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Is this episode written by 16 years old?
This episode wanted to be Seven Samurai but ended up as that terrible The Walking Dead episode where everyone gets slaughtered (they're not though in Mandalorian, since this is a Disney series).
There is no development and no build up at all in this episode. Like the previous episode, everything is self-contained. All are introduced and resolved in this same episode. A lot of things happened in this episode but nothing actually contributes to the plot - except for exposition dump.
The bandit raid is a terribly weak, villain of the week setup. They just show up as some evil nuisances - no motives, no goals at all. The Mando teams up with an ex-rebel, which debunks a tired cliche, but at this point this feels like a try-hard attempt to make The Mando as a morally righteous hero. There is a half-assed attempts at romance here, but it feels forced as it happens so sudden. Despite being self-contained (or maybe because it is) the episode lacks closure by the end, and the nifty little scene regarding one stray bounty hunter seems like something that appears just because they still have several episodes to go.
The dialogues are terrible: it's a tonne of exposition dumps. I don't have any idea why the writers think it makes sense for the characters to suddenly ask a stranger, "when was your last time you open your helmet?" and, in return, open up a heart-to-heart "hey I got a tragic story" past to a stranger. The banters with Gina Carano's character is okay, but it feels like they have to slip backstory every now and then. As if they're not having a real, human conversation. Every dialogue feels so forced and hurried as if they have to make it fit into this episode.
Also, it seems like they have no idea what an AT-ST is. It's a vehicle, not a droid.
Barbenheimer: Part 1 of 2
This is the kind of film I really don’t want to criticize, because we don’t get nearly enough other stuff like it. However, mr. Nolan has been in need of an intervention for a while now, and unfortunately all of the issues that have been plaguing his films since The Dark Knight Rises show up to some degree here. Visually it might just be his best film, and there’s some tremendous acting in here, particularly by Murphy and RDJ. However, it makes the common biopic mistake of treating its subject matter like a Wikipedia entry, thereby not focussing enough on character and perspective. As a whole, the film feels more like a long extended montage, I don’t think there are many scenes that go on for longer than 60 seconds. There’s a strong ‘and then this happened, and then this happened’ feel to it, which definitely keeps up the pace, but it refuses to stop and let an emotion or idea simmer for a while. There are moments where you get a look into Oppenheimer’s mind, but because the film wants to cover too much ground, it’s (like everything else) reduced to quick snippets. It’s the kind of approach that’d work for a 6 hour long miniseries where you can spend more time with the characters, not for a 3 hour film. I can already tell that I won’t retain much from this, in fact a lot of it is starting to blur together in my mind. There are also issues with some of the dialogue and exposition, such as moments where characters who are experts in their field talk in a way that feels dumbed down for the audience, or just straight up inauthentic. Einstein is given a couple of cheesy lines, college professors and students interact in a way that would never happen, Oppenheimer gives a lecture in what’s (according to the movie) supposed to be Dutch when it’s really German; you have to be way more careful with that when you’re making a serious drama. Finally, there are once again major issues with the sound mixing. I actually really loved the score, but occasionally it’s blaring at such a volume where it drowns out important dialogue in the mix. I’m lucky enough to have subtitles, but Nolan desperately needs to get his ears checked, or maybe he should’ve asked some advice from Benny Safdie since he’s pretty great with experimental sound mixing. My overall feelings are almost identical to the ones I had regarding Tenet; Nolan needs to rethink his approach to writing, editing and mixing. This film as a whole doesn’t work, but there are still more than a few admirable qualities to it.
Edit: I rewatched this at home to see whether my feeling would change. I still stand by what I wrote in July, though the sound mix seems to have been improved for the home media release. It sounds more balanced and I didn’t miss one line of dialogue this time around. I’m slightly raising my score because of that, but besides that I still think it’s unfocused, overedited, awkwardly staged and scripted etc.
5.5/10
You must really hate humanity in order to make this series. Woke sh:asterisk_symbol:t
The beginning of the episode left me wishing we could've seen more of this side of Star Wars: regular stormtroopers doing their job, getting into action, and all the unseen dynamics rarely mentioned in the mainstream film trilogies. We did have something in that vein: Republic Commando explored the lives of elite Republic clone troopers; Jedi Academy had us follow the lives of youngling under tutelage of Luke's academy; the original Battlefront showed us the transitioning of a republic to an empire through the eyes of the soldiers.
