Television The Mandalorian OT - This is the Way

[Kal-El814]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Not only is it a helluva lot of fun so far, but the series appears to have received a pretty decent boost in its production budget!

 

Yeah, it really looks great.

 

They probably saved a mint by not having Pedro under the helmet most of the time  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The ending of this episode definitely got a chuckle out of me.

[Kal-El814]

3 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

The ending of this episode definitely got a chuckle out of me.

 

I mean this in the best possible way, this episode in particular is just live action Rebels or Clone Wars. The way Bo-Katan is just sitting in a corner office, completely fucking alone except with a droid butler to tell her when someone parks in her driveway... the way Mando decides to take a dip in full fucking armor and then sinks like a rock... Gorge's lil solo adventure... it's really good. I don't know if they decided to lean more in this direction after seeing what Andor was going to turn into or if it came about more organically, but I think it's the right call, at least so far.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

This episode also answered my question of "How long will it be before Din Djarin gets beat up?"

[Kal-El814]

5 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

This episode also answered my question of "How long will it be before Din Djarin gets beat up?"

 

My man lost so much blood that he forgot to take off his metal suit / DID take off his jet pack before going swimming. If the next episode isn't him and Bo-Katan falling in love while recovering from the bends in a recompression chamber, I'm going to lose it.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The new question is "Does Bo Katan tell him what's actually in the water?"

 

Din: "When you rescued me from drowning because I wore a Beskar armor suit while baptizing myself, did you see anything in the water?"

Bo: "Uhhhh...nope, nothing at all!  I definitely didn't see a living manifestation of Mandalore's founding mythology!  Not at all!"

[Kal-El814]

Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

The new question is "Does Bo Katan tell him what's actually in the water?"

 

Din: "When you rescued me, did you see anything in the water?"

Bo: "Uhhhh...nope, nothing at all!"

 

"I saw a very stupid man who somehow knew enough to have a robot test the atmosphere before rolling down the car window be stupid enough to just walk into a vernal pool without testing the depth or for parasites, now take off that helmet and kiss me, you cultist!"

 

It could happen!

 

Kidding aside I do think it's very charming that Bo-Katan refers to Grogo as Mando's son.

[Kal-El814]

Also it's kinda interesting that a character like Saw Gerrera got his start on Clone Wars and his character arc gradually saw him more and more radicalized.

 

When we first see Bo-Katan in Clone Wars she's a fucking terrorist opposed to her sister's democratic, non-violent rule. She'd mellowed out a bit by Rebels and here it's clear that the fandom has, at least for now, driven her to her "tamest" depiction yet. But she helped form the Shadow Collective! She worked with The Sith! Yeah, The Jedi and Mandos got along great, remember when Obi-Wan wanted to pork your sister then you got her killed? Great collab, no notes, Bo!

 

This isn't uncharted territory for Star Wars of course, Vader's post death glow up to ghost dad is... appalling, all things considered. Still!

[Greatoneshere]

Another really fun episode, no question. I'm hoping at some point the show stops being pro-cult but I think it'll get there.

[Kal-El814]

58 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

Another really fun episode, no question. I'm hoping at some point the show stops being pro-cult but I think it'll get there.

 

Yeah it's a bit weird that most of the Mandos we've seen are... not great? Din is the only main one we know of that hasn't really been part of a violent uprising, developed WMDs, or been a terrorist?

[Greatoneshere]

18 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Yeah it's a bit weird that most of the Mandos we've seen are... not great? Din is the only main one we know of that hasn't really been part of a violent uprising, developed WMDs, or been a terrorist?

 

Yeah agreed I had the same thought. Mandalorians are a warrior culture so even in the KOTOR games and elsewhere they are mostly all about being mercs, killing things, etc. but having our main character still fully bought in to a fundamentalist religious sect that was banished by an already extreme overall warrior culture to the point he needs to do ridiculous shit like "bathe in the Living Waters beneath the mines of Mandalore" makes sense since he's brainwashed, but the show presents it as not weird or strange at all to keep being a zealot?

 

Also it was news to me that Din Djarin is basically Mandalorian, being right from the planet right next door to Mandalore, Concordia. I didn't realize that when they showed flashbacks to him as a child - I thought it was a random, far off planet. Here at least it makes more sense that he feels a strong connection to Mandalorian culture all this time.

