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Delving into THE MANDALORIAN Chapter 22 | 028
23 Plays25 days ago
Join Branwen and Seah as they deep dive into all things Star Wars. Follow along as we fly off exploring all the wonders and geekery of a Galaxy Far, Far Away, chatting nostalgia, worlds, lore, sound, music, story, behind the scenes, and much more with each other and some very special guests.
This season, we're on a rewatch of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett in the run-up to the release of "The Mandalorian and Grogu" in cinemas in May.
In our twenty-eighth episode we're continuing through The Mandalorian Season 3, with Chapter 22 "Guns for Hire". We talk about themes, performances, story details, Space Romeo and Juliet, Logan's Run, more droid behaviour, Ugloste the ugnaught, and much more. Watch out for our "West End Geek Girls" segment, which now has a little theme tune!
Sisters of the Force is a weekly, UK-based, Star Wars podcast, produced with joy and love by Seah and Branwen. Sisters of the Force theme by Seah and Branwen.
Follow us on Instagram @sistersoftheforcepod, Bluesky @sistersoftheforce.bsky.social, TikTok @sistersoftheforcepod, https://www.youtube.com/@SistersoftheForce, and https://www.facebook.com/sistersoftheforcepod.
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Transcript
Introduction and Audio Warning
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, Sia here. Just jumping on really, really fast to say that while we recorded ah this week's episode of Sisters of the Force, and my microphone may have had a few problems. And Bramwen is obviously an audio genius, so it still sounds great, but it's not quite what you are used to. So bear with us for this episode and we'll be back to normal next time.
Favorite Mandalorian Lines
00:00:23
Speaker
Music
00:00:40
Speaker
Hi Branwyn. Hello. What is your favourite quote from Mando Chapter 22? You had me at battle droids. ah but This is delivery as well. Pedro's just... It is very good.
00:00:57
Speaker
He just does some brilliant deliveries on his lines. I think by this point, Favreau knows Pedro so well. Yes. And the character, obviously, like that little kind of triangle of Mando, Pedro, and Favreau is like absolutely... Absolutely great.
00:01:14
Speaker
ah Sia. Hi. What's your favourite line from The Mandalorian, Chapter 22? Yeah.
00:01:24
Speaker
I had a feeling you hated me.
00:01:28
Speaker
Again, delivery. Oh my God, that's not the one I thought you were going to do. No, I bet the one you thought I was going to do is also written down probably. I hope you like secretions. Yeah, I was going to do that. That was my, like, while-watching immediate choice. but Yeah, yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker
My other first choice was, I can't destroy everything I've built for a childish fling, which is the first thing I wrote down. That's a brutal line. know. It's a brutal
Podcast Introduction & Series Rewatch
00:01:59
Speaker
moment.
00:01:59
Speaker
um You're listening to Sisters of the Force, a Star Wars podcast with me, Branwen. And me, Sia. Hello. Hello. And we break down Star Wars stuff that we love. And we're currently re-watching all of The Mandalorian and all of Book of Baba Fett in preparation for The Mandalorian and Grogu.
00:02:20
Speaker
And we've got a really awesome plan, which I'm not going to go into all of the details of, but it does involve going to see the film in a cinema in Cardiff Bay. Now, any Star Wars geeks out there...
00:02:32
Speaker
who don't live in Wales are going to be like, wait, what? Because there's a new General Grievous a book that's come a graphic novel. And the one of the main characters in it is a Jedi Knight called Cardiff Bay. and When I heard it being reviewed, I think I was listening to Jam Transmissions and and he was doing a review. Yeah. And I was like, is it spelt weirdly? Am I hearing that because I'm used to hearing Cardiff Bay? Cardiff Bay, yeah. But when I'm Wikipedia and it's like, it's Cardiff Bay, but with an E on the end. What the heck?
00:03:04
Speaker
So it's got to be somebody who light has some connection to Wales. Yeah.
Controversy and Casting in Mando Chapter 22
00:03:10
Speaker
Anyway, that is really cool that we're going to see the Mandalorian together. Yay! In Cardiff Bay. Cannot wait. Yeah, me too. I'm so hyped.
00:03:22
Speaker
But we are here today to delve into Chapter 22, Guns for Hire, directed by the Queen Bryce Dallas Howard. Yes. And oh my God, what a controversial episode this is Smash Wars.
00:03:35
Speaker
things This is a wild ride. is it the wildest Is it wilder than The Return the Mandalorian in the Book of Oberfair? It's a left turn. Another left turn. Yeah.
00:03:48
Speaker
Especially where we got left at the last episode, where we thought we knew what was coming next, like retaking Randallor. Yeah, sure. we're going to Plaza 15. Let's this place that we've never heard of before. To see Lizzo.
00:04:01
Speaker
To see Lizzo and Jack Black. So crazy. But I think at the time it did upset people because of the stunt casting. I think that was the main right like pet things people had against it. can't remember if this must have been before Lizzo's hiccup with you know her team and the court case and everything else. I think Lizzo was before that, possibly.
00:04:21
Speaker
I can't remember when that happened. No, I can't. I meant to check. But anyway, but whether or not I think Lizzo isn't somebody that a lot of the fandom menace, they don't like her. that She's the kind of artist they're not going to like. Right.
00:04:34
Speaker
you know, she's the here for the queer community, know, she's a mother and all of that. And they were just like, no, no, no, we don't like Lizzo, so we're going to... We're not dealing him with it....thing. And also because of the, like, weird left-hand outfit did yeah throw people off again. I mean, I don't understand why Star Wars fans aren't used to being thrown... into It like is a thing that happens very regularly. it does, yeah. And as we've said many times on this podcast, I'm here for it. I'm here for it. It's great. Definitely. And um I enjoyed this episode when it came out. I think I was slightly, because it wasn't one of the more
00:05:10
Speaker
important in inverted commas episodes for the series yeah i was a bit disappointed it was a bryce dallas howard one because i always look forward to her episodes sure and when it turned out that she had directed this one and i watched it i was like
Direction and Opening Scene
00:05:22
Speaker
ah that wasn't kind of what i wanted from bryce dallas howard but going back to it i kind of feel like i don't know who else would have done this no like ah do you think they just had a we've vote we've got all of these people for these two days go what can you do yeah Just throw them in this planet. We'll make fun. like to kind Like everything else has so far been very serious in season three, you know, quite dark and quite Mandalorian-centric. and yeah Let's just have some fun. Yeah. Great. I love it.
00:05:55
Speaker
and Absolutely. Yeah. I think the randomness of the episode is reflected in the recap, which, again, I don't always mention the recap, but It's quite a random recap. There was a lot of different things. They were obviously like, you need to remember this, ah but you also need to remember this, and you need to remember this. Think about this. Yeah.
00:06:13
Speaker
It was a lot about Bo-Katan, to be fair, which is yeah good because she's a key player in this episode. Of course. And I feel like this whole episode is almost like a kind of summary of her relationship with Din. or like a consolidation of her relationship with Din and their like differences and their similarities and on lots of levels, which and it culminates with him, you know, where it where it gets to with what he says to like be able to give her the darksaber and everything. yeah And also the the other Mandalorians that were with Bo-Katan before.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they like come back into the story. here Yeah. And we needed to know all of their backstory. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, they were mentioned, weren't they? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:06:57
Speaker
But the episode proper kicks off with a classic Star Wars opening where you have like a star field and then the camera tilts in some direction or other. yeah And usually it's up or down. But in this case, it was like diagonally up to the right, which I think...
00:07:14
Speaker
Sort of ties back into what we were just saying about how this was a sidestep episode. This is a sidestep. don't know if they did that on purpose. This is an odd ship situation as well. We're like, who are these What's going on? We've never seen Quarren ship. No.
00:07:29
Speaker
I found it interesting. The ship itself looked a bit like Mon Calamari. Yeah. vibes Hang on a minute, I've got get this right because they changed the name. So the Mon Cala is the planet okay and Mon Calamari is the species now.
