Support NeoGAF

[Captain Zyrain]

This episode (4) felt a little more "fillerish" than the others I suppose, as it seems like a slower paced episode where nothing huge happens.. but that's okay.

Definite western vibes and I dig it. This did give Baby Yoda some good screen time to be adorable, so that's a plus. I felt like the "love story" between the Mando and the widow lady could have used some more meat.. like why would he even be thinking of settling down at that point.. but none of it is a deal breaker.

Glad they're not staying there though, or leaving Baby Yoda there.

I think I saw promo material with Gina Carano on a different planet/setting, so I would guess we'll see her again.

Either way, totally enjoying this show as a whole, love the time period in the SW saga.

 

[desertdroog]

Number 4 is not my most favorite episode. It retells Seven Samurai, Magnificent Seven via farmers fending off bandits by hiring mercenaries to show them how. It promotes the unending search for the baby via another bounty hunter...so on they must travel. Oh well.

 

[Catphish]

Chapters 1-3 felt like short, episodic Star Wars movies. All high quality, impressive, and satisfying.

Chapter 4 feels like a typical half-rate CW or WB tv show with a somewhat larger budget. Disappointing.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

Chapters 1-3 felt like short, episodic Star Wars movies. All high quality, impressive, and satisfying.

Chapter 4 feels like a typical half-rate CW or WB tv show with a somewhat larger budget. Disappointing.

I felt like 1-3 could have been combined into a short movie for sure. 4 is different, but maybe 4 & 5 are lulls before 6-7-8 link together tightly? I dunno.

I figure there has to be some sort of narrative "endgame" they go for or have to accomplish before the end of the season, it shouldn't just be them on the run on a different (monster) planet each week. SUPERNATURAL IN SPACE!

 

[Kadayi]

Mixed bag episode. The general idea I thought was great, but the seven samurai plot felt a little underbaked. Loved Gina (hope she crops up again) and I thought Julia Jones was great as the Village Milf. Not sure what it is with Star Wars and this whole 'Cult of Virgins' mindset. Never taken the armour off since he was a kid, ever? Really? We're doing that whole celibacy thing? I mean jeez it was bad enough that the entire Jedi Council in the prequels turned out to be a bunch of abstainers, now the Mandalorians on top? It's entirely possible to be a goddamn Musashi and get your dick wet every now and then Disney.

Also, much love for Baby Yoda, but there are clearly limits when it comes to what the puppet can do in the frame and focussing its attention on what is directly in front of it, isn't its strong point. Some discreet post CGI at those moments wouldn't necessarily have gone amiss, like when all the kids were looking at it, and it somehow manages to make eye contact with none of them.

Anyway minor gripes.

 

[Fuz]

I don't know if I like or hate this show*.
Visually it's really cool. But the writing is overall quite bad, preposterous and juvenile.

I don't even mind that it's a filler episode, nice remainder to Kurosawa's work (and thus indirectly to the original trilogy). EDIT: but a 30 minutes episode is way too short for something like that.

But keep a fucking coherence, for god's sake.

Why the fuck didn't they try to steal the AT-ST?
The sniper is an idiot (yes, try to kill the little kid first, not the dangerous bodyguard) and Gina Carano is the nonsensical deus ex of this episode. Can't have an episode without one! Just HOW did she saw him and HOW did she get behind him so quick, exactly?
Plot armors everywhere!
Mary Sue Pocahontas can shoot like a pro! (I legitimally thought she would have been revealed as an ex-stormtrooper or something)!

Also, not particularly a fan of Gina Carano's acting (can't she ever stop smiling?), but she's got the right physique for a soldier role, and she can fight. It's good to see a believable female fighter, for once.

Also, much love for Baby Yoda, but there are clearly limits when it comes to what the puppet can do in the frame and focussing its attention on what is directly in front of it, isn't its strong point. Some discreet post CGI at those moments wouldn't necessarily have gone amiss, like when all the kids were looking at it, and it somehow manages to make eye contact with none of them.

I love puppets and I like they went with it instead of pure cg, but yeah, it's a bit stiff.


* definitely not "love".

 

[Kenpachii]

Worst episode so far it's going downhill every episode it seems like.

The chick that throws tincan man and slams him in his steel head with her fist was the dumbest shit i ever saw. Leaving yoda with those incapable farmers was also totally retarded to the point it almost got him killed.

The chick felt forced, why is she even here? Does disney need to inject in everything they create there woman are also powerful garbage?

The whole area is crawling with thugs yet leaves his ship alone again because why not, learned nothing from episode 2.

