Mandalorian Season 3

[Mr. Vee]

I for one welcome our new pudding overlords. And there just might be an opening as they've cancelled the jenkins and feige movies.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

I didn't know Feige was up to anything (and generally don't admit if I do, since I don't want the ninja robots after me again).

 

Rogue Squadron's demise we kinda knew about, but I thought with Patty's schedule being cleared post DC reboot it was back on. Guess not. 

[Mr. Vee]

The Feige one seemed rather vague. Hoping the Waititi one with the younglings doesn't get off the ground either cuz just ugh. And they also seem to be still going to let Rian Johnson touch the universe again, cuz that went so well the first time 🙃

[Glacier Peak]

This is the way! Loving the new season so far. 

[Techwright]

On 3/9/2023 at 12:52 PM, Mr. Vee said:

The Feige one seemed rather vague. Hoping the Waititi one with the younglings doesn't get off the ground either cuz just ugh. And they also seem to be still going to let Rian Johnson touch the universe again, cuz that went so well the first time 🙃

Personally not a fan of Waititi other than IG-11.  Sorry. 

 

As to Rian, my first reaction was worse than a cat coughing a hairball.  My second reaction was to have a little bit of fairness and ask whether the problem was mostly Rian or JJ Abrams.  My third reaction was to recall that Abrams realized he'd have to take the reigns back to have any chance of ending the trilogy with even a modicum of respectability  My fourth reaction was a return to my first reaction.

 

On 3/9/2023 at 8:06 AM, Mr. Vee said:

Some internets figured out the writing on the tablet. Evidently they liked to drop Biblical quotations long, long ago in that galaxy far, far away. Because of course they did.

I've missed that somehow.  What'd they do, quote the opening of Ecclesiastes or something? (Turn, turn, turn...)

 

These responses in orange:

On 3/9/2023 at 7:28 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Thoughts:

  Hide contents

• Din was out cold and/or drowning by the point the Mythosaur woke up. Hence, Bo is the Chosen One - or at least, is going to think she is.  I'm seeing a lot of theories involving the Dark Saber, the mythosaur, Din, Bo, and Grogu.  I honestly don't know where this is going.  Though the ones stating that Bo gets the dark saber fail to remember that it was Bo who put the Dark Saber back down with Din's stuff while he was unconscious from fluids loss.  It was both Bo and the writers saying "Not this fight, not this way".   I do think though, that with the presence of the Dark Saber, the Living Waters, and the mythosaur,  the fate of Mandalor rests on at least one of the three, though I'm open to the idea of 2 regents and a future Mandalor.
• Interesting also that Bo wielded the Darksabre naturally and with ease, whereas Din can't handle the weight.  On the surface, this is just because she had it a while, and may have even had some lessons from Ahsoka.  I mean, even Gideon wielded the blade better than Din.  This could mean that Din is conflicted somehow, and it's displaying through his struggle with the saber.  Under the surface, though...yeah, it could be foreshadowing.
• Serious creepout / horror vibes from that weird bloodsucking creature. Good to see Favreauloni continuing the fine Disney tradition of giving kids nightmares...  And what a fine tradition it is.  I still shudder from the nightmares given to me by the giant squid in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  The cyborg remains, to my thinking, the one big mystery of the The Mandalorian episode.
• ...and bringing a ruined but still wondrous vision of Mandalore from Clone Wars to life.  The effects team was firing on all cylinders this episode.
• Grogu is, indeed, tougher than he looks and clearly smart enough to instruct a droid, if not fly yet. And R5 has developed some loyalty to his new master.  I know it was for the progress of the story, but I'm actually surprised that Din went along with the purchase of R5.  He's smart enough to know Grogu can get Bo-Katan, but completely taken by an obvious scam?  I'm surprised he didn't ask for BD-1.
• Flying gators: indeed, not something you want around. (If they'd wanted flying giant spiders they'd just need to film in Australia.)  The problem is, the proper title for that film has been used already:  NOPE!
• Nice scene with Pelle catching everyone up on what's been happening and that the Boonta races are basically N'Awlins on Carnival, right down to the "replacement" (ahem) catalytic converters. Watching a human speak Jawa is kinda fun. I've also had the same "wow, Grandpa" reaction looking for audio spares in a Maplin's (think posh RadioShack).  With the Hutts pushed off-world, I'm actually surprised the Boonta festival is still happening.  From what I read it was a big ego boost for the Hutts and required slaves to do demeaning things. 

 

 

[Mr. Vee]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

Personally not a fan of Waititi other than IG-11.  Sorry. 

I've missed that somehow.  What'd they do, quote the opening of Ecclesiastes or something? (Turn, turn, turn...)

