The Mandalorian

[Nick]

I actually really enjoyed this episode. Peli Moto is an absolutely terrible character, but this episode was far more enjoyable and actually gave Grogu a purpose and things to do, which I appreciate.

General thoughts after episode 2…

- "The Mines of Mandalore" sounds like a DLC...it also feels like it

- Amy Sedaris character is awful and belongs in Sesame Street

- it's beginning to feel like a live action version of a kids cartoon...not in a good way

- "let's get rid of him once and for all...actually let's save him"...nice change of heart with no explanation

- why don't mandalorians build helmets that make it easy to drink and eat given they can't take them off

- it's starting to get to me that Din has zero personality

It’s always felt sort of like a live action version of a kids show… because it is one.

As for the Bo-Katan change of heart is rather self-explanatory. She wanted to fight Din in that moment to get the Dark Saber back. She realizes Din isn’t there and if she has any chance at the Darksaber now, she has to go find him so he doesn’t die before she can win it from him in combat.

 

[SeventyOne]

- it's beginning to feel like a live action version of a kids cartoon...not in a good way

I actually got big Dark Crystal vibes from this episode. Maybe with a smattering of Land of the Lost. Since the former shares 80% DNA with the original Yoda, and the latter is probably an intentional homage (like the Westerns in season 1), I'm ok with it. Let Andor do gritty and realistic. Kids need Star Wars too.

 

[Nico]

This episode was definitely better than episode 1.

 

[lowbudget]

As for the Bo-Katan change of heart is rather self-explanatory. She wanted to fight Din in that moment to get the Dark Saber back. She realizes Din isn’t there and if she has any chance at the Darksaber now, she has to go find him so he doesn’t die before she can win it from him in combat.

Bingo, and her ease and quickness with the darksaber compared to Din's difficulty shows that she is a much better owner, probably the rightful owner. I'm betting this season's climax will be Bo-Katan forcing Din into a fight so she can get the darksaber. Possibly by threatening Grogu.

 

[Nick]

Bingo, and her ease and quickness with the darksaber compared to Din's difficulty shows that she is a much better owner, probably the rightful owner. I'm betting this season's climax will be Bo-Katan forcing Din into a fight so she can get the darksaber. Possibly by threatening Grogu.

Yup, just watch her use it versus Din in this same episode was night and day. For Din he had little control and the weapon sway was wild whereas Bo-Katan knew exactly what she was doing.

 

[Jake S]

little late on this, but I'll echo the comment that I'm all set on Amy Sedaris' character in this show.

I will say that kids don't need entertainment that is distinctly anti-adult; and I think that most of the show has found the right side of that balance by being age-inclusive without neglecting an adult audience. the first two episodes of this season have not quite had that same vibe, feeling a lot more like clone wars than what largely worked during the first season.

 

[Nick]

little late on this, but I'll echo the comment that I'm all set on Amy Sedaris' character in this show.

I will say that kids don't need entertainment that is distinctly anti-adult; and I think that most of the show has found the right side of that balance by being age-inclusive without neglecting an adult audience. the first two episodes of this season have not quite had that same vibe, feeling a lot more like clone wars than what largely worked during the first season.

I think it's partially this, and partially that Andor was on such a high level that it's sort of ruined Star Wars TV for me right now.

Andor and The Last of Us are my two favorite shows of the past let's call it 6 months (never been much of a GOT fan so HOTD did nothing for me) and the two shows i'm most looking forward too going forward to in terms of returning shows. Unfortunately we'll have to wait about 2 years or so for both shows to return.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I like many ideas in the show and impressed on how good the show can look but this isn’t my favorite episodes of the show

saw what you will about the boba Fett show but the two episodes of mandalorian adventure there felt like the best of mandalorian and this season feels like something new but not really capturing the best parts of the reason I love the show

 

[AlexanderMBush]

The episodes keep getting better and better! I'd almost say this episode feels more in place for a New Republic equivalent of Andor, and I won't complain of that.

Spoiler

Also, anyone notice that the tactic used in the opening battle to get Bo and Dinn off the planet is...surprisingly familar to a certain Grand Admiral's in Rebels?

 

[Jerroddragon]

Loved the God fight at the start of the show. One of my favorites instantly, just a fun action scene.

The Story about the side character was both cool but like some of the dialogue felt off at times, it was trying to be Andor but I feel like Andor felt more real then this and I loveeeee the idea of that center where "ex Military" people are sent and would love a book centered around it.

Its a good episode and really can't wait to see how they end this season now

 

[Nick]

Finally watched this. Best episode of the season by far. Loved the longer run time, loved the action sequences in the beginning of the episode and what they did with Bo-Katan at the end of the episode.

I also really liked how this felt like if Andor and Mandalorian had a crossover. I thought it worked really well and they were able to balance the drama with action and it was finally an episode that didn’t feel like a kids show.

My only issue with the Dr. Pershing storyline is it seems fairly obvious they are using him to bridge the gap between this timeline and the sequels and show how Snoke came to be and how Palpatine was cloned. I guess retconning in this case certainly can’t make the sequels worse so I guess it is what it is.

 

[belloq87]

My only issue with the Dr. Pershing storyline is it seems fairly obvious they are using him to bridge the gap between this timeline and the sequels and show how Snoke came to be and how Palpatine was cloned. I guess retconning in this case certainly can’t make the sequels worse so I guess it is what it is.

I'm holding out hope that this subplot is a slight misdirection and we're not actually going into explicit Sequel Trilogy stuff.

