Star Wars Thread - Spoilers, yo.

[LaGoosh]

The Mandalorian is back!

Really weird going back into this show after Andor. Hard to believe they take place in the same universe. Took some adjusting time going from the high calibre writing, dialogue, atmosphere, plotting and acting of that show to the bare bones, endless video-game side-quest simplistic style of The Mandalorian. I just had to keep reminding myself that The Mandalorian is basically for 11 year olds and to turn my brain off. 

This opening ep felt like a very messy and uneven table setter/recap episode. It was kind of all over the place, nothing really happened and they barely mentioned that the ongoing story of seasons 1 & 2 was very quickly and pointlessly resolved in A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT OTHER FUCKING SHOW. Baby Yoda is still cute enough though to keep me watching. As terrible and unbelievably lazy as the writing on this show often is you can't deny Grogu trying to hug little Babu Friks isn't a joy to behold. Hopefully next week they can focus on a proper single fun story without getting too distracted by other nonsense.

Edited March 2, 2023 by LaGoosh

[WyattSheepMask]

They missed a trick not doing the Predator handshake between Mando and Greef, but I liked how they mentioned that Gina Carano had to go because her Planet needed her, only to die on the way back.

It did feel like it was a reset for the show. Lots of callbacks to remind everyone what has happened to get things into place.

Some are saying that the wheels have come off the show entirely, but it’s far too early to be making those kind of claims. And yeah, it’s very different to what Andor was, but that’s fine.

Its wasn’t great, but I’d still take it over a lot of stuff

Edited March 2, 2023 by WyattSheepMask

[HarmonicGenerator]

It's interesting to wonder where they're planning to take the show. The first two seasons (though we didn't know when it started) had an overarching story of "protect Baby Yoda, get him to somewhere safe". They've done that now. Is it going to be "get Mando back into his fundamentalist cult"? Because that's what the character wants, but I'm pretty sure we as viewers recognise they're a bunch of extremist crazies and he's better off out of it.

The whole get-a-droid-part-to-fix-a-droid-to-test-the-surface-to-find-the-living-waters-to-bathe-in-them-presumably-with-helmet-still-on-to-get-back-in is a very videogamey bunch of linked quests which I didn't especially like.

But, as mentioned, Baby Yoda had a hug with a Babu Frik. 10/10

[Wideload90]

Mando has definitely lost it's initial appeal to me; I absolutely love the show and the fan service, but it feels so different to the first season and I am a tiny bit sad. It's definitely tying up loose ends found in Rebels and filling in gaps between the original trilogy and sequel but it doesn't feel quite as fresh from when it premiered. 

That said, the video game quest style format works for me and my son loves watching it (probably one for the tearing up thread). I am also surprised that the mines of Mandalore have been done already, as that was what this series was what I thought it would be based around. I'm interested in where it's going.

Oh, and adopting R5 after being adamant that it had to be an IG droid was laughable...

[CavemanLynn]

It definitely feels like Filoni is disappearing up his mythology. I know that the popularity of Mando and Grogu was always going to make the canvas bigger, but I miss the vibe of the first season, where each episode felt like a fun one-shot of a Western or Samurai adventure. Now we're in generic EPIC territory, where Mando and Grogu seem like bit players to get viewers to watch whatever story they think they want to tell. The use of the volume couldn't be more clear, either. A bomb-ravaged planet, but there's still a perfectly flat landing area next to the entrance to the ruins? And those ruins inhabited by cavemen, wild animals and cyborg scavengers for decades, but they still don't even need to climb over any rubble to get from A to B? The matte paintings over the final credits were especially galling, as they looked GORGEOUS. So why they had to smear everything in generic darkness so we couldn't see anything, I don't know.

[chokeout]

The egg snatching psycho that is Grogu from the previous seasons would 100% try to eat Babu Frik and everyone he's ever loved.

[LaGoosh]

Yeah not feeling season 3 at all so far. I don't really know what the point of the show is anymore. The central driver is the Mando/Grogu relationship and story. If that's not the focus then what else is there? Where else is there left for them to go? It's aimless at the moment. And the action scenes should drive a story, not just be time fillers in between the story like they were here. Compare this episode with episode 3 of season 1 where Mando had to rescue Grogu from the Imperial scientists gang then fight his way out of Navarro with every bounty hunter coming for him, badass action with real emotional stakes, to this episode where just a bunch of random action shit happened for no reason where you never felt like any of the characters were in real danger.

And the "big reveal" of the legendary Mythosaur actually hiding in some pools in a museum that were heavily used for hundreds of years was not only a massive load of nothing but it was fucking hilarious (and not in a good way) that it came about because Mando is a complete idiot and walked into the deep end of the pool while wearing a suit of armour.

Goddamn I really want this show to be good again but...it's not looking promising. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by LaGoosh

[FLips]

I think I’m in the minority in that I really enjoyed Mando Season 3 so far.