00:07:46
Speaker
I think it used to be the same. They were both Mon Calamari, but I they've shortened the planet name to Mon Cala. So anyway, it looked like a Mon Calamari ship. It needs smoothness, but i guess it's just that watery... Watery thing because it's the quaran.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah. I instantly went pirate ship? question Yeah, because it's like unusual. It doesn't look like yeah anything that we've seen before kind of thing, apart from a little bit like the Mon Cal cruises and stuff.
00:08:14
Speaker
But yeah, we find out it's a quarren ship and it's this i just this is this five and a half minutes cold open. Yeah. of like, I don't know, it's amazing. i wrote so about it. I've called it Fishy Romeo and Juliet is what I've called it. Exactly, that's exactly what it is.
00:08:32
Speaker
Actually, six minutes there. is' It's like, yeah, a good chunk of the episode. It's definitely Romeo and Juliet. It's the Starcross lovers. Yeah. There's a whole load of stuff about... What we're going to be finding out when we watch the opening arc of season four of The Clone Wars, there's a ah three or four episode arc, I think it's three episodes, about Mon Cala.
00:08:53
Speaker
And it shows the Mon Calamari and the Republic sort of aligned. fighting against the Quarren and the Separatists. And it turns out, spoiler alert, that Palpatine created the whole mess just to cause destruction and chaos and you know all of that kind of thing. Gotcha.
00:09:13
Speaker
But it's that's the sort of canon situation before the Age of the Empire, like during the Clone Wars, Mon Calamaris and Quarrens were enemies sharing a planet, sharing their watery world together. yeah So even though by this point, they've they've kind of done a lot of work as two communities to work together. yeah But evidently, there's still a kind of taboo about it. Still some tension there. Yeah. Still some slight racial tension. My note here was that it's fishy Romeo and Juliet. I love it, but it's also giving secondary school production vibes. Yeah. like the dialogue and the dialogue yeah yeah i feel that's probably on purpose like in a kind of comedy they're playing it for the jokes a little bit yeah uh but it's also quite lovely as well like even axe roves when the mandos turn up he's still he's quite like yeah i get you're doing it for love yeah i'm really sorry to be doing this but so funny
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah, there there's a bit more story seeding about the the Imperial Warlords thing. Yes. Because the coroner really worried. I don't think we get her name. Her name is Captain Shoggoth. Shoggoth, that's it, yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, she's really worried about this Imperial Warlord situation, yeah which we know from 3 of Mando that that's going to become a a big thing yeah in the Outer Rim. And I've just been redoing Aftermath Book 2, and there's quite a bit about the Shadow Council in that. In fact, we get some names which are probably members of the Shadow Council at this point, or just before, actually, a few years before.
00:10:54
Speaker
of who it is, although a lot of those are different from the Shadow Council we see in this season of Mando. But it's all that sort of feeding into the story, which is what's going to be in the film
Governance and Thematic Parallels
00:11:05
Speaker
as well. We know that's in the film. yeah We know we've got this Sabacc deck that the New Republic is using to to hunt them down.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah. Ooh. It was nice. sales I feel like that was probably the purpose of this cold open in a way. Sure. Apart from to reintroduce us to Axe Rose and show us yeah that they're off doing, you know, mercenary work. they' off doing their bounty hunting. Yeah. Yeah. but but Gotta take it home, kid.
00:11:29
Speaker
They were so in love. that They did that weird, like, her tentacles. It's not kind a kiss, but like her tentacles kind of reach and start touching his face yeah just before he gets taken away.
00:11:40
Speaker
It's really interesting. It's all kind of odd. It's bit sluggy. I like it. Yeah. I'm here for all of that. The prince said, thought Mandalorians were honourable. And Cosca says, we are, kid. All it takes is a few credits. Yeah. Yeah. So not that honourable. We are honourable, kind of. Unless you're going to pay us not to be. you have to pay us and then we will. Yeah. But yeah, it was very like, but I don't want to go home. Yeah, he was being a bit... It's quite whiny....about the whole thing. He's very teenager-y. Yeah. She felt a little bit more, okay, this is what we've got to do. Maybe not. You've got to Yeah. Yeah. Get off my ship. Don't do it. Like from a practical special effects or whatever. don't know how they did it, but they were amazing masks.
00:12:30
Speaker
I was a bit caught off guard by their voices because... They don't match. All the Mon Calamaris that we've heard have that kind of Admiral Ackbar-y, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop sound to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Quarrens have a particular...
00:12:45
Speaker
voice usually like a particular accent accent kind of thing but these seem to just have pretty much normal regular age voices voices yeah so maybe it's just as they get older their voices change like as we humans do don't they yeah although she sounds older yeah he definitely sounds like a child i don't know if this has been confirmed or not but is he season one episode three the same kid yeah the That's what I thought when I saw him.
00:13:13
Speaker
Are they bounty hunting the same kid? Grief Karga. Yeah, he's got that little, yeah what do they call him? It's the puck, yeah. The little hollow puck thing, yeah, of a nobleman's child. It's got to be the same one. Yeah.
00:13:27
Speaker
It's got to the same kid, which means he's been on the run for quite a while. He's doing well, yeah. Yeah. Hiding on a quarren ship. You did well. I loved, before we leave this, sorry, we keep going on about this bit. It's six and a half minutes long. I really love the fish tank pod thing. Yes.
00:13:46
Speaker
That they feed fish into the thing that she can eat and then the whole thing comes down and the water goes with it and she's left on her like cat's chair. Yeah, it's incredible. Super cool.
00:13:58
Speaker
She is cool. I didn't like him very much, but she's cool. No, no, she was cool. But then credits, we're in. Yes. Boca Town and Mando are on a mission. Yeah. There were some really nice, fat, percussive synth-based sounds in the main theme. i know we've been talking about the way the main theme keeps getting reiterated. But yeah, some super nice bass sounds in that. Sounds good. Yeah.
00:14:22
Speaker
They're coming Plazia 15, which I noticed looked quite a lot like Yeah. Yeah, looks like the Eden Project in Cornwall. Yeah, yeah, the actual surface. I mean, like from a distance, it's like the blue and green. The distance it looks like Earth, Yeah. But yeah, it does look like the Eden Project. I've heard, think it was Children Watch said it looked like the Epcot Centre in Disney, which is 100% true as well. Okay. And it's also, and this ties in with our podcast and the future episode that we're going to it's incredibly Logan's Run-ish. And in fact, I feel like some of this episode is a homage to Logan's Run. Because we've got these domes, we've got the trains that go through the tubes, which happens on Logan's Run. And we've got this planet of pleasure where humans are just there to have fun, which is exactly what happens in Logan's Run. There's no work or anything. They're just there, having a nice time. There's another scene later on that's a direct lift as well, which I'll make sure we get there. Yeah.
00:15:22
Speaker
And the reason I say this relates to our podcast is because we are still planning at some point if we can tie down our guests. We will do Logan's Run episode. We're going to be doing a Logan's Run. Somewhere in the midst of our Clone Wars coverage, yeah you'll get a random Logan's Run drop.
00:15:37
Speaker
and But yeah, my first note here was they run into some Imperial droids. Yeah. As soon as they get pulled down. Quite a rude, no, you're not going where you want to go. You're coming this way. It's very strict. Also fair enough. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You're coming in. Fair enough. It's a pleasure planet. Like it's probably going to be quite oversubscribed with visitors, would imagine. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:02
Speaker
There's a bit of exposition from Bo-Katan, I think maybe, about how the planet isn't on the New Republic Register, yeah which we find out a little bit more later on about that and that they're like an independent system.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah. And the reason that Axe and his team are there is because they've been hired as like a protection military. Yeah, they're a protection racket. They're not allowed to have military of their own because of, if it turns out that Captain Bombardier... It's not necessarily... so Very trustworthy.
