[psmith2.0]

Called the Apostate, about Mando looking to go back to bathe in the waters of the mines of Mandalore, to atone for removing his helmet.

Eveything/everyone seems to be in his way.

A bit of a slow kick-off to the new season, minimal action/gunplay, but a nice Western-style standoff/duel, about halfway in. Both Carl Weathers and Navarro are back, along with IG-11 (needing a new memory chip) and, toward the end, Bo Katan, who doesn't seem as worked up as she once did.

We've having a loud, violent thunderstorm right now, so I'll be honest: I didn't hear every single line of dialogue super clear and I'm easily distracted these days with just about anything, so I dint' fully enjoy this episode as much as I have others. Nothing much really happened, but it was solid and looked amazing as always. There was an asteroid field chase/fight that can't help but evoke a part of both The Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones. The visuals, as always, are top notch, especially the outdoor, sunny daytime sequences, of which there were several. Everything just looks right, with no matte lines or haloing/ghosting of tell-tale blue/green screen work. Stuff looks like it's really there, and rising up/taking off quickly into space.

PS - Grogu is as adorable as ever. He seems a little older, and he seems to fully understand English (Mando talking/telling him stuff), but he's still not speaking himself...I want to know if this race all has that peculiar Yoda syntax, or that's just how Yoda himself talked. Find out before long, we will.

None of this is in spoiler tags because, frankly, nothing really happened that warranted it. It was just nice to see old friends - Mando and Grogu return after so long, and so many iffy shows, away. This show is the "mothership" as far as I'm concerned, with the Boba Fett one and probably even the Ahsoka one being tacked-on distractions. And maybe not even necessary, big picture. We'll see, I suppose.

I just hate watching TV and feeling like I have to now give something 6-8 weeks of my life. I wish they'd just release the entire season all at once, a la Stranger Things and let me take it in as I decide/see fit (once a week or multi-episode binging...4-5 episodes in a sitting). this once-a-week release is a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, of course.

The music and sound is still great, and we still get those awesome, familiar Star Wars vocal cues (engines starting up or shutting down, certain tools/instruments, droids. Lots of protocol droids in this episode, some with Threepio's voice/mannerisms, and some not (making them slightly less annoying). Some shiny and reflective (Threepio), one matte white one, looking like an old iPod or something. Hopefully the remaining episodes will pick up and settle into a nice groove, as the other seasons have. This just seemed like a lot of weight was sitting on top, and they had to spend 20 of the :38-minute run-time reminding us all of what came before in the series. That's the danger with going so long between seasons. People, like me, lose their momentum/mojo/interest, so the first episodes back is a bit of "okay, already...get to it!" slog.

PS - Katie Sackhoff is so unusual-looking I can't help but be drawn to her. Not classically "pretty" or "attractive", no. But certainly "interesting"/striking, her face/eyes and how she talks/carries herself in her 5-10 minute appearance. As I said above, she seems to have lost a bit of her edge and wasn't being quite as feisty/rowdy as we've seen her in previous installments. She seems a bit defeated and no longer obsessed with ruling Mandalore. She didn't even try to fight Mando when he showed up to see her sitting on a throne on a palace on a sister planet to Mandalore. I figured she'd at least fly off the throne to thump Mando about the head and chest a bit. Nope, she just sat there, stoic and distant and acting more annoyed than anything.

Anyway, after 258 months (give or take) [i]The Mandalorian[i] is back, on Disney+ with new installments dropping on Wednesdays for the next eight or so weeks. All of March, the first few weeks of April. Enjoy!

[drewprops]

I surprised mom with the episode tonight, and that was a delight since she's 92.

I thought the episode was a lot of fun!

I enjoyed the chronology of the episode, and if anybody has learned ANYTHING from the Marvel/Star Wars franchises: callbacks to anything that came before are very well received by fans - me included.

This season has a solid foundation to build on.


...

[psmith2.0]

They have a lot to cover/resolve. At least from how they left it off last season. We'll see how it goes. Maybe they'll just do the "tough! we'll make you wait another 12-18 months" Some of this streaming fare has all the time in the world to play with, and, boy, don't some of them know it/act like it. It's already tough enough there are 12+ months between seasons. Don't go slowly ladling out the stories/plots once the new seasons starts. That's your cue/time to kick it into gear and deliver what people are paying $7+/month to hear/get.

The old days, you got 23-26 episodes, and even if they left it on a cliffhanger in May/June, September isn't that far away to find out who shot who, who's the father, who got fired, who survived (and who didn't). Now it's like there are (maybe) 6-8 episodes, with 12-18 months (vs. three) between seasons and, by the time the next one rolls around, they have to spend the first 1-2 spoonfeeding everyone all that's come before, because nobody's going to remember it anyway, due to the overlap and length between seasons.

[Matsu]

Continues to be something enjoyable that we can watch with the kids, and everyone likes it. Solid A.

[psmith2.0]

The western vibe was strong last night.

[psmith2.0]

I can very much imagine a younger Clint Eastwood in the role, some of those scenes.

[Mac+]

Was surprised to see it pop up as an option last night as I hopped on the treadmill. So, impulsively, I ended up watching it on the iPhone.

Agree with points about story, callbacks, and quality of effects, but I think a rewatch on a decent sized TV is the order for today.

[psmith2.0]

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?

[turtle]

I'm only not commenting in this thread yet because I haven't been able to get my kids to sit and watch it with me yet. We have some shows to catch up on and this is one of them. I'm really looking forward to it and doing my best to avoid spoilers.