It's the lives of the mundane, the less than extraordinary, yet still gripping and intriguing. They let us dive deeper to the world of Star Wars beyond the flashy buzzing of lightsabers and spectacles of the magical force.
The Mandalorian wished it could be one of those. Unfortunately, it failed terribly.
In episode 5, @ShrimpBoatSteve has said that the series has became too predictable, and I agree - the finale shows how predictable the whole season is. https://trakt.tv/comments/264475
After the long flashback which most parts we've already seen in previous episodes - seemingly making the scenes feels almost like a filler - The Mandalorian episode 8 seems reluctant to set their foot to the ground with its notable world-building as previously seen in Eps 7 and Eps 1 to 3. As I have previously said, after everyone gangs on The Mando (Eps 7), Baby Yoda/Little One's background (who Baby Yoda is, why is he wanted, what the Imperial remnants wanted to do with him, etc) remains unresolved. As the episode shows us Moff Gideon rising with a darksaber in hand, yet another reference moment: every substance the show can possibly offer will be dealt only in Season 2 (or, worse, more).
Stormtroopers in Star Wars have been infamous for their terribly inaccurate shots, but in this episode it feels like their incompetency is amplified to the point of parody and, of course, plot armors. Scout troopers - which is supposed to be snipers - can't shoot droid right in front of their eyes. Instead of coming in squads, troopers only come individually (incinerators burning the building, a few troopers slaughtered by the blacksmith, a few others guarding the tunnel, and the most stupid of all, Moff Gideon waiting for nightfall just for no reason) which makes for a convenient plot armors for our heroes to trek on their way.
Of course, there are casualties - what is a story without something seemingly at a stake? - but it is nothing more than devices to delay the heroes from their trek. Taking cues from Eowyn's "I am no man" of Lord of the Rings fame, in less than moment-defining fashion IG-11, which himself came as a sort of droid ex machina, said that it is no "living being" while resurrecting The Mando from fatal injuries, remedied every possible threat with its healing devices.
Antagonists can be dumb, but there is a limit to dumbness that can suspend audience's disbelief. This episode has antagonist almost feels like they are intentionally dumb and there is nothing really at a stake when everything can be easily remedied.
This episode is not the worst, certainly, as the action sequence is flashy and satisfying. The one near ending where The Mando utilizes a neat jet jump is clever and actually can show the extent Star Wars can be when the director wanted to think creatively beyond the force. Knights of the Old Republic and the aptly named Star Wars Bounty Hunter played with clever tricks similar to this once a while, and the trick doesn't feel cheap as they stand on a very good storytelling.
The Mandalorian's flashy action, regardless, seems to serve only as explicit fanservice - a style over substance.
There are plenty of action, which, by itself, is quite well-done. The consistently hardly imposing threats, unfortunately, dull down the possible thrill those scenes can offer - in a typical corny action heroes such as Gerard Butler's character in Has Fallen trilogy. The scene, for example, with The Blacksmith let us peek into the martial arts capability a Mandalorian can exhibit. But the rather plot armor of incompetent stormtroopers leave no stake at hand; the martial arts dexterity looks more like a cheap imitation of main trilogies of Jedi's acrobatic feats.
Redemption ultimately ends with nothing to be redeemed about, as the people in this show seems to be forever clumsy. From start to finish, everyone made questionable decisions. Nobody blasted the Mando's group with that large amount of stormtroopers. Nobody checked whether Moff Gideon is dead when the fighter was down (Gideon also miraculously survive the crash), with Carga, a supposedly veteran bounty hunter, lightheartedly saying they are already free of the Empire's grasp.
Everything people said in this episode, just like many episodes prior, are not crafted as if the actors were having human conversation. They were rushed by time - they seemingly appear to be set in motion by the plot's demands, to say X so Y happens; to say A when B moment happened.
