The Mandalorian (Star Wars Live Action Series)

[The Buffinator]

This episode was a mixed bag for me, but as has been said, the first 3 set the bar high.

Good:

• They addressed the helmet thing directly, eating etc.
• The Child is still cute.
• References to post Empire conditions.
• AT-ST was shown to be a real threat.

Bad:

• Largely untrained villagers with sticks should have been slaughtered.
• Why were they being attacked by Orcs?
• Music -- first time I've not liked the score, it was really jarring and trying too hard. I get it, peaceful village.
• Acting -- the farmers were too slack-jawed and unbelievable. They looked like LARPers. Gina got me a little stiff too.
• Strategy/writing -- why not find the AT-ST? Why not attack them with the Razor Crest?
• Repercussions -- Those Orcs took a beating but aren't finished yet.
• Cinematography -- looked like TV. Yes to whoever said it looked like TNG.

With that all said, it was obviously still leaning into the lone gunslinger/frontier tropes this series relies on, which I like, and one mediocre episode isn't enough to turn me off the entire series. Watchable.

*Is it just me or was our boy *very* chatty this episode?

Fixed.

I decided to watch four episodes before penning my thoughts here to give the show a fair chance and not bought into the whole hype of the show.

Objectively, the first episode didn?t impress me. It was clear Filoni is new to live action and doesn?t know how to frame the camera or move it well. Hence mostly static shot instead of more tracking shots to help punch up the drama and tension. First episode ends up feeling like some sci fi TV show from the early 2000s.

You can also tell Pedro Pascal is still getting used to the suit and he moves really clumsily (as a Vader costumer, I can relate to the challenge of being in an uncomfortable restrictive costume with limited field of view).

However I didn?t see the ending coming and that blew me away. The reveal is what saved the first episode for me.

Second episode is a huge improvement. Visually it looks amazing and cinematic and the director really knows how to frame the scene well. He also moves the camera in a very organic way. In hindsight, the first episode should have been combined with second episode, the sum of these two episodes would have made for a superior single episode.

The third episode while typical in terms of story beat is probably the most well directed yet. It flows well without a wasted beat and has some really good action going on there. It is also the first time I can truly sense the emotion coming from The Mandalorian character. You can tell he is getting used to the costume and is making bigger more natural movements. He is really bonding with baby yoda, making that character more realistic and alive than the last two episodes.

And that ending, wow, an amazing ending on a scale one doesn?t expect in only the third episode of the show.

And after the high of such great two episodes, this latest episode is probably on the same level or below the first episode.

It doesn?t look cinematic at all, every shot is framed like a TV show from the 90s (comparison with shows like Xena is really apt). The homage to Kurosawa is sincere but BDH doesn?t have the experience to actually do it justice. Kurosawa is a master of camera movement and this episode has none of that. The two villagers are also badly casted.

Those two are always in those teen comedies and it really throw off what is supposed to be a constant sense of dread for the villagers. And that pike training montage, that is just straight out of Army of Darkness. It looks goofy back then and it still looks goofy today.

Hollywood really should stop making Gina Carano into a serious actress. She isn?t. She got me stiff and only has one range. She is best with limited one liners and let her firsts do the talking. She will do well as that muscle grunt kicking ass but not a dramatic actor.

The action is this is a mixed bag. I like the first encounter with Mando and Gina where you really felt the punch and even pity on the guy inside the helmet. But everything after that just devolved into some really clumsy bar room brawl not benefiting the reputation of a Mandalorian.

The AT-ST looks great though and looks truly alive and monstrous. This is also probably the turning point where Pedro pascal is finally fully comfortable with suit.

I don?t mind that he is chattier. Instead he is subverting expectations by being surprisingly human and flawed instead of this stone cold hunter the early marketing seems to make him out to be.

All in all, four episodes in, the show is definitely still finding it legs but I am excited to see what is in store, especially the Waikiki finale.

Well, it IS a TV show, so.....????

And...fixed again.