I haven't liked anything he's done other than Reservation Dogs, which is one of my favorite shows. Go figure.

 

https://www.slashfilm.com/1215070/what-does-the-mandalorian-stone-tablet-say-in-the-season-3-premiere/

[Techwright]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:24 PM, Mr. Vee said:

I haven't liked anything he's done other than Reservation Dogs, which is one of my favorite shows. Go figure.

 

https://www.slashfilm.com/1215070/what-does-the-mandalorian-stone-tablet-say-in-the-season-3-premiere/

Thanks for the link.  That is a curious apocalyptic choice even if it does suggest a form of annihilation.  I'd have expected the Four Horsemen, but then the article does suggest a possible direction being hinted at.

 

I've never seen Reservation Dogs.  I'll add it to the list.

[Techwright]

Season 3, Episode 3 - The Convert

 

I'll not lie.  The first viewing of this, I liked the bookends but not the middle.  However, with the benefit of hindsight and a repeated viewing, I've come to better appreciate the whole.  This almost felt like two distinct episodes, but I now feel there's a common thread.  More on that down in the Spoilers.

 

Spoiler

Okay, first the bookends:

 

Mando hasn't seen the Mythosaur, and Bo-Katan won't tell him. 

 

She's not removing her helmet.  Far from just a casual oversight, this immediately implies in wake of discovering the mythosaur, she's reevaluated her views and has seen the potential of following his religious path, and is at least willing to give it a go.

 

We get a clear moment of Grogu attempting speech.  While I suspect one of his chirps was actually a "YEP" that coincided with the Armorer's previous re-statement that Din was no longer a Mandalorian, this effort was unmistakable.

 

The attack showed a constructed plan, not just a discovery and attack.  Indeed, the fact that the castle has stood for years leads to a question that should be asked by reactors, but I've yet to hear:  Why now?  Why was an organized attack, diversion, bombing, and posse pursuit put against Bo-Katan at this moment?  I believe the answer is in the middle part of the episode, and I'll address it there.

 

Bo and Din head to the Children of the Watch (henceforth CotW) cave.  Okay, the first question here everyone should ask is:  Where is the carcass of the crocodile-turtle?  That thing was of monstrous proportions, not easily moved.  It should have been rotting there for weeks, but Din has only been gone days at the most.  We've never seen the CotW with any major ships. 

 

The second question to be asked is:  What is it about the Living Waters that reacts with the Armorer's quench pool in an iridescent way? Dust from the special beskar ore of the mines? Mythosaur dandruff?  Whatever it is, we now know the Armorer has been hording the last off world traces of it, an has been using it for special ceremonies, as seen in the first shots of season 3 when she made the kid's helmet.

 

As a side note, the Armorer's quench pool with the Living Water's added seems to be a clear reference to mythology elements of a sacred pool or seer's pool.  In such cases the user (usually a woman of power) gazes into a pool to discover truth or perceive events beyond the normal range of perception (distance, time).  Reference Galadriel's basin pool as a comparison.  Here, it's used to test the truth of Din's words.  We're getting a lot of Arthurian-esque material of late:  a sacred sword, a "dragon" and its lair, a seer's pool, and prophecies of a rise to power and a new kingdom. The CotW might even be seen as keepers of the purest form of creed, in essence, the Star Wars version of Knights of the Round Table.

 

While I can see Bo-Katan's desire for a fresh start, as a viewer, I'm not really happy with the idea that what seems to herald her new rise to power as a CotW has implications that all Mandalorians will eventually seal themselves into their helmets.  While a few makes the story interesting, the entire population makes it a nightmare for viewers.  People relate to faces, and take emotional cues from them.  While the show has done an admirable job of communicating thoughts and emotions from one helmed person, and usually done well with the greater collective of CotW, we lose the subtlety of facial reading.  There's a reason the clones took off their helmets when not needed, and there's a reason, as seen in Bad Batch, where chip-overridden clones kept their helmets on. One showed independence and the subtleties of communication that go with it, the other showed a hive mentality where the individual no longer mattered.  I'd rather not see the Mandalorians end up there.

 

The Middle Story:

 

I didn't like this at first.  I found the pacing ponderous, and was very surprised it was in The Mandalorian.  It seemed more like something used by a rookie director in The Bad Batch.  I actually paused and walked away for a few hours, something I've never previously done with this show.  But in retrospect, and with a second viewing, I've come to suspect the director's reasons are to have the audience put on edge, in essence to share Dr. Penn Pershing's nervous demeanor.  I'm not fond of the result, but at least that offers an explanation that makes some sense.

