The Mandalorian - Season 2 (SPOILERS possible)

[Nicklab]

Spoiler for the ending:

That was clearly Boba Fett at the end, right? My brain saw the gaffi stick and assumed it was A'Sharad Hett

Yes. You are correct.

+1.  Because if we go by what we learned in Attack Of The Clones, Boba Fett was an unaltered clone of Jango Fett.
 He had no growth acceleration, etc.  Jango was played by Temuera Morrison, so it's natural for him to also play Boba Fett here.... even if we're 18 years past the release of AOTC, and the official timeline has Boba Fett at an age of 41 or 42.  Someone looks a little weathered for that age!

[Nicklab]

Finished watching S2E1 before lunch! Great episode, great cast, great Easter eggs. I think my favorite part was Timothy Olyphant using Anakin's old podracer engine as a speeder bike.

My only complaint is that Cobb Vanth didn't look Star Warsy enough, almost like the costume department just had Olyphant wear whatever street clothes he wore to the set that day

I liked that particular easter egg, too!

I appreciated seeing the Cobb Vanth story play out on screen.  The story about the armor had first surfaced in the current canon in the Aftermath series of books.  Seeing those seeds that Chuck Wendig had planted come to fruition was cool.

I think Timothy Olyphant was a good choice for the role.  This wasn't quite like his role as Bullock on Deadwood,  but that seems like it might have been good preparation for his take on this part.

[Dave]

So what is our timeline for talking about the episode and spoilers, without having to use 1 point font?  24 hours?  Or should we have separate threads - spoiler and non-spoiler flavors?

[GrandMoffNick]

I personally think during the season we all should know stay out of this thread if you aren't up to date on episodes. That being said I suppose someone could want to post something informational etc so then I'd vote on separate spoiler non spoiler threads

[Matt_Fury]

I figure 24 hours is good.  We're all in different time zones and have different schedules.

Also, yeah.....good idea to avoid the thread until you watch the episode, but we should also not post plot leaks at all in here.

[Dave]

Spoilers be warned...




I though it was a fun episode.  I loved the beginning Gamorrean vibro axe cage match, Mando's interactions there, and the Easter eggs throughout the episode.

The one part that I wasn't as big a fan of was The Mandalorian's agreement to get back Boba's armor.  The Mandalorian is generally an honest, but ruthless dude.  I'm not sure why he would have bothered to help kill the Krayt Dragon as part of the deal instead of just taking it.

I'm not sure if he needs a Krayt Dragon sigil to go with his Mudhorn one now 

Ultimately it was a fun episode and I can't wait for more!

[Jeff]

Also, yeah.....good idea to avoid the thread until you watch the episode, but we should also not post plot leaks at all in here.

Agree - 24 hours is fine to talk current/past episode spoilers but future plot spoilers should be posted in a clearly marked spoiler thread

[McMetal]

Super entertaining overall, although the Krayt dragon looks a lot different from the one Boba Fett is riding on my poster. 

Any big things under the sand are always going to feel like a bit of a Dune ripoff, but that did not bother me at all. I was more bugged about the sort of silly Sandpeople language for some reason.

Timothy Olyphant is always great in everything, and this was no exception. Sure we will be seeing him again.

One thing I thought was really cool was how they threw out a few breadcrumbs that could potentially piece Boba’s whole backstory together. The thing lived in an abandoned Sarlacc pit. Someone or something apparently ate the Sarlacc. Maybe the explosion of the Khetanna attracted curious Sand People. Maybe it even killed or incapacitated the Sarlacc. You can kind of fill in your own blanks from there. What’s not clear is how he got separated from his armor. Should make for a helluva flashback episode!

John Leguizamo unrecognizable in a role again...he is uncanny.

[Nicklab]

Where to begin?  Because there was a lot packed into this episode.  A notable thing about it was the running time.  I think this may have been the longest episode of the series so far.  And I hope that maybe that trend will continue.

The first scene with the fighting arena was cool.  And I thought we weren't going to see that sequence until further into the series.  The battling Gamorreans were cool to see because the scene seems like it might have been inspired in part by the Playstation game Star Wars - Masters Of Teras Kasi.  Thok anyone?  Seeing another Abyssin was cool, too.  Gor Koresh was perfect as part of the whole underworld of scum and villainy, combover and all!  And I was shocked to learn that he was played by John Leguizamo!  I don't think he's had that elaborate of a costume since he was in the Spawn movie.

