The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 2.06 - Chapter 14 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I think he's over the top but he has a point to a certain extent, if for some reason Mace Windu comes back I'm out because then nobody ever really dies in Star Wars and there's no dramatic tension whatsoever. it really does just become you playing with action figures in your basement and everything is reset when you're done with them. I do not think that's great storytelling

 

A few characters have survived difficult ordeals. One or two may have been too much (Palps for sure, and Maul too, but that was handled so well that I forgive it). But Boba Fett surviving is perfectly plausible, IMO. Plus, lots of characters have died and are definitely not coming back. Han, the Rogue One crew, Leia, etc. Dramatic tension isn’t ruined because a few characters with extraordinary abilities barely escape death.

 

I will just say I disagree, here's all the characters I can think of off the top of my head... fett (you might be okay with it doesn't mean other fans are we all know originally in Return of the Jedi he died in the script) maul (same cut literally in half), fetts female assistant Sharpshooter who now is a half cyborg lol, ashoka survived through time travel somehow lol, palp, gideon ( he is not as near egregious because it was just a TIE fighter crash but he still came out completely unscathed not even a scratch on him.) Then that doesn't even count all the Force ghost we have seen so even if you are really dead tha does not truly matter. We even see Han Solo as some kind of force ghost or memories in the rise of Skywalker

Like I said if Mace Windu comes back I'm out of the show and maybe out of Star Wars completely, because then it just becomes dumb idiotic and stupid that's what we used to call Jumping the Shark. I don't need this to be the next Game of Thrones where everybody dies but if they do kill somebody off they need to stay dead Point Blank at least to me. If you're happy with storytelling with no dramatic tension than great for you. A lot of people are not

 

Stop annoyingly assuming that I am “happy with storytelling with no dramatic tension.” I’m not. I already told you that I disagree that the storytelling has no dramatic tension. For two reasons. One, based on numerous main characters that die and stay dead, I still feel that major characters can die. Including in this show (here’s looking at Kuiil). So the tension is there. Second, whether or not a character will die is not the ONLY measure of dramatic tension. Tension about the separation of family units (Grogu and Din), atonement and empathy (Vader and Luke), the quality of a partnership (Han and Lando, Din and Greef), trauma (Din and Grogu’s childhood experiences), ambiguity on friends and foes (Din and Ahsoka) and spiritual danger (Grogu and some of his dark tendencies), can all contribute to dramatic tension.

So please halt the patronizing tone, and actually listen to the people you’re talking to. It’s not all just two camps of people who like dramatic tension, and people who don’t.

 

I really wasn’t sure how they were going to match last week’s episode - beautiful, perfectly poised, impeccably framed within the wider world of STAR WARS, and with an unexpected side-helping of “Thrawn came back from the Unknown Regions… with Corporal Hicks?!”

I needn’t have worried. This was brilliant.

“The sarlacc found me somewhat indigestible” has been a Star Wars trope for thirty years. This episode reassembled Boba Fett in half an hour, an entire narrative of iconic moments that adds up to a new instant classic.

The audience was cued in by the clip of The Gunslinger before the main recap sequence at the start, so the arrival of that familiar Firespray, while momentarily unexpected, was also a moment of eye-opening understanding. The sequence of disorienting moments that followed were perfect for the audience and the protagonist as we tried to reformat our expectations - and then before we really knew what was happening, Mando, Fett and Ming-Na Wen were squaring off against the bad guys. The ability of one cranky bounty hunter to take down entire legions of Moff Gideon’s best with only a Tusken longrifle and a gaffi stick was sheer visceral pleasure, and by the time Fett was walking towards the unguarded hatch of the RazorCrest to get his armour back, and Mando and Mulan-May were back-to-back surrounded by Stormtroopers, we knew what was coming.

When The Cavalry gets her own Cavalry, you also know the result has to be something special.

But when Fett unloaded the full arsenal of that armour on the Stormtroopers, the effect was absolutely mind-blowing. This was a celebration of Star Wars in all kinds of ways, a perfect crescendo in the story of the episode, and proof that The Mandalorian can double down on doing better than what you already thought was perfect.

And then there was Slave I pursuing Dark Troopers across the skies of Tython, which was all kinds of mind-bogglingly brilliant. Then there was that full-scale continuity callback to Jango Fett: Open Seasons, which all-but-confirms that the leitmotiv in season one was deliberate:



That’s quite apart from the way that this episode advances the actual storyline of the series, the dramatic threat of the Child’s abduction, and the threat of the cool bad guys in the big pointy space battleships being back.

“This isn’t a spice dream”…

… (and somehow, Mando has shown that you can tell great STAR WARS about Imperial warlords kidnapping Force-sensitive toddlers, which is all kinds of hilarious to those of us who remember the Bantam novels)…

But this isn’t just STAR WARS. This is cinema, too…

Every episode this season seems to have homaged a movie genre, and I suspect that this was the superhero episode - iconic flying heroes from the childhood of the audience, showing up to save the day and defeat entire legions of ordinary mortals.



But at the same time, the way those outnumbered and mismatched veterans defended their position against the waves of interchangeable fascist bad guys also made this a war movie… and so did the way those stormtroopers came charging down the ramps of landing craft into a hail of heavy fire…



And obviously, because this was a Robert Rodriguez flick, there’s an element of Desperado in all this as well…





I have just one question, though. After back-to-back performance of two of the best chapters of live-action Star Wars ever… just how are they going to top this?!

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Bravo, I agree 100%!

