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If they wanted a new “Cara Dune” they should have brought in a younger Mandolorian gal from outside his “cult” who doesn’t care he’s an apostate there but instead views him aspirationally as a leader due to his possession of the Dark Saber.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Fair criticisms all.

My guess? They need IG back because no more Cara Dune.

Thats a reasonable assumption unfortunately.

Still, I thought this was a very solid start to the season overall. Excited about mandalore!

How high do you think the blacksmith’s energy bill is given she just seems to leave that forge running all the time?

Firstly Bad Batch:

Secondly, Mando:

 AduroT wrote:
How high do you think the blacksmith’s energy bill is given she just seems to leave that forge running all the time?

I’d say it’s at least 3p. Per month.

She's clearly an apprentice of Vader. Practicality has no business standing in the way of style.

Have now watched it a second time. Just as good the first time around!

I particularly enjoyed the Nevaro scenes. We’ve gone from rough and ready “nowt wrong with barbecuing semi-sentient species” to far more wholesome “let the semi-sentient species be in their tree”. Just a nice visual shorthand. And adds to why the New Republic wasn’t just The Old Republic/Empire with a hell of a PR Department.

Mando was interesting. Looking forward to the second half of the first episode next week.

Nice to see Bad Batch pick up those earlier plot hooks.

Mando was fun, but also had its share of ridiculousness.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Mando was interesting. Looking forward to the second half of the first episode next week.

True, but I think of like this. if they absolutely had to spend the episode entirely on setup with no progress or resolution, there's no better image to end on than moping Bo-Katan.

Definitely pulling out all the stops with Mando. All the alien and background world design in the episode was top notch. Plot is a little silly, but in terms of what makes Star Wars so enduringly great, its a pretty pure dose.

I suppose I was spoilt by Andor, but did find the Mando thing a bit odd/silly.



It does continue the tradition of the end credits artists impressions seemingly being about a slightly better show.

Putting charges on the outside of armor plating as opposed to literally anywhere they could deal damage made me giggle. At least with the wires they were apparently trying to pull it down.... somehow?

Whilst not a buff on the matter, I know enough about Mandalorian background that the skull sigil thing is a stylised skull of a Big Beastie formerly native to Mandalore. And the slaying of such Big Beastie was an equally Big Deal.

Given how archaic and hidebound their sect seems, maybe it was a matter of honour to at least try to chin it with the weapons at hand?

But moving on a bit. The starfighter battle against the Pirates was excellent. Nicely thrilling, and provided something modern Star Wars has been lacking. But more than that, it demonstrated not only Din’s skills as a Fighter Pilot, but his ship’s unusual capabilities.

I just bet both come back to the fore later in the series!

A warrior people who also happen to be part of a super strict religious cult having what is clearly an important ceremony that then gets interrupted by a turtlegator. You best bet they're going to try and kill it.

Given their seeming nomadic nature, it’s entirely possible they didn’t even know the waters were inhabited by the things.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
I suppose I was spoilt by Andor, but did find the Mando thing a bit odd/silly.

Spoiler:

Is it a requirement to always have initiation somewhere dangerous? Losing 1-2 guys for one new kid isn't a sensible long term strategy. Also it was a bizarrely ineffective fight - doesn't really jibe with them being consummate warriors. Then again the original lot were wiped out by stormtroopers... so?

Bringing back the dead IG just reminded me of how overpowered it was and how an army of them would easily board and secure star destroyers. Also made little sense that if you can repair them with a couple of new parts why statue any droid or feel sad when they blow up because a trip to parts are us and you are laughing. But not looking forward to a second invulnerable death dealing metal machine killing unending tides of stormtroopers.

Also has he asked for the droid to be fixed, flown to palace, got told no, then will fly back to get droid? Or go straight down and skip the need for a droid?

Plus the lack of engine covers does bug me in abrasive environments

It does continue the tradition of the end credits artists impressions seemingly being about a slightly better show.

The quest to get the part to get the droid to get to the place to atone but also join up with the people who don't care does seem overly convoluted already. The show seemed overly reluctant to explain why a good chunk of that would even be required.

I'm also wondering why its invoking Rebels' space whales while simultaneously rejecting the fact that Bo-Katan got the darksabre (and leadership) in the first place in Rebels by someone just saying 'here you have it.'
The pseudo-religious quackery is an albatross around the neck of this show.

