The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor

February 9, 2022 1:21 AM - Season 1, Episode 7

Fett and Shand face an escalating conflict.
posted by EndsOfInvention (138 comments total)

There is a short post-credits scene.

I don't know which show Robot Raylan will end up in but I'm excited for it.

posted by Gary at 1:27 AM on February 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

So many loose ends that could have been tied off better. At least they paid off something from episode 2 or 3 in a spectacular way.

Who sold the syndicate those killer robots? It was Doctor Aphra, wasn’t it?

The ending was better than I feared it would be, but I still feel like there so much wasted potential in this show. They spent two episodes with the Tuskens and world-building, only to throw it away as a lazy revenge motivator. They jammed another whole series in-between episodes. Characters spouting first-pass dialogue. At least they got a tech demo for Ahsoka out of it?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:37 AM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

That was…ok.

Ok from the emotional standpoint of the characters. Was great to see them uniting. But holy hell that big battle was absolutely terrible and idiotic.

Please stop letting Robert Rodriguez direct action episodes because he’s terrible at it. Most of episode felt very rote and by the numbers, with little emotional weight.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:58 AM on February 9, 2022 [16 favorites]

I liked the rancor vs battle droids. That's about all I can say about this episode.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:25 AM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Cloverfield the rancor should get his own spinoff.
posted by orrnyereg at 4:47 AM on February 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

This was stupid. Like, prequel levels stupid.

Let's stay in an undefendable position and spread our forces thin, instead of staying in our FREAKING fortress and wait for reinforcements. Let's trust the other criminal gangs who stand a lot to gain by betraying us.

I won't bother commenting on the rest of the episode, it was stupid all the way through.

But I liked the Grogu taming the rancor bit.

Anyway, Mandalorian season 3 when ?
posted by Pendragon at 4:53 AM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Anyway, Mandalorian season 3 when ?

You just watched it.
posted by mikelieman at 6:03 AM on February 9, 2022 [13 favorites]

I won't bother commenting on the rest of the episode, it was stupid all the way through.

Fennec stringing up the mayor was pretty dope.
posted by orrnyereg at 6:10 AM on February 9, 2022 [9 favorites]

Rodriguez episode.
✅ Big
✅ Dumb
✅ Loud

An unsatisfying ending to an unsatisfying season. My 10 year old will enjoy it, but we don't need to make shows stupid just for kid appeal.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:07 AM on February 9, 2022

Ok, I just....
*shrug*
...

...

*sigh*
posted by rp at 8:13 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’m vacillating between “very adequate” and “highly okay.”

I’ve often thought the action is often the dullest part of any action show. When there is 25 minutes of it, sedately paced, it is even less engaging. Robert Rodriguez has directorial skills, not not as an action guy.

I don’t regret watching the series — it had a few nice moments — but I think in six months, I will struggle to tell you anything that happened in it.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:34 AM on February 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

It was extremely stupid overall, but I appreciated Chekhov's Rancor, who is a very good boy.
posted by confluency at 9:15 AM on February 9, 2022 [16 favorites]

A friend described the it as "That was the most Star Wars fight" and that's one of the most quietly savage burns ever.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:32 AM on February 9, 2022 [8 favorites]

I think I ... loved it?

Boba Fett, rejecting a return to his former life of race to the bottom gig work, sets up on Tatooine and is able to effectively organize key elements of the the Mos Espa community and surrounding area with the help of a couple closely trusted comrades. Together, this loose coalition is able to repel a force of unchecked capital which is willing to destroy any community that it can't bind to its destructive business plan by way of twisted, one-sided deals. To defeat the spice traders, key local collaborators, a syndicate executive, and a corrupt government official all must be assassinated. This was maybe the most low key radical piece of mass media science fantasy I've seen since Avatar. Legit didn't think Disney Corp had it in them. Plus it riffed on King Kong, which I'm surprised Star Wars hasn't tried sooner.