The short love story with pocahontas felt forced as hell.

The costumes where terrible.

Honestly they need to make this guy a bit more capable if u want to make him believable. That running away from that walker tank was the dumbest shit ever. Yolo to the end of the earth. Yoda almost murdered, he himself almost murdered by a random chick and a robot. how this guy got so old nobdoy knows.

Flies away again to another planet with no story at all. What's the point in even watching at this point?

Every week a new short planet story?

Can't believe how utterly useless that mandalorian guy is.

I will give next episode a watch still if it doesn't improve will probably bail on it.

 

[ManaByte]

I don't know if I like or hate this show*.
Visually it's really cool. But the writing is overall quite bad, preposterous and juvenile.

I don't even mind that it's a filler episode, nice remainder to Kurosawa's work (and thus indirectly to the original trilogy).

But keep a fucking coherence, for god's sake.

Why the fuck didn't they try to steal the AT-ST?
The sniper is an idiot and Gina Carano is the nonsensical deus ex of this episode. Can't have an episode without one!
Plot armors everywhere!
Mary Sue Pocahontas can shoot like a pro! (I legitimally thought she would have been revealed as an ex-stormtrooper or something)!

Also, not particularly a fan of Gina Carano's acting (can't she ever stop smiling?), but she's got the right physique for a soldier role, and she can fight. It's good to see a believable female fighter, for once.


I love puppets and I like they went with it instead of pure cg, but yeah, it's a bit stiff.


* definitely not "love".

YouTube hates Gina...

 

[Fuz]

I don't think it's "woke" at all. Ofc they just HAD to cast a female character to avoid the screeching of the crazy, but she's more than ok.

 

[ManaByte]

I don't think it's "woke" at all. Ofc they just HAD to cast a female character to avoid the screeching of the crazy, but she's more than ok.

I think they're just threatened by a woman who could punch them into a coma.

 

[Fuz]

I think they're just threatened by a woman who could punch them into a coma.

And she can do it in real life too!

 

[Kadayi]

I don't think it's "woke" at all. Ofc they just HAD to cast a female character to avoid the screeching of the crazy, but she's more than ok.

Agreed. I thought she was good. Also, I could have sworn she has reinforced gauntlets on in the fight. She wasn't bare-knuckle boxing that's for sure.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

YouTube hates Gina...

It's this shit that makes it hard to legitimately criticize anything these days. You just get lumped in with youtube asshats like those people.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Can someone link me to the Wookiepedia article that explains how the kid is tracked?

Predator vision is bullshit. How incompetent can this guy be? He's getting his ass kicked all the time and keeps pulling some piece of hardware out of his ass to do all the work. Can't even track someone without Predator vision, seriously? Fucking Kinect over there even highlighted the goddamn branches lmao

 

[June]

Best episode yet. Just a fun little side-track story., like episode 2 but better.
My only gripe is that it felt rushed. Like they went from defenseless to taking down this gang real quick, and apparently no one objected to risking their lives fighting?? Hmm.

8/10

Episode rank so far: 4>2>3>1

 

[-Arcadia-]

Can someone link me to the Wookiepedia article that explains how the kid is tracked?

Predator vision is bullshit. How incompetent can this guy be? He's getting his ass kicked all the time and keeps pulling some piece of hardware out of his ass to do all the work. Can't even track someone without Predator vision, seriously? Fucking Kinect over there even highlighted the goddamn branches lmao

I at least like that this guy isn’t Boba Fett, but a different color. Making him a little more fallible, a little less capable, a bit more human, sets him apart as a serious, unique character, rather than a cheap way to get around a character death and have another Boba, which is totally what I thought this was going to be.

I agree though. It’s a bit too much atm. It’d be nice to see him showing some resourcefulness and more proficiency in the action scenes.

 

[John Day]

I love the pace of the show, it reminds me i’m following a bounty hunter and his adventures and mishaps and not the grand story of the main movies. The galaxie and timeline is huuuge, i love we are, for now, exploring that.

 

[eot]

Episodes suffer from being too short IMO.

This one was kinda filler, but I guess they need to show that he can't just fall off the grid. The tracking is pretty stupid though, if someone knows they're being tracked, surely that means there's some kind of device attached to them that they can dispose of?

 

[John Day]

Episodes suffer from being too short IMO.

This one was kinda filler, but I guess they need to show that he can't just fall off the grid. The tracking is pretty stupid though, if someone knows they're being tracked, surely that means there's some kind of device attached to them that they can dispose of?

