The Mandalorian Season 2 [SPOILERS]

[Dalisclock]

Turns out episode 4 was directed by Carl Weathers, which explains why it seemed a little off. But hey, it wasn't terrible, so good for him.

So rewatching that the first season, I have to ask, has Carl Weathers always had that particular speech pattern or it a recent thing? I swear I never noticed it before but in season one it felt like he put a number of breaks in his dialogue that stands out a bit.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

So rewatching that the first season, I have to ask, has Carl Weathers always had that particular speech pattern or it a recent thing? I swear I never noticed it before but in season one it felt like he put a number of breaks in his dialogue that stands out a bit.

Yeah, of all the characters, his seemed the most different this episode. The way he talked to the blue guy seemed off. Perhaps he got carried away in putting his own spin on things.

 

[Dalisclock]

On another note, does it seem to anyone else Moff Gideon and his imperial cohort seems a be a fair bit more competent then a lot of other imperial officers we've seen in the franchise? It might be anadoctoal but I swear it feels like these imperials are less prone to making rookie mistakes then we normally see, which implies not having Vader/Palpatine hanging over their heads might have been a boon for the Empire?

Though maybe that my bias talking but it seems Vader/Palpy never showed any signs of being good or effective leaders. They were really good at demanding shit happen and then murdering people who failed to come through, despite any disadvantages of this approach but it seems like they were never particularly good at actually running shit.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

On another note, does it seem to anyone else Moff Gideon and his imperial cohort seems a be a fair bit more competent then a lot of other imperial officers we've seen in the franchise? It might be anadoctoal but I swear it feels like these imperials are less prone to making rookie mistakes then we normally see, which implies not having Vader/Palpatine hanging over their heads might have been a boon for the Empire?

Though maybe that my bias talking but it seems Vader/Palpy never showed any signs of being good or effective leaders. They were really good at demanding shit happen and then murdering people who failed to come through, despite any disadvantages of this approach but it seems like they were never particularly good at actually running shit.

On the one hand, maybe, especially Gideon in particular. But in general? I mean, the past two episodes this season both featured them failing to scuttle their equipment (the comms terminal last week and the transport before that), those defenders locking themselves out of the cargo bay controls, the fact that all Imperial bases have easy to overload reactors, and the two speeder bike riders that crashed into each other, and then last season had that "two stormtroopers fail to hit a stationary rock" bit towards the end.

 

[Gordon_4]

On another note, does it seem to anyone else Moff Gideon and his imperial cohort seems a be a fair bit more competent then a lot of other imperial officers we've seen in the franchise? It might be anadoctoal but I swear it feels like these imperials are less prone to making rookie mistakes then we normally see, which implies not having Vader/Palpatine hanging over their heads might have been a boon for the Empire?

Though maybe that my bias talking but it seems Vader/Palpy never showed any signs of being good or effective leaders. They were really good at demanding shit happen and then murdering people who failed to come through, despite any disadvantages of this approach but it seems like they were never particularly good at actually running shit.

If the Empire was competent it would win. That’s why smart officers like Gideon, Thrawn and to a lesser extent Piett or Needa or Veers (he commanded the ground assault of Hoth) stick out and end up fan favourites.

 

[Dalisclock]

If the Empire was competent it would win. That’s why smart officers like Gideon, Thrawn and to a lesser extent Piett or Needa or Veers (he commanded the ground assault of Hoth) stick out and end up fan favourites.

I know it's been pointed out that good officers also tend to stand out and that gets them much more likely to get force choked when Vaders in a bad mood and they slip up.....so when they slip up because Vader is always in a bad mood.

Hell, look at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. The Officer in charge of the Death Star points out he's behind schedule due to resources and such and Vader just tells him he needs to work faster or face consequences. Not "What do you need to complete construction on time?" but "Work faster or I kill you(implied)".

You know, the last Death Star was taken out by a single torpedo shot to an easily overlooked design flaw. I don't see how rushing construction when they're already having trouble keeping up isn't just asking for more of the same problems. And considering Palpatine planned to trap the rebel fleet while the station was still under construction anyway, it all seems really stupid that he's so obsessed with "Completion on time" since there technically shouldn't be any rebels by the time it's done anyway.

