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S02E49: Rapidly Rewatching Mando S1E4
20 Plays8 days ago
It's the Magnificent Sev... er, the Mandalorian Two-and-a-Half as Mando and The Child team up with the notorious Cara Dune. Will the sanctuary be saved? Join Bob, Ben, and Phil as we discuss it all! Join the Short for a Stormtrooper community!
Discord: https://discord.gg/a89TD3XdFX
Email: SFASpod@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Recap
00:00:01
Speaker
We're hiding out in a sanctuary and we're doing it real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper. Today we are going back into our Mandalorian rewatch and we are covering chapter four, Sanctuary.
Mando's Western Adventure
00:00:27
Speaker
This was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and in it, this episode finds Mando laying low on Sorgan. He teams up with Cara Dune to defend a village from an AT-ST, but a tracking fob proves the child is never safe, forcing them back into space. That was a very concise recap of the entire episode from ChatGPT.
00:00:51
Speaker
But I'm here with Ben. I'm here with Phil. Phil, tell me what you thought of episode four. I really liked this one. You know, we talked in the last episode about how Episode three was great. A real sort of turnaround from the second episode of the series.
00:01:06
Speaker
I thought this one was great too. And frankly, again, i know this also, you mentioned directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. Clearly she loves Westerns, but clearly the writer of this episode, Jon Favreau, the sole credit for this episode, yeah loves Westerns. This is totally a Western in so many ways. I keep saying this, I know, but this episode especially like rang true to me. You think about the gunslinger that comes into town that's being ravaged by outlaws. He has to team up with an unlikely ah ally and the townspeople to stop them.
00:01:38
Speaker
How is that not a Western? And that's the plot of this episode. I thought it was great. Loved
Western Influences and Character Development
00:01:43
Speaker
the additional backstory into the Mandos with the helmet. He can't take the helmet off. He almost does a couple. He does off camera right in one particular shot. So that was really great. I'm sure there's going to be a bigger payoff for that. as we go throughout the season.
00:02:00
Speaker
um I love the training montage, classic, cool, very 80s. Obviously, this is another action packed episode, with them finding off the bandits and the ah AT-ST. That was really cool.
00:02:14
Speaker
Super intense, great action throughout the episode and some sweet moments with the townsfolk, which I thought was great. um I have some more thoughts, but that's kind of my initial reactions. Great. Ben, what do you think?
00:02:26
Speaker
Well, I think as usual, Phil's on target. I'm going to throw in some stuff he didn't talk about. I love that they give us Mando's, they tease us with the idea that he could possibly settle down here. There's ah there's a romantic interest for him. There's a life he could make for himself. Will he accept this life? you know And ah you know the episode unfolds as it does. I love that. um i weird Maybe this is weird. Maybe it's not. I really enjoyed the fact that they, made the ATST scary again. Yes.
00:02:59
Speaker
I remember watching Return of the Jedi as a kid and, you know, it doesn't, you don't have to get very old before you go, really? a bunch of Ewoks with logs.
00:03:10
Speaker
That's what they're using to take out these Imperial war machines. And yeah it's kind of comical. It's a slash spooky scene. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So ultimately then, you know, you come back to this one and to see this thing, to see them being scared of it, I think tells you what you need to know about what you should think about it.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah. You know, oh, I've seen this thing take down, you know, platoons or whatever they said, you know, and it's got red eyes. It's crazy. it's so evil. I know that's great. So I think there's a lot of great stuff there from the from the perspective of design and revisiting some certain kinds of Star Wars things. I think there's some great character moments. And ah to me, you know, it's funny, Phil, you say these are all Westerns.
00:03:47
Speaker
To me, this really got me in the mode of thinking like we are very much in the middle of a lone wolf and cub samurai story. And so samurai, Western, we call these kind of things interchangeable a lot, and that's fine. But that's kind of where my head was with this is...
00:04:03
Speaker
we're in that story. And frankly, I don't even know enough about lone wolf and cub to make the analogy really great, but I liked, I liked that. We're seeing that kind of a story development here.
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah. I really liked this. And if I could add, yeah, go ahead. If I could add just one last quick thing. I love Bryce how Dallas Howard's episodes that she directs in the series overall. She's got some of the best stuff. Phil, I can't wait for you to see the ones coming up in the future.
00:04:28
Speaker
yeah I'm looking forward to it. She's so good. She's so good. Must be in the must be in the bloodline. Exactly. And um yeah, yeah, there's there's an episode coming up and we'll point it out where she basically does a direct homage to her dad, um which is really lovely. I'll see if I catch it.
00:04:47
Speaker
That'll be fun. Yeah. yeah She's she's great. She knows her Star Wars. I I loved this episode as well, but I'm going to loop back to Phil's point about this really feeling like a Western story.
