Mando season 3

[Clint_L]

I'm a few episodes behind but man, the one with Jack Black is something else. The whole domed city plot seems to be there just because the story they needed to tell - Bo Kataan takes back her fleet and gets the dark sabre - was 10 minutes long, so they needed something to fill out an episode. It is goofy as hell - the whole side quest vs. the battle droids actually plays like a parody of Star Wars, especially with the stunt casting. It's honestly the dumbest thing but also pretty fun. Christopher Lloyd's big red doomsday button cracked me up. Not to mention the whole "droids are programmed automatons" discussion, followed by instantly cutting to a bar where all the droids hang out. You know, like all automatons like to do.

Also...why do those guys live in a domed city when their planet is completely habitable and gorgeous? Is that explained?

Also, also, I loved in the previous episode when they evacuate the city and it's like 40 people.

 

[MarkB]

Also...why do those guys live in a domed city when their planet is completely habitable and gorgeous? Is that explained?

They're in a super-pampered utopian society. If they went outside they might get rained on.

To be fair though, we only see the planet on one nice day. For all we know, it might have monsoons, or seriously frigid winters, or solar flares.

Plus, it's still an Outer Rim territory, and we know they had to hire a mercenary force as a standing army. The domes may be purely defensive in nature.

 

[Synthil]

We have a lot of examples in the real world of people adopting refugee children without knowing if their parents are alive. It's a mess, even if most of the people are doing it for pure reasons.

Grogu was a Jedi youngling however. His parents had already given away custody of him to the Jedi. Luke would be their successor and he did give Grogu the choice.

 

[Clint_L]

Okay, I've finished it. Those last three episodes felt like they decided to fully embrace the camp, and I was there for it. Not quite Boba Felt levels of randomness, but by episode 5 it was getting close. This was much better executed though, and Pedro Pascal can make anything watchable, so I enjoyed it. Impossible show to take seriously, but it did what it needed to do as far as entertainment value. The effects are fantastic.

[spoilers]

The random kaiju attack raised so many questions, but I don't think we'll be getting answers. Good thing it took out their bespoke landship just as they reached their destination and then caused no further problems. How did the Imperials deal with it while building their base? Lotta callbacks to the original Star Wars in the final sequences, especially with the R2D2 stand-in droid. The multi-shield corridor with the random bottomless pits had to be the silliest security plan since that Amazonian vault thing in the Snydercut. Honestly, it would have been at home in the Galaxy Quest ship.

Mandalorian armour seems very good considering how the metallic parts seem to only cover around half the body. Apparently the helmets make an instant airtight seal? And now the jet packs can get you into orbit? Usually they just use them for little bursts, but okay.

Grogu's power levels really go up and down as the plot requires, huh? No helmet for Grogu? I guess marketing wouldn't allow it. He can't really talk yet but now he's an apprentice bounty hunter. This is the Way. Mandalorian culture makes no sense, and in any other context would be horrifying, but in the Star Wars universe you just have to roll with it.

As far as villains go, communication by holograph seems like a terrible idea for a covert operative, doesn't it? I liked that character, though - I would watch more of her. She seems like she wandered in off Andor. She was a way more interesting villain than Moff Gideon as C-list Vader.

This season was the definition of dumb fun. I enjoyed it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Grogu was a Jedi youngling however. His parents had already given away custody of him to the Jedi. Luke would be their successor and he did give Grogu the choice.

I think some pretty serious questions could be raised over how many "Jedi younglings" in that era were genuinely voluntarily given into the care of the Jedi, i.e. with full parental consent. It's an issue Star Wars has very carefully shied away from exploring in the new canon.

 

[Synthil]

I think some pretty serious questions could be raised over how many "Jedi younglings" in that era were genuinely voluntarily given into the care of the Jedi, i.e. with full parental consent. It's an issue Star Wars has very carefully shied away from exploring in the new canon.

Oh totally. If you had the force in the republic, there's only one cult that's allowed to raise you and instill its dogmatic values in you. All your previous family ties are severed too. It's horrifying. And one of the things Legends just did better in my opinion, by having Luke's Order not follow this pattern anymore.

But in the context of the show, the Jedi are Grogu's people and are referred to as such. It's kinda weird they even brought up his biological parents all of a sudden in the epilogue of the very last episode.

 

[pukunui]

I think some pretty serious questions could be raised over how many "Jedi younglings" in that era were genuinely voluntarily given into the care of the Jedi, i.e. with full parental consent. It's an issue Star Wars has very carefully shied away from exploring in the new canon.

The Jedi were meant to be the good guys. One of the many things the prequels have to answer for IMO is muddying the waters and making them out to be deserving of their fall. (And then the sequels doubled down on it by declaring that it was “time for the Jedi to end”.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Jedi were meant to be the good guys. One of the many things the prequels have to answer for IMO is muddying the waters and making them out to be deserving of their fall. (And then the sequels doubled down on it by declaring that it was “time for the Jedi to end”.)

It would make everyone freak out, and not in a good way, but I honestly think a full reboot of the franchise is probably required to fully address Star Wars' accumulated problems at this point.

In a weird way, I admire Filoni spending all of his creative energy on trying to make the missteps of the past seem like a good idea in retrospect, but seeing him trying to polish the turd of "somehow, the Emperor survived!" makes me feel a little sad for him. Imagine what all of his passion and energy could create if there weren't so many problems in the franchise as this point.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

The Jedi were meant to be the good guys. One of the many things the prequels have to answer for IMO is muddying the waters and making them out to be deserving of their fall. (And then the sequels doubled down on it by declaring that it was “time for the Jedi to end”.)

The Jedi are an organization and not all Light Force users are Jedi, or should be forced to be Jedi in order to be trained. That is the flaw of the system and a good enough reason for the Jedi to "end".

 

[pukunui]

The Jedi are an organization and not all Light Force users are Jedi, or should be forced to be Jedi in order to be trained. That is the flaw of the system and a good enough reason for the Jedi to "end".

Before the prequels came along, that wasn’t necessarily the case. All we knew was that the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice for a thousand generations. They were the noble, heroic knights defending the innocent.

I lay the tarnishing of the Jedi Order’s reputation squarely at George Lucas’ feet. He's the one who decided they needed to be a monolithic organization that was mired in politics and blinded by bad ideas and traditions like forcing people to give up their Force sensitive babies. None of that was even hinted at in the OT.

I know people love nuance and shades of grey these days, but Star Wars is operatic space fantasy. I'm happy for it to be a bit more black and white. The Jedi and the Rebels are the good guys. The Sith and the Imperials are the bad guys.