That just might be it though, cause after the attempt he and the gina carano’s character realized that they were tracking baby yoda, not him. The kid is the target.

But yeah... how fucking easy it is to track someone across planets and systems......

 

[Captain Zyrain]

Watched it for a 2nd time tonight and I actually liked episode 4 a lot more the second time.

I legit laughed at some of the baby Yoda scenes. He's hilarious. I totally missed the lothcat (from Rebels) the first time too! Thank you Filoni!

 

[EviLore]

You have blasters and no physical skills, they have melee weapons and brute strength. You don’t charge them when they get close, you back away to maintain distance and keep firing. Dumb tactics, no leadership or competence displayed by Gina or Mando. Baby Yoda continues to be cute.

 

[Tesseract]

ja that's probably my biggest complaint, there's a lot of tactical stupid

 

[desertdroog]

I forgot to add that I was non-plussed over both the woman merc and the bandits punching Mando in the faceplate with their fists. I attempted to half-assed thought maybe they had some minimal grieves that had repulsor fields tha.... nah, I wanted to believe, but even I couldn't make that leap.

 

[GreyHorace]

ja that's probably my biggest complaint, there's a lot of tactical stupid

To be fair, good warfare tactics don't always make good cinema. Despite having 'wars' in the title, Star Wars has always been about adventure and spectacle rather than accurate depictions of future warfare.

 

[Pumpkin Seeds]

I liked this episode. (4) Neat to see that Bryce D Howard directed. The episode had a mini 12 samurai to it. Welll, a 2 samurai. For those that don't understand: It was easier than it should have been because the folks having the AT-ST are backwater, low-grade brute raiders. They had the two semi-smart people in the machine and every idiot on ground. They were doomed to succumb to people who had been in real battles. The other side here wasn't brave or having grand plans. A quick boot to the ass would send them running. The main characters here come to this planet specifically for how backwards it is. That archaic sense applies to any battle here. That wasn't an army they faced, but a collection of varmints.

The interesting bit is that a low-grade collection of varmints get their hands on something like an AT-ST, which can greatly sway power in a low level planet. This is the interesting sort of post-rebellion reality that a narrative like the Mandalorian can take advantage of for its own storytelling. When empires fall, their tech tends to tumble into strange hands. That's what this episode is based upon, a remnant of a more advanced past falling into the hands of a war-like, simple clan in the present.

And once that advanced tech is nullified, the 12 samurai plot flows in and the villagers repel the pillagers.

 

[-Arcadia-]

You have blasters and no physical skills, they have melee weapons and brute strength. You don’t charge them when they get close, you back away to maintain distance and keep firing. Dumb tactics, no leadership or competence displayed by Gina or Mando. Baby Yoda continues to be cute.

ja that's probably my biggest complaint, there's a lot of tactical stupid

Yeah. This is probably a part of what’s making the main character look somewhat doofy and inept.

It kind of seems like they’re working backwards from spectacle (AT-ST chase would be cool, trapping it, big melee fight, etc.), and trying to find a justification for it, rather than imagining how their characters would logically act in these situations, and letting fun scenes flow from that naturally.

 

[DragoonKain]

Episode 4 was definitely the worst of the bunch so far. As long as baby Yoda is in this think I’ll like it, I wanna adopt him I’ll take Gina Carano in my shows any day of the week she’s a fucking badass. Had no issues with her in it but the end got kinda lame with the cliches and training scared defenseless villagers into these suddenly brave badasses, it was very tropey.

But still enjoyable overall because Gina and baby Yoda.

 

[Romulus]

Episode 4 was my least favorite.

 

[Fuz]

12 samurai

7

 

[Jon Neu]

The writing and the acting of this series is fucking horrendous, Baby Yoda is less cringe and conveys more emotion than anyone else.

Despite that, it's still a fun adventure series with some good visuals and some cool designs.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

I didnt really enjoy episode 4 either.
The two new female characters didnt seem very deep or interesting. The whole "teach the villagers to fight" reminded me of The Three Amigos. A cheesy cliche. The bad guys werent interesting either - just generic space cannon fodder. I admit for a second at the end there, I thought that bounty hunter sniper hit his target. Now THAT would have been unexpected. But of course, that scene played out with another cliche too.
At least Mando looks cool and baby Yoda is still cute, I guess.

