Season three drops Wednesday, March 1st.
I'm going to try and avoid spoilers for the first couple of days after an episode drops. If it drops Wednesday, no spoilers until Saturday. If it drops Friday, no spoilers until Monday. But if they bounce the schedule around again, all bets are off, read at your own risk.
I see this as a make-or-break season for The Mandalorian, and Disney+ Star Wars in general. There were plans for the show to branch out in a bunch of directions after Season 2, but a lot of that seems to have collapsed in the wake of Gina Carano's firing, and meddling and mismanagement from the higher-up at Disney in The Book of Boba Fett. Jon Favreau is rumored to be furious with upper management, and on the verge of walking out.
I'm guessing Mando S3 will lead into the Ahsoka series, which is in post-production. Rangers of the New Republic is apparently dead, though we see one of the New Republic pilots in the trailers for Mando S3.
I'm guessing Favreau and Filoni have a lot of aces hidden up their sleeves, but we'll just have to see.
I still have faith in this creative team.
I look forward to your impressions.
I'm having a hard time getting enthusiastic over this, despite really liking (and, at times, loving) The Mandalorian. All The Goddamn Culture War Shit including the fact that Gina Carrano isn't going to be in this season has crushed my interest.
Maybe, if others have positive stuff to say, I might watch it. I still have to watch Andor...
I'm enjoying Andor, for what it's worth.
Also, the art books for the first two seasons of Mando are currently available for like $20 each, and that's a steal. I think they're worth twice that easily. At some point they'll go out of print and be worth hundreds.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on February 11, 2023, 02:30:32 PM
Maybe, if others have positive stuff to say, I might watch it. I still have to watch Andor...
Andor is slow going for the first two episodes, it improves quickly starting in the third one.
Any scene with either of the mothers is just death, though. Ugh.
Here's a scene from Season 3 that they just dropped.
https://youtu.be/L6yE7fUE220
Eh. I'm hoping this is where Mando is about to say "I'm doing the exact opposite of that."
One week out, and I'm not sure if I want to scour the Internet for breaking news, or go into complete monastic seclusion.
The new season is here! I'll try to refrain from spoilers until the weekend.
Short take: This one is more about catching up with what's been going on in the galaxy after the end of Season 2, and setting up what is to come.
It is worth watching more than once.
SPOILERS for MANDALORIAN S3 E01 FROM THIS POINT
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Happy Saturday, everyone!
OK, let's dig into it.
On first viewing, I hit the end of the episode and I thought "Is that it?" I guess I was expecting more big plot right away.
But there is a LOT going on under the surface in this episode. The theme for this one seems to be foreshadowing.
As far as the opening with the dinosaur turtle, it was a way for Mando to make a big entrance, and remind the audience of the Watch cult's ban on showing one's face. Presumably, it also got Mando back into the good graces of the cult long enough to have a talk with the Armorer.
That green crystal Mando showed the Armorer is supposed to be trinitite, a type of glass formed in the heat of a nuclear explosion. Trinitite is a real thing, but it's not as pretty as that prop.
After killing the dinosaur turtle and meeting with the Armorer, Mando and Grogu fly off in the Naboo fighter, and Grogu sees the shadow of a group of purrgils traveling through hyperspace. Purrgils are tentacled space whales with the ability to travel through hyperspace. They showed up in Star Wars: Rebels, where the young Jedi Ezra Bridger summoned a pack of purrgils to seize Admiral Thrawn's flagship and drag it away into infinity with Ezra and Thrawn on board.
So that is clearly foreshadowing the return of Thrawn, as well as the possible return of Ezra Bridger. Ahsoka was searching for Thrawn in Mando season 2. She has also sworn to help the Mandalorian Sabine Wren find her comrade Ezra Bridger.
They return to Nevarro, now a prosperous trading outpost. What were once dirt streets are now paved roads, and the place is now an official hub on the big hyperspace trade route. This is supposed to be a clue that some time has passed since the end of Season 2.
According to Jon Favreau, roughly two years have passed since the end of Season 2.
https://news.yahoo.com/mandalorians-jon-favreau-dropped-shocking-043027216.html
https://comicbookmovie.com/tv/star-wars/the-mandalorian/the-mandalorian-the-apostate-concept-art-released-as-jon-favreau-clarifies-recent-timeline-confusion-a200823#gs.rngwjn
Greef Karga wants Nevarro to be an independant trade hub. Oh, boy. Be a shame if something happened to it.
Mando tries his hand at necromancy with IG-11, but it goes wrong, and the robot reverts to its assassin programming and has to be destroyed again. Mando has a new quest: to find a memory unit to restore IG-11 to life, so the dependable droid can help him go to Mandalore.
Leaving Nevarro, Mando has another run in with the pirates, this time encountering their leader, Gorian Shard, who has a Clone Wars era flagship. I'm getting a mid-boss vibe off of him.
He then arrives at Kalevala in the Mandalore system, where he meets with a dejected Bo-Katan sitting alone in her castle. Her forces have slipped away through her fingers, and turned to privateering. The end of this scene is the foreshadowiest scene of all. Does Bo-Katan plan to take the Darksaber by force or treachery? Or is she just mad he hasn't called in two years?
So, maybe not a great episode on its own, but it does serve well as a re-introduction to the Mandalorian universe, and the beginning of some new storylines.
We did learn what happened to Gina Carano's character of Cara Dune. According to Karga, "After she brought in Moff Gideon, she was recruited by special forces."
Will Gina Carano come back to The Mandalorian? Don't know, but considering the new CEO of Disney and his approach it seems more likely now than it was in the past.
Quote from: jeff37923 on March 05, 2023, 01:32:31 PM
We did learn what happened to Gina Carano's character of Cara Dune. According to Karga, "After she brought in Moff Gideon, she was recruited by special forces."
All things considered that is a decent "In-Universe" way of explaining her absence.
- Ed C.
Quote from: jeff37923 on March 05, 2023, 01:32:31 PM
We did learn what happened to Gina Carano's character of Cara Dune. According to Karga, "After she brought in Moff Gideon, she was recruited by special forces."
Will Gina Carano come back to The Mandalorian? Don't know, but considering the new CEO of Disney and his approach it seems more likely now than it was in the past.
At least they didn't bump her off, off screen.
At least they're keeping the door open in case they can bring her back.
I've read rumors that Rangers of the New Republic is back on the table, though I don't know anything more than that.
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 04, 2023, 11:02:13 AM
He then arrives at Kalevala in the Mandalore system
SAMPO!
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 06, 2023, 08:39:47 AM
I've read rumors that Rangers of the New Republic is back on the table, though I don't know anything more than that.
That would be quite the amount of crow to be eating, I tell ya whut.
Episode 2 is better than Episode 1, though it still ends somewhat abruptly.
Spoilers on Saturday.
As for Rangers of the New Republic, no idea if they will get Gina Carano back. Be a hell of a win if they did. It's possible that they would use Cobb Vanth instead.
It's between her and Disney, but if I were Carano, I'd demand a public apology from Disney before even considering going back.
WE ARE GO FOR SPOILERS ON SEASON 3 EPISODE 2 OF THE MANDALORIAN
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I am still collecting my thoughts on Episode 2, so please jump in.
What in the hell grabbed Mando and managed to drag him that far, that fast? Bo Peep jumped in after him immediately AND was using her go-go-Gadget Jetpack and Mando was still lying there on the bottom.
I suppose the answer is "the Mythosaur" but still.
Anyway. Not bad, decent fights, acceptably entertaining episode.
S03E02
Chapter 18: THE MINES OF MANDALORE
We open on Tatooine, as things are gearing up for the Boonta Eve celebration.
Pelli Motto is scamming a wealthy Rodian out of his money when Mando flies in, looking for the memory unit he needs to resurrect IG-11.
The Jawas come up empty, though, so Pelli sells a reluctant Mando her battered R5 astromech instead. "He's built for adventure!"
I don't think Pelli Motto would ever betray Mando, but man, she pushes her luck pretty hard.
They fly to Mandalore, taking note of Concordia and Kalevala on the way in. I guess they're all in the same system, now. Before, there was talk of a sprawling Mandalorian interstellar culture/star empire, but it seems business has fallen off.
Mandalore is pretty, in a bombed-out sort of way.
So, Mandalorian helmets can be sealed and pressurized, that's good to know.
Mando fights off a squad of Alamite primitives, retrieves R5, and they discover that the atmosphere of Mandalore is breathable.
Mando and Grogu explore deeper and deeper into the caverns below the ruined dome of the city center.
Pausing to examine a Mandalorian helmet buried in the dirt, Mando is ambushed by a cybernetic ghoul in a Fujikoma-like mech suit. He gets paralyzed by a stinger or maybe just a syringe, clamped in a cage, and taken to its lair. The ghoul's lair is littered with the armor of its Mandalorian victims.
Unable to free Mando from the cage, Grogu is told to go get Bo-Katan.
He makes his way back to the N1 and gets into the cockpit just in time. R5 actually comes through in the clutch, and flies him to Bo-Katan with no problems.
After learning that Mando is in danger, Bo-Katan's attitude changes dramatically, and she takes off back to Mandalore.
She begins speaking to Grogu in a - motherly? - tone.
After dispatching another crew of Alamites, she names them, and wonders what else may have survived.
Down in its den, the ghoul begins draining blood out of Mando, and possibly roasting him alive.
Bo-Katan arrives and engages the ghoul, who proves a formidable fighter. Bo-Katan grabs the Darksaber, though, and that evens the ground tremendously. She is much better with it than Mando is.
She runs the ghoul through the chest with the Darksaber, and turns to see to Mando. Meanwhile, the ghouls's head awakens, and pulls a move out of John Carpenter's The Thing, growing little legs and scuttling off to the Fujikoma spider-mech.
Mando warns Bo-Katan as the mech tries to ambush her from behind, and a lively Round Two ensues, with Bo-Katan finally chopping the monster to death with the Darksaber.
Mando awakens to find Bo-Katan preparing a mug of pog soup for him. Apparently little mandalorians on the homeworld are raised on the stuff. (Note: it's not porg soup, I checked the subtitles.)
Bo-Katan promises to take Mando to the Living Waters below the Mines of Mandalore.
They reach the Living Waters soon after, after some nice dialog about Bo-Katan and her family history.
Mando divests himself of weapons and accoutrements, but keeping his armor on, and begins to wade into the waters while reciting a catechism of his people, but them suddenly drops out of sight below the surface.
Bo-Katan instantly dives after him, rocket pack blazing as she speeds into the depths like a torpedo. Finding Mando, she grabs him and heads for the surface, but not before getting a dramatic glance at a living mythosaur as she rockets past it to the surface.
She and Mando burst from the water and land on the steps, while Mando coughs to clear his lungs, and Bo-Katan stares back in apparent amazement in the direction of the mythical beast.
END EPISODE TWO
So, we see that Mando trusts Bo-Katan, and Bo-Katan goes well out of her way to save Mando. When he is in danger she reacts instantly, perhaps instinctively. I don't think she's going to be his enemy.
Some might complain that Mando had to be rescued too many times, but I'm okay with it. I view it as Bo-Katan demonstrating clearly where her allegiances lie.
He has the Darksaber, and a Mythosaur sighting. Does Mando also have Excalibur, Narsil and a batarang lying around in the trunk of the N1?
Join us next week for Mando Season Three, Episode 3:
"The Once and Future King"
or
"The Courtship of Grogu's Father."
One bit of fan theory I wanted to put forth about why Bo-Katan appears to be better with the Darksaber than Mando.
Bo-Katan originally received the Darksaber from the Mandalorian Sabine Wren. Sabine had been trained in the use of the Darksaber by two Jedi: Jedi Master Kanan Jarrus (formerly known as the Jedi Padawan Caleb Dume), and Jedi Ezra Bridger. Both Jedi were present in the room when Sabine presented the Darksaber to Bo-Katan. It is not unreasonable to suggest that they may have trained Bo-Katan in its use as well.
We do not, however, see the two Jedi actually training Bo-Katan on screen.
Also, Sabine's training was something of a crash course in saber duelling. I'm not saying that it was the equivalent of a Jedi Knight's training.
Episode 3 dropped this morning. It's not what I expected, but it is good.
It has that "series within a series" feel again.
More to discuss on Saturday, unless people want to just go full spoilers.
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 15, 2023, 10:49:07 AM
More to discuss on Saturday, unless people want to just go full spoilers.
I vote wait. I actually appreciate the "yes, talk about it spoiler-free for a couple of days, then go nuts" aspect.
But that IS a chunk of time to wait, and I can just avoid looking at the thread if anybody else really wants to discuss it earlier.
