The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 3.07 - Chapter 23 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Like @The Chalk Jedi mentioned - the suit actually allows Grogu to be a character now instead of a prop. Him not being able to communicate or really do much of anything most of the time was getting pretty old. The IG-12 suit is silly, but in a good/fun way that finally might allow Grogu to progress as a character and interact with other characters in more interesting/meaningful ways.

Mobile Suit Grogu is now here.

 

Moff Gideon is putting so much work into cloned humans in dark trooper exosuits. And her comes Grogu in beat up IG droid to show them all up.

From appearances in animation - the IGs are confoundingly difficult foes to deal with. We saw some of that already when IG-11 rode into Navarro.

 

It’s a smart way to transition into Grogu being more of a character. That’s more for the audience than it is for the story. Grogu needs to evolve before he gets stale. Which he’s managed to stay a step ahead of this season for me.

But Baby Yoda is the popular cash cow. It’s what sells the toys and audiences like.

It’s going to be tricky having him become a more well rounded and capable character without losing his appeal. Grogu isn’t Groot. But at the same time Yoda is extremely popular so we know an older Grogu can work.

 

Yeah. In the OT when I first saw IG-88 I remember thinking that it didn’t seem in any way intimidating to me but once I realized how many parts spin and pivot and how many aiming sensors they have they became more terrifying as hugely efficient killing machines. I didn’t know at first that the Magna guard were related and I love the little lore backstory about how the first ones made, including IG-88 slaughtered their robotics designers and escaped. I also like the new lore about how rare their memory chips now are as a result of all that and just how rare they are in general.

One of my favorite aspects of Mando is how much it’s added to the IG series and the decision to make a mech version for Grogu to communicate was a fun creative choice that furthers it all even more. If I hadn’t been spoiled on this prior I think it would have delighted me even more.

 

I didn’t realize how flexible and versatile they were until Ahsoka and Anakin fought a few in a junk trawler on the Clone Wars.

It really was cool to see how being so flexible made them leathal. They were dangerous even to lightsaber wielding Jedi. Very tricky to kill.

Those ones didn’t have the personality of IG-11. They were more like mindless attack droids.

 

It would be very easy to mount some blasters and other offensive weapons to it.

 

I also really like it. That said, we just saw Grogu do…a lot, on his own, in the egg in The Mines of Mandalore. Including use the force to defeat enemies, fly very fast, and ask an astromech to give him a space ride. To me, the main benefit of the mech suit is Grogu communicating better, not doing things.

 

True, but it might stop him from hopping around in a fight like Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

This is the way.

 

I personally liked the moment where he stepped in to stop the Mando interfighting. Some people found it goofy, but even so, it's my kind of goofy.

It reveals his character and desire to keep his people united. That's a great use of the mech armor that his pod wouldn't have been able to achieve as well.

 

That was one of the best scenes of the episode. He is the only one who doesn't have the attitude that "that's the way it has always been." It is hope for the future of their people.

At least that is how I interpreted it, maybe it was just meant to be cute?

 

I was reading more into it as well.

 

I saw it the opposite. Axe had been framed as the bigger jerk lately who was quite lax on most rules so I thought we were meant to take most things he says with a grain of salt with regard to formalities and that it was much more likely that Vizla was simply aware of a rule for their game that Axe was not. That, or Vizla was playing by an older set of rules that had evolved and modernized and no longer allowed the maneuver he completed. Perhaps because later on it less determined to be too effective.

Now, if that was indeed what they were aiming for, and they had actually saw their game as similar to the history of chess, the smarter play would have been for Axe to be the one doing things that Vizla then calls him out for being illegal. Most of the biggest changes from chess in 1300s-1500s added new rules. They didn’t take them away. Adjustments like the pawns on the second and seventh ranks being able to move 2 squares at the start, concepts like en passant, promotion, and even bishop movement, all were added. So, if it had been me, as a chess fan, I would have reversed what they tried there and had Vizla say Axe’s line and then have Axe antagonize him over the rules he lives by and have it escalate from there.

However, Mandalorian has rarely shown commitment to that level of perfectionism within a scene. There have been moments from time to time but for the most part I don’t get the impression Favreau wishes for the pursuit of perfection within a scene to become the enemy of “good enough to work” and get moving onto the higher priorities ahead. I don’t know if he’s spread too thin or just lacks input from others around him who can push back with the kinds of scrutiny that exists within the Star Wars fandom but he’s shown repeatedly throughout all 3 seasons that 6.0-7.0 out of 10.0 execution of most ideas and details is perfectly fine for a show like Mandalorian so long as the truly big moments of intent and drama are 8.0-10.0 moments with a lot more thought put into them. The same goes for certain episodes and where the budgets seem to go to some extent also.

