Television The Mandalorian OT - This is the Way

[legend]

That episode was awesome. Very much looking forward to the finale.

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, legend said:

That episode was awesome. Very much looking forward to the finale.

Omg was one of the best if not the best episode!

[Reputator]

This was the intensity I needed from this season.

[Greatoneshere]

2 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

Yeah, I really think they were firing on all cylinders this week.

 

It seems so far a bunch here agree, which is great. I was really feeling all the tie-ins and connections since it all felt like a plan at least somewhat coming together, an amalgam of certain things from Rebels, Clone Wars, this show, and even some Book of Boba Fett. If they lock things down next week we're in for a pretty great finale.

[Kal-El814]

14 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

It seems so far a bunch here agree, which is great. I was really feeling all the tie-ins and connections since it all felt like a plan at least somewhat coming together, an amalgam of certain things from Rebels, Clone Wars, this show, and even some Book of Boba Fett. If they lock things down next week we're in for a pretty great finale.

 

Yeah agreed. If I was going to pick any nits it would be that it felt a little strange for Grogu to... do nothing while Din was strung up? I think they barely showed him reacting to it. I assume they're saving some chicanery for the finale, given that they've showed off his paintball skills, reminded us that he has armor, and he's riding a robot. And that they didn't wanna steal thunder from Paz.

[Reputator]

7 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

It seems so far a bunch here agree, which is great. I was really feeling all the tie-ins and connections since it all felt like a plan at least somewhat coming together, an amalgam of certain things from Rebels, Clone Wars, this show, and even some Book of Boba Fett. If they lock things down next week we're in for a pretty great finale.

 

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Not sure if pun

 

[jinx8402]

So are either of

 

Spoiler

The Armorer or Greef Karga spies?

 

For Greef, he goes out of his way to give Din a nice (cincoro) bottle of alcohol he name drops as from Coruscant. Which means he could have been the one giving Kane the info about what happened on planet.

 

The Armorer had a convenient excuse to leave the group before being ambushed. She also has the same horns on her helmet as Moff Gideon, so maybe a tell that they are on the same side.

 

Also the survivors could be part the spies too, eagerly leading the group of Mandalorians right into the trap.

 

[Kal-El814]

35 minutes ago, jinx8402 said:

So are either of

 

  Hide contents

The Armorer or Greef Karga spies?

 

For Greef, he goes out of his way to give Din a nice (cincoro) bottle of alcohol he name drops as from Coruscant. Which means he could have been the one giving Kane the info about what happened on planet.

 

The Armorer had a convenient excuse to leave the group before being ambushed. She also has the same horns on her helmet as Moff Gideon, so maybe a tell that they are on the same side.

 

Also the survivors could be part the spies too, eagerly leading the group of Mandalorians right into the trap.

 

 

Spoiler

Greef feels like a stretch unless we’re talking about a Heavy Rain situation. We haven’t seen him alone much, but we’ve had a couple moments with him where he’s not in front of Mandalorians and behaves like he’s aligned with them. Also him aligning with Moff Gideon specifically doesn’t feel right.

 

The Armorer makes more sense. There was beskar on Gideon’s transport, his helmet has flourishes similar to The Armorer’s and to Boba Fett’s, and it seems unlikely Gideon would have been able to field a squadron of beskar armored troops without someone who knows how to work the metal. Also allowing Bo-Karan to take off her helmet and to take de facto leadership of her covert feels a bit out of character for her.

 

I guess “spies” could mean both of them, but I figured it was a reference to Gideon’s buff informant in the New Republic and whoever Gideon has on the inside.

 

[legend]

7 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

  Hide contents

Greef feels like a stretch unless we’re talking about a Heavy Rain situation. We haven’t seen him alone much, but we’ve had a couple moments with him where he’s not in front of Mandalorians and behaves like he’s aligned with them. Also him aligning with Moff Gideon specifically doesn’t feel right.

 

The Armorer makes more sense. There was beskar on Gideon’s transport, his helmet has flourishes similar to The Armorer’s and to Boba Fett’s, and it seems unlikely Gideon would have been able to field a squadron of beskar armored troops without someone who knows how to work the metal. Also allowing Bo-Karan to take off her helmet and to take de facto leadership of her covert feels a bit out of character for her.

 

I guess “spies” could mean both of them, but I figured it was a reference to Gideon’s buff informant in the New Republic and whoever Gideon has on the inside.

 

 

 

Spoiler

The armorer being wholly aligned with Gideon seems like it would be tricky to buy given the history of the show. She actively worked against him previously. But I could see it going down that way if she sees this alliance as a way to purge all the old Mandorlians so that she can rebuild Mandorlians free of all the "tainted" ways.

 

It also can serve as a narrative vehicle to finalize Mando's separation from the cult, which I feel like has to happen at some point.