Was it the crime show we were pitched? Definitely not. Have I formed lasting emotional connections to any of the new characters? Not really. Maybe the rancor? Do I hope we stay off Tatooine for a good long while in upcoming Star Wars projects? Absolutely, but I had a great time this last hour there.

This was a very weird show that barely stuck the landing but for me, it did. Next year though, please Make Mine Mando.
posted by EatTheWeek at 10:48 AM on February 9, 2022 [21 favorites]

And it ought to clear up any lingering doubt there might be about the show being Favreau playing with the toys: any Gen-X kid can see the climax being rendered in a Kenner TV commercial in 1983:

Kid 1: “Here comes Boba Fett on his Rancor (TM)! Rrrrawwrrrr!” (Swivels 14-inch plastic toy, the outstretched arm of which knocks over part of the Tattooine Mos Eisley Playset)

Kid 2: “Oh no!” (His figures hop away.)

Can anyone elucidate the minimalist mid-credit scene? Was that a Mod in the bacta? It was obviously their fixer (but not Fixer) preparing to do a procedure.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:04 AM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

I think that was Cobb Vanth in the bacta, but it was a mighty quick shot.
posted by EatTheWeek at 11:14 AM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

That was definitely Cobb Vanth.
posted by Pendragon at 11:19 AM on February 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

I suppose that would make sense, but yes, it was weirdly brief. “Here’s a character not otherwise in this episode glimpsed unconscious and behind plastic for a second-and-three-quarters in a stinger. Are you not intrigued?”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:21 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Right! Like, I dug him well enough, and enjoyed his interactions with Mando, but Cyber Tim Olyphant isn't the hook that will get me wanting another return trip to Tatooine.
posted by EatTheWeek at 11:28 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Can we please leave Tatooine now? We went to Toshi Station, shot womp rats in Beggar's Canyon, and blew up the Sarlac Pit. Is there any nostalgia yet to be mined?

Oh wait, the next series is Obi-Wan. I guess we'll finally find out what Watto's been up to.
posted by Gary at 11:38 AM on February 9, 2022 [17 favorites]

At least Obi-Wan takes place before the original trilogy... Nice change of scenery.
posted by Pendragon at 12:36 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Who sold the syndicate those killer robots?

I found myself wondering what it's like to be a droid that's...that for a living, and all I could think of is Krombopulos Michael from Rick and Morty: "Oh boy, here I go killin’ again!".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:51 PM on February 9, 2022 [9 favorites]

Oh wait, the next series is Obi-Wan. I guess we'll finally find out what Watto's been up to.

Obi-Wan takes place before the original trilogy... Nice change of scenery.

Arg right. Please please please let the conflict of this series be something that takes Obi off world immediately. And please no deepfake Luke, no baby Luke, no retconning Force Ghost Luke, no Luke whatsoever. It's been a great 40ish years, but I'm all set for Luke content, thank you.

I don't regret watching Boba Fett, but it may have been a mistake to have the lyrics to the closing credits of such a clearly cut, recut, and pasted together story be mostly "dumb, dumb-dumb, dumb dumb, DUMB DUMB dumb DUUUMMBB!!"
posted by EatTheWeek at 12:58 PM on February 9, 2022 [5 favorites]

That was noisy. Review ends.
posted by chill at 1:08 PM on February 9, 2022

no Luke whatsoever

You don't want to see toddler Luke ? It would sell a lot of toys....
posted by Pendragon at 1:14 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Do you know what would be funny ? Obi-Wan as a Force ghost following Darth Vader around. The dry snark would be epic.
posted by Pendragon at 1:19 PM on February 9, 2022 [15 favorites]

I love the idea of a newly-redeemed Ben Solo, traveling the galaxy to atone for his crimes, being accompanied--and getting dunked on--by the Force ghosts of Anakin and Luke. Sort of like a spectral Statler and Waldorf. Ah, what might have been!
posted by orrnyereg at 1:53 PM on February 9, 2022 [10 favorites]

Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney Plus on May 25th
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:03 PM on February 9, 2022

All I could think of as Grogu was taming the Rancor was, “hey, big guy, suns are getting real low…”
posted by wabbittwax at 2:03 PM on February 9, 2022 [23 favorites]

But holy hell that big battle was absolutely terrible and idiotic.

