The Mandalorian - Star Wars webseries from Jon Favreau

[sh9000]

Visual effects of season 3.

 

[sh9000]

Preordered Season 1 and 2 blu-rays on Amazon.

[Duke Togo]

It's good to see Disney/Fox doing blu/4K releases again

[sh9000]

Switched my order to Target as the blu-rays were priced cheaper plus 5% off.

[Seto Kaiba]

So... I've finally found the time to sit down and watch The Mandalorian in its entirety, and I am just absolutely bewildered by this series.

TBH, I feel like I missed some required reading along the way.  The production quality is absolutely amazing and the action sequences are fine, but the story itself feels so thin that I'm left to wonder if part of it is missing.

I'm almost done with the first season, but the protagonist and his young ward don't even have names.  The child is an orphan and Mando was one, but that seems to be the totality of their relationship.  Lots of shooting, but not much character development.  

The series also seems to kind of... expect me to not only know who the Mandalorians are but be invested in their struggle.  As a casual Star Wars viewer, I'm just lost on the whole topic.  They're refugees or something?  

[Mog]

Not trying to be mean, but if you’re just through the first season and having issues with the story at this point, you might want to check out now.

Season 1 was basically about a bad-ass bounty hunter who grows a conscience when he gives a little kid to the Imps.  A kid who also happened to save his life from a charging beast.

I’d also argue that having prior knowledge about Mandalorians would have made it harder to follow the story in Season 1.

Prior knowledge is definitely required for Season 2 and beyond though.

[Thom]

I don't know, in my case I also had no knowledge of the Mandalorians and I thought the show, esp the second season, helped flesh it out for me. The stories can meander a bit though which takes the eye off the main plot. Still well worth the ride though.

[Mog]

For folks that followed Clone Wars and Rebels, the whole “keep your helmet on” rule was a bit odd.

Mando’s sect is also very different from previous Mandalorian portrayals.

But if Seto’s already finding the show hard to follow, Season 2 and 3 would be asking a lot, what with the new characters and weapon added to the mix.

Personally, I loved the first and second seasons (and enjoyed the third season enough).  

But if someone feels that Season 1 expects them to have a lot of prior knowledge, then maybe the series won’t be their cup of tea.

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, Mog said:

Not trying to be mean, but if you’re just through the first season and having issues with the story at this point, you might want to check out now.

No worries.  I'm watching the series as the suggestion/insistence of a friend, so I have a feeling bailing out now is probably not an option without enduring some reproachful glares.  (That's kind of a theme with me and Star Wars... reading the Thrawn trilogy was done after enduring some arm twisting too.)

The difficulty I'm having with the story is not so much what's in the story as what's not.  The titular Mandalorian is just a taciturn guy in a mask who gets into a lot of fights.  They haven't done anything to really explore why this cold-hearted contract killer decided to go on a John Wick-esque murder spree to rescue the child, or why the child was worth the apparently princely sum that was paid to the bounty hunter to bring him in.  Or why the child's safety was more important to him than the safety of his foster family.  There's not even really a sense that he has a goal right now.  I assume at least some of these questions will be answered eventually, but it's rather frustrating to 

The story is very action friendly, but as of S1E7 I feel like it lacks a sense of direction.  Mando's just kind of traveling from one fight scene to the next like the story mode of a fighting game.

(I also have this repeated weird moment... Mando keeps holding scopes up to his helmet as though he were wearing a bucket with tinted glass on the front, but in other scenes he's got heat vision or something like it seemingly built in.  It just seems odd to me.)

[sh9000]

Best scene.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The story is very action friendly, but as of S1E7 I feel like it lacks a sense of direction.  Mando's just kind of traveling from one fight scene to the next like the story mode of a fighting game.

Honestly after watching the latest season, the show was far better when it didn’t have as much story. The writing gets so bad and side characters just feel like they’re in the way. If they had good enough writers to keep a long form story going, then it could have been better, but since they didn’t they should have stuck more to a bad guy of the week formula.