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 15, 2023, 10:49:07 AM
It has that "series within a series" feel again.
...I hope to hell this wasn't an episode of The Book of Boba Fett.
Neat trick the last time they pulled it, but Boba Fett needed the assist.
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 08, 2023, 12:37:00 PM
As for Rangers of the New Republic, no idea if they will get Gina Carano back. Be a hell of a win if they did. It's possible that they would use Cobb Vanth instead.
Cobb Vanth Spoiler
is pretty dead though[end spoiler], no?[/s]
A minor problen in Star Wars universe, granted, but still... ::)
edit: ah, scratch that. these aren't the spoilers you are looking for. i should have been more attentive. >_<
move along.
SPOILERS for Season 3, Episode 3
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Chapter 19: The Convert
We open right where the previous episode left off, with Mando and Bo-Katan on the steps of the Living Waters. Bo-Katan is staring fixedly into the depths of the waters, where she saw a living Mythosaur last episode.
Mando awakens, says that he is redeemed. Bo-Katan agrees. She asks if he saw anything down there, but all he remembered were the chasm walls rushing past him as he sank. Bo-Katan doesn't tell him about the Mythosaur.
Apparently that chasm wasn't there before the bombing.
Mando takes a sample of the Living Waters as proof, and they head back to Bo-Katan's ship. On the way back to Kalevala, they are attacked by a formation of Tie Intercepters. Arriving at Bo-Katan's castle, Mando dives out and retrieves his Naboo fighter, and together they finish off the Tie Interceptors.
Their victory is short-lived, though, as Tie Bombers destroy Bo-katan's castle, and a huge wave of interceptors forces them to flee. Mando sends Bo-Katan jump coordinates and they escape into hyperspace.
***
On Coruscant, Doctor Penn Pershing is giving a talk at the Opera House. He advocates the use of organ cloning technology for medical purposes. After his talk, he hob-nobs with the nobility, who are a pretty useless bunch, so out of touch that they don't see any difference between the Empire and the New Republic.
Doctor Pershing takes a droid cab back to his quarters in Amnesty Housing, where he has a drink with other former Imperials being re-integrated with society. They refer to each other by serial number. He meets G68, who had been an officer on Moff Gideon's flagship.
Moff Gideon is rumored to have escaped en route to the tribunal, though other rumors claim that's a cover story and the New Republic actually hooked him up to a mind flayer.
When asked what he misses about the Empire, Dr Pershing says he misses the yellow "travel biscuits" they used to get in their ration packs.
Later that night, Doctor Pershing is reading up on Coruscant. Coruscant is one of only a handful of city-planets, known as an "ecumenopolis" which translates as worldwide city.
A box of yellow travel biscuits shows up anonymously on his doorstep.
The next day, we see Pershing at his assigned job, processing data cards for the new republic.
Later on, he meets G68 to tour the tourist spots, and they get CGI popsicles. He bemoans the abandonment of his cloning research, and she encourages him to pursue it as a hobby.
Pershing meets with his droid parole officer. He is told that his line of research is prohibited by the Coruscant Accords.
That night, he meets with G68, who asks him what he would need to continue his research. Not much, he replies, just come supplies and a mobile lab station. G68 knows where to get one, but it would require them to go outside their "designated perimeter." Pershing doesn't go for it, but she asks him to sleep on it.
Next day at work, Pershing discovers that all the equipment he is entering off of data cards is scheduled for destruction. He protests that it still has value, but gets told to go along with it.
Meeting with his parole droid, Pershing asks if the most important thing is to help the Republic. "It is," replies the droid. Pershing is able to justify his planned actions. He meets with G68 and they make plans to get the mobile lab the next night.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Pershing and G68 sneak onto a train, then jump off to avoid a security droid. They are at a salvage yard, where a star destroyer is being parted out. Boarding the ship, they locate a laboratory with the equipment they need. G68 also introduces herself as Elia Kane, Communications Officer.
Noises on board the ship spook them, and they make a hasty exit, but are stopped by security forces. Pershing is arrested, but G68 walks away clean, having apparently betrayed him.
Pershing wakes up strapped into a mind flayer device, which the Mon Calimari technician insists is a 602 Mitigator, and says that at low voltages it can be used to soothe select traumatic memories.
"You're gonna wipe my mind!" says a terrified Pershing.
"Absolutely not!" insists the tech. "This isn't the Empire, son! This device is used to heal. I've been through the treatment myself, in fact, and I found the experience quite refreshing."
Pershing looks over, sees G68 observing, and exclaims "You set me up!"
They begin the "treatment" and G68 asks to wait with Pershing. When the others leave, G68 turns the dial up to THERE GO THE PIANO LESSONS, and bites into a satisfying travel biscuit as a reward for a job well done.
***
Mando and Bo-Katan drop out of hyperspace and fly down to the "covert" hideout of the Children of the Watch. Mando advises her to keep her helmet on. The guards hail them as apostates, but Mando insists he has bathed in the Living Waters, and has proof. Inside, the Armorer verifies that Mando's water sample is indeed from the Living Waters, and they are both pronounced to be redeemed. Bo-Katan is offered membership in the covert for as long as she cares to stay, and they are accepted as friends by the other Mandalorians present.
***
This episode felt like there was an episode of Andor dropped in the middle of it. In a good way.
At last we see the New Republic, but it isn't what I was expecting. Though, the story of Imperials acclimating to the new reality was an interesting angle.
The big question, of course, is who is G68/Elia Kane really working for?
Is Moff Gideon at large, and did he send the Tie Interceptors after Mando and Bo-Katan? Or is it Admiral Thrawn?
The Living Waters are what the Armorer pours into her forge to begin the forging process. This may be purely ceremonial. On the other hand, it seems like the new sample allowed her to activate a new forge.
I believe the Mon Calamari gave Doctor Pershing a dirty, dirty look when he said "It's a TRAP!"
I liked that the New Republic uses the same reprehensible shit the Empire used, they're just trying to put a happy spin on it.
Hoping for Thrawn, just cuz.
Quote from: Thornhammer on March 19, 2023, 10:08:35 PM
I believe the Mon Calamari gave Doctor Pershing a dirty, dirty look when he said "It's a TRAP!"
I liked that the New Republic uses the same reprehensible shit the Empire used, they're just trying to put a happy spin on it.
Is that how they're portraying it? Because that reeks of "Nothing matters, both sides suck, just eat some shit and die."
I don't know that they're going for any kind of moral equivalency here. The New Republic legitimately meant to rehabilitate Pershing. And, in their defense, his work is the equivalent of a WMD, and he's sneaking around refusing to let it go.
There may be an argument that if the New Republic was competent, there would be nothing for our heroes to do. I don't really go for that argument. I want to see a New Republic that is not just good, but great, one in which good people are doing the right thing, and the galaxy is prospering as a result.
If anything, I think the New Republic's problem should be that the Rebellion was a collection of amazing people, and they can't hold onto any of them. With the fighting over, most of the top people are leaving the service, going home and starting new lives.
I was not impressed by the Mon Calimari effects in this episode. Just looked fake. I think it was partly the textures being too smooth, and partly the proportions being off. The broadly comedic tone of the acting didn't help either.
Season 3 Episode 4 has dropped, and it's a good one. Probably the most Mandalorian episode this season.
As soon as it ended, I wanted to go back and watch it again.
Spoilers on Saturday. Have a good week.
I'm up to episode two. Tried to watch three, but Disney Plus has been really janky for me lately. The episode didn't load and the viewer froze up. Been trying to reload and no luck so far.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 22, 2023, 07:41:32 AM
I'm up to episode two. Tried to watch three, but Disney Plus has been really janky for me lately. The episode didn't load and the viewer froze up. Been trying to reload and no luck so far.
Have you tried clearing the cache in your browser, or forcing a hard refresh?
CTRL+F5 does it, I think.
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 22, 2023, 12:13:57 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 22, 2023, 07:41:32 AM
I'm up to episode two. Tried to watch three, but Disney Plus has been really janky for me lately. The episode didn't load and the viewer froze up. Been trying to reload and no luck so far.
Have you tried clearing the cache in your browser, or forcing a hard refresh?
CTRL+F5 does it, I think.
Nope. Tried and it was still freezing. I did manage to get it working tonight.
The part with Dr. Pershing and the mind device wasn't so bad. It's clear the ex-comms officer turned up the device without permission, for whatever reason. I don't expect the New Republic to be goody-two shoes, but I would mind them going crapsack world.
4 was good. My only complaint was that it seemed a little short on the runtime.
Quote from: Thornhammer on March 24, 2023, 11:08:00 AM
4 was good. My only complaint was that it seemed a little short on the runtime.
It didn't bother me, and I've watched it three times now.
Perhaps CHAPTER 21: DOCTOR PERSHING EATS PASTE will be longer. ;)
Episode 4's cameo was neat. It's technically saturday, so I'll drop a minor spoiler.
Jar Jar became an icon of the goofiness in the Prequels, and that's not Ahmed Best's fault. It's good to see him get a character without all that baggage to play.
Spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 04
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Chapter 20: The Foundling
We open on the Children of the Watch on the beach outside their cave, doing weapons drills and sparring.
How do you spar with flamethrowers?
Bo-Katan walks through, observing their ways. It seems like she is deciding whether to participate or not.
Grogu is seated by the shore, mind-controlling some crabs.
Mando comes over and says "play time's over" and takes Grogu to where the younger Mandalorians are wrestling. He announces Grogu as the next challenger. The others protest that Grogu is too little, but Mando stands firm on the challenge. Grogu is assigned to spar with Ragnar, the kid who got his helmet at the beginning of S3E01.
Ragnar chooses darts as the weapon, and he and Grogu are given paintball wrist launchers. Ragnar wins the first two passes, as he fires before Grogu seems to be ready. Then Mando tells Grogu to show them what he can do. Using the Force, Grogu somersaults over Ragnar twice and empties his dart gun into Ragnar to win the challenge, and the respect of the onlookers.
Stung by his loss, Ragnar wanders off and gets grabbed by a flying lizard monster.
The Mandalorians pursue the escaping creature with their jetpacks, but seem to run out of fuel after a minute or so. Bo-Katan's ship appears, and follows the creature to its nest.
They organize a rescue party, and Grogu gets left behind with the Armorer because he's too young. She tells him to follow her, and they go inside to the forge, where she talks to Grogu about the significance of the forge in their culture. As the Armorer goes to work on some beskar with a trip-hammer, Grogu flashes back to the day the Jedi temple fell.
Ahmed Best in a role that will surprise you!
Best plays Khelleran Beq, a Jedi Master who rescues Grogu and gets him off-world in a Naboo starship.
(In case you don't know, Best played Jar-Jar Binks in the prequel movies.)
Honestly, I really loved that they did that for him, and he made a pretty good Jedi.
This was the best possible way to kill off Jar-Jar Binks.
Note that the scene with Grogu's flashback parallels a similar scene in S1E01 where Mando first meets with the Armorer to get a pauldron made, and flashes back to his own traumatic childhood.
Flash forward to the covert forge, as the Armorer presents Grogu with a small round plate bearing the symbol of the Mudhorn. Grogu is small enough to wear it as a chestplate.
Bo-Katan's ship lands somewhere out in the wastelands, and the rescue party disembarks and heads for the monster's lair on foot, so as not to alert it to their presence. They arrive at the base of the mountain at sunset, and make camp for the night.
When rations are handed out, Bo-Katan asks Mando how they eat with their helmets on. They don't, he replies. Instead, each Mandalorian is supposed to go find a place where they can be alone, and take their helmet off. As leader of the war party, Bo-Katan is given the honor of eating alone by the campfire. She doesn't seem to care for the experience.
In the morning, they break camp and begin the climb up to the raptor's nest. Even with grappling hooks, it is a tough climb. They arrive at the top, to find a huge bird's nest littered with Mandalorian armor. Paz Vizla immediately charges in, looking for Ragnar, who we learn is Vizla's son.
They come across three baby raptors. Suddenly, the adult raptor appears, and regurgitates Ragnar, who is still alive. Paz Vizla charges in, but the raptor drops Ragnar, grabs Paz Vizla in its jaws, and grabs Ragnar with its foot.
The raptor takes flight, and manages to swat Bo-Katan out of the air with its wing. She loses a shoulder pauldron as she tumbles down, but manages to restart her jetpack and save herself.
Bo-Katan uses her grappling hook to pull her into the side of the beast, and stabs it with a vibroblade, causing it to release Paz Vizla from its jaws. He tumbles free and lands by the nest.
Mando closes with the raptor and stabs it in the foot, causing it to release Ragnar. He tries to grab Ragnar, but fails. Ragnar falls, but keeps his head and goes into a stable skydiving position, and Mando is able to fly down and catch him.