Never underestimate the tactical genius of Star Wars.
posted by srboisvert at 2:29 PM on February 9, 2022

I mean, here's the thing. If Boba had the time to go back, saddle up the rancor, ride the rancor back to the fight, why didn't he just get in his goddamn ship? That's parked in the same place! That flies! That has like, all the guns and whistles!

I just... Argh. This was so dumb, and maybe even pulled my "it's ok, it's fine" rating down to like, "well, that was pretty dumb. Too bad they got Space Dad dirty for that."
It's like Walking Dead-level dumb.
posted by rp at 2:32 PM on February 9, 2022 [11 favorites]

Also the Spaghetti Western thing Cad Bane does where his head is down and he looks up to dramatically reveal his eyes/face from under his hat strikes me as strategically unsound, since it requires him to be looking at the ground instead of at his fucking opponent.
posted by wabbittwax at 2:36 PM on February 9, 2022 [7 favorites]

I mean, here's the thing. If Boba had the time to go back, saddle up the rancor, ride the rancor back to the fight, why didn't he just get in his goddamn ship? That's parked in the same place! That flies! That has like, all the guns and whistles!

This is indeed hard to justify. The only explanation I can come up with is that the droids were shielded. Boba and Space Dad had a conversation about energy weapons not getting through. But that's dumb, since they could obviously overload and penetrate the shield with enough rancoring.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:47 PM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

I mean, here's the thing. If Boba had the time to go back, saddle up the rancor, ride the rancor back to the fight, why didn't he just get in his goddamn ship?

Or even better, Danny Trejo?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:17 PM on February 9, 2022 [10 favorites]

justice for our green porky bois
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:59 PM on February 9, 2022 [30 favorites]

justice for our green porky bois

I was expecting a scene where they were in side-by-side hospital beds with casts on every appendage and neck braces.
posted by snofoam at 4:40 PM on February 9, 2022 [28 favorites]

I'm hoping the Cobb Vanth reveal means that the Rangers show that was in Gina-Carano-is-a-shitbag limbo is now getting reworked with Vanth as the lead character. It'd kind of a stretch for Timothy Olyphant -- I'm not sure he can pull of a role as a righteous outsider lawman who tries to keep order in a wretched hive of scum and villainy. (Meiloorun fruit on the bar…)
posted by nathan_teske at 5:09 PM on February 9, 2022 [18 favorites]

This episode had terrible pacing. Like, the FIRST fight with the robot felt like a climax and a victory, and then there was another robot and, what, four or five additional climactic set-pieces after that. A lot of them felt very samey to me, too: for instance we see Grogu rescue Mando in basically the same circumstances twice, when he is pinned down and a much larger adversary is coming for him. Even twice in two consecutive episodes would have felt repetitive, but twice in the same (very lengthy) action sequence just felt like they were running out of ideas.

I was put off by Mando seeming so confident, in early dialogue, that Vance and the Freetowners would show up as a garrison. How I remember they left it was that Vance was skeptical the townsfolk would go for it, and then he gets shot before he has a chance to pitch it. Why is Mando telling Fett and Shand that they can count on all these fighters showing up? It felt like a disservice to the character to have him promise something so life-and-death like that. (I mean, as a watcher of genre television, I was 100% sure that they would show up, but not because of anything I'd seen onscreen to that point.)

Absolutely none of the tactical decisions that the heroes made made sense to me. They sidelined Shand for most of the action during which it seemed pretty clear that a sharpshooter would be useful.

