Ah, good! I had a feelin’
-
Welcome to Talking Time's third iteration! If you would like to register for an account, or have already registered but have not yet been confirmed, please read the following:
- The CAPTCHA key's answer is "Percy"
- Once you've completed the registration process please email us from the email you used for registration at percyreghelper@gmail.com and include the username you used for registration
Once you have completed these steps, Moderation Staff will be able to get your account approved.
MANDO
- Thread starter Adrenaline
- Start date
I personally was looking forward to the possibility of "Book of Grogu" and "Book of Boba Fett" being things you could line up on your shelf, but that always seemed like a longshot. Especially when there are just so many active storylines of Mando's left hanging for an obvious Season 3.
I... would watch that
Anybody here remember the Japanese youtube cooking show Cooking With Dog? Book of Grogu would be like that, but instead of Francis the Dog being the mascot, it's Baby Yoda. And instead of a cute little Japanese woman, it's just Mando in the kitchen.
OK, I watched this! I was spoiled on Luke showing up at the very end, which fuckin' pissed me off to no end; it would have landed so much harder.
That said, even with the "omg it's Luke" factor impact dampened like a dishrag, that ending still worked for me. There are a tiny handful of Jedi (or trained force-users at all) in the galaxy at this point. One of them showed up but refused to train Grogu because of what she witnessed before. The whole "oh no they get kind of angry or afraid sometimes so if anyone trains them they'll turn evil" thing has felt flat to me even since the OT (especially since TLJ already started the work on dismantling it), but at least it's internally consistent. Which, especially with the knowledge that this is fairly shortly after RotJ, leaves pretty much one possibility for a force-sensitive/jedi character, one that we know fits with canon since Luke later started a school. It would have been less interesting if it were some other jedi than Luke. Like others have said, I'm surprised more people didn't see it coming, or see it as inevitable. Setting up the rescue from the inescapable was done well enough, too. The only other possible endpoint would be if Mando had found and returned Grogu to an actual member of the same race, if not their homeworld.
One thing that just occurred to me is that Mando and co. didn't actually need to rescue Baby Yoda, purely logically; Luke would have sprung him regardless. But of course Mando needed those emotional beats and closure for his arc, so it works narratively.
And no, the Deepfake wasn't that great - the part that bothered me the most, though, is that once he walked into the room he just stood perfectly still except for his face animating. The other thing, and this isn't remotely the first time I've thought this and it has nothing to do with the Mandalorian at all, is that it's a real shame RotJ came out in 1983 so we're stuck with an eternity of trying to make Luke look like a cool badass hero-legend while he still sports that same dorky haircut.
Overall, I really liked this season a lot. Throughout most of the season I felt the same impulse I did in season 1, but even more strongly; this is some of my favorite Star Wars material out there, only succeeded by the OT and TLJ. I love that it explores the parts of the galaxy that get swept aside with all the, well, Wars and main-story stuff. In the episode with Ahsoka, the buildings in that town and their architecture gave me a bit of that feeling of inhabiting a living, breathing universe. Same for the Imperial base and Bill Burr's character, and so on. I love that it's returned more to pulpy space western than to grandiose space opera, centered around character moments rather than Big Plot. It follows that the parts about Gideon etc were my least favorite bits.
BUT, I also feel like that might be the end of what I like about the show, and at the moment I don't see season 3 going anywhere I'm particularly interested in. Season 2 brought in all sorts of external stuff to make it bigger: tying Gideon to possible Snoke or Emperor-cloning; the throne of Mandalore and the Darksaber; setting up Ahsoka's hunt for Thrawn; setting up Boba Fett. It seems they are indeed moving the show more in the direction of Big Plot (plus other Big Plots) than a particularly interesting sub-story set in the universe, and that's the opposite of what I want out of all this. After all, The Mandalorian has been Lone Wolf and Cub for two seasons, and now the cub is out of the picture (in a good way!). I'm not really interested in separate Lone Wolf and Cub stories, and definitely not all that interested in A Grand Struggle For The Future of Mandalore. (Except, OK, actually, I...think I might be interested in a story about Adult Grogu. Maybe even if he searches for and reunites with Din. Not even for adventures, just for emotion, though adventures are also OK. But that's it.)
(I might also be interested in a show about Young Yoda. That is the one spinoff idea that I personally think actually have some draw for me, if and only if it has nothing at all to do with the Skywalkers. I can't explain why, though I'll probably try later.)
Speaking of Boba Fett, when he went back to Jabba's palace and he and what'sername sat on the throne, I said out loud, "Why does he want that?" He was a bounty hunter before, he's not from Tattooine, his only tie to the planet is that it's where he happened to be when he was left to die and then had to survive for X years, and part of the (if not the only) reason he stayed that long was that he wanted his armor back. I frankly have no idea what story they can tell about him that would be particularly interesting, especially from where they left it off, and the whole Boba Fett/Jango/Clone/Whatever story is one of the more egregious "we need every character to be Very Important" fanservice callbacks from the prequel trilogy and the fandom as a whole in the first place.
That said, even with the "omg it's Luke" factor impact dampened like a dishrag, that ending still worked for me. There are a tiny handful of Jedi (or trained force-users at all) in the galaxy at this point. One of them showed up but refused to train Grogu because of what she witnessed before. The whole "oh no they get kind of angry or afraid sometimes so if anyone trains them they'll turn evil" thing has felt flat to me even since the OT (especially since TLJ already started the work on dismantling it), but at least it's internally consistent. Which, especially with the knowledge that this is fairly shortly after RotJ, leaves pretty much one possibility for a force-sensitive/jedi character, one that we know fits with canon since Luke later started a school. It would have been less interesting if it were some other jedi than Luke. Like others have said, I'm surprised more people didn't see it coming, or see it as inevitable. Setting up the rescue from the inescapable was done well enough, too. The only other possible endpoint would be if Mando had found and returned Grogu to an actual member of the same race, if not their homeworld.
