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S02E63: Rapidly Watching Mando, S3E1
36 Plays1 month ago
Mando is back, having just said goodbye to Grogu... so wait a second, why is Baby Yoda with him? What did we miss? We'll fill you in and catch you up!
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Transcript
Introduction and Mandalorian Season 3 Teasers
00:00:00
Speaker
We're on to season three of The Mandalorian and we're hitting it real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper where we are continuing our Mandalorian watch slash rewatch with Phil slash Ben and we are getting into season three now.
Personal Traditions and Theater Experiences
00:00:28
Speaker
There are two things I want to touch on really quick because we've got a lot to cover on this episode so we're going to be zooming.
00:00:35
Speaker
But two things I wanted to cover really quick. First off, I want to acknowledge we are recording this on Friday before this will go live on Tuesday. But today the tickets for The Mandalorian and Grogu went on sale. So I have obtained my tickets for opening night at the Chinese theater. And that will be really fun.
00:00:55
Speaker
Continuing that tradition that I've maintained since Star Wars
'Mall Shadow Lord' Initial Impressions
00:00:58
Speaker
Episode I. So i'm excited about that. Uh, the other thing is the new animated series mall shadow Lord has been running on Disney plus. And I've just seen the first two episodes of it. I'm behind on one episode, but I am really liking what I am seeing. I think it's very good.
00:01:18
Speaker
Um, so highly recommend that you take
Episode 'The Apostate': Key Plot Points
00:01:20
Speaker
a look. I'm assuming neither of you guys have seen it yet. I have not. yeah Ben shaking his head ben shaking his no, which is really effective in an audio-only program.
00:01:31
Speaker
So we just have to narrate. It's good. Okay, so ah check it out, but let's go ahead and dive in. We're going to talk about episode one today, but we will have a few things to talk about because here's the 20-second summary. The Mandalorian, season three, chapter 17, The Apostate.
00:01:49
Speaker
Written by Jon Favreau, directed by Rick Famuiwa, by the way, now serving as an executive producer on The Mandalorian, starting with season three. Premiered on March 1st, 2023 on Disney+. plus Din Djarin and Grogu reunited after the events of Book of Boba Fett. What? What?
00:02:07
Speaker
Anyway, they return to Navarro, try and fail to revive IG-11, tangle with a new Pirate King, and ultimately land on Bo-Katan's doorstep to plan a trip to a planet everyone says is dead.
Is 'Book of Boba Fett' Required for Season 3?
00:02:21
Speaker
Let's start with the obvious.
00:02:24
Speaker
Had you not watched The Book of Boba Fett, you would be coming into this going, number one, How did Din and Grogu get back together when we just saw him run away with Luke, number one? Number two, what's this really cool Naboo N1 starfighter that he is now flying around, right? Number three, does he still have the Darksaber? Like, there's all these questions. And number four, why is he an apostate? I think we have an idea of it, but you know we don't know. The answer, of course, lay in the book of Boba Fett.
00:03:02
Speaker
So, Phil, I want to turn to you on this. Did you wind up watching those episodes or what what did you do? um I watched the YouTube recap and that's just sort of for the sake of time. um And I will say it was incredibly helpful, but I'll also say in the same breath, this is bad writing and planning. Sorry, Jon Favreau.
00:03:21
Speaker
And I'm a big fan of you know ah him generally as ah as a director and writer throughout his career. And you know I have been liking what obviously what he's done with The Mandalorian. But I think that this is bad story structure. I don't think that you should rely on people having watched another miniseries to supply major, major plot developments for this season of the actual show.
Debate on Interconnected Storytelling
00:03:45
Speaker
Obviously, I'm sure a lot of people watched book of Boba Fett who were Mandalorian fans but I can't imagine everybody did going in and obviously they do give a very helpful recap at the beginning of Mandalorian uh season three episode one but I didn't like that approach there to have really major plot lines happen in a whole other series yeah Ben do you agree with that was that your read too
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, here's the thing, Phil, I think you're right in principle, but I think if you kind of went back in time, what you'd find is that everybody was really super ready for Mandalorian season three, because of all the unanswered questions we had about the season two finish up, like, what are they even going to do? Like, you know, it seems like Grogu's gone and, and so on. And I think that the book of Boba Fett, because it was kind of teased right there at the end of season two, everybody everybody was like, okay, well, that's, it's not actually kind of quote unquote, the Mandalorian, but that's, that's the season we're going to get between this season and season three proper. So I think a lot of the audience just transferred over, they watched it.
00:04:44
Speaker
Turns out we had about three episodes of like Mandalorian stuff in it. And so then we got back to season three and it was almost like you picked up and it was not really that tough of a, of a transition.
