The Mandalorian SHOW discussion - Spoilers Allowed for all aired episodes

[Edmilson 7,384]

46 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Does anyone want to speculate on whether Grogu made contact with a Jedi, and who it might be? Ezra? Luke? Yoda? Perhaps they'll make a new Jedi character to avoid other story entanglements...

 

It would be really cool if it was Ezra. We don't know what he's been up to since the Empire era.

 

People on Reddit are also speculating the Jedi could be Fallen Order's Cal Kestis. It'd be awesome, but I believe Cal will be restricted to the games for the time being.

[Bilbo 3,709]

On 12/4/2020 at 11:49 PM, Spider-Fal said:

That was for Bilbo's sake.

Not just mangled but we need to be able to visibly see that the little shit suffered. Like really suffered. 

7 hours ago, Edmilson said:

 

It would be really cool if it was Ezra. We don't know what he's been up to since the Empire era.

 

People on Reddit are also speculating the Jedi could be Fallen Order's Cal Kestis. It'd be awesome, but I believe Cal will be restricted to the games for the time being.

Literally  anything would be cooler than Ezra showing up (alive)

[Edmilson 7,384]

Let's make a poll then!

 

Who do you think was the Jedi Baby Yoda made contact?

 

( ) Luke

( ) Ezra

( ) Yoda

( ) Ahsoka

( ) Mace Windu

( ) Cal Kestis

( ) Another character we don't know yet

( ) No one

[Bespin 8,475]

His parents (Yoda and presumably Yaddle), Luke and Leia for sure, they are already on the case.

 

[GerateWohl 4,326]

18 hours ago, blondheim said:

The direction was so terrible, it felt like a fan-made project with an okay budget.

That pretty mich nails it.

 

14 hours ago, Datameister said:

Nor did the "I'm just a simple man" line, which I thought was as on-the-nose and unnecessary as Palpy's "pathway to many abilities" reference in TROS.

Those poor quotes from previous movies has become quite common. Recently I watched X-Men Apocalypse again where Xavier and Magneto repeated their dialogue word by word from the first X-Men movie, which just demonstrates that the characters didn't evolve at all in the 20 or 30 years that passed between the two movies. For The Mandalorian it seems instead of emancipating itself from the old stories this fan servicing becomes worth and worth. And the stormtrooper bashing has reached a new degree. Now you can just crash their helmets with a gaffy  lance.

This show is somehow becoming a kind of a guest star feature like 20th century sitcoms. 

I mean, the whole thing is quite sympathetic, but far from interesting or exiting. Just fan service. And probably it doesn't want to be more. And Grogu is cute. Reminded me of Gizmo from day one.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,890]

The Mandalorian is fan service done correctly, and there's nothing wrong with that. TFA is what you get when fan service is done incorrectly.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

1 minute ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

The Mandalorian is fan service done correctly, and there's nothing wrong with that. TFA is what you get when fan service is done incorrectly.

Incorrect

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

What if kyle katarn gets the call from grogu, and destroys the dark trooper project with the same stone?

 

Those alleged "legends" have to come from somewhere 

[Romão 2,274]

3 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

The Mandalorian is fan service done correctly, and there's nothing wrong with that. TFA is what you get when fan service is done incorrectly.

 

TFA, for all its numerous flaws, still had a semblance of characters. Not so much in this show

[blondheim 1,157]

Force Awakens did have great characters but the plot was even flimsier and more derivative

[Datameister 2,037]

I like both TFA and The Mandalorian. TFA felt like it could be the start of a really cool new Star Wars trilogy, albeit one that unfortunately started with an intentional rehash of ANH. The only real problem for me with TFA is the fact that the subsequent films completely failed to gel into a cohesive, satisfying trilogy, which somewhat mutes my enthusiasm for TFA in retrospect. The Mandalorian has been pretty steady-handed by comparison, and I like that it at least emulates tropes from outside of the Star Wars films. I just find something slightly lacking about the second season so far. But it's nothing they can't recover from.

[Arpy 4,145]

I love The Mandalorian, but as far as a whole cohesive storytelling experience it's quite tame. Season 1 flew by and season 2 has felt more like it's plodding from one story to the next with little development. The Mandalorian's show up and then leave, Ahsoka shows up earlier than expected - and then leaves, Gideon's Dark Troopers come and go, Boba Fett shows up and with that random Bounty Hunter and then after one tense exchange is buddies with Mando.

[blondheim 1,157]

I agree that Season 2 is not on par with Season 1. It seems like they are trying to get threads in motion for a much more integrated and exciting Season 3.