 

[Khev]

Kinda didn't like how the woman got the upper hand on the Mando in the beginning. Yes she's supposed to me good and all, but he's a Mandalorian and shoulda wiped her clean. Seems like she pretty much won, so there's that strong woman deal again.(Don't wanna be the one to point it out but there it is)

She wasn't just a random "woman" though. They established that she was an Alliance Shocktrooper who did clean up work taking out entrenched Imperial installations after Endor. So picture John Matrix fighting The Man With No Name. I think we can all agree that Clint would have his hands full with that match up.

Plus it's Gina freaking Carano, lol.

 

[ZE_501]

Kinda didn't like how the woman got the upper hand on the Mando in the beginning. Yes she's supposed to me good and all, but he's a Mandalorian and shoulda wiped her clean.

One of the best things about this series so far is that he?s not invincible and he?s not ?the best?.

He?s highly skilled, makes some questionable calls sometimes, makes mistakes, has good days and bad days.




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[Cocoboloboy]

I actually think that the TNG-Xena aesthetics worked in the episodes favor.

It made it very personal.

The visual effects in Mando certainly makes the show much more tolerable than TNG-Xena though.


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I’m the opposite on how I felt about the aesthetics this time around. It’s almost too bright...too clean and exposed.

Did you happen to notice the shift in how the episode looked? It happened shortly before Gina took out the bounty hunter and lasted almost to the end of the episode if not to the end. It was as if Jon was intentionally changing from that episodes look back to how 3 looked. At least that’s what I noticed.

RO's cinematographer Greig Fraser was the DP for Chapters 1 and 3 which is why those two have looked the best. He did one more episode this season, probably the finale.

That said I'm totally digging the TV aesthetic for certain portions because it still has that vintage LFL feel even if it is circa Ewok Movies or Xena.

The charging blurrg in Chapter 2 looked borderline stop motion which I freaking loved.

Ah, that makes sense. I‘ve got R1 playing right now. Beautiful film. I much prefer that look over this last episode.

 

[ajp4mgs]

I'm genuinely sorry to keep harping on this tracker/tracking thing, but it's bugging the **** out of me. I'll try to drop it after this post.

How did the guild member that Cara killed track them down? I mean, Mando even told the baby something to the effect that "no one will find us here." He's an elite bounty hunter himself, so he'd be very capable of assessing that correctly (accounting for *all* tracking options); and yet they were indeed tracked.

Is there something bigger going on here that makes Mando and Baby Yoda easier to hunt down? In TFA, I thought it was pretty stupid that the FO would be able to send a bounty order for BB-8 across the galaxy (Unkar Plutt, Bala-Tik, and the chick in Maz's Cantina all knew about it), but we're talking about only a handful of Imperial remnants in Mando. No way are people across the galaxy getting these "wanted" notices from them.

It's one thing when a guild hunter is given general coordinates and then uses the tracking device to get a more precise location, but this was cross-planet tracking without any way of having coordinates in advance. And now it seems that the bounty is just to kill the baby. I'm so lost. I'm gonna trust that there's a satisfying explanation for all of this at the end of the season, and just stay patient. If it happens, I'm gonna love re-watching the whole thing.

 

[Asta]

One of the best things about this series so far is that he?s not invincible and he?s not ?the best?.

He?s highly skilled, makes some questionable calls sometimes, makes mistakes, has good days and bad days.

He can also be pretty incompetent, and I like that too.

He's brave, so he blunders into danger and into situations where there's no escape but for the use of a gadget or help from others.

He needed IG-11 to survive the first episode.

Jawas stripped his ship in the second, and forced him to go on an egg hunt which he only survived due to the intervention of his little friend.

In the third he took down the Stormtroopers because they were pretty dumb, but then walked straight into a trap which he only survived due to the intervention of the Mandalorians.

In the fourth Cara Dune fought him to a stalemate. And did you hear his voice crack when he was talking to the widow? He's a real guy, which makes him much more interesting than a 'one-man army' Chuck Norris type.