I really hate how stupid the bad guys are in the last season. It made the two scouts that couldn’t aim seem like geniuses. And I’m also hating the hijack episodes they’ve been using for filler. I could have cared less about that guy that knew how to to cloning. That was the most pointless episode of the entire series. 
I’ve only gotten a couple episodes in on Ashoka so far since I’m just not that interested in Star Wars stuff lately with all the bad writing and waste of good talent. I’ll finish that one off one day, but I just don’t feel motivated at this time 

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Best scene.

Is... is that the alligator from Happy Gilmore?

 

1 minute ago, Big s said:

Honestly after watching the latest season, the show was far better when it didn’t have as much story. The writing gets so bad and side characters just feel like they’re in the way. If they had good enough writers to keep a long form story going, then it could have been better, but since they didn’t they should have stuck more to a bad guy of the week formula.

Having just finished season one, to be honest I would call the episodic nature of the series up to the point I'm at its single biggest flaw.

It's visually very impressive and the choreography and editing work is quite well done.  Starting with a three episode setup and then switching to "villain of the week" just felt like the writers went "bored now!" and decided to do something else.  IMO, it really hurt the season's conclusion because the idea that the Imperials were constantly hunting the child found itself on the back burner for entire middle of the season and then a greater scope villain rolls up basically unannounced for the denouement and kills everyone who's been driving the plot so far.  If they'd been more serial with it, like Andor, they probably could've done a better job foreshadowing that.

Big ol' exposition dump in the final episode notwithstanding, Mando's still pretty thin on character development too.  Even that IG droid got more.  A taciturn badass character works as a supporting cast member, and if you're going to make that the main character you have to have some other person or plot device to pick up the slack expositionally.

IMO, the low point in season one is absolutely episode six "The Prisoner".  Every aspect of the plot is telegraphed so hard that it was actually kind of exasperating.  That may have been intended to be part of the joke, but IMO they didn't land it becuase Mando can't emote in a face-obscuring helmet.

[azrael]

18 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

...

The series also seems to kind of... expect me to not only know who the Mandalorians are but be invested in their struggle.  As a casual Star Wars viewer, I'm just lost on the whole topic.  They're refugees or something? 

...

Season 1 was OK but I can see how one could get lost in the direction cuz it does get lost in its repetitive-ness. That being said, Season 1 doesn't require more in-depth knowledge from prior shows as Season 2 and 3 needed. Heck, you're gonna need to watch Book of Boba Fett between season 2 and 3 (it really was a season 2.5) or else you're gonna get really lost when you go from season 2 to 3.

If you want to jump ship, no one is gonna hold it against you. Back in the day, I only lasted the pilot for Game of Thrones before I jumped ship. I occasionally saw a clip or 2 as they popped in on my feed but still couldn't jump into it. I even tried to see what the commotion was about by getting caught up on the last few seasons but it still ended low on my priority list and only came back to it on occasion. So don't feel bad; just get off the boat before you waste anymore of your time.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

IMO, the low point in season one is absolutely episode six "The Prisoner".  Every aspect of the plot is telegraphed so hard that it was actually kind of exasperating.

As opposed to episode four, "Seven Samurai and an AT-ST?" 🙄

That desiccated corpse of a storyline stunk up my living room so badly I had to have the house fumigated. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

That desiccated corpse of a storyline stunk up my living room so badly I had to have the house fumigated. 

That’s how I felt about the obi show 

[MKT]

Well, first season Mandalorian was released not long after the atrocious Rise of Skywalker, which followed the controversial Last Jedi & pretty forgettable Solo movies. Seen in that time & context, the episodic nature was a welcome change of pace. Some episodes certainly seem to meander a bit, but it was better than the breakneck pace of Episode 9.

One aspect I like about Mandalorian & some of these other Disney SW series is how more time is spent on world building & supposedly banal stuff in the environments the characters are in. Another favorite aspect are the extended screen times & close-ups dedicated to the ships & vehicles they use. For eg, the scenes of Moff Gideon in his single Tie Fighter was a treat to watch, much more than repeated scenes of X-Wing fleets vs multiple generic Tie-Fighters in the movies. Or of Boba just carefully maneuvering Slave-1 over the old Sarlacc pit. 

[Seto Kaiba]

18 hours ago, azrael said:

That being said, Season 1 doesn't require more in-depth knowledge from prior shows as Season 2 and 3 needed. Heck, you're gonna need to watch Book of Boba Fett between season 2 and 3 (it really was a season 2.5) or else you're gonna get really lost when you go from season 2 to 3.

