Another Bond pastiche from Matthew Vaughn, and once again it’s worse than the last one. Here we have what is basically another Kingsman film, but this time it’s made for the wine moms who had found their new favorite film with The Lost City. The plot is quite bonkers, it's so dense and the amount of schlocky plot twists indicate that Vaughn’s at least somewhat aware of how tasteless it all is. Sometimes you can still find traces of the cleverness you’d expect from him, but generally it favours being loud and cringe. I understand that he’s targeting a different demographic here than with Kingsman, but the end result is so tame and commercial that it feels more like typical streaming filler (Red Notice, Ghosted). Some of the acting is atrocious. Obviously Rockwell puts in the best work, but it doesn’t make up for the stiff performances by Cavill, Howard and Lipa (though she gets a pass for being Dua Lipa). The directing is also noticeably a step down compared to Vaughn’s previous stuff. It doesn’t feel like he put much heart and soul in this, because besides some good stuntwork it looks like shit. There’s just so much plastic sheen (artificial bright lighting, tacky CGI, unnatural compositions and camera movement) that it becomes incredibly ugly to look at. You could pass that off as ‘well it’s meant to be cartoonish’, but I’m not going to make that leap when there’s this little artistry to it. Vaughn needs to stop making these, the whole thing feels predictable and played out.
2.5/10
Poor Things is very pretty, I’ll give it that much. Colors pop, and the watercolor, blurry sky and the scaling but condensed environments of Lisbon and Alexandria both convey the miasma of Bella’s mind quite well. How the background blurs in our young memories and how we remember all the buildings and places that looked large over us but so rarely the walks to them. Those work for me. So much of the rest of the film doesn’t.
I see what it’s going for- it’s hard not to. A journey of womanhood through the conceit of a child’s brain in a woman’s body, when women are treated as children and property to begin with. But it’s so fucking weird, with that conceit, to devote so much time to sex. Sex is an important part of being human for many people, I’m not denying that. But the attention it gets here throughout compared to brief, paltry scenes of Bella reading, seeking knowledge, having an interest in medical science and surgery is disproportional. Especially when the film wants to play her coming home and following in Godwin’s footstep as a culmination of her journey when it’s a facet of the film that barely gets any play in comparison. Angelica Jade Bastien, whose Variety review you should all read, brings up how in a film ostensibly about a cis woman and her relationship with her body menstruation does not come up once. It’s so telling where the film’s true focus lies.
And yes, sex can be beautiful, and conversely so can sex scenes. But the ones here are done dispassionately yet voyueristically. There’s no interiority, no sensuality, no sense of emotion and character felt through them. Compared to films like The Handmaiden they are sterile in heart if not content. It’s a big swing to go from black and white to color, and I can see sex being the impetus for it, sure, but when it’s done like this I don’t buy it. It’s interesting to me that her first time having sex is portrayed like this, with penetration until the man comes, thrice over, and yet her first time with cunnilingus is off screen. I feel like all the sex in this film is similarly narrow and lifeless.
None of what this film is trying to say is new, but much of it is muddled. It wants to rail against the entitlement of men, how they see women as property, how they want them to be exciting and adventurous but only in service of them. And yet it gives Max no grief at all for falling in love with. A child. Literal child, this is not a metaphor, it’s a child’s brain. And marrying her but refusing to have sex with her until marriage because that would be taking advantage, as if marriage would not be taking advantage and has not been used as the ultimate control. On some level the film condemns this, but only in the opposite direction, as part of Emily leaving Max is her frustration over not having sex. It’s baffling that the film seems to take the viewpoint that we ought to let children consent to sex with adults, that it is part of their development and journey to personhood. The film is similarly forgiving to Godwin, who used a woman’s body in a way she would very likely not have consented to all while the film extols a woman’s choice and ownership of her body.
Everything the film has to say about the nature of man and people, about women’s place in society, about sex work, etc, is rote. Nothing here is new, and nothing is heightened by the core conceit. It’s so surface level. And the cast is game enough. Dafoe is Dafoe and that’s always a good time, but I wouldn’t call this one of his greatest roles. Carmichael, much as I love his standup, just is not working here. Stone and Ruffalo are acting for the back seats, and while that has its moments of charm, it’s too much for most of the runtime. And Stone is just. She’s playing into ableist stereotypes for so much of this performance. The film drops the r slur and we’re just gonna pretend that Stone isn’t doing an insulting caricature at the same time? I don’t even want to delve into all the questions raised by the mental disability angle, others could do that better than me, but it’s another level of thoughtlessness and surface level depth.
