The Mandalorian S2E8 - Chapter 16

I figure this is Star Wars. This is what one gets in a short season and short episodes. Frankly more than I ever expected.
Also for me having Mark Hamill involved at all is a huge bonus.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 19, 2020, Original Post Date: Dec 19, 2020 ---

I thought we would hear something from him sooner or later. Looking forward to seeing an interview.

 

I am with you- I did not like TLJ (at least compared to other Star Wars, lol), but had no problem with Luke (or Yoda, or Kylo/Rey).

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 19, 2020, Original Post Date: Dec 19, 2020 ---

While Mandalorian has been very well-received, I think it still merits pointing out that they did a lot of work on Season 2 during the pandemic. I feel we are very lucky to be getting what entertainment we can these days, and for Season 2, flaws and all, to have been somewhere up there with Season 1 is just amazing, considering how hard the past year has been for everyone.

 

He seems so happy about it, which is great to see!

 

He also sent out a "retirement" tweet. That's like ultimate spoiler subterfuge blast.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2020, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2020 ---

This.

 

What does he mean by the 9th? It was the 8th episode of the season. Maybe just a slip up? Nevermind, I just realized he was talking about episode 9, the rise of whatever.

 

(Me watching the finale)
It’s obviously Ahsoka.

Why doesn’t she just show her face?

I know it’s Ahsoka.

OH MY BLEEPING BLEEPITY BLEEP!!!!!

 

One thing my head can't get around is, what the kriff did Gideon shoot Bo Katan with? And why isn't she ded?

Also force pull, force push, force throw and force crush. This is how you mow them down.

 

Thought it was pretty funny having Boba Fett remind everyone he's not a Mandalorian after people claiming he was "confirmed" one again for weeks now. I never got it personally, they only ever "confirmed" Jango Fett was Mandalorian.

Also, I hope Bo-Katan becomes an antagonist. Man, she was such an Peedunky this season. She was plain manipulative with Djarin, but she was straight up racist when speaking to Fett. Going as far to treat him as a lesser being, due to him being a clone. Acting like she's the authority on what's right and wrong when she's got the least clean hands out of everyone. Must be nice pretending you didn't murder innocents and bomb settlements under Pre Vizsla and Deathwatch.

 

Should season 3 start off right where this finale left off in the ship or a time jump of a couple of weeks of months. I would imagine Bo and Din would want to settle the dark sabre situation asap but I could see a time jump so it can be established that Grogu has been gone to train with Luke for more than just a second

 

I'm hoping a Clone Wars fan can help me with this. I haven't watched The Clone Wars....yet. I hope to watch it very soon.

Katee Sackhoff is 40 years old.
The clone wars ended about 20-30 years before The Mandalorian.

Is Bo-Katan human?
How old was Bo-Katan during The Clone Wars show?
Is Katee Sackhoff portraying a character potentially much older than herself?

 

Bo-katan is human, and i believe was early twenties during TCW, so the age should check out

 

Agreed that 'fan service' is thrown around a lot these days with long-running franchises, and often as a criticism. I agree with you that when done right, a nod to the franchise's history, a character appearance, easter egg (or whatever the form of the fan service is) will simply link the old to new and create stronger cohesion within the overall text. That has to be a good thing.

However, there can also be useless, throwaway fan service designed to cover up a lack of imagination in a script. I think just this week you got a great example of each type. One was Luke on The Mandalorian: Great and not gratuitous because the appearance of "a Jedi" had been teased since last season. Given the timeline, it could only be him (barring some "Look, Mace Windu's back from the dead" or "Here's Ezra Bridger, who means nothing to 75% of the audience" stunt). It advanced the story and gave fans something they always wanted to see along the way.

Bad fan service is what they did this very same week on Star Trek Discovery. Spoilers ahead if you follow that show, which I don't recommend, yet haven't seen the latest one:


....



....


They used the Guardian of Forever, an element of a legendary Original series episode. But they did so in a ridiculous (literally laughable) reveal, and it achieved nothing that couldn't have been done in another way. In fact, the appearance of that "character" created a plot hole instead of advancing the story in a meaningful way. That to me is the definition of bad fan service: cheap thrills for the in-crowd with no larger significance.

Finally, to give an example from SW: While I was overall rather happy with TROS and didn't mind for instance the X-Wing scene on Ahch-To. as it provided some closure to Luke's arc (he finally managed what he failed to do on Dagobah), I did have an issue with Chewbacca and the Yavin medal. That did nothing for story or character (they were all celebrated as heroes anyway) and was obviously a nod to the old "Why didn't Chewie get a medal?" fan debate, which I think has been addressed many times and didn't need narrative real estate in a Star Wars film.