00:16:33
Speaker
yeah but There's still synth fanfare when they get the announcement before they go they get pulled in. to turn It's so good. I quite like it. I like how it sets you on edge because it is, you're like, oh no, what's going happen here? Yeah. But it is all really friendly at the same time. It's very friendly, but there's like this undercurrent. And I feel like the whole episode stays pretty friendly. like you to You come away from it thinking, well, yeah, it's an okay place. Yeah, they were fine. But is it? It's weird. And they've got that system of ruling, which I'm sure we'll get to, of direct democracy, which I didn't know what that was, where like you don't have elected leaders, but the civilians, the public, vote yeah for every law. Everything, yeah.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Which is very interesting. yeah Really interesting. And I feel like there's been a lot of times in the UK in the last 10 years or so, 15 years, actually, no,
00:17:31
Speaker
The one big instance of that, which was the horror show known as Brexit, went horribly wrong. So maybe that's not such a good idea. Not a good example. Yeah. I guess if you have a direct democracy, you need to make sure your public are honestly informed yes at all times. And that's something that we're astoundingly sh** at. Yes. As Mon Mothma said, the death of truth is whatever it is that she said about the death of truth. But that's exactly where we are now. We're heading further and further away as well, the more AI becomes...
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway. cool yeah Well, we can't really do this episode without getting into this because I feel like that is one of the important aspects of this whole episode. About this episode, yeah. Yeah, it's completely wild.
00:18:15
Speaker
They're in this little... um Bureaucracy shuttle, again, it's being really polite to them, are we but it's access denied. I'm taking you where you need to go. yeah And I'm going to scan your chain codes. I'm going to know exactly who you are and what you're doing. And they don't have a choice. They have no choice. And they're in this little shuttle thing, which is really cool. And it looks almost ah exactly like the driverless trains in Tokyo. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was like, ooh, I've been in one of these, but not...
00:18:45
Speaker
It didn't speak politely to me like that. Well, it might have spoken Japanese. Yeah, it probably did, imagine. It probably did, yeah. It didn't scan my chain code, but never mind. While this is all going on, I think we first start seeing this kind of like where Bo is and where Din is at this point of the story and how she's like, we've just got to go along with it. We're just going play the game because she's got her mission now. She wants to take Mandalore and she's been given permission by the armour in a way. I mean, not exactly, but that's... Kind of, yeah. She's been given the confidence to do it. That's vibe. She's got to get her team back. And she's probably very anxious about that. And I would be exactly like her on this mission of like, we've just got to, I just want to get there and get it done. Find the people, resolve all the stuff that's been lurking in the background. Whereas Dave is still like, I don't like this. Why they checking us? What are they doing? Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:36
Speaker
He's very suspicious. They didn't check Grogu's chain They did not check Grogu's chain code. And I wondered about that because does he register? Maybe. Or is he too young to register? Or what's the... Could be an age thing, yeah. Yeah. don't know how that would work. But like, he's older than them. Yeah, yeah. Maybe it can detect like DNA of alien species and how they age. I don't know. Yeah, really odd.
00:20:00
Speaker
I just want to do a little callback before we get off the train. Yeah. ah The two black droids, the Imperial droids that you mentioned, yes there's a comic run called Dr. Aphra. She's this amazing character. i think we mentioned her on the pod before. We have, yeah. I've heard that a female, queer Indiana Jones. and Yes. And she's really fun. And she's got two droids that are in her, she owns them, yeah called Triple Zero and BT-1. And they're chaotic and murderous. Okay. And they're like reprogrammed Imperial droids, I think. And they look exactly, not exactly like this. The protocol droid looks very like the black protocol droid. The astromech has got a different shaped head, but it's the same. The same same idea. Very similar vibes. Okay.
00:20:46
Speaker
I thought they looked cool. They look cool. Anyway, sorry, I was rewinding a little bit there. That's all right. My next note is what are Jack Black and Lizzo doing here? What's going on? In Star Wars, yeah. yeah yeah I mean, it makes complete sense, but also it really doesn't at the same time, and I quite like it. It's incredibly Alice in Wonderland, the whole thing. Like, is this like the Mad Hatter's tea party? Yeah. We've got a croquet thing later on. She's called the Duchess. You know, it's just... It's all very, very Alice in Wonderland.
00:21:17
Speaker
and And at the table, like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, instead of like all got like hook a door mouse sort of thing. And they're all different aliens. they're like Yeah, they're all different species. did write them all down. We got Rodians, Bith, Quirm, Ribet, which are the frog lady things, Sullustons, Ishtib, Ithorian, and a little Scurrier, I think it is, loops onto the table at one point and then jumps off. yeah and Yeah, they've all got the tubes. Yeah, which I assume are the secretions. Yeah, and this living alien creature yeah up above them, generating the secretions that they're drinking in real time.
00:21:52
Speaker
really don't know about that. This is an audio medium, so you can't see Bramwen's face, but it is great. We should capture the video so that we can... She's not having I do not want secretions. I couldn't think of like a, is there a real world equivalent of that? I don't know.
00:22:12
Speaker
he i suppose the only thing I can think of is those toads that you supposedly licked to have an experience. I guess that's probably it. Because we've had something similar. We had that in Booker Boba Fett with the lizard. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot about that.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, I guess this is similar thing, except this is just being done for party rather than spiritual quest. Yeah, it seemed to be the same of similar thing to like a shisha, didn't it? So they're all like similar to like smoking flavoured stuff. Yeah, yeah, it looks pretty well. Maybe I would do Maybe you're selling it to me. You changed your tune quite quickly. I just want to sit at a table with Lizzo and a bunch of aliens yeah from Star Wars.
00:22:53
Speaker
Well, and Jack Black, too. I love him as well. I did have a note that it looks like a great party. It does look like a good party. It's fun. yeah There's some chill music. It sounds like kind of East Asian plucked instruments. Yeah.
00:23:07
Speaker
But it could have been synthesized versions of that. Yeah. But yeah, it's really nice and peaceful and colorful. Yeah. Five lines in and Jack Black is singing. Yeah. Of course He didn't come back to the singing. I think you just had to get out of the system. i don't think he could not. I don't think that's Every character, yeah. I think he's quite similar to me in that. i chargegen Yeah, you sing all the time. I do. but Your voice notes are basically just songs.
00:23:33
Speaker
Which also, yeah, maybe you're a Mandalorian. Like, the songs tell us of blah, blah, blah, blah. It's just here explaining things. That's how I explain things. I can't express myself if it's not through song.
00:23:48
Speaker
Jack Black's the same. I know i know the feels. It's fine. yeah I did say that he's quite shifty, though. and he is. He seems really shifty, but also almost instantly Grogu is a traitor.
00:24:00
Speaker
yes Grogu can't wait to go and hang out at the party. Yeah, he's having a great time. Even though Din's like, oh no, he won't do this, he won't do that, and then he just immediately does it, which is exactly what Show them some food and they'll completely contradict you. yeah We do start to hear a bit more about the captain, Captain Bombardier.
00:24:25
Speaker
And he's like another iteration of the amnesty program. Yes. And it's so different from what Pershing's going through. different, yeah. So is that like related to the level of crux? You know, what is it that may Jack Black be able to come and set up rebuild this planet and marry this duchess? And who's paying for it all? And and they're not a New Republic planet.
00:24:53
Speaker
How are the New Republic amnesty letting him do this completely out of there out of their sight? yeah thing I mean, I know there's rules about like military and this, that the other, but sure he's still just living his best life. Yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
He's having a great time. Yeah. I wonder if it's about repentance, but it can't be necessary. necessary I don't know. it's so Yeah, because Pershing is... Pershing's pretty repentant about it. He did his whole speech in yeah and the thing. We'll never know, though, because maybe Pershing would have got there. i don't know. Yeah, yeah. Had he not been flayed.
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah. It could well be about, like, who do you grass up to the New Republic? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. Pershing didn't have anything valuable... To give....in terms of intelligence or whatever for them. Although I feel like he probably did.
00:25:42
Speaker
But I feel like the Duchess has a lot of influence anyway. She's obviously... She was born into this life, yeah I think, from what i gather. So sounds maybe she has a certain sway. And maybe she took like responsibility for him and... yeah Because she often says stuff like, we're not allowed to have this because of that, and we're not allowed to do this. And yeah she's kind of explaining all the limitations. Whereas Captain Bombardier is just like, oh yeah, we're going to have a party. She's a bit more careful about how she says things. Yeah, yeah maybe.