The score is similarly cloying and overbearing. It insists on a scene rather than being a part of it. It doesn’t enhance it or complement it, it beats you over the head with how the scene is meant to make you feel. I could enjoy the sound of it in isolation, but as a score it’s distracting more than anything else. It’s a bit surprising to me how much this film has been praised as outside of the production design, I don’t see it. I just don’t. For me, this is as much a misfire as Barbie, if not more. Poor things.
We've kinda come full circle with these superhero films when you think about it.
After the camp of the 90s, directors like Nolan and Singer reset the tone of superhero movies in the 2000's to something that was more grounded and serious, which in turn laid a lot of the groundwork for the MCU.
Here we have Taika Waititi providing a throwback to the Joel Schumacher days.
If that's your thing you'll probably dig it, but it's definitely not my brand of camp.
I’m not exactly a Thor: Ragnarok fan (nor the other two Thor films). I don’t have a problem with its silly tone, because I’m not a manchild who needs to see his childhood validated, but a lot of its comedy didn’t click with me (even after a rewatch). Everything that didn’t work for me in that film is amped up to an eleven here.
There are some serious points in it where the acting choices, slapstick/childish/hokey comedy, overly bright colors, gay undertones, overdesigned costumes (no nipples yet, but give Taika another film and we'll see what happens) and godawful music choices started to give me genuine flashbacks to stuff like Batman Forever, not quite the thing you want to remind me of.
It's not a complete disaster; the performances by Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson and especially Christian Bale are generally quite good. I'm also glad Marvel seems to have definitively found the saturation button back after Guardians 2, even if the framing/lighting with the visuals remains uninspired and maintains a general level of artifice that makes it look like shit. I believe they used the volume stages for most of the production, and like Obi Wan or The Book of Boba Fett, it’s very noticeable for most of the runtime.
The story's not all that interesting and makes no sense when you put any thought into it, but that's fine given that there is some progression with most of the main characters, even if Thor’s character arc throughout the MCU is all over the place at this point. As with most Marvel films lately, there is a lot of unnecessary exposition (e.g. the Korg narrated flashbacks are really clunky), but where it really drops the ball for me is with the balancing of tone and plot elements. I already thought that the darker stuff in Thor: Ragnarok didn't blend that well with the goofy scenes on the trash planet, but there's even more tonal whiplash here. Christian Bale is giving this excellent, terrifying performance, but he's not in the same movie as Chris Hemsworth, who's playing even more of a Thor parody than he was in Avengers: Endgame. One moment we're invested in this heavy, emotional story with Natalie Portman, and then we cut back to a goofy love triangle between Thor, his hammer and his axe. It's an unbalanced mess without a sense of stakes.
I also don't know what it is with Taika's comedy in these films, because I think What we do in the shadows, Jojo Rabbit and Hunt for the wilderpeople are all very comedic and smart, but for some reason he really likes his Thor movies excessive and dumb. Screaming goats aren't funny to me, they're a dated meme at best. Maybe it's because Taika can't go edgy and niche with the jokes here, but fuck I really hate his sensibilities for this character.
In short, another major misfire from Marvel if you ask me. I pretty much disliked everything except for a few of the performances. Please go back to making indies Taika, and for the love of god: let James Gunn pick the soundtrack for your next film. Even a film this dumb doesn’t need a Guns ‘N Roses needle drop, let alone four of them.
3/10
If this film is a cake, then it’s got the best possible frosting you could wish for. The cake itself, however, isn’t great.
I’ve always had a strange relationship with these films. I don’t really care for the Raimi films (I think they’re overly cheesy, poorly acted and dated, though don’t expect anyone from around my age to admit that), the Webb films are fine (really like the first one, second one’s a mess) and I’ve really liked the 2 recent ones (not as much as Into the Spiderverse, but still good in their own right).
Compared to the previous 2, this one pretty much ditches the John Hughes aesthetic as it goes along, and it goes into full on, operatic superhero mode.
Unfortunately, it is another one of those project that puts nostalgia and fan pandering over story and character, the kind of blockbuster we’re seeing over and over again in a post Force Awakens world.
This story is completely hacked together, consisting of so many contrivances, conveniences and established characters acting out of character that it becomes a bit of a shitshow ( Doctor Strange, a genius, is being tricked by teenagers; Peter not knowing about the consequences of the spell is a very forced way to set the plot in motion; Ned being able to open portals is quite ridiculous when the Doctor Strange movie made a point about how hard that is to learn; why is Venom in the universe given how they set up the rules of the multiverse, and the list goes on ). The problem is that they needed to take that bullet in order to make the film they wanted to make here (or rather, the film fans wanted to see), but that doesn’t make it the right choice by any means, because it leads to a nonsensical film with a rushed pace.