The dialogue between Cad Bane and Fett at the end was just stupid. Fett's arc was never about coming to terms with his past as a killer. Unless that was Bane referring to character development that took place in a different series than this one (I have not watched any of the animated Star Warses). I also felt like Bane's death wasn't earned. This wasn't a good enough show to get to kill off a character like that.
posted by gauche at 5:37 PM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

I also felt like Bane's death wasn't earned.

We're watching a show about Boba Fett (eaten) created in part by Dave Filoni, the guy who brought back Darth Maul (sliced in half). The red light blinking on his chest seemed like enough to indicate Cad Bane is still alive. I'm not sure what makes death final in popular franchises but I'm not ruling out the Gamorreans having secret parachutes or landing on a big trampoline.
posted by Gary at 6:17 PM on February 9, 2022 [10 favorites]

I like how they managed to juuuuust skirt around saying "The spice must flow!" so you can't technically accuse them of totally ripping off Dune.

Boba keeps saying his "people" need him. Who? We see him interact with ... 5 characters? Maybe? And given that all the other crime-lords turn against him, and with them apparently half the city, it seems like "his people" are the humans we almost never actually see.

I was hoping for a post-credits montage of Danny Trejo training BF on the Rancor, and all their wacky hi-jinks and misadventures. Perhaps to tune of "I'll be there for you"?

Luke sending R2 to deliver Grogu by himself makes him seem like such a petty little dinkus. "You don't want to be in my Jedi Academy? Well fiiiiiine, go back to Mr. Shiny-Handsome-Armor-Jerk-Face-Guy! And since you haaaaate me so much, you can go by yourself! Oh no, I wouldn't want to bother you with all my awesome Force tricks. SEE IF I EVER SHOW YOU HOW TO LEVITATE A GODDAMN FROG!"

All the Mods are ridiculous, but Fancy-Face-Gray-Hoodie-Cloak-Guy is just the most absurd to me for some reason.

Those poor Gamorreans. Fett & Shand kick their asses, kill their boss, rough them up again before hiring them (at a lower salary no doubt!), Fett doesn't even take Jennifer Beals up on the free Gamorrean washing and feeding (hey, they can really work up an appetite when they are on duty! And on Tatooine the sand just gets everywhere, and in some of the "moist" parts of the body it gets all sticky and muddy and... well, let's just say, they may sound like pigs, but these Gamorreans value personal hygiene), and then they are unceremoniously knocked off a frickin' cliff. It's like Nordberg in The Naked Gun.
posted by Saxon Kane at 6:39 PM on February 9, 2022 [7 favorites]

Yeah when Cad Bane said that thing about “I knew you were a killer” I could hear Temuera Morrison’s voice in my head saying “never said I wasn’t” but then he never said it in the show. Very confusing.
posted by wabbittwax at 7:11 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yes to basically all of the above. Also, I'm super-confused about the timeline here. Last ep, Mando asks Cobb Vanth to round up some troops and come help fight. Then Mando leaves. THEN Cad Bane shows up and kills Cobb.

THEN Mando goes back to Boba and tells him that the cavalry is coming.

THEN Cad Bane tells Boba that the cavalry is NOT coming.

THEN the cavalry DOES come. And THEN Mando says to Dan Dority, "sorry about Cobb," and Dority says "he was shot down in cold blood" or some shit.

How did mando know about that? When did he find out?
posted by nushustu at 7:49 PM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

Also, as much as I wanted to like this show, I didn't, because of how frustratingly close they were to an actual good story.

Keep all the flashbacks, but intersperse them with a very different Boba in the "now" time. Have Boba appear to be a HUGE gangster asshole. Let him befriend all the five families. Let him get in good with the Huts, and the Mayor. Let him become the number one killer for the Pikes. Make it look like after healing up with the Tuskens, he goes back to his life as a bounty hunter. Or an enforcer for the mob.

Set up the Tuskens as terrorists. Make them like native americans in old westerns. Hell, put a scene in there where somebody brings in a Tusken for a bounty. Let them say he committed some crime or whatever. And have Boba look him deep in the eyes, and then kill him.