I just can't imagine that a guy like Favreau would want to spend time trying to tidy-up that mess. What was so refreshing about THE MANDALORIAN when it first started was how far away it felt from the Sequels.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I dont mind them trying to clean up the sequels because Clone Wars did help the prequels era

I just think some of the dialogue felt like it was from the clone wars tv show and this show wasn't written for cartoon characters, so I just dont need people eating ice cream and giggling it just felt...off. To me at least

 

[Nico]

It was an interesting concept, but felt more like a back door pilot. Also, I really struggled with feeling anything about the “main” characters. I think energy wise they were too similar, so you didn’t really want to root for either of them.

Also, it’s a good thing there’s a mandalorian equivalent of a pensieve.

 

[Jerroddragon]

It was an interesting concept, but felt more like a back door pilot. Also, I really struggled with feeling anything about the “main” characters. I think energy wise they were too similar, so you didn’t really want to root for either of them.

Also, it’s a good thing there’s a mandalorian equivalent of a pensieve.

Whats funny is we have seen it before, so its cool they had it kinda pay off.

 

[Nick]

I'm holding out hope that this subplot is a slight misdirection and we're not actually going into explicit Sequel Trilogy stuff.

I just can't imagine that a guy like Favreau would want to spend time trying to tidy-up that mess. What was so refreshing about THE MANDALORIAN when it first started was how far away it felt from the Sequels.

I just don’t want to think about the sequels really (although I actually liked 2 out of the 3, TRoS was just soooo bad).

This show has already tied itself to the prequels, heavily tied itself to to the Lucas films, and they probably want to fill in some gaps between trilogies too. I actually don’t care if they tackle a Snoke origin or the cloning of Palpatine as long as it’s done well. I just done want to go too far down that road since this is The Mandalorian after all. I also think we're building to Thrawn in a way, though.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I just don’t want to think about the sequels really (although I actually liked 2 out of the 3, TRoS was just soooo bad).

This show has already tied itself to the prequels, heavily tied itself to to the Lucas films, and they probably want to fill in some gaps between trilogies too. I actually don’t care if they tackle a Snoke origin or the cloning of Palpatine as long as it’s done well. I just done want to go too far down that road since this is The Mandalorian after all.

I ment the water going into the pensieve

 

[Nick]

I ment the water going into the pensieve

I quoted you by accident, meant @belloq87

 

[Nick]

I wonder if this has to do with this season starting off slow and essentially, even three episodes in we still kinda have no idea what the story is with Mando and cloning with Pershing. OR, if it has to do more with the fact that it's been 2.5 years since Season 2 and in that time, BoBF and Obi-Wan came out which were both bad to mediocre if you're being nice. Add on the divide and lack of interest in what imo is the best Star Wars show to exist in Andor and 2022 was a rough year for the core Star Wars base (I consider myself a bit more of a SW casual).

Personally, I just think this season isn't nearly as interesting as past seasons so far and we're already pretty much 40% done with it. Add onto that the sour taste that BoBF and Obi-Wan left and while I was excited for the season, the first two episode really lost me and it took an episode that was more in the vein of Andor (while also having some good action sequences in it) to keep me from checking out entirely.

I was a Mando enthusiast in the first two seasons, staying up until 3am here on the east coast to watch some episodes. Now i'm finding i'm just waiting longer because I just don't care as much. Maybe that also has to do with TLOU just being on and how high quality that was, but this show really hasn't changed tones too much since the pilot in Season 1. The biggest change was actually the diversion to Dr. Pershing this past episode where the show became a far more serious drama exploring the moral ambiguities or the Empire vs. New Republic and we're seeing that things actually aren't that different, they just want you to believe that they are.

Now this is talking about an IMDB rating so I think it just got review bombed because people didn't like the Andor type of tone and spending most of the episode away from Mando himself, but the Samba TV ratings are the more worrying thing.

 

[SeventyOne]

I wonder if this has to do with this season starting off slow and essentially, even three episodes in we still kinda have no idea what the story is with Mando and cloning with Pershing. OR, if it has to do more with the fact that it's been 2.5 years since Season 2 and in that time, BoBF and Obi-Wan came out which were both bad to mediocre if you're being nice. Add on the divide and lack of interest in what imo is the best Star Wars show to exist in Andor and 2022 was a rough year for the core Star Wars base (I consider myself a bit more of a SW casual).

Personally, I just think this season isn't nearly as interesting as past seasons so far and we're already pretty much 40% done with it. Add onto that the sour taste that BoBF and Obi-Wan left and while I was excited for the season, the first two episode really lost me and it took an episode that was more in the vein of Andor (while also having some good action sequences in it) to keep me from checking out entirely.

I was a Mando enthusiast in the first two seasons, staying up until 3am here on the east coast to watch some episodes. Now i'm finding i'm just waiting longer because I just don't care as much. Maybe that also has to do with TLOU just being on and how high quality that was, but this show really hasn't changed tones too much since the pilot in Season 1. The biggest change was actually the diversion to Dr. Pershing this past episode where the show became a far more serious drama exploring the moral ambiguities or the Empire vs. New Republic and we're seeing that things actually aren't that different, they just want you to believe that they are.

Now this is talking about an IMDB rating so I think it just got review bombed because people didn't like the Andor type of tone and spending most of the episode away from Mando himself, but the Samba TV ratings are the more worrying thing.

I think you're onto something with the long delay and the Obi Wan and Boba Fett shows failing to deliver. I'd add the complete overexposure of Baby Yoda--check the Disney Outlet or Ollie's for some truly bizarre stuff that still got produced--and somewhat of a lack of marketing.

The biggest issue the show faces, tho, is as a huge Mando fan, I thought episode 2 was a course correction. I was excited for episode 3. But episode 3 was so far outside the feel of the show, for the first time since the premiere I'm not jonesing to see the next one. If episode 3 already saw a drop. next week's could be deadly.