Look, you can nitpick this film to death ( why would a university publicly admit that MJ and Ned are rejected because of their connection to Peter? ), but that’s not even my point. It’s heightened and not meant to be taken that seriously, I get that, but you at least need some form of internal logic, you cannot just do these unearned things because the plot demands it.
It’s not all bad though, Holland’s Spider-man still has a very good arc with some great emotional beats in it, and they make some very bold choices towards the end that I hope they stick with. It’s very similar to the first Fantastic Beasts, so I hope they don’t pull a Crimes of Grindelwald by retconning everything .
The acting is great, Holland and Zendaya give their best and most mature performances yet, and the villains are all good. I really like that they toned Dafoe down a little bit.
It looks fine. It has some of the best cinematography out of the trilogy, but some of the action looks very animated (again, stop touching up the suit, just let it wrinkle ffs) and unfinished, which is probably because this thing was rushed out, as we know.
For instance, there are some really wonky shots in the scene where Spider-Man fights Doctor Strange, the close-ups with Benedict Cumberbatch look like a weather forecast on television.
The references to the previous incarnations are a bit of a mixed bag. I like that they progressed some stuff and did interesting things with the things they referenced ( for example, you really feel like time has passed with Tobey and Andrew, they’re not giving a copy of their original performances, which is also a great excuse to tone down the awkwardness and lack of personality in Tobey’s version. Also, the banter between them is very nice, of course ), but most of it plays like a pandering greatest hits compilation. I don't need Dafoe to say you know, I'm something of a scientist myself again, it is nothing but a cheap attempt to trigger my nostalgia button.
Finally, it also has some of the worst tonal balance and comedy out of the trilogy, especially with some of the lines that are given to Benedict Cumberbatch.
5/10
In summary/TLDR: great idea for Sony’s bank account, but the seeds for this needed to be planted much earlier in order to make it a good film.
(The following describes my feelings about Season 1. I guess I had dumb faith that they would stay consistent between seasons but I was poorly mistaken. My comment on Season 2 is here: https://trakt.tv/comments/661270)
Absolutely AMAZING. This has to be the best superhero medium put into video form aside from One Punch Man. Lately, films and TV have been rapidly going downhill and my hope for good quality entertainment was mostly lost. I was not expecting this level of action, vast worldbuilding, detailed animation, talented voice acting, sophisticated writing, tonal maturity, nor character depth- especially in 2021 after the entire entertainment industry is recovering from a certain pandemic. In my opinion, this completely blows past any sort of MCU/DCEU movie, animated Justice League adaptation, or really any other animated comic book adaptations. I went into this completely blind, I highly recommend you do the same (and stick around til the end of every episode because they each have additional content after the credits) Unfortunately for now it's only available on Amazon Prime but I will absolutely be purchasing this once it is (hopefully) released on BluRay. This will hang on the Masterpiece shelf in my movie and TV collection.
[2024 Rating Update: Season 1: 10/10 | Season 2: 4/10 | Average: 7/10]
As a lifelong SpongeBob admirer, since I was little, this film feels like the proper jumping off point for most longtime fans. It's the last thing Tim Hill, one of the original creators, will be involved with on the series, and it's the last SpongeBob piece of media that was in production while Stephen Hillenburg was still alive. The in memoriam at the end was a tasteful farewell. But the biggest issues plaguing the film are it's retreads of the 2004 original and it's constant retconning of SpongeBob lore. I know many casual viewers and especially parents will not care at all about any of the changes, but all you have to do is watch season 1 of the show to see how inconsistent and mandated the inclusions are. SpongeBob met Sandy as an adult, same with Squidward, same with Mr. Krabs. And SpongeBob knew Patrick since birth. The Nickelodean enforced 'Camp Coral' spin-off advertisement flashbacks were irritating and ruined what could've been otherwise extremely heartfelt speeches by SpongeBob's friends. I can see I'm not the only one voicing those complaints, so it's upsetting Nick forced them in, especially when Hillenburg was very openly against spin-offs or side shows of the characters. Putting that aside, the animation is gorgeous, rivaling The Peanuts Movie in presentation, and love and care in to the environments. Plenty of easter eggs are afoot, the Patty wagon makes a return, and so much more. It's a feast for the eyes above anything else. There are funny bits, Danny Trejo shows up for a few minutes as the ruler of these ghostly zombie pirates, called El Diablo. Keanu Reeves plays a pretty major character called Sage, a tumbleweed who acts as a voice of guidance, pretty much the Mindy of this film. Snoop Dogg has a short musical number, and Take On Me plays as the film closes. It banks on celebrity appearances and the occasional song reference, but the banter between SpongeBob and Patrick is what keeps it afloat. I think what disappointed me was it never tugged at my heart strings like the original did. There's no similar scene where the duo sing "I'm A Goofy Goober" with their last breath as they're dying. There are glimpses for sure, but never reach that peak. The majority of the runtime is a clone of 'Beavis and Butthead Do America' fused with 'Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius.' I recommend only watching if you are in the same demographic as me. An adult who grew up with the series and wants to see one final film to close the curtain. Because I'm done with the series now that Hillenburg is gone and I'm sure that's exactly what he would've wanted.
