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Post by fonebone on Mar 23, 2023 2:05:07 GMT -8
The Mandalorian "Chapter 20: The Foundling"
Surprising and pleasurable place to get a flashback / origin story for Grogu. Great stuff.
Also awesome to see Ahmed Best in a great Star Wars role. This is better redemption for Jar-Jar Binks than the writers of The Clone Wars could EVER have conceived. He survived too! I wonder where he ended up and what happened to him.
I like that Bo is frustrated by the Mandalorian chick believing she is speaking of visions and metaphors. "This is the way" often MEANS something. Here it means nothing.
I was outraged at the giant dinosaur trying to feed the little kid to its hatchlings. Pretty horrific scene whose only saving grace is that both the kid and his father are rescued.
It's funny Jin expects Grogu to spar. Even funnier than he's right that Grogu will win. Jedi stuff comes in handy there.
There really isn't too much to the episode itself, which is why I like that it's only a half hour long, and that the show never pads things in any episode light on story and mythology. The stories being the actual correct length it takes to tell them is the selling point to streaming on Disney+.
Good week. ****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 23, 2023 2:16:11 GMT -8
Earlier reviews from the season.
The Mandalorian "Chapter 17: The Apostate"
Some Mandalorian rite of passage at the beginning. Didn't have Kaiju alligators on my "This Is The Way" bingo card.
Grogu is too adorable to be allowed. First him spinning in the chair then grabbing that little guy. He's not a pet! Bad baby!
I would have said Dune died off-screen if I wrote the show, but the producers of this show are far kinder than I am.
Katee Sackoff has a starring role this season. Interesting.
I've missed this show. As far as Star Wars goes, This Is The Way. ****1/2.
The Mandalorian "Chapter 18: The Mines Of Mandalore"
That Dark Saber is still cool.
So Bo Katan bathed in the waters of the Caves of Mandalore WITH her helmet on. Am I the only one thinking Din is gonna try and get her to retake the oath? It would be narrative malpractice if he didn't.
The fact that Grogu is sentient enough to follow Mando's instructions to go to Bo for rescue makes his eating of those eggs last season unforgivable. The more capable the show makes the Child, the more culpable he is for that. I think it's probably a mistake.
It was a pretty cool episode. I really liked learning all the Mandalore, uh, lore. ****.
The Mandalorian "Chapter 19: The Convert"
I'm not really sure what to make of that. Out of context of everything else, it feels a bit off.
I was actually rooting for the episode most of the way through it. I loved "Andor" for doing a disturbing thing and showing some real selling points of the Empire and some of the people who worked there. This show showing the downside to the New Republic should equally fascinate me, no?
"The Book Of Boba Fett" also did a couple of episodes near the end of its run that had almost nothing to do with Boba Fett (coincidentally starring the Mandalorian and the Child) so having a detour with different characters is not outside the franchise either. In fact, those non-Boba episodes were weirdly the finest episodes of that series, so I expected similar good things here.
And while I think it's okay to make an audience member feel a bit uncomfortable for rooting for certain Imperialists the way "Andor" did, when it comes to pointing out flaws of the new government Luke and Leia have set up, there need to be some limits to how bad things are. The Mind Flayer being used at the end is the franchise suggesting there is no light between the New Republic and the Empire. And while I have always believed there was much less difference between the Jedi and the Sith than Lucas thought there was, I feel like showing the endpoint government of Return Of The Jedi's happy ending to be entirely as fascist and corrupt for different reason a storytelling mistake. Forget the fact that the former Empire people are stripped of their names and referred to in letters and numbers. One of the daily questions the Droid asks being if the Doc felt any anger or resentment to the New Republic made me wonder if Leia ever understood is was NOT just her son Ben Solo with a little Vader in them.
I don't get why Kane entrapped Pershing, or why she turned the mindflayer on full blast. Maybe this is stuff to be revealed in a future episode. Seeing these characters in this context for the first time, and even rooting for their seeming tentative friendship throughout the episode, makes this development a totally unacceptable place to leave things off. If these were established characters maybe I'd be okay with it. But they were given a starring role for the first time ever, and used in a new way, and it feels empty instead. I don't like feeling that way.
I knew Bo Katan would be asked to rejoin the Mandalorians once they learned she bathed in the water too, and hadn't taken off her helmet. As pretty as Katee Sackoff is, it's too juicy of a plotpoint to not run with.
