The Mandalorian S2E6 - Chapter 14: The Tragedy

Nope, it's Slave 1.

 

Watching Boba Fett take on the stormtroopers with Fennec Shand had me wondering why he couldn't have just gotten the armor himself from Cobb Vanth before the first episode of Season 2. It will be interesting to see how things between Din and Boba go with the helmet wearing thing. Granted Boba didn't have his armor for this episode until the end. Moff Gideon was clearly giving off those Vader vibes if he wasn't before. Grogu meditating was pretty epic, the big question will be, did the signal find anyone.

Great episode despite the outcome, we kind of knew it was coming. I'm sure Grogu will be back with Din, the question is when. They are going to need a lot of resources to go after Moff Gideon, will be interesting to see how that plays out. The final two episodes will be nail biters for sure. Can't wait to see Mayfeld again he was one of my favorite characters from Season 1.

Also for the sake of people who are upset of Boba Fett's survival from the sarlacc pit this needs a back story. I'm not one of those people but I know some that will be more upset Boba Fett is alive than Grogu being kidnapped by the Empire.

 

I don't think so, I think it was only damaged in Clone Wars.
But the important thing is the one in ESB is officially Slave 1. Maybe improved and renewed from Jango to Boba. So I guess this one is the Slave 1 we all know. At last this is the impression.

Slave !! I think is another model of a ship.

 

Me too. That was weird, with another couple of moments too.

Something like this, yes. I absolutely agree.



And Fennec running from imperial fire over that hill, it was like "Prometheus School of running away from things", running in a straight line.

 

I'm about halfway through the episode, and I gotta say... my complaints about cameos this season simply don't seem to apply to Fett and Shand in this episode.

They have their own agency and reason to be on Tython and it just seems so much more natural (though I'm still trying to parse why Fett never took the armor from Vanth, but maybe that was an honor thing).

Also, so far this battle is standing out as one of the all time best on screen ground conflicts in Star Wars history. Not counting anything in the prequels or animation, I'd probably rank them as:

Scarif
Hoth
Mimban
Tython


Not too shabby for a small skirmish where one side is made up of just three combatants.

 

If they are going after Moff Gideon, I suspect we will see Bo Katan again. Mando knows she's looking for him and if he knows where she is, then we will see her a gain. He would be foolish to attack an imperial ship knowing he can get a squad of mandalorians.

 

Controversial opinions here, but I didn't care for this episode.

First and foremost, I'm not a big Boba Fett guy. I understand the appeal, but growing up with the OT all at once, I knew he sort of just died so I never saw why everyone thought he was so cool. Even Boba's backstory in TCW didn't change that. (I preferred Jango anyways for his sleek armor, actual besting of a Jedi for the most part, and retroactively being the OG.)
Boba's "I've got my armor back so now I'm cool again" montage was more eye-roll inducing than anything else to me. Yes, you're cool. Yes, now you can prove that you're cool. We get it.

Outside of that, the planet Tython, while cool and possessing an enjoyable setting, made the planet feel more like a...fan-made movie than anything else. And don't get me wrong, the production value on some fan-made movies is wild! But this felt like Mando was that level instead of the level it should be.

Third, I wasn't a fan of the pacing or decisions made this episode. When Mando clearly should have been taking the offense, he was back with Baby Yoda (understandably so, but narratively annoying); and of course JUST when he leaves, Baby Yoda's defenses are down. It's not a bad thing, but it was so predictable that I didn't care.

Next you have the destruction of the Razorcrest, which Mando went through so much just to get working this season! That felt like a "kick the dog" moment for fans, and it just made all of our hard work feel wasted.

Lastly, of course they were going to lose. They needed to lose to set up the final two episodes and get their team-up team together; Baby Yoda needed to contact someone to set up the surprise cameo(s) we'll be getting later on.

That doesn't mean there weren't good things about this episode:

Fennic Shand's return was a high point for me. I love Min-Na Win, and hopefully she'll stick around for a bit now that Agents of SHIELD is over. (Although I did find the CGI on her stomach to be videogame quality at best (PS4 Pro graphics, so good, but not great).)

The theme that Ludwig is doing for Boba has some nice elements to it.

And the reveal that Jango was a Foundling (?) was really neat.


But overall, yeah, this has been my least favorite episode this season by far. Maybe for the entire show. The directing was decent at best, the plot was predictable*, and the "hype" moments only work if you're a fan of Boba. Otherwise they stick out like a sort thumb. I'll probably just watch this episode with my dad next week, so we can pair it with something hopefully better.


*I'm not saying predictability is always a bad thing, not at all! Lord knows there are times where going the predictable path is absolutely the right choice. And I think this time it may have been one of them. It's just, paired with everything else, I can't help feel like this was a step down for the season as a whole.

 

The internet is going crazy over Din's jetpack. I'm pretty sure he still has it--why wouldn't he pick it up before he left?

The pulse rifle though... I guess it got disintegrated. Too much irony, I am not okay.

 

I am just a simple man making his way through the galaxy! Like my father before me.

 

Absolutely agree on this. It's the impression the chapter has left on me. Fan-made.
Maybe the problem was not watching it in 1080. The photography in this chapter is the worst of the show.

 

basically capture the flag with a force sensitive green alien. Honestly more hyped about boba than ahsoka. And the only purpose of the spear is to fight gideon

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 4, 2020, Original Post Date: Dec 4, 2020 ---

and she wants the darksaber. Ahsoka probably wont show up again.

 

I believe it's more Boba Fett's reputation as being the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy. Then somehow dispersed way too easily. He was always one of the coolest looking characters of the original trilogy. But it's nice that we get to see him in action in this episode, and he did well. I'm looking forward to seeing them Din and Boba working together. They didn't need to bring him back, and for some, it should be explained. Star Wars seems to have a way of bringing back people once thought to be dead, in this case because of popularity, who knows? It really should have some back story, even for the less critical fans. Even Palpatine has been explained to a point how he returned as a clone hosting his spirit or force essence? The way I understand people who don't like things like Boba coming back is they believe Star Wars needs to move on, come up with something new, more Moff Gideon, less continually seeming to resurrect everything as a fan service e.g. Darth Maul who was cut in half. I do get where they come from, I tend to just look at it like a story I'm being told, what happens happens, I'm not going to like all of it. It's easier to just accept what you are given, finding loopholes to not like something looks to be quite exhausting, maybe in time things will be explained. Dave Filoni has done a great job filling those little gaps.

 

That was one of my favourite lines in the entire show so far.

Sure, it’s a cute/funny mash-up of Jango and Luke quotes. But I think it also speaks to the very interesting Mando / Jedi parallels and interactions going on in both the movie saga and this show - the father / son dynamics, the opposition / cooperation of Mandos and Jedi, lightsabers / darksaber, and the linking of the theme of clones / cloning between Boba, and *I’ll whisper it quietly for those who won’t like it, but Snoke / Palpatine / Rey’s Father / Rey*

It might end up being nothing more than a cute line, but I think it hints at other connections, whether purely existing ones or also future ones remains to be seen...