Thanks for the head's up there.  I watched some chunks of The Book of Boba Fett back when it was coming out, but didn't think much of it.

 

18 hours ago, azrael said:

If you want to jump ship, no one is gonna hold it against you. Back in the day, I only lasted the pilot for Game of Thrones before I jumped ship. I occasionally saw a clip or 2 as they popped in on my feed but still couldn't jump into it. I even tried to see what the commotion was about by getting caught up on the last few seasons but it still ended low on my priority list and only came back to it on occasion. So don't feel bad; just get off the boat before you waste anymore of your time.

For now I think I'm gonna stick with it.  It's not a bad show by any means.  I'm enjoying it, I just periodically feel like I'm missing some important context esp. with respect to the Mandalorians as a people.  The series really clearly expects the viewer to be already familiar with, and invested in, them.

AFAIK, the only ones that showed up in the movies were Boba Fett and his clone-father Jango.  My read of them was basically that they were the "hero" version of a Stormtrooper similar to Cpt. Phasma.  Aligned with the bad guys, but basically a miniboss at best.

 

 

16 hours ago, tekering said:

As opposed to episode four, "Seven Samurai and an AT-ST?" 🙄

That desiccated corpse of a storyline stunk up my living room so badly I had to have the house fumigated. 

Yeah.  Four was, at least, engaging in that it offered a little exposition about Mando and his part-time partner the drop trooper.  It actually felt like there were stakes in that fight.

Six... six is just a mess.  The acting was absolutely goddamn awful from all of the members of the "rescue" team.  There's hammy, and then there's that.  I spent the entire episode wondering to myself what street corner they pulled those four actors off of.  The betrayal was absolutely no surprise not just because the client was shady AF and every member besides the droid was presented as a complete psychopath, but because every every one of Mando's clients who isn't a regular civilian tries to betray him.  It's telegraphed on an episode level AND a series level, and the whole thing is a veritable tornado of cliches.  The worst is when they tried that lame horror cliche where Mando's only visible advancing on them when the lights flicker... if they were playing him as an unstoppable badass that could've built some tension, but he gets the sh*t kicked out of him more often than not so it loses a certain je ne sais quoi when his ambush just leads to him getting beat up again.

(It also took me a distressingly long time to realize the droid's voiced by Richard Ayoade.)

 

Season two jumped right onto my biggest pet peeve for Star Wars.  Tatooine is supposed to be the middle of ****ing nowhere and home to nothing important.  Why does every Star Wars story feel compelled to go there?  This is Mando's second visit.

[Seto Kaiba]

So... I've finished season two of The Mandalorian, and all in all I didn't really have many issues following the storyline even though there was clearly some required reading involved.

I feel like the second season had more of a sense of direction to it, if only because the second season manages not to forget about the main quest for multiple episodes.  Mando's quest pivoting from keeping the child safe to delivering it to the Jedi makes it a bit more focused when he then has to go looking for other Mandalorians who could possibly know where to find a Jedi.  Mando's still kind of an idiot protagonist though.  A lot of his problems are caused by the fact that just blindly trusts everyone he meets even though he gets betrayed and mugged with monotonous regularity.  It does help a bit that the ridiculous honor code Mando lives by is revealed to be an extreme version adhered to only by a small group of regressive crazies.  Considering how often it gets brought up this season, it seems like the showrunners looked back at their season one concept and decided "Wow that sounded way cooler in my head".

This season did a much better job with character development, albeit again almost entirely for secondary/supporting characters.  Bringing Boba Fett back from the dead was a mistake, IMO, and from what I've seen of The Book of Boba Fett previously I stand by that remark.  Talk about character derailment.  Orange Rosario Dawson I gather is an older version of a character from an old cartoon, and there's horrifying deepfake Luke Skywalker at the end reenacting a heroic version of Vader's hallway rampage from Rogue One.  While I'm sure that was a huge moment for fans, I can't help but be annoyed by how Mando and crew are saved at the last minute by someone who literally wasn't involved in any part of the plot up until that moment.  It's the most blatant kind of deus ex machina short of involving an ACTUAL god.

