Plus, we got to see the boss pirate cruiser that’s the closest we’ve gotten to the old Legends’ Eclipse.
You could almost hear Brian nerding out in that shot!
Oh, I just loved that whole space battle. It was an absolute delight.
Yeah, what it lacked in tension—and there was none—it made up for in creature design. I think WhollySchmidt is probably right about the sequence serving as exposition for those who didn’t watch Book of Boba Fett. From that angle, I appreciate the Show, Don’t Tell of it all, but I do hope they step it up for action scenes in future episodes.
Who needs tension when you have so many splosions!?
Edit: I was wrong.
Did I mix that up? I thought he got the ship in Boba Fett, but maybe it was in Mando s2? It’s been a while.
Maybe I’m mixing it up? I only saw the Boba Fett eps with Mando in them.
It was definitely Boba after, not Mando S2, which ends with Luke taking Grogu after Djinn met with Ahsoka.
Yeah, sorry, my bad, it was in those Boba episodes.
I was wondering the whole episode why Mando was flying in what looked like an old Naboo fighter. I guess I’ll have to read that article.
Because it’s an old Naboo fighter hot-rodded up by Amy Sedaris’ character.
Finally watched the S03E01. Meh.
I guess as scene-setting it was fine. I thought the direction was a little pedestrian, which showed any time there was a Muppet in the frame. The alien monkeys in the tree was a good example – a wide shot that probably should have been a couple close-ups to disguise the puppetry a little more. I dunno, maybe Rick Famuyiwa was trying to show his technical chops by refusing to “cheat” and treat the puppets as if they were real animals or actors… but if so, it backfired.
Likewise the aliens in the shootout and later space-battle. The prosthetics and associated makeup was top-notch. But the direct light and close-ups just served to illustrate that it was foam rubber and silicon. Some shadows or maybe just a little bit of grime or liver-spots or something would have gone a long way towards selling it a bit better.
I guess that weirdly, scenes that had excessive CGI tended to look better than scenes that didn’t.
The space-battle was fine, though it lacked any type of stakes or tension whatsoever. There was a point where Mando was under the guns of the pirate cruiser where I thought he was in genuine danger and would have to surrender, and that was interesting… but I guess all you have to do is step on the gas in such situations; you’ll be fine.
Katee Sackhoff’s take on a bitter and defeated Bo-Katan was a good setup for the inevitable triumphant return episode.
The IG-11 stuff seemed fairly silly. Mando wants to reactivate the one and only droid he’s ever trusted, which is fine. But he’s damaged beyond repair, something that Mando refuses to accept, which is fine. But then upon reactivation the droid turns evil again and they have to shoot it repeatedly and then utterly crush its head, which is fine. But THEN he still wants to fix the now total-destroyed droid, and that will entail finding a new memory chip/card/whatever… which would seem to be the only part of IG-11 that Mando would actually trust. Huh.
I think this will go to some unexpected places that touch on the struggles that face persons with debilitating head-wounds and the attendant personality shifts, the nature of the “self”, and the ephemeral yet bonding essence of capital-T “Trust”.
Or, since it involves Taika Waititi, we’ll get some slapstick hijinks and everything will work out fine.
Does anyone know how much time has passed between seasons? Since the place changed so much, it feels like several years later. Bo-Katan being so different and defeated also makes it feel like this is years later. But how many years? Is this about a decade after Season 2?
Edit: Oh, apparently the second episode aired already, so I should stay out of this thread until I get a chance to see it. According to the internet, there was three years between Season 1 and Season 3. It feels longer than that. But I guess three years can change a lot in a time of change.
That’s an opinion. The direction was bog-standard, but the creature designs were the best part of the episode. I can agree about the lighting, but I do wonder if they weren’t highlighting it on purpose to sharply contrast the lighter tone here with that of Andor. Set expectations up front.
The second episode was a definite step up for me. Interesting location and visuals, a bit more (Manda)lore, some neat designs (that weird creature and its bug mech), and Grogu got a bit of agency.
Only head-scratchers: wait, so the main purpose of rebuilding IG-11 would have been for him to check if the air is breathable? Like, they do have probes and sensors in the Star Wars universe, no? Also, is Bo-Katan really moping around on her throne all day when no one is around?
She quickly turns off HoloTok when she hears her droid coming from down the hall.
She lost all her men, can’t get the Darksabre the way she needs to in order to claim it rightfully, and doesn’t seem to have any actual humanoid servants or friends. I’m surprised she wasn’t in her pajamas eating a tub of Carbonite Crunch.
I thought Starbuck was old and busted for some reason but she is still convincing.
Loved the episode, but one thing brought me out of it:
“How did you find me?”
Motherfucker YOU sent Grogu to find her. Wtf.
The IG-11 stuff from the last episode is even dumber after the events of this episode.
Overall, a much better episode. And hey! We got actual confirmation that it’s R5-D4! The true hero of Star Wars!