 

I already listened to everything you said and it was just nonsense, you explain away plot point deaths because you like fanservice which is fine but don't be upset with other fans calling Star Wars out for it. It does kill dramatic tension for a lot of people that is what I'm saying. by the way Leia also died in tlj and came back in the same movie, she was sucked into space but somehow survived because of the force. For the record if look at my other post you will see I am a Last Jedi fan but even i think that was very stupid.

I'm not saying death is the only thing that creates dramatic tension but it is a big one. once again not to compare this to Game of Thrones but that's why people loved it so much, was because nobody is safe from death. which ONCE again I do not think Star Wars should go that far but if they make decision to kill somebody off they should not override that a year later or four decades later because of fan service. then it just creates a black hole of plot holes. A character that cheated death once is something that should be treated as special, but we have seen Star Wars bring back characters over and over and over again. It has not just been one character it's been at least 5-7 as i pointed out and that's not even counting all the old eu stuff. Which once again is fine for you but not everybody else.

Also now that we've added Force heal or a type of regen to force powers from Rise of Skywalker and into the Mandalorian with the child, who knows how far writers will take this to cheat death

 

I think I’ll just go and...yeah. Hit my head against a wall for a while.

 

I really love when other posters basically demand that others feel the same way that they do, or threaten to leave if things don't turn out how they like. It never happens. If it did, a bunch of people who threatened to do that over Luke's ST storyline wouldn't be continuing to participate on the boards. I think differences of opinion are fine, debate is fine, and people are entitled to feel how they want about things, positive or negative. The constant, long-winded negative rants in response to positive comments really aren't needed though. There's enough negativity in the fandom already.

 

With Rick Famyiwa, the best director in the Mando arsenal.

 

I'd make the argument that that title might go to Deborah Chow... though Favreau and Filoni's episodes this season are really giving her a run for her money now!

I do love both of Famuyiwa's episodes from last year, so I can't wait to see his return. Like Filoni, I'm glad to see that Favreau is letting him write his again.

Also, Bryce Dallas Howard kinda out-Star Wars'd her father with her episode this year. My jaw just kind of dropped when we saw that AT-AT crane on Trask...

 

In my view, Famuyiwa, Chow and Filoni have delivered the best episodes so far. Directing-wise. And Howard gave us a great one this season, I agree.

Re: the AT-AT crane, there was precedent for that on Corellia at the start of Solo. It’s a different type, but the idea is the same.

 

Deborah Chow is so good, they took her away to do Kenobi all by herself! Very happy for her, and happy that series will be in excellent hands.

I'm very happy with the direction in the episodes this season. I'm just happy we're getting brand new, near-OT era live action Star Wars.

 

I was very encouraged that Deborah Chow is getting the Obi Wan series. I love her previous work on Mando. I wonder if we'll see her direct any episodes in future seasons, or if she'll get more work with Lucasfilm? I hope so.

 

I hope that post-Obi-Wan she does get to return to The Mandalorain.

I also hope that, if it doesn't conflict with her work on the Obi-Wan series, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould are able to get her to do one more episode of Better Call Saul for the show'w final season.

 

My thoughts exactly these final 2 episodes are going to be all kinds of unexpected awesomeness

 

Oh sure I’m the Buzzkill when y’all made the ST threads unreadable for years. Just returning the favor .

I’ll complement when I see fit and call out what needs to be called out. Bringing back Boba Fett and making him extremely OP compared to what we saw him 40 years ago is not brilliance. Fans thought he looked cool and should have been a bada$$. They brought him back for the fans and tried to make it reasonable to the narrative for this season. It turned out to be fan service that hurt the overall story.

Moff Gideon needs to win at the end of *this* season. If the show is to go ok as expected with more seasons, he needs to be seen as a legitimate thread if he is actually the true big bad. He *lost* in S1, he needs to get his revenge in these final 2 episodes. Season 3 Mando can get back at him.

 

I bet Din gets Grogu back by season's end, but it will likely be at huge personal loss to him.

Hmm, I bet that Darksaber is capable of cutting off a certain lead Mandalorian character's hand, for starters...

I also wouldn't be shocked to see Din lose his armor, either partially or completely.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Gideon takes off Din’s helmet

 

End of the show will be Baby Yoda using force heal (bonus points if force ghost Yoda appears and guides him) to bring back Mando who will then kill the bad guys. Baby Yoda will then have no more force powers and now no-one is after him, knowing his fate is safe he is returned to his home world.

 

That’s not how force heal works to save someone from literal death you would need to give them your entire life force so if Din is dead baby Yoda would need to die to save him

 

I said bring back Mando, not necessarily bring him back to life ; )

Maybe he's knocked out in a coma....

 

Imagine it’s season 3 and Gideon is wearing Mando’s armor just to mock him

 

I watched the episode again. I still stay with my first opinion, that it looked cheap. No- don't get me wrong. I don't mean cheap as in 'putting no effort in it' and stuff, but the location was just that random, that it looked cheap because it looked real. Just like you go for a hike in your land and stumble about something like that. And this was perfect. Again, not to the eye, but as in 'this universe is so real that you can go for a walk with your dog, stumble over some stones and get attacked by stormtroopers, bounty hunters or the force (sidenote: it would be quirrels at my place. And they hit their target).

Boba Fett. Well, I always was ambivalent about him. Some friends in school a looong time ago tried to explain me why he is cool, but I never got it. TCW helped me a bit, but honestly I never cared. This episode he somehow got me. But maybe that is because I know that some of my oldest friends just had the day of their lifes.

I thought right on that Gideon would get Grogu. As I try to watch this series without many speculations or spoilers, I won't say anything about that. It would just get me into the realm I don't want to go.

I have to admit that I haven't read the whole thread. But, please, dear makers: Not Mace Windu. I don't care about possibilities and stuff, I just can't stand that character and the actor. So please.