The raptor falls into a river, where it is eaten by one of the giant dinosaur turtle alligators.
Mando returns Ragnar to a grateful Paz Vizla. Vizla thanks Mando, and they share a heartfelt "This is the way."
The rescue party returns in Bo-Katan's ship. The gathered Mandalorians applaud the sight of the rescued Ragnar by clanking their armored forearms together. The Armorer commends Bo-Katan on achieving the highest honor of the Creed: saving a foundling. "This is the way," they both agree.
"We have brought you three more foundlings in need of care" Bo-Katan adds, as the three baby raptors are herded out of her ship.
The armorer makes Bo-Katan a new pauldron. At Bo's request, the Armorer puts a Mythosaur emblem on it. Apparently, the Mythosaur can be used by all Mandalorians. Bo tells the Armorer that she saw a real Mythosaur under the Living Water on Mandalore. The Armorer seems to asccept this as a vision, but Bo-Katan insists it was real. "This is the way," the Armorer replies, in a "say you don't believe someone without saying you don't believe them" kind of tone.
*****
I really liked this episode.
I'm a bit surprised that the Children of the Watch didn't immediately head for Mandalore once they learned it was habitable. Shouldn't it be their holy land or something? But then again, they're not really from there, and were probably kicked out at some point.
I can't tell if Bo-Katan is becoming a part of the Children of the Watch, or if she is just being a polite observer. It seemed like she wasn't happy having to eat alone by the campfire. I suspect that Mando is the only one she'll speak her heart to.
I'm waiting for the big bad to be revealed. We still don't know whose TIE interceptors those were last episode. And the pirate thread will also have to get picked up at some point. And whatever happened to Doctor Pershing, and who was behind that?
I don't really know what's next, though. I didn't see this episode coming either.
What did everybody else think?
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 25, 2023, 12:52:09 PM
What did everybody else think?
I liked it with once caveat. Having the "Yoda people" jump around like frogs is becoming a thing. Yoda did it in the prequels, and Grogu is doing it in The Mandalorian. IMO it looks more comical than cool, and takes me out of the story. Like, the issues of interacting with a foot tall alien necessitates them doing something like that. Makes me think that they just shouldn't.
The two guys "sparring" with flamethrowers was stupid. I'm pretty sure a flamethrower doesn't "block" another flamethrower. Eh.
Bo Katan is interesting. My impression is that she's playing along to get along with The Watch members. But she may be coming around to their ways. The modern Mandalorians drove their society to ruin. Maybe it's time for a return to tradition for a while.
Why don't they return to Mandalore? Because the world is literally glassed. Maybe they could survive there, but it would take a build up of infrastructure, like moisture vaporators and greenhouses and eventually massive terraforming. I don't think The Watch has the resources to do it, and other Mandalorian factions have simply given up.
So, we know The Watch don't take off their helmets even around each other.
Do they wear their helmets when makin' babies? That would be creepy and awkward and probably someone's fetish...
I like the idea of them having that tradition, but they have to be somewhat practical in how the rules work. Having the camp break up and everyone go off alone to eat puts them at a real danger of getting picked off. What if they didn't have anyplace safe to go?
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 25, 2023, 05:10:51 PM
Why don't they return to Mandalore? Because the world is literally glassed. Maybe they could survive there, but it would take a build up of infrastructure, like moisture vaporators and greenhouses and eventually massive terraforming. I don't think The Watch has the resources to do it, and other Mandalorian factions have simply given up.
I get the impression that the surface of Mandalore may have been uninhabitable in the immediate aftermath of the nuclear barrage, but the radiation levels have fallen off rapidly since then. That fits descriptions of places like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were both resettled after the bombing.
At least they didn't bring up Carl Sagan's "nuclear winter" hypothesis, which is now considered to be disproven.
Since the air is breathable, it seems like Mandalore doesn't need to be terraformed, just rebuilt. It clearly has a functioning biosphere, though growing crops may take some work.
"Bombed back to the stone age" seems like an apt description.
Quote from: Lurkndog on March 25, 2023, 06:53:24 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 25, 2023, 05:10:51 PM
Why don't they return to Mandalore? Because the world is literally glassed. Maybe they could survive there, but it would take a build up of infrastructure, like moisture vaporators and greenhouses and eventually massive terraforming. I don't think The Watch has the resources to do it, and other Mandalorian factions have simply given up.
I get the impression that the surface of Mandalore may have been uninhabitable in the immediate aftermath of the nuclear barrage, but the radiation levels have fallen off rapidly since then. That fits descriptions of places like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were both resettled after the bombing.
At least they didn't bring up Carl Sagan's "nuclear winter" hypothesis, which is now considered to be disproven.
Since the air is breathable, it seems like Mandalore doesn't need to be terraformed, just rebuilt. It clearly has a functioning biosphere, though growing crops may take some work.
"Bombed back to the stone age" seems like an apt description.
Dunno. Most of the surface seems to be fused crystal now.
https://creditsandcanon.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/themandalorian_minesofmandalore_mandaloresurface.jpg?w=1629
This is Star Wars. I imagine an army of droids could churn it apart and expose the soil underneath. Maybe "un-glassify" it. The environment seems capable of supporting life, but how much? And for how long?
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 25, 2023, 08:16:34 PM
Dunno. Most of the surface seems to be fused crystal now.
https://creditsandcanon.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/themandalorian_minesofmandalore_mandaloresurface.jpg?w=1629
This is Star Wars. I imagine an army of droids could churn it apart and expose the soil underneath. Maybe "un-glassify" it. The environment seems capable of supporting life, but how much? And for how long?
That was at the site of a nuclear blast, though. And trinitite mainly forms out of fused sand. So I'm not sure how much of Mandalore's surface could be fused.
If the Alamite primitives are able to survive on Mandalore, I think regular Mandalorians would do just fine.
Another reason why they might not want to resettle Mandalore immediately is that they fear the Imperial remnants coming back to bomb them again if they move back to Mandalore openly. Given what happened to Bo-Katan's castle on Kalevala, this seems like a credible threat.
Season 3 Episode 5 has dropped, and it's another banger. A lot of plot threads come together in this one. And another delightful cameo.
Spoilers on Saturday.
If you need to avoid spoilers on this one, stay off Reddit and YouTube. It is already heavily spoiled.
They completely blow through a lot of plot threads fast in this season.
The cameo was really good, was all "waaaaaait...IT IS!"
Quote from: Thornhammer on March 29, 2023, 10:44:21 PM
They completely blow through a lot of plot threads fast in this season.
The cameo was really good, was all "waaaaaait...IT IS!"
Yeah, they're really knocking them down.
I wouldn't say it is going too fast, though. The victories don't feel unearned.
The only thing that really grinded my gears this episode was that damned hyperspace jump.
Quote from: Thornhammer on March 30, 2023, 03:58:11 PM
The only thing that really grinded my gears this episode was that damned hyperspace jump.
I have a gripe I'm saving for Saturday. What issue did you have with the hyperspace jump?
Quote from: Thornhammer on March 30, 2023, 03:58:11 PM
The only thing that really grinded my gears this episode was that damned hyperspace jump.
Which one, the one where the N1 and Bo-Katan's ship were travelling through hyperspace together?
Spoilers for Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 05.
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Chapter 21: THE PIRATE
We open on Nevarro, where Greef Karga is busily planning the expansion of his city with a yes-droid and a pair of civil engineers. His reveries are interrupted by the arrival of Pirate King Gorian Shard, whose pirate corsair flagship casts a long shadow over the courtyard below. The pirates are back, and in full force.
Gorian Shard hails Greef Karga, whose attempts to bluff the pirates fall flat. Bringing up the New Republic's "Spinward Patrol" only elicits laughter from the pirate. "The New Republic can't even protect the Mid Rim from the Pirate Nation!"
No idea what the Pirate Nation is. It might be nothing more than a grandiose figure of speech.
Gorian Shard snaps "Don't hail me again unless it's to surrender."
Karga passes a message to a droid as the pirates unlimber their gun turrets and open fire on the city. They seem to be firing some kind of missiles, not blaster bolts.
Grief evacuates the town and leads his citizens to safety in the lava flats outside the city.
***
After the opening credits, we see the New Republic's Adelphi Base, which has a definite Baa Baa Black Sheep air to it, quonset huts and all. A battered Y-Wing is landing. Other X-wings and Y-Wings dot the landing field, some in a state of apparent disrepair.
Inside, we cut to the officer's club, with some pool tables and a bar.
Dave Filoni is credited as playing Tracker Wolf, so apparently he's in there somewhere. I think he's the one at the bar wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Captain Carson Teva is given a data card by the Snivvian Bartender, which he scans using the bar's portable holo terminal, revealing a plea from Greef Carga for aid from the New Republic.
A big alien commiserates. IT'S ZEB FROM STAR WARS REBELS!!!
Full name Garazeb Orrelios, a Lasat, former member of the Lasat Royal Guard, also formerly known as Rebel Agent Spectre-4, a crew member on the starship Ghost. He's voiced by Steve Blum, the original voice actor from Star Wars Rebels.
Man, he's big in live action. In Rebels, he was the largest member of the team, but still within the bounds of human scale. Here, he's gotta be 400 pounds of solid muscle.
Captain Teva decides to take the news from Nevarro directly to Coruscant to cut through red tape.
***
Captain Teva flies his X-Wing to Coruscant, and enters a large tower decorated with blue and gold New Republic banners.
Inside is a typical Coruscant cube farm. Officer G68, Elia Kane, is working in the office.
Teva marches in and asks to see Colonel Tuttle.
Colonel Tuttle, played by SNL alumnus Tim Meadows, is shuffling paperwork when Teva enters the office. His droid doesn't listen to him.
Teva passes the data card to Col. Tuttle, who plays just enough of the message to get the gist of it.
Officer G68 inserts herself into the conversation, earning a stink eye from Carson Teva. She points out that Nevarro is not a member of the New Republic.
Colonel Tuttle can't authorize action, he has a backlog of requests from member worlds already, and they have priority.
Teva warns Tuttle that something is stirring on the Outer Rim. There have been reports of Stormtroopers in the streets of Nevarro, and TIE fighters overhead. He brings up the rumor that Moff Gideon never made it to trial.
"This isn't a rebellion any more," replies Tuttle. "I work in Requisitions. Let's focus on what you require."
Captain Teva makes a formal request for authorization and backup to deal with the pirates on Nevarro.
G68 says that perhaps the leaders of Nevarro need to understand why becoming a Republic signatory is valuable.
Teva replies that that seems like an Imperial way of thinking.
This earns him a mild rebuke from Tuttle.
Tuttle thanks Teva for bringing the situation to his attention. He'll try to allocate some additional assets. He hands Teva back the data card.
Teva warns again that something is happening, and by the time it gets big enough for Tuttle to react, it'll be too late.
Teva leaves, and G68 stares at his back as he leaves.
***
On Nevarro, Greef Karga tries to placate the refugees as they make camp in the wastelands. "Help is on the way!"
***
Teva's X-Wing flies down to the Mandalorian covert.
He gets out and approaches the covert with his hands up. He has wisely left his sidearm, coat and carbine in the X-Wing.
He announces himself as Captain Carson Teva, Adelphi Rangers.
"How did you manage to find us?" asks Mando.
Teva replies that someone he served with in the Rebellion is amongst their ranks. R5 shuffles forward. "Thanks, R5" says Teva.
Teva tosses Mando a gizmo that apparently has Greef Kanga's message on it. He tells Mando that Karga is asking for help.
Mando speaks with Teva privately. "What's in it for you?" asks Mando.
"The New Republic has to know that the Empire is growing again," says Teva. "I just came to tell you your friend is in danger, and I thought you should know."
***
Mando holds a meeting with the other Mandalorians to ask them for their help fighting the pirates. He is holding the Armorer's hammer as a "speaking stick."
He says "Perhaps it is time for us to live in the light once again, on a planet where we are welcome, so our culture may flourish, and our children can feel what it is to play in the sunlight."
Paz Visla makes a response, and in a surprise move, backs Mando's play, and this carries the day.
***
The Mandalorians head for Nevarro.
Bo-Katan takes command of the war party.
While making plans en route, she mentions that Gideon Shard's ship is a Cumulus-Class Corsair with aerial bombardment capabilities. It is carrying a complement of snub fighters.
Mando goes in first and fast, attracting the attention of the corsair and its snub fighters and drawing them off, so that Bo-Katan can drop off two fire teams of Mandalorians into the city. She then begins making attack runs on the corsair.