 

[johnny]

Spoiler

i thought the armorer was an antagonist before she made nice with the other mandalorians so I would totally buy her being a spy. 

 

[Kal-El814]

2 hours ago, legend said:

 

 

  Hide contents

The armorer being wholly aligned with Gideon seems like it would be tricky to buy given the history of the show. She actively worked against him previously. But I could see it going down that way if she sees this alliance as a way to purge all the old Mandorlians so that she can rebuild Mandorlians free of all the "tainted" ways.

 

It also can serve as a narrative vehicle to finalize Mando's separation from the cult, which I feel like has to happen at some point.

 

 

Spoiler

Yeah of those two "options" I don't think either work perfectly. And I'm not sold on either being one of the spies from the title, though it seems like Gideon's timing would be too good without a dime. Who knows!

 

[Reputator]

idk why we're using spoilers when these threads have always been open spoilers, but whatevs

 

Personally I'd be pretty disappointed if The Armorer was the spy, just because I think she's a cool character. The theory about how Gideon's ability to utilize beskar needs an insider brings up one possibility, but it doesn't necessarily have to be her. He could have captured any number of forge experts before icing the planet. And it also doesn't track that she would want to unite the tribes just to eliminate one of them.

[Spork3245]

I now like to think that this is a prequel to TMNT and Grogu slowly turns into Krang. It all began with IG-12.

[Spork3245]

Oh, so apparently Moff Gideon’s soldiers are, or mostly are, mauldalorions. That explains the horns on his armor as much as any other theory.

[Kal-El814]

2 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

Oh, so apparently Moff Gideon’s soldiers are, or mostly are, mauldalorions. That explains the horns on his armor as much as any other theory.

 

This tracks, Mandalorians in these shows change their allegiance more often than I change out my razor blade.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

That episode was absolutely Maximum Star Wars!

 

This episode laid the foundation for the transition from the Empire to the First Order in no uncertain terms, right down to Brian Gleeson portraying Commandant Brendol Hux , the father of General Armitage Hux who was played by his brother Domhnall Gleeson in the Sequel Trilogy 

 

The jet-pack using Imperials in their beskar armor kinda/sorta reminded me of the Sadukar from the recent Dune movie:

 

[Spork3245]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:02 AM, Spork3245 said:

Oh, so apparently Moff Gideon’s soldiers are, or mostly are, mauldalorions. That explains the horns on his armor as much as any other theory.

Okay, so Mauldalorions are mostly former death watch, and the armorer is former death watch.

[Guest]

Finally watched the episode and it slappppppped so hard. Rick is my favorite of the recurring Mando directors. I’m glad they give him a lot of the action set piece heavy episodes. I think he directed the season finale as well, so it should be excellent.

[Kal-El814]

Strong finale! I believe Favreau has said that he's written season 4, but honestly if this was the series finale I wouldn't be mad at all. Perhaps a little less in the way of intrigue than people were speculating but the show always delivers and this was no exception.

[GoldenTongue]

But but but the episode with Pershing was rly rly dumb.

[Reputator]

9 hours ago, GoldenTongue said:

But but but the episode with Pershing was rly rly dumb.

 

It's still by far the series (not season) low point.

 

 

 

This was a very strong finish. Seeing Din Djarin and Grogu fight together for the first time was awesome, and him officially adopting him as his son was heartwarming. Definitely agree with @Kal-El814 that this could be the end of the series and it would be a satisfying ending. They really tied up all the loose ends.

 

This morning Twitter was showing #Ezra as trending, so the whole day leading up to watching the episode tonight I was excitedly hoping to see his live action debut, but no. That's OK, it's not like they could really fit him in the story at that point without being a bit hamfisted, but I thought there might be a teaser at the end or something. There wasn't even a stinger after the credits this time!

[legend]

Solid finale!

 

I think Din still needs to confront the fact that he's at odds with his cult's beliefs though. Hopefully that's a thread in season 4.

[SoberChef]

A solid, thrilling, if not entirely expected finale. I'm not shitting on the season, in fact I rather enjoyed the long drawn out path put forth, but it seemed almost a bit too tidy all told. That being said, I'm excited for more of these characters in wherever they show up next!!

[Remarkableriots]

2 hours ago, legend said:

Solid finale!

 

I think Din still needs to confront the fact that he's at odds with his cult's beliefs though. Hopefully that's a thread in season 4.

Maybe i missed something so how is he at odds with his cult's beliefs though?

[Guest]

I thoroughly enjoyed the last two episodes. The budget for the CG must have been enormous 😂 They should just call it a series there!

[legend]

7 hours ago, Remarkableriots said:

Maybe i missed something so how is he at odds with his cult's beliefs though?