[Datameister 2,037]

10 minutes ago, Arpy said:

I love The Mandalorian, but as far as a whole cohesive storytelling experience it's quite tame. Season 1 flew by and season 2 has felt more like it's plodding from one story to the next with little development. The Mandalorian's show up and then leave, Ahsoka shows up earlier than expected - and then leaves, Gideon's Dark Troopers come and go, Boba Fett shows up and with that random Bounty Hunter and then after one tense exchange is buddies with Mando.

 

I thought the episodic approach worked better in season 1. Season 2 does somehow feel a little more clunky that way. Still, none of it feels self-contradictory in the way the ST does. There, you start over with a new creative vision every two hours. The Mandalorian still all feels like it fits within the same creative vision...it just hasn't been executing it quite as well this season.

[GerateWohl 4,326]

My main issue with the show is, that in the meantime it seems to me that it is not driven by a story or driven by a character development. It seems to be driven by the aim to provide appearances of certain characters and to create certain situations, mainly fight scenes. That is why the main character, the mandalorian, is meeting people, getting assignments from them which he fulfills and then being sent to the next target. Story-wise that is ok for a fan film or a video game but not for a story to be told.

Sure, that is somehow entertaining and partly well made, but leaves me cold somehow. No exitement what comes next. The story telling was more consistant in the first season.

[Edmilson 7,384]

[blondheim 1,157]

Most homages come across as rib-nudgers to me. I rarely like them, unless they are more subtle than this. The last episode's homage to Kurosawa in general was a little more broad and therefore less irritating

 

I didn't like the line repeats from Clones either. Both easy, cheap gimmicks. At least from this writer's perspective

 

I didn't hate this episode but the difference in quality to the one before strikes me as odd. Let's hope this is an abberation

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Jangos line makes sense..if it was his personal motto...its something a son could learn...

[blondheim 1,157]

1 minute ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Jangos line makes sense..if it was his personal motto...its something a son could learn...

 

We can rationalize it all we want but it was definitely done for the I-see-what-you-did-there sensation that I hate so much. There is a big difference between this and seeing a member of Salacious Crumb's species getting cooked by a street vendor in the background of a scene.

 

I mean, thirty-plus years after his father is dead, for no real reason whatsoever (other than the obvious fan-recognition), he repeats a line his father said to get out of a scrape once, at least so far as we know, for... what purpose? Jango uses it as a ploy, it isn't true. Even if Boba is using his father's line to trick Mando in the same way, which I doubt, it seems really lackluster. Like a son inheriting his father's pickup lines. Also, it seems like Boba is simpler now, trying to make his way. So if their entire purpose is to say that last time it was insincere and this time it was sincere, I think the writers could do better. But these shows aren't written for intellectuals, that's for damn sure

 

Even talking about it this much is enough to call it bad writing. You don't want your dialogue to suck the viewer out of the episode by thinking "Ayyyy!"

[Datameister 2,037]

11 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

My main issue with the show is, that in the meantime it seems to me that it is not driven by a story or driven by a character development. It seems to be driven by the aim to provide appearances of certain characters and to create certain situations, mainly fight scenes. That is why the main character, the mandalorian, is meeting people, getting assignments from them which he fulfills and then being sent to the next target. Story-wise that is ok for a fan film or a video game but not for a story to be told.

Sure, that is somehow entertaining and partly well made, but leaves me cold somehow. No exitement what comes next. The story telling was more consistant in the first season.

 

The interesting thing is, I have to admit that the first season was similar in that way...it was pretty episodic, so Mando would do his thing and then move on to a new planet in the next episode. I guess one reason it worked better for me then was that all the characters he met along the way were new. This season, we're mostly revisiting characters from the first season or from other parts of Star Wars, and not in a way that feels like they're a particularly organic part of the journey. Here comes Ahsoka...there's Boba...say hi to Cara...welcome back, Bill Burr...ooh, she mentioned Thrawn...

 

Anyway, as I said, I'm still enjoying it, despite my griping. I just hope things start feeling a little better again soon.

[Dr. Rick 1,155]

Good lord, people, it's a kid's show, try to set your expectations correctly and just have fun watching it!  Jeez...

[blondheim 1,157]

Just now, ATXHusker said:

Good lord, people, it's a kid's show, try to set your expectations correctly and just have fun watching it!  Jeez...

 

42 minutes ago, blondheim said:

 

But these shows aren't written for intellectuals, that's for damn sure

 

I agree. When it comes to Star Wars I guess I am just a man-child, longing to return to the day I didn't know Luke and Vader were related

[GerateWohl 4,326]

20 minutes ago, ATXHusker said:

Good lord, people, it's a kid's show, try to set your expectations correctly and just have fun watching it!  Jeez...