Moff Gideon kind of takes one on the chin in this season.  Previously he'd been made out to be a really competent and effective Imperial leader.  Here, he's... well... he's got great intel but it's really obvious he's what happens when you order your Imperial boss from Wish.  He goes everywhere dressed like Great Value Darth Vader, his ride is a regular TIE fighter, his flagship is a tiny and understaffed light cruiser, and his evil secret weapon is... a slightly less terrible version of the Confederacy's battle droids, that are so inefficient he's unable to field more than a platoon of them?  Dude should just give Bo Katan her glowstick... er... I'm sorry... the Darksaber... back.  The Mandalorians consider the Jedi an ancient foe... and Mandalorian Excalibur is a lightsaber.  I know it's probably from some expanded universe novel from the 90's or something, but wow does "The Darksaber" not hold up as the amazingly cool artifact it's supposed to be. 

 

Spoiler

After my friend filled me in on who Orange Rosario Dawson's character is, can I just say I'm horrified beyond measure that someone let ANAKIN teach a child?  

The Jedi displayed a LOT of questionable judgement in the prequel trilogy, but this doesn't take the cake so much as the whole damned patisserie.  They entrusted a child's welfare and education to an irresponsible nut who, by that point, was already a mass murdering Leeroy Jenkins meathead?

 

[Mog]

And here’s where the lore comes in:  the Darksaber was made by the first Mandalorian who was ever admitted into the Jedi Order.

So, legendary Force-wielding Mando dude makes a unique lightsaber that later Mando’s view as a symbol of leadership amongst them.

And yeah, it appears a ton in various Clone Wars and Rebels episodes.

. . . And in fairness to the Darktroopers, Mando had a hell of a time dealing with just one of them.  The fact that they needed THE JEDI to take the whole lot of them out doesn’t lessen their impact.

Remember too, after all the lackluster stuff from Disney’s sequels, finally seeing Luke get to be the Jedi Knight we all wished to see was an unexpected surprise.  The build up to those moments.  The “Is it really HIM?” beats.  The slow reveals.  It was all superbly executed.

[azrael]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Mando's quest pivoting from keeping the child safe to delivering it to the Jedi makes it a bit more focused when he then has to go looking for other Mandalorians who could possibly know where to find a Jedi.  Mando's still kind of an idiot protagonist though.  A lot of his problems are caused by the fact that just blindly trusts everyone he meets even though he gets betrayed and mugged with monotonous regularity. 

Yes, the quid-pro-quo can be annoying, but what's a Mandalorian to do?

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

While I'm sure that was a huge moment for fans, I can't help but be annoyed by how Mando and crew are saved at the last minute by someone who literally wasn't involved in any part of the plot up until that moment.  It's the most blatant kind of deus ex machina short of involving an ACTUAL god.

He's the only active Jedi out there. There aren't many left out there who would pick up the phone.

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Dude should just give Bo Katan her glowstick... er... I'm sorry... the Darksaber... back.  The Mandalorians consider the Jedi an ancient foe... and Mandalorian Excalibur is a lightsaber.  I know it's probably from some expanded universe novel from the 90's or something, but wow does "The Darksaber" not hold up as the amazingly cool artifact it's supposed to be. 

What @Mog said. You'll want to watch the Mandalore episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels before you continue cuz if you want to understand the "why", it will be explained in those shows. Gideon already mentions part of the "why" behind why Bo Katan will not just accept the Darksaber this time around. And you should do so before you start Season 3.

[Roy Focker]

The 3rd season is going ruin any good thoughts you have about the 2nd season. Before watching you have to at least watch the last 2 to 3 episodes of The Book of Boba. Which are the actually first episodes of Mandalorian season 3. I don't want to spoil the 3rd season too much but wherever you think the shows is going they just take a step back. Wasn't it good that Mando was exposed to Mandalorians who had a different culture of his own? Wasn't it good that he gave up his helmet? Wasn't it good that he did what was best for baby Yoda? Now with the dark saber is he going to be the one to reunite his people or at least help make his cult less crazy? Is there going to be a rift between him and Bo?

Prepare to be disappointed.

[azrael]

9 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

Prepare to be disappointed.