 

I don't think we have an official date of birth, but she was probably in her early twenties in TCW. She is human, and yes, Katee Sackhoff is portraying someone older than herself. I'd say Bo-Katan would be at least in her fifties at the time of The Mandalorian, roughly 9 or 10 ABY. (I guess the helmet is good for preventing wrinkles!)

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2020, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2020 ---

This is exactly what I was thinking. A time jump would be great for Grogu (if they show him at all at first), but the darksaber situation is pretty urgent, to Bo-Katan's mind anyway. And what the heck are they going to do with Gideon, who's passed out there on the floor? You know he has to get away or something for season 3.

(Plus with Luke showing up and Din showing his face, you have to think Cara at the very least would have a lot to talk about with Din that the high drama of the episode just didn't have room for.)

 

I didn't think the purpose of the medal was to show Chewie being recognised as a hero at last. It was to acknowledge that Chewie was the last survivor from the "original" heroes. It's a memento of that comradeship/friendship.

You need to cut JJ some slack for that since he suffered a hail of rocks thrown at him from some quarters for the perceived snubbing of Chewie by Leia at the end of TFA . He clearly felt he had to placate those people who made it one of their favourite weapons to bludgeon "Disney Star Wars" with.

 

She's supposedly slightly older than Anakin during TCW, so mid-late 40's in The Mandalorian.

 

Everyone takes different things from movies, but for me Chewie getting the medal was incredibly poignant. It wasn’t only a nod to the ‘why didn’t he get a medal in ANH?!’ thing, nor just recognition of his heroics in any of the films (though it can certainly be seen as those things too), I think it was, perhaps more relevant to TRoS specifically, an heirloom being passed to him from both Han and Leia, his ‘adopted family’, underlining a core theme of the movie. So I find it a shame if you only see that as empty fan service.

Of course many of the truths we cling to.. yada yada...

 

I am genuinely thrilled and satisfied by series 2's conclusion. Particularly the new dynamics regarding the darksaber which were introduced near the end. And of course Grogu's delivery to "his own kind".

But let's be honest. The appearance by Luke at the end was like the cut scene after the final level of an old RPG. "It was me you've quested for all this time. And you've found me. Well done. Bye bye now."

In hindsight it seems like the only plausible excuse they could have had for not turning Grogu over to Luke at the end of this quest would be that they wanted to avoid being accused of indulging in fan service. It would have been a shame if they had held back and I'm sure it was considered to be potentially risky. But I'm glad they saw at as an opportunity to indulge or at least appear to do so. As I said before. The context and actual focus of the show (It's The Mandalorian not Star Wars Episode VI and a quarter) allows them to present the legend of Luke through the eyes of ostensibly less elevated characters, whom we identify with in the moment.

The arrival of sequel trilogy inevitably prompted us to anticipate a similar kind of experience. Even the characters, particularly Rey, are primed for the apparition of a legend. But as my old friend Eliot once said "This is reality, Todd!". Legends who live almost a whole other lifetime beyond the initial making of their mythic status are inevitably far more complex than the what they represent.

 

In my opinion, similar to what others have said, there’s good fanservice and poor fanservice. And what qualifies that may vary per person.

Personally, i take issue with moments that feel like fanservice for the sole purpose of fanservice, or it serves little purpose in the moment. Moments I felt that in Mando? Boba’s sequence after getting his armor, and Luke attacking the droids. They feel cool, but they just feel like “look! They look cool!” But it feels like there’s little other reason. They build up the moment for an alamo-like stand, Din has the spear and the Darksabre, and the beskar armor to reflect blaster bolts. He learned how they fight and saw the best way to hurt one. But suddenly Luke just shows up and destroys them all in a very deus ex machina way. It looks cool, but feels empty in the end.

I’ll contrast it with Bo-Katan and Ahsoka. They had moments that may be considered fanservice, even just being in. But they’re roles make a bit more sense and feel more character than plot device, or there just to be there. Bo-Katan was an easy one to fit in, cause Mandalorians, and the main Jedi she knew was Ahsoka (though how she knew where Ahsoka was, idk), but also Ahsoka’s role could’ve possibly been filled by almost any other Jedi in the end.

Away from that, because we just watched Rebels, but connected to Bo-Katan’s response to Din. So she took the saber from Sabine, who found it but did have to fight to get it back from Gar Saxon which technically could make her the rightful holder....yet she can’t take it from Din?