I haven't watched Andor yet, but aside from that, The Mandolorian is the best Star Wars content outside of the OT and KotOR and it's not even close.

I thought they covered the Dark Saber bit with the first time she got it it was gifted and then everything fell apart, so this time she wanted to Earn it?

The Mandolorian is good, it's great to see it back but the focusing on the stupid rules of the cult is a bad point. Bo-Kataan's character's condemnation at the end of the episode makes me hope that maybe this series is about Mando giving up the cult completely and destroying the Darksabre.

Pretty sure the Purgill was just a scene being cool, Voss.

 AduroT wrote:
I thought they covered the Dark Saber bit with the first time she got it it was gifted and then everything fell apart, so this time she wanted to Earn it?

Precisely this.

 AduroT wrote:
I thought they covered the Dark Saber bit with the first time she got it it was gifted and then everything fell apart, so this time she wanted to Earn it?

Even if they did... so she forces him to fight an honor duel (which we know is an option). Ta da. Earned.
Or she goes season antagonist and sets up a way for it to get stolen and she recovers it fairly.
Or she manipulates her way into being his second and taking up her agenda.
Or her followers turn to him since its so special (and we know they know he has it- her buddies apparently wandered off with everybody else and have no reason not to talk).

Or... anything but her moping that its somehow lost and out of reach rather than right there.

Gert wrote:Pretty sure the Purgill was just a scene being cool, Voss.

Sure. It could be throwaway 'member berries. That happens on this show.

But... its the establishing shot for his pilgrimage of atonement at the start of the new season. And his mystic son/protégé that they bent over backwards to add back to the show (even to point of interrupting another show) has what is basically a revelatory vision in hyperspace at the start of the journey. My vote is for a Chekov's gun rather than a lazy nothing.

All the episode needed was the High Magistrate to tell Mando:

 privateer4hire wrote:
All the episode needed was the High Magistrate to tell Mando:

Spoiler:

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this

Oh, thanks, old man, that is really very nice
I can always count on you for help and friendly advice
Though I've never seen a sword of quite that shape or size
Oh, God, that's not a sword, it's your **** in disguise


Youtube It’s Dangerous to Go Alone, Starbomb


Automatically Appended Next Post:

trexmeyer wrote:
I haven't watched Andor yet

Prepare to see Golum rise to leadership in jail in a very sad arc!

Oh my word what an excellent episode!

Big old lore dump, some fun action. Good character development too. Din, Grogu and Bo Katan all.

I cannot wait for next week!

Woah, great episode again. Moved at a fair old pace.



Visuals continue to be really impressive, whether you liked this or not, it did look gorgeous.

That is… not where I expected the story to go? After so much of the first episode was spent on the plan to get IG back because it’s the only droid he can trust, he goes to see one mechanic, told they can’t get the part, so he immediately abandons that side quest and takes the random droid the mechanic had on hand. And then he achieves the goal of the big quest in the rest of the episode. I’m really not sure where the season goes from here? Like there’s stuff they can do, little threads they can tease, but it’s weird that the stuff set up as impossible quests at the start were cleared that quickly and relatively easily. Barely an inconvenience!

Also it’s weird to me how different Bo seems to look when she puts the helmet on. Like her whole body somehow seems to look or move differently. I think it’s a visual thing from the lack of swaying hair.

Like I said last week, I was looking forward to seeing the second half of the first episode, and here it was. And, would you believe it, stuff actually happened. Mando spent perhaps a bit too much thinking out loud, we unfortunately had to pay yet another visit to fething Tatooine, the fraidy cat droid was a bit much, but other than that it was a solid half an episode. Lots of Bo-Katan, which is nice, and Baby Yoda had a bigger role that "Oooh. Isn't he cute. Please buy our new Grogu toys!".

If D+ wasn't allergic to normally paced shows of decent running lengths, this could have just been one episode.

Bad Batch was pretty solid too.

I was wrong about who the bad guys in Bad Batch were this week. I had thought they would be revealed as the “dead” clones who were actually going rogue. Crosshair would be accused of a friendly fire accident when they saw who he first sniped after the explosion and his briefly impaired eyesight.

I’m curious who the gal at the end was. She sounded a lot like Omega to my ear. Should we know her?