 

We get some backstory for Pershing.  That's good, though I still feel like he's an important but incomplete character.  I hope the ending of his segment doesn't mean his ending for certain (as opposed to say, reprogramming).

 

It's ironic that the very thing Pershing was lobbying for, to repurpose Imperial technology for the good of the New Republic, is the very thing used to vanquish him.  The New Republic fools may have slapped a fancy name on the device, but Pershing immediately recognizes it for what it is, and has always been.  Even the fool of a Calamarian doctor sees the device as a new machine delivered to them, rather than one removed and repurposed.  They didn't even bother to change the hardware to make higher settings impossible.  This New Republic, which I'd previously seen as good if weak (from the Sequel Trilogy), I now see as corrupt from the start.

 

And that leads to another major point from this episode, and a jarring one at that.  We are now informed that the New Republic has NOT learned from the ashes and mistakes of the Old Republic nor from the whip of the Empire.  If anything, this is presented as a slightly kinder, gentler empire, just with a smiley-faced sticker over the face of the dark helmet. In the name of Amnesty, they strip a person of their name and give them a number, just like the Empire, though they're a bit more lax in the enforcement of it.  Their "meaningful work" for amnesty-program participants appears to be the same soul-crushing, bland office as was seen under the Empire in Andor, just in blues instead of grays and with a bit more cheerful water cooler talk.  One wonders where Mon Mothma is and how her vision went sour.

 

I'm happy to say that I was immediately on to Elia Kane's loyalties.  I was genuinely surprised by how many reactors were completely taken with her cover, a tribute, I suppose, to the episode's writers for creating such a believable cover.  The only reason I was on to her, was that I remembered her from last season.  She was portrayed as utterly loyal to the First Order and to Moff Gideon, in essence a "true believer".  What I didn't see coming was her double-agent tactic of convincing the New Republic to let her work as their mole. That was a nice twist. 

 

One other thing I did not like from this episode: at least three New Republic workers put Dr. Pershing in a machine that uses energy to reprogram the brain, then all leave the room.  Worse, the machine technician has no problem leaving Elia Kane in the room with the controls on the basic explanation that this former Imp officer is "a friend".  That is just sloppy writing.  I do wonder how they intend to explain the results and Elia's presence during them when the staff returns in 15 minutes.

 

Now to that "common thread" I previously mentioned.  I believe there's a deliberately-composed reason why Bo-Katan and her castle were attacked now.  It is the same reason Dr. Pershing was attacked (and killed? reprogrammed?):  someone is targeting those people who hampered Moff Gideon over the last two seasons.  Several reactors have speculated that it is Grand Admiral Thrawn.  While we know he's going to be in live action, I've not heard or seen anything that suggests he's in The Mandalorian.  On the surface, he seems to be destined for the Ahsoka series only.  But I do know that the show producers have talked about Moff Gideon's actor being in the season.  Assuming this is not a lie/fake out, I'd previously assumed that he'd been seen in prison, possibly consulted as a hostile source of information.  But the rumor dropped at the courtyard table, that Gideon escaped, plants the possibility that these attacks are orchestrated by Gideon himself.  It would explain why Bo-Katan and her castle were targeted now rather than previously.  Gideon probably previously saw her as washed up: a sulking former leader whose power was taken, and therefore not worth his effort to eradicate her.  Now after his ship was take and he was captured, he'd see her as a high-priority threat, especially knowing how she glared at Din holding the Dark Saber.  It would have made sense for her to attack Din and take it, rising to power again.  Pershing repeatedly resisted killing Grogu, and resistance would not be tolerated.  This could mean that we'll soon hear, perhaps just by dialog, of attack on Cara Dune in Special Forces, and on Boba Fett and Fennec Shand for aiding the cause.

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:  I forgot to add that  Elia Kane's actress, Katy M. O'Brian, in appearance strikes me as having an almost sibling-like resemblance to actor Steve Bacic from back in his Andromeda days about 20 years ago (playing two members of the Rhade family).

 

 

Looking forward by reviewing the season trailer, I have a thought where this story is going, though probably not the last episode:

Spoiler

We're going to get an episode of the Children of the Watch vs. Pirates on the streets of Nevarro.  The trailer clearly shows this.  It's the last major component of the trailer that has not been known yet.  One shot show the Ancellans cheering on the Mandalorians as they drop a pirate onto the pavement in front of the shattered window of the Ancellans workshop.  Another shot show the Mandalorians, led by what appears to be Pas Viszla, fighting pirates near the shattered ruins of the IG-11 statue and base.   What is not clear to me is whether this is only the Children of the Watch or if it is possibly other Mandalorians joining as well.  It might be the first action in unifying the Mandalorian factions.