After the recent decline in writing quality over the recent seasons, I was hoping they were saving all of their mojo for the final season. Boy was I wrong. Trying to copy Game of Thrones here with a final turd of a season as a sendoff? This final season of Supernatural was absolutely abysmal. Though as bad as the final season of Game of Thrones was, the final episodes of Supernatural (the ones that were actually focused on the main plot) are still far superior because they at least know how to stay true to their two main characters.
The entire final season is carried by meta-humor, callbacks, and bringing back as many previous guest stars as possible. Regardless of if the guest stars make any sense or impact the story in any meaningful way, they'll have the entire plot revolve around them to serve as a mcguffin to carry on the plot to the next mcguffin. "Developed" characters making the same decisions, mistakes, and apologies they have in every prior season. I guess it counts as character development if they repeatedly "learn" the same lesson and don't change themselves /s. Plot convenience after plot convenience (even if you break the fourth wall and acknowledge it in the script!) isn't good writing. It's lazy writing. Think you won't have time to do stupid side filler episodes during a final season consisting of only 20 episodes? Wrong. As always, they have to work their run-of-the-mill cases, regardless of the fact that the world is ending... again... (this time even something as big of a deal as GOD himself). 85% of the season was entirely filler with only 15% of it left for the main plotline to be scattered into those filler episodes for just a few minutes each. The entire season felt like obnoxious fan service....for characters and plot points that have already been resolved and concluded??? I guess "No One's Ever Really Gone"(https://youtu.be/gNTLC_uiGFA) really speaks monuments. They went ahead and destroyed any closure the side characters' original plotlines had in favor for these new endings which feel so cheap and undeserving AKA shitty retconning. It completely undermines/disrespects the sacrifices and any development these characters had in their original arcs. If they wanted to bring back characters for good fan service and nostalgia, they could have at least brought back the heavy hitters like Lucifer (more of him), Crowley, Bobby (the actual character instead of a superficial cameo), John Winchester, Loki, Cain, or Azazel but I doubt the writers would've had enough talent to handle them. Instead, we got a bunch of second rate hunters and side characters (ones I'd argue very few people actually care about) stealing the spotlight which felt extremely forced and unearned, all the while it was clear the writers wanted me to root for them or applaud them anytime they'd make their reappearance. If you want me to root or cheer for a character you have to earn it through writing good characters and developing them, not solely because they existed in a prior season.
Somehow each season seems to increasingly surprise me with poorer acting, especially from the extras. The acting has gotten so bad from the main cast, its hard to ignore and not cringe at their mannerisms they've developed from playing the same characters and saying the same repetitive lines all these years. As much as I love Jensen and Jared, when you see them step out of their character and into another one, their poor acting really shines; not because you're not used to them playing other roles but because its really bad. Though that could entirely be the fault of the directors, which would not surprise me.
All of the degrading plot behavior and the strict formula-following that the recent seasons have been experiencing more and more of as time goes on has been amplified by 200% for the final stretch in the series. In the shows case, the more it "carried on", the more unbearable it became. It's truly sad to see them go after such a long journey but thankfully its come to an end before it's gotten any worse because the writing staff have absolutely tarnished whatever resemblance of a unique and engaging story was left.