Marvel's Influence and Storytelling Fatigue
00:04:56
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, my thought on the whole planning of this was this was all starting in engineered. I forget the exact timelines, but this was all being planned out at the time when Marvel was very much in the Marvel Studios can do no wrong. Anything they do is going to print money. And. it was very much with the Marvel movies about like, if you did not watch every show, if you did not watch every movie, you were lost. Kind of like reading the comic books, right? Like Ben, ben you and I can reminisce about those days of Marvels where it's like every other panel has a see Spider-Man number 436, you know, for whatever they were referencing back to, right? i mean so I'm so glad you brought this up, Bob. i actually have this in my notes is I wrote, stop doing the Marvel thing, which is exactly what you described as every TV show you must watch. And, you know, I know that we are in an age of, you know, lessening theatrical experiences. Less people go into the movies, more people are watching TV at home. But you know what?
00:06:00
Speaker
Movies and TV are different. Have your plot lines for your TV shows. Have your plot lines for your movies. I understand, you know, if you haven't seen like the second movie in a series, you shouldn't go see the third one. But because I didn't watch a miniseries, I, you know, I can't unfollow like a movie, a whole movie.
00:06:16
Speaker
That's, that's frustrating. I think I don't like this sort of story planning that Marvel has ah made become the norm. And I think a lot of major franchises, obviously we see it here with star Wars.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah.
Mandalorian Culture and Episode 1 Highlights
00:06:27
Speaker
I'll just, I'll just throw in that like, you're absolutely right, Bob, about how that happened in comics and Phil, to your point, like I got frustrated enough with it that I'm like, I'm going to stop reading X-Men books. Um, Like there were like three or four titles and then individual titles like for Wolverine or for individual X-Men or whatever. And I was just like, um i can't keep up at all. This is crazy. So yeah, I i think there's um definitely like a a a way of thinking about how they were telling stories then that I think didn't hold up well. And I think has been punished at at at box offices and by reviewing ratings and things like that. But I, I think um they're, they're starting to kind of change that over now. I think they've ah they've done a bit of an about face.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And I think that people were starting to rebel against the Marvel model about the time that this aired. So then everybody was particularly salty when this came out. And we've talked about this in the past that the Mandalorian season three was not universally well received as much as the first two seasons were.
00:07:29
Speaker
It was a little bit contested. And I think that has a lot to do with it. But listen, we're halfway through the show and we really need to dive into the episode that we're here to talk about. ah episode one, or I guess it was what episode 15 at this point, 17, 17, 17. Yeah. The app estate apostate. How do you pronounce that word? Ben apostate. Yes.
Analyzing Episode 1: Transitional Nature?
00:07:51
Speaker
Terrible. I'm a terrible host. um Ben, what did you think about this episode in general standing on its own?
00:08:01
Speaker
So looking at our recap here, this is when we start the episode with this kind of induction of some new foundlings or some new Mandalorian kids into their thing. I thought this was interesting. I was...
00:08:15
Speaker
we don't really you know we We think of these characters as very fully formed and we don't see their development. ah It's interesting now that we've got the the bit where Bo-Katan has kind of referred to them as a little bit more like a cult. And so you're going, oh, am I watching something weird here? Like, what's going on? um And i liked I liked that we...
00:08:35
Speaker
get to see a bit more of that kind of Mandalorian culture. Right. And we see that, that Din Djarin has actually had an effect in the world. He goes back to Navarro and he, you know, he's trying to figure out how to get IG 11 again, but, but you can see it's become kind of a nicer place, right? A lot nicer.
00:08:52
Speaker
Yeah. Is it gentrified? I don't know, but like, anyways, a lot of good stuff here. Yeah. Phil, what did you think? What was your take? Yeah, i liked I liked this overall. I think, you know, Navarro, i agree, looks very cool. it's It's really interesting to see how much it's changed. um I liked the little nod. And obviously, this is a few years ago, and I know that they've sort of rekindled their relationship, but the Cara Dune sort of slight write-off I thought yeah was pretty funny. um
00:09:24
Speaker
And, i you know, there's things I really like. In particular, I really... liked when he tried to resurrect IG-11, right? And it just became like a horror movie for 90 seconds. I thought that was really cool. The droid just crawling on the ground towards Mando trying to destroy Grogu. thought that was really cool. Really liked the standoff um with the pirates and then the the action sequence later on, the the fight with the pirates. Thought that was really cool.
00:09:53
Speaker
um In some ways, this episode felt, I don't know why, sort of, I can't quite pinpoint why I felt this way coming out of it, but it felt a little bit like a nothing burger in some ways for me.
00:10:04
Speaker
um But overall, there's stuff in here that I really liked. But I know it's sort of setting up some of our journeys as we go through the series. It's nothing. say Is nothing burglar way of saying, hey, they needed a transitional episode to kind of get new plot lines started? That's basically what it feels like. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah.