00:26:14
Speaker
yeah First of all, they're trying to get to the Mandalorian mercenaries. And Captain and the Duchess are like, no, you can't. Unless.
00:26:25
Speaker
Unless you do us a favour. Unless you have a little, yeah, private investigator side Come and do us a favour and then we'll let you do a thing. Yeah. but but And basically from there on, we've got this sort of film noir-y private investigation, possibly early James Bond. It hits all of the beats yeah for it, which is great. Like from the crime to the chases to the morgue to the forensics. The police, yeah yeah, the matchbox. Yeah, it's like...
00:26:57
Speaker
Going into the nightclub, like all of the, it's great, like, but everything Star Wars. Everything Star Wars and everything in like 20 minutes, which is yeah quite i impressive. Yeah, really fast, yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
I think that's why I wrote so many, like I wrote, I can't remember how said, 110 bullet points about this episode. And I think it's because there is, they just cram so much in. just goes so fast. I could barely, I've written hardly anything because I was just like in a spin. Me too. I was pausing every few seconds. My parents were twitchy. And then I watched most of again this morning.
00:27:36
Speaker
It's so dense. There's a lot happening. Yeah.
Investigation into Droid Malfunctions
00:27:39
Speaker
So this investigation is to do with some malfunctioning droids. Malfunctioning droids that are definitely malfunctioning and definitely not being coerced. Yeah, yeah. To terrible behaviour. We hear all sorts of different things from all sorts of different people and it is like following the breadcrumbs in a really cool way. yeah That's where Din says you had me at battle droids. Yeah. Because he just, anything to prove the battle droids are terrible is gonna rock Mando's boat.
00:28:08
Speaker
My nearly favorite line was, they all look suspicious. Yeah, yeah. Which is him again talking about battle droids. He's not wrong. No. So the first step on this investigation is Christopher Lloyd yes as Commissioner Hellgate. What a name for a start.
00:28:28
Speaker
Hellgate. Yeah, Hellgate. How did they think that one came? Guess who is the criminal in this whole scenario?
00:28:37
Speaker
So funny. Yeah, he explains to them about whatever it is that's going wrong and he shows them some clips, which are really funny, I thought. Yeah, they are really funny. Also, they're so video gamey, like all of the screams that happen and stuff like that. I've heard all of them in video games. Yes, definitely. that Each one was like a different sort of stereotype. yeah And they're all like fuzzy black and white kind of CCTV footage, which makes me laugh.
00:29:02
Speaker
ah My favourite one was the droid... gets in the speed or he's going to park the speeder and it just intentionally crashes yeah yeah although the cooking droid at the end we've got one of those multi-armed cooking droids and we don't see that but we hear it's just like an absolute massacre complete chaos And we find out how Plazir 15 works when Beau says, can't you just turn them off? And the commissioner says, we can't. Because if we do, it's all going to go horribly wrong. yeah yeah No one can work anymore. Our society will collapse, which again, great. Yeah. There's something a bit, um maybe this is like a comment on AI or something. Yeah. Like if we put all our faith in the machines, we've had it.
00:29:49
Speaker
So yeah there's a lesson in there for us, I think. Definitely. But then that gets flipped in a bit. It does, yeah. Yeah, i love the twist and turns. So the next stop then, he sends them to the lower levels to talk to the Ugnaughts. Yay!
00:30:03
Speaker
Which...
00:30:08
Speaker
Slightly predictably. yeah There were a few things that I was considering doing. But bo was going to do something from the cold open, but then I saw the Ugnaughts and I thought, I love them. And although they were named by the original trilogy, i don't know that anybody actually says Ugnaught in Empire Strikes Back. Okay. But.
00:30:29
Speaker
They were named because the Star Wars figure of the Ugnaught was called Ugnaught. So they've been given a name. But as per usual, the West End Games team who made the role-playing game back just after the original trilogy came out gave us a lot of background for Ugnaughts. And I went and checked with like current canon Wikipedia and it is all still relevant, which could quite surprised me actually. It gives you a load of information in really early on. I can't remember which book this is in. I think it's in the original rulebook that they're mentioned.
00:31:04
Speaker
And it just tells you that they're the pig-like aliens that come from the planet Gentes, or Gentes, I'm not sure you pronounce it, which is in the Anoet system, which kind of tracks because that's where Han and Leia are when they get out the asteroid field. Right, yeah. Leia says, where are we? And...
00:31:21
Speaker
He says something about the Innoa system and she says there's not much there. so But Bespin is near there as well. So that's why there are Uggenauts living on Bespin. Okay.
00:31:34
Speaker
They're kind of, yeah...
00:31:38
Speaker
They lived in primitive colonies, apparently. Sure. And then when Cloud City first began its operations mining Tabanagas, presumably, yeah the less than reputable leadership of that city, headed by the enterprising eccentric named Lord Fig, searched the nearby systems for a cheap form of manual labor. And I guess this is where it starts to get bit... imprison the uglots. Yeah. Like this whole thing that uglots have about servitude, which we've heard Quill talk about a lot. So they were eager to work for next to nothing and they were encouraged ah because they i think they were living quite primitively and when they started to see Cloud City, it was like, oh yeah, we want to go and live there and we don't mind how little we get paid.
00:32:21
Speaker
And they did seem to, you know, they reveled in their work from what we could see. They were very serious about their work in The Empire Strikes Back. And looking back at what Quill said about servitude kind of, yeah, ties into that. Kind of makes sense, yeah.
00:32:35
Speaker
Doesn't mean it's right, guys. No, not at all. Not at all. But yeah, there's a nice little extract from Galaxy Guide 3, which is specifically about the Empire Strikes Back, yeah about a character called Ogloster.
00:32:49
Speaker
And it tells you just a little story about what happened when the Imperials came to Cloud City. And yeah, like the renewed threat that the Oglots were now facing. Yeah.
00:33:02
Speaker
It's an interesting read and yeah yeah I love how it ties in really well with all the new lore because I think mostly what we're getting in the new canon comes from The Mandalorian, comes from Quill and this episode yeah and everything we see about them here.
00:33:17
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, this story is specifically about the carbon freezing thing. Oh, yeah. yeah And it says an imperial officer told Agnol Ogloste to modify the carbon freezing chamber and handed him the specifics on a data pad. So he is responsible for trying to make the carbon freeze safe for humans. So we've got Ogloste to thank yeah that Han survived. Survives the whole thing.
00:33:46
Speaker
And I think he doesn't really want to be bothered with it. Yeah. But you can see that the human's been tortured when he scans the human's anatomy. So you can see the hand was like, his body had been trashed a bit. Tortured beforehand.
00:33:59
Speaker
it reminded him of his past and his wife, who was tortured similarly. is's quite dark. no, that is dark. But then he sort of like thinks, well, whatever, it's just a human... yes He makes the changes, but then like he makes it so that it's not going to be deadly.
00:34:19
Speaker
Right. And yeah, it's a really interesting story. Because then by the time we get to Mandalorian, it's kind of standard to carbon freeze yeah beings. Yeah, yeah. take in. become like a mode of bounding, yeah. yeah By the very end, because he watches Chewie going bananas and he watches Han and Leia and their affection for each other and...
00:34:42
Speaker
As he thinks back to his wife, he makes some changes at the last minute, just a little adjustment on the machine. I think we see him you know when you watch it again, there's an Ugnaught running around at the last minute, and I think it's supposed to be him. especially And he changes it to make it so that it's not painful.