 

This gives me an interesting thought:  Greef needs a marshall for Nevarro.  I suspect he'll find one within the ranks of the Mandalorians. Pas Viszla, if he can put his negative attitudes aside would make an excellent marshall. What if...the entire tribe of the Children of the Watch are invited to become the police force for Nevarro?  They were there before, in hinding in the tunnels beneath the city, and they fought valiantly to protect the Child on the streets of the city, with many of their kind being lost.  I don't think Greef would have forgotten that, and if he gets an endorsement from Din, Greef may make them an offer to be citizens and defenders of the city.  Whether they take this route or choose to recolonize Mandalore with all its dangers remains to be determined.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Techwright

[Mr. Vee]

So do we have no problem with 

Spoiler

the planet so densely populated that only the super-wealthy and government officials can afford to live on the surface has a junkyard on the surface, much less one capable of taking on the wrecks of star destroyers? oh and plenty of cheap government housing up there for former imperial halfway houses? and the ships are moved there rather than to corellia or fest where we know they have shipworks? or to somewhere to be melted down and repurposed?

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

On 3/16/2023 at 10:40 PM, Mr. Vee said:

So do we have no problem with 

Spoiler

...no, oddly enough. We've seen where the middle and lower classes live in Andor - less money puts you literally lower down, with less light availability. A breaker's yard kinda makes sense as an income source and as a place to get all the materials for them fancy buildings, though a backwater like Rix deals quite nicely with them too.

 

What I do have a problem with... and this is the first time you'll hear me say this about Pedro content...

Spoiler

...sweet Freya in Asgard, that was dull.
 

Like m'learned coll' @Techwright, I am rarely bored enough by anything to switch off and do something else halfway through. but by the Great Bird Of The Galaxy, did they let Lucas back in the writer's room or something? Overlong expositions, turgid pacing, plot holes, dialogue that creaaaaaaaked.

Oh, and annoying jokey taxibot. GAH. No. NO. BAD FAVREAU! BAD! NO CUBAN SANDWICH FOR YOU!

 

...ahem. It's fairly obvious that Elia is A Bad Girl, but exactly where her loyalties lie - is it ultimately to Gideon or to the Republic? - we may not know for a while.

 

Perhaps what made it worse is we got dessert first: a fairly nifty aerial combat sequence against a hornet's nest of advanced TIE Fighters. Where did they get those from?

It's quite possible they're going full HYDRA this season, and a cadre of First Order wannabes are hiding within and operating the levers of power in the New Republic. As we've seen from recent events in the real world, there are some people who just don't find freedom expedient or profitable, and might have preferred the devil they used to know.

 

Anyway. With annoying worldbuilding bit done, hopefully into some proper plot next week.

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Mr. Vee]

32 minutes ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

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 less money puts you literally lower down, with less light availability.

 

Spoiler

my point exactly - there's nowhere on the surface for dirty business. even if we don't dig into the extended universe stuff we've known since the prequels that the entire surface is ultra upper class.

now as to your other point, yeah it was boring. remind-us-again-how-slow-large-desert-animals-are boba scenes boring. i'm unclear if they just forgot how to edit or if they really thought they needed to extend these scenes just to make extra sure they rammed home the point that Pershing is easily groomed and that the new republic runs on cognitive dissonance. so far i still feel like they blew the meat of this season trying to make boba's series less boring and left themselves a bunch of sidequests. hopefully it'll pick up.

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

Spoiler

I found episode 3 very hard to watch and sit through; it hit my ADHD bad and had me so distracted because I just kept getting so bored, so I am sure I missed a few things.

 

I kind of don't mind if Bo'Katan decides to return to the Way and keep her helmet on and we potentially see Mandalorians return to that. A lot of emotional cues can be taken just from music, environment, sounds, and body language. Also, I've read that some fans have meltdowns about characters taking their helmets off when they're not supposed to (e.g., Paramount Plus taking of Master Chief's helmet--which I agree with; that shit should have stayed on!. And I guess people were pissed about seeing Boba Fett's face, but I don't understand that outrage because, like, we all knew who he would be under the helmet since he's technically a clone of Jango Fett. Like, it's not as if it ruined the surprise a la Master Chief. So yeah, I'm mostly neither here nor there on that issue.

 

I do agree about the mind flayer scene. Super weird, lot of things that shouldn't have happened like leaving the imp characters alone, the machine being able to be dialed to deadly in the first place... idk. Though I do kind of like the idea that we're not supposed to just assume that the New Republic are the "good" guys.

 

[WanderingAries]

I guess we're using spoilers in replies...?