This episode almost feels like a filler to conclude the dragging episodes this season has been. Screenwriting-wise, this whole season is nothing but bait-and-switch to justify next season(s).
There is much to be said about this kind of terrible business model, where series is written with nothing exactly in mind but to find reasons to continue producing the franchise - the same business model Disney has been using on their MCU franchise and Star Wars films/spinoffs - but the crowds of gladly willing moms awing for Baby Yoda and nerd dads geeking over Star Wars reference doesn't leave enough rooms for those commentaries.
Finally something actually happened after they dragged the season for absolutely nothing.
After four mediocre episodes in a row with three of them being filler, this episode is decent enough. Those previous episodes serve no actual purpose other than waiting for the plot to trigger itself by that call.
The dialogues in this episode could be better and so could the way the scenes are cut, especially for the first half. People seem too eager to join The Mando in his quest for the sake of moving the story. However the last 5-10 the minutes is quite watchable with enough tense. The brute killing in the last scene seems to suggest they're going with the "evil Empire" cliche, but I wish they could do better than that next episode.
It seems like the story just started to be set in motion and we will be left with more questions as Season 1 ends, which unfortunately seems to be Disney+ business model: just make cute Baby Yoda stuff for moms and Star Wars reference for dads, figure things out later in Season 2.
On positive notes, it's nice that they attempt to do more world-building like shocktroopers having signature tattoo, each Imperial province having their own insignia, and the Imperial warlord trying to convince people that the world is better with colonialism.
I thoroughly enjoyed the series, but the twist at the end was kind of lame imo. This will still earn a high rating from me, but it seems like the writers took the least likely conclusion for the sake of shock value alone.
[Big Spoiler Alert]
I find it hard to believe that there wasn't any trace of Jaden's DNA or fingerprints at the crime scene, or at Tommy's place. I was completely absorbed by this show, up until the implausible twist.
While eagerly awaiting the finale, my hunch was that Rusty's son did it and Rusty would take the fall for him. It seems like the writers went to great lengths to make him a red herring, but misdirection is more effective when the actual outcome is just as believable.
Please no more scenes with Naomi. You have an entire universe so why do you have to focus so much on the most boring character of the show.
A film that just misses greatness can be more disappointing than a film that doesn't come close. Dream Scenario is outstanding until the last 20 minutes. It feels as though Kristoffer Borgli just couldn't figure out how to end it and ran out of time. Too bad. #BestNicolasCagePerformanceEver
Literally worst season of the show. Space movie with 5% of space adventure and 95% emotional games between already linked characters
I feel like this season was completely unnecessary. It just wasn't on par with S1 and felt repetitive a lot.
Vera is such an underrated character. The rawness of his hate, anger, and depravity is boundless. The acting was brilliant. Honestly, deserves more screentime of not for the fact we all hate him which is a testament to how good he is in this role.
Baby Yoda is fun and all, but this episode's premise is so overused it's painful to watch. Plus all the other plotholes:
- why does the Mandalorian seem to forget that the kid is being tracked (clearly there's no way for him to remove whatever they're using to track him or he would have done it already…) so why does he think he can find sanctuary by being in the middle of nowhere? (one reasonable theory is that the fobs are short range, so you would need to know what planet the target is on in order to track it with the fob)
- why does he leave his ship unattended again, given that in a previous episode it was ripped apart by scavengers? His plan was to go to this farm for a few months and just leave his ship alone in the middle of a forest that whole time? (maybe he got some upgrades? Or Jawas are more resourceful than the locals on this new planet?)
- I want to lay low so I'll just keep wearing my highly conspicuous armor, and engage in combat with some raiders that clearly have connections without making sure to wipe them out completely?
- (and what's stopping the raiders from returning?)
- "I can never remove my helmet in front of people and haven't shown my face since I was a little kid." then immediately removes his helmet while standing in front of an open window while facing a crowd of people (also I really want to see him eat in public — is there a flap that can flip up? Does he use a straw? The world needs to know.)