00:34:58
Speaker
like So he's sort of saving Han from any more suffering. It's almost a bit like the From a Certain Point of View thing, but just yeah just the role-playing game books have got lots of that. When they talk about an alien species or a ship or a weapon type or transport whatever, they often have little column stories to fill up the space in in the layout and stuff. And that's kind of what... ah you know one of the creators said about it like often they were just filling up the layout filling up the gaps yeah so they were just writing these little stories which have now become they really sort of inform what what goes on now these characters stuff yeah it's really cool oh we love an ugnaught we do love an ugnaught i really enjoyed seeing more of them yeah lots of them lots of them in one place and also just completely like no I'm not talking to you until Dinh speaks to them in a way that don't mind being spoken to. Yeah, she's kind of impatient. Again, it's her like, she's just trying to push through. Get this done. Yeah. There was a line here where i think Din says, you see what happens when you rely on droids? Yes.
00:36:10
Speaker
might have been just before they go down. Yeah. And Bo and Din are kind of having this kind of like banter throughout the whole episode. Yeah. And a lot of it feels like Bo, I've said she's glass half full and Din is glass half empty. Yeah. Which is true in a lot of ways. But I think some of that in this particular episode is because she's trying to push forwards.
00:36:29
Speaker
Yes. Whereas Din is being faced with a whole load of stuff about droids, which is not his comfort zone. maybe that's why he's a bit... Well, he just wants to get rid of them all, doesn't he? he's not He's got no patience or time for any of this. Yeah. And he might be a bit cross because Grogu's off with the Duchess having a good time. Yeah, Yeah.
00:36:53
Speaker
But yeah, he talks the Ugnaughts round. He mentions Quill. He says, I have spoken, made me cry a little dear. We hear the bell music, the bell theme from the end of the main credits music, which is kind of Quill's music now, because that's we heard when we saw his dead body at the end of whatever it was, episode seven, chapter seven.
00:37:14
Speaker
All that time ago. The Ugnaughts are very pride and they're almost in denial about the fact that there's a problem, that the droids shouldn't be malfunctioning. Yeah, I read that completely as, but they're not malfunctioning because they know that they're not malfunctioning. oh they're doing what they're programmed to do. Yeah, they're doing what they're programmed to do. So they were like, well, no, there's no problem here because...
00:37:36
Speaker
they're doing what they're supposed to yeah and like the ugnaughts don't really have a stake in it in the the same way that the other are interesting yeah they're like neutral parties yeah just there to do the maintenance they don't really interesting hadn't thought of it like that but yeah so yeah i just didn't see them i saw them as that was kind of your first clue that no they're not malfunctioning it's not a problem everything's working as it should yeah yeah
00:38:07
Speaker
So they're then sent to the docks. They go to the docks and we get some lovely little shuttle exposition I've written down here on the way. Just filling us Yeah. Let us know what's going on. Great. we don't We don't have much time. he's like, you've just got to keep going, keep going, keep going. We're very much on Bo's journey here. She says, I've not seen battle drawings since the Clone Wars. And Dian says, I have. Which I'm...
00:38:35
Speaker
At first I thought, does that mean that flashback that we've seen of his family him being put, was that not in the Clone Wars then? But then I remembered that he's seen them since then. He's seen them since then. Yeah.
00:38:49
Speaker
In some of these episodes. Yes, he has. And then we get the the dock worker droid. They all look suspicious. And he's just like booting them to test whether they're annoyed by him or not. Which to be fair, I think that's quite a good way of testing them.
00:39:07
Speaker
He's got the right idea. It ends up working, pretty much. It struck me for the first time ever, and I can't believe I've not noticed this, but I don't think b two' s speak.
00:39:18
Speaker
maybe we Maybe they have spoken. good point. B1s speak all the time. B1s speak all the time, yeah. then' Roger, They're quite annoying, yeah. but but That was almost another line for me. You should have left them alone. ah There's ah a B1, modified b one Modified is understating it. In the Aftermath trilogy called Mr. Bones. And he's like an incredible character. He's probably one of the best characters in the trilogy. Okay.
00:39:48
Speaker
Mark Thompson, who does the audiobook version of it, does such a great job with the voice of him. And obviously they put the effect on whatever it is, like a kind of filter and bit of distortion. But in the book, it describes Mr. Bones' voice as being glitchy and like sliding up and down in pitch all the time. And it sings a lot discordantly. And Mark Thompson does such a great job. Amazing. It's like the best.
00:40:16
Speaker
That's what I'd be like if I was a droid. Yeah, you'd be a modified Yeah,
00:40:24
Speaker
ah so yeah but then one of them does respond to the provocation. Yeah. And we have an amazing, amazing sort of like corridor into the streets chase. Yeah.
00:40:38
Speaker
We get into the streets, like the cinematography is
Chase Scene and Droid Society
00:40:41
Speaker
unbelievable. Like it's all pink and blue neon, which is like doing it for me anyway. Yeah. But like it looks huge and there are so many background characters and yeah stuff going on everywhere. It's wild. It's cinematography. It's lot. Cinema standard. Yeah. incredible. Yeah.
00:41:00
Speaker
It reminds me of like the Attack of the Clones scene, you know, when Obi-Wan and Anakin go into the underworld. Yeah, Sam Sam nice And again, it ends up with them going into a bar, ah but not yet. because they've got a crime scene first. They have to have the card crime scene. The constable droids come along. yeah There's some brilliant like hollow police tape.
00:41:27
Speaker
I love that. Written in Arabesh, which I meant to pause to see if it says police line do not cross. Of course you do. But it's holographic, but it's yellow and stripy just the same as they are. So good. So funny.
00:41:39
Speaker
And they find the spark pad, which I looked it up and it doesn't really tell you anything on Wikipedia, except that it's something to do with droids. It's a matchbook, let's just call it what it Yeah,
00:41:50
Speaker
It's a matchbook. For the resistor, which is this club. Going to lead them now go to the bar. There's a gonk droid just outside the bar. Yeah, gonking happily. Gonking away. Doing thing. Some more amazing diegetic techno. I feel like... This is my favourite music cue of this episode because yeah this droid techno slaps. It's amazing. They are having... Such a good time. It connects us to the Sanctuary and Book of Boba Fett music, which isn't specifically droid, but they have got a droid drummer, which is probably key to the overall vibe.
00:42:25
Speaker
Beats make all the difference. I feel like Mando and Booker Boba Fett, I was going to say we've had some of the best diegetic music we've ever had in Star Wars. And this is very true, but Andor should not be overlooked. Andor. Andor season two.
00:42:40
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. anyway I've seen that bit. ah Ah, but it comes back, I think. i think it comes back. And there's more amazing diegetic music to come from where you're staying up to. Oh my gosh.
00:42:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, we're just getting, I think possibly it feels as though a combination of Joseph Shirley and Ludwig are giving us like a really high threshold of what diegetic music in Star Wars needs to be. Yeah. From the little honky weird synth like fanfares that we get. We've had multiples of those in season three already. Loads of them. To the bar music, you know, the club music and what have you To the classical stuff in the background of yeah like the party here, you know, we chat. So good.
00:43:29
Speaker
Wherever we go, we're getting some quality diegetic stuff. Some great music. Really cool. I love how you get that classic trope of everyone stops, but yeah because they're droids, they just all completely stop. Yeah, it just absolutely stops. And it's the we get the opposite line of, I don't think they get many of our kind here, instead of, yeah we don't serve your kind here. yeah but Even the framing of it when they appear on the right in the entry, it's like shot the same as the cantina. So good. I mean, Bryce Dallas, she loves Star Wars. So, yeah, not surprised at all. Yes.
00:44:03
Speaker
So many droids. Is this like every type droids? I started writing them down. It's like, with there's just too many of everything. There's too many. There is so many. Hearing all these different voices and bleeps and burbles. And the way they move, yeah.
00:44:17
Speaker
The bartender's got that ring modulator Eve 99 voice. Yes. Which is a nice little word. I wrote that the bartender's quite sassy as a droid. Yeah. It's a breeze. Yeah, it starts to say we're in the full compliance with planetary hierarchical and then Mando cuts her or him. I think it's a him, isn't it?
00:44:36
Speaker
Possibly. I don't know. i don't know. Droid genders are often difficult to tell. School of day. um Yeah, doing interrupts and... So we never get to hear what the planetary hierarchical thingy was going to be. and I'm a great lover of that kind of Star Wars pointlessness.