And let the audience think he's back to his bad self. He'd rather disintegrate people than bring them in alive.

Drama drama drama, the families are fighting, they hit the mattresses, standard gangster stuff.

And then at the end, do the end of the Godfather, with Boba using the Tuskens to kill off the five families. Let them wipe out all of the crime on Tatooine. Let them wipe out the Hutts, wipe out the Pikes. Let them say that Tatooine belongs to the Tuskens. Let Boba help with this, and then step down, and live out his life as a bacta farmer, or something.

Maybe it's not the best story, but at least it uses the first two eps.
posted by nushustu at 8:02 PM on February 9, 2022 [23 favorites]

I had low expectations so I thought this was OK. The Kaiju vs. Mecha visual and Grogu were enough to come out net positive.

Star Wars fights are never tactically sound but man, did this one's faults bug me. Complete video game logic--just standing in the streets because the fight is all about whether you've levelled up far enough and buffed your armor, and not, you know, trying to avoid being hit. Plus rhythm behind it: the wave of mooks, the two mini-bosses, the final boss. All attacking separately!

And THEN Mando says to Dan Dority, "sorry about Cobb," and Dority says "he was shot down in cold blood" or some shit.

How did mando know about that? When did he find out?

Bane told Boba: "I paid the marshal a visit. You should have never left him without his armor." So Boba cracked this rather unsubtle code, and then Mando got an update from Boba.
posted by mark k at 8:32 PM on February 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

Luke sending R2 to deliver Grogu by himself makes him seem like such a petty little dinkus. "You don't want to be in my Jedi Academy? Well fiiiiiine, go back to Mr. Shiny-Handsome-Armor-Jerk-Face-Guy! And since you haaaaate me so much, you can go by yourself! Oh no, I wouldn't want to bother you with all my awesome Force tricks. SEE IF I EVER SHOW YOU HOW TO LEVITATE A GODDAMN FROG!"

SURE YOU'RE THE ONLY NEW FORCE USER I'VE FOUND IN FIVE YEARS, BUT IF YOU DON'T FORSAKE YOUR DAD YOU CAN FUCK OFF. I DON'T NEED KIDS IN MY SCHOOL. IT'S A CLUBHOUSE NOW. I'LL MAKE A SIGN THAT SAYS 'NO GROGUS'.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:02 PM on February 9, 2022 [22 favorites]

Ok, Teh Spys stuff is dumb, but... "fan" pleasing? For values of fans = young adult, playing off of the new 'Dune' movie (I have some, er, "fresh faced" coworkers who adored the new 'Dune' and had no problems with my describing it as "pretty, but kind of ditzy").

The Spaghetti Western stuff is even worse. Cad Bane could be a really bad ripoff, or an alien with a weird niche Homo sapiens fetish - but this is a galaxy far away and long ago.

I'm cringing hard at the "Bad Cain" name and appearance, but, I'll go with my alien-with-a-H.sap fetish.

But, yeah, it's the writers/ producers just playing with their toys. Except, this is supposed to be entertainment for others, rather than the self gratification.

Fet and Djarin were complete numbskulls for fighting the way that they did.

For how to choreograph pretty much this exact scenario, look to 'Tombstone' (1993) where the protagonists kept moving to constantly change the threat exposure, force the opposition to adapt, and snooker the oppo to open flanks - for the protags' support to pick off.

The Beskar (plot) armour invulnerability was incredibly lazy.

I do like Fett's knee gun - but the visual storytelling there for me is that he's been hurt and (poor fiction trope; "driven to a knee") almost-defeated enough times to invent the knee gun.

The Black Wookie - that was really bad, and then even worse.

Unless there was a strict directive to make this strictly YA/ pre-teen, there's no excuse for how bad this episode/ season has been.

The siege defense against the shielded artillery unit was also amazing bad, as was the assault itself. It's like the writers never studied any ancient Rome.