I wish this show had Blu-Ray releases. I would love to hear an audio commentary from Jon Favreau describing his intentions for creating the episode. As it stands, it feels a bit bewildering and unfinished. **1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 29, 2023 5:24:13 GMT -8
The Mandalorian "Chapter 21: The Pirate"
Interesting. Bo Katan's stuff with the Armorer definitely fits that descriptor.
I have to say the animatronic make-up is positively old-school. And looks pretty lousy and sloppy by modern standards.
I love the random and unexplained cameo from Zeb from Star Wars: Rebels. Still alive and kickin'.
Curious what happened to Gideon and how they'll resolve it.
I love that the big guy who had been giving Jin and Bo grief in earlier episodes surprised them both by supporting their plan and convincing the others to as well because they saved his son. I like that Jin builds trust and alliances that way. It's a cool facet to the character and rewarding pay-off as such.
Cool. Wish Grogu had a bigger role though. ***1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Apr 7, 2023 23:29:01 GMT -8
The Mandalorian "Chapter 22: Guns For Hire"
First ever Star Wars roles for Christopher Lloyd, Jack Black, and... Lizzo? Do I have that right? For Lloyd, being in this franchise is long overdue.
I love that the Duchess presents a tiny fish and Grogu flies into her arms. SO cute.
Matthew Wood back as the voice of the former Battle Droids.
I loved Mando speaking Ugnuaght. I have spoken.
Squid passion and romance does not move me at all. I'm funny that way. I also don't believe in the premise of talking cars. I'll accept a lot. But not squid people mushing tentacled faces together.
When Din and Bo entered the Droid bar, that moment was played EXACTLY the same as the white Deltas entering a black club in "Animal House". I loved the bartender's perspective, simply because the franchise does not give ENOUGH Droid perspective. It was long overdue, and appreciated by me.
The legal technicality at the end of the Dark Saber reminded me unpleasantly of the Elder Wand from Harry Potter. I have a similar moment in my comic, but it's done to play up the ridiculousness of it and the Elder Wand. It makes me groan that this show is asking me to take it seriously instead. I feel like Hank Hill saying "Don't play lawyerball with me, son." WAY too pat for my liking, especially since it was played totally straight and without a single wink to the viewer.
It was imperfect, but I like that the show never tries to be. It would be a lot less interesting if it covered more traditional "Star Wars" ground. Would I prefer it hit the highs of "Andor" ever? Yes. But I enjoy the show just fine for what it is and will never rake it over the coals for what it isn't. ***.
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Post by fonebone on Apr 13, 2023 3:25:27 GMT -8
The Mandalorian "Chapter 23: The Spies"
Dire happenings. Those red guys at the end freaked me the hell out.
I loved Din's affirmation to Bo about why he followed her. That was the heart of the episode to me.
Din isn't so hot on Grogu's new Droid suit, and frankly I'm not crazy about it either.
Huge epic battle at the end, and as I said, the cliffhanger and threat to the good guys is dire. It's interesting that in this franchise, Gideon excepted, the bad guys wear White.
Big episode. ****1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Apr 22, 2023 15:17:14 GMT -8
The Mandalorian "Chapter 24: The Return"
Do I declare that disappointing or not? It checked off all the Star Wars and action series boxes. The ending was far more satisfying than either of the first two seasons. And yet, I feel it was lacking in stakes and focus compared to the season finales of Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and even The Book Of Boba Fett. Yes, on some level it's rewarding for Din to officially adopt Grogu as a son. But for me? He always was. The paperwork there is a mere formality, and the "twist" isn't telling the audience anything we don't already know or believe.
Worse, I feel a bit cheated out of a truly dire climax because the Gideon clones were all terminated before they drew breath and could do any damage. I could excuse that specific cop-out in even the penultimate episode. For the actual finale? We deserved a little punishing violence there. And Din doing that basically neutered Gideon's grand plans and won the season even before they took Gideon himself down. Like Grogu's adoption the final battle became a mere formality at that point.
The boxy Droids with the blinking lights reminded me of the Scutters from Red Dwarf.
It was all right. It was also workmanlike and took zero narrative chances. And nothing in it surprised me. A step down from not only this show, but the rest of Star Wars' recent live-action TV output too. I hope Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni haven't finally taken on too much, but that sort of thing is actually inevitable, isn't it? It happened to Kevin Feige, why wouldn't it happen to them at some point too?
Sigh. A passing grade. But an amazing grade? No. ***1/2.
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