The Mandalorian S1E8 - Season Finale

I am also having some issues with the lack of knowledge of Jedi at least by the Mandalorians. Hell, when Din was a foundling, there were Jedi Generals running around all over the place, especially in the Outer Rim. Not to mention a majority of the weaponry Mandalorians invented/use was developed in response to combat with the Jedi.

Beskar. I think it still cannot be cut by a lightsaber, but who knows.

 

Spoiler: Rebels/Mandalorian Spoilers

The only Mandalorian in canon who has actually trained with a lightsaber (the Darksaber itself no less), under the tutelage of an actual "Jedi", and who is potentially still alive, is Sabine Wren. If she doesn't show up in this frik-frakin show with Bo-Katan I'm going to cry Bantha milk tears.

 

I do think it is really weird the way that the Jedi are referenced as such a myth, but everyone knows who the Mandalorians are. Probably my biggest complaint with the show. Well, that and the fact that The Child is so OP that imagining what he will be able to do when older/trained...

 

See Yoda as a example of his capabilities as an adult.

 

How about a Gamorrean genius X-wing pilot? Shoot I'll take Wookies, blue shrimp, Loth Cats, old planets , new planets, Bith Jedi, you name it. Run with it Favreau and Filoni.

 

In any of the films or TV series, did Yoda ever force heal anyone?

 

The way (or "The Way") Din was raised seems to have isolated him from mainstream society. Maybe this sect raised the foundlings in secret somewhere, and in consequence were kept unaware of galaxywide events...? And before he was found by the Mandos he might have been too young to understand what was going on/who the Jedi were.

But yeah, I would think as an adult he would have at least heard about the major players in the Clone Wars. It's been established that Palpatine tried his darndest to control the galaxy's narrative about the Jedi after Order 66, but it hasn't been that long since they were everywhere.

 

Nope but he was magically able to jump around do flips with a lightsaber while still required a cane to walk. I think that's a pretty powerful feat in itself. Almost on par with healing. Unless his limping is just been an act all this time?

 

Spoiler: All kinds of spoilers I guess

Interestingly, only a few Prequel era characters demonstrated the ability to use force healing (Shaak Ti and Barriss Offee are the only ones I know of). Both instances were in Legends material though. (Jedi: Shaak Ti comic for the former and The Approaching Storm novel for the latter, if I have my facts straight). From what I gather, force healing was a specialized field in Legends material. Not just anyone with force skeelz studied it or was a practitioner. but it was also sort of...all over the place in terms of logic? Sometimes you could heal with the power of the force or the dark side, sometimes you could slow your metabolism to heal yourself, etc.

Anyhow, in new canon it appears as if the skill is getting a makeover. Only characters in new Disney material (Rey/Ben/The Child) have demonstrated the ability. Likewise, it looks like force healing now comes at the user's expense. No drawing upon the cosmic powers that be. The Child has demonstrated exhaustion following force use in general, including healing. Rey stated that the life force she uses to heal others is her own life force. Ben dies when force healing Rey, etc.

I like the skill makeover so far. :3

 

With the reintroduction of the darksaber, it's likely will get some lightsaber duels in this show. That's something I never would've thought was a possibility...

 

With that in mind, I wonder if we will see Cortosis also take on a larger role to neutralize the lightsabers.

That could potentially open up a Canon and Legends connection to Thrawn and Unknown Regions aliens

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 1, 2020, Original Post Date: Jan 1, 2020 ---

I like that idea. In Marvel's Doctor Strange comics, magic comes at a price to its practitioner where each act takes something proportionate to its complexity and scale. I wonder if that idea is what we are starting to see.

We've seen how physically draining the use of the force can be for some Jedi. Yoda showed physical exhaustion after lifting Luke's X-Wing in ESB, Luke's force projection in TLJ cost him his life, and other Jedi show extreme exhaustion after difficult acts in the Clone Wars.

 

Wow, what an episode!

Ok, so some speculation:

Spoiler

The show introducing the Darksaber was mindblowing. But here's the deal- Gideon isn't really a physical threat. The few times we've seen Gideon in combat, he's been strategic- shooting Mando in weak points of armor, shooting explosive ammo, TIE strafing a vulnerable boat on lava river. Hand to hand against any of the main cast, he'd probably lose- perhaps even against Baby Yoda.

1) The Darksaber

So, what's the point of The Darksaber? Well, it seems rather obvious: it's a symbol to reuinte Mandalore. We've already seen that reversed in The Clone Wars, then the more positive use of it as a symbol in Rebels.

