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

I watched the episode, and liked it more than i thought i would. Not great but not terrible. The Pirates did not do it for me though, they seemed like really cheesy characters out of a Bad episode of rebels.

Overall I'd give it a six to seven out of 10.

This is nowhere near as silly as Obi-Wan Kenobi to me or the horrible writing in that show. The little bit of Comedy was not great here, but it was not eye rolling bad like what we saw in that awful show. Like I said this just reminded me of a weaker episode of rebels or clone wars.

 

This was not a strong start. And way too short. Why just above 30 minutes? Its barely enough to create a real build up plot. I get the high production value, huge budgets for action spectacle make them adjust or trim the total running time, because of total costs, but then you end up with an episode that barely hang together, more like random scenes stitched together. The asteroid field sequence was not particular exciting and looked worse than the one in AOTC.

There are positives of course. The ending - felt like the start of a real narrative. And really liked the visuals. There is a hook here and i expect the story to start grabbing my attention in the next episode.


Also enjoyed the opening scene with the space whale. Jon Favrau can be really cheesy as a screenwriter at times and «this is the way», a bit overused here.

There are moments here and there when i felt i have returned to the galaxy i love, so i will not let this lacklustre opening act prevent my high expectations for the next episodes.

Verdict:
6/ 10

 

I agree with the last part completely. Still excited to see where the season goes

 

I disagree completely with everyone saying this was boring setup. This was 30 minutes of great action and crazy creatures. And it’s a stronger first episode than both of the previous season premieres.

The point is to enjoy the journey

 

I wonder if something happened. Like part of the reason why the Grogu & Luke episodes were in BOBF, but not in the Mando show...and then this season starts out a little out of sorts. Maybe 'episode' stories got moved around a bit.

I'm not put off by it but it did seem to be covering a lot and nothing at the same time.

Oh...and yeah, really loved the Hyperspace Squid things too

 

This show has the best space fights in SW

 

I'd give it a 6, which I think is the lowest I've ever scored an ep of Mandalorian. It was OK. Was hoping for something more, but not a lot really happened. And how come Mando seems to be the only person in the galaxy who wants to know if Mandalore is really poisoned? What happened to all the scientists? Has literally no one gone back there to check? Roll on ep 2...

 

I am starting to think maybe this is just a hang up of mine, not to keep bringing up andor but after seeing something that serious compared to all these other Star Wars shows that are so silly, even the Mandalorian which is not near as bad or silly as Obi-Wan Kenobi. it just colors my view differently because andor is great to me, not just good sci fi, but GREAT tv. These shows just dont feel like they live in the same galaxy as andor, but a parallel universe, a what if... as they say. So when dave and jon go back to the cartoony style of Star Wars it kind of just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I kind of want to learn more about the production of TBOBF. My theory is that Season 3 of The Mandolorian was originally supposed to open with the final two episodes of TBOBF, but they inserted them into TBOBF to pad out its runtime and increase its viewership.

TBOBF was pitched as Season 2.5 of The Mandolorian. The gap allowed them to promote other Star Wars shows and iron out Season 3's story. I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic and the firing of Gina Carano probably influenced these decisions as well.

 

It’s actually a whale.

 

i didn't know whales could travel in space. good for them.

 

Ahsoka has yet to release. Perhaps they will somehow connect to her and Thrawn?

 

I do agree to an extent to the last 2 seasons, but agree wholeheartedly now with this season.

For me and particularly in regards to Season 1, Fav's approach in telling the story from Din's perspective suited this "lone wolf and cub" style; though I still would have loved to see abit from the Imperial perspective - especially Gideon's. Fav could still get away with it to a degree in Season 2 due to the number of cameo's of major players and the story arcs they had going on at the time; for example, Boba and his armour, Ahsoka and her quest to find Thrawn, Bo-Katan's pursuit of the Darksaber, etc. Din's story simply weaved in and out of these other character arcs because his and theirs shared a common theme/point that related to Din's.

But Season 3 is different. Din has removed his helmet and has been outcast from his group. However, his group is not the only Mandalorian group and other Mando groups don't live by the same ideals either. So there is now complexity and opposing sides in the story, and there is still the Darksaber (and what it means to the Mandalorians) in play; as well as Imperial elements that tie into the overall Mandalorian story. Fav's writing needs to change because of this because Din's point is not the only important point of view now. There is Bo's and the Armourer's and many other Mandalorian perspectives. Each of these needs to be honoured and explored outside of Din's direct involvement and need to have the necessary character interactions. This means that time needs to be split where we still follow Din, but also spend time alone with other characters. The narrative now requires an Andor-like approach where Din is still the titular character, but other stories, character arcs and perspectives need to be told too.

The "Andor template" needs to be applied now to the Mandalorian.

 

Wait… so the source of the conflict between Greef and the pirates was that the pirates wanted to drink in a building that used to be a bar but is now a school?

Who writes this stuff?

 

Really looking forward to next weeks episode. Chapter 17 really set the stage for this.

 

The pirates funded the money for the bar. I think that’s the conflict.

 

That is a very, very literal view. It was obviously symbolic about who was in charge and whether Karga can be pushed around or not. The pirates believe they paid for that place to be a bar, Karga says it is now a school. This is about who owns/runs the town / planet, not just the building itself.

 

Yeah it was more the pirates trying to excert control. It was just done in a very cheesy way with an actor who was pretty terrible. Playing it like an early scooby doo, morning cartoon villain

 

I’m a little bit confused by the order of operations here, I thought Mando was going to find a contact to help find the part but instead he goes to Bo Katan first?

Is he just going to go to Mandalore without IG? I thought the whole point was he needed a droid to make sure it was safe and because of his anti-droid bias he would only trust IG?

 

You don’t watch Star Trek do you?

My pet theory is Lucasfilm set out to make Mando season 3 in 2020 but because of COVID restrictions for shooting soon realized they couldn’t accomplish what they wanted at the level they needed it to be in the time they had.

So either before shooting started or not long into shooting they decided to make TBOBF more on the fly.

Maybe the Luke episode was shot first because of the extra time needed for effects. Or maybe the Luke episode had to be finished as it has something to do with the Ahsoka show.

I think the original plans were changed.

I agree with you - this episode felt like it was reframing the story and doing course correction after TBOBF episodes. Getting the story lined up again.

If Bo Katan had not been abandoned by her followers, do you think Din could have sourced the needed droid parts from them?

 

I don't think Death Watch bounty hunters are where you send Din to find droid parts. There just isn't a reason for the visit this early unless that planet is on the way to where he's going.

It seems he is stopping to reaffirm that there is a place in Mandalore where he can wash away his transgressions, and he needed to hear this from moody Bo Katan (can we get a happy, spunky,, cute female eventually in the show).

 

On the Clone Wars Death Watch had quite the collection of droids at their camp. They were using them for combat training. An IG unit would be ideal for that.

But I was thinking on this show Death Watch might be in the know on where those parts are. We just don’t know how much Death Watch is still connected to criminal Shadow Collective past - when Mail commanded them.

 

What about Peli Motto? Or the Frog lady?