 

[Trilobit]

This episode was without doubt the weakest so far. Story was classic 7 Samurai, which is perfectly okay,, but the characters were just not the least bit interesting. On another note, am I the only one who's getting a bit tired of seeing how incompetent Mando seems to be? He gets his ass kicked and arm bit in the most stupid ways. I don't mind seeing him struggle or being just human, but when he has to get rescued the first moment he steps his foot on a planet(first episode) or almost lets the child get killed because of his carelessness(4th episode), I'm starting to get a bit bored of following him on his adventures.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Can we change the thread title?

This Is The Way > I Have Spoken

 

[daveonezero]

I am liking this more and more. I have watched each episode twice. My Dad who saw Star Wars as a kid and hasn't seen much other content after the original and Prequels is loving it as well. My mom who isn't into this genra is into it as well just because the story is engaging.

I think they are doing a great job. ep 4 was fun.

The duresteel bucket. Mandalorian "religion", some of the armors, vibroknifes, mandalorian steel...at least for me are things i learned on KoTor games.

Yeah I guess that is where I learned all that stuff too. I too love all that stuff. Plus the call backs to Filoni's other work in Clone Wars and Rebels. It really feels like a continuation of those to me.

So far the show is striking 100%. 4 for 4 in good episodes.

Not sure where the plot goes from here. The imperials will likely come back with a vengeance which moves the season towards its climax.

Yeah I think this will be a "setup" season. Sort of like the first season of Castlevania. It will end just as "our" party overcomes some adversity. They then realize they can't part ways and need each other. Then they set out on their quest ending the season.

This episode was without doubt the weakest so far. Story was classic 7 Samurai, which is perfectly okay,, but the characters were just not the least bit interesting. On another note, am I the only one who's getting a bit tired of seeing how incompetent Mando seems to be? He gets his ass kicked and arm bit in the most stupid ways. I don't mind seeing him struggle or being just human, but when he has to get rescued the first moment he steps his foot on a planet(first episode) or almost lets the child get killed because of his carelessness(4th episode), I'm starting to get a bit bored of following him on his adventures.

I think part of his incompetence is that is he is trying to not become attached to the kid. And maybe he is a bit green. He isn't "the greatest mado" ever. He is just a guy. Who apparently won the lottery getting the beskar. We will get to see him grow. Just wearing the armor and having gadgets doens't mean he won't have some growing pains. He was good enough but doesn't mean he is invincible.

 

[Pumpkin Seeds]

7

derp derp

work fried my brain

 

[kingwingin]

I dont see anything wrong with the lady knowing how to shoot. The way she sheepishly raises her hand shows she has a past she is ashamed of or worried she will be judged for.

The lady ufc was a good fit and made the fight believable. I wouldn't mind being pinned down by her.

 

[lachesis]

Ep4 felt a bit too campy old 80s show - and even the theme song reminds me of Rocky 3 music for some reason. (Seeing original Creed is another reason, maybe)
Well, indigenous hot single mom trying to trap(?) the Mando angle was another thing that me (single dad) and my daughter were laughing at it while watching it. LOL...

But all in all, I am enjoying the show. The past story - is Mando even Mandalorian in race? It seemed like he was rescued when he was young by Mandalorians, and he grew up to be one?

Anyhow... I have spoken.

 

[pramod]

Too much talking

Too much cringe
Please no more Bryce Dallas Howard episodes.

And wtf do a primitve village that dont have any sort of technology and living in huts have a droid? Sometimes the SW universe makes no sense.

 

[InterMusketeer]

I thought it was fine. Yeah, it's easy to point out inconsistencies, like punching the superspecial armor, the village that doesn't have a single rifle for hunting/self-defence and more, but I think that's all a bit nitpicky. It's a short episode, and all of it has been pretty cheesy from the start. This episode fits right in with the western motif. The only major thing that happened this episode, was that the main character is now aware that people are still on the hunt for the kid, but it had some fun action, a bit of character building as well. It's fine.

The lady soldier didn't bother me so much. It's fine to have some representation, so long as they don't overdo it. It's been a sausage fest up 'till now (Which is understandable for the underworld of thugs and bounty hunters it portrays) but it's cool to have some competent women in there as well.

It was probably the worst episode out of the four we've seen, but I don't think it's bad.

 

[DeafTourette]

I've been enjoying each episode so far. I don't think too much about plot and all that (though it depends on how much I enjoyed the show or movie), but they've all been enjoyable to me. I look forward to the next episode!