 

You didn't miss anything explicit, I'm reading between the lines here. The fact of the matter is Din will take his helmet off for Grogu. He was "redeemed in the waters" but it's a fake redemption without any intention to change. We all know Din wouldn't hesitate for a moment to take off his helmet again to save Grogu. He's just going through the motions now but at some point he has to confront that he's not a true believer anymore. Or at least, he should  

[Greatoneshere]

A great finale that did tie up all the loose ends I'd hoped the finale would. It did really come off as a series finale despite a season 4 already being confirmed. In ways, this felt like a reset of the show back to the beginning of season 1, except of course Din Djarin has Din Grogu this time to go on serialized adventures with.

 

I think the bigger thing is it has now been 7 years since the end of Return of the Jedi, which means we're 23 years until the sequel trilogy. Was Mandalore ever really brought up in those movies? I want to say maybe with Poe Dameron's character in TROS but I don't remember anything about the film except all the bad stuff. Either way, seems like a pretty big deal that Mandalorians have taken back Mandalore and are starting up again. If they aren't beholden to any plot or character from the sequel trilogy, this is a big deal long term since Mandalore has been out of the picture for a long while, and has been cyclically out of the picture frequently in larger Star Wars media. Hopefully Bo-Katan et. al. can start something real this time there (hinted at with the potential to farm and make gardens) and they can take their story anywhere in the future.

[GoldenTongue]

15 hours ago, Reputator said:

 

It's still by far the series (not season) low point.

 

 

 

This was a very strong finish. Seeing Din Djarin and Grogu fight together for the first time was awesome, and him officially adopting him as his son was heartwarming. Definitely agree with @Kal-El814 that this could be the end of the series and it would be a satisfying ending. They really tied up all the loose ends.

 

This morning Twitter was showing #Ezra as trending, so the whole day leading up to watching the episode tonight I was excitedly hoping to see his live action debut, but no. That's OK, it's not like they could really fit him in the story at that point without being a bit hamfisted, but I thought there might be a teaser at the end or something. There wasn't even a stinger after the credits this time!

Idk.  In hindsight, the only thing that really stands out to me about the episode now is that it feels a bit like part of the storyline was developed later than they might have liked, somewhat forcing them to shoehorn in a lot of expository detail in a way that feels largely detached from the main Mando-esque narrative.  But even still, I enjoyed the episode, and (for the most part) agree with several of the points that Kal had mentioned in this thread.

 

Some of the...criticisms...from earlier in the season reminded me (SO F'ING MUCH) of some of the pissing and moaning about Battlestar Galactica back on the IGN Sci Fi board back around the time of Season 2.  There was a 2-3 episode stretch in the second half of the season where people were just losing their shit about how bad the show was getting...right before the last 2-3 episodes of the season which were jaw-droppingly phenomenal.  And while the kvetching wasn't as bad here, it definitely felt similar to back then.

 

But anywho - loved the finale, for the most part.  It did feel as though things were wrapped up just a bit too tidily - if I didn't know anything about the show, I would have been checking after it finished to see if this was a series finale.  And Grogu's appearance early on felt kinda ridiculously convenient, although that little bastard is cute enough that it's hard to not give him a pass most of the time...especially with the "voice" enhancement he got.

 

And I definitely spent some time wondering how much was spent on CG during the aerial firefights.  I'm really curious what the budget was for the finale, as so much felt like a legitimate live action cartoon, in the best possible way.

[Guest]

Is my employee just trash, or is there now some online backlash against Favs and Filloni and some new found love for JJs nonsense?

 

Because I’ll quit the internet for good if  now going to be assaulted with THOSE awful takes 😂

[legend]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

Is my employee just trash, or is there now some online backlash against Favs and Filloni and some new found love for JJs nonsense?

 

Because I’ll quit the internet for good if  now going to be assaulted with THOSE awful takes 😂

 

I've, thankfully, yet to encounter that, FWIW.

[CayceG]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

Is my employee just trash, or is there now some online backlash against Favs and Filloni and some new found love for JJs nonsense?

 

Because I’ll quit the internet for good if  now going to be assaulted with THOSE awful takes 😂

 

The only backlash I've seen is that Filloni is catering TOO MUCH to the sequel series!

[Kal-El814]

I've seen some takes that The Mandalorian has been Filoni'd and the show is just him playing with action figures now. The tone has changed since the first season but I think something like Andor has shown that Mando might not have been as "serious" as it came off initially.

[Reputator]

Are there people online bashing something related to Star Wars? The answer is always yes.

[Guest]

I’m not surprised by people hating on anything SW, what got me was the defense of JJ and seemingly all the responses to his article agreeing with it. 

[Jason]

So the fuel capacity of those Mandalorian jetpacks is definitely just "however much is necessary to do a kickass scene/sequence" right?