On the ground, the Mandalorians engage the pirates and defeat them, with the help of Paz Visla and the Armorer. Some nice fight scenes here.
In the sky, Mando deals with the remaining snub fighters, save one piloted by Vane, which flees the fight.
Gorian Shard refuses to retreat, and goes down in a blaze of glory as his ship's engines are shot out from underneath him.
A grateful Greef Karga gives the Mandalorians a generous parcel of land. "You may no longer have a home planet, but you do now have a home. Welcome."
***
The Armorer summons Bo-Katan to the site of their old forge down in the sewers. They reminisce about the Great Forge on Mandalore. Then, the Armorer orders Bo-Katan to remove her helmet. Bo-Katan is startled, but complies.
The Armorer says that the sighting of the Mythosaur is the sign of a new age dawning, and all Mandalorians must come together. Bo-Katan walks in both worlds, and therefore she is the one that can unite all Mandalorians.
She presents Bo-Katan to the other Mandalorians, unhelmeted, and repeats that Bo-Katan walks in both worlds, and can bring all Mandalorians together.
It is time to retake Mandalore.
***
Carson Teva's X-Wing approaches a spooky wrecked shuttle floating in space.
He contacts a Lt. Reed, presumably back at Adelphia Base, and reports in.
Teva's R7 droid sends in a probe, which finds that the crew of the shuttle are dead.
Lt. Reed reports that there is a record of a missing shuttle in the region, but the details are classified.
Cross-referencing the shuttle's transponder ID with flight records at central command, they find out that the shuttle is a Republic prison transport, and its departure date matches the flight transporting Moff Gideon.
Moff Gideon's body is not on board.
Looking for evidence of the perpetrators, the probe finds a fragment of beskar embedded in a bulkhead.
"Are you saying that Moff Gideon was taken by Mandalorians?" asks Lt. Reed.
And on that note, the episode ends.
*****
Comments:
I didn't find the Pirate King Gorian Shard's lip flap to be convincing. He looked like a Muppet crossed with Swamp Thing. Still, points for trying to do it practically.
It was also odd that the pirate corsairs' gun ports that the ball turrets came out of were open to space.
The Snivvian Bartender at Adelphia Base was played by Misty Rosas, who played Quiil in Season 1, and the frog lady in Season 2. She also played the coxwain on board the pirate ship.
R5 is pushing his luck, even if he did save Mando's bacon on Mandalore.
I thought Carson Teva was going to get himself killed investigating the shuttle at the end of the episode. Shouldn't he be operating with a wingman?
Nice creepy feel to that scene. And it appears that Moff Gideon had Mandalorians breaking him out? Or perhaps it was meant to appear so. We know that some Mandalorians are working as freelancers and privateers, so anything is possible. It is even possible that the beskar trace came from Moff Gideon's armor.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 01, 2023, 02:15:42 PM
I thought Carson Teva was going to get himself killed investigating the shuttle at the end of the episode. Shouldn't he be operating with a wingman?
I did too. I was hoping he'd survive. I like the character.
The Cumulus Corsair is a beautiful model? Practical or CGI, it's very good.
I was kind of miffed at Bo-Katan getting to be the special person who gets to unite all the Mandalorians. She seems to have an exception to not wearing the helmet, and still being a part of The Watch. I wonder if The Armorer is just playing politics. I wouldn't blame her. Some steps have to be taken to restore their people. The Way seems to have lots of exceptions and provisios. It feels a lot like they're making stuff up on the spot so they can excuse story twists.
I nitpick because I like the show, and this was, IMO, the best of Season 3 so far.
I'll be a happy camper if the commander of Adelphi Base is called "Pappy". :D
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 01, 2023, 02:37:35 PM
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 01, 2023, 02:15:42 PM
I thought Carson Teva was going to get himself killed investigating the shuttle at the end of the episode. Shouldn't he be operating with a wingman?
I did too. I was hoping he'd survive. I like the character.
Yeah, Teva is cool. If Rangers of the New Republic is back on, I want him to be a central character in it. And if I can get Zeb on board as an Adelphi Ranger too, so much the better.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 01, 2023, 02:37:35 PM
The Cumulus Corsair is a beautiful model? Practical or CGI, it's very good.
Didn't that ship turn up in Clone Wars originally?
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 01, 2023, 02:37:35 PM
I was kind of miffed at Bo-Katan getting to be the special person who gets to unite all the Mandalorians. She seems to have an exception to not wearing the helmet, and still being a part of The Watch. I wonder if The Armorer is just playing politics. I wouldn't blame her. Some steps have to be taken to restore their people. The Way seems to have lots of exceptions and provisios. It feels a lot like they're making stuff up on the spot so they can excuse story twists.
I don't mind Katee Sackhoff getting to show her face. And I think she makes a better ambassador to the "mainstream" Mandalorians than Din Djarin.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 01, 2023, 02:15:42 PM
A big alien commiserates. IT'S ZEB FROM STAR WARS REBELS!!!
When Zeb came on the screen in live action, I cheered.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 30, 2023, 06:43:54 PM
I have a gripe I'm saving for Saturday. What issue did you have with the hyperspace jump?
I think it's just me making some bad assumptions about the nature of hyperspace jumps, and not thinking this shit happens at "the speed of plot."
A tiny one-man starfighter jumping from the Outer Rim to Coruscant in "oh shit, we need some backup pronto" time rubs me the wrong way.
I'm still thinking hyperspace multipliers and stuff like that, and need to adjust my attitude.
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 02, 2023, 10:12:07 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 30, 2023, 06:43:54 PM
I have a gripe I'm saving for Saturday. What issue did you have with the hyperspace jump?
I think it's just me making some bad assumptions about the nature of hyperspace jumps, and not thinking this shit happens at "the speed of plot."
A tiny one-man starfighter jumping from the Outer Rim to Coruscant in "oh shit, we need some backup pronto" time rubs me the wrong way.
I'm still thinking hyperspace multipliers and stuff like that, and need to adjust my attitude.
Ah. Yeah. SW has always played fast and loose with travel times. How did the Millenium Falcon travel from Hoth to Bespin without a hyperdrive? Fans have spun that one quite a bit.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 03, 2023, 05:13:50 AM
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 02, 2023, 10:12:07 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 30, 2023, 06:43:54 PM
I have a gripe I'm saving for Saturday. What issue did you have with the hyperspace jump?
I think it's just me making some bad assumptions about the nature of hyperspace jumps, and not thinking this shit happens at "the speed of plot."
A tiny one-man starfighter jumping from the Outer Rim to Coruscant in "oh shit, we need some backup pronto" time rubs me the wrong way.
I'm still thinking hyperspace multipliers and stuff like that, and need to adjust my attitude.
Ah. Yeah. SW has always played fast and loose with travel times. How did the Millenium Falcon travel from Hoth to Bespin without a hyperdrive? Fans have spun that one quite a bit.
Answer: Bespin is reachable from Hoth because it's actually a fantasy in sci-fi clothing.
For slightly more realism (but still in "space is a fantasy ocean" territory) I always presume that the trip actually took months between two really close systems because Han and Leia were acting way closer than they were during the time in the asteroid belt; like they'd had some time to get comfortable with each other. That also gives Luke several months of uninterrupted training with Yoda rather than just a few days.
The amusing option for me is that Hoth was actually in same system as Bespin. The galaxy is HUGE, but even a single star system can have multiple planets including a barely habitable ice ball and a gas giant. Cloud City is basically a fancier Alaskan Mining Company (which is why I actually think prettying it up in the special editions with all the windows and digital people was a disservice... the stark white walls and barely any people in basically an automated gas filtration mining facility in the deep Outer Rim much better fits the idea of an isolated outpost that was basically off the Empire's maps).
Basically, a star system is big enough you could have a Rebel Base hidden on one unpopulated planet and a "beneath the Empire's radar" Mining Colony on the only world of the system with any worthwhile resources and the two could be completely unaware of each other.
The big kicker with the "same system" answer though is the "small galaxy" problem of one of Han's old associates just happening to be in the same system as Han was chilling at the Rebel Base. The "Will of the Force" only stretches so far.
Which is why my preferred answer is "because its fantasy in scifi drag."
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 02, 2023, 10:12:07 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 30, 2023, 06:43:54 PM
I have a gripe I'm saving for Saturday. What issue did you have with the hyperspace jump?
I think it's just me making some bad assumptions about the nature of hyperspace jumps, and not thinking this shit happens at "the speed of plot."
A tiny one-man starfighter jumping from the Outer Rim to Coruscant in "oh shit, we need some backup pronto" time rubs me the wrong way.
I'm still thinking hyperspace multipliers and stuff like that, and need to adjust my attitude.
I have some difficulty swallowing flight times even within the same system. Like when Grogu leaves Mando in the clutches of the cyber-ghoul on Mandalore, travels to Kalevala in the same system, and gets back with Bo-Katan in what seems like an hour or so.
If the travel time is that short. then it seems like Mandalore is too close to civilization to ever have been abandoned in the first place.
Star Wars is a myth, not a sim. :)
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 03, 2023, 09:32:56 AM
Star Wars is a myth, not a sim. :)
Yep, that's the long and short of it.
In the words of a wise man, "then repeat to yourself, 'it's just a show, I should really just relax.'"
And I shall. And it will be good.
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 03, 2023, 02:26:44 PM
In the words of a wise man, "then repeat to yourself, 'it's just a show, I should really just relax.'"
Indeed! I was considering using that quote myself.
And, to be clear, I would not have been happier with some kind of "Cold Equations" ending where they didn't get back in time.
I like a universe where our heroes can just pile into a spaceship and zoom off to the adventure with their ray guns and laser swords, and never have to bother with minor details like fuel and oxygen. There are no spreadsheets in Star Wars!
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 03, 2023, 03:22:16 PM
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 03, 2023, 02:26:44 PM
In the words of a wise man, "then repeat to yourself, 'it's just a show, I should really just relax.'"
Indeed! I was considering using that quote myself.
And, to be clear, I would not have been happier with some kind of "Cold Equations" ending where they didn't get back in time.
I like a universe where our heroes can just pile into a spaceship and zoom off to the adventure with their ray guns and laser swords, and never have to bother with minor details like fuel and oxygen. There are no spreadsheets in Star Wars!
The Cold Equations is Science Fiction.
Star Wars is Science Fantasy.
I don't buy the "It's fantasy" excuse. Tolkien kept such meticulous records of travel times in LOTR that you can track the character's progress by the phases of the moon.
https://shire-reckoning.com/moon.html
I think a more accurate reason is that Star Wars, and The Mandlorian, are Action Flicks.
Season 3 Episode 6 has dropped.
This one is another curve ball, though in the end it serves the story arc. See what you think.
Spoilers on Saturday, please.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 05, 2023, 07:47:01 AM
Season 3 Episode 6 has dropped.
This one is another curve ball, though in the end it serves the story arc. See what you think.
Spoilers on Saturday, please.
I got some choice words about this episode.....
Liked it. Waiting on spoiler window.
I liked it too, but I can see how some might have reasonable issues with it.
Saw the episode with my teenage goddaughters. I had no idea who one of the guest stars was, but they could stop chattering about them.
I liked the general thrust of the episode... it finally felt like the earlier seasons where Mando would go someplace and then have to deal with a sidequest to obtain the next stage in his main quest... but at the same time the two (three if you're a teenage girl) guest stars were so recognizable as themselves they almost pulled me out of the episode (Katie Sackholf and Rosario Dawson by contrast are known for working in the general genre and were taking over established roles... not guest roles created specifically to cater to a specific actor's presence).
More once the spoiler window opens.
First, I thought it was unoriginal for them to reintroduce another death star... but then I realized it was just a guest star...
I can't give the guest stars much shit here - who doesn't want to get to play around in Star Wars? Yes, they stick out like sore thumbs, but hey good for them.
Enjoyable episode, I rolled my eyes a few times but yeah more later.
For me it continues to meander and lack any kind of emotional pull. It's okay but it's just not drawing me in.
Quote from: Eirikrautha on April 06, 2023, 10:24:50 AM
First, I thought it was unoriginal for them to reintroduce another death star... but then I realized it was just a guest star...
Seems a lot of online commentators are flipping out over the fat black woman. I dunno what's going on. Hopefully tomorrow people can let me know what the outrage is all about.
WE ARE NOW GO FOR SPOILERS ON MANDALORIAN SEASON 3 EPISODE 06
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The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 06
Chapter 22 - Guns for Hire
***
A Quarren freighter cruises into view.
On board the Imperial Command Cruiser taken from Moff Gideon, Axe Woves and Koska Reeves intercept the Quarren freighter carrying a Mon Calamari prince, who has run off to be with his lover, the captain of the freighter. They are under contract to bring the wayward prince back to his family.