Now, in The Mandalorian, we've got the people scattered and hunted to the four winds.

I think Dyn is a fine choice to wield it once Gideon's been defeated, but also... Baby Yoda is a Mandalorian as well now. The first openly force sensitive Mandalorian since Tarre Viszla, as far as I know. Could the Darksaber be intended for Baby Yoda to someday yield, reuniting Mandalore under a Mandalorian Jedi once more?

Of course, that would likely be long after Dyn's death, perhaps in a completely different trilogy should we ever get anything like that.

2) Baby Yoda's People

Will we ever actually see Baby Yoda's people?

Not soon, in my opinion. If I had to guess, I think the new "Clan of 2" is Baby Yoda's family now. Though Dyn has this quest, I speculate that it's more of a wild goose chase, simply setting the stage for him and Baby Yoda to have continued adventures together (and that's okay by me!).

3) Established Characters

We know that apparently season 2 will have established characters appearing. ESB bounty hunters are an obvious choice, but there are some others I'd also like to see.

Bo Katan- someone in this thread suggested she could be the Armorer? I'm down for that. Very down.

Cad Bane- my pick for the "spur person" over Boba. His "death" is ambiguous, and may not be canon anyway!

Sabine/Ezra/Ahsoka- Seeing these would be great!

4) Where to Next?

The weird Gamorrean teaser seems to suggest that we'll see Gamorr at some point, which is kinda neat. Not really sure why, outside of the fact that obviously the Gamorreans were guards to Jabba. Perhaps Dyn will visit whichever Hutt stepped into the power vacuum in Jabba's absence?

 

Eh, not exactly. ‘Mandalorian’ is presented to us as a “creed” - a chosen way of life. BY hasn’t really been established to possess the faculties to comprehend a belief system or indoctrination. Not that he couldn’t at some point, but not as is.

Doubt it. It would be super strange if they didn’t bring back Katee Sackhoff for that role.

BTW, isn’t this thread already marked as ‘spoiler’?

 

True, but his status as a foundling, as well as being a "Clan of Two" kinda imply that he's at least whatever the Mandalorian equivalent of an initiate is, don't they?

Yeah, I just like to be extra careful when I'm doing a big dump of spoiler stuff all at once, just to be extra careful. I'd hate to be the reason someone was unwillingly spoiled, even if the accidental keystroke was their fault.

 

I loved this episode. The Darksaber i just jumped in excitement. I can't wait for season 2.

 

. . . sort of <shoulder shrug>. The pretext of Dyn watching out for the kiddo though is to reunite him with his actual people. So the implication is that this would (theoretically) be a temporary arrangement. He’d only be safeguarding the child, not necessarily raising him as his own in "the way" of their culture.

That scene is kind of having its cake and eating it too. Which is fine . . . I like cake

 

Future seasons seem to be heading for a delicious mashup of Moff Gideon v. Foster Dad Mando (and pals) for the eventual "redemption" (esp. of Death Watch?)/restoration of Mandalore via Dark Saber. Not sure how Babyoda finding his people/sorcerers fits in, but should be fascinating.

 

Re: the suggestion that Bo-Katan is the Armorer

Not likely. The Armorer has a British accent. Bo-Katan does not. Furthermore, the Armorer has horns on her helmet (a fashion we have only really seen sported by Mail loyalists). I think the Armorer may have been one of Maul’s supercommandos. If you look at the Son of Dathomir comics, there is a female Mandalorian who (when she takes her helmet off) does look similar to the actress playing the Armorer, Emily Swallow.

 

This makes a lot of sense. I haven't read the comics. Now on my to-do list.

 

LOVED this episode. It's clear the story of season 1 had a strategic arc, with enough resolution to feel like a complete season while leaving plenty of open threads for expansion and future story telling.

THIS is how you do it, a clear strategic vision from the start, a cohesive arc, spend plenty of time in "quieter" moments where character, theme and empathy can build for the audience and don't cheat on this by just making the exposition faster or the plot twists more frequent.

Jon Favreau really seems to get it. The patience, the calm before the storm, the bonding of character and theme is just as important (if not more so) than plot twists and cool lore/fan service.

I love, love the craft here. The technical crew were stellar, the directors largely hit it out of the park and most of the episodes stand on their own beautifully. Even the episodes that do not advance the main plot line, felt complete and necessary to build backstory and enhance immersion.

Everyone who worked on this production should take a bow, this is about as good as Star Wars can get. Superb work.