The Mandalorian | March 2023 for S3

[Jonan23]

Just binged the 2nd season and mostly loved it. The action is fun and well shot. The growing bond between Mando and Grogu is touching. The guest stars were interesting. The music was some of the best I have heard in a long time.

As for the final fan service everyone was talking about I didn't like it. The buildup was excellent but after he showed his face it felt flat for me. No introduction, just I will take the child and then bye. It also distracted from the goodbye scene for me. I am happy for all those who loved it.

[Porthos]

 

I personally think this suffers a bit from a bad case of Try Hard, but it's amusing enough in places.  And I reckon some here will find it more amusing than I did, so worth putting here for those who enjoy such things.

[George Parr]

2 hours ago, Jonan23 said:

Just binged the 2nd season and mostly loved it. The action is fun and well shot. The growing bond between Mando and Grogu is touching. The guest stars were interesting. The music was some of the best I have heard in a long time.

As for the final fan service everyone was talking about I didn't like it. The buildup was excellent but after he showed his face it felt flat for me. No introduction, just I will take the child and then bye. It also distracted from the goodbye scene for me. I am happy for all those who loved it.

Yeah, I found the dialogue to be pretty weak as well. A few more lines between Luke and the others (well, mostly Din) would have improved the scene by a lot. As it is, I felt the execution wasn't nearly as good as the concept, and what makes the scene is the goodbye between Din and Grogu.

[Porthos]

2 hours ago, Jonan23 said:

As for the final fan service everyone was talking about I didn't like it. The buildup was excellent but after he showed his face it felt flat for me. No introduction, just I will take the child and then bye. It also distracted from the goodbye scene for me. I am happy for all those who loved it.

 

Just now, George Parr said:

Yeah, I found the dialogue to be pretty weak as well. A few more lines between Luke and the others (well, mostly Din) would have improved the scene by a lot. As it is, I felt the execution wasn't nearly as good as the concept, and what makes the scene is the goodbye between Din and Grogu.

Now you see, I felt the slightly cold-ish language used by Luke there showed how he was starting to buy into Luke the Legend and losing his human touch a tiny bit. 

 

I felt it was one of the subtler ties into the ST as I was watching the scene.

 

(Okay, I think the RL situation of de-aging was probably a greater consideration, but SW lives on coincidental reading of performances [see Obi-Wan's hesitation in ANH])

[Cap]

My issue with the lack of dialogue and the scene is I don’t believe Din would have let Grogu go that easily after he worked so hard to get him back. Zero room to let the beat breath. 

 

I would’ve been like oh hell no. Who are you? What are your credentials? How can I keep in contact with you? Have you filled out the daycare questionnaire? 
 

[Porthos]

21 minutes ago, Ahsoka said:

My issue with the lack of dialogue and the scene is I don’t believe Din would have let Grogu go that easily after he worked so hard to get him back. Zero room to let the beat breath. 

 

I would’ve been like oh hell no. Who are you? What are your credentials? How can I keep in contact with you? Have you filled out the daycare questionnaire? 
 

Now we're getting into analysis, perhaps with subtext.  On the whole, I agree with you.  But I also consider Din's position here.  He just got it rubbed in his face, hard, that he couldn't protect Grogu at the level he wanted to.  If he hadn't literally gotten his ass almost kicked by a single Dark Trooper and if he wasn't, almost literally, minutes away from certain death from a squad of them, I think he would have been a hell of a lot more "Oh no you don't".

 

Din was, I think, almost in shock right there.

 

So this Person Out of Legend steps in, flicks away the folks who were soooooo out of his league like they were nothing?  Changed his perception a bit.  Plus he'd been saying all season long "Got to get you to a Jedi" when reality put itself in his face... Well, like I said, being unbalanced mentally might have affected things.

 

I suppose I would put it this way.  Would the scene have been "better" if there had been more breathing room?  Well, are we talking "better" as in "realistic" or "better" as in "better for the well being of the characters" as they are two very different things.

