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

Right. As I noted:

Disagree on Ponda Baba and Evazan in Rogue One. They don't interrupt the story whatsoever. Jyn and Cassian had both spoken about Jedha as a dangerous place/ war zone prior to that moment (which is Jyn's justification for nabbing a blaster from the base on Yavin), and those ruffians just visualize that, and set the tone before they enter the city proper. They could've chosen different ruffians, but decided to go with a couple dudes fans knew. My wife, who hasn't watched A New Hope since the 90s (and then, only once) had no idea that they were from the cantina scene, and just assumed they were the kind of rough characters we were led to expect might be in Jedha. In that context, not only did it NOT disrupt the storytelling, it reinforced it. So, perfectly fine for a casual audience. Though for a fan, it was a bit universe-shrinking, I admit.

C-3PO and R2D2 in Rogue One, on the other hand, were not a natural addition. Personally, I think they should've just been walking along in the hallways on the Tantive IV as the Death Star plans are being delivered to Leia. No reason to pause on them and give them 3PO two lines of dialogue. It is literally the only scene in that whole film that I have an issue with.

No reason to lower your standards. Rick Famuyiwa is directing the next episode, and he's one of the best. Whatever happens in it, it will likely be much more expertly-directed than Rodriguez's episode. Which I loved, but is not the strongest on a visual level.

 

I hated that they shoved Walrus Man and Dr Evazan in there. Such an incredibly forced easter egg. They easily could have been in the background but instead the filmmakers chose to scream "LOOK! THEY BUMPED INTO THAT GUY WITH THE BUTTMOUTH JUST LIKE LUKE DID!" at the audience.

 

I would have left it out too, but it worked perfectly fine with the scene if you didn't know who they were. One of those instances where being a fan made that fan service worse than if you weren't a fan.

 

I finally caught up on the thread just in time for the next episode to come out and everyone to move on lol. I have to say, despite the Panda Boba cameo being further towards the "just for the sake of it" end of the spectrum than most of the stuff in The Mandalorian, I don't understand how even that one would genuinely bother anyone. "That exact same scene would have been perfectly fine with 'Ruffians 12 and 13' as the cast but these are ruffians I already know of from that one other scene in a different movie so now I'm upset!". I just don't get it. Anyways, on to my thoughts on the episode:

+Yet another opening that knocks it out of the park
+I unfortunately saw a spoiler that Boba Fett was going to be in the episode and yet I still had and OMG moment when the Slave I suddenly appeared. I can only imagine my reaction if I was going in completely blind.
+I've never had strong feelings on Boba Fett as a character either way but I'm suddenly all in on the Temuera Morrison incarnation of him.
+Armorless Boba Fett mopping the floor with Stormtroopers using a gaffi stick in live action is a world I never thought I'd live in.
+Live action mortar trooper. Gave me extreme Galactic Battlegrounds vibes.
+Dark Troopers! I'm not familiar with their source material but I've seen a few different versions of them pop up in various places and I like this look better than most.
+Baby Yoda torturing his captors in another of a long line of bread crumbs about his potential for the Dark Side and Moff Gideon being perfectly willing to let him do it.
+The Empire actually won for once. That's important for the stakes even though I'm obviously rooting for our heroes. The Razor Crest's destruction falls under this category even though a lot rides on how the show chooses to replace what had already become an iconic ship.
+Grogu did actually use the seeing stone before he was interrupted

-The jetpack thing did kind of stick out as more of an intentional handicap than a natural progression
-The Stormtroopers were once again completely worthless despite a vast numerical superiority. This show is starting to feel like some of the Wookiepedia entries for battles that come from video games where it's 60 against 3 and the causalities are 60 to 0. I'm totally fine with the individual Stormtroopers being no match for what are already established as elite or even legendary warriors but if they can't make up for that threat with numbers then they'll never be a threat at all. It's very noticeable that they missed every shot until Din arrived at which point they could suddenly aim because their shots don't affect him whatsoever. I was hoping they'd at least get Fennec since Boba and Din have the only thing better than Beskar which is plot armor but they just brought her back from the dead this episode so I guess it wouldn't make much sense to off her either. Even a wound would have been nice.
-It seemed weird to have Mando identify the cruiser from the ground but then treat it as some sort of reveal for Fett when he broke through the clouds.

I had no issue with the scenery of Tython and I thought shooting the boulder with the E-WEB was the way to go as well when it was clear she was going to push it down the hill so I can't really blame the trooper for being overly stupid on that one.

 

Quick question:

You're Moff Gideon. You notice that your stormtroopers are getting stomped by three people on the surface, and you see two ships parked down there. Do you

A. Blow up the larger, more heavily armed ship and leave them with the ship you can track anywhere in the galaxy.

B. Blow up the ship that you can track anywhere in the galaxy and leave them with the larger more heavily armed ship.

C. Blow up both ships and leave them stranded on the surface.

I'm thinking Gideon might be more Ozzel than Thrawn.

 

I think Slave I might’ve been well-hidden.

 

Also as you said they were tracking the Razor Crest so it makes sense that was the one they blew up

 

Why would Gideon know that there is another ship on the surface?

 

They don't rely on a guy with binoculars....

 

I think this question massively overestimated the abilities of an Arquitens class, a ship that the Rebels Ghost has taken head on and destroyed hands down. The Razor Crest is an unshielded craphead, the Slave I is not.

 

It's either a plot point or a technical oversight. Logically Gideon's ship was so close that they would have to be complete buffoons not to 'see' the Slave 1.

 

Gideon must have served with those guys who refused to blow up unoccupied escape pods.

 

Hey, big blasts like that use up a lot of plasma. Do you think plasma grows on trees?

 

Bye troll

 

Mods, I'm curious what the troll said.

 

Something trolly.

 

Yeah I didn’t see it myself but I assume it was something along the lines of this -