I must say that the final episode seriously felt like Jack wrote it instead of Chuck. It's truly a great metaphor; The same feeling of when people with no idea and no passion for a project take over another persons creation. An ingenuine presentation and almost like a fan fiction. Told by someone who wants to end the characters in whatever way they feel rather than a well written and thought out conclusive ending to our two characters journey. I couldn't think of a more cookie cutter and easy ending. I know they made it a little cheesy towards the end of the episode but it feels like the writers are mocking the audience with exactly how bad this ending was... They knew exactly what they were doing and it truly irritates me. F### that Carry On cover, it was like the cherry on top of the steaming pile of s###, a spit in the face. I'm beginning to think that they were serious when Chuck mentioned how he adored the Game of Thrones ending, because clearly the writers took notes.
As much as I enjoyed the earlier seasons of Supernatural, I would describe this final season and many of the other recent seasons in two words: Lazy and Formulaic.
It's a good show. I think that, as a whole, this show is essentially unlike any other show, in a good way. Pretty much everything that happens is so odd and weird but it works. Maybe the source material, too, when it was released, was the same way in that it's unlike any other comic or whatever, and perhaps that's still the case.
Everything that happens is compelling, even though you'd think it wouldn't be, because of the nature of it all. Well, as I said, it works. No matter how outrageously weird and odd it is, it works, and also manages to keep getting more outrageously weird and odd. And I imagine there's still so much more that hasn't been explored yet from the source material. Let that sink in.
For me, I don't necessarily like it as much as other people do, and not because I find the things that happen throughout the show disgusting or repulsive, or whatever. I just think I have a much different outlook than a lot of people, in general, or something along those lines. I don't recall ever getting emotional or anything like that with anything that I've watched, not just shows or movies. Anything. I've never been as expressive toward anything as I've seen people be, etc.
It's like I'm so desensitized in an overall sense, I react differently to what I watch than a normal person would. I don't feel much, and when I do, which isn't often, it's mostly just feeling uncomfortable and almost physically recoiling when watching or seeing something that makes me look away or minimize my browser and turn down the volume to zero. And that's always something like a person going on stage or something like that, in that sense, where the reactions of other people trigger me to do that.
That being said, and I apologize for going off-course with that, I enjoy watching this show. But it isn't that memorable to me. But I recommend it to anyone who reads this that hasn't watched the show to give it a shot. If you're not as desensitized as I am, which is highly likely, you'll either like it very much or dislike it very much. Or maybe you'll dislike it from a reaction standpoint but will continue watching it and may even like it when it comes down to it.
I know that I'm certainly in the very small minority that doesn't understand all the hype and very extreme love of this show. I'm probably in a smaller minority that doesn't find it that funny, also. I truly don't understand what's so great about it. At its best, it's enjoyable, at least. At its worst, which is more frequent, it's mostly boring.
And on a bigger scale, it is rarely funny. Maybe a lot of the jokes or humor fly over my head, or maybe I genuinely don't find it funny, most of the time. At best, the only saving grace of this show is that it mostly manages to entertain and never gets too boring. Other than that, it doesn't seem like the rare, phenomenal show that it has been treated as and came along that is loved by the masses and is deserving of that. It's just...a, a show, like any other. A hit or miss. And for some odd reason, this one hit the jackpot, maybe to a greater extent than what has ever been achieved before, for shows like this.
And just for the sake of context, on top of my rating (7 out of 10) of the show, since this is the internet and people get offended for the heck of it, this is how I feel but I don't hate the show. I'm entertained by it, although there are boring/less entertaining bits throughout it. That has yet to change, and I don't think it will. But I do think this is the type of show to take a break from watching, for a little while, now and then, even when it is airing, to enjoy it to the fullest possible capacity.
Great cast of characters, gorgeous animation, and a killer score. Some of the most unique stand abilities so far, and a ton of creative scenarios for them to shine.
Narratively, the show frequently exceeded expectations in the first half. It starts out as an escort mission where we get to know the cast and what they're up against. The next half, where the show morphs into a chase to defeat the villain, could have been used as a vehicle for developing the characters we had just become comfortable with.
Sadly, the last half is a mixed bag. There are hints that the characters are going to develop and strengthen their bonds with one another, but all of that ends up being tossed aside for spectacle. The final battle doesn't do much to flesh out a weak main antagonist, and a couple of the arcs leading up to it struggle with dreadfully slow pacing. Everything culminates in a horribly underwhelming epilogue that spends almost its entire runtime in a flashback that doesn't add any character development or narrative depth.
Overall, this season had a couple of the best arcs in the entire series. The Grateful Dead and King Crimson vs. Metallica are particular standouts. Unfortunately, the best moments can't completely compensate for the missteps. Golden Wind felt like a bit of a disappointment compared to its predecessor.
