The Mandalorian

[Twinbee]

Nowhere near enough baby Yoda this episode. 

[Alex W.]

I don’t think you could edit Mando and Bo’s space shoot ‘em antics in to that story without ruining it. It really is deeply weird editing but I’m not sure what other option there would

have been.

 

Spoiler

I wonder if she always intended for him to succeed and being an Agent and being able to dispose of the evidence is just a useful cover if something goes wrong.

[Hanzo the Razor]

8 hours ago, drmick said:

My wife fell asleep during the Coruscant scenes (she also gave up on Andor)- this is not her Star Wars.

 

She sounds very cool.

[Thor]

I loved Andor, but wasn't all that keen on the Andor-lite in this episode - it was incredibly predictable. 

[Phantoon]

1 hour ago, Darwock said:

I think that’s a bit harsh. In the previous episode Bo-Katan didn’t hesitate to

 

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jump up and fly off to another planet to save his ass, or to dive headfirst into the water when he took the plunge.

 

I guess this is the bit that really confused me, as he was clearly willing to do what she wanted and if she can’t even identify the equipment he needs, how can she expect to make good use of it without him?

 

In the past she also

Spoiler

started a terrorist organisation to overthrow her own sister, so she's not exactly a saint. Now she has a potential crew again there's a decent chance she'll refer to type.

 

As for the other story, I'll imagine she'll pass it on to her handler. Gideon / Thrawn / whoever will still have scientists, they just aren't as gifted as Pershing.

 

[Darren]

20 minutes ago, Thor said:

I loved Andor, but wasn't all that keen on the Andor-lite in this episode - it was incredibly predictable. 

 

Was it? I'm quite the SW nerd and I wasn't expecting

 

Spoiler

the New Republic to be rehabilitating former Imperials, calling them numbers like they're stormtroopers and using an Imperial torture device to "correct" them if they stray out of line. Not to mention the secret loyalist(s) within their ranks who are presumably going to become part of the nascent First Order.

 

And the explicit mention of the fact that the New Republic is scrapping both the Imperial fleet and the Rebel Alliance's - this has been touched on in a few of the books but I think it's the first time it's been on screen. The New Republic is pacifist in nature almost as a reflex against the galactic wars of the previous thirty years, but this eventually leaves them effectively defenceless. Leia is seen as paranoid for wanting to maintain a defence against unknown aggressors and so goes underground with the Resistance with only covert, unofficial backing from the New Republic, which Hux mentions in his Nuremberg Rally type speech in TFA before they fire the big gun. I do like the way it all fits together, but then as I said I am a nerd.

 

The only rubbish bit in the whole thing was

 

Spoiler

jumping off the train onto the conveniently placed pile of school P.E. crash mats

 

but that's all part of its Saturday teatime charm for me.

[RFT]

7 hours ago, womblingfree said:

@Darwock

 

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She appears to be an Imperial loyalist pretending to be reformed. She isn’t just an informer, they refer to her as an Amnesty Officer.

 

My guess is she knew where the cloning equipment was but not which bits were necessary. She needed Pershing to procure what was important.
 

She then borked his mind to wipe out what he knew, and as a punishment for his betrayal.

 

His motivations, as he says, were to continue research into cloning for the common good, even if getting there was unethical, hence the subterfuge. 

 

I don't think it's quite like that.
 

Spoiler

Getting Pershing (Aside, It;s always REALLY odd when Star wars characters have real-world names) to identify and get the gear is no good when the scheme includes them getting busted (and the gear confiscated).

 

I think she's playing a longer game to get him to reject the new republic entirely. "You wanted to be good, you wanted to help, and they still tortured you, I tried to stop them, what I saw shocked me to my core, at least under the Empire you knew where you stood, come and meet my friends, they can help".

That's the scheme, I think. Build enough pain, fear, and resentment to turn him, then deliver him to her handler and then off-world to some moff or admiral or whatever. Whoever it is that's throwing squadrons of TIE Interceptors about. Pershing's passion for the work is the weak spot she identified as the thing that would make him cross the first ethical line.

 

[Mr.Crowley]

1 hour ago, Twinbee said:

Nowhere near enough baby Yoda this episode. 

The best thing for this show would be that Grogu was blown to bits.

I've grown to loathe the cooing piece of shit.

[Hanzo the Razor]

6 minutes ago, Mr.Crowley said:

The best thing for this show would be that Grogu was blown to bits.

I've grown to loathe the cooing piece of shit.

 

Avatar checks out.

[IcEBuRN]

4 hours ago, CheekyMonkey said:

Oh... So do I need to watch Boba Fett to understand fully what's going on in this, because I really like Mandalorian, but could only get through 2 eps of Boba Fett I really didn't think much of it. 