 

[Khev]

I'm genuinely sorry to keep harping on this tracker/tracking thing, but it's bugging the **** out of me.

No worries, it was bugging me too until I learned more about it.

I'll try to drop it after this post.

How did the guild member that Cara killed track them down? I mean, Mando even told the baby something to the effect that "no one will find us here." He's an elite bounty hunter himself, so he'd be very capable of assessing that correctly (accounting for *all* tracking options); and yet they were indeed tracked.

Is there something bigger going on here that makes Mando and Baby Yoda easier to hunt down? In TFA, I thought it was pretty stupid that the FO would be able to send a bounty order for BB-8 across the galaxy (Unkar Plutt, Bala-Tik, and the chick in Maz's Cantina all knew about it), but we're talking about only a handful of Imperial remnants in Mando. No way are people across the galaxy getting these "wanted" notices from them.

It's one thing when a guild hunter is given general coordinates and then uses the tracking device to get a more precise location, but this was cross-planet tracking without any way of having coordinates in advance. And now it seems that the bounty is just to kill the baby. I'm so lost. I'm gonna trust that there's a satisfying explanation for all of this at the end of the season, and just stay patient. If it happens, I'm gonna love re-watching the whole thing.

My understanding is that the tracking fobs have limited range and won't lead you from one planet to the next. So the Garindan bounty hunter must have learned of a rogue Mandalorian kicking ass against a bunch of raiders and decided to investigate. Mando's conversation with Cara Dune outside the hut established that a few weeks had passed since that battle and that "we really raised some hell here, word will get out" or whatever he said. In fact he recommended that she leave as a result which does suggest that Mando was being naive in believing that Baby Yoda could safely remain there.

Luckily the bounty hunter showed up when there were still people who could do something about it preventing his naivety from back firing with tragic results.

 

[The Buffinator]

I'm genuinely sorry to keep harping on this tracker/tracking thing, but it's bugging the **** out of me. I'll try to drop it after this post.

How did the guild member that Cara killed track them down? I mean, Mando even told the baby something to the effect that "no one will find us here." He's an elite bounty hunter himself, so he'd be very capable of assessing that correctly (accounting for *all* tracking options); and yet they were indeed tracked.

Is there something bigger going on here that makes Mando and Baby Yoda easier to hunt down? In TFA, I thought it was pretty stupid that the FO would be able to send a bounty order for BB-8 across the galaxy (Unkar Plutt, Bala-Tik, and the chick in Maz's Cantina all knew about it), but we're talking about only a handful of Imperial remnants in Mando. No way are people across the galaxy getting these "wanted" notices from them.

It's one thing when a guild hunter is given general coordinates and then uses the tracking device to get a more precise location, but this was cross-planet tracking without any way of having coordinates in advance. And now it seems that the bounty is just to kill the baby. I'm so lost. I'm gonna trust that there's a satisfying explanation for all of this at the end of the season, and just stay patient. If it happens, I'm gonna love re-watching the whole thing.

Well, hopefully those trackers aren't calibrated to detect unusually high midichlorian counts.

I think the tracking fobs are still only short-range devices for pin-pointing Baby Yoda, but now Mando himself is (unwittingly) also being tracked. As he would anticipate a tracking device hidden on his ship, my guess is that Herzog added something extra to Mando's "reward" such that it could still be detected even after being melted down and converted into his armor.

 

[ajp4mgs]

No worries, it was bugging me too until I learned more about it.



My understanding is that the tracking fobs have limited range and won't lead you from one planet to the next. So the Garindan bounty hunter must have learned of a rogue Mandalorian kicking ass against a bunch of raiders and decided to investigate. Mando's conversation with Cara Dune outside the hut established that a few weeks had passed since that battle and that "we really raised some hell here, word will get out" or whatever he said. In fact he recommended that she leave as a result which does suggest that Mando was being naive in believing that Baby Yoda could safely remain there.