00:44:55
Speaker
But Din says, I'll yank your memory circuit and dissect it back at the lab. Bo-Katan has to like calm it down. Calm him down. like, chill, stand down, stand down, Din. But this is where we get the switcheroo with the droid saying, yeah we're going to be replaced by humans. Yeah. And it's, oh my God. Such a great story. Like they've been given a second chance.
00:45:18
Speaker
Because the New Republic would have had them decommissioned just because the New Republic is being maybe a bit heavy handed with the droids. Well, because they date back to the Confederacy and of Independent Systems. But how short memory the New Republic has that like what took down the Confederacy of the Independent Systems was the Empire.
00:45:40
Speaker
And so yeah to just shut them down, i don't know whether they're shutting them down because they were from the separatists or yeah is very interesting. Or what's going on. Yeah. It's another example of like the gray politics of Star Wars, which I think is a really good story point of what George did with the prequels and how we're made to sort of doubt the Republic in the end and the Jedi and how their motives are all really yeah messy and It's all a bit confusing and a bit problematic Yeah, Yeah. And the Empire. And then the New Republic is just doing all of the same mistakes. And I think this episode tells us a lot without actually telling us that.
00:46:19
Speaker
We just get a vibe of that. Yeah, of course. Well, we're already suspicious because of Carson Tava and that whole story and Dr. Pershing all the other stuff we've seen so far in season three. But...
00:46:30
Speaker
this, there's some underlying stuff in here that really, it kind of feeds into your subconscious without you even noticing unless you're doing what we're doing, which is... Yeah, unless you're actually analyzing it. Indeed.
00:46:42
Speaker
It's interesting because it really humanises all the droids as well and you start to feel for them yeah in a way. Which is what i meant last week when I said that we were going to have some stuff about our behavioural tracking.
00:46:54
Speaker
There was nothing specific that got me thinking about droid behaviour in this, except the whole thing is a bit about that, about they're like, yeah want to survive. They're like, yeah desperate to survive. So does this mean they're not getting wiped?
00:47:08
Speaker
Are they all developing personalities? Yeah, are they all... They certainly seem to be developing personalities, this lot. The fact that they're all sitting around like... They're all in a bar. Yeah. What do droids need a bar for? They're doing cheers with their Nepenthe things that's like connected to them and chinking glasses. Yeah, and like hanging out. And there's two hanging outside the club where the gonk droid is. There's a couple of protocol droids I noticed on the second watch.
00:47:32
Speaker
And they're just having a chat. They're just chatting. Yeah. So they are kind of bizarrely human. Yeah. Yeah. It's very interesting. The management of the droids feels really sketchy Plazir 15, which suggests that they're probably not getting their regular memory wipes that they would on a more organised New Republic planet, maybe.
00:47:53
Speaker
So yeah this is what happens, is that the droids start to develop a thing, which, is it a problem? Because it's not this isn't what's causing the problem. no The... infecting programming is what's causing the problem. yeah The droids just living their lives and and developing personalities seems to be doing a good thing. seems to be fine. It's making the droids have consciences and want to be good at their jobs and yeah be worthy and stuff. Because they're trying. They're all trying really hard. It's interesting. It is interesting. There's ah some really nice music while they're having this conversation with the barman. Yeah. That's like not diegetic because I don't think the diegetic music seems to come back. It just stays silent after they've walked in. Yeah. but Whichever one was playing it has stopped. Yeah.
00:48:41
Speaker
But there's some sort of tense music, which is sort of raising the state a little bit, which is like clicky percussion, like... to Yes. thing And there's some synth chords, which are playing jazz extended chords, like minor nines and stuff, which is very film noir-y, like the jazz yes score of a lot of the film noir films and things like vibraphone and stuff. It's got that vibe. And then some of early James Bond...
00:49:07
Speaker
Which has still informs modern James Bond, but obviously James Bond in the 60s sounded quite different, but it is that vibe. There's like the the James Bond chord, which is a minor major seven, which we don't actually hear in this episode, I don't think, but we're tending in that direction and of exchange chords. Slowly towards it yeah. But the music becomes more like emotive and plaintive as the droid continues to tell their story and like starts complaining about you know the way that they've been treated yeah and how desperate they are. it's really like It gets very emotional. Again, it's the humanising.
00:49:43
Speaker
But they find out a bit about this. Yeah. They find out a bit about the Nepenthe. What is it called? Nepenthe. Yeah, Nepenthe. Nepenthe. Yeah. I don't know what i was about to call it then. This was all a bit mind-blowing. It contains program patches. Yeah, to patch their programming. Depending on what the mainframe, yeah, wants to happen. It can just feed the droids. Yeah, that hurt my head a bit. Yeah, rather than the droids having to like directly take orders from somebody or be patched into a master computer or attached to a network... But then that's quite a humanising way for them to go and get their updates, isn't it? They just imbibe. Go and hang out at the bar. Go and have a drink and then you'll know what you've got to do tomorrow kind of thing. Yeah. It's super interesting. I wonder how many droid places there are like that. Yeah.
00:50:28
Speaker
where that's how it works. This is the first time we've seen this in Star Wars, I think. Yeah. And I wouldn't mind betting that it doesn't come back again at some point because, well, I don't know.
00:50:39
Speaker
Interesting. There's a great line that the barman says, organics created us. It's the least we can do. Yeah. And the droids, when he says that, that's before they start talking about the Nepenthe, I think. the droids all go wild like in agreement. yeah They're like celebrating their servitude and yeah how grateful they are to have an existence.
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah. Which is really interesting having just come from a scene with Ugnaughts. Yeah. See, oh my God, this episode is so heavy. Everyone just thought this was a throwaway episode. There's lot going on. definitely not a throwaway. There's so much happening and there's so much so so many layers to peel back. But also it's being delivered in such a fun yeah way. Yeah, behind this sort of like deceptively fun
00:51:26
Speaker
Wild. Oh my gosh. So it turns out that there was a batch of nepenthe that's been causing the malfunctions. Yeah, that had strange nanobots in it. But to find that we have to go to Robot Morgue. Yes. it's Amazing. We're in a droid morgue now. Yeah.
00:51:46
Speaker
I thought I recognised the actress who played the lab tech. She looked like, I can't remember the actress's name from Orange is the New Black. She's like a stand-up well. yeah, yeah. I know one. Yeah. But it's not her. I don't think. It's not her, no. Unfortunately. I'd love to see her in Star Wars. This bit is like that whole, I grew up watching things like Waking the Dead and all that kind of crime CSIE stuff. yeah And I love that they were doing this with droids. Yeah. Like, let's get in the forensic lab but quick. Yeah. Yeah, there's an assistant droid, which is an imperial torture droid looking thing, and it has the same sound design. It's white, to put this into a full sense of security. But it's different. And I don't think it's supposed to be a torture droid, but it like sows that seed in your brain when you hear that same sound that Princess Leia heard just before she was tortured. Yes. ah But then it all goes bananas. And this is the second Logan's Run. Well, no, it's about the fifth Logan's Run reference. yeah There's a scene in ah Logan's Run where they're at like the plastic surgery place.
00:52:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And everything malfunctions and the laser cutters go wild and start cutting people into pieces. Well, not cutting people into pieces, but yeah yeah. I think the lasers in that are red, whereas the lasers in this are green. but The way of the two lasers go at different angles to each other and make it really difficult yeah to like avoid being hit by them.
00:53:06
Speaker
very much like Logan's Run. I'm sure it's Logan's Run reference. I really want to ask Jon Favreau. If ever meet Jon Favreau, I'm going to say, did you watch Logan's Run? That's going to be the only question. Is that a Logan's Run reference? Yeah, I'm sure he did. I think when we do our Logan's Run rewatch, we should compare and contrast with this episode a little bit. Compare the scene. Okay, we can do that.
00:53:28
Speaker
But it made short work of with the Darksaber. Yeah. Din does a very sneaky manoeuvre around the back kind of thing. Cuts it half. yeah And we get into this like microscopic...
