The Mandalorian - a general discussion thread - * SPOILERS * — Page 39

Grogu’s whole backstory will be interesting, though (probably) not entirely on the show. How long was he in Imperial hands? How did he get there? How did he end up in that house being guarded by thugs? So many questions.

Rodney-2187 said:

I don’t think it will be answered anytime soon, but my main question at this point is who got Grogu out of the Jedi temple before order 66? I wonder if it’s someone we know, or someone new?

I only have two other questions I’d really like answered in a of Star Wars. What became of Barriss Offee and how did Maz get the saber Luke lost over Bespin?

I actually have a theory that Kuiil found the lightsaber and sold it to Maz, and that’s how he bought his freedom. According to Wookieepedia, Cloud City was the settlement with the largest population of Ugnaughts, and if he were working for the city as an indentured servant then technically he would have been “sold to the Empire” when the city was. It would also make sense for a “gas miner” to be the one to initially find the lightsaber.

SandMTV said:

Bariss dies on Felucia in Order 66.

Wouldn’t she have been in prison at that time, though?

SandMTV said:

Bariss dies on Felucia in Order 66.

In Legends continuity, yes. However in the current canon there’s no story explaining how she died. Her last chronological appearance had her imprisoned on Coruscant after she was involved with a bombing at the Jedi Temple.

There’s a lot of fan theories that she became an Inquisitor after order 66, so it’s possible that she’s alive during the OT or the events of The Mandalorian. Since she and Ahsoka were close friends before her betrayal there’s a lot of potential stories to be told in future series (or at least in some novel or comic).

SandMTV said:

If George Lucas confirms her death on Felucia in the canon continuity just like her legends counterpart.

Well, TCW was Lucas canon, and its one of the cornerstones of the new continuity. Plus Lucas doesn’t really have much of a say in the new canon, so it really depends on the new writers/producers. And having Barriss suddenly sent on a mission to Felucia after betraying the Jedi Order would be pretty far fetched. Her dying on Felucia in Legends was a hold-over from the ROTS comic adaptation, which also contained the deleted Quinlan Vos death scene, etc.

Rodney-2187 said:

I don’t think it will be answered anytime soon, but my main question at this point is who got Grogu out of the Jedi temple before order 66? I wonder if it’s someone we know, or someone new?

Out of pure speculation, how about a collective effort of the youngling friends from The Clone Wars season 5? I pick them mainly because what ruins those episodes a bit, is watching them with the assumption that these kids are going to be murdered by Anakin Skywalker in about a year. Although it would be more compelling if the person who hid Grogu was then themselves killed, so actually maybe an individual adult would be best.

Without going into spoilers I will at least say that a lot of unexpected things happened in this episode (plus a few expected things). I was actually surprised at just how much did happen. There was a lot of payoffs and new set-ups here.

I personally thought the episode was a little oddly directed, though. It’s mostly nitpicking, but it felt much more like a Marvel film, and less like the previous episodes, but this might just have to do with Rodriguez relying much more on CG (which was very obvious in this episode IMO). Some really solid action choreography though, which is exactly what I’d expect from Rodriguez. But it did overall just feel a little off.

Overall though, I’d say it was a solid enough episode, but it felt a little busy and more like a turning-point in the plot rather than a self-contained story like most episodes has been so far. That’s obviously a necessity for series like this, but it was a bit rushed.

SPOILERS

I honestly did not expect Din to reach Tython this early, and bringing back both Fett and Fennec for this episode seemed really odd at first, but it worked quite well I think. Having Din now travel with Fett is, I suppose, something that will thrill some fans and probably annoy others. Either way though it was fun seeing Fett get to properly show off his fighting for a chance. I mean, let’s be honest, OT Fett didn’t really do much more than stand around looking cool (and fall into the Sarlacc). I was a bit surprised so see that he still had possession of Slave I, which makes me wonder why he stayed on Tatooine for 5 years and never wet after Cobb Vanth. It wouldn’t surprise me of Vanth returns as well, so we’ll probably get some kind of explanation down the line.