00:10:23
Speaker
Well, clearly it's setting up the arc for the entire season, which is going to be about Mando fighting his way down to the mines of Mandalore to take the bath.
00:10:34
Speaker
and be redeemed, right? Like obviously from watching this episode, that is where this entire season is gonna go. And we are forecasting that the finale of the season is gonna be him either taking that bath or not, but finding the mines.
00:10:50
Speaker
So I guess we're gonna see how that all pans out, aren't we? That would be interesting.
Future Star Wars Narratives and Audience Confusion
00:10:54
Speaker
um There were some interesting tidbits in this whole thing. ah Some of them off camera and some of them on camera. With the Navarro being a nicer place, it's interesting to see, to compare what Din's experience was like walking in this time compared to what we got on the very first episode of The Mandalorian, right? Especially the salacious crumb, Kowakian monkey lizards, where they're up in a tree now having a good time And remember in season one, they were in cages watching their their friends getting skewered on the barbecue. ah So there's a lot of contrast there. Also the contrast that was actually established on the last season around the Cantina where they had this big shootout at the end of season one is now a school.
00:11:43
Speaker
And then that comes through with the pirates who want to go back to be drinking there. The introduction to the pirates is interesting. And this is starting to get to one of the issues that I've had, kind of one of the concerns that I've had about Dave Filoni taking over, because I think this is more on Dave than it is on John.
00:12:05
Speaker
This is just my guessing. I think that is true. But it's just the inclusion and the continual setting up of other stuff. So the pirates, it winds up basically just kind of being a link to the show that is eventually going to become the Star Wars skeleton crew.
00:12:24
Speaker
um It seems like this is just setting up that story. And to me, that's a little bit that's a little bit weak. Also, there is the really deep cut when they are in hyperspace and you see the Pergil, the space whales. Phil, did you have any idea what those were? do you know what I'm talking about? Where Grogu was looking out the window? Zero clue.
00:12:48
Speaker
Zero clue. Right. Well, you know, if you were up to speed on Star Wars Rebels, you would know that those are Purgle, which are are basically giant space whales that can fly not only through space, but fly through hyperspace. And they're actually very important to the whole storyline of Rebels. And we're going to see them again, be part of the storyline of Ahsoka.
00:13:13
Speaker
So it feels like including them here was all about setting up their appearance that was going to come in Ahsoka a couple of years later. And again, because I am so immersed in it, I'm kind of good with all the deep cuts for myself.
00:13:27
Speaker
But I also am just really concerned about people who aren't that excited about it. Are they just going to get lost, which is kind of part of the issue. So, yeah. um One other fun fact that I would like to bring up is the little boy who is being inducted at the beginning.
00:13:46
Speaker
ah Ragnar was his character's name. um He is played by Wesley Kimmel, who also played the little Tusken kid in the book of Boba Fett.
00:13:58
Speaker
And interestingly enough, is Jimmy Kimmel's nephew. How about that? Oh, nice.
Wrapping Up and Preview of Next Episode
00:14:04
Speaker
i I thought, interesting about, I liked that opening action sequence. i thought that was really cool. um I thought we were getting a flashback. that's I thought it was like... Oh, like did yes, I did too the first time I saw it. Yeah, like his like induction into the Creed.
00:14:19
Speaker
And I totally thought that's where we're going. Then, obviously, he appears with Grogu. Which, again, if you haven't watched Boba Fett or Recap, you're like, oh, they they're back together. But I did like that action sequence. That was really cool.
00:14:34
Speaker
Yeah. Two other really quick things I want to point out as we're running out of time. Number one, the scene when he walks into the throne room on Kalevala with Bo-Katan and she's sitting there with her leg just like flipped up over the edge of the chair.
00:14:48
Speaker
I thought that was just one of the best shots in all of Star Wars-dom. It was just like so Bo-Katan and so where her head is at that moment.
00:14:59
Speaker
um I loved that part. And oh there was one other thing. oh Yes, it was the inclusion of the Enzelens, the one for me redeeming most redeeming factor of The Rise of Skywalker, Babu Frick.
00:15:15
Speaker
Just absolutely love the Enzelens. And this one was funny. I don't know if it was Babu Frick or not, but Bad Baby, No Squeezy, pretty good. And clearly they're bringing him back into the movie. So...
00:15:29
Speaker
All right, boys, it's time to wrap it up. ah We'll come back next week and we will talk about the next two episodes. In the meantime, thanks for being here. To all our listeners, thanks for being here as well. May the force be with you. We'll see you next time.
00:15:43
Speaker
Bye-bye. Who's that mindless choice to do? Podcasts, help you see them through. Star Wars is your favorite unit. Let's chat for 15 minutes. Aren't you a little short?
00:15:54
Speaker
Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for us, Spawn Trooper? Aren't you a little short for us?