Full Series Grade the Episodes 4.01-4.02: "Heroes of Mandalore" (Spoilers Allowed)

I understand that you did. But also understand that I didn't, and have actually brought up reasons why and possible solutions, as opposed to making excuses.

 

I very much dislike how Sabine's family survived her weapon. And its not from a "we need deaths for this show to be mature and good" point of view. It just felt like a cheap copout, especially after the supposed impact it had on Sabine at the end of the first episode. And its not like they do anything in the rest of the episode. Maybe they'll be important later on in the season, but for now it just feels like a wasted "tricked yah" moment that ruins the impact it should have had.

 

That's fair. I'm just saying, Mandalore isn't exactly a sprucey planet that demands high-budget modelling on its surface.

 

I don't understand why they even bothered to include the scene in the first place if they were going to resolve it like that. If Sabine's family hadn't survived the weapon it would have made a deep impact. It would have set the tone for the rest of the season. Everyone would be talking about it.

Now people still talk about it, but not in a good way. Wasn't it supposed to be impossible to escape from the weapon no matter where you hide?

 

While I agree their survival did feel like a cheep cop out.​

A major factor mentioned in the show was how the weapons range was limited compared to its original design.​

Its why the Empire wants Sabine alive, so she can fix it, to reach its full potential.​

​

Its a justification, narratively it still feels like a weak excuse for their survival, but it is a justification.​

 

If Sabine's family had died, the arc would have changed from destroying the superweapon and finding the right ruler for Mandalore to "holy *crap* my family is dead" and rendering Sabine into a recovery state for the next few episodes. It derails the arc.

Is it a cheesy bait and switch? Yep. But it's still a kids show, deliberately aimed at kids, on a channel with more censor restrictions than Cartoon Network and half the budget of TCW. Is it frusterating as an adult viewer? Sure.

But for god's sake, understand that it's not meant to be shakespeare, it's not meant to be dark and edgelordy, it's just a kids show that does a lot of world-building lore for the Star Wars universe. Why can't ya'll just enjoy it for what it is and relax? This place is almost as bad as Reddit when it comes to being negative.

 

Good point. I had forgotten about the range. That makes it a bit more believable for me.

I still find it a bit odd that no one else in the Empire was apparently capable to complete Sabine's work. But that's another story.

 

I for one am not as angry about it as some fans. A little disappointed yes, but I still gave it an eight.
A cheep cop out it may be, but nevertheless, it did not overly distract from my enjoyment of the episodes.

And Rebels is not incapable of going Dark When it needs to. This very episode they showed us Mandalorian Warriors literally being disintegrated into ash. At the end of Season One they decapitated two reoccurring villains barely off screen. Something that was basically repeated in season two with three villains being brutally killed, two with the blade of a lightsaber. Season three saw the death of Sato, and Konstatine.

True all these deaths were censored in some way or another. But they were relatively dark. They could have killed Sabines family off in this episode as well if they saw the need. They had a built in censor. I figure the most likely case is what davrel said about it changing the focus of the arc.

Either way, I expect more deaths will come later in the season, and I can be patient.

 

Yes, I agree. Rebels is not scared of death, Disney is not scared of death. They have killed characters off when required or wanted. They very feasibly could have killed off Ursa and Tristan if they wanted to. It might've been impactful if they did, but they didn't. They were seen quite a distance from the blast range, it's very believable they could have survived.

A LOT of people died in this premier. As also said before, Mandalorians were disintegrated very painfully. All the people on that Star Destroyer is dead. Just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Aresko and Grint from season one? Their heads went rolling on the floor. Those civilians on the transport with the Force-sensitive baby? Fifth Brother slaughtered them all. Eighth Brother? He plummeted to his death.

What they are scared of, is gore. And you shouldn't be watching Star Wars if that is what you're looking out for.

I adore Star Wars but I hate the fanbase, honestly. Negativity about everything is all I see nowadays.

No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans.

 

Yeah, its meant to be Star Wars.

