Phew. Still sadly puzzled but not really by the extreme hate for tLJ from some. Hope Rian Johnson lands on his feet.
What the hell are you talking about.
3 year anniversary of the release of The Last Jedi and I couldn't remember what my first impression was. Some people absolutely hated that movie and it's partially their fault that the Rise of Skywalker sucked.
Phew. Still sadly puzzled but not really by the extreme hate for tLJ from some. Hope Rian Johnson lands on his feet.
What the hell are you talking about.
3 year anniversary of the release of The Last Jedi and I couldn't remember what my first impression was. Some people absolutely hated that movie and it's partially their fault that the Rise of Skywalker sucked.
It's almost wholly their fault.
You know what you need? A lyrical sucker punch to the face.
I wish they had let on who that was earlier and just let the SW theme blast through the whole scene where the dark troopers got taken out. Actual music was weirdly lame on a show where it’s usually pretty good.
I wish they had let on who that was earlier and just let the SW theme blast through the whole scene where the dark troopers got taken out. Actual music was weirdly lame on a show where it’s usually pretty good.
I thought it was a let down, to be honest. Everything about this show was done so well up until that point. It just seemed like they could’ve opened up the universe a bit and introduced a different sect of Jedi who only Yoda knew about because his species needs to be under their care.
I dunno - Luke just made it unnecessarily wrapped up too nicely.
I wish they had let on who that was earlier and just let the SW theme blast through the whole scene where the dark troopers got taken out. Actual music was weirdly lame on a show where it’s usually pretty good.
I thought it was a let down, to be honest. Everything about this show was done so well up until that point. It just seemed like they could’ve opened up the universe a bit and introduced a different sect of Jedi who only Yoda knew about because his species needs to be under their care.
I dunno - Luke just made it unnecessarily wrapped up too nicely.
The more I think on it the more I think it worked. I hate when they make the story too small and contained, but this isn’t the same thing as making Rey to be from known Force royalty. There was almost no other Jedi available other than Luke. If some unknown group shows up then we have to figure out where they were during the rebellion (or before that) and where they were in the sequels. Luke taking the kid creates no new questions, and I think that’s ok. And leaves Mando’s story wide open going forward. And it was cool as shit.
I wish they had let on who that was earlier and just let the SW theme blast through the whole scene where the dark troopers got taken out. Actual music was weirdly lame on a show where it’s usually pretty good.
I thought it was a let down, to be honest. Everything about this show was done so well up until that point. It just seemed like they could’ve opened up the universe a bit and introduced a different sect of Jedi who only Yoda knew about because his species needs to be under their care.
I dunno - Luke just made it unnecessarily wrapped up too nicely.
The more I think on it the more I think it worked. I hate when they make the story too small and contained, but this isn’t the same thing as making Rey to be from known Force royalty. There was almost no other Jedi available other than Luke. If some unknown group shows up then we have to figure out where they were during the rebellion (or before that) and where they were in the sequels. Luke taking the kid creates no new questions, and I think that’s ok. And leaves Mando’s story wide open going forward. And it was cool as shit.
Disagree. If they're intent on expanding the universe, the way to do it would've been to clue us into that new sect back in S1 when Mando meets up with his fellow Mandalorians. Maybe initially with the blacksmith. Something about how the feud with the Jedi was made worse once they freed itself from that one sect that never saw eye to eye with them. They could've alluded to the fact that sect was chaotic-neutral. Not evil, but surely not benevolent, either.
I’ve read a couple of reviewers I like who agree with ER that this was too small and/or not earned so I’m not gonna argue it anymore. I thought this season was a lot of fun, even if I thought there were more egregious coincidences or logistically unexplained appearances of OG characters than what we saw in the season finale.
Even if The Mandalorian ultimately makes it work, prioritizing moments over the big picture also diminishes some of what made the show so arresting in the first place. Where once it seemed to take place in a backwater, under-explored corner of the Star Wars universe, by the end of season two, the show has featured some of the franchise’s most familiar characters, right up to Luke Skywalker himself. It only enhances the sense that the entire Star Wars franchise has become a closed ecosystem, with little room for new growth.
It’s becoming a lot harder to watch The Mandalorian as its own thing instead of a central hub for much of the Star Wars television universe, especially since Disney has already revealed plans for spinoff series for several fan-favorite heroes, like Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano. If the second half of season two felt like a collection of backdoor pilots — an episode of a show that introduces new characters in the hope of spinning them off into their own show — that’s because it basically was. Indeed, upcoming spinoff The Book of Boba Fett will take The Mandalorian’s place in the Disney+ schedule in December 2021, though Mandalorian season three will likely follow sometime in 2022; the season two finale even ended up with a teaser for the Boba Fett show likely designed to get fans chattering.
There are plenty of good reasons to keep watching this show. Pedro Pascal has managed to use only his voice to make the Mandalorian a compelling protagonist, Baby Yoda is still the cutest, Ludwig Göransson’s score is among TV’s best, and the atmosphere remains impeccable. If you just want to hang out in Star Wars land for a few weeks every year, this show is really, really good at giving you that experience.
But its increasing reliance on cameos from all your favs is a reminder that the gigantic, franchise-based cinematic universes that have come to define too much of big-budget filmmaking are increasingly taking over TV as well. We haven’t even gotten to Disney+’s Marvel TV series yet, which will begin debuting in 2021 and will surely feature many, many cameos of their own. The Mandalorian — like most shows — is at its best when it charts its own course. Unfortunately, it’s so much harder to take the backroads when you could just get on familiar highways and go all of the places you’ve already been.
Watched Haywire a couple of weeks ago, and it used her well and was fine. But Soderbergh, so...
I don't think she was all that great on The Mandolorian, which was also fine because she wasn't around for every episode. There had been rumors of building out a spinoff with her character, and I don't know if that would have worked.
brian wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 1:38 pm
Ben Shapiro was a failed screenwriter before he got into the right-wing anger grift, so this promises to be a real treat.
Wow...I somehow missed the part of being a failed screenwriter...
- they use the same old method to get onto the imperial ship that's been used several(?) times up to this point (pretending to be imperial themselves. the empire only lost an entire death star to this ruse, surely they'll never see this coming!)
- pointless waves of stormtroopers in corridors, who fall to their deaths after being shot in the shoulder, usually (really, what does that armor do? they go down if they get punched).
- painfully shoehorned-in exposition by Moff Gideon to reveal the legacy of the dark saber. at gunpoint no less! brilliant way to introduce a complete new storyline
- yes the star wars franchise is the king of deus ex machina, so Luke showing up suddenly isn't really a surprise. But really?