Spoiler

It took a very weak IGN discussion to get me to understand what was going on in this episode. I saw mom watching it and she thought it was the equivalent of the TV guide being wrong. Granted, when I finally watched it, I realized (in the dialog) where the were in the middle of the show, but was utterly confused as to WHY. It was mentioned on IGN that the title was the

key and I get that, but the two pieces of content had seemingly nothing to do with each other. I did like the fact that I wasn't able to completely guess what was going on, but then I did in places that were probably not Supposed to be obvious. IDK, it left it feeling weak overall.

 

[Techwright]

OOOOHhhhhh...NOW I see what caused the issue with this episode...

 

Spoiler

...Or rather, I suspect what caused it.

 

There were two writers on this episode:  Jon Favreau and Noah Kloor.  If you do not recognize that last name, Kloor was the staff writer on all but one of the episodes of The Book of Boba Fett.  The one he didn't write is the one with the return of a certain legendary bounty hunter.  Dave Filoni took that one.   If you've not seen TBoBF, large chunks of it dragged and some felt irrelevant, disconnected from what should have been the driving theme.  (To be fair though, Kloor is also credited with the two episodes bracketing the Dave Filoni one, both of which were well received, even if one of them didn't even have the show's main character.)

 

I think this may go hand-in-hand with possibly a more important stumble.  The director was Lee Isaac Chung, a name I didn't recognize from the established league of The Mandalorian (and Obi-Wan Kenobi) directors.  I had to look him up.  He has 7 other director credits, 3 of which are on shorts, and none of which I recognize (Which may just mean I'm living under a rock, I realize).  He also has one co-directorship, also something I've not heard of.  It seems his real credits are in cinematography.   This makes a certain sense because the last episode of The Mandalorian was also directed by one of the cinematographers, Rachel Morrison.  Rachel has a similar number of directing credits to Chung, and I did recognize a couple of them.   Perhaps what is happening is that the showrunners feel confident enough in their product to allow cinematographers to try their hand at directing in a major series.  Morrison's was the highest scoring of the three so far.

 

If the poor dialog and lackluster scenes are attributable to Kloor (I strongly suspect Favreau wrote the bookends covering Din Djarin's tale), and the slow pacing is attributable to Chung, there's still the matter of checks from those higher up.  Rick Famuyiwa has been promoted to executive producer.  I'm surprised he or Favreau didn't recognize the plodding pace and order cuts.  (Filoni is very good at directing, but his real strength is lore and storytelling.  He might be out writing up next season, or working on Ahsoka, or any number of other projects needing his expertise.)

 

 

[WanderingAries]

18 hours ago, Techwright said:

OOOOHhhhhh...NOW I see what caused the issue with this episode...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

...Or rather, I suspect what caused it.

 

There were two writers on this episode:  Jon Favreau and Noah Kloor.  If you do not recognize that last name, Kloor was the staff writer on all but one of the episodes of The Book of Boba Fett.  The one he didn't write is the one with the return of a certain legendary bounty hunter.  Dave Filoni took that one.   If you've not seen TBoBF, large chunks of it dragged and some felt irrelevant, disconnected from what should have been the driving theme.  (To be fair though, Kloor is also credited with the two episodes bracketing the Dave Filoni one, both of which were well received, even if one of them didn't even have the show's main character.)

 

I think this may go hand-in-hand with possibly a more important stumble.  The director was Lee Isaac Chung, a name I didn't recognize from the established league of The Mandalorian (and Obi-Wan Kenobi) directors.  I had to look him up.  He has 7 other director credits, 3 of which are on shorts, and none of which I recognize (Which may just mean I'm living under a rock, I realize).  He also has one co-directorship, also something I've not heard of.  It seems his real credits are in cinematography.   This makes a certain sense because the last episode of The Mandalorian was also directed by one of the cinematographers, Rachel Morrison.  Rachel has a similar number of directing credits to Chung, and I did recognize a couple of them.   Perhaps what is happening is that the showrunners feel confident enough in their product to allow cinematographers to try their hand at directing in a major series.  Morrison's was the highest scoring of the three so far.

 

If the poor dialog and lackluster scenes are attributable to Kloor (I strongly suspect Favreau wrote the bookends covering Din Djarin's tale), and the slow pacing is attributable to Chung, there's still the matter of checks from those higher up.  Rick Famuyiwa has been promoted to executive producer.  I'm surprised he or Favreau didn't recognize the plodding pace and order cuts.  (Filoni is very good at directing, but his real strength is lore and storytelling.  He might be out writing up next season, or working on Ahsoka, or any number of other projects needing his expertise.)