00:53:42
Speaker
look at the particles in the Nepenthe and they're nano droids. So they're like microscopic droids rather than what is regularly in the Nepenthe. Or is that supposed to be? i don't know.
00:53:57
Speaker
then Maybe they're a particular type of nanodroid. They're doing something particular, aren't they? Yeah. But I imagine that's what the Nepenthe has in any way. Yeah. Like by way of giving them the programming they need.
00:54:10
Speaker
ah Is the stuff that contains the program patches, is that nanodroids or... Are these just whatever? Or is that just code? Yeah, i don't know if we need to difference. There's something But there are definitely some nanodroids in there and we get the whole kind of rotate perspective and then zooming in and it's like so many films. It has. Yeah, so many films. I think ah Blade Runner is probably the original shout out.
00:54:35
Speaker
but Yeah, yeah. that It's been done many times since. And it turns out that it's a chain code.
Resolution and Leadership Challenge
00:54:41
Speaker
and it belonged to the techno union, I started looking at the Arabesh. What? One of the Arabesh said something about code to something or other. Okay. But then there was another bigger bit of text that just said A-F-E-T, like AFET. Oh. AFET.
00:54:59
Speaker
Googled it, couldn't find anything about it, so don't know what that means. But it probably means something because they don't just throw random letters in Arabic. They always say something. And it's usually very carefully constructed, so I don't know what AFET means.
00:55:14
Speaker
Intrigue yeah and mystery. A little bit of Easter egg intrigue, maybe. and treatment maybe of forensic. I was so confused by this point. or not like I wasn't yeah confused. I understood what was going on, but they're deliberately chucking in a load of language that is just like...
00:55:28
Speaker
Yeah, whatever. Yeah, I said the tech jargon is wild at this point. Yeah, yeah. I had to like pause it multiple times and then I went and found the transcript online just to like try and understand it.
00:55:40
Speaker
Oh, that's why you're looking at transcripts. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I often do because I don't get my quote. I want to get my quotes right and all of that. fair there But yes, turns out that this particular nanobot thing from the techno union was requisitioned illegally. it didn't go through the proper Plasio 15 route.
00:55:59
Speaker
And they narrowed the individual down to being Commissioner Hellgate. Yes. And I would gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you pesky kids. Exactly. was very Scooby-Doo villain ending. was him all along. Yeah. But then like this whole bit just seems like nuts because of how quickly it all happens. Yeah. Yeah. There is no time between, going to make everything malfunction now to, no, you're not, to, you've been arrested, to, you're in exile. It's just so quick. There could have been a chase, you know, or something like once he realised he was, I mean, there was a little standoff, there? Because he was going to push the big red, huge red button. He was going to push button. Don't make me do it. Beau was like, absolutely not. Yeah. There you go, it will freeze you. Especially when we find out that he was a Dooku lover, wasn't he? He like says Count Dooku knew what was talking about. separatist.
00:57:00
Speaker
Bo's not having it though, she just says politics and shoots him. Yeah. And then we get this Alice in Wonderland croquet scene. Croquet. With little bouncing bugs. Where Grogu's helping her cheat. He's cheating, yeah. He's using the force. I love Grogu. Yeah.
00:57:20
Speaker
He's such a little sneak in this episode. He's been so...
00:57:26
Speaker
He's not bothered at all when his dad's off doing something dangerous. Definitely not being a good Jedi and he's not really been a good Mandalorian either at this point. No. But he's living his best life. He's having fun. He's having a great time. Yeah. but but Oh dear. They bring him in and they're like, it was him all along. And they very quickly go, well, off you go then. Yeah, we're not going kill you, but we will send to the moon of Paraquat, which we never find out what that is and there's nothing about it online. It's just one of those classic Star Wars throwaways. My note here was just, exiled, bugger off, lol, all happened quite fast.
00:58:05
Speaker
He seems to have been very much part of her side of the thing. He calls her m'lady she's very polite to him and disappointed in him a bit, I think. But he doesn't. He says, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Yeah, yeah. He genuinely... okay He doesn't like the Imperial. I think that's what it is. No. Yeah. yeah I kind of understand that because he was part of the Techno. I had a feeling you hated to me. He's presumably got links with the Techno Union. Maybe that's why he's doing the job he's doing because that's where he got nanobots from. And so he would have been anti-Empire.
00:58:38
Speaker
And so he would have been anti-Bombardier, which is interesting because then you get that sort of like, well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing. Yeah. Of like, is could the Duchess and and this guy be on side with the New Republic in the long run? I don't know. I think we're thinking too deep. It's all very odd. We're never going to come back to this, I don't imagine. No.
00:58:59
Speaker
No, that's it. This is it. But the upshot is finally side quest successful. They're now allowed to go and see the Mando privateers. They've been given a comically giant key. A huge key. It's literally a key and it's massive. Grogu's been given it a knighthood. Yeah.
00:59:15
Speaker
Grogu is knight of the ancient order of independent regencies, which I'm sure that's going to come back. Like, yeah you don't make Grogu a knight of the ancient order of independent regencies unless...
00:59:28
Speaker
They probably will come across the independent Regencies again because that sounds like it's something Outer Rim-ish. Outer Rim-y. Yeah, it sounds quite Outer Rim-ish. and Most of what these storylines seem to continue in the Outer Rim, I think Mando's going to be out in the Outer Rim still in film. Sure.
00:59:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:48
Speaker
Okay, now we get to the actual storyline. Okay, now we're back to the main plot. It's all been a wild ride of go to here, then do this, then do this, then do this. Do it all really fast and now with the plot. Now we're back to the plot. And it's a kind of a tense face-off, I guess, between yeah bow and and...
01:00:08
Speaker
It's very medieval knight though, isn't it? It is, yeah. And it's like we've got to we've got to fight for leadership. To this challenge. Yeah, which they do. Let's have a duel. Spectacularly.
01:00:20
Speaker
yes the The kind of, I called it the night owl theme, though we don't know really know what this yeah branch of Mandalorian is called, but it's that gated synths thing that we first heard yes in the ARS episode. I love it. Which was Bryce Dallas Howard's episode. I've just remembered that.
01:00:35
Speaker
and Maybe that's why they gave her this one to direct. Maybe. Okay. Because of this, like, it's a very Bo-Katan heavy episode. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. A little bit. Anyway, yeah. So we get these lovely gated synths. There's some, like, bending drone notes. Like, it's a classic tension drone.
01:00:52
Speaker
And it's just bending a little bit in pitch, going up and down a few cents, which is very unsettling and a great tension trick when you're scoring. But then it starts to go wild once the fire starts happening. Yes. And they are pulling out all of the stops. All of the weapons come out. Axe's Vibra Knife Buzz merges with the score I noted. it's got this kind of same sort of thing as the synths, the Sawtooth Wave synths thing.
01:01:17
Speaker
Yes. All of the things, rocket packs, the whip cords, flamethrowers, everything is happening. This is when my notes get a little bit bizarre. It's hard to make notes on this kind of scene, think.
01:01:34
Speaker
like I sort of started focusing on the music a lot. There's this sort of yeah jangly rhythm synths, I called them. Or synths or samples, I wasn't sure which. It's that a bit like the Mudhorn scene with that weird sampled voice thing.
01:01:47
Speaker
yeah It wasn't exactly like that, but it was the same thing, whereas it's like, is that synth or is it a sample? It's heavily manipulated yeah with these big orchestral unison yeah low notes, and then the strings start playing chords sure with these amazing sort of parallel chords, which is quite unusual. Yeah, I got really deep into the music this episode. Nice.
01:02:09
Speaker
Really cool. Bo's not having any of this. She's like, I've had enough. No more blood. She takes him down. Yeah, she gets him on the ground. But she's not going to kill him. The crowd look unsure. They're all a bit uncomfortable, aren't they? They're not 100% sure what to do because before this they would have been following her and yes some of them would probably still believe that she is Mandalore, you know? Yeah, yeah.