 

I'm waiting for all the Mando S3 eps to be shown because I really like to binge and I'm extremely regimented in avoiding spoilers, but someone tell me I don't have to digest all of Boba Fett too? 😕

Episodes 5,6,7. It's basically Mandalorian Season 2.5.

[milko]

 

Anyway, my kid definitely struggled a bit with the sudden "Fuck off mandalorians, we're doing 40 minutes of character establishment somewhere else!". Hopefully it's worth the time investment later on.

[Welrain]

35 minutes ago, Mr.Crowley said:

The best thing for this show would be that Grogu was blown to bits.

I've grown to loathe the cooing piece of shit.

my wife and I were saying the exact same thing.  They should have left him with Luke. I’ve not watched past episode one this series as I just can’t be bothered.

[Thor]

1 hour ago, Darren said:

Was it? I'm quite the SW nerd and I wasn't expecting

 

  Reveal hidden contents

the New Republic to be rehabilitating former Imperials, calling them numbers like they're stormtroopers and using an Imperial torture device to "correct" them if they stray out of line. Not to mention the secret loyalist(s) within their ranks who are presumably going to become part of the nascent First Order.

 

And the explicit mention of the fact that the New Republic is scrapping both the Imperial fleet and the Rebel Alliance's - this has been touched on in a few of the books but I think it's the first time it's been on screen. The New Republic is pacifist in nature almost as a reflex against the galactic wars of the previous thirty years, but this eventually leaves them effectively defenceless. Leia is seen as paranoid for wanting to maintain a defence against unknown aggressors and so goes underground with the Resistance with only covert, unofficial backing from the New Republic, which Hux mentions in his Nuremberg Rally type speech in TFA before they fire the big gun. I do like the way it all fits together, but then as I said I am a nerd.

 

Ah, I hadn't thought of it like that, I was referring to the interplay between the two characters. 

[Mr.Crowley]

44 minutes ago, Hanzo the Razor said:

 

Avatar checks out.

"Alan's hot takes"

[Hanzo the Razor]

19 minutes ago, milko said:

Anyway, my kid definitely struggled a bit with the sudden "Fuck off mandalorians, we're doing 40 minutes of character establishment somewhere else!". Hopefully it's worth the time investment later on.

 

I can hear my currently Star Wars daft six and seven year old girls reaction now. "What the fuck is this shit!?"

 

They wouldn't actually swear but that would be the gist of it.

[womblingfree]

Re Baby Yoda hate…

Spoiler

Last week he mounted a rescue after a high speed pod chase involving ninja-flips and kicking a troglodytes arse. Loving him!

 

Also loving the R5-D4 bin action we’re finally getting after 46 years.

 

[Benny]

Hating Baby Yoda at this point is like complaining they put peanuts in your peanut M&Ms.

[Harsin]

The New Republic is basically Space New Labour. Kind of fitting as Andor portrays the Empire as explicitly Thatcher's Britain.

[Darren]

23 minutes ago, Harsin said:

The New Republic is basically Space New Labour. Kind of fitting as Andor portrays the Empire as explicitly Thatcher's Britain.

 

 Does this mean next series they're going to invade Tatooine because they claim Jabba Boba Fett whoever takes over from Boba is hiding weapons of galactic destruction? That could be launched in less than 45 parsecs*?

 

*yes I know

[Vulgar Monkey]

1 hour ago, Harsin said:

The New Republic is basically Space New Labour. Kind of fitting as Andor portrays the Empire as explicitly Thatcher's Britain.

 

I'm glad someone said it.

[Ste_S]

My thoughts as well, the New Republic seems to be full of sensibles. Not changing anything apart from putting a nicer face on it; keeping the seat warm until the next fascist takes back over. 
 

The not-mind flayer in particular boils down the sensible approach in a nutshell.

[Pob]

I did like the toff alien not knowing or caring who was in charge because as a rich core worlder he's always been alright. Andor did a good job of showing how the high society of Coruscant don't want to pay any mind to the misdeeds of the Empire because it doesn't actually affect them at all. They probably benefit, if anything.

[Garwoofoo]

And so the Andorification of Star Wars begins.

 

I mean, it was fine, I did quite enjoy it this week. But the fun of Mando S1 was that it felt like something new, taking the tone and pacing of a Western and showing us some bits of the Star Wars universe we hadn't seen before, in a show that everyone could enjoy. If S3 turns into a rerun of "fascists are bad, mkay" and people looking sad in the Barbican then it'll be a real shame.

[Pistol]

On 15/03/2023 at 09:01, JohnC said:

I liked it. Some almost Andor-esque behind the scenes of what’s happening in the galaxy with the transition. 

