Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 Gert wrote:
In the nicest way possible, I hope to god this is it. We're pretty clearly set up and ready for Ahsoka now so I'd like to think Mando is done until they do that movie I really wish wasn't going to be a thing.
There's nothing left to do but follow Grogu on becoming a Jedi/Mandolorian and I really don't want to sit through a season of that.

A quick check produces hundreds of articles saying 'Season 4 unannounced officially, but already written,' so I'm afraid you're out of luck.

MechaGrogu huh? Alright then... but I still believe firmly that there was no plan to include him in this season until someone higher up went "You can't do Mando Season 3 without Baby Money Maker!". He should'a stayed with Luke.

Anyway, the actor playing Pellaeon was none other than Xander Berkeley. He's been in all sorts of things, and if he's going to be playing Pellaeon going forward, and in Ahsoka, then that's a good get. Very happy to have him. I also love that Domhnall Gleeson's brother Brian is playing General Hux's father.

I'm very confused by what Gideon is talking about at the end. Is his suit the final Dark Trooper suit? Were the Jumptroopers/Super Commandos the final Dark Trooper suits? Did they imply the Jumptroopers/Super Commandos had beskar in their armour? If so, how come they died in droves? Are they all clones of Gideon? It really wasn't clear at all.

Praetorians were cool though. Either way it's nice to see something happening on this show. Shame we had to spend so many weeks faffing about to get here.

And I still don't trust the Armourer. I was fully expecting to see her ship emerge from the clouds to find the fleet on fire.

Final Dark Trooper was Gideon’s armour. In his self aggrandising, he mentions he’s the one that makes it perfect.

Voss wrote:
A quick check produces hundreds of articles saying 'Season 4 unannounced officially, but already written,' so I'm afraid you're out of luck.

Joy of joys. If it's another season like this I'll be sorely disappointed.

Second watch….

Good episode this week, even if it's tinged with frustration at how long it's taken to get there. There are a lot of interesting avenues they could have explored with the New Republic and Imperial Remnants but it still feels a little tacked-on and rushed. Bringing back Moff Gideon is kind of annoying, though so obviously foreshadowed at least everyone was prepared for it. I'd rather have seen the build-up be more about various Imperial Remnant forces and the realisation they are not as defeated as they seemed to be.

It feels like we're headed for a cliffhanger season ending. I can't see how they wrap all this up in one episode in a satisfying way.

Something I noticed:

I'd say they're more reminiscent of the Shaow Collective Mandolorians, especially Gar Saxon.

Slipspace wrote:
I'd rather have seen the build-up be more about various Imperial Remnant forces and the realisation they are not as defeated as they seemed to be.

About this point, I think we're kind of getting that. But just we, the audience, and the characters who hang out in the Outer Rim. Notably not the New Republic. This, in my opinion, is how "somehow Granny Palps has returned" is done right. We as the audience get to see the setup for the return of Thrawn and a unified Imperial Remnant and we get to see why and how it escapes the notice of the other notable galactic power. It's the kind of setup missing from The Force Awakens where the audience is left to scratch their head how a demilitarized New Republic gets caught with their pants down so hard when the aggression and military might of the First Order is so obviously not something that developed overnight.

Right now we have a space cop who sees a part of the picture and is getting ignored by his superiors because the New Republic somehow believes it dealt a crushing blow to the Empire. We don't know exactly how, but we get from the meeting that Imperial efforts very much try to maintain that idea. It's quite possible that when everyone went home after Endor, that was strategy leading to this point, which would make the end of Return of the Jedi a lot less silly. Make a last big effort to appear as a threat with Operation Cinder, get the New Republic to engage in a final battle that is made to feel like a last stand, and anything and anyone stashed away for rebuilding the Imperial military and planning the campaign to retake the galaxy could plausibly drop under the radar.

I'm sure the realization that the Imperial Remnant is still a force to be reckoned with will come to the New Republic once Thrawn enters the stage. The meeting suggests it's even set up on Imperial side that Gideon's operation is and remains small. He is a big name to the New Republic and finding upon his capture that his means are very limited just reinforces that he's a small time warlord and there is no more big Imperial threat. Unless Ahsoka is set up to resolve things quietly by stabbing Thrawn with a lightsaber. We'll see how that goes. I'd have to rewatch the trailer, but if Thrawn is presented as heir to the Empire, it stands to reason that the New Republic should find itself involved and no longer able to deny that the Empire is back in force.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Second watch….

