The Mandalorian S1E4

I have to agree. Character driven, not necessarily plot driven... just because major events or lots of action do not take place does not mean filler. In this case, it means character development.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 29, 2019, Original Post Date: Nov 29, 2019 ---

It’s gratifying that this show is not aiming for instant gratification, but rather long term investment in characters.

 

Agreed, it's chapters like this that start to enrich the characters that can't be achieved in a 2 hour movie

 

We know at this point his plans did not include "The Kid" or "Kidd" staying with him. I'd forgotten about all the trackers alive and hotly pulsing for The Kid's recapture living or dead. Mando's choices, if he really had any, were taken away, permanently.

I think Mando is slow to accept change in his lifestyle, rocky as it is. The children of the village love The Kid, it will take Mando much much longer to get to that point. When everything is constantly being taken away, you learn not to love or care because the loss is too painful.

The Kid's acceptance by the children I think is a vital part of his growth and maturity. I seem to remember Yoda saying his species had a long memory. The Kid is still a child, even if he is 50 years old. We can't compare The Kid's species age to ours. Look at fawns, kittens, pups. etc....large ears, large round limpid eyes, big feet, they have to be grown into. Speech, think how long it took for your kids to have speech; understandable words much less an intelligent conversation.

 

After reading other responses, opinions, and speculations, we still come up against the fact; The Kid is a child. Will be a child for a long time yet. Mando could die at a very old age, and and The Kid will still be a child. So, I think The Mandalorian will stay in The Kid's current time line, and my idea is; there will be many many children found, visited by The Kid, liked by him. And when villages and areas are distroyed, children with no surviving family will be adopted by the Mandalorians. Foundlings are their primary goal now, to rebuild their numbers. ' "It is the way." '

If too many street kids start disappearing, I bet someone will notice. Not all foundlings will be interested in leaving for some place unknown, anyway. Besides, what is the best age for training up younglings to be a Mandalorian?

 

Amen. Ever since the empire moved production to China these things just aren't the same.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 29, 2019, Original Post Date: Nov 29, 2019 ---

Totally agree. Not sure that calling this a "filler episode" or saying Bryce Dallas Howard is obviously a "newbie" is fair. The episode explored the character, humanized him a bit. And totally loved Gina Carano here. I am hoping their paths will cross again and soon.

I really loved baby Yoda in this as well. The interactions with the kids, that scene when he is lying on the hover craft and looks up at the stars... Really liked that.

 

There are 106 parsecs to Mandalore, we have a full tank of gas, half a pack of deathsticks, it's dark and we're wearing helmets.

 

^^ Amen, sister.

This is a good point about the Mando. He is going to be slow to change and learn to open his heart, but I'm pretty sure that's the essence of this show...with cool action sequences interspersed to spice it up.

So I think the Mando is going to have one long character arc, but made up of smaller arcs. The last three were an arc in which there was nothing but barren landscapes and mostly tough male characters except for the female monsters, representing the state of the Mando's soul. Now that the Mando has opened his heart a bit to this little child, we have a new arc that begins with a fertile green landscape and more women and children...

 

This was a decent episode to advance the internal arc of our protagonist and to show the stakes/potential for our main duo. We learn how long Mando has been alone, since he was a child, and how long it has been before he felt love or family. He misses and wants to have what this village could offer him and he wants to give that to Babyoda (who we learn is a boy) since that is something that he never got. But that hard decision to leave his little friend is taken from him as the threat of their bounty rears its ugly blaster.

As many have said, this is a classic lone samurai tale of a small farming village beset by raiders who learn to protect themselves and take back their future with the help of two old soldiers who are looking for a cause. The story is simple and feels formulaic or cliched now only because we have seen it so many times, not because it isn't worth telling. That story is as much about the old warriors finding themselves and breaking their swords into plows as it is the farmers rising up and taking responsibility for their future and for the well-being of their community. Through this we see what Mando is missing, what he can't have because of this creed he has taken on that raises barriers between him and other people. I'm guessing that our emotionally climactic moment late in the season will be Mando showing his face to Babyoda thus removing that final barrier between them.

