wonder if they know what they are doing on the film side of SW. It seems everyone with any cred gets a chance to make a Star Wars film, only to be shut down by Kathleen Kennedy and other higher ups. It's bizarre how protective they are of this IP. I guess that makes sense from a shareholders' perspective.

[meow]

Carl Weathers directed Ch. 20, which makes sense why it was amazing

[nocera]

I'm two behind on Mando. I just lost all interest, though it seems like the last two episodes are decent so I'll get back into it eventually.

As for the film news, I'm done caring about SW films until the trailer is released. And even then I'll proceed with caution.