[psmith2.0]

I'll do the right thing and use spoiler tags if I feel it's required. General commentary about my enjoyment or take on anything usually doesn't strike me as that, only if I get into plot details/outcomes would I employ the tags to keep it hidden by default. To create that extra, deliberate step for the ready to decide "do I wanna know, or not?"

I don't think the presence of the scrappy, sullen redhead is a mystery/surprise to anyone who's watched the previous two seasons and saw all that came from that Boba Fett show. She's fully in the mix of things at this point. And I approve!

[drewprops]

What a fun finale to season 3!

I couldn't stop grinning during certain parts.


...

[709]

Just through a mixture of being busy and having not felt 'the call' for this season it ends up I haven't watched a single episode yet. Looking forward to a proper weekend binge of the whole season. 🍿

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by drewprops What a fun finale to season 3! I couldn't stop grinning during certain parts. ...

I enjoyed it. Stuff actually happened/paid off. It didn’t do the jerkwit “cliffhanger” thing I’m so sick of. The previous seven eposodes actually kinda built to something. Here’s hoping season 4 gets back to a more focused, Mando (and his job)-centric approach. This season was the Bo Katan show. All that Mandalore stuff got old pretty quick. And, please…never another Elia Kane-centric episode. If I really need a fix of “girls who look like Joseph Gordon-Levitt”, I’ll go down to the nearby softball fields. Not a big fan of Dr. Pershing either. I don’t support that “Imperial amnesty” thing anyway. You don’t give Space Nazis grace and rehab, you line them against a wall and hand them a blindfold and a cigarette, or march them to the gallows. It’s amazing so many are willing to let them work back from their former life/occupation after all they killed, planets destroyed, terror waged, galactic bullying, oppression and cruelty they went along with/participated in. Can there at least be some daily ass-beating therapy, just in the interest of good sense and “they have it coming”? I do love all that jet-pack action. When a character can fly, at will, (even if it’s more Rocketeer vs. Superman), it adds a whole new layer of fun/possibilities to any scenario. Fighting on platforms or near cliff edges isn’t the high-risk/nail biting thing it would otherwise be. If you slip and fall off, so what? I wasn’t worried about Mando or Bo Katan squaring off against Gideon.

Little Grogu just can’t help bring cute. But I no longer worry about him. He obviously learned enough from Luke in their short time together that he can defend/protect himself (and those cares for) reliably enough. Him controlling that droid, and only using those two words, was a funny, running gag. I don’t think we’re far from him speaking. Next season? He obviously understands the words of others, he just doesn’t know how to put it together yet. Curious to see how they approach it. Is Yoda’s quirky, jumbled syntax a species-wide thing, or unique to just that character? Will they hire Frank Oz, telling him to “try and sound younger, more toddler-like”?

As for the dark saber, was that just a McGuffin all along? As much as it has been referenced and talked about, it’s broken like a Hasbro toy when it’s really needed/brought into battle. For two seasons it’s been endlessly talked about/sometimes used. It represented everything to some of those dopes, and it lasted two minutes, if that, into Bo Katan and Moff Gideon finally facing off and getting its moment to shine in the hands of the person it belonged to (and needed to be properly used against) She should’ve made him into a piñata with it! And he crushes it instead. Would be about like Luke never Force-pulling his saber from the snow on Hoth and the Wampa eating him alive instead. Don’t show it/build it up with backstory and lore if you’re not really gonna properly use it when it matters/counts! We’ve been led to believe that weapon was the end-all/be-all object in all this Mandalore stuff. It may as well have been a stormtrooper blaster.

[drewprops]

Paul there's a SHIT TON of established Mandalorian culture covered in the animated series, and this season of the live action show dovetailed with it so nicely. Having backstory really enhanced the viewing for me, even though I couldn't remember much of the details. The deep storytelling afforded by the (multiple) animated series was well reflected in this season.


...

[psmith2.0]

Cool.

[drewprops]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Cool.

LOL

I read this cool as "I've done TOLD you that I'm not going to go back and watch 5,000 episodes of some damned cartoon just to understand why that lady wants that stupid sword"


...

[kieran]

I overall liked the last two episodes and through they did a good job of bringing the story lines together, but there were still some things left open, which I probably a good thing.

Definitely interested in seeing the Din's going through the galaxy on quests as father and son.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by drewprops LOL I read this cool as "I've done TOLD you that I'm not going to go back and watch 5,000 episodes of some damned cartoon just to understand why that lady wants that stupid sword" ...

You read right. The season is over/has ended. I already don't care. I got the basic gist of it all, what I need to know, Googling a bit and reading a few articles.

I do think it's funny that said sword no longer exists, after all that attention/build-up! What are they going to pointlessly focus on/ramble out in season 4?! R5? Those white jetpacks?

PS - Anyone thinking Gideon is actually dead is probably a bit of no-attention-paying dope. He had on that next-generation suit, I'm sure he's just fine and will return in the final 1-2 episodes of season 4, having now been freed from the chicken restaurant/meth business. He's too good/captivating of an actor to let go. He's the only one in the cast giving this stuff a bit of weight and respectability. And he's genuinely unsettling/scary as a villain. You get the sense that he's not beyond doing anything to get his way. He'd torture adorable Grogu in a minute, given the chance. If Grogu ever dies on this show, it'll be at the hands of Moff Gideon.

[Brad]

The Mandalorian Season 3 Pitch Meeting



Pitch Meetings are always great, but holy smokes, he went the extra mile for this one!

[turtle]

I still haven't seen more than the first episode. Avoiding spoilers is hard now.

I love Pitch Meeting so I'm really having to avoid the one for this series.