00:05:01
Speaker
The only issue I have with this episode is it does loop back to a Western. It loops back to a very specific Western. Well, a very specific samurai movie that was remade into a Western, which is the seven samurai and then became the magnificent seven.
00:05:19
Speaker
It is basically the same story. And, you know, when it was unfolding, I was just like, oh man, this is seven samurai. This is really seven samurai. And, know,
00:05:31
Speaker
I still liked it. You know, I still really liked it. It still really worked for me. But if I had any complaint, it was that it was it was cribbing a little bit too much directly from that story.
00:05:43
Speaker
I thought you were going
Cara Dune's Character and Impact
00:05:44
Speaker
to say three amigos. You know, Three Amigos, i I don't think I've ever actually seen it. I'm aware of But it is a remake of the same story, isn't it? I mean, Three Amigos famously ends with Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short trying to stand up a town's defenses against the Mexican bandit El Guapo. Yeah.
00:06:05
Speaker
You know, every town has its own El Guapo, which in their case happens to be the actual El Guapo who's going to come here and raid them. I'll leave it to you to go watch it again, but it's a great piece of comedy. Fair enough. Comedy Western.
00:06:17
Speaker
A couple of things that I wanted to call out. The introduction of Cara Dune. So yeah she's an interesting character and I really like Cara Dune and I always liked Cara Dune. And I do want to come back to the meta of the Cara Dune situation in just a second, but, um,
00:06:37
Speaker
I loved the introduction where they're fighting and then they stop and then baby Yoda is just sitting there drinking his bone broth. So good. And it stops the fight. Yeah. That's one of the favorite scenes. So good.
00:06:50
Speaker
So good. I actually have in my notes here, um you can cut this out, Bob, if I can't say it. Cara Dune is a badass. Yeah. Yeah. You can that on my show. That's fine. Okay, cool. Um, their, their first interaction, this is a note. I have your first interaction. So cool. And she's cool throughout this episode.
00:07:09
Speaker
Um, I also have in parentheses here, as you alluded to Bob, I know she's canceled or whatever, but but the character is cool. That is the meta. And that's what's, that is what's sad to me. I, I'm not going to get political around it, but, um,
00:07:26
Speaker
Yes. ah This is the thing that's really sad for me is I was in the preview session about the Mandalorian at Star Wars Celebration, which came out, you know, it was like four or five months before the show actually aired. And they presented Gina Carano kind of for the first time. And she was just embraced by the fans. And she got very emotional because she said something about like, she'd never felt accepted and being here at Star Wars Celebration, she just felt so so so accepted and
00:08:01
Speaker
And it was really lovely. It was a really lovely thing. And she was kind of the darling of Star Wars for a while. And then she said some things that were pretty offensive and got canceled. And next thing you know, she's done. She's fired. And the and the character seems to be written off. there There was supposed to be a spinoff series ah called Rangers of the New Republic that was going to star her as the lead. And you know, it didn't get off the ground. Shocker, a Star Wars project that never gets off the ground. So I'm sure that there are many other reasons, but that doesn't really, uh, yeah. Put her in unique company, I guess. Right. There's been a few of those.
00:08:39
Speaker
So it's sad. And, you know, I, I don't know, again, we could turn this into a very political thing. I disagreed with everything that she said. i also think that cancel culture just went way too far. And, um, yeah, I have issues with that, but.
00:08:57
Speaker
Any other thoughts on Carrie Dune? She is badass. I'm excited to see where their relationship goes from here, truthfully. And you know obviously this is sort of pre-everything that happened um with her and and the the actor, I should say. so um But I am excited to see how that arc evolves throughout season one because I really loved their interactions even this first episode. They already kind of feel like they have kind of a banter going and that's really cool.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'll just say, I think you kind of measure these characters as they're introduced um by the way that they interact with our Mandalorian friend. you know You start laddering all these guys in your head.
00:09:35
Speaker
ah Okay, that guy, he's clearly not up to speed. Cara Dune. She's playing the S tier game along with our Mandalorian hero. So, you know, i think that establishes her and I think it makes you interested in what she's doing and what her priorities are. And and then, you know, given how things have panned out, I wonder where we'll see her again.
00:09:54
Speaker
Yeah. Did you notice the tattoo, Phil? She's got a little tattoo. did not notice. Under her eye. Yeah. under It's really cool. Oh, right here. I'll have to, I'll have to look. You can't see because this is
Guest Stars and Crossovers
00:10:08
Speaker
an audio podcast, but I'm pointing to right under my eye. She's got a little tattoo there and that, that's interesting that comes in. Well, I think they do address that in a little bit. So we'll come back to that. Um,
00:10:18
Speaker
Another guest star on this. First off, I forget the name of the woman who played the love interest. I think the character's name was Onida, but was interesting having Mando have a love interest. um you know Maybe that's something that they'll come back to at some point.
