The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 3.04 - Chapter 20 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I never know, so I keep my mouth shut for sure!

 

I'd have to assume they do, the Emperor certainly did.

 

Did he though? He knew the gugans lived in the forests/swamps perhaps. But their secret hidden underwater city? Maybe not. And even if Palps knows that it exists, it doesn't mean he knows the location. And that doesn't mean that the troopers are reporting every single detail about every single Jedi they're chasing to him directly. He's got a big speech to work on anyways. Declaring the Empire, in all. And then saving Anakin and putting him into the suit.

Hell. Other than QGJ and OWK, who else was ever even there? Not Padme. Not Palps. No one.

 

Are the underwater cities secrets to the Naboo? Especially after the Battle of Naboo, I'd have to think the Chancellor was briefed as to the events that unfolded. Maybe not, maybe the Gungans are that good at hiding, and Obi-Wan didn't tell anyone about them.

 

While I don’t think “it’s pulpy and aimed at a wide age demographic” is some kind of get out of jail free card that would exclude all poor writing, I do believe that by design a show like Mandalorian purposefully prioritizes the pursuit of modern realism below the pursuit of ROTJ-inspired action/adventure storytelling, which itself was widely criticized by more mature and serious filmgoers for being too childish and silly for their tastes.

Favreau and co are able to sneak in the odd moment inspired more directly by Tarantino/Leone (like the Bill Burr table scene referenced above) but a scene meant to callback to Yoda jumping and flipping over top of the Emperor over and over again is just a high a priority because its part of the DNA.

Andor and Rogue One will be the exceptions within Star Wars aimed first and foremost at those who prefer HBO style maturity and everyone else second. It’s still a winning recipe and I’m beyond thrilled Gilroy has been able to pave the way for Lucasfilm to see that it can be done without entirely excluding those who prefer their Star Wars more in the pulpy Flash Gordon spirit of Lucas’s last 4 films which very clearly prioritized younger audiences more than his first films did (Note: ROTS youngling scenes and burning Vader scenes excepted, though even those would have been more gruesome if handled by HBO)

I think tone will continue to be a hot topic within this fandom because the fanbase as a whole will continue to age and explore more and more mature content on film and on premium streaming that is more aimed at mature audiences and want that same thing for Star Wars. Whereas when many of us who were kids in the 1980s found the Emperor’s lightning blasts terrifying and the unmasked Vader as creepy both of these things are tame opposite Game of Thrones, The Boys or Last of Us. My hope personally is that Star Wars never gets more mature than Andor overall despite my own content preferences leaning more toward HBO and the Boys style content outside of Star Wars. The reason being that I’m still happy Star Wars as a family product exists and I want it to exist in a way where kids as young as 5 and parents in their 50s can all watch and enjoy together. Always.

 

I dunno. The place seemed sacred. It's a hidden city under water that Jar Jar almost got executed for just for bringing in two Jedi to it. Sounds like they don't blab about it.

Padme and the fighters met them in the forests. For all they know that's where they all live. Maybe Palpatine sends out a search crew looking for their city and can't find it. Thus, Grogu remains safe for a time.

The thing about hiding spots is you want to know it's a good hiding spot. Going to some random planet means you don't necessarily know it well.

I'm not 100% convinced. But I'm definitely toying with this result lol. It wouldn't surprise me. But I've been wrong from .. time to time.

 

The Way is starting to be a lot like Gibbs's Rules....they're gonna give us little bits as we go along.

 

Anakin and Padme also visited Otoh Gunga during the Clone Wars and as one of those people reports rather directly to the Chancellor post O-66, Otoh Gunga would hardly be a safe port. (Though the folks in that Naboo ship wouldn't have all this figured out yet.)

 

The Naboo cruiser we see does indeed seem to be Jar Jar's senatorial ship:

 

It was okay episode. Very short and rescue of Ragnar was a bit fillerish sidequest. I think the point was to demonstrate Bo-Katan's leadership skills and show some mandalorian action, raptors were excellent effects too. That puke would've needed a bit more mucus though to be bit more believable and we could've spent bit more time with Ragnar before the event to make us care more about him. Highlight was that Grogu-flashback, nice to see some Clone Wars era action in live-action show. It's still mystery who is behind the rescue, but Naboo yacht strongly point towards Naboo and boring explanation is that it's just Palpatine and rescue was not so much rescue after all but just delivery of Grogu to lab. Padmé wouldn't make much sense because of the timeline, she should be still crying for Anakin. Anyways expecting for more info later. It's interesting if there are more players in that game though, but Palpatine could've wanted Grogu alive for experiments due to his high M-count and just used jedi to do his bidding, clones were programmed to kill all the jedi after all so Grogu needed to be saved. But it's more interesting if there is another person behind this.

