Star Wars: The Mandalorian

One thing I liked about the final final bit was me going “That throne setup is pretty great, kinda Frazetta-does-Conan/_Princess of Mars_ stuff, wonder why I never made that connection before...” and then remembering that, duh, Jabba wasn’t in need of a throne.

There’s an undercurrent of explicitly connecting all the non-film (cartoon, Disney attraction) material to the original trilogy so.. who would show up was kind of in the cards? I was still entertained, if kind of underwhelmed, by the reveal

Moff Gideon going from smug to scared when his BRILLIANT DARK TROOPER MASTERSTROKE failed was funny

Boba the Hutt!

fwiw I'm 90% sure when Luke said "I am" that it was a callback if not the same recording as when he said "I am, like my father before me"

also, it's completely possible Grogu had met r2-d2 before! only just now occurred to me. we really need subtitles on that droid's speech

supposedly he has a foul mouth

undoubtedly

“It’s you! You little green frog eating fucker.”

also fucking lol at Bib Fortuna saying "maklunkey"

R2: u see the latest Masked Singer?
Grogu: yea, totally called it was Taylor Dayne

lol i didn't notice Maklunkey redux

for the most part loved this. great season overall. be hard for this show to climb from this, but looking forward to see what they try

am i wrong in thinking that the episode coda suggests that we're done with Mando for next season and are now moving on to "the book of boba fett" in 2021?

Strong possibility. Especially since episodes are listed as 'chapters.'

which is not to say that Pascal won't show up in that series (along with obvious guest runs in the other dozen SW series) but baby yoda delivered to AI Jedi means that story feels like it's wrapped.

Eh, not as surprising as you might think given the last person he saw with a lightsaber explicitly confirmed she wasn’t one.

I suppose... but it almost felt intended as a laugh line, after what we (and he) had just witnessed.

“No, I thought YOU were a Jedi! I need help fixing this lightsaber; it seems to be stuck on ‘Maximum Ass-Kicking’ mode.”

I thought this ep was fine but it somehow lacked.... payoff, both narratively and emotionally.

That line made me realize how odd it is that in the SW universe there is advanced military tech but apparently zero media? Like how is dude not famous given recent events

Anyway, kind of glad I ended up disliking this as I can now safely ignore the coming decathlon of spinoffs. And it wasn't just the ending: every scene with Katee Sackhoff in it was super dire, and they abjectly failed at getting me invested in that laser cutlass

I thought this ep was fine but it somehow lacked.... payoff, both narratively and emotionally.
It did for me too, because the show spent two seasons independently defining its vibe and its worth as a stand-alone adventure better than any of the main movies since Empire, and then they cravenly brought it back to the fold as a footnote in the boring travails of the Skywalkers. (And failed to learn from the cutscene level actor replacement disasters in Rogue). I’m still on team Hamill but Episode IX basically threw away any remaining interest I had in the “saga” and defecated on it.

The Darksaber definitely turned out to be a dudsaber! (And that weird thing about having to “win it in battle” – because why, and who cares? – was left unresolved)

Apparently there's a bit in Rebels -- still in the third season myself -- where the Darksaber IS given from one character to another, so.

Yea, and in fact it's given to BO-KATAN

the point re the absence of broadcast or narrowcast or anycast media as even a concept in this universe is now suddenly smothering every other possible observation in my head. i don't think much about that universe obv, so yeah, what is the deal?

All the build up for that? smh

Wait, are you guys seriously saying that Disney is going to just say goodbye to baby Yoda and move on to some Boba Fett-as-gang-boss story? I could see it as a spinoff, I guess, but my level of interest in that story is pretty low compared to the awesome thing they had going with Mando and Grogu.

xxp They have broadcast media – but it had been taken over by the Empire, and only recently (as of The Mandalorian’s timeframe) newly de-restricted by the New Republic.

I saw a bit that provided some clarity -- apparently something hit the rumor mill last month that a Boba Fett miniseries one-off was being planned, which would appear before the third season. So until I see something official otherwise I assume that's what's happening here.

the problem with introducing janky looking 1uk3 5kyw41k3r is that he's gotta play a role if grogru and mando get back together. I'd almost rather they left it here and moved on. You're likely right that the cash cow of BABY YODA AWWWWWW means that they have to leave him as a major character on one of the upcoming multiple SW shows... but that might prove problematic without the lone wolf and cub dynamic because baby yoda is basically not much of a character at all! he just eats shit and looks cute and uses the force as a deus ex machina.

Xp huh thx morrisp

Yeah without pretending to know anything about The Big Franchise Plans, as I muttered earlier in this thread, the episodic TV model is far from unknown and I was happily set to think they'd get the little guy back, maybe have Gideon just die, and have the big reveal -- since they clearly dropped a note about that earlier -- be Thrawn instead, with season 3 being more adventures etc. etc. The route taken fits within what they set up but I admit I was getting pretty happy with where things were going; as it stood with last week's announcement of the Ahsoka series I was all "Ah, well, probably not Thrawn then, they're saving him for that." (Which leads me to wonder how heavily they'll choose to lean into Ezra Bridger possibilities or not.)

Should also say at this point that The Franchise is about to finally launch The High Republic series of books/comics/etc so keep a bit of that on your radar.

if i wanted to read the tea leaves, I'd guess that disney wants to catch lightning in a bottle a few more times and, once they establish those other franchises (or if they don't), we will go back to lone wolf and grogu in 2022 or so.

I think the kid has served his purpose, but who knows.

oh he certainly has. But money!

I will say that they totally wasted Esposito here

his battle with Mando and immediate change from arrogance to pants-pissing fear when our Deus Ex Machina shows up was great!

lol at everyone killing literally everyone else they see except giancarlo

giancarlo should’ve grown out his mustache a bit more for optimal twirling

i don’t think i mean this as an insult but his campy OTT-ness reminds me of a human villain in a muppet movie

They should’ve switched it. Herzegovina should’ve been the big boss.

Can we get Dolph Lundgren as a heavy

the hair and mustache made me want moff gideon to break into 'minnie the moocher' or 'reefer man' at any moment

Just noticed my typo.

nu Star Wars could stand to have a lot more muppety feeling stuff imo.

it's time to shoot our blasters
it's time to smite the Knights

his campy OTT-ness reminds me of a human villain in a muppet movie

This is OTM – and not just due to the way he plays it, but also because he was almost literally kidnapping a muppet!

the hair and mustache made me want moff gideon to break into 'minnie the moocher' or 'reefer man' at any moment

...have you guys seen Fresh? Great movie.

Mando: “I know you can tell me where Escobar is hiding. Now speak up!”
Moff Gideon: “Have you tried my fried chicken?”

How badly do I need the next SW movie to have Force Ghost Obi-Wan and Force Ghost Yoda in the Waldorf and Statler roles

haaha yes