Star Wars Megathread

[The Minsky Moment]

Why all the hate for Kennedy?   

Makes sense she would take some flak from people over the sequel trilogy - buck stops there.

Beyond that, don't quite get it. Her production career hardly screams extreme wokeness.

[Syt]

My general feelings after the season finale ... action maybe "a bit" overdone and stretched out though decent, but also, "What, that's it?"

[Habbaku]

It was really, really mild of an ending. All that for what amounts to a gauntlet run and then a boss fight at the end. Woo. 

[Syt]

It was really, really mild of an ending. All that for what amounts to a gauntlet run and then a boss fight at the end. Woo. 

It felt really video gamey at times.

[Habbaku]

It was really, really mild of an ending. All that for what amounts to a gauntlet run and then a boss fight at the end. Woo. 

It felt really video gamey at times.

Complete with various power-ups, equipment upgrades, and switching attacks against different enemies.

[Syt]

I felt thrown back quite a bit to Jedi: Fallen Order.

[celedhring]

Yeah, the finale was middling at best.

Sums up the season, imho. Lots of potential dramatic material that's just not well ellaborated on - or flat out ignored - in favor of action and spectacle and just moving through the plot at frantic pace and hitting the fanservice bits (Grogu being cute! Mandalorians being awesome warriors!). As result, nothing that happens to the characters really feels big or earned. Dunno, like how the Children of the Watch dropped their zealotry at the drop of a hat, how Bo-Katan becomes a leader but everything just happens to her (the Armorer just goes "oh, you should be the leader", then she gets handed the saber once again...)... there was enough stuff to make a compelling story but they just didn't bother.

I mean, the conclusion to Djarin's arc is that... he adopts Grogu, like, duh?

[viper37]

Disappointed too.  I really thought we'd see Thrawn in person as a lead up to Ashoka.

[Syt]

What frustrates me a bit is how they set up interesting premises that then either don't go anywhere or are dropped quickly.

End of Season 2: Grogu and Din are separated! Oh no, how will they cope? Never mind, they're reunited quickly in another show (it's implied that some time has passed - see the change of Nevarrao throughout the show, but still ... )

Din has the Darksaber! But Bo-Katan wants it! And Din can't really wield it yet! Will he overcome the mental block? Will Bo-Katan challenge him for it? Never mind, he ends it over on a technicality (and then it's destroyed - I'm ok with it, because it had become a bit too much of a focus for everything Mandalore, overall ... )

Previous episode, titled "The Spies" - titles in the show usually had some meaning, or were at least open for interpretation. But after the finale ... uhm, what now? Who was that referring to (besides the opening scene with Elia Kane and the probe droid?). They made the Armorer and Axe Woves looks super suspicious last episode, and then there were the survivors ... but nope. No betrayal, no hidden motives (at least none revealed). I don't mind subverting expectations, but having that title and (seemingly) zero pay off?

Some positives from tbe episode: the fights, while a bit video gamey, were overall good fun. I liked R5 vs. the mouse droids. It was silly and cute.

I liked the irony that Gideon apparently figured out how to make clones force sensitive and that knowledge is now gone. Oops, sorry Palpatine. No force capable clones for you (yet).

I'm ok with the Darksaber being broken. With all the history attached to it, it marks a new start. Ties in with the little green oasis, hinting that Mandalore is ready to start over from scratch.

More hints of Grogu being able to commune with the Mythosaur - still rooting for him to become Mandalore. But with all the set ups that were then dropped or resolved suddenly, with little satisfying result, I'm not sure anymore.

I'm fine with the season tying up various ends - Mandalorians back on Mandalore, ready to rebuild (though skeptical if that goes without a hitch - the conflict between "modern" and "orthodox" Mandalorians seemed a bit too easily resolved. Din and Grogu going on their own voyage for the apprenticeship - leaves them wide open to do whatever. Do a time skip, have them show up in other shows as needed, have a season of standalone episodes, tying them into the overarching New Republic/Thrawn/Rise of the First Order ... very much a reset button.

And even though it was cheesy in its Wester hommage, I did kinda enjoy the final shots of Din and Grogu on their little homestead. (Though this usually ends with the farm being destroyed and the reluctant hero getting pulled back into the fight )

Overall, I think S2 had the better overall arc and structure - Din trying to figure out where Grogu should go:
- meeting Bo-Katan who points him to Ahsoka
- Ahsoka pointing him to Tython
- Grogu getting abducted
- Din having to find the location where he's held
- Din assembling a team to rescue Grogu
- The Rescue and handing Grogu over to Luke for training
Sure, it was very much an RPG questline with sidequests to further advance of the main plot, but it largely built in a (for me) satisfying way.

Season 3, while I generally liked each episode itself, I think the arc was far less focused, and looking back I can't say it had the same single drive and focus that Season 2 had.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, the finale was middling at best.

Sums up the season, imho. Lots of potential dramatic material that's just not well ellaborated on - or flat out ignored - in favor of action and spectacle and just moving through the plot at frantic pace and hitting the fanservice bits (Grogu being cute! Mandalorians being awesome warriors!). As result, nothing that happens to the characters really feels big or earned. Dunno, like how the Children of the Watch dropped their zealotry at the drop of a hat, how Bo-Katan becomes a leader but everything just happens to her (the Armorer just goes "oh, you should be the leader", then she gets handed the saber once again...)... there was enough stuff to make a compelling story but they just didn't bother.

I mean, the conclusion to Djarin's arc is that... he adopts Grogu, like, duh?

I wonder if the plan was to have more episodes but then that got changed mid stream.  So many bits of foreshadowing and story lines that just went nowhere.

[Jacob]

With a sprawling "extended universe" type narrative it's fine to throw hooks out all over the place. They'll resolve a bunch of them in random other shows, games, and books over the next 20 years.

[crazy canuck]

With a sprawling "extended universe" type narrative it's fine to throw hooks out all over the place. They'll resolve a bunch of them in random other shows, games, and books over the next 20 years.

I have more in mind story lines that were started, never developed, and are now seemingly resolved.  Take for example the revelation that a Mandalorian armour fragment was found in the prison ship the big baddy escaped from.  That story line was completely ignored.  The next time we see the guy from
kim's Convenience Store he is all smiles for Mando.  We as the viewers know the bascar, or whatever the material is called, was used by troops of the big Baddie and at some point, in some way, that information was shared with the New Republic guys and so is now resolved.

But why have that revelation if it was not going to be used as a story line within the season episodes before the big reveal that the big baddie was on the Mandolorean homeworld all along.

But it an example of a whole story line left completely undeveloped, and is now resolved

[Jacob]

Fair.

[viper37]

Take for example the revelation that a Mandalorian armour fragment was found in the prison ship the big baddy escaped from.  That story line was completely ignored.

I was going to say that.  They went nowhere with that.  Sure, that information could have gotten back to the New Republic, but only after Dinn left Mandalore, once Gideon was defeated.

[Grey Fox]

The Mandalorian armor was probably one of Gideon's soldier look a like. Add that to the lists of hints resolved off screen.