Too bad we didn't see more of Pershing this episode, last time was interesting. But more info on mandalorian culture is always nice. This is the way.

 

I thought the flashback scene was cool.

Are we supposed to believe that the kid was unharmed from being eaten? And he came out all dry and undigested? I had a hard time suspending my disbelief during that entire sequence. One of the Mandos said "when we threaten it, it's eaten kids before", well didn't it already eat Ragnar and somehow he got rescued no problem?

Also, strange that Bo Katan is just so accepting of an extremist cult after she ridiculed it in earlier seasons. I guess she has nothing better to do, lol.

 

Yeah that was quite unbelievable he was dry and all, but he was not supposed to be digested since Raptor was feeding her young or about to feed them. Sure we don't know about alien anatomy, but some mucus would've been expected at least...

This one is interesting point but I think it was seeing the mythosaur that really made her to question her beliefs in a new way and yeah she has nothing else to do now so she gives it a chance. Not too unbelievable actually, people can change their minds.

 

As the 39th Rule of Acquisition says, "Don't tell customers more than they need to know."

 

Suppose it's possible. Seems odd to me that the Separatists knew about the underwater cities (rumors, at least), a Jedi knew about them, the Gungan/Naboo relations improved after the battle to the point they had a Gungan Senator, but Palps would be in the dark. As anti-human as he was, I just assumed he'd have the Gungans under a pretty close watch, especially on his home planet.

 

Good enough episode, but once again the only real intrigue for me came from the final conversation between Bo-Katan and the Armorer. The rescue of the Pas Vizsla's son felt like a bit of obligatory business to get Bo-Katan to earn the trust of the other Mandos, but in terms of execution it didn't impress me much.

The Grogu flashback was certainly heavy on the fireworks, but I guess I would have preferred more of a low key escape rather than the full set piece they displayed. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in how messy the action felt this week compared to last week or even Carl Weathers' episode from season two, which felt much more dynamic and spatially clean. I did appreciate the connection between Grogu's first memory of hyperspace linked with the first episode from this season.

And naturally, seeing Ahmed Best back in Star Wars was a mild thrill, but come on now, if they went full Jar Jar it would have been the highlight of the century.

6/10

 

Cando's got what dragons crave.... it's got Mandalorians.

 

Bo Katan has done things her way for a long time and it hasn’t worked out as she hoped. With her home destroyed,friends and allies in short supply, and her preconceived notions regarding the Creed fundamentally challenged below the Mines of Mandalore, it’s honestly not shocking she’s undergoing change. The fact that she has been welcomed and valued since she, herself, arrived redeemed also helps. As someone who since birth anticipated someday ruling Mandalore she is witnessing first hand that this unique cohort with their odd commitment to the Creed are some of the last ties to all that she once valued left. Her life has been full of chaos and the Creed, like many forms of organized religion, provides some semblance of formality, structure and community for those who are part of it. All of those things can be appealing to people. Particularly when other ways of living haven’t gone as hoped.

 

Since Ragnar is played by Jimmy Kimmel's nephew does that make him a Nepo Boba?

 

Whats with his finger?

 

I'm sure its been bought up before, but is it possible Kelleran Beq is Grogu's actual Master?

 

Ahmed was the Best. Finally - I hope this heals the real actor after all these years of misappropriated hate.
No one deserved this more.
I hope he got a good night's sleep and can put all the negative associations to rest.

 

This show is just such a mixed bag when it comes to creating drama that's actually compelling. On the one hand, I appreciated FINALLY giving Grogu some kind of development after multiple seasons of endless teasing/hinting and finally spending a substantive amount of time developing some Mandalorian drama. But the execution felt pretty lackluster.

I'm not sure why we needed to wait 2 and a half seasons for that Grogu flashback. Hopefully it adds something to the story, but I think it's a problem that in this episode itself it didn't contribute much of anything. So Grogu was rescued by some random Jedi we don't know. Alright...

The Mando stuff was alright. I like the interpersonal dynamics and what they're doing with Bo is pretty compelling. I think they could've come up with a more interesting scenario frankly, but at least it accomplished something for the broader story/characters instead of a monster-of-the-week adventure that doesn't really challenge the characters in any significant way.

 

I'd have to recheck but it's possible. It definitely seemed like he knew exactly who Grogu was, and why he was important. As though it was his mission to get him off world. However, I didn't get the feeling that he was his padawan. I don't remember him saying "we're getting out of here padawan" or something like that, I seem to recall it being more like "I'm getting you outta of here little one". Which seems different.

Who knows.