Unless this was all Vader being a dick and bullying the Death Star Commander(Can't remember his name off the top of my head), which it well could be.

 

[Gordon_4]

I know it's been pointed out that good officers also tend to stand out and that gets them much more likely to get force choked when Vaders in a bad mood and they slip up.....so when they slip up because Vader is always in a bad mood.

Hell, look at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. The Officer in charge of the Death Star points out he's behind schedule due to resources and such and Vader just tells him he needs to work faster or face consequences. Not "What do you need to complete construction on time?" but "Work faster or I kill you(implied)".

You know, the last Death Star was taken out by a single torpedo shot to an easily overlooked design flaw. I don't see how rushing construction when they're already having trouble keeping up isn't just asking for more of the same problems. And considering Palpatine planned to trap the rebel fleet while the station was still under construction anyway, it all seems really stupid that he's so obsessed with "Completion on time" since there technically shouldn't be any rebels by the time it's done anyway.

Unless this was all Vader being a dick and bullying the Death Star Commander(Can't remember his name off the top of my head), which it well could be.

I occasionally get the impression that officers like him are actually skimming off the top to line their own pockets and Vader saying what he said is his way of telling said officer he knows that and to pack it in.

I mean I’m wrong and yes, Vader is a terrible administrator. What he is good at; combat flying and leading ground assaults are what he should be doing more of when he’s not the Emperor’s Doberman. Like allegedly in the old EU the officers feared Vader but rank and file stormtroopers and pilots didn’t because he threw in with the in the mud or riding fire against the Rebellion. Plus both groups are self aware enough to know if they make a mistake in their line of work they’ll die anyway.

 

[SupahEwok]

Okay...probably wrong, but:

Spoiler

I think Favreau might put in Rouge Squadron. Hear me out: it seems like the two X-Wing pilots might be recurring characters (original trilogy veterans at that), and while the fact that they fly X-Wings with red stripes maybe a coincidence, but nu-EU has established that different X-Wing squadrons fly different markings (see Blue squadron from Rouge One). Plus, Disney has been pretty liberal with allowing their Star Wars creators to plunder the old, jettisoned EU, but who knows.

There is no Rogue Squadron in the nu-EU. The official line is they went back to being called Red Squadron after Hoth, and Wedge Antilles formed Phantom Squadron after Endor, and the rest of his life is pretty much time-lined in a couple of novels. There's no room for Rogue Squadron.

You might have a store-brand-name Rebel Squadron or Rascal Squadron that riffs off of some story-lines and characters (from the Wookiepedia article, I think Phantom Squadron did this a bit from Wraith Squadron, if you squint a bit).

 

[Trunkage]

On another note, does it seem to anyone else Moff Gideon and his imperial cohort seems a be a fair bit more competent then a lot of other imperial officers we've seen in the franchise? It might be anadoctoal but I swear it feels like these imperials are less prone to making rookie mistakes then we normally see, which implies not having Vader/Palpatine hanging over their heads might have been a boon for the Empire?

Yeah called plot. Don’t worry, once they need to lose to Mando, they’ll be stupid and can’t shoot again

 

[Mister Mumbler]

There is no Rogue Squadron in the nu-EU. The official line is they went back to being called Red Squadron after Hoth, and Wedge Antilles formed Phantom Squadron after Endor, and the rest of his life is pretty much time-lined in a couple of novels. There's no room for Rogue Squadron.

You might have a store-brand-name Rebel Squadron or Rascal Squadron that riffs off of some story-lines and characters (from the Wookiepedia article, I think Phantom Squadron did this a bit from Wraith Squadron, if you squint a bit).

...? Wow, that is dumb.