Just making a note that we've warned him several times now. And should he start his long-winded piss&moan session like he has for other shows, he's got no one to blame for watching the show but himself. 

[Big s]

2 hours ago, azrael said:

What @Mog said. You'll want to watch the Mandalore episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels before you continue cuz if you want to understand the "why", it will be explained in those shows. Gideon already mentions part of the "why" behind why Bo Katan will not just accept the Darksaber this time around. And you should do so before you start Season 3.

I never watched clone wars after it changed to a super ugly cg show. Either way I didn’t feel totally lost or anything with the Mandalorian. It kinda soft explains a lot of stuff. The one that I kinda feel needed more explanation is Ashoka. They just kinda keep throwing out names of people you think you should care about, but don’t. That show got hijacked in record time. Three episodes in and the main character hasn’t even been Ashoka, it barely shows her from the start to the third episode 

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, Mog said:

And here’s where the lore comes in:  the Darksaber was made by the first Mandalorian who was ever admitted into the Jedi Order.

OK, that would have been a useful detail to have in the series... given that the previous exposition in The Mandalorian only indicated that the Mandalorians regarded the Jedi as an ancient and sorcerous foe, it did strike me as odd that what is for all intents and purposes Mandalorian Excalibur would be a lightsaber.  That their legendary founder-king WAS a Jedi... that at least explains why the key to their entire civilization is the signature weapon of their ancient enemy.

 

4 hours ago, Mog said:

And yeah, it appears a ton in various Clone Wars and Rebels episodes.

I figured as much, given that Bo mentions it was taken from her and is a legendary relic of her people there'd have to be some involved backstory to that.

 

4 hours ago, Mog said:

. . . And in fairness to the Darktroopers, Mando had a hell of a time dealing with just one of them.  The fact that they needed THE JEDI to take the whole lot of them out doesn’t lessen their impact.

He did and he didn't... yeah it pummeled his head into a wall and he's mysteriously concussion-proof now,  but armor really does seem to still be useless unless it's beskar as he stabs it to death(? deactivation?) with a spear and that works where no amount of fire or gunfire did.

Though, admittedly, that's beside the point in my opinion.  If the droids are a major threat that's fine... but it's kind of bad form, narratively speaking, to have an outside-context solution arrive and neatly resolve the problem without your characters actually having to do anything.  Having a character who's never even been mentioned up to that point show up in the nick of time and do all the heavy lifting is a bit cheap, y'know?  Wouldn't it have been more thrilling if the Mandalorians fought their way out, or Luke at least showed up mid-fight to save them in their daring last stand.  It's not as exciting for the heroes to just sit there and watch someone else have all the fun.

 

 

2 hours ago, azrael said:

Yes, the quid-pro-quo can be annoying, but what's a Mandalorian to do?

At the very least, maybe be a bit more proactive about his own defense?  

Come to that... Mandalorians have an in-story reputation as basically the most feared and respected elite warriors in the galaxy, right?  Isn't it kind of weird how ready even randos off the street are to take a swing at Din?  It's one thing for bounty hunters looking for a big payoff to do it, but a pack of fish-man fishermen who apparently live near enough to the Mandalorian commune on their world to eat with them and ought to be aware of how stupidly dangerous they are...

 

 

21 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

Prepare to be disappointed.

2 minutes ago, azrael said:

Just making a note that we've warned him several times now.

Yes, I have been well and repeatedly warned about the series.

Thus far, it really hasn't lived down to the warnings I've been given about how it'd become more difficult to follow and probably put me off the series.  The areas that have actually required outside exposition that I was warned would be more common in season two never really materialized... or whatever it was was clear enough from context that I failed to properly notice most of them.  What little needed explaining thus far could probably have been addressed with ~5 minutes of additional exposition spread across the whole show thus far.

Either way, I'm gonna give it a fair shot and see.  

[JB0]

6 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

  I know it's probably from some expanded universe novel from the 90's or something, but wow does "The Darksaber" not hold up as the amazingly cool artifact it's supposed to be. 