Also, my suggestion that the Famuyiwa episode might bring back Mayfeld turned out to be true. I really liked Chapter 6, and Famuyiwa’s episodes in general, so I’m looking forward to next weeks episode.

Minor spoiler, but the scene in question is in the thumbnail so…
We get confirmation that the medallion Cara Dune got two episodes was basically a badge that made her an official New Republic Marshal. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays into things in future episodes.

Episode 6 is probably my least favourite out of the entire series. I’m surprised and disappointed at the poor pacing, writing, set production, and over all visual quality of this chapter. I was even more shocked when I saw Robert Rodriguez’s name at the end credits.
I honestly Felt like I was watching a Star Wars Theory fan-film, not good.

I haven’t seen too many Rodriguez films, but I kind a got a Spy Kids vibe from it. Is that a weird comparison? It had that sunny and “campy” feel to it. I’ve only seen a few other of his films, and I can’t say I’m much of a fan of either, so maybe this is just what his style is like? All I know about his career in general is that he fluctuates between campy kids films and really hard R retro exploitation, so maybe his interpretation of SW simply falls in the former category?

I personally wouldn’t call it a bad episode, but its not one I’m likely to return to very often.

It looked like an ambitious student film shot on a hill somewhere in California. Sorry for the harshness but this was nowhere near what we’ve come to expect from this series.

The story was extremely rushed. One second you’re with Ashoka, the next you’ve already reached the top of the temple and you’re negotiating with Boba Fett, who then suddenly cares about the child? It felt like 3 episodes squeezed into half an episode. Don’t even get me started on the dialogue.

idir_hh said:

It looked like an ambitious student film shot on a hill somewhere in California. Sorry for the harshness but this was nowhere near what we’ve come to expect from this series.

The story was extremely rushed. One second you’re with Ashoka, the next you’ve already reached the temple and you’re negotiating with Boba Fett, who then suddenly cares about the child? It felt like 3 episodes squeezed into half an episode. Don’t even get me started on the dialogue.

I think this episode makes a good case for Favreau needing to allow other writers to take the load off of him.

idir_hh said:
I was even more shocked when I saw Robert Rodriguez’ name at the end credits.
…
It looked like an ambitious student film shot on a hill somewhere in California.

That’s, like, Robert Rodriguez’s thing.

But yeah.

You know what, After a few re-watches I think I’ve been a bit too harsh. I see what they were going for, a fast-paced Saturday morning serial feel, and for that I think it worked ok. I had my expectations up for something more grand, dramatic and mythical on Tython especially after how it was set up in the Ashoka episode.

About Tython, was it not an ice planet in the deep core in the Dr Aphra comics? Here it’s in the Outer-Rim. Seems to be a contradiction there.

Having seen it a second time now, it’s fine. The beginning and end of the episode work really well, but it’s the middle part that feels rushed and too crammed with ideas. Now I don’t really mind any of those ideas (though Fennec’s machine mid-riff is a bit silly, though hardly the weirdest we’ve seen in SW), but a few more minutes or a bit of tweaking to the script would have helped.

It’s the action scene that feels off to me. Fett’s fighting choreography is quite good, but everything else just feels so much more fake than what we’ve seen before. CG looks like it belongs in a series with less of a budget to me, and it’s really weirding me out. Perhaps Rodriguez is more of a “we’ll fix it in post” type of director and therefore some of the effects feel more rushed? Or maybe it’s simply harder to “hide” CG in such a bright setting? Previous episodes have been fairly dark and moody after all. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Either way though, it has me excited for the next two episodes, so it clearly did its job well enough.

idir_hh said:

About Tython, was it not an ice planet in the deep core in the Dr Aphra comics? Here it’s in the Outer-Rim. Seems to be a contradiction there.

This episode seems to align much more with how it was in Legends, though I suppose the Aphra appearance could always be retconned as being set during he winter or something like that, or maybe Tython is one of the few SW planets with more than one biome. Then again, Cobb Vanth’s backstory in chapter 9 doesn’t match perfectly with his novel debut, so the live-action stories seem to take certain liberties with canon.

The Outer-Rim comment I don’t know what to make of though. I always got the impression that it was really important that Tython was in the deep core?