 

Like, Filoni and Favreau ain't exactly dummies when it comes to Emotional IQ in their scripts (not perfect either for that matter).  It wouldn't surprise me at all if this somewhat sudden parting leaves a mark on Mando.  Now if it's completely ignored in S3, or massively downplayed (which it might!) then never mind.  But I do think there is room for nuance in interpreting this scene.

 

====

 

Also, let's face it, the scene hella played on the audience being familiar and trusting with Luke. There would be a hell of a lot more blowback if this was Rando Q. Jedi, or, even further, we as an audience weren't clued in that much to what the Jedi actually were, having only Ahsoka as a frame of reference (that is, we never had the SW Saga films/animated series as a frame of reference and only had this series to go on).

 

The only real question is: Will that be followed up on in the series proper.

Edited December 23, 2020 by Porthos

[Porthos]

Another thought here as I head to bed.

 

Psychologically, the Rubicon was crossed when Din Djarin willingly opened the blast doors for Luke (even had a character tell him he was crazy to do that).  That was a moment of agency that even Din Djarin probably didn't fully realize.  That was him committing to letting Grogu go on some level.  Everything else after that was how much of an emotional toll it might take, now and in the future.  

 

I think the scene plays out differently if Luke opens the doors himself, some other character opens the doors, or they were opened enough for Luke to come in in some fashion.

 

After the door being opened? Well most of the analysis I gave above still stands about the potential for Trouble.  Not entirely sure how overtly it will be followed up on, but I would be very surprised if Lack of Grogu doesn't affect Mando at all.  Then it just is a matter of a debate about how much the way the separation went down actually mattered in the eyes of the writers.

[Menor the Destroyer]

Lol at one of the tracks being titled "Ahsoka Lives". That was a nice touch by Goransson. 

[Inceptionzq]

1 hour ago, Menor said:

Lol at one of the tracks being titled "Ahsoka Lives". That was a nice touch by Goransson. 

Also like the name “Capture the Flag”

[Menor the Destroyer]

46 minutes ago, Inceptionzq said:

Also like the name “Capture the Flag”

That one reminded me of a Giacchino pun title, lol. I thought it was a shame that he wasn't allowed to use those on Rogue One. 

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Menor said:

That one reminded me of a Giacchino pun title, lol. I thought it was a shame that he wasn't allowed to use those on Rogue One. 

 

Do liner notes count? 👍

 

(click to enlargen)

[Porthos]

For folks who haven't gotten the latest episode of Disney Gallery to appear yet, the fine folks over at reddit supplied a direct link to it:

 

https://www.disneyplus.com/video/eff5232f-efac-4318-a71e-ec34f306b17a

 

Don't worry, mods, still need to be logged into watch it.  👍

[Porthos]

This one was pretty much more of a traditional retrospective of the entire season, told in order.

 

Spoiler

 

More than a little surprised that not one second was spent on how they did Luke.  I suppose they were that paranoid about it leaking ahead of time that they didn't want the separate team that worked on this docu to have the possibility of a leak.

 

Pity there wasn't more episodes of this then, as I feel they could have addressed it in a later episode, or if they had held back a few weeks before airing this.

 

 

That aside, a very welcome addition to the Disney Gallery staple.  Perhaps not quite as in-depth as the others, but a fun watch nonetheless.

[Eric Duncan]

 

[Eric Duncan]

 

[FilmFincher]

I very much preferred the season 2 making of. It feels planned. 

 

The season 1 one felt like an afterthought, with the B-Roll being somewhat limited and using the same two roundtable discussions for anecdotes. 

 

For this one I really enjoyed the talking heads, going episode by episode, the focus on what the individual directors were bringing. It all flowed really nicely. It's not the most informative BTS but the best thing is just seeing what fun everyone is having on set, it's pretty similar to the TFA/ROS BTS in that regard, there's just such a joyousness from everyone involved being part of a Star Wars project. The downtime moments on a Robert Rodriguez set are particularly entertaining. 