Confusingly, there WAS a Darksaber in ao expanded universe novel from the 90s, but it was completely unrelated(and also a bit of a joke, as it was a bootleg Death Star that self-exploded due to shoddy craftsmanship)

[Big s]

48 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

OK, that would have been a useful detail to have in the series... given that the previous exposition in The Mandalorian only indicated that the Mandalorians regarded the Jedi as an ancient and sorcerous foe, it did strike me as odd that what is for all intents and purposes Mandalorian Excalibur would be a lightsaber.  That their legendary founder-king WAS a Jedi... that at least explains why the key to their entire civilization is the signature weapon of their ancient enemy.

 

I figured as much, given that Bo mentions it was taken from her and is a legendary relic of her people there'd have to be some involved backstory to that.

 

He did and he didn't... yeah it pummeled his head into a wall and he's mysteriously concussion-proof now,  but armor really does seem to still be useless unless it's beskar as he stabs it to death(? deactivation?) with a spear and that works where no amount of fire or gunfire did.

Though, admittedly, that's beside the point in my opinion.  If the droids are a major threat that's fine... but it's kind of bad form, narratively speaking, to have an outside-context solution arrive and neatly resolve the problem without your characters actually having to do anything.  Having a character who's never even been mentioned up to that point show up in the nick of time and do all the heavy lifting is a bit cheap, y'know?  Wouldn't it have been more thrilling if the Mandalorians fought their way out, or Luke at least showed up mid-fight to save them in their daring last stand.  It's not as exciting for the heroes to just sit there and watch someone else have all the fun.

 

 

At the very least, maybe be a bit more proactive about his own defense?  

Come to that... Mandalorians have an in-story reputation as basically the most feared and respected elite warriors in the galaxy, right?  Isn't it kind of weird how ready even randos off the street are to take a swing at Din?  It's one thing for bounty hunters looking for a big payoff to do it, but a pack of fish-man fishermen who apparently live near enough to the Mandalorian commune on their world to eat with them and ought to be aware of how stupidly dangerous they are...

 

 

Yes, I have been well and repeatedly warned about the series.

Thus far, it really hasn't lived down to the warnings I've been given about how it'd become more difficult to follow and probably put me off the series.  The areas that have actually required outside exposition that I was warned would be more common in season two never really materialized... or whatever it was was clear enough from context that I failed to properly notice most of them.  What little needed explaining thus far could probably have been addressed with ~5 minutes of additional exposition spread across the whole show thus far.

Either way, I'm gonna give it a fair shot and see.  

Personally I still like the show even if each season is less and less likable. I still have fun with it. I even sort of liked the extremely disappointing Boba show. I think the only live action one I didn’t like was the obi show. Ashoka is so far from what I’ve seen on the disappointing side, but it’s more entertaining than the boba show. Hopefully that show picks up and hopefully Mando will get some good writing next season 

[Mog]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Though, admittedly, that's beside the point in my opinion.  If the droids are a major threat that's fine... but it's kind of bad form, narratively speaking, to have an outside-context solution arrive and neatly resolve the problem without your characters actually having to do anything.  Having a character who's never even been mentioned up to that point show up in the nick of time and do all the heavy lifting is a bit cheap, y'know?  Wouldn't it have been more thrilling if the Mandalorians fought their way out, or Luke at least showed up mid-fight to save them in their daring last stand.  It's not as exciting for the heroes to just sit there and watch someone else have all the fun.

OR it’s the payoff to Grogu making that galactic Force call right before he got captured.

Some Jedi probably heard the call, but we didn’t think they would go with Luke Freakin’ Skywalker.

Mando’s team had already performed a successful surgical strike on Gideon’s ship.  Mando had already had his hero moment disarming Gideon.  Hell, he even flushed all those Darktroopers off the ship.

Despite all those successes, they’re stuck facing an unstoppable force that’s pounding at the door.

Again, it was the hero moment we’ve all been longing to see ever since the sequel trilogy was announced.  To finally see Luke being that fully realized Jedi was a long awaited moment.

[Thom]

8 hours ago, Mog said:

OR it’s the payoff to Grogu making that galactic Force call right before he got captured.

Some Jedi probably heard the call, but we didn’t think they would go with Luke Freakin’ Skywalker.

Mando’s team had already performed a successful surgical strike on Gideon’s ship.  Mando had already had his hero moment disarming Gideon.  Hell, he even flushed all those Darktroopers off the ship.

