At least this episode we got the explanation of the space vespa gang- they’re Mods, they mod themselves, get it? It’s just a stupid pun. Meh.
Perhaps in the next episode we’ll get the Pykes coming out to rumble decked in leather and pompadours. Obviously since they mine spice from rocks, we know what they’ll be referred to as.
I chuckled, even though the Mod pun didn’t click for me until @sharaleo 's Space Quest I/IV screencap a few posts before yours.
Knowing that the gang is comprised of mod-modders gives me a little more insight into their emotional lives. The last time I watched Saturday Night Fever, I did a little bit of research about it. The movie was based on a nonfiction magazine article. But the article’s writer only knew a little bit about the “faces” that dwelled on the disco floor. He made most of it up but based all the non-disco stuff on the British mod subculture that he did know about. So having seen Saturday Night Fever (but not knowing mod-specific stuff like, I guess, that Who thing linked above?), I can guess that Boba Fett’s new cadre of scouts are casually brutal if in an unorganized way, mostly out of work, deeply unhappy, and desperately seeking transitory pleasures… where they should be seeking something more concrete. And they’re a swoop, gang, yeah! They ride on swoops, gang, yeah!
(Sure, that was also obviously presented in Boba Fett Episode 3 and 4. I bring all the other stuff up because one of the pleasures of Star Wars to me is pegging the real life cultural touchstones that got thrown into the Lucasfilm blender, be it the WWII bomber-cams, the Kurosawa samurai flicks, the Errol Flynn swashbucklers, and I guess that Quadrophenia video @strummer linked above, etc. etc. Sometimes new additions to the blender are a little jar-jarring but I think the Star Wars galaxy is richer for it.)
Perhaps Ringo Starrkiller can find some kind of bridge between the Mods and the Rockers.
That is exactly the vibe I was getting. They’ve gotta stop letting Rodriguez direct these episodes. He’s batting 1.000 for bottom tier episodes, especially for action sequences.
I haven’t seen any of this , but going from the posts I’ve read here, it doesn’t seem like Boba Fett was a very good bounty hunter.
That was the most entertainment I’ve gotten from Star Wars since Rogue One.
I audibly laughed,
Well, that was made clear in Return of the Jedi…
I tried to catch up on this over the weekend, but Episode 3 broke my will.
The early scene where Fett confronts the fish-guy about protection money was cringe-inducing. I could possibly be convinced that the fish-dude took advantage of the clueless Fett to get him to take out a rival group, but by the end of the scene it was fairly apparent that the writer really did think that the marks are the ones dictating terms in protection rackets, not the gangsters.
Then there was the awful Rancor sequence where the tough and cynical Boba Fett starts cooing over his new pony and demands to be able to ride Princess Sparkles right now!
But of course it was the Space-Vespa gang chasing the mayor’s aide (in his Cadillac speeder) through the city at the break-neck pace of… maybe 12 MPH… that killed any hope that this show was going to get better.
I will monitor the thread and see if the show turns around, but I’ll let you guys take the hit for me. Godspeed.
Today’s episode, #5, was really good. It felt like Star Wars again.
I’ll wait until a few people have seen it to say more.
Easily best episode of the season and will not be topped.
Really enjoyed the character development in the second half.
I could tell three minutes in that it wasn’t directed by Rodriguez. Which is so sad.
It also just really, really illustrates the weakness, I hate to say it, of Temuera Morrison. Or at least the weakness of the writing and directing prior to this episode, but Morrison just doesn’t have the presence of an always-helmeted Pedro Pascal. And it’s a shame, because I really do want to like him…maybe they just haven’t utilized him well…I don’t know. But the opening five minutes of this episode sparked so much more joy than the series has managed to do so far.
Also, I really like how fully they set up his quest that will undoubtedly make up a good chunk of season 3 of Mando. Did he get the gift for Grogu? Is that who he said he wanted to go see at the end of the episode? I wasn’t sure he was given it, given his disgrace. If so, then that would mean he’s going to visit…someone else…
Yes, it was in the little cloth bag they tied closed after the forging scene, something made out of Beskar chain links it seemed.
It was in the little bag that happened to be folded exactly like a baby yoda head after he interacted with the greedo kid.
Spoiler that, man! It’s early in the day still! :-)
Alright, it’s kinda weird as shit to basically insert an episode from another show that expands the lore of that one while only barely connecting to its ‘host’. But… I’ll allow it. Nice change of pace, nice change of cinematography, and I also appreciated seeing a location that’s not Tatooine.
Didn’t check the credits, but is the younger X-Wing pilot some cameo or anyone one should recognize? (I know who the older one is.)
Yikes. Easily the best of the season and better in every way than any of the other episodes so far. I was surprised that it was basically a Mandalorian episode, but it wasn’t just the change of characters that made it a better episode. The writing, pacing, and action were a big step above. Also, did they save all their budget for this episode?
Apparently he was the stand-in for the Luke cameo in Mando S2.
This episode was wizard.
Because I am a weak, weak man and because all my buddies convinced me that Episode 5 a magnificent work of art (without telling me why that was), I sat down and watched episodes 4 and 5.
S01E04 was better than the third episode, but not by too much. I guess we’re done with the flashbacks and are “caught up” with the present day or thereabouts. In Episode 4, Boba Fett wanders around and is completely useless until he happens to stumble on a dying Imperial Assassin and saves her. Not by getting her medical attention, but by having her chopped up and replacing her innards with droid parts.
In return, Fennec Shand – who is demonstrably fifteen times as competent as Boba Fett – runs around with him and does all the work. She single-handedly enables him to retrieve his ship (which Disney VERY specifically will never refer to by its original name), then she single-handedly saves both Fett and his ship when he sticks the whole fucking thing back in the sarlac pit, and then she pretty much single-handedly topples Bib Fortuna so that Fett can take his place.
All Fett does all episode is recruit a single, angry, drunken Wookie.
The episode was NOT directed by Robert Rodriguez, but rather by a veteran TV show director who has done a few dozen episodes of Arrow, SHIELD, and Legends of Tomorrow, a few music videos, and a viral video that reinvented the Mortal Combat franchise.
Now Episode Five was fantastic. You want to know why? It’s because Boba Fett’s incompetent ass was not in A SINGLE SCENE. The whole thing was a reminder of how good The Mandalorian Season 2 was, and that Faverau hasn’t forgotten how to make a decent Star Wars episode. It was effectively a letter from your Mom saying that, yes, she knows that staying with her now ex-husband is shitty; none of your friends live near his cheap apartment; everything smells of old socks and loneliness; and he doesn’t know how to cook. But you just have to suffer through a few more episodes of Dad and you can come home to your nice, comfortable room, your friends, and Baby Yoda.
Episode 5 was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron Howard, and female lead in the woeful last couple Jurassic Park movies. I think she directs FAR better than she acts.
She directed some of the best of Mando, as well. And good Lord, she can direct CIRCLES around Robert Rodriguez (DID HE REALLY DO SIN CITY??) when it comes to action scenes.
The first 5 minutes of this episode were better than anything we’ve gotten thus far.
Spending the episode with Mando ON BOBA FETT’S SHOW just stands to illustrate how Pedro Pascal and Bryce Dallas Howard can just absolutely blow Morrison and Rodriguez out of the water.
Am I the only one that’s really struggling with Mando taking that ship, though? How is he going to transport his bounties?