The Mandalorian started out OK, but ended up as some half-baked, lazily written show that exist merely to lure parents to justify a Disney+ subscription. Kids get the usual Disney contents, moms get Baby Yoda, dads get Star Wars nerdy reference. The show almost feels like being made by a bunch of fanfiction writers with familiarity of the setting but zero sense of screen writing.
Nothing wrong with liking it, it's just the show appears to be all style and no substance.
Storyline shows no complexity at all. In fact, most of them are fillers. You can skip 4 of 8 episodes and you'll still understand the story just fine. Characters are completely uninteresting. None of them are developed. None of them had nuances: protagonists are morally good heroes; antagonists are one dimensional evils. The show relies only on a cute muppet and flashy action, but has zero substance. Had a potential great world-building with some details, but they chose to abandon it for rule of cool (and cute).
The "it's Star Wars, so it'll be simple" excuse commonly said by the series' defenders doesn't hold up if you actually consider other Star Wars titles such as Knights of the Old Republic, Republic Commando, Jedi Academy, Thrawn trilogy, the original and Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, and so on. Those titles are known for having remarkable storytelling; something that The Mandalorian doesn't have for its poverty of creative vision.
I have so much to say about this show and how bad it is. If you want a excellent supernatural drama, then watch this BUT only from season 1 to 5. The fifth season's finale offers a great ending to the show and after that, everything is just plain bad. The plots stop making sense, they bring back characters just to kill them off and introduce new ones nobody gives a shit about. Think about everything that makes the show amazing, all those characters you love. Well, you'll be lucky if they decide to kill them off, because they managed to ruin Castiel and Crowley's characters to a point where I can't even stand them. Season 10's Crowley is just terrible, all he does is sit on his chair in his castle or whatever the hell that is (look i made a pun) and kill random demons. Regarding Castiel, a lot happens to him after the fifth season, sure, but his character just doesn't evolve. This is so irritating because i was such a huge fan of this show but now i feel like i'm gonna have to drop it.
I can only recommend the 5 first seasons, after that everything is just bad.
Just look at the gap between season 1-5 ratings and season 6-10 (or 11 now, since it has been renewed), and really the only people still defending this show are tumblr hardcore fans and shippers.
Compared to previous episodes, this episode is not bad, but still dumbly written.
As usual, a supposedly professional team of mercenaries turns out to be incompetent just-for-laugh bollocks, as shown by one person destroying a droid for fun in a ship they know are extremely guarded by, well, droid's connectivity. And no one seems to be troubled with that. Apparently recklessness and naivety are traits commonly shared by supposedly 'fighters' in this show - we've seen people ranging from bounty hunters, ex-rebel shock trooper, and even the Mando himself, who consistently failed to notice obvious traps (eps 5), wasted their time for overly convoluted plans (eps 4), or simply appeared to took the same marksmanship class as stormtroopers (eps 3 & 5).
Oddly, for a ship supposedly to be extremely secure, barely any droids patrol the ship. Even when the ship was on full emergency alert. The droids conveniently only appear as distraction as the plot needs it; for a heist/rescue episode, this leaves no stake on breaching the ship at all.
Speaking of stake, the characters also consistently make questionable decisions. Despite knowing they are limited on time, they just waste it for squabbling between themselves, hunting for each other down to the last of it, instead of focusing on running away from the ship.
But the worst offender is our titular character.
The Mando turns out to be a Disneyfied, Sunday morning, family-friendly bounty hunter, as he refuses to hurt people from New Republic but oddly has no qualms killing/hurting people who happen to be on the side of other factions (stormtroopers, bandits, fellow professionals, or even just a person who happens to have a huge debt - eps. 1).
It appears that the "hunting" in bounty hunting is only legitimate, as long as it doesn't involve one of the "good guys". Good guys according to who? No in-universe explanation is given except that according to Disney, New Republic must be the good guys. This show seems to be the opposite of Star Wars: The Old Republic (the online game, not the single player RPG): where the game aligns bounty hunter in the "evil" faction just because Boba Fett worked for the Empire, this show aligns bounty hunter in the "good" faction just because Mando is the protagonist.
The Mando also always consistently failed to realize that leaving Baby Yoda alone always means a bad thing. I mean, this is his damn third time doing that.
That being said, the action is quite well-done. The Twi'lek girl is choreographed nicely. The Mando has some cool action with his gears. The ending has some tense, though the last order from Ran feels a bit cheap. Unfortunately, those still can't save the episode from its below-average screen writing.