Luckily the bounty hunter showed up when there were still people who could do something about it preventing his naivety from back firing with tragic results.

Yeah, I guess I can buy that. But I'm not sure how or why word would get out from such a backwater place, though. When Mando flew in, it seemed like the insinuation from the people's reaction was that ships don't often fly in or out of this area. So, it's hard to see it as a useful or lucrative place for anyone with Guild ties to spend time in. The whole setup left me believing that the tracking fob was the only way the bounty hunter was led there.

Having Mando decide that this place would be perfect for hiding needs to have some validity to it since he's obviously a top-notch bounty hunter, very aware of how such hunters might track him and his valuable little buddy. Cara even tells him after the AT-ST skirmish that he could live there safely and raise the kid. And, unless I'm remembering the sequencing wrong, Mando himself determines at that time that leaving the baby there for safe keeping would work. A bounty hunter of his skill should know why that wouldn't be true. I need to re-watch that part.

Just confusing to me. That's why I'm hoping for a reveal later that'll make more sense of how tracking the baby has been perhaps different than other bounties. If that doesn't happen, I'll adopt your explanation. Thank you!

Well, hopefully those trackers aren't calibrated to detect unusually high midichlorian counts.

I think the tracking fobs are still only short-range devices for pin-pointing Baby Yoda, but now Mando himself is (unwittingly) also being tracked. As he would anticipate a tracking device hidden on his ship, my guess is that Herzog added something extra to Mando's "reward" such that it could still be detected even after being melted down and converted into his armor.

The added tracking on the beskar reward would be interesting, depending on timing. Mando met with Greef after getting the new armor, and none of the tracking fobs were going off. But I don't know when the possible beskar tracking like that would've been activated.

Plus, the tracking would still be short-range. There'd be no way to use it for cross-planet hunting down of the target. There's gotta be more to all of this, especially with how they're tracking the baby specifically.

 

[jye4ever]

All very interesting.

Meesa likes it.


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[Khev]

Well, hopefully those trackers aren't calibrated to detect unusually high midichlorian counts.

I think the tracking fobs are still only short-range devices for pin-pointing Baby Yoda, but now Mando himself is (unwittingly) also being tracked. As he would anticipate a tracking device hidden on his ship, my guess is that Herzog added something extra to Mando's "reward" such that it could still be detected even after being melted down and converted into his armor.

Interesting theories though I would probably think that he would have been found sooner if he had a long range tracker on his ship or somehow embedded in his armor.

And I'm really loving the male/female interactions on this show. Definitely from a bygone (pre-MeToo) era. Cara Dune fights him to a stalemate but he still makes the first move in asking her out on a date (which it literally was, lol.) Widow later makes the first move on him but he rejects her.

And even in battle Cara wasn't perfect, she was the one who wanted to quit after seeing the Scout Walker tracks and he provided her escape route from the exploding hut. She gets the shot that prompts the AT-ST to collapse but he kills the guys inside. Nice back and forth between the two and I really hope she's signed on for more episodes.

They even play to male/female stereotypes with him bluntly telling the townspeople to move (logic/pragmatism) and her having to follow up with the more gentle and empathetic "bedside manner." Who'd a thought.

 

[ZE_501]

Well...she was a bleeding heart rebel. [emoji38]


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[Khev]

Yeah, I guess I can buy that. But I'm not sure how or why word would get out from such a backwater place, though. When Mando flew in, it seemed like the insinuation from the people's reaction was that ships don't often fly in or out of this area. So, it's hard to see it as a useful or lucrative place for anyone with Guild ties to spend time in. The whole setup left me believing that the tracking fob was the only way the bounty hunter was led there.

Having Mando decide that this place would be perfect for hiding needs to have some validity to it since he's obviously a top-notch bounty hunter, very aware of how such hunters might track him and his valuable little buddy. Cara even tells him after the AT-ST skirmish that he could live there safely and raise the kid. And, unless I'm remembering the sequencing wrong, Mando himself determines at that time that leaving the baby there for safe keeping would work. A bounty hunter of his skill should know why that wouldn't be true. I need to re-watch that part.