Accomplishing this task without incident, they proceed to their next job on Plazir-15.
Notable bits:
- The female Quarren captain has a water tank installed on the her bridge, surrounding the traditional command chair. The tank drains and retracts into the floor when not in use. At one point, an underling dumps a small fish into the tank for her to snack on.
- The Mon Calamari costume, which appears to be practical, has a distinct Hanna Barbera quality to it.
- The Quarren captain's makeup seems to be a blend of CGI and prosthetics, and it works rather well. At one point, when her romantic entanglements come to light, the female captain gives a rather fetching found-out gaze that shows through the makeup to excellent result.
***
Bo-Katan's ship exits hyperspace above Plazir-15, and swoops down over a stately pleasure dome. She and Mando are here to meet with the other Mandalorians, whose ships are parked on a landing field outside the city. But before they can get in touch with the Mandalorian mercenaries, local air traffic control overrides their flight controls and reroutes them to a different landing pad.
They land, and two Imperial droids usher them into a hyperloop train car that, over their objections, takes them to the leaders of the place. They are ushered into an elaborate banquet hall, where they are immediately invited to join the festivities. They are introduced to the leaders, Captain Bombardier and The Duchess.
After a bit of chitchat and Grogu aegyo, Captain Bombardier invites them out on the patio to see the view, so they can get down to brass tacks. Plazir-15 is having problems with droids going haywire, it seems to be coordinated, and they want Mando and Bo-Katan to handle it. In return Plazir-15 will formally recognize Mandalore as an sovereign system, and petition the New Republic to accept it as such.
"You had me at battle droids," quips Mando.
They meet with the head of security, played by Christopher Lloyd, who shows them security footage of some incidents. There is a master kill switch for the droids, but it they use it, their society will basically collapse. The head of security tells them they can get a list of the problem droids from the Ugnauts.
Bo-Katan and Mando go down to the lower levels and speak to the Ugnauts. Mando breaks out his knowledge of Ugnaut protocol and sweet-talks them into providing them with the list. "I have spoken."
The Ugnauts' lead takes our heroes to the loading docks, where battle droids have been repurposed as cargo loaders. Mando proceeds to kick the battle droids until one of them fights back. They proceed to run it down through the back alleys and "Blade Runner" it.
They find a "spark pad" on the battle droid with the name and address of a robot bar called The Resistor.
They show up at the droid bar and immediately make a scene. Apparently their kind isn't welcome there. Speaking to the bartender, Mando goes into bad cop mode. The bartender tells him that the droids are afraid that if the incidents continue, they will be replaced, and they don't have anywhere else to go. The bartender cooperates, and finds out that the malfunctioning droids were all served the same batch of of Nepenthé, a lubricant that also delivers "program refreshing sub-particles."
Later, in the droid morgue, they take a sample of the lubricant from the destroyed battle droid. The programming particles are still active, and cause a surgery droid to attack them. Bad idea. Investigating with a technician, they discover that the particles are actually nanobots, and the blockchain indicates that they were brought in illegally by the head of security.
They arrest the head of security, who turns out to have been a Separatist holdover, a follower of Count Dooku.
The Duchess exiles the head of security to the moon of Paraqaat. She then grandts our heroes access to the mercs, gives them the key to the planet, and makes Grogu a knight in the Ancient Order of Independent Regencies.
Notable bits:
- Star Wars air traffic control can override your controls?
- Plazir-15 claims to be "the outer rim's only remaining direct democracy." I'm not sure what to make of that. Is that "everybody votes on what to do, all the time?"
- Talk about railroading, with a literal railroad!
- Note that the royal guards are wearing stormtrooper armor decorated with tabards and capes. Note also that one of them is Bryce Dallas Howard.
- Captain Bombardier is a product of the New Republic Amnesty Program? I guess Doctor Pershing should have stuck with the program.
- Aegyo is K-Pop slang for when a pop idol does a quick smile, cute gesture, flourish or pose, often in a closeup shot, as a one second bit of fanservice.
- I'm not sure how The Captain and Tennille knew that Mando and Bo-Katan were coming. It's possible that a flight plan was filed, and the Plazir-15 crowd got their names from that.
- Note that the Captain and the Duchess address Bo-Katan as Princess.
- I love how the Ugnauts ignore them and lie to their faces until Mando addresses them in their own manner. It's their defense against annoying eloi.
- I cynically suspect that Grogu's knighthood is about as prestigious as being the Burger King.
***
Mando and Bo-Katan travel to the landing field where the mercenary fleet is parked, and meet with Axe Woves. When he refuses to turn the fleet back over to her, she challenges him to a duel. It's a tough fight, but she ekes out a win, but even then, they aren't going to follow her without the Darksaber.
Mando then gives the Darksaber to Bo-Katan, arguing that since the ghoul on Mandalore defeated him and took the saber, and she defeated the Ghoul, she has won it in combat. Axe Woves is forced to admit that this is legit.
Bo-Katan stands tall with the Darksaber in her hand.
Note: It's a bit odd that they didn't put their helmets on to fight the duel.
***
On the surface, this episode is kind of an odd duck. But there is a whole lot of world building on display here. I'll post more in the morning.
OK, was I the only one who felt like Plazir-15 looked like The City from Logan's Run?
NO FIGHTING SHIP IN IT'S RIGHT MIND WOULD LET TRAFFIC CONTROL OVERRIDE THE PILOT LIKE THAT. That jarred me right out of my suspension of disbelief.
The number of cameos was disturbing. Lizzo can't act for shit and was thrown in there for woke cred only.
This was the first episode of the Mandalorian that I thought was bad. Actually, I think the show may have jumped the shark with the guest star appearances. The game of "toss the critter" was too obviously a parody of the Red Queen's croquet game from Alice in Wonderland. Overall, this episode felt like a poorly written Scooby-Doo episode to me.
Possible reason why. The season end of Bad Batch was just a couple of days before and it was awesomely gut-wrenchingly dramatic, so this Mandalorian episode maybe meant to balance that out. Plus, a bad episode still generates a lot of buzz and Star Wars Celebration is this weekend (which has already shown the trailer for Ahsoka and its hints of the Thrawn Trilogy).
Yep. Quite a few bits in this episode that don't quite work.
Overriding the Gauntlet's flight controls, I guess we can write that up to allowing the flight control to happen if they want to land, and Bo-Katan could have aborted the landing manually. Like the "rules" behind how the Tracking Fobs work, it's fuzzy and plot-ty.
I didn't mind fat black lady and fat white guy. They kinda fit the role of silly, spoiled governors.
But one has to wonder what this planet is gonna do if anything even remotely out of scope happens. They're reliant on droids to do everything for them. Really, I got a strong Wall-E vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kdRdzxdZQ) from the place. Except, yknow, ugnaughts toiling away to make the droids for them.
An elected monarchy that's a direct democracy. Bwhuh?
PS a direct democracy would scare the shit out of me. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEPZQ13kh7U)
I was slightly concerned that this was gonna go into the whole "Are droids people" argument. I really hate that because Star Wars is intentionally vague on that point. I'm glad they didn't.
I can accept that the seperatist guy was old and frustrated and enacted his plan simply because he wanted to do something, but I'm wondering how the ugnaughts knew where the next droid malfunction would occur? Were they in on the plan? (I don't find that likely) Was there some clue that their droid expertise picked up on? Why didn't they warn someone? Do they just build and maintain droids and a battle droid going crazy and ripping some school children's arms off is none of their concern?
I got a strong impression that Din and Bo-Katan were only slightly serious about humoring the governor. Going through the motions because they needed their help, and play along with the whole "M'lady, M'Lord" stuff.
I did like the episode. I'd give it a C. A fun watch with some Huh? Moments. Pretty standard for The Mandalorian.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 08, 2023, 01:35:23 AM
OK, was I the only one who felt like Plazir-15 looked like The City from Logan's Run?
The domed city is a long-running trope in sci fi. Personally, it made me think of EPCOT Center at Disney World.
If you want to see a cynical take on domed cities, read William Gibson's
Johnny Mnemonic in the collection
Burning Chrome.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 08, 2023, 01:35:23 AM
NO FIGHTING SHIP IN IT'S RIGHT MIND WOULD LET TRAFFIC CONTROL OVERRIDE THE PILOT LIKE THAT. That jarred me right out of my suspension of disbelief.
I agree with you on that. My immediate reaction is "that's the first thing Han Solo disabled on the Millennium Falcon."
I'm not surprised that Bo-Katan still has hers enabled. She's kind of Lawful Good to a fault.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 08, 2023, 01:35:23 AM
This was the first episode of the Mandalorian that I thought was bad.
I wouldn't go that far, especially since there was a lot in this episode that I really liked. More on that in a later post.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 08, 2023, 06:29:20 AM
I didn't mind fat black lady and fat white guy. They kinda fit the role of silly, spoiled governors.
But one has to wonder what this planet is gonna do if anything even remotely out of scope happens. They're reliant on droids to do everything for them. Really, I got a strong Wall-E vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kdRdzxdZQ) from the place. Except, yknow, ugnaughts toiling away to make the droids for them.
I didn't mind Lizzo, and I liked the floating antigravity train on her gown. It made more sense than Padme's weird space queen getups in the prequel trilogy.
I liked Jack Black a lot, I thought he had the perfect handle on that part. Seemingly a popinjay, but at times you can see the realpolitik showing through.
As for what Plazir-15 would do if things get ugly, well, there's a big red button on the Head of Security's console that reactivates all the battle droids. Their guards are wearing stormtrooper armor. I'm sure that somewhere there are blasters to go with that armor, though they are probably locked up in an armory, or in vaults in the guard stations, like riot gear in a modern day police station. There would probably have to be a declaration of martial law for them to get that stuff out.
Mainly, though, Plazir-15 seems like a tourist destination. Disney World on steroids. And they have the mercs to deal with pirates and other external threats.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 08, 2023, 06:29:20 AM
I can accept that the seperatist guy was old and frustrated and enacted his plan simply because he wanted to do something, but I'm wondering how the ugnaughts knew where the next droid malfunction would occur? Were they in on the plan? (I don't find that likely) Was there some clue that their droid expertise picked up on? Why didn't they warn someone? Do they just build and maintain droids and a battle droid going crazy and ripping some school children's arms off is none of their concern?
What if the Ugnauts are too low-caste to bring charges against a human, particularly one at the top of the pecking order?
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 08, 2023, 07:45:51 AM
I agree with you on that. My immediate reaction is "that's the first thing Han Solo disabled on the Millennium Falcon."
"We don't slave this ship to anything. Ever."--Han Solo,
Heir to the Empire, when asked if the Falcon had a 'slave circuit', and when Leia suggested the possibility of setting up a temporary one to speed up their approach to Nkllon.
My initial reaction was that the whole robot mystery subplot was kind of silly, and the confrontation with Axe Woves a little too pat. But on rewatch, there are a lot of things in this episode that I really appreciated.
Although Plazir-15 isn't one of the core worlds, I think it can be used as a template for them. The domed cities with elevated transparent tube trains are a standard sci fi trope, but this is a good rendition of the type.
What we saw on Mandalore was the bombed-out version of this.
Note also that under the dome, there were numerous waterways, possibly canals. And surrounding the base of the dome, tons of docks that could have been for waterborne ships, or starships.
And there are service levels, most likely underground, or at least below street level, like the "Utilidor" service corridors underneath Disney World.
There are numerous subcultures in play, from the pampered upper classes, to the uniformed professional class, to the Ugnauts, to the robot bar which, in an inversion of the Mos Eisley Cantina, doesn't serve humans. And of course, the Mandalorian mercs.
I don't particularly care for the "Morlock/Eloi" dichotomy we are seeing a lot of. There should be a bustling middle class as well. It's possible the neon-lit corridors they chased the battle droid through were supposed to be the commercial district. Or that could have been the red light district, it is hard to tell. If you want suburbs and shopping malls, it would be easy to pencil them in around the edges. There's also the argument that safe happy suburbs are not where the adventures happen, so the camera never goes there.
There were also a lot of things you can use for characters playing nobility. They would seem to enjoy a certain privilege, but there would be limits to their ability to boss people around. The Ugnauts seem to cope with unwanted upper class intrusions by ignoring them, and stonewalling them. If you don't know how to work with them, they won't really work for you.
I liked the Roman-style standards that Axe Wove had set up around his makeshift field office. It's a small detail, but they really got me thinking. Rome as a metaphor for Mandalore works pretty well for me. You've got legionaries, senators, even the underground cults. And now, after the fall of Mandalore, you have remnants of the culture, along with barbarians living in the ruins.