By the way. My kids like the show. But even my 11 years old son recognized, hey, he made a deal with Asoka, sehe breaķs her promise, sende hin somewhere else and he just leaves. What a lame move of a story.

[Datameister 2,037]

55 minutes ago, ATXHusker said:

Good lord, people, it's a kid's show, try to set your expectations correctly and just have fun watching it!  Jeez...

 

If you're not already aware, I should probably let you know that the "your standards are too high and you should choose to like _______ as much as I like it and you should stop saying anything remotely critical about it" argument has been made countless times since the dawn of the entertainment industry, and not once has it worked.  Different people enjoy different things.

 

On a purely objective level, though, I think it would be foolish of Disney to only think of this as a kids' show. Star Wars may have been birthed in the 70s as a story primarily for kids, but a couple of generations of adults have now grown up with those stories and discovered that it's still possible for new entries to thrill them. I think Disney rightly views adults as one of the target audiences for shows like The Mandalorian. It's certainly been well-received overall with adults, even adults like me who aren't loving S2 quite as much as S1 so far, and who are willing to articulate the reasons why in discussions about the show.

 

[Dr. Rick 1,155]

My point is some people are taking it way too seriously.  Life's too short, especially in this day and age, for me to fret over camera angles, plot gaps, etc...  I take it for what it is and like what I'm watching.  It's all fantasy world in the first place, so for me it's a great escape from the daily grind.  

 

Like the old saying goes... "There's a butt for every seat". 

[Datameister 2,037]

4 minutes ago, ATXHusker said:

My point is some people are taking it way too seriously.  Life's too short, especially in this day and age, for me to fret over camera angles, plot gaps, etc...  I take it for what it is and like what I'm watching.  It's all fantasy world in the first place, so for me it's a great escape from the daily grind.  

 

Like the old saying goes... "There's a butt for every seat". 

 

You may be overestimating the seriousness with which it's being taken. I just like talking about the things that I thought worked and the things that I thought didn't. I find storytelling and filmmaking to be interesting crafts. If it bothers you to read anything other than "I watched it and I liked it", I might encourage you to create a separate The Mandalorian Show Discussion: POSITIVE COMMENTS ONLY thread. Or...you know...just don't read this one.

[blondheim 1,157]

Yeah, this isn't a serious discussion for me by any means. I just have passionate opinions about Star Wars, I'm not butt-hurt. I question why you who doesn't want to discuss the show but take it at face value would enter a discussion thread and complain about... discussion

[MrJosh 892]

I see the show simultaneously from different planes: There's the fanboy view, which I indulge in, and then a more critical view of it as well. I enjoy the show very much, though I might point out something I dislike at the same time. 

[Dr. Rick 1,155]

I never said I didn't want to discuss the show, good grief folks.  You all are entitled to your opinions and I in turn am entitled to mine.  We'll agree to disagree on the show, no feelings hurt on my end.  

[DarthDementous 1,059]

The look of the show and the fan service is the only reason I watch it

 

The writing is abysmal and holding back some incredibly tantalising ideas from being properly realised. There’s nothing I hate more than continuous instances of characters doing things to hold together the plot as opposed to organically acting within the sandbox.

 

Even though having Boba Fatt back was very cool, the look of Tython was very disappointing. I bet more than anything that’s what contributed to the ‘fan-film’ feel, this is meant to be one of the first home worlds of the Jedi, not someone’s backyard

 

I was expecting elaborate ruins and a slightly more alien and vibrant world, not a couple of rocks in the middle of a prairie

 

Continuing to undermine the threat of your main antagonists for the sake of a meme is incredibly stupid, ANH and ESB were able to provide some incredibly tense and thus engaging blaster fights *because* the Stormtroopers weren’t undermined as a threat. Just because media after that decided to dial-up the stupid doesn’t mean you should be consistent with the stupid. Combine that with Mando’s literal plot armour where he’s barely ever in any kind of danger and it’s like what am I meant to get out of this? It’s aesthetic to the eyes but that’s literally it

[Datameister 2,037]

When we first saw Tython, I turned and said, "That looks like California..."

[blondheim 1,157]

Yeah, they really need to up the stakes. This is why I want Thrawn. You can't really help but make Thrawn ruthless.

[GerateWohl 4,326]

I mean, who ever thinks, it is just a kids show, so it does not require any inner logic or causality, it just needs to be colorful and spectacular doesn't know kids. From my experience kids are quite demanding about consistent worldbulding and such. They might still watch it, kids watch anything, but still they have a good sense about such things and recognise good or bad quality, sometimes better than adults.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

Yeah I hate the whole conflation of kids as a target audience = bad writing is okay

Especially in the context of The Mandalorian which is very obviously not aimed at kids like Rebels or Resistance was, the fact we have characters dying frequently on screen and dying in fairly visceral ways is pretty indicative that at the very least it's PG-13 like mid-season Clone Wars.