Just confusing to me. That's why I'm hoping for a reveal later that'll make more sense of how tracking the baby has been perhaps different than other bounties. If that doesn't happen, I'll adopt your explanation. Thank you!

No problem!

I interpreted Cara's suggestion to settle down meant stripping himself of the Mando armor and bounty hunter way of life forever. Therefore he theoretically could blend in even if others came looking for him since at that point they'd have no idea who he was. As for "word getting out" they probably meant by the well equipped raiders, not the farmers. That's my guess anyway.

Well...she was a bleeding heart rebel. [emoji38]

Yep, lol.

 

[The Buffinator]

The added tracking on the beskar reward would be interesting, depending on timing. Mando met with Greef after getting the new armor, and none of the tracking fobs were going off. But I don't know when the possible beskar tracking like that would've been activated.

Plus, the tracking would still be short-range. There'd be no way to use it for cross-planet hunting down of the target. There's gotta be more to all of this, especially with how they're tracking the baby specifically.

Unless whatever was added to the beskar can be tracked long range and that's what led that particular bounty hunter to the planet. This explanation definitely makes the beskar additive a MacGuffin, but it would be (a) separate & distinct from the tracking fobs and (b) clever/subtle enough such that Mando's ignorance of it wouldn't beggar belief.

 

[Wick]

She wasn't just a random "woman" though. They established that she was an Alliance Shocktrooper who did clean up work taking out entrenched Imperial installations after Endor. So picture John Matrix fighting The Man With No Name. I think we can all agree that Clint would have his hands full with that match up.

Plus it's Gina freaking Carano, lol.

One of the best things about this series so far is that he?s not invincible and he?s not ?the best?.

He?s highly skilled, makes some questionable calls sometimes, makes mistakes, has good days and bad days.




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I understand that as i stated, he still should cleaned the floor with her though. It's already been established he's vulnerable. Unless they're working up to that him still becoming the ultimate Mandalorian, but i kinda doubt it we'll see. (plus like i said Bryce Dallas Howard directed this one. Did that have something to do with it? Who knows for sure but i bet it did.)

I think he should be vulnerable at certain points, but in SW lore mandalorians are pretty ****ing bad-ass. And an EX Shocktrooper shouldn't be that much trouble especially a female.

Also if anyone gets Butt-hurt about these comments....First off they're fact! Second of all LOL. Third this show is off to a great start!

 

[Khev]

I can't get behind your hypothesis on that one. If the widow had taken him out while giving him a lecture as to why his ideologies are inferior to hers then I think you'd be on to something. But nothing in the encounter with Mando and Cara disrespected his character or backstory since we'd already see him fall to lesser foes than her when he was surprised and at a tactical disadvantage.

Yes he's a badass though never as much as the "legends" seem to imply (Nolte assumed he could easily take on the entire fort alone, was surprised that he took so long against the mudhorn, JAWAS need I say more, lol) but she was a badass too and more importantly got the drop on him and kept the entire fight within arm's reach thus negating most of his weaponry.

I don't think it does the anti-SJW argument (of which I almost always agree with) any good to cry foul *every* time a chick goes toe to toe with a dude even if her training and abilities justify it. But I'll leave it at that because this show is too good to waste time on such tangents. It is indeed off to a great start as you said.

 

[Sassafras]

I understand that as i stated, he still should cleaned the floor with her though. It's already been established he's vulnerable. Unless they're working up to that him still becoming the ultimate Mandalorian, but i kinda doubt it we'll see. (plus like i said Bryce Dallas Howard directed this one. Did that have something to do with it? Who knows for sure but i bet it did.)

I think he should be vulnerable at certain points, but in SW lore mandalorians are pretty ****ing bad-ass. And an EX Shocktrooper shouldn't be that much trouble especially a female.