One thing the scenes with the mercs also made clear: they were never going to follow Mando, even when he had the Darksaber.
Anyway, I loved all the little details and world building in this episode. For me, they raised it above the level of the somewhat weak A and B plots.
IMHO, this episode had more world building in it than the entire sequel trilogy.
I'm not sure I have ever seen a Super Battle Droid haul it in quite that fashion.
The droid having a matchbook that led them back to a bar was more than a little silly. Any organic having a "spark plate" - I get that. But a droid? That's the GM pulling a clue out of his ass, on the spot.
The droid bar scene was good. I was really hoping for a "my friend doesn't like you!" bit but that might have been just a little too precious.
A droid morgue? CSI: Mando going on over here.
I thought it was kind of cool how untraditionally clean and spotless everything was (well, the above-ground stuff anyway). Just different.
What do we have, two more episodes?
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 08, 2023, 04:19:33 PM
A droid morgue? CSI: Mando going on over here.
My first thought was that a droid morgue was silly, it should be more like a garage than anything.
But, on second thought, what if they took the droid to the people morgue? I could see that, just to maintain the chain of custody of the evidence. And the lab equipment and ball droid would have been in keeping with a morgue for humans.
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 08, 2023, 04:19:33 PM
I thought it was kind of cool how untraditionally clean and spotless everything was (well, the above-ground stuff anyway). Just different.
If Captain Bombardier is ex-imperial, than the whole resort is probably brand new.
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 08, 2023, 04:19:33 PM
What do we have, two more episodes?
Yes, and they are both directed by Rick Famuwiya. My guess is, it will be a two-part season finale. They had Giancarlo Esposito doing promo interviews for this season, so I would imagine Moff Gideon is turning up. Could the Empire... strike back?
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 08, 2023, 04:19:33 PM
I'm not sure I have ever seen a Super Battle Droid haul it in quite that fashion.
The droid having a matchbook that led them back to a bar was more than a little silly.
Just a couple of reasons why I said that it felt like a badly written Scooby-Doo episode.
Season 3 Episode 7 has dropped.
No spoilers until Saturday.
I'll leave it at that.
I got through about fifteen minutes before I had to stop to attend to other matters.
They packed a lot into that first ten minutes.
Alright done. Middle dragged some, but the end had some hot shit going on.
Hurm. I liked the beginning a middle a lot. The end was... annoying. Specifics on saturday.
WE ARE NOW GO FOR SPOILERS ON MANDALORIAN SEASON 3 EPISODE 06
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Secret meeting with the Imperial remnants was good. I was reminded of the Death Star conference scene. Talky-talky infodumps like these aren't exciting, but I feel they're necessary sometimes to get the info to the watcher. Plus, they can be as entertaining without being a whizz-bang battle scene. We wouldn't have "I find your lack of faith disturbing!" without them.
I don't care about Thrawn. I'm not a fan of the EU, and all I know about Thrawn is that he's some blue dude from the EU who likes paintings and has/had a lot of ships, and he's supposed to be some kind of military genius guy. I've never heard one thing about him that's interesting.
Sequel bits in The Mandalorian. I love the Mandalorian when it's giving us new content. New places and characters and settings. I'm not as excited about cameos, but in moderation, they're ok.
Putting "setup" stuff for the sequels just makes me tired and annoyed. I consider this episode Strike One. At Strike Three, I'm out. the sequels are my Anti-Star Wars, and I have no time for that shit.
Anyone notice the Fang Fighters (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnWbpAVAvkk) in Bo-Katan's fleet? (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/5/58/Stolen_fleet.png/revision/latest?cb=20230413004259) I did. :D I think we're going to get some sweet Fang on Interceptor action next episode.
The closeups of the Interceptors and Bombers. I love how detailed the ships are in Mandalorian.
The episode was great, I loved the landship and the surviving Manalores.
And now, Paz Visla. I hate "I'll hold them off" self-sacrifice scenes, unless they're done with some thought. I can't see why Visla had to do it, and his sacrifice felt cheap and manufactured. I just rolled my eyes when he died. Whatever, dude, ya drama queen.
Moff Gideon is back, and he's still up to his "baking some super-troopers" plot. Ok. Yeah. Expected that.
A good episode, with a couple of points that really annoyed me. Like I said, if they try to use The Mandalorian to explain the black hole of storytelling that is the sequels, I'm going to stop watching the show.
*edit* almost forgot IG-12. Anyone else find that kinda wierd. Like, they're using the "corpse" of a droid they considered a friend as a vehicle for Grogu. I found the execution kinda silly, but it grew on me a bit as the episode went on.
I found the Shadow Council scene to be a terrific way to quickly get across the facts of what is really going on. I like that Moff Gideon is running his own play, trying to take over in the absence of another strong leader.
Moff Gideon felt a lot less like a mid-boss in this one.
I'm pretty disappointed that they are including sequel material in The Mandalorian. I find the sequel trilogy unacceptable. I like the new characters well enough, but the idea that the New Republic gets destroyed off-screen is nonsensical and an abomination.
It is possible that they are setting up sequel plot points in order to knock them down once KK is finally gone, but that feels like wishful thinking on my part.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 06
Chapter 23 - THE SPIES
On Coruscant, Elia Kane, a.k.a. G68, furtively enters a dark alley where she meets an Imperial Probe Droid. After being scanned and providing her passcode, TK2755, the probe droid powers up and displays a holoprojection of Moff Gideon. She reports that the pirates on Nevarro have been defeated by Mandalorians.
"Which Mandalorians?" Moff Gideon asks keenly.
"According to the reports received by the New Republic, Bo-Katan Kryze led a squadron of Mandalorians alongside Din Djarin and his covert."
"This cannot be!" exclaims Moff Gideon in dismay, "Those two factions are sworn enemies."
"Which is why I contacted you with haste," replies G68.
"Continue your mission," orders Gideon, "I shall deal with our Mandalorian friends."
Notes:
1) Apparently the Imperials are behind the pirate attacks.
***
Striding through a series of deflector-barriers, and a lab full of tanks containing humanoid subjects, Gideon arrives at a holographic conference of the Shadow Council, the former Imperials working to reestablish the Empire.
Admiral Pellaeon is calling for caution, so as not to tip off the New Republic that they are a united enemy, instead of the scattered remnants they pretend to be.
An unnamed bald Imperial warlord argues that there is a fortune to be made plundering the hyperspace lanes.
A female warlord insists that there are citizens loyal to the Empire on every planet in the galaxy. They are already getting sick of the New Republic and its rules and regulations.
A bearded warlord says that a show of strength would rally the Imperial loyalists behind them.
Pelleon says that Grand Admiral Thrawn's return will herald in the reemergence of the Empire's military, and provide Commandant Hux time to deliver on Project Necromancer.
Gideon responds that he has not heard so much as a whisper of Thrawn's return anywhere in the galaxy. Perhaps it's time they looked for new leadership.
Commandant Hux says that Project Necromancer is in place for that. He asks what has become of Doctor Pershing and his research. The news of Pershing's capture by the New Republic and the destruction of his research is a setback to the project. Hux accuses Gideon of pursuing his own cloning research, but Gideon pooh-poohs this.
Moff Gideon criticises Hux and Pellaeon for amassing resources that they should be sharing.
Gideo has put in requests for three Praetorian guards, as well as reinforcements for his tie interceptors and bombers.
Moff gideon tells the Shadow Council about the resurgence of the Mandalorians, and gets his requests fulfilled.
Gideon says "We shall be rid of the Mandalorians once and for all. Long Live The Empire!"
"Long live the Empire!" shouts the Council.
Notes:
1) This is the first canon appearance of Admiral Pellaeon, a character introduced in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. In those books, Pellaeon was the supreme commander of the Imperial Remnant, and the right-hand man of Grand Admiral Thrawn. He is a competent baddie.
2) Commandant Brendol Hux is the father of General Armitage Hux from the Sequel Trilogy. He is played by Brian Gleeson, the brother of Domhnall Gleeson.
3) We see direct connections to the Sequel Trilogy. Disappointing!
4) Project Necromancer is clearly the project to bring back the Emperor.
***
Back on Nevarro, the Mandalorian fleet rumbles into sight above the city. Greef Karga recognizes them and goes to meet them.
On the ground, the members of the covert view the the fleet apprehensively. Paz Vizla orders Ragnar to take the children inside.
The two sides square off, and the mercs remove their helmets. The Children of the Watch do not. Mando keeps his helmet on.
The Armorer appears, welcomes the mercs, and invites them to make camp. "Let us prepare a feast for our guests."
Greef Karga appears and welcomes Mando back with a gift of booze from Coruscant. "That's not the only gift I have for you."
***
In Grief Karga's office, he reveals that IG-11 has been converted into IG-12, with his brains scooped out of his torso, replaced by a tiny cockpit for Grogu to pilot him like a mech. Grogu also has buttons that allow him to say Yes and No.
Mando isn't crazy about this, but Grogu loves it.
Grogu uses his new independence to act out, taking food from a street vendor, and grabbing a meiloorun fruit over Mando's objections, which IG-12's claws crush.
"This isn't working for me," Mando grumps.
***
At that night's feast, the factions are split up and not mixing.
Bo-Katan announces that it is time to retake their home world.
Even though the planet is not cursed, it is still dangerous. Dormant species have been awakened by the bombings. Magnetic interference makes it impossible to scan the surface from orbit, or communicate between ships in orbit and the ground.
Her plan is to move the fleet into orbit over Mandalore, and send down a search party to locate the Great Forge and establish a safe perimeter around it. Only then will they bring down the others.
She requests volunteers from both tribes. Mando, Grogu, Koska Reeves, Axe Woves, Paz Vizsla, the Armorer, and others volunteer to go.
***
The fleet jumps into orbit over Mandalore, and the scouting party descends to the ground in Bo-Katan's ship.
The search party drops into the landing zone and secures it, and Bo-Katan lands her ship.
They begin searching for the Great Forge, and encounter a land-ship operated by survivors of the Purge who remained on Mandalore.
That night, the survivors from the land-ship discuss the fall of Mandalore, and how Mandalore was punished because they refused to surrender. Bo-Katan tells then that she did surrender, in the hope of saving her people after defeat was unavoidable. That is how Moff Gideon got his hands on the Darksaber. But Gideon went back on his word and bombed them any way.
The survivors ask how the Children of the Watch survived. When the Armorer responds that they were hidden on the moon of Concordia, they ask if the Children are Death Watch.
"Death Watch exists no longer," replies the Armorer, "It shattered into many warring factions."
"Our people have suffered time and time again from division and squabbling factions," says Bo-Katan. "Mandalore has always been too powerful for any enemy to defeat. It is always our own division that destroys us."
***
Leter, Mando and Bo-Katan meet on deck. Mando says that he had no idea that Bo-Katan had surrendered. They thought she was selfish and uncaring.
"I was selfish," Bo says, staring out into the desolation. "And this is what it wrought."
"We'll rebuild it," replies Mando. "Isn't that our history? For thousands of years, we have been on the verge of extinction, and for thousands of years, we have survived."
"I don't know if I can keep everyone together. There's too much animosity. And this blade is all I have to unify our people."
"I only know of this weapon what you taught me. To be honest, it means nothing to me or my people. Nor does station, or bloodline. What means more to me is honor, and loyalty, and character. These are the reasons I serve you, Lady Kryse. Your song is not yet written. I will serve you until it is."
Bo-Katan is moved, and seemingly reassured.
***
The Armorer is tending to the sick among the survivors. They are too weak to continue. They will return to the Gauntlet, and the Armorer will take them to the fleet in the morning. The remaining healthy survivors are invited to help them in the search for the Great Forge.
"We can do better than that," their leader replies. "We can bring you there."
***
By the light of dawn, the landship heads onward to the Forge, while the Armorer flies the sickened survivors up to the fleet.
The landship approaches the Great Forge, only to find the landscape... moving? It's a kaiju-sized monster, and it falls upon the landship and destroys it as the Mandalorians abandon ship. The survivors hastily lead the rest into the rubble, and down to the Great Forge.
The Great Forge is abandoned, its fires long extinguished, but it seems to be largely intact.
Suddenly the sound of jetpacks announces the arrival of white-suited Imperial troopers. They are Moff Gideon's soldiers, clad in Mandalorian-esque beskar armor.
Axe Woves flies out of a gap in the walls to go back for reinforcements.
Battle is joined, but it is tough going for the Mandalorians, as the enemy's armor is nearly as good as their own. Paz Vizsla's heavy gun begins to turn the tide, though, and they slowly push the Imperials back.
