And I refuse to jump on the woman-director-what-do-you-expect train....
(Director: Rachel Morrison, a newcomer to the Mando-verse who had a hand in some of your favorite movies of the past decade or so: Fruitvale Station, Mudbound, Dope, and Black Panther. (For Mudbound, she nabbed an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.); from
'https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a43236901/the-mandalorian-season-3-episode-2-recap/
For me, lots to appreciate. Aesthetics - very cool, esp. the green glass look of the glass. Lighting, cinematography (that's how you do dark spaces, enough light sources to make it interesting). Someone put their back into it
. Liked Bo-katan and Din just - interacting. More so than in other shows when they are just getting to business. It's the first strong sense I had of these two as individuals with their own experiences and world view forming, maybe, a tentative friendship. Good dialogue, nothing cringe. The bio-robot thing was something really new - reminded me of the Thing with the detachable head crawling around - creepy!
It's also interesting that Din is still having trouble wielding the Darksaber, but Bo-Katan is able to use it with ease - something I hope the show comes back to. Bo-katan using Rebels fighting defenses live action.
For me, where it fell off is, while it showcased Bo-Katan as a badass, 1) Grogu wouldn't have been afraid where his daddy was concerned - not even sure why that hesitation was put in WTF
; and 2) WTF Din didn't seem to bother using the badassery available - yeah, I get it, he was caged up, but I'd have thought he'd be fighting harder, in at least 2 different places, even with body fluids sucked out towards the end (and why didn't Grogu do some healing hands, then?) U shouldn't build a character up based at the expense of others. Like when Vanth and D'jarin, Boba and D'jarin, Dune and D'jarin are working together - there's none of this one-up-manship. I get it, but it lacked BALANCE.
Dunno why Bo needed to be built up to that degree
; anyone who watched the previous seasons and/or Rebels knows her abilities.
Still, appreciated some fine detail touches and LOGIC. Like carefully making sure the air was breathable or protection was in place, 'coz some of the hilarity about movies like Covenant is nobody behaves like an actual scientist and just yanks their helmets off, or pets unknown critters
, etc. I completely appreciate that lack of stupidity
; drives me nuts when characters just ASSUME a planet is safe.
Explaining about the moons. Points made lead from A to B, most of the time. And it's really interesting Din now owes his life to Bo-Katan, who supposedly has to fight him to get the Darksaber.