The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 3.01 - Chapter 17 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Yeah, that was actually the highlight of the episode for me.

In truth, this wasn't a bad episode compared to most "starter" episodes of other Star Wars shows.

Usually, they're uninteresting and only "set things up" or give people a rundown of what's happening or what we should pay attention to.

I did feel that stuff actually happened here and that the directors and showrunners had fun with it.

 

In Andor's pilot they were surely setting things up, but it was clear since the first 10 seconds that it was going to be quality stuff, and they made the exposition engaging through well written dialogues and cool production design.

In fact, the two episodes -Andor1.1 and Mando 3.1- could be used as perfect case study about how to start a season and how not to start a season.

 

this star wars show is different than that other star wars show

no way

 

One is dark and grim other is fun and and for all.

 

yeah I mean, this isn't the first season of Mandalorian, we've known for two seasons that this is a more pulpy action adventure story with cheesey dialogue and simple storylines

it wasn't all of a sudden going to change in season three

 

Good old snarky comments...
That's a rather lame attempt at like-baiting, but in case it wasn't clear from my post, as different as two shows can be, they do share the common purpose of trying to engage the audience, don't they?
Now, by all means, enjoy your cheap likes.

 

Totally agree. I think the writers of Andor were writing for an adult audience and therefore knew they had to deliver quality writing. The writers of Chapter 17 seemed to be writing for a cartoon crowd and weren't concerned about the writing as much because the quality just had to match a cartoon show for kids.

Going forward I'm going to view this more as a cartoon rather than prestige TV like Andor was.

EDIT: Yes, Mando season 1 and 2 were pulpy and had their cartoony moments but it also felt like they were aiming a little more for an adult audience than what we got in the season three premiere. With Chapter 17 it was like, "okay lets just go full-on cartoon!"

 

exactly, it was classic Mandalorian stuff, i wasn't expecting the sophistication of Andor's script. We'll see how this new season pans out. I actually thought the ending of season 2 would have been a great ending for the series but i'll give the writers the benefits of the doubt. The reclaim of Mandalore and imperial remnants shenanigans could bring interesting stuff to the table. We'll see...

And i wouldn't say the mandalorian feels like a kid show, more that it's an all-age adventure..;like tintin!! "7 to 77 year old" as we used to say in france...

 

Mando isn't Andor, but it's been mostly a fairly good show. Unfortunately, this episode felt way more like a BOBF episode (excluding the two actual good episodes that didn't have Boba Fett) than a Mando episode. That being said, despite the opener being kind of weak, I'm not giving up on the season after 1 episode; there have been a few subpar Mando episodes in the past.

 

When Grogu hugs the Anzellan I nearly died.

 

Folks keep using “it’s supposed to be pulpy fun” as though that somehow justifies low quality storytelling. You can have more “fun” storytelling and have it still be engaging and good. See: the entire OT. I’d also like to see a definition of what exactly “pulpy fun” is supposed to mean here and how exactly Mando is doing it well…

Like for me, I’d even still defend the OWK show because despite some major flaws, it still used the OWK/Vader/Leia character and story dynamics to craft a high stakes fun story. It wasn’t just pure plot

Feels like we’ve had tons of action scenes since the show started of villains taking on Mando only to find out they’re actually the prey while he’s the predator. How did this action scene build on this or add any new perspective? Who even are these guys and why are their goals important?

 

I wholeheartedly disagree with pretty much about everything. I hope they don't ruin another story by making it miserable and depressing. Bo Katan and the Armorer should evolve and grow as characters, and put aside their differences and their preconceptions so that they work together towards a common goal. Bo Katan has ALREADY started seeing this. She talks about the Darksaber almost as if she thinks it's a stupid sword. Which it kind of is. The Mandalorians need to unite and progress. If anything, I find the opposite very cheap. How is it more "complex" and how does it have more layers to keep the characters forever stubborn and stuck up? Nah, that would be boring IMO.

 

This was embarrassingly terrible. From the awful opening action scene where everyone acted like idiots, to the pointless meandering wandering around with no goal... nothing happened. And wow, congrats on IG-11 somehow being fine. The self-destruct bomb was in his torso but somehow the torso is the only thing that didn't blow up. Super cool. It was very worthwhile to spend ten minutes on him trying to repair this robot he needs for merch, I mean reasons, only to be told "nah bro, broken, do another sidequest next episode." Nice of Bo-Katan to just show up for two minutes to tell him where the mine was. Weird that cult lady couldn't have told him that considering she's the one who gives a crap about said mine. It really felt like a bad fetch quest in a video game, except they didn't even complete the fetch quest.

 

Somehow IG-11 returned

 

Yeah the mando has always walked the edge of going too cartoony but it never stepped Over The Line, until this episode, but it still is nowhere near the cartoony levels of Obi-Wan kenobi. I still say Obi-Wan's infiltration of The Inquisitor base is one of the worst pieces of Star Wars content I've ever seen, and it almost seemed like a spoof comedy that Mel Brooks would have came up with. There is nothing so absurd in this episode as that.

I think our biggest issues is the fact that we know what this show can be. I always go back to Bill Burr's second episode that was the perfect mixture of pulpy action with aliens, but a serious enough tone for adults. if we can get back to somewhere on that level, I think we all would mostly be golden. Which this season just might... I mean I'm not nowhere near ready to write the show off and like I said I actually enjoyed this episode a little more than some of y'all but it's not great by any means.

The lack of hype though for mandalorian season 3 is very concerning, it barely trended yesterday and like I said a lot of casual fans that I know had no idea it was even out.

 

If you don't like this episode, then you don't like A New Hope or Return of the Jedi.

 

Let’s not get ridiculous.

 

This is just like ROTJ, where there was dark themes and pulpy fun quest.

 

I agree and I think that is why return of the Jedi is generally one of the more divisive films of the original trilogy. Some people love it some people can't stand it because of the Care Bears lol. Much like this episode im in the middle on rotj as well. Loved certain aspects of it couldn't stand other aspects of it.

 

Let's talk about IG for a moment.

The way I remember season 1, we had that beautiful scene in which Kuiil was training him in a trial-and-error fashion, in a way that is not too dissimilar with respect to how modern AI works.
So, my take from that scene was that IG's brain had been reset and built up from scratch ?

If this is the case, I don't understand how he could ever go back to being a robot-killer programmed to exterminate BY.

I know the way droids work has never been clarified in detail, but it does feel very odd.

 

I actually wouldn't have minded that IG-11 scene if once it failed they just moved on and got a different Droid. I kind of appreciated the odd homage to the original Terminator there lol. But from a narrative standpoint it also really makes no sense. Mando already doesn't trust droids completely. And one of the few he ever actually grew to like, immediately woke up and tried to kill his new son. As a father myself I think I would have just moved on and found a different means of accomplishing my goal, but hey that's me.

 

Let’s not forget in season 1 Moff Gideon called him Disgraced Magistrate Greef Karga. I take that to mean before Greef was handing out bounty pucks he was more a legitimate leader who had fallen on hard times.

 

Fair enough, lol. Its my favorite Star Wars movie.