I went to watch it and my wife said she wanted to watch it too so that meant me rewatching seasons one and two and Book of Boba Fett with her first because she hadn’t seen them. That also lead to us watching Obi Wan Kenobi, the Original Trilogy, the Boba Fett 1970s animation and the Grogu Studio Ghibli animation too.

Adore Mando still and Book of Boba Fett isn’t as good but it’s close. A brilliant cast. On repeated viewings Fennic Shand gets cooler and cooler. 

We both (again in the minority) thought Obi Wan Kenobi was shite. Child Leia was awful and was infuriating to watch. We’re glad it was a one-off special because we weren’t interested in more of it. Served it’s purpose though in bridging a gap between 3 and 4 but Obi Wan letting Darth Vader live for no reason other than because Episodes IV-VI exist was frustrating. Have him escape, don’t just let him go free.

That being said Obi Wan and Darth Vader were both excellent, as were the proper inquisitors. Reva was utterly dreadful though and we both hated her any time she was on screen which was all the bloody time. Between her and Leia we were glad when it finished.

Original Trilogy still holds up. Love them.

The Studio Ghibli short is adorable and The Boba Fett animation is an absolute trip. 1970s animation is wonky and grotesque.

One thing we both agree on though is Siths and Bounty Hunters are way cooler than Jedi. Jedi are dorks.

Edited March 12, 2023 by FelatioLips

[LaGoosh]

I enjoyed episode 3. It was pretty ham fisted and simplistic but to have a seemingly unrelated side story on the nature of evil and power with a depressing ending in the middle of a Mandalorian episode was a very refreshing change. Something different and not the same old shit was very much needed and I love all the New Republic tidbits.

The beginning and ending with Mando and gang was very rubbish.

[Wideload90]

@LaGooshI disagree with you - the clone bit in the middle did little for me, but starships flying about, fucking up interceptors and finishing the redemption arc made me excited for what's to come for the first time this season. 

Laughed at the trap reference to the Mon Calamari mind you...

[FLips]

34 minutes ago, Wideload90 said:

@LaGooshI disagree with you - the clone bit in the middle did little for me, but starships flying about, fucking up interceptors and finishing the redemption arc made me excited for what's to come for the first time this season. 

Laughed at the trap reference to the Mon Calamari mind you...

This was our opinion too. Love the Mando stuff, the wet wipe scientist getting mind flayed we could not care less about. They couldn’t have picked a wimpier less likeable character to do it to so it got no sympathy from us.

[Wideload90]

Filling in the backstory to explain how Grogu survived order 66 is both an ultimate fanboy jizzfest, and completely unnecessary.

 

Ahmed Best redeeming himself over the toxic fanbase? Yes please. 

[LaGoosh]

A very weird episode where basically seemingly nothing of any importance happened. It felt like a lesser episode of Clone Wars at times. I have no idea what this show is even about anymore. What's the story here? They're halfway through the season and there's no sense that anything is going anywhere or what any of their characters goals are.

Edited March 24, 2023 by LaGoosh

[BomberPat]

2 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

A very weird episode where basically seemingly nothing of any importance happened. It felt like a lesser episode of Clone Wars at times. I have no idea what this show is even about anymore. What's the story here? They're halfway through the season and there's no sense that anything is going anywhere or what any of their characters goals are.

That's been my impression of the last two episodes. This time we got a Grogu flashback, some pretty shallow exploration of what the other Mandalorians get up to...and that's kind of it? Last week, there was a kind of "US hiring Nazis after WW2" analogy but, again, I have no idea how it ties into the plot of this show.

I have no problem with doing more world-building and exploring other aspects of the Star Wars Universe, but I don't understand why some of it is happening in this series, or why we're getting it at the expense of the Mandalorian actually doing anything.

It feels like there was a big reset button on having him put his helmet back on and be accepted back into his community - but are we supposed to want that? Are we not supposed to see Mandalor as a society that's prohibitively obsessed with ritual and procedure? I just don't understand what his motivation is, or what the narrative any more is. It's just 40 minutes a week to spend pottering about in a Star War, and that's fine, I guess, but is it The Mandalorian? 

[CavemanLynn]

The worst thing this episode did for me was made the Mandalorians not cool. I get that they're a shattered people making do on a(nother) dust planet, but what we got here was a bunch of nerds in badly-coloured outfits emptying rounds into a lake. All the wheezing and grunting going on when they were climbing the rockface was as if they hadn't worn their costumes before. maybe that's the point, that the Mandalorians are too reliant on their armour (and the Armorer), but there's surely a better narrative way of getting that across than "their helmets suck for extreme sports".

That's two or three episodes now where the Mando bits appear to have bookended the non-Mando stories Filoni wants to tell but knows he doesn't have the stroke to ask Big D for money for. This series doesn't have either a clear arc or fun monster-of-the-week. Even Pedro Pascal seems to be reading his lines off a card on Teams. It's a dud for me so far.