 

I also got a very Andor-esque vibe from the middle section. It was good, but I agree it felt a bit out of place for the Mandalorian. Thankfully bookended by some good Mando bits.

 

I reckon Pas Viszla and Bo could get on like a house on fire, once he twigs how good she is with the Dark Saber and that she’s up for leading the retaking of Mandalore.

 

 

Spoiler

Regarding the motivations of Elia, it seemed pretty clear to me that she was tying up loose ends; Pershing knew too much about the experiments they’d done trying to use Grogu to clone force-sensitives for the Imperial remnant forces, so she engineered a scenario where she could wipe his mind.

 

 

Though I suppose just murdering him would’ve been a lot simpler, so maybe I’m wrong about that.

 

[Phantoon]

1 hour ago, Garwoofoo said:

And so the Andorification of Star Wars begins.

 

I mean, it was fine, I did quite enjoy it this week. But the fun of Mando S1 was that it felt like something new, taking the tone and pacing of a Western and showing us some bits of the Star Wars universe we hadn't seen before, in a show that everyone could enjoy. If S3 turns into a rerun of "fascists are bad, mkay" and people looking sad in the Barbican then it'll be a real shame.

There's no way on Earth The Mandalorian turns into Andor. First, there wasn't time for that to happen; the positive reception to Andor was likely long after this season was finished. Second, Andor was nothing like the level of success that The Mandalorian had. Why would they look at that and change the formula?

 

It's just worldbuilding, and it's a very good thing. It lets us know what the stakes are.

[Girth Certificate]

Seems like a lot of effort to go to mind-flay the dude when she could have just pushed him off the train or any number of deadly ledges around town. I don't buy that she needed him to show her what beakers to use. If they can't figure that out on their own they've no chance of continuing his research. 

 

edit: actually I've got a good idea. Maybe the Moff Gideon they've got in space-jail is actually a clone and the real one is still out there pulling the strings, and she's taking out anyone who might be able to tell the difference.

 

The New Lib-Labour centist coalition Republic are a shower of fannies. I'm glad they get lazered in ep 7.

 

 

 

I hate when someone asks a specific question to show their internal mindset ('did you see anthing alive down there??') but then they are all like 'nah nevermind' and the other person just doesn't mind instead of being all like 'nah mate tell me what you mean'. its shit writing. 

 

The 'big' Mandalorian is going to be a problem for Din and Starbuck I'd say. 

[womblingfree]

The only thing similar to Andor was the fact some of it was on Coruscant and they were doing a bit of espionage.

 

Other than that it was two characters from previous Mandalorian episodes expanding their remit and the entire Star Wars universe at the same time.

 

 

[Mogster]

12 hours ago, Pistol said:

 

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Regarding the motivations of Elia, it seemed pretty clear to me that she was tying up loose ends; Pershing knew too much about the experiments they’d done trying to use Grogu to clone force-sensitives for the Imperial remnant forces, so she engineered a scenario where she could wipe his mind.

 

 

Though I suppose just murdering him would’ve been a lot simpler, so maybe I’m wrong about that.

 

 

Regarding Elia

Spoiler

I assumed she was there to recruit him back into the Imperial remnant, and that the mindflayer will scramble his mind enough to make him compliant without wiping his scientific knowledge.

 

[drmick]

1 hour ago, Girth Certificate said:

Seems like a lot of effort to go to mind-flay the dude when she could have just pushed him off the train or any number of deadly ledges around town. I don't buy that she needed him to show her what beakers to use. If they can't figure that out on their own they've no chance of continuing his research. 

 

edit: actually I've got a good idea. Maybe the Moff Gideon they've got in space-jail is actually a clone and the real one is still out there pulling the strings, and she's taking out anyone who might be able to tell the difference.

 

The New Lib-Labour centist coalition Republic are a shower of fannies. I'm glad they get lazered in ep 7.

 

 

 

I hate when someone asks a specific question to show their internal mindset ('did you see anthing alive down there??') but then they are all like 'nah nevermind' and the other person just doesn't mind instead of being all like 'nah mate tell me what you mean'. its shit writing. 

 

The 'big' Mandalorian is going to be a problem for Din and Starbuck I'd say. 

 

Aye- him and Din did have a duel, potentially to the death, like 4 episodes ago. Favreau lost.

[Pob]

The Coruscant scenes mainly served to show the gulf in quality between Andor and The Mandalorian (and every other SW show). If anything it reminded me more of prequel trilogy Coruscant, with people walking slowly around CG environments having perfunctory conversations. I mean, it was okay, but The Mandalorian is a simple action adventure show that has never really tried to do slower character-based drama.

 

I loved the TIE Interceptor chase at the start. I agree with whoever said they're aping the model work from the OT. The way the TIEs moved against a scrolling starfield captured that Dysktraflex feel.