The Mandalorian (Star Wars Live Action Series)

[Sassafras]

more the case of those shows being so bad that the bar was lowered to the point that Mando s3 seems fine to some folk.

Or, IMO, the point could be argued that these days the audience has to be carefully spoon fed; any narrative has to have significant explosions, fights, or pop-up surprise cameo characters roughly every 6.8 minutes; even better if some gratuitous sexuality can be thrown in (tho so far in Mando, everyone except Boba has managed to keep their clothes on, pretty remarkable these days) and the idea of carefully building a narrative is as quaint as gas at 1.20/gallon. No character can deviate from the vision in peoples' heads, so at this point the stoic, courageous Mando is certifiably a wimp for not twisting that stinger off, dragging that robo-critter to the cage, stabbing him, and then using his flames to blowtorch the cage to freedom.

Then he could bathe in the living waters Thor-style, have a vision of being King, and fly back to Bo-Katan "how you like me now? and by the way, I'm King and we're moving to Mandalore". The End.

And when people complain that Mando was stabbed by some robo-spider and had no reaction whatsover, Favreau goes - "well, Mando is like, the chosen one, so there".

 

[chrisstbh]

When you have to defend a show with a thesis, or numerous 20+ min YouTube vids to “understand”, that usually means it’s just not good content to begin with

ACHTUALLY YOU JUST DONT GET IT!

 

[jaztermareal]

Or, IMO, the point could be argued that these days the audience has to be carefully spoon fed; any narrative has to have significant explosions, fights, or pop-up surprise cameo characters roughly every 6.8 minutes; even better if some gratuitous sexuality can be thrown in (tho so far in Mando, everyone except Boba has managed to keep their clothes on, pretty remarkable these days) and the idea of carefully building a narrative is as quaint as gas at 1.20/gallon. No character can deviate from the vision in peoples' heads, so at this point the stoic, courageous Mando is certifiably a wimp for not twisting that stinger off, dragging that robo-critter to the cage, stabbing him, and then using his flames to blowtorch the cage to freedom.

Then he could bathe in the living waters Thor-style, have a vision of being King, and fly back to Bo-Katan "how you like me now? and by the way, I'm King and we're moving to Mandalore". The End.

And when people complain that Mando was stabbed by some robo-spider and had no reaction whatsover, Favreau goes - "well, Mando is like, the chosen one, so there".

none of that goes against what I said, in fact, it is actually kinda more in line with my "lowering the bar" point rather than against it (unless I am misreading your meaning due to you using "or" to start).

This show does spoon feed the plot to the audience via constant spoken exposition (violating the show don't tell principle) relies on plot contrivances in order to move the character from point A to point B where he can fight some bad guys or engage in a space dogfight, all the while throwing in cameos (previous seasons had the likes of Bo, Luke, Ahsoka, Boba etc and this season likely will follow that pattern, or at least throw constant easter eggs like Babu Fricks species etc).

Mando being weak and incompetent would be fine, as would him being incredibly competent and tough, either can work, but this show makes him (and the other mando's) so inconsistent it stretches suspension of disbelief to breaking point. The character(s) can be tough or weak, super smart and capable or completely inept idiots etc depending on what the writer wants to make the next thing happen. This is the sign of terrible writing. Sure, smart and tough characters can certainly make the occasional mistake but when it flip flops this much it is just comical.

This particular series gets the most forgiveness from viewers thanks to timing. Season 1 came when the sequels had messed things up so badly that expectations were at rock bottom, so being just OK was comparatively like being the best Star Wars ever to the viewers. I did argue a lot at the time that it was entirely overrated and I think those who came around to that opinion only did so after enough time had passed and they had seen other stuff such as Andor that reset their idea of where the bar is supposed to be. Now, after the mess of BOBF and Kenobi I think Mando s3 is getting the benefit of severely lowered expectations again.... except this time it is worse so maybe less people are fooling themselves (hence the more mixed response overall this time).

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Mando being weak and incompetent would be fine, as would him being incredibly competent and tough, either can work, but this show makes him (and the other mando's) so inconsistent it stretches suspension of disbelief to breaking point. The character(s) can be tough or weak, super smart and capable or completely inept idiots etc depending on what the writer wants to make the next thing happen. This is the sign of terrible writing. Sure, smart and tough characters can certainly make the occasional mistake but when it flip flops this much it is just comical.

A criticism I do have for the show is Djarin is as bounty hunter by trade. I get there needs to an overarching storyline for the mythology elements, but he's got to go on missions, secure bounties and go get paid.

What made Andor work, much like Rogue One, was it showed the unpleasant daily grind and raw mechanics of how the societies in this universe and world building operate. If the show wants to lean more into the Andor territory, i.e. more hard grit realism, then Mando just can't stop being a bounty hunter.

My take is that if Djarin starts doing bounties every other episode, that would clean up a lot of the fractures of where the show might be veering off from what made it more successful in S1.

It would also help if the episodes were generally longer. If they are going to pay Carl Weathers anyway to be in an episode, then at least show more of him in his new role. And that should operate the same for all the guest stars. If you are going to have Bill Burr back, then really give us more than a half hour.

Personally I don't see more Bo Katan as a good thing. I get that she's becoming more integral to the rebuilding of the Mandalore society and culture, but IMHO they picked the worst possible actress to play her. That's probably just a personal preference there.