Despite all those successes, they’re stuck facing an unstoppable force that’s pounding at the door.

Again, it was the hero moment we’ve all been longing to see ever since the sequel trilogy was announced.  To finally see Luke being that fully realized Jedi was a long awaited moment.

This. That whole sequence was just plain awesomeness.

[Bolt]

Agreed. 👍🏼

[Seto Kaiba]

14 hours ago, JB0 said:

Confusingly, there WAS a Darksaber in ao expanded universe novel from the 90s, but it was completely unrelated(and also a bit of a joke, as it was a bootleg Death Star that self-exploded due to shoddy craftsmanship)

... ok, I might have to look that one up later because that actually sounds kinda funny.

 

14 hours ago, Big s said:

Personally I still like the show even if each season is less and less likable. I still have fun with it. I even sort of liked the extremely disappointing Boba show. I think the only live action one I didn’t like was the obi show. Ashoka is so far from what I’ve seen on the disappointing side, but it’s more entertaining than the boba show. Hopefully that show picks up and hopefully Mando will get some good writing next season 

FWIW, I've been enjoying The Mandalorian as well.  The visuals are basically flawless, and while the show's writing does have some issues none have been enough to impair my enjoyment of the series in a significant way.  It was definitely a "by fans for fans" sort of production, but through the end of season two its presentation has remained accessible enough that casuals like me aren't shut out of the story in any meaningful way.  I'd say its biggest weakness is that its protagonist is almost always masked and the stakes in his story thus far haven't really been his.

 

13 hours ago, Mog said:

OR it’s the payoff to Grogu making that galactic Force call right before he got captured.

Some Jedi probably heard the call, but we didn’t think they would go with Luke Freakin’ Skywalker.

It is, but I feel like even that could have been handled better.

Setting up a final confrontation between Din's rescue party and Moff Gideon's Dark Troopers only for a character who had, up to that point, never even been mentioned in the series to show up uninvited and unannounced to demote the season's final threat to an afterthought feels a bit cheap.

I kind of suspect that it gets a pass mainly because the Jedi who shows up is Deepfake Luke Skywalker.  If it's been anyone else, would fans have been as excited to see the show's protaognist demoted to spectator for the final fight of the season?

[JB0]

41 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

... ok, I might have to look that one up later because that actually sounds kinda funny.

The book was called Darksaber, and Wookiepedia says I misremember how badly it malfunctioned(though the end result was the same)

[Thom]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

...

I kind of suspect that it gets a pass mainly because the Jedi who shows up is Deepfake Luke Skywalker.  If it's been anyone else, would fans have been as excited to see the show's protaognist demoted to spectator for the final fight of the season?

Yes, if it had been (mostly) anyone else, the question would have been, 'Whose this? and why?' But with it being Luke, and de-aged at that, it made it workable and notable. and very entertaining. Esp when you compare this scene to his father's in Rogue One. 

 

Plus, who else of the Jedi was going to answer Grogu's call?

and I recall that book with the Dark Saber super weapon. Not much else of it though, just that it was just the central laser from the Death Star, sheathed in a hull that made it look like a saber hilt.

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Thom

[sh9000]

Never forget the most epic character in Star Wars canon.

[Big s]

37 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Never forget the most epic character in Star Wars canon.

Wade?

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, Thom said:

Yes, if it had been (mostly) anyone else, the question would have been, 'Whose this? and why?' But with it being Luke, and de-aged at that, it made it workable and notable. and very entertaining. Esp when you compare this scene to his father's in Rogue One.

I'm not sure we really needed to see Luke tear through a collection of battle droids to establish his Jedi street cred.

Vader, on the other hand... after the prequel trilogy, that poor guy needed a moment of being genuinely scary to remind audiences WHY he was feared.

 

6 hours ago, Thom said:

Plus, who else of the Jedi was going to answer Grogu's call?

Given that Disney is following the old EU down the "Luke wasn't really the last of the Jedi c.Return of the Jedi" slippery slope... it almost feels like a trick question.

 

5 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Never forget the most epic character in Star Wars canon.

Jar-Jar Binks isn't in this one, though!  (Kidding!)