[Jay 37,281]

It's rated TV-14.

[Edmilson 7,384]

11 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

Continuing to undermine the threat of your main antagonists for the sake of a meme is incredibly stupid, ANH and ESB were able to provide some incredibly tense and thus engaging blaster fights *because* the Stormtroopers weren’t undermined as a threat. Just because media after that decided to dial-up the stupid doesn’t mean you should be consistent with the stupid. Combine that with Mando’s literal plot armour where he’s barely ever in any kind of danger and it’s like what am I meant to get out of this? It’s aesthetic to the eyes but that’s literally it

 

That was something that bothered me as well.

 

The poor Stormtroopers can't hit anyone, they got humiliated and slaughtered by three characters. Their incompetence robbed the scene of any tension it could have. 

[Dr. Rick 1,155]

52 minutes ago, Jay said:

It's rated TV-14.

 

touché  
 

I take back my original statement about it being a kid's show.  I didn't get my point across eloquently enough, apparently.  

[Quintus 5,399]

On 12/4/2020 at 8:09 PM, crocodile said:

Is it just me or was this episode kind of underwhelming and lame?

 

Karol

 

A number of episodes are in this show. It's really watchable overall, but the entry level simplicity of the episodic storylines is beginning to show signs of wearing thin. I don't actually recall ever watching a show as a "grown up" and finding it so basic on a plot level. I'm sure I probably watched episodes of Thundercats that were more elaborate than this. 

 

With that said, I think they're eventually going to need to up their game in this area. 

 

Almost everything else about The Mandalorian is great, near perfectly judged (for a Star Wars TV series), but writing isn't its strong point, it really isn't. 

[Tallguy 3,361]

On 12/8/2020 at 2:56 AM, DarthDementous said:

Yeah I hate the whole conflation of kids as a target audience = bad writing is okay

Especially in the context of The Mandalorian which is very obviously not aimed at kids like Rebels or Resistance was, the fact we have characters dying frequently on screen and dying in fairly visceral ways is pretty indicative that at the very least it's PG-13 like mid-season Clone Wars.

 

Did you watch Rebels? We just started a re-watch. We're six episodes in and the body count is staggering. Especially since the first thing Our Heroes do when we meet them is to blow up a bunch of soldiers in a market with grenades!

 

Remember last season in Mando when he rounded up a bunch of folk who turned on him on the Republic prison ship and didn't kill any of them? So far I haven't seen the Ghost gang leave anybody alive if they could help it.

 

But no, "kid's show" shouldn't mean bad writing.

[Edmilson 7,384]

A kid would think that a Stormtrooper is a robot anyway, and not a living breathing human being.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,890]

19 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

A kid would think that a Stormtrooper is a robot anyway, and not a living breathing human being.

 

And then they grow up thinking of real humans as being "robots" and that's how serial killers are born, but that's none of my business... 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

A kid would think that a Stormtrooper is a robot anyway, and not a living breathing human being.

Finn is not a robot

[Edmilson 7,384]

There was no Sequel Trilogy when I was a kid, and I used to see them as robots. 

 

Which they kinda were during the Clone Wars, but still.

[Holko 9,499]

That whole idle chatter between 2 of them while Obi-Wan sneaks around the tractor beam, and stuff like the "close the blast doors! Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!" humanise them well enough. I never thought they were robots.

[Jay 37,281]

You seen those new BT-16s?  

 

Yeah, some of the other guys were telling me about it. They say it's, it's quite the thing to see… What was that!?

[Manakin Skywalker 4,890]

It is rather strange now that I think about it how violent a kids show like Rebels is compared to The Mandalorian. It's even more bizarre when you keep in mind the Mando is a warrior as well a a hired gun, while the Rebels crew are supposed to be heroes fighting for the greater good, with two Jedi, who are keepers of the peace.

[blondheim 1,157]

Mando did decapitate someone in Chapter 1...

[Manakin Skywalker 4,890]

True, but I meant body-count-wise. Mando may have contributed to more graphic deaths on screen, but the Ghost crew's body count was through the roof.

[blondheim 1,157]

No argument here. I was worried when Disney took over but then we got Rebels and Rogue One and I breathed a sigh of relief

[Holko 9,499]

Finn had zero reservations about slaughtering his ex-mates. And zero thoughts to turn them too.