- Instead of doing a bad job of sneaking into the raiders' camp, almost getting yourself blown up by your explosive, and running back to get the farmers' village destroyed, why not just look around a bit and find the AT-ST and destroy it first, or better yet commandeer it and use it to kill all the raiders? Oh right, Disney. Slaughtering raiders is a no go? (or maybe the writers were ignorant and thought the AT-ST was a droid instead of a transport?)
- Their plan centers around the AT-ST walking in the mud, which is clearly a bad plan because of the range of its guns. Oh but now someone is shooting at them from the pond so of course it's time to go walking into the trap. Oh but she managed to get a shot through the eye hole so the plan wasn't really necessary after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- The Mandalorian's initial refusal to help, followed by his acquiescence was way too easy, and then they say they can't do it because they have a tank, but are again easily convinced to help. Quick montage showing almost nothing, and bam next day they're ready to take on an army.
This is some extremely lazy writing.
Plus the first female character who shows her face in the show turns out to be pretty much a nothing character with zero personality and is probably not going to show up again.
All of the acting was terrible.
I've enjoyed most of the show so far, but this one was a real dip for me.
How the mighty have fallen!! After a spectacular first season, the second looks like it was written as fan fiction.
Instead of focusing on the main story (Gabriel missing) and taking advantage of Jon Hamm’s comedic abilities, it kept bringing in new storylines and characters, only for all to be a MacGuffin! As someone else pointed out, this is a Hallmark movie!
what the fuck was that??? i think the writers stopped taking black pills after writing red tide
What a shitty season. They might as well cancel it now. The show has nothing more to say and it's circling itself to fill the time.
I can't remember last time I saw a heroine act this stupid in a movie. Her choices just made me angry... So I can understand why Russell Crowe was so angry throughout the whole movie. Don't bother with this one, watch "Falling Down" again instead.
Wow, look how many spoiled little bitches there are in here! Now I'm NOT saying everyone, there are a lot that aren't. Would they have rather the season get left at episode 18? No, then they would bitch for at least an ending. So the team busts their asses to not only get an episode out but to also try to finish the season AND instead of making it take a long time try and get something for us on time. So for the ones bitching, go get yourself a tissue and pull yourself together and appreciate how hard they worked for all their fans and viewers.
Thank you everyone involved with Mr Robot, one of the few TV series that didn't treat the viewer like an idiot.
Welcome back Elliot, and goodbye my friend.
Nothing makes sense in this episode.
Dialogues feel forced. Like the previous episode, everything is shoved just to make the plot moves. Especially terrible every time the rookie has a conversation.
This episode and the previous feel like series of unrelated events. Nothing literally happened in these two episodes. There are some cool throwbacks and references (cantina scene, dune sea, Amy Sedaris blurping Star Wars jargons, etc) but it's all fanservice. It appears the show is directed by people familiar with Star Wars universe but has zero sense of screen writing.
Another masterpiece of episode!
No one can be indifferent to such show, story written and masterly executed. This has to become a cult show!
Wow. I am absolutely speechless. That last half hour was probably one of the most amazing things I've ever seen on television. It touched me deeply and made me feel so many things, I can't even describe them. I've been sitting here, just staring at the screen for quite a while now.
Mr. F****ing. Robot.
Can't wait! This season will have a distinct Freddie Mercury vibe to it.
Another stupid bloody deal made. It's doing my fucking head in!
Cool episode. But the singing part was just awkward.
please just dont have a season 2, when you have to put a new psychotic (doctor, patient, church goer, cop,sex ed teacher that knows nothing about sex ed, random grama etc)in each new episode just to have some drama in it and know of no other way to make the show thrilling then you shouldn't really be making a show.
Loved the clip art deer!
Great movie. Even better its upset all the flannels we have in our society today. :joy:
Would love to see this become a regular thing. Some big names here and I'm suspecting they are not charging huge fees and doing it for the love of it. Funny a lot and very very funny at times, but there are messages in here to make you think too.
Billy boy has mellowed over the years, but that's not a bad thing. Angry ginger manages to raise his head now and again to remind us he still has a sting in the tail.
Hopefully Roku can handle the backlash that some of the episodes will get.
As with most A24 films unfortunately, an interesting premise that carries for the first hour, followed by 30 minutes of not knowing how to wrap it all up.