01:02:34
Speaker
They're all a little bit... She says Mandalorians are stronger together. She's sort of like channeling the armour a little bit, like the armour is... speech to her in the previous episode is sort of feeding into what she's now saying here of like we've got to do all of this together Yeah. but acts says a misguided zealot possesses the blade one who i might am yeah saw a drop of mandolorian blood in his veins which Also, it doesn't matter. Famously. Yeah. Famously not a thing. And considering he's the one that was like smearing at the children of the watch when we first met him, like yeah you're saying they're two purists and now you're being all first blood. you're being weird. Yeah. Yeah.
01:03:14
Speaker
That's very odd. I think it's just a that's just his last kind of grasp. but yeah Yeah, he likes the leadership thing. He likes the power. he doesn't want to give it up. No, and he has just been put on his back. Din ends the whole thing anyway by... Revealing the secrets! He doesn't own the Darksaber anymore because she won it because she beat the weird...
01:03:37
Speaker
She beat the creature. Creature droid thing. Yeah. Which does all scan. It's a little bit of a stretch, but it's... It's a tiny... Yeah. I think we talked about this. been holding on to that one, Din, haven't you? Just... I had to sit and work it out. You've been holding that back just for a minute. Just... All right, fine, fine.
01:03:55
Speaker
Have it your way. Give her the dirksaber. We were talking about this a few weeks ago, I think, about this whole like special weapon that can only be won by blah, blah, blah. Yes, by fight. Unless dot, dot, dot. And that there's always a way around it. And this is the way around in this case. Yeah. Which, yeah, fine. It does track, it does scan, but also...
01:04:16
Speaker
why didn't he give it to her at the time? yeah Yeah. Well, I guess maybe he knew probably that she wouldn't want to take it. But in this moment, like this is the moment, you know, with those things that you have to wait for the right moment to reveal them. Sure.
01:04:30
Speaker
Sure. And I suppose I did actually have a note earlier on, which is when they're on their way to the Mandalorian camp, for the first time ever, she doesn't have a plan. She's winging it. Yeah. And so he steps in with her winging it. Yeah.
01:04:44
Speaker
And he goes, oh, here's a way that I can help. Yeah, yeah definitely. That's good. I guess that's that's kind of the way. yeah But still. Eventually actx agrees and sure immediately that he says, because Mando says, would this blade not then belong to her? Would it not belong to her? And Axe says, it would. And immediately we get the low piano dum-dum and the beat of the Mandalorian.
01:05:10
Speaker
And this is my favourite music cue. It brought tears to my eyes. Like the arrangement of it, the horns start building and the strings come in and they add the major seventh That is the armourer's note, you know, the twangy down that we keep referring That major seventh comes in the strings.
01:05:30
Speaker
So we've got the armourer's thing and then it all the chords start to become lush and it's like everything's coming together. We've got the children of the watch with the major seventh and we've got the Mando solo theme. We've probably got some of the Night Owls stuff mixed in and it's all of the Mandalorians in this final music cue. As she lights the dark saber, the camera tracks in.
01:05:54
Speaker
yeah My brain was going, yeah What? And we got to black. Hoka-chan is the leader of Mandalore. Yeah. She's done it.
01:06:05
Speaker
I continued writing notes after it had finished. Yes. Only two notes. One of them was that the night owls really want the dark saber thing to be definitive. Yeah. And it never is. yes And it's one of those things that like only the Sith deal in absolutes. It's that similar vibe that you can't, like not everything's cut and dried.
01:06:26
Speaker
You can't just put all of your faith and culture and belief system into one weapon. Sure. But for now, they'll take My other thing that I noticed is in the post-credits, not in the post-credits, during the credits, the concept art stuff, the concept art of Plasia 15 actually falls way short of what they achieved on screen, which isn't always the way. Sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes it's the other around. concept art is like, oh my gosh, that looks so incredible. And what we got was good.
01:06:57
Speaker
But in this, I feel like that the colour and the design of the actual episode and what they did with it, the art design generally was way better than the concept art. so Great.
01:07:08
Speaker
Love it when it's that way around. Good work for Bryce Dallas Howard for motivating the design crew.
Cameos, Speculations, and Listener Engagement
01:07:14
Speaker
Love it. I did make another note after it finished, but I didn't complete the sentence and it's gone now, so I've got no idea what it was.
01:07:24
Speaker
Oh, I've just remembered something that we didn't mention, but I'm going to do a reel the week this comes out of a montage of, if that's not the quactical and the stifling sliming. Oh, yes! I forgot that that was there again. Because we got the commissioner dropped that line Yeah, all of them. We need to find all of them. Screen record them all. Christopher Lloyd gave his only little spin on it. think we've had two bobers, one commissioner and one pelly at this point.
01:07:52
Speaker
ah We've also had a Cad Bane. Oh, yes. So there's five. We've had a Cad Bane. Amazing. I can't wait to this.
01:08:07
Speaker
Oh, dear. It's the little things. It's the little details. It's the little things. oh my goodness what an episode what a wild wild ride wildest episode it just keeps getting wilder and wilder I love Star Wars it's just amazing it's so fun yeah it was so fun and I was in like several different spaces at once trying re-watch this episode this morning and I was just like what is going on I'm so confused I'm trying to mix the audio on this film and then I'm having a Star Wars break and the wildest one I can imagine I had a load of time this morning that was normally I would fill with work, obviously, as a freelancer. But I spent about two hours on this, just going through the notes I took two nights ago. Normally, the notes I take while I'm watching it fine. And I sometimes spend 10 minutes just color coding them afterwards so that it's easier to read. Tidying it
01:09:02
Speaker
But I spent two hours like looking things up and going down rabbit holes. There's so many layers. I think it's like we've been saying. There's so much in the episode. It's so fast.
01:09:13
Speaker
and yeah And there's like ah multiple things going on all the time. so many layers. Which considering lash people dismissed it as a throwaway episode. As a throwaway. No, it was not.
01:09:24
Speaker
But also, like the place where it left us... the episode before and then to take this wilder sidestep. Yeah. We've only got two episodes left. How in the hell are they wrapping this up in two episodes? They were two episodes to take Mandalore. That's it.
01:09:40
Speaker
what To be fair, the next two episodes are pretty long. I think the next one's an hour. I think that is the case, isn't it? It's like 50 minutes or something for the last one. they're both It's like a feature film left.
01:09:51
Speaker
which Right, okay. All they've got to is take Mandalore. Sure, easy. so easy Go to Mandalore, take it. They solved all of this in a very short space of time. I mean, look how quick they did CSI Classroom 15. They did such a... That was really fast, to be fair. About 20 minutes. About 20 minutes, yeah. 20 minutes of CSI. Smashed it.
01:10:14
Speaker
Oh, wild. Anyway. If you enjoyed this, go and give us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Yeah, do that. On Spotify. We didn't earn it in this episode. What more can we do? Yeah. yeah but We've got nothing else.
01:10:29
Speaker
If you could do that, it'd be an amazing because it will help more people to find us because it helps the and podcast. helps the algorithms. It helps the helps all the algorithms and helps the droids do their service. Yeah. Go and follow us on all the things. If you're following us on Instagram.
01:10:47
Speaker
or blue sky or even Facebook and you see us post something like a reel or a little post whatever interact with it and you feel like you could repost that would really help us or even better put in your story for 24 hours that would be super amazing and just like say follow these people they're amazing that'd be really that'd really helpful even if you don't really think we're amazing you know you don't have to think we're that good just do that for us you don't have to think we're that good you just have to help yeah We'll be very grateful. If we have sparked any sort of joy at any point. Yeah, exactly. We're going to be back. We shall be back next week.
01:11:27
Speaker
Chapter 23. It's my birthday episode. Yes! Yay! And we've got guest. And this is so exciting. a guest in a little while. It's been just me and you for quite a while. has been, hasn't it? But we've got a super lovely guest coming back who's not been on Facebook for ages. He was our first guest, in fact. He was our first guest. And we haven't had him back since. I've had a few Star Warsy chats with him since then. And I'm really looking looking forward to breaking down this episode with him.
01:11:58
Speaker
Excellent. Yeah, we'll be back then. Excellent, excellent. Until then. Bye. Bye.