They're the ones who tricked the audience. As I said in my post above, I'm not saying characters need to die for the show to be good. But making the audience think a character is dead at the end of an episode with super duper sad music only to say "surprise, you got tricked!" in the first 20 seconds of the next episode is insulting to the viewer.

You give kids too little credit. They can understand things and deal with permanent consequences.

 

While I'm complaining about Sabine's family surviving, my biggest gripe is how she just had to push like 4 buttons to increase the range and set the device to Stormtrooper. If it was that easy, how the hell did the Empire not figure it out? Very incompetent.

 

Not that I agree with the decision to spare Ursa and Tristan, because it would've been a powerful moment for Sabine as a character, but this was a two-parter that was released to us at once.

So the suspense at the end of the first part wasn't long-lived. And there were shots in the trailer that confirmed they survived anyways.

 

I gave it 6.

Really wanted to like these episodes more, but there are just some things I can't get over, like Sabine's family plot armour or Ezra's shenanigans.

 

I gave it a 7. There was a bunch of good stuff along with a bunch of not so good stuff. Thrawn was great though.

All in all it felt like another detour to tie off a TCW hanging plot thread more than anything else.

 

I really liked these episodes.

Rounding it up to a 9 out of 10.

 

7/10 It was a fine episode. Not necessarily one that I'd rewatch anytime soon (unless I just so happen to be watching one of the handful of TCW episodes with Bo-Katan), but I had little to complain about.

 

is there an episode guide on SW.com?

edit: there is. http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/heroes-of-mandalore-episode-guide

 

If that was a response to my post regarding Bo-Katan in TCW, this was from starwars.wikia:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "A Friend in Need" (First appearance)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Eminence"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Shades of Reason"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "The Lawless"

 

6 and that is being generous

Not sure what is worse, Sabine being good at everything, Ezra being an awful and annoying character still 4 seasons in or the cop out of Sabine's mother and brother's "death."

The high rating is that Kanan-Hera scene, Bo-Katan, Thrawn scene and that awesome rescue of Sabine's father, even though no one can hit water if they fell out a boat.

 

I wonder if these episodes would've been more effective as the third and fourth, a narrative shift as The Antilles Extraction was last season. Regardless, it's cool to have the show back and, especially now, not know how things will play out. There's no big telegraphed event with the likes of Vader, Maul, or Obi-Wan; it's just the core characters and 'extended' crew, and there are stakes for them, shown for instance with the reflective exchange between Ezra and Sabine, and the implicitly forward-looking one between Kanan and Hera.

I liked learning more about Sabine's creation of the weapon, and her loyalty to the Empire at the time. It's interesting that she named a weapon after a pacifist ruler. I think Ursa and Tristan surviving (apart from adding more Clan Wren representation to Bo-Katan's support) plays into the choice for Sabine, between using and destroying the weapon. Even knowing of their survival, she's plenty fired up and has reason to turn her creation against the Empire. I don't think it's happenstance that Fenn Rau raises the question of doing that (hearkening back to Trials of the Darksaber with taking Ezra "down a peg or two"), while Bo-Katan is against it.

Spoiler

Judging by the art for this season, Sabine takes on her family color scheme, which is a nice way to reflect her growth.

Other highlights:
+ Ezra's Indiana Jones moment, Chopper's shenanigans, Sabine's weaponzied paint and Alric's talk about her artistic technique
+ The Sabine motif in the Part 1 credits, instead of the usual fanfare
+ The portion of the hangar fight with no music
+ Tobias Menzies as Tiber Saxon, not only for sounding very similar to Ray Stevenson, but as another actor to be in both Star Wars and Game of Thrones

8/10

 

I really liked both these episodes except for one thing. I think it would have been much better if both Ursa and Tristan had died from the weapon's blast. Also since when did Bo Katan give two ***** about her sister? You were fighting to overthrow her and that would likely have meant her death. 9/10

 

For Reference: TCW "The Lawless" episode. That was really when Bo-Katan had her "moment of clarity" with her sister and those that supported her.