[Reputator]

This is Star Wars. EVERY BODY OF WATER HAS A FRIGGIN MONSTER IN IT.

 

If only the characters were more self-aware!

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

30 minutes ago, Reputator said:

This is Star Wars. EVERY BODY OF WATER HAS A FRIGGIN MONSTER IN IT.

 

Kind of like Florida when you think about it.

[Reputator]

2 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Kind of like Florida when you think about it.

 

Yeah but they mostly stay inside the Florida State Capitol.

[brucoe]

6 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Kind of like Florida when you think about it.

Wait! Star Wars is about Florida???

 

Guess that explains the Florida government and stuff.

[Ghost_MH]

It is impossible to not like this guy.

 

 

[Spork3245]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:48 PM, Kal-El814 said:

 

"I saw a very stupid man who somehow knew enough to have a robot test the atmosphere before rolling down the car window be stupid enough to just walk into a vernal pool without testing the depth or for parasites, now take off that helmet and kiss me, you cultist!"

 

It could happen!

 

Kidding aside I do think it's very charming that Bo-Katan refers to Grogo as Mando's son.

 

Spoiler

I think it was implied that the mythosaur pulled him under, no? Like, that didn’t look like he just fell to me, he even looked like he went diagonal as if he was pulled

 

[Kal-El814]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

 

  Hide contents

I think it was implied that the mythosaur pulled him under, no? Like, that didn’t look like he just fell to me, he even looked like he went diagonal as if he was pulled

 

 

Yes but my way is funnier.

[cusideabelincoln]

This week is the official "incapacitated Pedro Pascal loses blood and gets rescued by a child" week.

[johnny]

so is bo katan the rightful holder of the dark saber now? that robot thing clapped Din and then bo katan took that thing out. 

[Reputator]

3 hours ago, johnny said:

so is bo katan the rightful holder of the dark saber now? that robot thing clapped Din and then bo katan took that thing out. 

 

Nah that's not the same as winning it from him in one on one combat.

[Kal-El814]

50 minutes ago, Reputator said:

 

Nah that's not the same as winning it from him in one on one combat.

Check in with the Elder Wand and get back to me

[Spork3245]

[Reputator]

So uhhh... I guess he did just fall in.

 

This episode was....something. I don't know what they're building towards here, but this was a VERY slow, off-shoot entry. "Risky" is about the most charitable thing I can say about it.

[CayceG]

I fucking love that the New Republic is basically just doing Operation Paperclip  

 

 

But yeah, the episode felt like it was from another story. I know Pershing is a part of the Mandalorian storyline overall, but it felt like Favreau and Filoni wanted to tell this story and this was about as good as it could be folded in. It makes more sense how Book of Boba was effectively what it was since the Mando episodes were supposed to be part of the larger season anyway (prior to covid). Having non-Mando detours seems to be what this season was/is about. 

 

Now, that said, I love the things the episode explores. What Pershing has been up to and what the New Republic does with ex-Empire types is really interesting. The glimpses inside of the NR are neat and really underscore the difficulty in de-imperializing culture and institutions while hanging on to some of the things from the past. And it really makes the disfunction present in the sequels make sense. It's no wonder the First Order happened. 

 

Also, this episode was really obvious in how much The Volume was used, and it mostly didn't look very good. Especially the Coruscant scenes when people are walking around. 

 

Also, also, Filoni cannot stop themselves from having scenes in the Coruscant scrap yards. 

[Kal-El814]

I think it's interesting that the movies make it clear that The Sith and The Empire are very bad and need to be stopped, stuff like Rebels, Clone Wars, and The Bad Batch are at their best when they're exploring what things are like for people on the periphery of either having left the Empire or joined the Rebellion. Andor is a more serious take on what it means / costs to be an actual Rebel. And with Mando bridging the gap between all that and the ST, we have this weird New Republic period that we know doesn't last long and we're getting to see part of why that is. Again it's a weird time period to get too fussed about the New Republic being incompetent since we know they're one-Adam-Driver's-lifetime away from being dunked on by The First Order, but it's somewhat jarring to see that just laid out like it is here. I hope we're not leaning too far into "somehow Palpatine is pulling the strings in the Mandalorian" territory but... I don't know that there are a ton of other options? I guess we'll see.