Maybe another nod to 'Dune' - the slow blade Mandalorian penetrates the shield.

Did appreciate that Grogu initially failed at brute forcing the thing, then tried again and unscrewed a keystone bolt. A singular keystone bolt that crippled an entire leg. The designers of that droid were probably executed years ago.

Reinforced by failing to brute force a Rancor, and instead "adjusted" it's brainstuff, like how in 'Star Trek' the Borg got got exploited for a taken-for-granted unsecured hack.

The Rancor fight was cool.

The "Oh, ok, one more time"-thing, are they going into hyperdrive (again, for no reason other than the initial transition)? And they'll drop out. Then back into hyperdrive again?

Please stop letting Robert Rodriguez direct action episodes

IMDB lists Dave Filoni as the director for this episode - is that incorrect?


urm... Peli Motto physically abusing (throwing a wrench at) one of her droids to convey that she wants them to drive faster? Ok, maybe, GaLaXy BrAiN, it's to show that being regressive and $-ist about one tiny thing doesn't necessarily make one a "bad person" ?
posted by porpoise at 9:25 PM on February 9, 2022

Ah, see I wasn't thinking of it as an either/or choice like that.
When Luke said last ep something like 'a short time for you is a lifetime for others', I knew we were going to see Space Dad and Force Baby reunited.
You could start your Jedi training today.
Or you could go spend 40 years with Mando. If you're going to live to be 800 years old like Yoda - a couple of decades is like taking a gap year.

Like the old joke about the couple at the divorce attorney, when they are 99 and 102.
Why now? Oh, we wanted to wait until our children were dead, so as not to upset them.
posted by bartleby at 9:25 PM on February 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

Star Wars fights are never tactically sound but man, did this one's faults bug me. Complete video game logic--just standing in the streets because the fight is all about whether you've levelled up far enough and buffed your armor, and not, you know, trying to avoid being hit.

Unless the game is Star Wars: Battlefront, where fighting like our heroes did here is a good way to get your whole squad wiped mighty quick. Definitely had to quiet down the part of my brain that played 100s of matches on the Tatooine maps to stop it asking why no one was moving, setting up crossfires, or why they left their one vehicle parked instead of applying pressure while they could. Solid jetpack technique though; no notes.
posted by EatTheWeek at 9:29 PM on February 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney Plus on May 25th

On the face of it, I like to think there is at least scope for cautious optimism here. About the only thing from the prequels that has anything remotely close to consensus as being enjoyable is Evan McGregor’s performance.

On the other hand, the director has done not much more than a scattered few episodes of assorted things (one Better Call Saul, the last two Herzog appearances in The Mandalorian), and I know nothing of the writer/show runner. And there is this weird thing... From the linked blurb:

Joining McGregor will be Hayden Christensen, who’s playing Anakin Skywalker after his transformation into Darth Vader,

Not even flashbacks, it seems: just a guy who is six or seven inches shorter than David Prowse or Spencer Wilding (who was on the suit for Rogue One). And if James Earl Jones is doing any voice work, it’s been kept quiet do far. Not sure how this will work.

Is it okay to say I have a bad feeling about this?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:45 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Genuinely irritated that we didn't see some sort of rise of other Tusken tribes to avenge the one that was massacred. I can't say I expected it, because they sure didn't foreshadow anything, but I had some hopes to circle back to that issue and in the end it was just... straight-up fridging.

As for the episode itself, I liked most of these story beats as ideas, but almost all of them felt slow and clunky in execution.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:02 PM on February 9, 2022 [7 favorites]

FENNEC FKN SHAND

FENNEC FKN SHAND THOUGH

I mean generally this episode was dumb but she is SO GOOD AT MURDER, YOU GUYS!!