 

Experienced filmmakers and Film editors point out some of the editing errors in the first episode that Filoni directed. The editing from episode 1 and two are very different. You can clearly see episode 2’s editing is much smoother. If you watch when Herzog, the Client unravels the Basker metal there is an apparent jump in the editing. When Filoni began directing episode one of the Mandalorian he realized this is not animation. He had to deal with the sun on the shoot. Something an animator doesn’t have to deal with in the animation studio. So this was indeed Filoni first major live action directing role.
As far As Dallas Howard you can also see some of her deficiencies she has as a new director. Bryce states in an interview that she felt comfortable and safe with Favreau when she didn’t understand something. She goes on to say directing is a collaborative effort so she had plenty of help from the pros.

I enjoyed this episode very much but it reminded me of the famous western The Magnificent 7, yet I was taken out of the action when these newly trained farmers were able to easily take out seasoned savage warriors. Other than that I enjoyed the episode especially the Babyoda parts.
As a MMA practitioner myself I always enjoy seeing Gina roll around and get dirty. I hope she works with Mando again.

 

The raiders probably killed many villagers previously, that's why they all run and hide. The raiders likely aren't as proficient at operating an AT-ST as an Imperial pilot trained for it, so it's not quite the same thing as the Empire showing up with an AT-ST and a squadron. The fight was short because the raiders didn't expect this type of confrontation. They're not soldiers. They prey on the weak and once their big gun went down, the bullies fled.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 29, 2019, Original Post Date: Nov 29, 2019 ---

Different directors were chosen for different episodes so each little story would have its own feel. The differences aren't an error but a choice. Farvreau said as much when talking about the different directors and why that decision was made.

 

I take it that the MOGS (man/pitbull dogs) aren't very good at operating the AT-ST. If it was Stormtroopers that were trained, I would agree with you that it would not have been as believable. I am kind of glad that the episode had a reprieve from the slaughter of characters. I enjoyed the episode as a sweet western/samuria trope of the hero saving the village from marauders.

I love how the Mando has such nice manners. He always says Thank you and is appreciated of the kindness of strangers. He is ruthless yet humble. You may not be able to see his face, but his whole demeanor is sexy AF. Oh yeah, Cara Dune is so cool, I hope that we will see more of her. I liked that she would be a great partner to Mando. She was basically his Wingwoman, trying to convince Mando go for the "beautiful Widow". Baby Yoda steals the show as always. So is Baby Yoda potty trained or does Mando have to change his diapers?

 

Major revelation when? We've known this since the first episode. It was the whole point of the flashbacks after all, and they kept on calling him a foundling.

 

Spoilers in my review.

My honest opinion, this is by far the weakest one, the less convincent and the cheesiest.
Yeah, visually is cool, of course. Very-well directed, no doubt. Kind of Star Wars, yeah, and the village reminds me a Ralph McQuarrie Ewok village painting. Mando is still great and acting is good, but it's the first episode with a lot of points without so much sense. It's a real step forward.

-"Sorgan, no start port, no industry, no population density... It's perfect for us. We will go unnoticed for 2 months... Nobody is gonna find us here...". Yeah man. And then everything happens. Come on!
-Character of Cara Dune seems being created only because Gina can fight like a wrestler (btw Gina gives a good interpretation)
-The helmet thing. He explains all those reasons and then he takes off through that window in front of everybody...
-The training/hole/fight part so lame. Yeah, let's put an AT-ST cause it's cool.
-The second time we (don't) see a kill at the proper moment. Repetitive.

The best parts are the Mando backstory and little Maclunkey as always. The rest not really interesting.

 

I saw a lot of questions about when to take the helmet off and eating and such. The fourth episode answered a few of those. I still see questions about baby Yoda and diapers. Maybe we will see a baby Yoda butt in the fifth episode. The flood of memes from such a sighting would be overwhelming.

 

In art school, I wrote screenplays and directed short films that doesn't mean I'm a pro like that of Favreau who's had numerous years of experience. I would be a student asking many questions. Also, I read somewhere that Dallas Howard got the gig because of her father. Maybe it was one of the favors for directing Solo. I do agree with you film is art, and is subjective, maybe deficiency and error were too harsh in terms of dealing with art.

 

Did anyone else get serious Willow vibes from this village and the two villagers that come to ask the Mando for help? I suspect it's a bit of a tip of the hat to both George and Ron Howard.