More bounties = Bringing back the more fun elements of the show

 

[jye4ever]

My wife said E3 was boring af

Women lol

 

[ScoutingForToys]

My wife said E3 was boring af

Women lol

I kinda agree with her.
I found Andor really engaging but this was so dull.
There were good ideas there but the crap dialogue and crap acting stripped it of what should have been a tense and engaging episode.
If it had better writers and better actors it could have been much better.
I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's down to direction, but it all looked awful too.
If it was filmed the way Andor was, that would also help a great deal.
This volume thing they use needs to be got rid of. Or at least used more sparingly.

 

[jye4ever]

I kinda agree with her.
I found Andor really engaging but this was so dull.
There were good ideas there but the crap dialogue and crap acting stripped it of what should have been a tense and engaging episode.
If it had better writers and better actors it could have been much better.
I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's down to direction, but it all looked awful too.
If it was filmed the way Andor was, that would also help a great deal.
This volume thing they use needs to be got rid of. Or at least used more sparingly.

I call it Andor Lite.

 

[Deinonychus]

It wasn’t even 10% as good as any Andor episode. And the Boba and Obi-Wan shows were total embarrassments next to Andor.

 

[jaztermareal]

I call it Andor Lite.

Perhaps aliexpress Andor might be more fitting...

 

[Misterbadguy]

Watched Ep 3 over the weekend and have to agree. Middle section was nothing more than Andor without teeth.

I went back and watched S1E1 after it, just to make sure I wasn't going mental and that the quality in writing really HAS dropped that much. The difference is fairly stark.

 

[wormlander]

My wife said E3 was boring af

Women lol

Never let her go

 

[wormlander]

This volume thing they use needs to be got rid of. Or at least used more sparingly

How about more tastefully?

 

[Cap'n Cook]

 

[ScoutingForToys]

How about more tastefully?

Yeah I think it calls for director that really knows how to make the most of it.

 

[wormlander]

Yeah I think it calls for director that really knows how to make the most of it.

Well, I'd say they pretty much hit a homerun with both the Volume and the overall designs/visuals in seasons 1 & 2 (a handful of questionable choices such as the Mythrol and the one-eyed frogs were expected, but nothing truly devastating i.m.o). Now, I realise It's extremely hard to create believable fake cityscapes. They need to provide an interesting sci-fi look and feel, yet cannot be too vibrant/busy while serving as the backdrop for characters who need to stand out. Lackluster design and execution aside, the worst offender of this season is still the weak scripts and (to a degree) also poor character development. There are decent story beats in there but like others have mentioned It lacks the focus and sense of urgency from previous seasons. Seems like Favreau didn't have enough time (or passion?) to preserve the excellent quality level we've all gotten used to by now.

 

[chrisstbh]

A criticism I do have for the show is Djarin is as bounty hunter by trade. I get there needs to an overarching storyline for the mythology elements, but he's got to go on missions, secure bounties and go get paid.

What made Andor work, much like Rogue One, was it showed the unpleasant daily grind and raw mechanics of how the societies in this universe and world building operate. If the show wants to lean more into the Andor territory, i.e. more hard grit realism, then Mando just can't stop being a bounty hunter.

My take is that if Djarin starts doing bounties every other episode, that would clean up a lot of the fractures of where the show might be veering off from what made it more successful in S1.

It would also help if the episodes were generally longer. If they are going to pay Carl Weathers anyway to be in an episode, then at least show more of him in his new role. And that should operate the same for all the guest stars. If you are going to have Bill Burr back, then really give us more than a half hour.

Personally I don't see more Bo Katan as a good thing. I get that she's becoming more integral to the rebuilding of the Mandalore society and culture, but IMHO they picked the worst possible actress to play her. That's probably just a personal preference there.

More bounties = Bringing back the more fun elements of the show

He hasn’t really been a bounty hunter since the start of S1.

 

[Dave_W]

He hasn’t really been a bounty hunter since the start of S1.

It's been downhill since he strolled into that bar and cut a guy in half with a door.

 

[jye4ever]

It's been downhill since he strolled into that bar and cut a guy in half with a door.

Like really?

REALLY?

That has been some of the best swashbuckling SW ever created same quality as ANH/ESB.

Downhill after E1 c’mon now seriously.

Seriously!

SERIOUSLY!!!



S1 and S2 possess some of the most potent, powerful, fun, sad, thrilling and memorable cinematic moments in Star Wars history!

Grogu ALONE is a master creation just on his own something not thought even remotely possible after the death of SW during the ST era.

 

[Otomofan]

Maybe they really should have just ended it after season two, and let Filoni tell Bo-Katan's story in a separate series or on Asohka.

It's like that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry tells George to go out on a high note and leave them wanting more. If all we got was those two seasons, The Mandalorian would have been considered one of those near-perfect shows.

I don't think this season is BAD so far....it's just not great like the first two. All shows decline in quality over time. I know it's only been 3 episodes but it's still a hell of a lot better than Obi Wan and BoBF.

 

[jye4ever]

Maybe they really should have just ended it after season two, and let Filoni tell Bo-Katan's story in a separate series or on Asohka.

It's like that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry tells George to go out on a high note and leave them wanting more. If all we got was those two seasons, The Mandalorian would have been considered one of those near-perfect shows.

I don't think this season is BAD so far....it's just not great like the first two. All shows decline in quality over time. I know it's only been 3 episodes but it's still a hell of a lot better than Obi Wan and BoBF.

The reason i’m not panicking is because I still want to know what happens next.

With TLOU I stopped caring soon after it started but then again zombie apocalypse bores me and will never be Star Wars for me.

I guess what i’m trying to say is that SW is my life even bad SW lol