Also if anyone gets Butt-hurt about these comments....First off they're fact! Second of all LOL. Third this show is off to a great start!

Why? He may not have known exactly what she was, but this was IMO more of a brawl. He wasn't out to assassinate IMO. If he had been, think he would have gone in a lot differently, ESPECIALLY knowing he's the only one protecting the kid at this point. Also it was made pretty clear she was part of some shock force that was sent in places with no backup.

Not butt hurt but figured there'd be comments like this, even if Cara is a kick-ass fighter. Which she is. I mean they didn't hold back with her taking hits to the head. Plus she's cheeky. Hope she becomes a permanent fixture the rest of the series.

IMO this episode was most "Clint Eastwood saves village" including the attractive intelligent widow woman. Can't get the Good/Bad/Ugly track out of my head

?You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.?

Thought it was a BIT rushed getting the farmers into shape - but, whatever. Plus now we know a bit more about Mandelorian culture and taking the helmet off thing without making a big deal about it. Still luv the sets/aesthtic too - cool village culture and more baby Yoda

I don't think it does the anti-SJW argument (of which I almost always agree with) any good to cry foul *every* time a chick goes toe to toe with a dude even if her training and abilities justify it. But I'll leave it at that because this show is too good to waste time on such tangents. It is indeed off to a great start as you said.

Yeah, Khev. Hopefully too some of it is also establishing her fast - which I think was successful - because she IS going to be part of the rest of the series. I hope like Conan the Barbarian, say, she's gonna follow him, 'coz that's what other heroes have - the companions that link up with them.

For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm.

Luv this show

 

[Khev]

Yeah I wonder if this episode would have been better as a two-parter (or just a longer single episode.) I mean the dynamics and everything worked out well but some of the middle portion (training villagers like you say) could have definitely been padded a bit.

I saw a couple people criticizing the Scout Walker for falling down like an animal but IMO the Walker that was slipping on the logs in ROTJ always seemed to wobble and moan like an animal too.

Plus did anyone else get a "Terminator 1" vibe when the main guy and girl were down on the ground next to the blown up hut only to have the metal beast with red eyes rise out of the darkness behind them?

I think Jon Favreau likes literally all the same movies as us, lol. The Walker shining the spotlight on the villagers was just as scary as Robocain in the warehouse. Then you've got Mando in the forest pressing buttons on his forearm and going to infrared just like a Predator.

 

[Sassafras]

Yeah I wonder if this episode would have been better as a two-parter (or just a longer single episode.) I mean the dynamics and everything worked out well but some of the middle portion (training villagers like you say) could have definitely been padded a bit.

I saw a couple people criticizing the Scout Walker for falling down like an animal but IMO the Walker that was slipping on the logs in ROTJ always seemed to wobble and moan like an animal too.

Plus did anyone else get a "Terminator 1" vibe when the main guy and girl were down on the ground next to the blown up hut only to have the metal beast with red eyes rise out of the darkness behind them?

I think Jon Favreau likes literally all the same movies as us, lol. The Walker shining the spotlight on the villagers was just as scary as Robocain in the warehouse. Then you've got Mando in the forest pressing buttons on his forearm and going to infrared just like a Predator.

Didn't think of Predator, but yeah. And Terminator! And also the 13th Warrior.

Yeah, to me the Scout Walker and Imperial Walker as well have that inherent weakness of the long legs. Always did. Terrifying and all-terrain, but I might've suggested using twisted rope to trip the thing up. But the "ponds" made sense as the traps just looked like the fish ponds. At least Cara makes the point, nicely I thought, that no weapons HERE would be enough. A small thing but appreciate the nod to logic.

Yeah, I thought the episode could've used more padding, like why the widow knows how to shoot, but IMO some nice details like the yurt huts? and culture. And Mando has definitely caved to baby Yoda

 

[Vitron5]

I am not sure if I missed it, but where do you suppose those buggers got an ATST? Just remnants of the empire that they stole?