Spoiler:

The Fleet that arrives above Mandalore is significantly smaller than the one that departed Nevaro.

Granted the Fighters and perhaps some Gauntlets may be aboard the Light Cruiser, but I’m sure we’re also seeing fewer Gozanti

I wouldn't put it past them for that to be an animation/continuity mistake.

It does make me think about how small the scale is. Like the planet Navaro, or is that the city? They seem interchangeable, and that one small city is the entirety of the planet. Now this Mando group expect to take and rebuild an entire planet as well?

Speaking of, what’s with the Mandos and giant monsters? For a group who symbolizes themselves with the skull of a giant monster they are really bad at dealing with them.

Hey, what’s with those rocks? Yep, the rocks are moving. Something big is definitely coming up. Should we like stop or turn the ship? Nah, just keep heading straight for it, I wanna see how this plays out. Good thing we got these guys who survived here for years to guide us.

To be fair, the plan was to establish a base around the ancient cultural center of Mandalore and get other Mandalorians across the galaxy to return once it's established that the planet is still habitable and under Mandalorian rule. That sounds reasonable enough to me.

A good episode for sure, but not quite good in the way season 1-2 were still. This is way more action figure clashing but it was really fun and the action was very well done. Having "there's too many of them" guy actually pull it off was very inspired.

Mecha-Grogu is a little.... meh, but I'm sure it will look better once he's been outfitted with some beskarr plating.

Also nice to see the first glimmers of The First Order. Not just the Praetorians, but Hux’s Dad.

I’d need to read the Aftermath novels again to be sure, but I’m fairly certain Hux’s Dad was part of the secret fleet guided to Exagol?

 Geifer wrote:

Slipspace wrote:
I'd rather have seen the build-up be more about various Imperial Remnant forces and the realisation they are not as defeated as they seemed to be.

About this point, I think we're kind of getting that. But just we, the audience, and the characters who hang out in the Outer Rim. Notably not the New Republic. This, in my opinion, is how "somehow Granny Palps has returned" is done right. We as the audience get to see the setup for the return of Thrawn and a unified Imperial Remnant and we get to see why and how it escapes the notice of the other notable galactic power. It's the kind of setup missing from The Force Awakens where the audience is left to scratch their head how a demilitarized New Republic gets caught with their pants down so hard when the aggression and military might of the First Order is so obviously not something that developed overnight.

Right now we have a space cop who sees a part of the picture and is getting ignored by his superiors because the New Republic somehow believes it dealt a crushing blow to the Empire. We don't know exactly how, but we get from the meeting that Imperial efforts very much try to maintain that idea.

We do know how. That, at least, has been on screen multiple times. The New Republic is drowning in paperwork (even the droids are frustrated by the amount of files they're dumping on people's desks), busywork and putting out fires and dealing with requests from everything that was wrecked by a generation of imperial exploitation, and the people managing the queues of minor crises are the wrong people.

The New Republic is struggling with the idea that they just declared the Old Republic reborn, and are finding that it simply isn't that easy, and rebels don't replace an entrenched bureaucracy.

I'm sure the realization that the Imperial Remnant is still a force to be reckoned with will come to the New Republic once Thrawn enters the stage. The meeting suggests it's even set up on Imperial side that Gideon's operation is and remains small. He is a big name to the New Republic and finding upon his capture that his means are very limited just reinforces that he's a small time warlord and there is no more big Imperial threat. Unless Ahsoka is set up to resolve things quietly by stabbing Thrawn with a lightsaber. We'll see how that goes. I'd have to rewatch the trailer, but if Thrawn is presented as heir to the Empire, it stands to reason that the New Republic should find itself involved and no longer able to deny that the Empire is back in force.

The fun part is this is a shell game in its own right. Gideon throws them off Thrawn, and Thrawn himself throws them off the First Order. That they're dealing with a succession of independent warlords with 'remnant forces' is why they CAN deny the Empire is back. Add in the gangs and pirates in the Outer Rim, and there's a lot less clarity for those in the Core Worlds, especially the ones constantly putting out fires. This is definitely the backstory that TFA needed done first, because it makes a lot more sense if Leia's frustration and Resistance group was born out of this mess. (A lot of the sequels still don't, but that part does).

 Gert wrote:

Voss wrote:
A quick check produces hundreds of articles saying 'Season 4 unannounced officially, but already written,' so I'm afraid you're out of luck.

Joy of joys. If it's another season like this I'll be sorely disappointed.