They pursue the enemy into an Imperial base, where the enemy springs an ambush, lowering bulkheads to trap most of the Mandalorians inside.
Caught outside, Mando is attacked by a group of enemy soldiers, trapped by grappline lines, and inexorably grappled into submission.
Moff Gideon arrives in a shiny new suit of Mandoesque armor, which he claims is the new improved Dark Trooper suit. It is made of beskar alloy, and best of all, he brags, it has Moff Gideon in it.
He orders the TIE Interceptors and bombers to "take the Mandalorian fleet off the board" while they still have the element of surprise, and has Mando dragged off to a debriefing room .
He orders Bo-Katan to surrender the Darksaber, but instead she uses it to cut a hole in the back door to allow the Mandalorians to escape.
Moff Gideon orders the front door opened so that his troopers can attack. The Mandalorians and Grogu escape through the hole in the back while Paz Vizsla covers their escape. Once the others are clear, Bo-Katan tells Paz Vizsla to follow them, but he replies that there are too many and closes the blast door behind him.
NO! cries Bo-Katan, but the blast door is down, and she can't get through it.
"THIS IS THE WAY" insists Paz Vizsla.
She escapes while Paz Vizsla fights the Imperial troopers.
Paz Vizsla fires until his heavy gun melts down, then takes on the remaining Imperial troopers hand-to-hand.
He defeats them, but at a high cost. Then the three Praetorian Guards close in on the exhausted Vizsla, and using their energized pole arms, slash and stab him, until, at last, the mighty warrior falls dead.
[end of episode]
***
Paz Vizsla's death scene hits hard.
He fought until he could barely stand, and then the Praetorian Guard moved in. On the one hand, it's kind of a cowardly strategy, but on the other hand, they were clearly expert with their weapons. They just slaughtered him. Reminded me of the ox getting killed in Apocalypse Now.
The name of the episode is THE SPIES. Plural. We see G68 at the beginning of the episode. Who are the other spies?
Perhaps the members of the Shadow Council?
Or is there a traitor in their midst?
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 15, 2023, 10:07:01 PM
Or is there a traitor in their midst?
That would be unexpected. Well, until you brought it up. ;)
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 16, 2023, 01:31:40 AM
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 15, 2023, 10:07:01 PM
Or is there a traitor in their midst?
That would be unexpected. Well, until you brought it up. ;)
There has been a lot of speculation online.
I don't want any of the Mandalorians to be a traitor, I think that would undercut the "stronger together, let's not let our disagreements tear us apart" theme of the season. Plus, there are only a few named Mandalorians any way. It would have to be the Armorer, Axe Woves, Koska Reeves, or, what, Ragnar?
If there is another spy, I would nominate someone on Nevarro. It would make sense that the pirates/bad guys had an informant there.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 16, 2023, 10:20:42 AM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 16, 2023, 01:31:40 AM
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 15, 2023, 10:07:01 PM
Or is there a traitor in their midst?
That would be unexpected. Well, until you brought it up. ;)
There has been a lot of speculation online.
I don't want any of the Mandalorians to be a traitor, I think that would undercut the "stronger together, let's not let our disagreements tear us apart" theme of the season. Plus, there are only a few named Mandalorians any way. It would have to be the Armorer, Axe Woves, Koska Reeves, or, what, Ragnar?
If there is another spy, I would nominate someone on Nevarro. It would make sense that the pirates/bad guys had an informant there.
My first thought was Koska. She got a look going on. :D
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 16, 2023, 10:20:42 AM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 16, 2023, 01:31:40 AM
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 15, 2023, 10:07:01 PM
Or is there a traitor in their midst?
That would be unexpected. Well, until you brought it up. ;)
There has been a lot of speculation online.
I don't want any of the Mandalorians to be a traitor, I think that would undercut the "stronger together, let's not let our disagreements tear us apart" theme of the season. Plus, there are only a few named Mandalorians any way. It would have to be the Armorer, Axe Woves, Koska Reeves, or, what, Ragnar?
If there is another spy, I would nominate someone on Nevarro. It would make sense that the pirates/bad guys had an informant there.
The most convincing theory I've seen online is that the spy is the captain of the land ship on Mandalore. He knew where the Great Forge was, but didn't know that an Imperial base had been built nearby?
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 15, 2023, 10:07:01 PM
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 06
Notes:
1) This is the first canon appearance of Admiral Pellaeon, a character introduced in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. In those books, Pellaeon was the supreme commander of the Imperial Remnant, and the right-hand man of Grand Admiral Thrawn. He is a competent baddie.
Not the first.....In the final episode of Star Wars: Rebels, Thrawn is seen calling Captain Pallaeon by name on comms to find out what is going on with his fleet as the Purrgills attack. It is the first mention, if not the first appearance.
Personal theory - this is all an elaborate set-up conducted from Star Wars: Rebels onward, to allow the use of as much of the Thrawn Trilogy storyline as possible when they are finally able to.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 16, 2023, 12:20:30 PM
The most convincing theory I've seen online is that the spy is the captain of the land ship on Mandalore. He knew where the Great Forge was, but didn't know that an Imperial base had been built nearby?
Well, it was pretty clear that the Great Forge had been abandoned. Probably for years. Whereas the Imperial base was shiny and new.
My rationalization is that the landship survivors knew where the Great Forge was, but hadn't been there in years because they were focused on finding food and not dying. The Imperial base was not there the last time they visited the Forge.
Wednesday morning we'll see how they wrap up this season.
Do we want to speculate about who might do what?
Or do we want to avoid potential spoilers?
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 17, 2023, 09:53:25 PM
Wednesday morning we'll see how they wrap up this season.
Do we want to speculate about who might do what?
Or do we want to avoid potential spoilers?
Blind speculation isn't spoilers. I can only go off what the existing narrative gives me.
Axe went for reinforcements so I have to imagine reinforcements will arrive at the dramatically correct time.
A space battle has been foreshadowed so it'd be damn stupid for a Star Wars property to not deliver one.
Mando has been captured and had his obvious weapons removed... unless the goal is to emasculate their lead he's going to have to escape using his own ingenuity; probably after learning something important.
Per the legend/prophecy established in Mando season 2.5 (aka the back half of the Book of Boba Fett) someone is going to ride/control that Mythosaur to smash the hell out of the Imperials.
The three Imperial Guard need to be taken down by either Bo or Mando (or both) because you don't just march those guys in to kill an already exhausted Big Guy character without a hero or lancer archetype getting justice. Using them also gives room for Moff Gideon to escape.
We also have Republic Guy who found the Beskar as part of the Imperial rescue of Moff Gideon to pay off... possibly as a New Republic strike force arriving at Mandalore in time for the space battle.
While IG-12 (with Grogu pilot) may just be a new toy to buy, I think that's going to need some type of story payoff affecting the plot to really be worth the addition.
The Armorer and Bo will have some moment to shine.
* * *
There's my purely unspoiled speculation based on story structure. If the woke mind virus hasn't completely overtaken them we should see most of those.
I think the entire point of the IG-12 storyline is to give Grogu the Yes and No buttons so that he can start to deliver dialog on his own.
Once he learns to speak, (he's beginning to verbalize) they'll probably put IG-11 back together.
I also suspect we'll get to see Grogu's giant monster taming trick again.
I suspect that Moff Gideon is going to set another trap for Bo-Katan, because he really wants to get the Darksaber back (it completes his ensemble), and deep down inside he lacks the courage to just challenge for it.
Season 3 Episode 08 has dropped.
And it is good.
Please refrain from spoilers until Saturday.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 19, 2023, 05:04:03 AM
Season 3 Episode 08 has dropped.
And it is good.
Please refrain from spoilers until Saturday.
Good to hear! Going to watch tonight, looking forward to it.
I already encountered one spoiler on a YouTube video title.
Sorry you got spoiled, Ratman_tf.
Unfortunately, the various YouTube Star Wars channels seem to be in a race to see who can get the spoilers for an episode out first.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 20, 2023, 08:27:29 AM
Sorry you got spoiled, Ratman_tf.
Unfortunately, the various YouTube Star Wars channels seem to be in a race to see who can get the spoilers for an episode out first.
Yep. It wasn't huge, but it did annoy me.
On top of that, Disney+ failed to load for me last night. Just a spinning icon. I'll try again tonight.
Got in to watch it. It was alright. More on saturday.
(https://i.imgur.com/9SraeEQ.png)
WE ARE NOW GO FOR SPOILERS ON MANDALORIAN SEASON 3 EPISODE 08
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The Mandalorian S3 E08
Chapter 24: THE RETURN
Bo-Katan is leading the scout party to safety. She contacts Axe Woves, tells him about Moff Gideon and his base, and orders him to evacuate everyone from the fleet and use the cruiser as a decoy.
They continue to fight a withrawal as the Imperial troops pursue.
***
Elsewhere in the base, Mando is being dragged along by two troopers. He is bound at wrist and ankles. Suddenly he jumps up, kicks off the wall, and begins fighting back. He grabs a boot knife off a trooper, and cuts his legs free before the troopers are on top of him. He manages to snap the neck of one, but the second one gets the drop on him and is about to finish him off when IG-12 enters the fray. Grabbing the trooper's blaster and crushing it, Grogu finishes off the second trooper with a mighty kick.
Mando says they have to go after Moff Gideon or this will never end. Grogu is with him.
***
Bo-Katan and company are running thruough the tunnels back to the Great Forge when Mando radios Bo-Katan to tell her that he escaped, he has Grogu with him, and they are going after Moff Gideon.
Bo-Katan has to lead her troops to safety, but she wishes them luck. The scouting party finds a place where they can fly out of the rubble, and go to a safe location that the survivors know of.
***
In Moff Gideon's base, the fighters and bombers launch.
Moff Gideon stands before a large security screen, watching two dots representing Mando and Grogu move through the corridors.
"Shall we engage?" asks a trooper.
"No," replies Gideon acidly, "I'll take care of HIM myself."
***
Mando calls up R5 and orders him to "scomp" into the base and find the location of Moff Gideon's command center.
***
R5 flies into the base, dodging Imperial mouse droids, finds a terminal, and plugs in. He quickly finds the coordinates and relays them to Mando.
Mando and Grogu head for the command center.
***
Axe Woves flies out of the atmosphere and links up with the fleet. He orders them to load everyone into the dropships and use the cruiser as a decoy. The dropships enter the atmosphere in the nick of time, just as the Imperials fly up out of the atmosphere and attack the cruiser.
***
Mando carefully sneaks up on the corridor of nested evergy shields that leads into the command center.
He orders R5 to open the first shield, then runs in and takes out the guards. Then repeats on the second batch of guards, then the next, slowly accumulating the guards' weapons as he goes.
R5 is accosted by a mouse droid, and has to run it off with his electric prod before he can open the next set of shields.
Mando makes it to the end of the corridor. "R5, good job, buddy."
R5 is accosted by a handful of mouse droids, but flies off with impunity.
***
Mando finds Moff Gideon's cloning chambers, and destroys them.
***
The scout party arrives at the survivors' hideout, a cavern full of indigenous plant life that the survivors planted there. They have hideouts like these all over the planet. Bo-Katan is reassured to find that the planet can support plant life. "All they need is room to grow," replies the captain of the survivors.
The Armorer announces over the radio "Lady Kryse, your reinforcements have arrived."
"Let's take back our planet" says Bo-Katan, and the scout party jets off to meet with the reinforcements and storm Moff Gideon's base. Diving into the entrance tunnel, they fight through a swarm of Imperial troopers rising to meet them...
***
Inside the command center, Mando advances cautiously, blasters at the ready. Suddenly Moff Gideon's voice rings out.
"My clones were finally going to be perfect! The best parts of me, but improved by adding the one thing I never had: the Force! I was isolating the potential to wield the Force, and incorporating it into an unstoppable army. And you smothered them before they could draw their first breath."
Having caught the villain monologuing, Mando takes the opportunity to open fire. Moff Gideon hastily puts on his helmet. (Too bad it just makes him look like a blacked-out Cobra Commander.)
Mando rockets into Moff Gideon, but Gideon's armor augments his strength, and he throws Mando across the room. Kicking Mando's fallen blaster aside with contempt, he beats on Mando for a bit.
And then the Praetorian Guard enters through a cloud of smoke, looking like badasses.
Mando turns to meet them empty-handed, but they advance together and knock him to the floor, about to finish him off like they did Paz Vyzsla.
Then Grogu enters the fray, his battlecry NO NO NO
The Praetorian Guard leave the battered Mando, and advance on Grogu in IG-12. Grogu backs out through a blast door, but they pursue him. Mando sees Grogu in danger and gets up, running to save him, only to be knocked flat by a cowardly wrist rocket from Moff Gideon. Mando scrambles to his feet again, but Moff Gideon sends a grappling line around his neck from behind, and pulls him back...