 

The little moments between Favreau and Filoni are also great, they're like two nerdy kids cracking jokes and making references. It's wonderful.

 

Would love if they add more episodes but almost like featurettes. So maybe 5/10 mins on some of the stuff we didn't get (it would be nice to dive into post-production stuff).

[Porthos]

lol at Jon and Dave flashback to S1 production talking about the Boba Fett spur sound effect and whether or not fans would fake themselves out on it.

Edited December 25, 2020 by Porthos

[Porthos]

So I know more than anyone just how imperfect IMDB ratings are.  Especially for fanboy properties and double especially for beloved fanboy properties (laughs in both TLJ and TROS).

That being said, I think the following is a little interesting:

 

Current IMDB ratings for SW properties [not including individual episode ratings for TV shows]:

"Big Boy" division only (for certain value of "big")

Mando:  8.8/10 (249,218)
ESB:    8.7/10 (1,150,023)
ANH:    8.6/10 (1,221,971)
TCW:    8.3/10 (59,203)
RotJ:   8.3/10 (942,779)
Rebels: 8.0/10 (29,163)
TFA:    7.9/10 (855,128)
R1:     7.8/10 (549,776)
RotS:   7.5/10 (705,803)
TLJ:    7.0/10 (558,654)
Solo:   6.9/10 (287,122)
RotS:   6.6/10 (364,556)
TPM:    6.5/10 (724,594)
AotC:   6.5/10 (636,580)

...

 

Yeah.  No pressure, other SW D+ shows. 👍

 

[Porthos]

Just now, Porthos said:

So I know more than anyone just how imperfect IMDB ratings are.  Especially for fanboy properties and double especially for beloved fanboy properties (laughs in both TLJ and TROS).

That being said, I think the following is a little interesting:

 

Current IMDB ratings for SW properties [not including individual episode ratings for TV shows]:

"Big Boy" division only (for certain value of "big")

Mando:  8.8/10 (249,218)
ESB:    8.7/10 (1,150,023)
ANH:    8.6/10 (1,221,971)
TCW:    8.3/10 (59,203)
RotJ:   8.3/10 (942,779)
Rebels: 8.0/10 (29,163)
TFA:    7.9/10 (855,128)
R1:     7.8/10 (549,776)
RotS:   7.5/10 (705,803)
TLJ:    7.0/10 (558,654)
Solo:   6.9/10 (287,122)
RotS:   6.6/10 (364,556)
TPM:    6.5/10 (724,594)
AotC:   6.5/10 (636,580)

...

 

Yeah.  No pressure, other SW D+ shows. 👍

 

Okay, obvious point is obvious.  The Mandalorian is coming off of two very strong seasons, and it could turn in a hurry if S3 and S4 are less than loved.  SW fans in particular have shown how quickly they can turn on something, even retroactively.  On the other hand, it is currently the #69 rated TV show of all time over at IMDB [oblig: Nice].  On the other other hand, this is limited to folks who have seen it on D+ (plus piracy) so some selection bias is probably seeping in.  And even if not, it doesn't have the widest range of voters due to not being on mutli-channel TV nor on physical media.

Still, IMO, things like the above to tend to show why at least three shows are being spun off of it.

 

Do worry a tad though about expectations.  Even if other shows aren't expected to reach the heights of current Mando, this wouldn't be the first time Star Wars has suffered from massively inflated expectations.  That S2 surpassed S1 in overall ratings (not gonna show the math, but it did at least over at IMDB), if only slightly, does bode well for the future.  Then again, wouldn't be the first property to suffer from both over-exposure or show creators spreading themselves too thin.

 

All that being said it is a nice "problem" to have.  Much better than many of the alternatives, that's for sure.

 

[Porthos]