 

 

 

Yeah, if you'd had walked in during the second act, then you'd be completely confused as to what you're watching. Even so much as to think it was a different show all together.

[Glacier Peak]

That was a dry episode! I skipped the majority of it, thanks to the inventor of the fast forward button!

[Techwright]

Season 3, Episode 4 - The Foundling, or as I like to say: the completely opposite level of interest from last episode.

 

Spoiler

We get to see Children of the Watch (CotW) training.  Paint darts make sense.  Not so sure about pointing active flame throwers at each other.  🤔

 

Grogu is forced into his first training combat.  It's interesting that Bo-Katan has an equally high level of confidence in Grogu, to the point that she asks him to go easy on the other kid.

 

I am a bit puzzled why Din put Grogu into a combat situation with technology foreign to him, and without really any instruction or training.  That does not seem like the way.  While Grogu's size will require him to rely on the Force to level a playing field, I'm not sure that making him highly dependent upon it for his Mandalorian training is a good thing.

 

CotW again showing they've no basic understanding of defenses.  Allowing what is essentially a giant pterodactyl (or perhaps a cold drake) within range of camp without an early warning from posted guards is terrible, as is training next to the waters where they know monster crocs await.  These guys are brave, but foolish.  They could use a few clones to show them how to set up a fortress.  Of course, I'm wondering why they'd even set up living on a planet with two monster species, especially one that's already taken multiple of their population.

 

The one real problem I had with this episode is how long the beast took to try to feed the kid to its young.  It was nearly a full rotation, and the Mandos acted like that was normal.  Sloppy writing.  The rest was pretty good though.

 

We finally get to see Grogu's temple rescue.  And I'm pretty confident in saying that no one I've heard from guess correctly which Jedi leader was the rescuer.  I'd had high hopes for the librarian, Jocasta.  But it was Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, played by none other than Ahmed Best (aka Jar Jar Binks) in quite the redeeming role as an effective Jedi.  I admit I'd never heard of this character and had to look it up.  Apparently Best has been playing him as the host of a kids' game show.  Not something I'd have anticipated, but at least they're not making the character foolish in canon context.  From the descriptions, it sounds like Beq's duties were as the overseer of the Temple on Coruscant.  This makes sense then, why he might not be seen at Council meetings: his duties lay close to home rather than ranging afar.   Beq appears to be the second canon Jedi to wield a purple light saber according to what I read, although here, he's wielding a green one, and picks up a blue one.  I'm guessing the change was to prevent confusion that possibly Best had taken over the role of Mace Windu (which makes no sense anyway as Windu was missing an arm at this point, if not a life).

 

Not sure who set up a Naboo ship and crew as the support team in the rescue, as Padme was not clear what was happening at this point in the story, but it's a nice tip of the hat to the Prequels.  It will be interesting to see if this is addressed at some later point.  Respect to the Naboo guard that took on the twisted clone troopers knowing it was probably to their doom. 

 

I look forward to seeing how Beq arranges Grogu's hiding and future guard until Din finds him.  More importantly: why?  Why was this youngling given special treatment over apparently all the others at the temple?  I'm guessing it has to do with Grogu's species, and possibly either Yoda or Yaddle.  I cannot believe that Grogu would have been at the temple for a couple of decades and not spent time with either of the Jedi masters of his race, whatever their blood relationship might be or not be.

 

The rondelle was an unexpected and interesting choice of defensive armor.  I wonder why that was picked instead of, say, a normal chestplate Grogu's size?

 

Bo-Katan makes the interesting choice to confide in the armorer as to her discovery.  I'd like to see this as character growth, choosing not to manipulate the situation to her advantage, though later episodes may prove this wrong. Whether the armorer simply accepts the information without serious reaction, or whether she's insistent that it is a vision, I'm not clear about, but it sounds like she has a positive view of this regardless.

 

Interesting that they bring back 3 baby cold drakes.  I've only seen clips of Game of Thrones (and have no real interest in it), but even I can't miss the comparative to raising 3 dragons.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Techwright

[Mr. Vee]

I want Carl Weathers to direct every episode - in and out, 30 minutes, no waiting.

Spoiler

funny that 'the way' rules on younglings outweighs taking the character who can mind-control large predators and float people up mountains on the rescue team.

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

Good gods yes, the pacing and interest on this episode was so much better that I was actually a little surprised when it was over.

Spoiler

@Techwright, as always, you give a really good write up and bring up points that I totally agree with. On top of your points, it occurred to me as well that only Bo'Katan has a ship, so how did they get to that planet? Or maybe I missed something.

 

But even more, what the hell will they do if they ever need a way off that planet? I guess use Bo'Katan's ship since apparently it's the Tardis anyway by holding a company of like 10 Mandalorians and 3 huge baby drakes.

