Just watched the second episode, "The Mines of Mandalore". Not too different in my reaction to last week, but if Grogu were any cuter, I couldn't stand it. And I really like this Bo Katan character. Give
her a show! She's the Dana Scully of this thing...cool, unflappable and unassuming, surprise bad-ass, when she needs to be, to protect others. I dig her whole vibe.
This episode had 3-4 jump scares, which my sister warned me about (she knows I hate them). So I was on high alert in any scenes - entering the mines, stepping into the water, etc. - where it seemed like trouble/danger might happen, so I was braced/prepared and not surprised by much of anything. I
hate that school of movie-making, the James Wan/
Conjuring approach to horror/thrillers....long moments of silence punctuated by sudden, cheap loudness and "gotcha!" visuals. Piss off/grow up already. I find it cheap and unearned, Fear isn't a cinematic Jack-in-the-box, popping up to loudly scare you. It's the unshakable sense of dread and "this is too real" from a movie like
The Shining or
The Silence of the Lambs, both of which unsettled/wrecked me upon initial viewing in a way no other movies ever really have. The latter is one of the creepiest, eeriest movies I've ever seen and, to this day, I hate to sit through it alone. I love it, but I gotta be in a certain mood, around certain others, etc. to watch it. It's not a "joy" watch like
Casino Royale or an Indiana Jones movie. It gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies, for days, nearly every frame. It's taken many viewings, over many years, to fully grasp/understand parts of it, but once I did...YIKES!!!
That movie is just brutal, and delivers on every level. The fear/dread, joy/relief. All 100% legit/earned. Nothing cheap or annoying about it.
This episode was like going through those local haunted houses around Halloween where people in shitty costumes/mask, earning minimum wage, leap out of wall openings with fake chainsaws to "scare" you. Spare me. Make it a bit more subtle and drawn out. Make me
dread/worry about something happening for 10-15 long minutes, than actually making it happen. That'll scare me more than "BOO!".
Anyway, not much of an episode. I have a feeling this will be the template for the entire season, and it won't be nearly as enjoyable as the first two. It's slower, quieter and a bit more convoluted/talky, this go-around.
But I wouldn't mind Bo Katan popping up in every episode, fighting monsters, droids, and whatever else. Mando is going to end up owing her more than he can ever possibly repay.
She saved his life twice tonight. Maybe more, but I won't be watching again to confirm. That's the difference, this go-around. The rewatchability factor is way, way down for me. In the past, I'd watch it and be all hopped up ("Boba Fett?!", "Cara Dune's butt?!?" and immediately sit through a second "make sure I caught everything" viewing before I wrote. I no longer feel that drive. I couldn't sit though these first two episodes if you held a blaster to my head. Again, the visuals and realism are just incredible to me, how everything looks so real and "there" (Mandalore's surface from the sky, etc., and imagining what took place there, years earlier. Chilling stuff. I think I've really come to love the daytime, in-atmosphere take on Star Wars, post-Disney (the sequel trilogy had it to spare, and so do some of these shows). We've all seen the "flying around in dark space" stuff for 3-4 decades. I love that they're leaning so strongly on daytime takeoffs/landings, reflections and POVs in this newer stuff. Those shitty sequels certainly featured it, and most of these Disney+ shows do as well. I like! That Rey/Finn Millennium Falcon sequence on Jakku from
The Force Awakens is my favorite part of all three sequel entries, and one of my favorite movie moments of the 2000's, period. It showed the true power/maneuverability of that ship in a way the OT never fully could/did, the ESB Asteroid field pursuit notwithstanding.
Good stuff, and the moment those sequels peaked, IMO. "Chewie, we're home." We all are, Han...stop why you're ahead, please?