 

[sol_bad]

Finally caught up on the show, lots of trouble with Disney+ for me at the moment. It's a great show so far, love Mando and Baby Yoda and curious to know where he will take him. He needs to figure what to do with the bounty hunters FOB's. Episode 4 is certainly the weakest, it felt very filler-ish and didn't advance the plot, I really hope the rest of the season isn't going to be episodic, I'll be massively bummed out if it is. I wouldn't blame the episode on Bryce Dallas Howard though as I'm sure she didn't write the script, she worked with what she had.

I also hope we see Gina in more episodes, she needs to be a main cast member.

Also the music, it kept making me think of Rocky in some parts and the music composers name was familiar but I couldn't remember what he had done. Looked him up and of course he composed Creed, Creed 2 and Black Panther which also sounded similar in certain compositions. I love the main theme.

 

[HoodWinked]

this is pretty much the second episode of macgyver where a village defends itself from the bad guys.

you get some background on mando and gina carano is well cast for the role. if you watch the story board art in the credits at least they averted that mess of going with zarya.

 

[prag16]

A few people have touched on this. What the hell is the deal with these magic bounty hunter FOBs...

Is there an in-universe explanation for how they work (and have they been seen before in other canon content)?

 

[John Day]

You have blasters and no physical skills, they have melee weapons and brute strength. You don’t charge them when they get close, you back away to maintain distance and keep firing. Dumb tactics, no leadership or competence displayed by Gina or Mando. Baby Yoda continues to be cute.

Very true, i half expected some of the farmers to die because of that, getting desperate or innexperience.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

I don't think the Mandalorian is supposed to be the best of the best. Getting beat up a few times is probably expected.

 

[daveonezero]

A few people have touched on this. What the hell is the deal with these magic bounty hunter FOBs...

Is there an in-universe explanation for how they work (and have they been seen before in other canon content)?

Yeah I haven't gotten this either.

 

[Jon Neu]

I also hope we see Gina in more episodes, she needs to be a main cast member.

We have plenty of horrible acting and unidimensional characters already, leave her in that planet forever and never turn back. Feels like a female Poochie.

Give me more alien characters and puppets. The dude in the first episode that got caught by Mando was cool, and obviously the I have spoken old alien has been the best character of the series so far (not counting Baby Yoda, obviously).

 

[cormack12]

Predator vision is bullshit. How incompetent can this guy be? He's getting his ass kicked all the time and keeps pulling some piece of hardware out of his ass to do all the work. Can't even track someone without Predator vision, seriously? Fucking Kinect over there even highlighted the goddamn branches lmao

I pikced up on that in the last episodes. The dissonance between storming a base solo to rescue the kid, or fending off a mass of hard assed bounty hunters single handedly then he goes to being just completely incompetent. Look, I have no issue with the directors or writers wanting us to show he's human and is fallible, but it has to be believeable. Right now, it's all over the place and it lurches from one schizophrenic encounter to another. He has beskar armour but can be bested in a fistfight. I mean, a motorbike helmet and leathers would offer more protection. He's a well travelled badass bounty hunter but allows a 250lb toad dinosaur to sneak up on him and needs rescuing by a local farmer. I'm just confused as to what regard I'm meant to hold him in right now.

The latest episode kinda reminded me of the old A-Team or 'motw' from X-Files. All it was missing was some cheaply cobbled together droid from spare parts and a welding torch. It was OK, had probably the best spectacle of the series but also the weakest overarching plot/narrative. I didn't mind either of the women characters, but I don't think the romance was earned - at all. It was like they were writing it purposefully. The woman can obviously handle a blaster, and then she falls for a bounty hunter who has never taken his helmet off - why? Felt like it was setup just to have that scene where he chose between keeping the helmet on or not, with no real deeper meaning.

Baby Yoda contains to be awesome and provide comic relief. I didn't mind the subplot with Cara, though it did feel the orcs from NETFLIX's bright had found a new home. I also think the 'Western' comparisons are a bit forced, sure there are elements, but these same elements crept into many action-adventure shows of the 80's as well. I think people are grasping that there is a deeper homage to classic cinema but there just isn't - to me anyway - to jutisyf the show being a little bit better than it is. It's a perfectly decent show, mind. I have no issues watching it and I'm intrigued enough to see where it goes but that's about it. I don't think it's far and beyond Westworld for example.

Anyway, weakest filler episode - I hope they get a bit better in future series etc.

 

[Fuz]

Very true, i half expected some of the farmers to die because of that, getting desperate or innexperience.

Disney.

 

[Descent Into Madness]

4 episodes in and I still feel like this show only exists to sell baby yoda merch.

Gonna need a strong finish because this show isnt doing anything for me and the weekly drops suck.