The Mandalorian | March 2023 for S3

[Menor the Destroyer]

2 hours ago, Eric Karga said:

 

As good as Rosario Dawson was, Ashley Eckstein will be forever the definitive Ahsoka Tano. 

[Inceptionzq]

 

[Porthos]

Something I didn't catch at first:

 

Spoiler

Mando: ... I'll help you with your problem if you see to it that Grogu is properly trained. 

Ahsoka [thinking]: Hmmmm.  He didn't ask me to train him... Just that I saw to it that he was trained.

 

Which she did.  From a certain point of view.

 

Sneaky sneaky sneaky Ahsoka.  

 

...

 

Mando really ought to know better about Loophole Abuse when it comes to contracts, given how many times he's pulled that trick.  

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Porthos

[cax16]

I can’t add much to the conversation cause I’m not a huge Star Wars guy but I’m enjoying this season as much as I enjoyed season 1 which I enjoyed quite a bit. Looking forward to the last few episodes and whatever else they have planned in the future for Star Wars from Disney+. 

[Porthos]

Already posted this in the CC, but since this is kinda, sorta the main SW thread right now...

 

 

RIP, sweet prince. You brought joy to untold millions as only a masterfully played villain can through your physical performance as Vader.    

 

...

 

2020 is the fucking worst! 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Porthos

[clockwork]

Among many of the good parts of the recent episode one of my favorites is

Spoiler

The almost two minutes of silence in which Ahsoka is sitting down with Gorgu trying to get a read on him, "feeling each others thoughts". Ahsoka smiles a couple of times during that scene and likely because seeing Grogu's memories of being at the jedi temple training with the other younglings stirred up memories of her time growing up at the temple. One of the better cases of "show, don't tell" I've seen in a while from a movie or tv show.

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by clockwork

[Porthos]

On 11/28/2020 at 1:32 AM, Porthos said:

Okay, this was mostly me thinking about the rampant speculation about who Gorgu/The Child might contact should he actually contact anyone on Tython (this is an open question, akusally, but I'll side step that for a moment).

 

I want to swing back to this, now that we're past our informal spoiler bar window. 

 

I'm not entirely convinced that Grogu will actually call out to anyone whenever he gets to Life Choice Mountain.  

 

One of the things I really love in my Star Wars is the philosophical underpinnings of it.  It's why I'm a sucker for any and all training sequences that dip into the mystical/philosophical side of things.  Along these lines I think perhaps the single most important piece of dialogue in the last episode is the following:

 

Ahsoka:  Place Grogu on the seeing stone at the top of the mountain.

Djarin: Then what?

Ahsoka: Then Grogu may choose his path.

 

I think one of the undercurrents in this last episode is that Mando was trying to force the Child to do something the Child clearly didn't want to do at the time:  Relearn the ways of the Force.  I might be overreading things a bit, but I think one of the subtexts of the episode was that Ahsoka picked up on this and that was one of the reasons she refused to train him.  I was reminded a bit of stereotypical parents at Little League baseball games or parents who live vicariously through their children when they try to shove them into acting or similar endeavors. 

 

Well, it's one thing to try to get a kid to do something they clearly don't want to do.  It's quite another when they have the potential to shoot lighting out of their fingertips when they get honked off at an ump or a judge.

 

Maybe the seeing stone is going to give Grogu a choice: The Way of the Jedi or The Way of the Mandalore.

 

Reinforcing my thoughts on this was an image from Lone Wolf and Cub I came across on Twitter a couple of days ago:

 

 

Now I know of Lone Wolf and Cub, though I've never read it or seen any of the adaptations (yes yes I know I know),  But I also know that there is a clear Lone Wolf and Cub influence on The Mandalorian.  So this got me to thinking.  It would appear that Grogu is going to be given a choice between two paths.  Broadly speaking, one where he retrains in the Force and one where he doesn't.

 

What if most of us who are guessing Who Will Answer the Call are getting it all wrong?  What if Grogu decides to metaphorically reach for the sword and not the ball?  And thus follow in his father(figure)'s footsteps? 

 

If this happens, it's a clear parallel to Lone Wolf and Cub, as by reaching for the sword, the titular Cub chose his path to follow the Lone Wolf, even though the Lone Wolf was wishing The Cub would chose differently at the time*.

* Okay, there's much more going on in that scene in LW&C that presumably doesn't apply to The Mandalorian, but I'm simplifying somewhat for brevity and for spoilers.  Also probably depends on the adaptation, but, again, brevity and spoilers.

 

And that's why I think those lines were the important ones.  Ahsoka is saying, more or less, if Grogu wants to be (re)trained in the ways of the Force, it really should be his decision to do so.  Not Ahsoka's.  Not Djarin's.  Grogu's and Grogu's alone.

 

...

 

Now clear parallels notwithstanding, they could have Grogu reach for the ball and start to turn away from Mando after all.  But if he does, I think it won't be an easy choice.

[Porthos]

Just now, Porthos said:

So this got me to thinking.  It would appear that Grogu is going to be given a choice between two paths.  Broadly speaking, one where he retrains in the Force and one where he doesn't.

 

What if most of us who are guessing Who Will Answer the Call are getting it all wrong?  What if Grogu decides to metaphorically reach for the sword and not the ball?  And thus follow in his father(figure)'s footsteps? 

 

If this happens, it's a clear parallel to Lone Wolf and Cub, as by reaching for the sword, the titular Cub chose his path to follow the Lone Wolf, even though the Lone Wolf was wishing The Cub would chose differently at the time*.