 

[Techwright]

7 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

I want Carl Weathers to direct every episode - in and out, 30 minutes, no waiting.

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funny that 'the way' rules on younglings outweighs taking the character who can mind-control large predators and float people up mountains on the rescue team.

 

Carl Weathers is indeed showing he is a formidable Star Wars director.  I do like some of the others as well, though.  Dave Filoni and Bryce Dallas Howard spring to mind.

 

As to the spoiler comment, it is an excellent point, but if I may note...

Spoiler

...the only one or ones at fault would be Din and possibly Bo-Katan.  Some of the rest may know Grogu has had Jedi training, but as animal control (animal empathy?) is not a common Jedi trait, the rest would likely be unaware that Grogu has this skill.

3 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Good gods yes, the pacing and interest on this episode was so much better that I was actually a little surprised when it was over.

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@Techwright, as always, you give a really good write up and bring up points that I totally agree with. On top of your points, it occurred to me as well that only Bo'Katan has a ship, so how did they get to that planet? Or maybe I missed something.

 

But even more, what the hell will they do if they ever need a way off that planet? I guess use Bo'Katan's ship since apparently it's the Tardis anyway by holding a company of like 10 Mandalorians and 3 huge baby drakes.

 

 

I've been forced to assume...

Spoiler

...that they have their ships hidden away somewhere else but nearby.  They'd must have several ships or one or two really good-sized ones for a couple of reasons:

1. Something had to bring that massive forge to the cave.  Even taking into account that it might be modular (made by Space IKEA?) it still has mass and weight.

2. Not just the people, but all weapons, ammo, and living materials would need to be crated and moved.  The first two would be sizeable when dealing with Mandalorians.

3. It's really the only good explanation as to what happened to that massive crocadilid that they killed in front of the cave.  They'd need some incredibly stout cabling or tractor beams and some powerful ships to lift, move, and dispose of it entirely.

 

It is a good point about their escape.  They don't really have a good exit strategy.  Even if they had ships, they'd be stuck trying to get to them. If the First Order came knocking, they'd be turning that cave into the Alamo.   Bo-Katan's model of ship has been seen before in Star Wars and for a personal craft it is quite massive.  While I do think the interiors would be rather tight with those...chicks...for lack of a better term, the chances are there's a cargo hold where they were kept.  One does have to wonder how they got the chicks from the nest to the ship, though.  And where are the helmets that were in the nest?  They should've collected them and recycled the beskar.  I'm actually surprised Din didn't collect beskar armor while exiting Mandalor.  The stuff is extremely valuable to his group, and hard to come by.

 

I've watched some reactions and read others, and some have made a comment that I'm kicking myself for not considering (good for them!):

Spoiler

Beq mentions to Grogu that they're going to be getting help from some friends.  When they arrive, these people turn out to be guards from Naboo, along with their Naboo ship.  But they don't immediately recognize Beq, which suggests they're working for the friend(s) rather than being them.  The suggestion has been made that the friend is none other than Jar Jar Binks, Best's better-known role.  Jar Jar was a representative of Naboo at this time, something like a junior senator to Padme Amidala.  If so, it's a great tip-of-the-hat to Best, again, while providing a bit of redemption to the character of Jar Jar.  I'm puzzled though, why Jar Jar would have human guards and not Gungan ones.  I think I'd be more inclined to feel that Captain Typho, Amidala's head of the guards, had befriended Beq and was behind the arrangements.

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

I've been forced to assume...

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...that they have their ships hidden away somewhere else but nearby.  They'd must have several ships or one or two really good-sized ones for a couple of reasons:

1. Something had to bring that massive forge to the cave.  Even taking into account that it might be modular (made by Space IKEA?) it still has mass and weight.

2. Not just the people, but all weapons, ammo, and living materials would need to be crated and moved.  The first two would be sizeable when dealing with Mandalorians.

3. It's really the only good explanation as to what happened to that massive crocadilid that they killed in front of the cave.  They'd need some incredibly stout cabling or tractor beams and some powerful ships to lift, move, and dispose of it entirely.

 

It is a good point about their escape.  They don't really have a good exit strategy.  Even if they had ships, they'd be stuck trying to get to them. If the First Order came knocking, they'd be turning that cave into the Alamo.   Bo-Katan's model of ship has been seen before in Star Wars and for a personal craft it is quite massive.  While I do think the interiors would be rather tight with those...chicks...for lack of a better term, the chances are there's a cargo hold where they were kept.  One does have to wonder how they got the chicks from the nest to the ship, though.  And where are the helmets that were in the nest?  They should've collected them and recycled the beskar.  I'm actually surprised Din didn't collect beskar armor while exiting Mandalor.  The stuff is extremely valuable to his group, and hard to come by.