One thing that just occurred to me is that Mando and co. didn't actually need to rescue Baby Yoda, purely logically; Luke would have sprung him regardless. But of course Mando needed those emotional beats and closure for his arc, so it works narratively.
And no, the Deepfake wasn't that great - the part that bothered me the most, though, is that once he walked into the room he just stood perfectly still except for his face animating. The other thing, and this isn't remotely the first time I've thought this and it has nothing to do with the Mandalorian at all, is that it's a real shame RotJ came out in 1983 so we're stuck with an eternity of trying to make Luke look like a cool badass hero-legend while he still sports that same dorky haircut.
Overall, I really liked this season a lot. Throughout most of the season I felt the same impulse I did in season 1, but even more strongly; this is some of my favorite Star Wars material out there, only succeeded by the OT and TLJ. I love that it explores the parts of the galaxy that get swept aside with all the, well, Wars and main-story stuff. In the episode with Ahsoka, the buildings in that town and their architecture gave me a bit of that feeling of inhabiting a living, breathing universe. Same for the Imperial base and Bill Burr's character, and so on. I love that it's returned more to pulpy space western than to grandiose space opera, centered around character moments rather than Big Plot. It follows that the parts about Gideon etc were my least favorite bits.
BUT, I also feel like that might be the end of what I like about the show, and at the moment I don't see season 3 going anywhere I'm particularly interested in. Season 2 brought in all sorts of external stuff to make it bigger: tying Gideon to possible Snoke or Emperor-cloning; the throne of Mandalore and the Darksaber; setting up Ahsoka's hunt for Thrawn; setting up Boba Fett. It seems they are indeed moving the show more in the direction of Big Plot (plus other Big Plots) than a particularly interesting sub-story set in the universe, and that's the opposite of what I want out of all this. After all, The Mandalorian has been Lone Wolf and Cub for two seasons, and now the cub is out of the picture (in a good way!). I'm not really interested in separate Lone Wolf and Cub stories, and definitely not all that interested in A Grand Struggle For The Future of Mandalore. (Except, OK, actually, I...think I might be interested in a story about Adult Grogu. Maybe even if he searches for and reunites with Din. Not even for adventures, just for emotion, though adventures are also OK. But that's it.)
(I might also be interested in a show about Young Yoda. That is the one spinoff idea that I personally think actually have some draw for me, if and only if it has nothing at all to do with the Skywalkers. I can't explain why, though I'll probably try later.)
Speaking of Boba Fett, when he went back to Jabba's palace and he and what'sername sat on the throne, I said out loud, "Why does he want that?" He was a bounty hunter before, he's not from Tattooine, his only tie to the planet is that it's where he happened to be when he was left to die and then had to survive for X years, and part of the (if not the only) reason he stayed that long was that he wanted his armor back. I frankly have no idea what story they can tell about him that would be particularly interesting, especially from where they left it off, and the whole Boba Fett/Jango/Clone/Whatever story is one of the more egregious "we need every character to be Very Important" fanservice callbacks from the prequel trilogy and the fandom as a whole in the first place.
Phantoon
I cuss you bad
The last question is a good one and I don't have the answer. I will say that while we know he's a bounty hunter he seems to have spent a long time in Jabba's employ and maybe he feels he's too old for bounty hunting and wants to do some crime lording instead. He knows the people involved if he takes over from Jabba.
Oh, that's obviously what it is. What I meant was, why is that what he wanted? What do we know about Boba Fett, from anything ever, that indicates he would particularly want to be the head of a Tattooine-based crime syndicate?
I dunno, I saw it coming. Sort of. Like, I knew logically that it had to be Luke who would heed the call. I did not expect him to ride in as the cavalry to save the day in the final episode though. Figured that talking to him might be further down the line. As soon as an X-Wing showed up I was shouting out loud "AYYYYYY YER BOIIIIIII HEREEEEEE! WOOOOOOOOOP!!!!"
I don't have a problem with Luke being the Jedi who eventually takes custody of Grogu, I just don't like how it played out in the episode.
I also asked myself aloud why Boba Fett wants to take over Jabba's organization, especially since he seems to have done so by killing off the few remaining hangers-on.
I also asked myself aloud why Boba Fett wants to take over Jabba's organization, especially since he seems to have done so by killing off the few remaining hangers-on.
It’s extremely satisfying to just regard the other side of an empty, not-that-large-now-that-I’m-thinking-about-it room with your best bro, Ming-Na Wen. Not looking at each other; just staring straight ahead. That’s all I’ve got as a casual fan. It’s enough. Maybe I’m misremembering but I think I have the emotional truth of the scenario.
Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he just wants to wipe it out and spend a little bit in the fancy chair before he goes. Doesn’t strike me as a character who’ll want to stay put on Tatooine any longer.
Might also simply want to clean house before he took over Jabbas infrastructure. Chances are pretty good that Jabba didn’t recruit people known for their loyalty. Or effectiveness, frankly.
Or for their ability to drag a Rancor carcass out of the basement.
Oh wait, you didn't mean "clean house" literally, did you.
Salacious Crumb doesn’t strike me as being the most fastidious kind of guy
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
*Imagining cackling as he does his laundry.*
Fastidious is his brother
Do you really think the purpose of that shot is NOT to establish that Boba is taking over the organization?