The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 2.03 - Chapter 11 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Finally got around to watching this episode. Here are my thoughts as I watch:

-Like the opening shot with the planet and then the ship moving into view. Something beautiful and serene about it.

-Fish lady hugging her canister of eggs warms my heart and hits me right in the feels.

-Yikes, another hot crash landing incoming!

-Love the crane that picks them out of the water. Creative looking.

-Fish lady's joy at being reunited with her husband is so endearing.

-Oh, person in black lurking behind the crates. Very mysterious.

-Goop from a machine. Yummy. Don't forget to add the salt!

-"I can buy something else. Information." Slides credits across counter. Mando is great.

-Baby Yoda not interested in the chowder.

-"Don't play with your food." Dad Mando is wonderful.

- Baby Yoda is not dinner! Such treachery all for the beskar armor!

-"The Child. Help the child." Concerned dad Mando is the best.

-Aww. Baby Yoda back in Mando's arms where he should be.

-Interesting. Like that Mando is a product of a sort of breakaway cult of Mandalore. Love the world building in this series. Has depth with cultures and lots of different planets. Great stuff.

-"He didn't kill your brother. I did." You tell him.

-Slurping a worm. Yuck.

-Uh, Fish Lady, don't let Baby Yoda near that canister...Your eggs are his favorite snack.

-Beating up stormtroopers. Classic Star Wars.

-Yep, stormtroopers do have bad aim

-"Think we have them trapped."

"Where?"

"In the cargo area."

Such perfect Imperial incompetence.

-"This is the way" turned into a zinger against Mando. This show has some good dialogue, and I appreciate all the strong female characters in it.

-"Long live the Empire." The line and actions of a true fanatic.

-Great scene where the Mandalorians storm the cockpit and regain control of the ship just before it crashes.

-"You might let me live, but he won't." This episode isn't messing around. Really shows the fanatical mindset.

-Fish Lady and her husband babysitting and with their new child is cute. Love that Mando told them congratulations.

-Aww, Baby Yoda always stuffing his face with gross stuff. Perfect note to end on.

Overall thoughts on the episode: This was an intense episode that really showed the fanaticism of some Imperial officers and had some interesting world building. I liked seeing Mando interact with other Mandalorians with a different mindset on things and their culture. I also like the idea of Mando being raised by a splinter sort of cult group with the values of the cult group. That is fascinating to think about. Also the Fish Lady and her husband were adorable. Glad they got their kid in the end. A happy ending for him and a clear destination for Mando going into the next episode. Probably my favorite episode of the new season.

Episode rating out of ten: 9 out of 10. Really liked the world building and how intense this episode was. It really increased in tension throughout!

Off to watch the next episode!

 

@Bor Mullet Thanks! I'm enjoying writing these reviews as I go along, and I'm glad that other people are enjoying reading themI feel like there is so much excitement and drama in all the Mandalorian episodes I've seen in both season one and season two that it is easy for me to put energy into the reviews because I am genuinely enthusiastic about what is happening on the show and eager to find out what will happen next. Just a series that has been a real treat for me to watch so far.

@DarthFixxxer I'm with you in that if this episode was a side quest, it didn't bother me at all and honestly didn't feel like a side quest. I felt like we learned more about Mandalorian culture and the splinter cult of it that Mando himself grew up within, so that felt like an important part of Mando's journey as a character, and Mando also learned where to find Ahsoka Tano, accomplishing something toward his larger goal of bringing Baby Yoda to a Jedi for training. I also think in addition to being an action/adventure type series with some at times western vibes, there is an explicitly quest type story arc going on with Mando and Baby Yoda (Mando even refers to himself as being "quested" with regard to bringing Baby Yoda to a Jedi for training) which works well in space fantasy like Star Wars and often entails side quests. Quests are often made by stringing together multiple little accomplishments and side quests to achieve an overarching goal or victory, and the journey taken to accomplish the quest often involves character development and transformation as his happening to Mando, so that the external journey the character takes reflects the internal journey of the character. So really the Mandalorian is one of those shows where I don't really mind "side quests" and even the "side quests" tend to feel important and meaningful to me. A good comparison for me would be Avatar: The Last Airbender, where I love exploring the characters and the world so much that all the "side quest" episodes really end up feeling essential and some of them end up being among my absolute favorite episodes. The Mandalorian is like that for me in that so far across what I have seen of two seasons, there hasn't been a "dud" of an episode yet, and no episode I'd rank below seven out of ten. So that to me is a very strong TV series.

I did enjoy the Karen Traviss novels about Mandalorians and exploration of Mandalorian culture, but to be honest, I wasn't even that interested in the Mandalorian show when it was first announced, and I watched the first episode not sure how I would like it. But the show won me over from the first episode on, and now I am a fan. I took a chance on it because it was Star Wars, and I ended up really enjoying it so far. It just is proof that a story doesn't have to initially sound amazing to me for me to end up being a fan of it if the story is well told, the world building is vivid, and the characters complex and well-fleshed out. Any story can be engaging if well-told basically, and that's where I think this TV series has really worked well for me. It has done what it set out to do very well with to me no major missteps in what I have seen of two seasons. Even when I have criticisms, they are fairly minor and don't carry over from episode to episode so really those are the best kind of criticisms to have. Minor quibbles that don't have a pervasive impact on the overall story. So really it is hard for me to imagine being more pleased overall with the Mandalorian TV series than I am now.

 

Oh lol I noticed him but not what he was wearing. Legendary