 

I also still think it's very funny that there was a guy called Mandalore that Great, who was given the title of Manda'lor, who lived on Mandalore.

[Ghost_MH]

This episode feels like a case where there should be a Star Wars Side Stories series where episodes drop infrequently to give home to small stories like this one.

[SoberChef]

The opening chase sequence was really cool, feel awful for Bo having lost her ancestral home, but we may be onto bigger & brighter ends soon. The abrupt change to Coruscant was just that, yet it was intriguing to see more of the galaxy opened up in this way. Add to it all the rumors & rumblings of a certain blue hued Chiss Admiral appearing by end of the season (surely to set up Ahsoka), then it would necessitate a broader focus for the season. I'm getting huge Rebels vibes from this season & loving it so far.

 

27 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

This episode feels like a case where there should be a Star Wars Side Stories series where episodes drop infrequently to give home to small stories like this one.

I wouldn't hate that. Sort of a live action 'What If...?' series set in the "center" of the galaxy!?

[Ghost_MH]

50 minutes ago, SoberChef said:

I wouldn't hate that. Sort of a live action 'What If...?' series set in the "center" of the galaxy!?

 

Set anywhere within the Star Wars universe that Favreau and Filoni would find interesting. This detour to Coruscant could fall there. Grogu training with Luke could fall there rather than randomly in the middle of Book of Bobba Fett. It's clear they have short, half hour stories to tell, but dropping them in the middle of a serial throws the pacing off. I enjoyed this one, but I would have enjoyed it all the same if it were not part of The Mandalorian and just a stand-alone short.

[TheShader]

3 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

hope we're not leaning too far into "somehow Palpatine is pulling the strings in the Mandalorian" territory but... I don't know that there are a ton of other options?

Unless I'm forgetting something that's been made canon that would contradict this thought, I feel like it's going less towards 'Palpatine maintained his control over the Nazis Imperial followers and more toward explaining how the empire, and by extension its desire to see Palpatine rule supreme, never left and there's simply an active group working towards cloning the Emperor.

 

They're basically people that are convinced Captain Mustache survived his underground bunker incident, except they live in a universe where the technology to make a perfect 1:1 clone theoretically exists.

[cusideabelincoln]

Everything on Coruscant was bad parody. Even the awesome Tie Fighter chase couldn't save this from being the worst episode of the series.

[CayceG]

9 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

Everything on Coruscant was bad parody. Even the awesome Tie Fighter chase couldn't save this from being the worst episode of the series.

 

One of Filoni's biggest weaknesses is shoving really interesting and compelling story ideas into episodes that are uneven at best and plain bad at worst. Clone Wars and Bad Batch have a lot of examples of this. 

 

This season may wind up landing on its feet, but I feel like it's going to suffer from this in a big way. 

 

 

[Reputator]

11 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

This episode feels like a case where there should be a Star Wars Side Stories series where episodes drop infrequently to give home to small stories like this one.

 

Yeah I agree with that. This one should have stayed outside of The Mandalorian.

 

That being said....maybe there's a big payoff somewhere with this, but as we've discussed many times with Disney+ shows, the journey TO the payoff also needs to be enjoyable.

[Kal-El814]

This wasn’t even a bad episode, y’all need to watch some shit TV from time to time to reset your baseline. 
 

I swear, I have no idea how shows like The X-Files lasted as long as they did. There are some truly rancid turds in most show runs, and something like that show was 85% “filler” by today’s standards. 

[BloodyHell]

8 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

This wasn’t even a bad episode, y’all need to watch some shit TV from time to time to reset your baseline. 
 

I swear, I have no idea how shows like The X-Files lasted as long as they did. There are some truly rancid turds in most show runs, and something like that show was 85% “filler” by today’s standards. 

Agreed. I love Star Trek, but there are vast swaths of it that is unwatchable schlock. Same as Stargate. Like, some of those episodes are completely awful. 

 

Watch the first two seasons of TNG. It's a miracle that show survived into it's third year to turn it around.