All this to say that I suspect you and I are looking into it all deeper than Favreau was here and that similarly we are likely going to end this season without anything big questioning the Creed or CotW’s way of life because this show and Favreau like them just fine as they are and where they are right now. Maybe that changes in S4 as Favreau does the press junket more and is asked more questions but I also wouldn’t hold my breath for a deep examination and rebuke of the CotW ahead.

My thinking is that if this was a higher priority for Favreau we’d have seen more of this earlier into this season than we did with Bo Katan being utilized as the “wake up call” character Din needed to escape this cult and her ultimately exposing the Armorer as a fraud and all these rules as modernized in a kind of Wizard of Oz type of moment. That concept felt possible perhaps in the season premier but no longer does to me.

They’re moving in a much simpler direction. Less twists. Less controversy. More one side is good and uniting its many tribes together and one side is evil and wishes to kill them all. Nothing more. Nothing less. Even the hopes for deeper ST ties I had to Snoke as a future big bad seem mostly dashed. We got some breadcrumbs and not a ton more. Gideon’s master plan and cloning efforts feels like something that will ultimately just fail and not matter much in the eventual ST timeline. It’s smaller scale than originally thought and more exclusive to him as a villain than something that he will contribute toward larger Star Wars history. We’re here for the serialized adventures and characters we like.

 

IG-Grogu! He’s lean, mean, green and machine!

 

Yeah, I also like it after initially thinking there wasn’t enough groundwork for it. He’s a sweet baby! You don’t want to upset him.

 

For a moment...just a moment...as the ground quaked & erupted and the Mando sailboat began to swerve, I thought the legendary Mythosaur was about to arise, heralding the dawn of A New Mando Age, Bo Katan becoming justified & reassured in her new role and faith upon witnessing this momentous occasion of renewed glory!!!!

But no, just another (apparent?) random monster creating destruction. Oh well.

How can you have such survivors on Mandolore? The cyborg creature that captured Din earlier seemed a far better example of any type of survivor given the prior descriptions of the ravaging of the planet rather than semi-hardy soldiers that cobbled together a sailboat to skim the wreckage of the surface.

And where do you hide such a craft? Moff Gideon, you build an entire base underground and you don't scour the surface for any possible remnants? I find your obsessive hatred of Mandos lacking if you didn't.

The cuteness of Grogu's new toy lasted all of five minutes. It seems lacking in a way and limiting in another way.

I also don't buy Bo & Din's zeal in capturing/killing their Imperial ambushers. You chase them through rocky caverns and wreckage and then suddenly end up in nice clean Imperial tunnels & corridors and you don't stop to consider why? That maybe something's up? But no, we need drama, tension, and a good place for Paz to die (worthy death though, really).

Mando Moff Gideon is a sweet design, can't wait for the Hasbro figure.

 

I finally got around to a second watch. The final battle at the blast doors makes a little more sense if you assume they're impenetrable to everything including the darksaber. In my headcanon, they're made out of the beskar alloy that Gideon was talking about. It's not a perfect explanation for what everyone does, but it works well enough for me.

 

I assumed that it would be a mistake to make a hole in the front door when the back door is still closed. You would be opening yourself up to fire without the ability to escape; they'd be pinned down.

If Bo makes a hole, the stormtroopers concentrate fire there and it's impossible for anyone to get through. So no, I've found these critiques of the action to not make much sense although I've heard them all over social media.

I also think the critiques of falling stormtroopers are off. Flying with a rocket on your back isn't like playing a video game. You have to be in control of your trajectory or your rockets will lead you into an object.

The stormtroopers that Paz rocks over the precipice are hit so hard that they are not able to stabilize themselves enough to fly in a safe trajectory. If they were to turn their rockets on, they could crash into the rocky cliffside they are falling by.

 

^ That's possibly true about controlling the jetpacks. But human nature being what it is, anybody falling off a cliff with a jetpack is far more likely to light it and try to recover, as opposed to falling to their deaths.

 

Yeah I don't see the issue with the dark sabre and not cutting a hole in the front door at all, it really is a non-issue. Firstly, in the franticness of it all, it isn't surprising she could forget she had it, secondly she may have worried cutting it leaves them exposed badly, which it does. Thirdly, she might have thought that going out there further endangers Din. Everything happened quite quickly, it is easy to not think or do everything possible in that situation.

 

I don't think a warrior as experienced as Bo would forget what weapons she has. But all of your other points I agree with 100%.

 

That’s what was intended for sure. It’s why they have Gideon say “open the blast door.” So we will infer that it’s impenetrable and the one behind them is not.