 

I meant to respond to this yesterday and then totally forgot, lol.

Spoiler

So let's assume they have ships that are hidden away because yes, somehow they got the whole covert there plus arms, the forge, etc... Why the hell wouldn't they use the ships to go after that raptor? It's clearly taken their people before, and they've tried following it with jetpacks but they run out of fuel... So why has no one until Bo'Katan been like, chase that sumbitch in my ship?

 

And yes, I realize the obvious answer is because the writers needed some way for Bo'Katan to solidify herself in the covert, but I don't like that reason lol.

 

And yeah, the crocodilid thing just disappearing seems weird to me when we've seen other instances of large creatures being killed, but then being disassembled.

 

Totally agree with you about the beskar. That shit is like sacred (not to mention strong), why wouldn't you have gathered that up? Or even return the helmets just to serve as memorials since being Mandalorian is sort of a religion. We see Din do something like this in Navarro.

 

[Techwright]

20 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

I meant to respond to this yesterday and then totally forgot, lol.

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So let's assume they have ships that are hidden away because yes, somehow they got the whole covert there plus arms, the forge, etc... Why the hell wouldn't they use the ships to go after that raptor? It's clearly taken their people before, and they've tried following it with jetpacks but they run out of fuel... So why has no one until Bo'Katan been like, chase that sumbitch in my ship?

 

And yes, I realize the obvious answer is because the writers needed some way for Bo'Katan to solidify herself in the covert, but I don't like that reason lol.

 

And yeah, the crocodilid thing just disappearing seems weird to me when we've seen other instances of large creatures being killed, but then being disassembled.

 

Totally agree with you about the beskar. That shit is like sacred (not to mention strong), why wouldn't you have gathered that up? Or even return the helmets just to serve as memorials since being Mandalorian is sort of a religion. We see Din do something like this in Navarro.

 

 

Children of the Watch are weird...

Spoiler

They insist on staying sealed in their helmets. After all, one never knows when one will be attacked. Yet they post no guard on the cliffs around them to give early warning to monster (or presumably First Order) attacks.  If you go back to first season, they were hidden in the Nevarro sewers and by their own admission were only exiting one at a time. They fight a crocodile-turtle devouring their numbers by attacking the leather shell, arguably its toughest spot, rather than its eyes, the most vulnerable spot.  They don't set traps for a returning predator. They create a war posse, but take a full day to reach a monster that could have devoured their foundling in moments. There is something of a defeatist mentality to them despite all the chestplate thumping.  They're utterly brave in combat, but if they cannot fight it in melee, or in range of their rockets, well, that's it. They're a battalion of soldiers without the tacticians.  Perhaps Bo-Katan is just what they need: someone to give them a swift kick in the beskar-covered backside to wake up and move beyond their limited thinking.  

 

Oh, and though I realize the story won't allow it, they really need to ditch that line in their creed about their helmets staying on.  That is a severe tactical disadvantage at times.  As someone pointed out the other day on one of the reaction channels, if you want to defeat these Mandos, just wait until they eat.  Once they wander off solo, in search of a spot where no one can see them without their helmet, they're ripe for the picking.  The tactic is sound and has precedence in the real world.  Cultures with a holy day where no work was to be done were vulnerable, and were attacked on that holy day.

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

Couldn't agree  with you more, mate. The more I think about the Children of the Watch, the more plot holes? culture holes? I feel like I come up with. There's just so much that doesn't make sense.

Spoiler

Now that I think about it, Din Djarin has shown some semblance of tactics/strategy before. Is he just too irreverent to speak up and bring the CotW some common sense?

 

Let's hope Bo-Katan steps up in that area, as you mentioned.

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by TygerDarkstorm
Added another thought

[Mr. Vee]

Well they are meant to be a cult of sorts, so not surprising they'd have some weirdness.

[biostem]

A few of my thoughts:

 

Spoiler

They know for a fact that there are hostile and dangerous creatures on this planet, and they have guards at the cave entrance, but none keeping an eye on the kids?  Ships have radar and sensors, and even an R2 unit can detect life signs - they wouldn't have anything in place to detect incoming ships or large animals, at least?

 

So if I am a member of the CotW, and don't like another member, can I get them kicked out by sneaking up on them while they have their helmet off to eat or something?  Is any other form of head covering acceptable?  If one of their members gets a head injury, do they just let them die instead of taking off the helmet to treat them, or is there an exception for that?  Din seemed pretty against it in S1...