You know that if you don't Ike a show you don't HAVE to keep watching it....
Cut your losses, wash your hands of it. & go watch something you do like.

That’s crazy talk!

And also why I exclusively watch utter drivel like Geordie Shore, Made in Chelsea, Jersey Shore, Big Brother, Love Island, and all other mindless “reality” pap. 24 hours a day. Because high blood pressure is a sign of virility.

ccs wrote:
You know that if you don't Ike a show you don't HAVE to keep watching it....
Cut your losses, wash your hands of it. & go watch something you do like.

Except there were episodes of this season that I did enjoy it was just that overall it wasn't as strong as the previous seasons. Combined with the rather poor showing from Bad Batch, it's made for a disappointing run.
I was disappointed that Andor is getting a second season because the first was so well done and wrapped up really well, that honestly, I don't think we need 3 more seasons of seeing Cassian murdering people for the Rebellion.

I thought Andor was supposed to be a two season show from the start.

Given what happens in season one, that seems warranted considering that technically he hasn't murdered anyone as an Alliance operative yet.

Indeed, lots more murder in his future. But still its great you can take the season as one neat story and end there if you like, and the writers did it knowing they had two seasons.

 Gert wrote:

Except there were episodes of this season that I did enjoy it was just that overall it wasn't as strong as the previous seasons.

While the season is not over yet and my overall appreciation of the season is certainly going to change in function of such an important episode, I would say that the season 3 of the Mandalorian is little better than the season 1, but worst than the season 2. I think that season 1 might appears better mostly because I had lesser expectations from the show and from the Star Wars franchise. I think the Mandalorian and later Andor raised the bar quite a bit for what a Star Wars show/movie can do.

I hope Grogu’s mini Dread Knight turns out to have hidden weapon systems.

It has hands. Grogu could loot Viszla's gun. That didn't break, did it? Just overheat?

It definitely overheated. Whether to the point of being buggered, next episode will tell!

Can it just be 8am on Wednesday now please?

 Souleater wrote:
I hope Grogu’s mini Dread Knight turns out to have hidden weapon systems.

I think Grogu's Mecha suit exists because people already have the toy of him in his capsule.

Shame they completely reversed the entire point of seasons 1 and 2 just to put him back in the show, but forgot to write any plot that involves him.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Shame they completely reversed the entire point of seasons 1 and 2 just to put him back in the show, but forgot to write any plot that involves him.

Considering the plot of the show is the unification of Mandalore and Mandalorians; Grogu's part in the plot has been mostly about learning to be a Mandalorian himself and helping Din and Bo-Katan in said reunification effort. In episode 1 he learns about star navigation, in 2 he applies it and learns more about Mandalore's rather tragic history, in 4 he starts his training and a new piece of armor (and seems to be fully integrated as a foundling), in 7 he helps calm down infighting and who knows where his learning will lead him in the season final (I suspect he will be key to saving Din in some way).

Going back to the previous episode for this bit:

 AduroT wrote:
Mandalorian:

Since when can the elite battle droids move that fast?!

I happened to watch Attack of the Clones last night and both B1s and B2s charge into the arena at the beginning of the battle. So it looks like B2s have been able to run at speed since their first appearance.

epronovost wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Shame they completely reversed the entire point of seasons 1 and 2 just to put him back in the show, but forgot to write any plot that involves him.

Considering the plot of the show is the unification of Mandalore and Mandalorians; Grogu's part in the plot has been mostly about learning to be a Mandalorian himself and helping Din and Bo-Katan in said reunification effort. In episode 1 he learns about star navigation, in 2 he applies it and learns more about Mandalore's rather tragic history, in 4 he starts his training and a new piece of armor (and seems to be fully integrated as a foundling), in 7 he helps calm down infighting and who knows where his learning will lead him in the season final (I suspect he will be key to saving Din in some way).

Eh. That might be part of the plot of the season (and even that's iffy given how uneven the season has been, especially the writing for Bo-Katan, who seems to have a different role every episode- broken noble, hero, convert, ambassador, princess, back-to-mercenary-leader, crusader), but I could argue that coping with failure (especially long-term failure) is more the plot of the season. No one achieves anything that lasts, and everything keeps falling apart, even when the writers have to pull out the Idiot Ball and force the scavvers to steer the good ship Glass Pirate into a mountain turtle. That they spotted ahead of time. But the next part of the plot requires the merry band to be unable to flee (except that one guy), so the ship had to go.

12 hours to go and I am hype!