 

[Dalisclock]

So the new episode is pretty good. Ashoka Tano does indeed make her first on-screen appearance since the end of Rebels and it felt like it was worth it. Kinda surprised she didn't use her "Not a Jedi" response at any point, but since Mando doesn't know squat about the Jedi I can see why. I half expected her to make a snarky comment when Mando called the lightsabers "Laser Swords", but then again, she's no longer a teenager and, well, the last 25ish years haven't been fun for her.

Interestingly she's apparently no longer "Ashoka the White" as she was in Rebels and I'm curious what the story behind that is.

Also, Baby Yoda now has a name, Grogu(no word if Grogu does that wierdass speech pattern too or if that was a Yoda only thing). Also, a little bit of retconning(though none that really matters). Grogu apparently was being trained at the Jedi Temple during the Clone wars by the various Jedi Masters and then someone got him out when the Purge went down. Who this mysterious Jedi is/was is unknown but at least we can narrow down who it wasn't

Also, sounds like Thrawn is gonna make a reappearance eventually. Man, the FanService is strong with these recent episodes. Also, kinda nice to see Micheal Biehn again. It took me a second to recognize him, doing that "Why does that voice sound so familiar?" before looking at his face up close and making the connection.

 

[Hawki]

Interestingly she's apparently no longer "Ashoka the White" as she was in Rebels and I'm curious what the story behind that is.

She met Gandalf and turned grey. That made her feel blue. Because of that, she turned brown.

 

[Dalisclock]

She met Gandalf and turned grey. That made her feel blue. Because of that, she turned brown.

I see what you did there.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

So, I liked the new episode, however;

I'm quite a bit bummed that Ashoka didn't join Mando. Like I said last time, I have no real love for the Clone Wars series, but what better traveling companion to an extremely competent and deadly space gunslinger than an extremely competent and deadly swords(wo?)man with magic powers? Though they still leave this option open I guess for whomever answers the call for Grogu (...it's gonna take me a bit to get used to that name, not gonna lie). Speaking of, Mando keeps getting done dirty like Mario at this point with all of the "your quest is on another planet" stuff.

 

[Gordon_4]

So the new episode is pretty good. Ashoka Tano does indeed make her first on-screen appearance since the end of Rebels and it felt like it was worth it. Kinda surprised she didn't use her "Not a Jedi" response at any point, but since Mando doesn't know squat about the Jedi I can see why. I half expected her to make a snarky comment when Mando called the lightsabers "Laser Swords", but then again, she's no longer a teenager and, well, the last 25ish years haven't been fun for her.

Interestingly she's apparently no longer "Ashoka the White" as she was in Rebels and I'm curious what the story behind that is.

Also, Baby Yoda now has a name, Grogu(no word if Grogu does that wierdass speech pattern too or if that was a Yoda only thing). Also, a little bit of retconning(though none that really matters). Grogu apparently was being trained at the Jedi Temple during the Clone wars by the various Jedi Masters and then someone got him out when the Purge went down. Who this mysterious Jedi is/was is unknown but at least we can narrow down who it wasn't

Also, sounds like Thrawn is gonna make a reappearance eventually. Man, the FanService is strong with these recent episodes. Also, kinda nice to see Micheal Biehn again. It took me a second to recognize him, doing that "Why does that voice sound so familiar?" before looking at his face up close and making the connection.

And also

Spoiler: next destination

Ahsoka sent Mando to Tython, which is an ancient Jedi Homeworld that players of The Old Republic will find very familiar since its where all Jedi classes start the game. My recollection was there was at least the Flesh Raiders (Think Krogan but shark) and a colony of Twi'leks there but of course this is all thousands of years ago so who knows what the fuck is there. It may mean some serious name drops like Satele Shan though

 

[deleted20220709]

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[Bob_McMillan]

Man fuck YouTube. I only waited a day before watching the episode and yet so many things were spoiled for me by twats and their shitty thumbnails and titles. Sigh.

Anyway, really liked the episode. Well directed, good music is back, and Ahsoka is pretty much everything I wanted her to be. The lightsaber action is naturally still nowhere near Ahsoka vs Maul, but it was leagues better than anything in the sequel trilogy. Which is a little sad when you think about it. I am still kinda in shock that Baby Yoda's name is Grogu. It's not terrible, but I much prefer to call him Baby Yoda. The revelations about his past were pretty interesting though. I wonder if we'll ever get flashbacks.