***
Outside, the jetpack war rages, with the Armorer, Bo-Katan and Koska Reeves cutting down enemy troopers.
***
The Praetorian Guard chop down IG-12, but Grogu is able to force-jump out of the droid to a ring of suspended lights above. The guard attack him with spear-points, but he evades their thrusts and jumps to temporary safety...
***
Mando cuts himself free of Gideon's grappling line, and the two fight toe to toe, but Moff Gideon's powered armor makes it an unequal fight, and he batters Mando and throws him around.
From up above, Bo-Katan wastes a trooper with the Darksaber, and spots Moff Gideon closing in on Mando. She rockets down and shoulder-checks Moff-Gideon, knocking him away.
"I've got this," she tells Mando, "go save your kid."
Mando scrambles up, grabs his blasters and runs to save Grogu.
Moff Gideon stands and addresses Bo-Katan condescendingly "What's it going to be this time? Surrender, or fight?"
Wordlessly, she fires up the Darksaber. Moff Gideon pulls out a saber staff, and they exchange blows...
***
The Praetorian Guard finally manage to chop the light fixture out from under Grogu, and he falls, pinned by girders. He whimpers as they close in...
Suddenly, blaster bolts strike the guards as Mando arrives to save the day. But their armor stops the blaster bolts, and they attack Mando in numbers. Grogo throws one of them across the room to temporarily even the numbers...
***
Bo-Katan is better with the Darksaber than Moff Gideon is with his, but his armor protects him, and its strength allows him to clinch and then throw her. She re-engages with a cry of rage...
***
Up above, another trooper meets a well-deserved fate...
***
Mando and Grogu fight together against the Guard, Mando fighting with his vibroknife against their energy weapons, Grogu aiding him with force-shoves and snatching away dropped weapons. Mando recovers his blaster, and with blade and gun and Grogu, they finish off the Guard.
"You did good, kid" says the proud Mando.
***
Up in the sky, the captured Imperial Light Cruiser, with Axe Woves at the helm, plunges down out of a thunderstorm, wreathed in flames and approaching the end of its warranty.
Axe hails Bo-Katan and Koska, and tells thim he's coming in hot and is going to take out the base.
***
Moff Gideon and Bo-Katan fight, and Moff Gideon lands a solid shot to her midsection, sending her flying. As she struggles to her feet clutching her side, Gideon mockingly tells her "Hand over the Darksaber and I will give you a warrior's death."
That pisses Bo off, and she attacks Gideon furiously, and only his armor saves him. But save him it does, and he intercepts Bo's saber hand and catches it in a powered armor gauntlet. He bears down on it, and crushes the Darksaber. Bo falls to her knees clutching her sword hand, and Gideon pulls off her helmet.
"The Darksaber is gone!" taunts Gideon, hitting her with a spear thrust. "You've lost everything. Mandalorians are weak once they lose their trinkets."
Bo-Katan gives him a wicked grin.
"Mandalorians are stronger together."
Blaster shots strike Moff Gideon's helmet as Mando reenters the fight with Grogu at his heels.
***
On the burning bridge of the cruiser, Axe Woves aims it towards the base, then blows out a window and bails.
The cruiser crashes down into the base as Mandalorians fly out on all sides.
***
Mando and Gideon exchange shots, with Gideon getting the better of the exchange. Bo-Katan dives in to cover mando with her shield-buckler, and the cruiser hits the base in a rain of fire. Grogu force-shoves Gideon towards the edge of the base, knocking away Gideon's energy spear, as the fiery explosion from the cruiser engulfs the base.
Screaming, Moff Gideon is engulfed by the fireball.
Inside the base, in the midst of the flames, Grogu uses the Force to shield Mando and Bo-Katan from the flames.
The flames die down, and the little guy sits/falls down, spent.
***
Beneath the bombed-out city center, at the Living Waters, Ragnar undergoes the Mandalorian baptism as Mando did, receiving a bowlful of water poured out on his helmeted head.
Mando enters, and sets Grogu down at the edge of the waters. He wants Grogu to become his apprentice, and be "added to the Song." The Armorer says that since Grogu cannot speak the creed, he must remain a foundling.
"If his parent gave permission, couldn't he then become a Mandalorian apprentice?"
"Yes, but his parents are far from here, if they are even alive."
"Then I will adopt him as my own," says Mando.
"This is the Way," the Armorer replies, approvingly.
"This is the Way."
The Armorer faces the assembled Mandalorians. "Let it be written in song that Din Djarin is accepting this foundling as his son."
She tells Grogu "You are now Din Grogu, Mandalorian Apprentice."
"This is the Way," the assembled Mandalorians say in chorus.
The Armorer tells Mando "You must leave Mandalore and take your apprentice on his journeys, just as your teacher did for you."
"This is the Way."
Grogu chirps, as deep below the Mythosaur stirs.
***
The Armorer hands Bo-Katan a torch, with which she relights the Great Forge. Axe Woves leads the Mandalorians in shouting "For Mandalore!"
***
Mando's N1 comes in for a landing at Adelphi Base, the New Republic airfield we saw previously in the season.
Mando and Grogu enter the cantina/officer's club. At the bar, Carson Teva offers to buy him a drink, but Mando is here on business.
Grogu hops up onto the counter, grabs some snacks, and notices a row of helmets behind the bar that ends in an IG robot head. He points it out to Mando and gibbers happily. "It's not him, kid," Mando replies.
Mando makes Teva an offer: They don't have the manpower to cover the outer rim. He'll work for the New Republic as a bounty hunter on a case-by-case basis, off the books. He asks for the assasin droid head as an advance. "I need it for parts."
***
On Nevarro, Greef Karga gifts Mando with the deed to a small cabin just outside of town, a place where he can lay low between adventures.
Mando has a gift for Karga as well: A fully restored IG-11 to serve as the new Marshal of Nevarro, rebuilt with the help of the tiny Anzellans.
***
In the desert outside of town, we see Mando's cabin with the N1 parked out back.
Mando lounges contentedly on the front patio, with his feet up on a hitching post, while his weird alien kid plays in the yard.
Was really hoping for Thrawn here, but I suppose he'll show up in the next series.
Mouse droids were fantastic. Doo dee doo, I'm just patrolling along over here, and - ha HA, scofflaw, halt in the name of the Imperial Remnant!
Satisfying conclusion. I assume we'll get a Season 4 a long way away.
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 22, 2023, 10:02:38 AM
Was really hoping for Thrawn here, but I suppose he'll show up in the next series.
Mouse droids were fantastic. Doo dee doo, I'm just patrolling along over here, and - ha HA, scofflaw, halt in the name of the Imperial Remnant!
Every time I see them now, I think of this:
Quote from: Thornhammer on April 22, 2023, 10:02:38 AM
Satisfying conclusion. I assume we'll get a Season 4 a long way away.
Favreau has said that Season 4 is already written. Hopefully we don't have to wait two years for it.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 22, 2023, 11:24:36 AM
Favreau has said that Season 4 is already written. Hopefully we don't have to wait two years for it.
Well, we don't have Covid paranoia knocking around as a major factor anymore.
I liked the season finale. A little dissapointed that we didn't get any Fang Fighter action, but that's ok.
There was a bunch of space battle concept art in the closing credits, but for whatever reason it didn't get included in the episode.
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 22, 2023, 02:55:36 PM
There was a bunch of space battle concept art in the closing credits, but for whatever reason it didn't get included in the episode.
Money. Iger's directives on budgeting were very clear about cutting the costs on streaming shows.
Something to note is that we didn't see Moff Gideon's body at the end, so he might not be dead yet.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 23, 2023, 09:28:16 AM
Something to note is that we didn't see Moff Gideon's body at the end, so he might not be dead yet.
Yeah. I'd like him to stay deceased, despite really liking the character/actor, because it's a satisfying conclusion to the arc. But who knows... (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Maul)
I want him back but I want Carl Weather's Arrested Development character to start leaking in.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 23, 2023, 06:46:03 PM
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 23, 2023, 09:28:16 AM
Something to note is that we didn't see Moff Gideon's body at the end, so he might not be dead yet.
Yeah. I'd like him to stay deceased, despite really liking the character/actor, because it's a satisfying conclusion to the arc. But who knows... (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Maul)
I was not a big fan of Maul coming back, but the Clone Wars team won me back over, and his final confrontation with Kenobi in the
Twin Suns episode of Star Wars Rebels was amazing.
In general, I was pretty pleased with this season.
I thought they hit a good balance bringing Bo-Katan in and having her earn her wins over the course of the season. I would have liked to have seen the relationship between Mando and Bo-Katan go somewhere on a personal level. But I thought they did a good job of portraying them as peers, each with their strengths and weaknesses.
I don't think Bo-Katan came off like a Mary Sue. In particular, in the last episode fight between Bo-Katan and Moff Gideon, she seems rather outclassed, thanks to Gideon's super-armor. But she is gutsy enough to keep fighting, even when she is getting hit. If Gideon had been wearing his armor from Season 2, she'd have been able to take him.
I'm a bit disappointed that Mando rode off into the sunset after they recaptured Mandalore. I liked the relationship they were building between Mando and Bo-Katan, and at the very least, I'd have liked to see her talk with him before he left with Grogu. It is also a bit odd that he left his entire covert behind. Also, is Ragnar just out there on his own now, and is Mando OK with that?
So apparently Mandalorian apprentices have a mentor. The question then is: who was Mando's mentor?
I liked that there was no traitor in the final episode. After all, the theme of the season was Mandalorians coming together. Plus, traitors need time for their grievances to fester.
They establish early on that jetpacks run out of fuel pretty quickly. But at the end, Axe Woves is flying his jetpack all the way up to orbit. I suppose you could say that there are different models of jet packs, with only some being orbit-capable. They don't all have the rocket launcher, for instance.
Technically, we did get a teaser of Thrawn, in that he was namedropped by the Shadow Council.
I was kind of expecting a big cameo, based on Luke showing up at the end of Season 2. But no Luke, no Boba Fett, no nothing. All I'm saying is that James Earl Jones could have given a pretty great reading of "Back from the dead, motherfuckers!"
Quote from: Lurkndog on April 24, 2023, 11:16:22 PM
In general, I was pretty pleased with this season.
I thought they hit a good balance bringing Bo-Katan in and having her earn her wins over the course of the season. I would have liked to have seen the relationship between Mando and Bo-Katan go somewhere on a personal level. But I thought they did a good job of portraying them as peers, each with their strengths and weaknesses.
I don't think Bo-Katan came off like a Mary Sue. In particular, in the last episode fight between Bo-Katan and Moff Gideon, she seems rather outclassed, thanks to Gideon's super-armor. But she is gutsy enough to keep fighting, even when she is getting hit. If Gideon had been wearing his armor from Season 2, she'd have been able to take him.
I'm a bit disappointed that Mando rode off into the sunset after they recaptured Mandalore. I liked the relationship they were building between Mando and Bo-Katan, and at the very least, I'd have liked to see her talk with him before he left with Grogu. It is also a bit odd that he left his entire covert behind.
The whole covert were granted land and welcomed on Nevarro, which is shaping up to be a growing settlement. I find it likely that the Mandos will keep maintaining a presense there, while rebuilding Mandalore. They're going to need friends, contacts, resources, and Nevarro is a good place to do that.
Quote
They establish early on that jetpacks run out of fuel pretty quickly. But at the end, Axe Woves is flying his jetpack all the way up to orbit. I suppose you could say that there are different models of jet packs, with only some being orbit-capable. They don't all have the rocket launcher, for instance.
In defense, the ship was in low orbit to drop troops off. To take some of that defense away, the issue of fuel is usually based on plot. :)
I had a duh moment. Some fans on social media have pointed out that Gideon was cloning himself...
While it would become tiresome to play "Was that Gideon or a clone of Gideon?" Pulling the trick once would be alright, especially when they set everything up beforehand, and didn't just pull it out of their asses.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on April 27, 2023, 03:15:34 AM
I had a duh moment. Some fans on social media have pointed out that Gideon was cloning himself...
While it would become tiresome to play "Was that Gideon or a clone of Gideon?" Pulling the trick once would be alright, especially when they set everything up beforehand, and didn't just pull it out of their asses.
No, pulling that trick even once is tiresome, especially when the episode explicitly closed that door and then blew up the room on the other side.
Although, Gideon's armor WAS really good...
And clearly they didn't find a body, or else Mando would have needed to turn him in and collect that fat bounty a second time. (Space Daddy still needs a new
Razorback sorry, Razor Crest.)