Ruin Explorer
Legend
That was certainly a huge improvement, particularly in that the episode actually had a subject, a focus, themes, a story, and so on.
Some spoiler-filled observations:
1) What is Mando's "major malfunction" re: the Darksaber? Like, before it was clear he was unpracticed with it, but it's been, according to Favreau, like two years, and the dude is still inept with it. I don't know if I'd even be strong enough to lift it, but assuming I could, I stone-cold guarantee, I, Ruin Explorer, would be a better Darksaber fighter than bloody Mando relatively quickly, simply because I'd spend a few days or a week practicing with the damn thing! (Assuming I didn't lose a limb in the process) Even if you didn't know how it worked inertia/weight-wise at the start, you would after ten hours or whatever, and then it'd be a matter of training yourself.
I do feel like at least it's consistent enough that this is some kind of characterization - either that Din isn't very sensible as a warrior, and doesn't practice or try to learn new things, or that he's just innately bad with the Darksaber, and will never be good with it, because he's not meant to wield it.
2) If the latter, what we saw was very interesting, because Bo Katan was an absolute effortless total badass with it, kicking the ass of the power armour/cyborg which attacked them like she was a Jedi Master with a lightsaber. She was clearly is trained with it (which I believe we know from Clone Wars/Rebels) and possibly also born to it.
3) Bo Katan generally made a pretty good case for being "the real Mandalorian" here, hope Din was paying some damn attention. I'm actually feeling kind of sorry for Din at this point, because his naivete is really causing him issues.
4) Bo Katan also was the only one to actually see the Mythosaur (one presumes, given Din appeared to be unconscious), which seems pretty omen-y.
5) Grogu is absolutely clearly now fully sentient and just non-verbal. He's at least as smart as a 6/7-year-old or so, and with a lot more emotional maturity than most. I mean, we already kind of new that, but it's now unarguable.
6) The power armour driven by the cyborg was fascinating. Primarily it seemed extremely Rifts-esque, which is interesting because Rifts was always heavily Star Wars influenced (among many others), though it most resembled a Tachikoma from Ghost In The Shell. The cyborg driving it had massive Doctor Who vibes too, and just really seemed perfectly that sort of '80s "grotesque cyborg" deal we used to see a lot. The head detaching and skittering away is something I've seen before but am having difficulty placing. Probably in a '80s movie or cartoon? Or 2000 AD. Or Rifts, actually.
I do feel like at least it's consistent enough that this is some kind of characterization - either that Din isn't very sensible as a warrior, and doesn't practice or try to learn new things, or that he's just innately bad with the Darksaber, and will never be good with it, because he's not meant to wield it.
2) If the latter, what we saw was very interesting, because Bo Katan was an absolute effortless total badass with it, kicking the ass of the power armour/cyborg which attacked them like she was a Jedi Master with a lightsaber. She was clearly is trained with it (which I believe we know from Clone Wars/Rebels) and possibly also born to it.
3) Bo Katan generally made a pretty good case for being "the real Mandalorian" here, hope Din was paying some damn attention. I'm actually feeling kind of sorry for Din at this point, because his naivete is really causing him issues.
4) Bo Katan also was the only one to actually see the Mythosaur (one presumes, given Din appeared to be unconscious), which seems pretty omen-y.
5) Grogu is absolutely clearly now fully sentient and just non-verbal. He's at least as smart as a 6/7-year-old or so, and with a lot more emotional maturity than most. I mean, we already kind of new that, but it's now unarguable.
6) The power armour driven by the cyborg was fascinating. Primarily it seemed extremely Rifts-esque, which is interesting because Rifts was always heavily Star Wars influenced (among many others), though it most resembled a Tachikoma from Ghost In The Shell. The cyborg driving it had massive Doctor Who vibes too, and just really seemed perfectly that sort of '80s "grotesque cyborg" deal we used to see a lot. The head detaching and skittering away is something I've seen before but am having difficulty placing. Probably in a '80s movie or cartoon? Or 2000 AD. Or Rifts, actually.
Anyway, yes, much better episode. More like this.