* Okay, there's much more going on in that scene in LW&C that presumably doesn't apply to The Mandalorian, but I'm simplifying somewhat for brevity and for spoilers.  Also probably depends on the adaptation, but, again, brevity and spoilers.

 Yes, I realize in the context of The Mandalorian a sword = Jedi while the ball, being part of the Razor Crest, = Mandalore.  Hush. 😉

 

Then again, if you DO want to take the sword/ball choice in the context of The Mandalorian, perhaps Grogu constantly reaching for the ball is foreshadowing.  Just foreshadowing that when he is given the choice, he is going reject the Jedi (laser) sword and take the ball that he associates with Din Djarin. 

 

If so, that's a nice long game on the part of Favreau and Filoni. 👍

[Avatree]

Really not sure how I feel about the Ahsoka portrayal. I was hesitant to begin with as it feels like shoe-horning in characters for fans' sake. Which is something the Disney movies have done that the Mandalorian is doing an EXCELLENT job of avoiding.

 

I found the makeup/effects REALLY jarring. The design is just... wrong. Her hair is a copy of the 3D CGI version, and it just doesn't work. Shaak Ti in episode 3 hair is fine. Not sure why this one looks so bad. It looks really out of place in live action. I actually thought for the first 20 minutes or so (in the dark) that it was performance capture. Thought she was all CGI.

 

White lightsabers, that's pretty cool though. Not really sure what the point of making them white is, given every other jedi has blue/green, presumably because blue/green crystals are easier to find/make, - but it looks cool. 

 

Didn't think the actor's performance was great either.

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Avatree

[Darth Lehnsherr]

 

[Inceptionzq]

3 hours ago, Avatree said:

White lightsabers, that's pretty cool though. Not really sure what the point of making them white is, given every other jedi has blue/green, presumably because blue/green crystals are easier to find/make, - but it looks cool. 

She has had white lightsabers for almost 3 decades at this point. She healed kyber crystals that were bled. Basically it’s supposed to symbolize that she’s not Jedi nor Sith.

[Avatree]

1 hour ago, Inceptionzq said:

She has had white lightsabers for almost 3 decades at this point. She healed kyber crystals that were bled. Basically it’s supposed to symbolize that she’s not Jedi nor Sith.

Oh, I thought that was a choice made by the filmmakers for this show. I assume she turns up in Rebels.

[Inceptionzq]

4 hours ago, Darth Lehnsherr said:

 

Quote

That quest, we learn, is a search for the villain Grand Admiral Thrawn. The last time fans saw Ahsoka was this spring's finale ofThe Clone Wars, but in the actual Star Wars chronology, the last time we saw her was at the end of Rebels, venturing off with Sabine Wren to find Ezra Bridger, who vanished along with Thrawn. Where does that scene fit in with where we find her in The Mandalorian?
 

Filoni: Right. But no, it's an interesting one… That's not necessarily chronological. I think the thing that people will most not understand is they want to go in a linear fashion, but as I learned as a kid, nothing in Star Wars really works  in a linear fashion. You do [Episodes] Four, Five and Six and then One, Two, and Three. So in the vein of that history, when you look at the epilogue of Rebels you don't really know how much time has passed. So, it's possiblethat the story I'm telling in The Mandalorian actually takes place prior to that. Possible. I'm saying it's possible.

Interesting...

[Inceptionzq]

4 minutes ago, Avatree said:

Oh, I thought that was a choice made by the filmmakers for this show. I assume she turns up in Rebels.

Yeah she does

[XXR & Friends]

 

[Porthos]

 

 

...

 

Also, time for a change (points at avatar)

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Inceptionzq said:

Interesting...

Yes, I started to hear some spec along those lines a couple of weeks ago as the murmurings of Ahsoka's imminent appearance started to ramp up.  It would help solve a bit Sabine's attitude in that shot with what we now know about The Great Purge.  If there was a hell of a lot more distance between events it could help establish the space needed to have a bit more wistful/melancholy look at things.

 

(though why she didn't mention it in her voice over does give a bit of a side-eye, but nothing worth flipping out over that much) 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Porthos

[Darth Lehnsherr]

It would be a slight retcon if the epilogue of Rebels took place after this episode but if it works for the story then cool.

[Porthos]

26 minutes ago, Darth Lehnsherr said:

It would be a slight retcon if the epilogue of Rebels took place after this episode but if it works for the story then cool.

 

Like Master, Like Padawan. 

 

(epilogue could also be concurrent or in the same general ballpark timeline wise depending on what leads were followed first)

 

===

 

Slight, implied, Rebels spoilers ahead:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shifting the time also helps explain why the frack Sabine was on Lothal and not fighting on Mandalore/helping with refugees and whatnot.  If it was long after the Great Purge then there's an arm's length of reasons why should could just be chilling on Lothal, including getting a heads up to be there for a rendezvous. 

 

...

 

Come to think of it, as I recheck it just now, she conspicuously refrains from commenting at all on Mandalore in the epilogue.  And only implies she's been on Lothal for most of the time.  From a strict reading of the text and applying the infamous "from a certain point of view", there is plenty of wiggle room for that to be a few years later than fans originally presumed. 

 

So, yeah, retcon.  But not like that's never happened before in this franchise.

[Menor the Destroyer]

48 minutes ago, Darth Lehnsherr said:

It would be a slight retcon if the epilogue of Rebels took place after this episode but if it works for the story then cool.

Was it ever specified?