Returning to Tatooine was good.  The place is at the heart of the saga, even if it's always been seen as some Outer Rim backwater.  I was also glad to see the return of Peli Motto!  I didn't know what to make of the character at first.  But I was rewatching the first season with my daughter this past week and I know she got a kick out of "The Gunslinger" and the subplot with the Razor Crest being repaired.  Seeing Peli Motto fawning over the Child again was funny, and it was also good to see Mando building a network of good people that he trusts - including letting the Pit Droids work on his ship.

I knew some of the Cobb Vanth backstory from the Aftermath series of books.  Seeing some of that explained was good.  Cobb Vanth's choice of speeder?  Holy Easter Egg!  Mando's relations with the Sand People was definitely set up in "The Gunslinger".  Another nice Easter Egg was seeing that Mando ran into the same Sand People who graciously accepted the gift of Toro Callican's binoculars.  And when the Sand People were riding their banthas?  All in single file!  Attention to that kind of detail really spoke to me.

I've got to say, the Krayt dragon was really menacing!  I also got the "Dune" vibe when it went through Mos Pelgo.  And at first I thought it was going to be some kind of sand worm.  But when it was explained that it was a Krayt dragon?  I started to buy in.  Was it just so big that it would sink into the sand?  There were also some nice nods to KOTOR in there:  you have to kill the Krayt with explosives by luring it out of a cave.  And the pearl was one of the quest items in KOTOR.  But that venom?  And how it totally liquified the Sand People that it got on?!?!?!  Ugghhhh, that was nasty! 

What is there to say about the final shot in the episode?  Based on the armor that Cobb Vanth had you know that somehow it got out of the Sarlacc pit.  And after seeing Mando get swallowed by a Krayt dragon and survive?  The armor can take a beating!  I'm pretty sure that I heard the sound effects of those spurs as he turned towards camera.  So was it him or Cobb Vanth that found Fennec Shand's body at the end of "The Gunslinger"?

[Jedi Idej]

Anyone else remember the backstory of the Tuskens and banthas having a mental/emotional connection? I guess that's thrown out the window seeing as the Sandpeople had no issue sacrificing their ride. Anyway, they staking the bantha made me think about the goat in Jurassic Park, only they needed a bigger goat. Not sure why I associated the two moments but it made me chuckle. 

The bantha is either the most chill or dumbest animal ever. The krayt is creating tremors and the bantha didn't budge at the mining town, too preoccupied with the food/water trough. And at the cave opening it was only saved because the dragon went after the fleeing Tusken. (Maybe it was sedated in the second instance.)

Old skool Cylon commander! Graffiti from 3:18 to 3:23.

Gor Koresh. Hello, Hasbro?

[Jesse James]

I was spent after the episode...  fantastic.  Like Randy Marsh in the overlogging episode of South Park at the camp...  just wow.

The planets I wish they’d give a name when they’re arriving is all.  Loved the initial planet and it’s war torn look.

[Matt_Fury]

I was spent after the episode...  fantastic.  Like Randy Marsh in the overlogging episode of South Park at the camp...  just wow.

The planets I wish they’d give a name when they’re arriving is all.  Loved the initial planet and it’s war torn look.

I'm a little grossed out now.

[Jesse James]

Mission accomplished. 👍

[Dave]

Thoughts on the latest episode?

I thought it was fun, just like the first, but they're really not advancing the story or developing the characters at all.  I was kinda hoping for some story arcs or something meatier.  Maybe this series is just going to be pulpy fun.

[Nicklab]

I liked the recurring bit about the Child eating the eggs.  It added some much needed comic relief!  We've also seen the vessel with the eggs in some of the trailer footage, and the condition of the Razor Crest at the end of the episode also lines up with some other trailer footage.  But I think this also shows that Mando needs to start thinking more about how to essentially be a parent to the Child while he's taking care of him.

The series really does seem to like revisiting some of the McQuarrie concept art.  The spiders were among his ideas for Dagobah in TESB.  And of course we saw similar spiders turn up in Rebels.

Seeing a continuation of some of the events of "The Prisoner" from season 1 was good, and thankfully not overdone.  The bit about the Razor Crest's transponder was just one part of that.  The passenger using Zero like an interpreter was another cool tie-in.  I like that the way the New Republic pilots interacted with Mando showed the ambiguity of the state of the galaxy - just because the Empire was defeated doesn't mean everything is all well and good now.  Mando has had to navigate some of the changing dynamics of that.  The NR pilots caused trouble for him, but then in the end they also helped rescue him.  It was good to see that they recognized his part in apprehending Mayfeld, Burg and Xi'an, along with how he tried to keep them from killing Davin.  Trapper Wolf making another appearance was fun - fan service, sure, but fun. 

This definitely seemed like a transitional / plate setting episode.  Things were looking up for Mando after chapter 9, but now he's facing more setbacks.