00:10:33
Speaker
Ben, you and i both have a passion for the good place and for Star Trek. So we do have to call out Eugene Cordero. being one of the two guys who, of course, famously Pillboy in The Good Place, yes yeah as well as the voice of Rutherford on Star Trek Lower Decks.
00:10:55
Speaker
You know, it's one of those two guys who who recruited Mando. um dear Dear podcast listeners, you should know Bob does his homework. this is the This is the high quality
Climactic Moments and Storytelling
00:11:05
Speaker
Star Wars podcast you've been waiting for. Bob, as soon you know as soon as I saw him on frame, I immediately expected him to start talking like Pillboy. Like Pillboy. And when he didn't, it was such like a shock to my system.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah. It was so good. It was so good. um What else about this episode struck out? I would love to talk about... I mean, i i have some notes here on the ending, but I know yeah if there's any more kind of from the action climax, then if you want to talk before I get to that. You know, I'll i'll really just say I love that it's a very kind of enclosed episode, but that it's also an important episode.
00:11:41
Speaker
Because when the episode's done... you come away from it and you go, okay, well now I know the Mandalorian is not just a guy who has these skills, but gosh, you'd love to retire and live some pastoral lifestyle somewhere. You know, we're not ever going to find him that way.
00:11:55
Speaker
um So important character developments, but also something where you don't have to know. And I mean, going back to that point about how much homework do you have to do in all these streaming series, right? Like you don't have to know hardly anything about anything else.
00:12:10
Speaker
you just know here's a guy walks into town that that western setup phil and bob that you guys been talking about and uh he finds a problem and he's he's the guy that's got to step up and and manage it in true han solo style so true so true all right phil go what were your other thoughts on the end my when the other bounty hunter comes and starts aiming his shot at mando and then The child, my heart jumped when the shot rang out. Again, coming back to Cara Dune, like, saves the day. But, you know, I knew, obviously, that Grogu would be fine because, you know, obviously, there's much more to series. I thought that Mando's love interest's kid...
00:12:51
Speaker
was going to be the victim of it. I didn't know where we were going with it. Maybe that's a little
Standalone vs. Overarching Plot
00:12:55
Speaker
dark for this. Yeah, that would have gotten black, man. Yeah, I haven't, you know, i know this is not quite the end or tone. So, but yeah I was worried. I was my heart jumped when that shot rang out. And then I genuinely did not know what was going to happen.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah. But fortunately, yeah, fortunately, all worked out. um That was one. The other thing, again, just to kind of bring it back to a loop of the Western, The essential part of the Western is that the lone the loanne you know gunslinger or a hero comes into town. He has to leave at the end too.
00:13:24
Speaker
Him riding off into the sunset on the slow-moving wagon. It's literally like a so it is a wagon. Like after helping the townsfolk Moving on to their next journey together, the loner now obviously has the kid with him.
00:13:36
Speaker
But that is just such a, that is such a cool Western trope. But I like how they still, you know, bring some of those Star Wars elements into it. And again, i agree, Ben, this is really self-contained. It's a really kind of enclosed episode and something I really liked about it because it doesn't feel, it has elements of kind of a bottle episode. But as you said, there's a lot of, you know, forward momentum on the plot. and kind of the thematic richness of the series that I think we're getting in this bottle episode, if you could call it that. Yeah.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yeah, i think of i think of the Mandalorian, especially in the first season, as being kind of the the monster of the week type episode where you've got the self-contained story every week. There is the arc that it's eventually getting back to, ah but it's doing it. And I i like shows like that. love X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, you know, those type of shows that did it that way.
00:14:31
Speaker
Good stuff. Ben, any last thoughts? I'm excited for what's coming next. You know, what's funny is when you do the rewatch, I think dear listeners, if you ever do yourselves a rewatch like this and you're going to hang out with your friends and talk about it, um it pays not to pay attention to what comes next. So you can kind of be pleasantly surprised by all the things you've forgotten. So um I literally have no idea what's coming next. I'm looking forward to rewatching this again soon. Me too. Me too. All right. Well, with that, we will call this an episode. So thanks, everybody. Thanks, Phil and Ben, for being with me. And thanks, listeners. Hope you're joining in on the rewatch with us and enjoying it. Let us know.
00:15:10
Speaker
ah You can always drop me a note. You can hop on our Discord server. However, would' love to have you play along with us. So we'll see again next week. Keep watching Mando. Keep watching Star Wars. Until next
Episode Wrap-up and Listener Engagement
00:15:22
Speaker
time, may the force be with you.
00:15:24
Speaker
This is the way. Bye-bye.