The ending has me thinking if they'll just absolutely fuck with all of us and somehow bring in Luke... But I doubt it, even with special effects they'll never make Mark Hamill look young enough. Speaking of Luke, with Ahsoka being active and seemingly aware there are other Jedi out there, one has to wonder why she isn't hanging around Luke.

Interestingly she's apparently no longer "Ashoka the White" as she was in Rebels and I'm curious what the story behind that is.

We don't actually know when the ending scene of Rebels was set. For all we know, Ahsoka is hunting down Thrawn to find Ezra, and will eventually become Ahsoka the White and go looking for Ezra with Sabine.

I mean, I love watching the show but I am getting increasingly dissatisfied with how it is terrible at actually committing to the drama it sets up in favor of doing a long parade of fanservice guest stars and teasing their stories instead of going somewhere with Mando's and Grogu's.

As much as I have enjoyed this season and will willingly admit I am a blind Star Wars fanboy, I have to agree. This season was enjoyable but also feels like its supposed to be four times longer. Mando is feeling like less and less of a character. Hopefully they wrap it up somehow towards the end.

 

[Dalisclock]

So, I liked the new episode, however;

Speaking of, Mando keeps getting done dirty like Mario at this point with all of the "your quest is on another planet" stuff.

Oh, that was exactly what I was thinking.

Someone pointed out that the Mandalorian is basically a video game on screen. Sure, the main quest always has another twist and turn, but right now we're doing side missions. In fact, one could compare this to the Witcher 3 considering both Mando and Geralt are bounty hunters.

 

[Trunkage]

The Mandalorian is beginning to occupy this weird space for me where I enjoy the individual episodes and what they do but I keep worrying that they have absolutely no idea where they are going with it. Season 2 feels like it has been very little but fanservice winks to Clone Wars fans before punting the narrative ball further down the street for the show to chase. I don't really enjoy nested fetch quests in games and the Mandalorian is really starting to feel like the mother of all nested fetch quests. Mando does something to help Grogu, but the person he helped only gives him another place to go, he goes there, helps someone and gets told where to go next. The show then drops a few crumbs of lore to keep us happy, but essentially just keeps putting off the real story meat. The fact that we are in the middle of season 2 before we find out anything substantial about Grogu (like his damn name!) is probably the best example of this, and even then we find all this out only for the duo to have to continue travelling.

And as Film Crit Hulk said, the show keeps playing at forcing the conflict at the root of Season 2 (Mando's duality between wanting to care for Grogu and wanting to hand him off to a Jedi) but so far it has never really come up. Every time Mando's hand is forced and he has to keep searching so we never get that big dramatical payoff of Mando having to confront his feelings.

I mean, I love watching the show but I am getting increasingly dissatisfied with how it is terrible at actually committing to the drama it sets up in favor of doing a long parade of fanservice guest stars and teasing their stories instead of going somewhere with Mando's and Grogu's.

Agree with a lot of this.

I happened to show the very first ep to my mother tonight. She said the exact same thing I've been having a problem with this whole entire show. She called Mando Superman. Because legit, there is no sense of danger in this show. Especially full armoured. He gets shot four times in a row a couple of episodes ago and emerged unsathed. Then he pretends this episode's town defense would have hurt him. Have you seen the show, show? Nothing hurts him. The stand off with number 1. Why would you even bother? He could have shot Mando a hundred times and it wouldn't have mattered. Remember when the woolly rhino hit Mando? He sit around doing a whole heap of nothing because he's not meant to fight it, Baby Yoda is.

This show has relied too much on callbacks and Baby Yoda. It's writing isn't good enough to carry it if that's all it's going to rely on... actually maybe it will because people think Force Awakens is a good movie and it has the same problems

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Have you seen the show, show? Nothing hurts him.

I would argue that's only really the case for this season so far. Mando gets his ass kicked quite a lot in Season 1.