My better half didn't start watching this show until the one where Mando showed up so at one point (you can guess when) I turned to him and said "oh by the way Boba Fett has a rancor" and he was like "what????" and I was like "yeah and they truly love each other, he's going to join a rancor fancier club when all this is over and meet a nice witch to settle down with" and he was like "where did he... get the rancor" and I was like "uh the Hutts, don't worry about it, it's not a good show" and that pretty much captures my feelings on this season. Hope next one is

THE BOOK OF FENNEC SHAND

FEATURING BOBA FETT AND THE RANCOR FANCIERS
posted by potrzebie at 11:53 PM on February 9, 2022 [18 favorites]

Oh also when the rancor was mad and I saw it was by that little turret I was like, oh Nooo they're gonna do a King Kong bit aren't they, ugh this show, and then obviously they did.

Still at the end I was like "well it was nice to watch some Star Wars even if it was bad, wasn't the first time I watched bad Star Wars and it won't be the last" and I guess that's why Disney paid the big bucks.
posted by potrzebie at 11:55 PM on February 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

Enjoyed this one. Pretty much what you'd expect from a Marvel/Disney miniseries, all the characters turn up and duke it out, but nice to see a rancor tearing apart robots.

Overall I think the series did a good job. Was a bit skeptical at first about whether they could make Boba Fett into an actual character instead of a cypher, but Temuera Morrison did a good job. I thought after "Once Were Warriors" he portrays an aging thug turning his life around pretty convincingly.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:18 AM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

I also felt like Bane's death wasn't earned.

No One's Ever Really Gone....
posted by Pendragon at 4:35 AM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

I also felt like Bane's death wasn't earned. This wasn't a good enough show to get to kill off a character like that.

A character like what? Space gunslinger? Firefly called, they said you can keep him, although this franchise already has a scary deadly cyborg with a somewhat anachronistic weapon. About the only thing that I wanted to see from Bane is for Fett or maybe one of the Mods (which would be even more humiliating) to reveal that, rather than being an actual cyborg, Bane was really a sort of chibi alien who was piloting the full-sized body like a mecha. The body gets sabotaged and he's scampering around with that big growly voice of his, trying to lift one of his guns with little baby hands. Even Grogu is laughing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:23 AM on February 10, 2022 [9 favorites]

Javier Grillo-Marxuach:

the finale of boba fett is the kaiju vs skynet vs hal 9000 vs quadrophenia vs high plains drifter vs rosie the riveter vs high noon vs rocketeer vs mister smith goes to washington vs michael corleone vs dances with wolves vs londo from babylon 5 versus sword of doom vs baby boom vs leon the professional vs ennio morricone vs old yeller mashup i didn’t know I NEEDED.

posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:36 AM on February 10, 2022 [11 favorites]

Boba Fett's story is just not gripping at all, and the showdown with Cad Baine felt completely contrived and pointless. All through the episode I felt like character's dialogues were just rewrites of the first draft where it had originally been "[discusses high stakes of situation]". They very specifically and straightforwardly explained why they weren't going to just leave Tatoine, but I still felt myself thinking "huh, why don't they just leave Tatooine?"

At least the ending leaves din and grogu unteathered and ready to go off on their next adventures, hopefully far from Tatooine. Ultimately, these shows don't have to be that good to keep me watching them, and I think they know that.
posted by skewed at 7:42 AM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fennec Shand going on and on about how they have scattered their enormous army of like seven people to different parts of the city so they couldn’t possibly be surprised was hilarious. But don’t worry, they have another ten people from Freetown on the way and then they will be undefeatable!
posted by jimw at 9:05 AM on February 10, 2022 [15 favorites]

IMDB lists Dave Filoni as the director for this episode - is that incorrect?

Yes, the end credits place the blame on Robert Rodriguez.
posted by jimw at 9:08 AM on February 10, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm ready for Space Deadwood now, thanks. When do we get Jane?
posted by aesop at 9:13 AM on February 10, 2022 [4 favorites]

Heck let's get Brad Dourif and close the Dune Ouroborous, too.
posted by aesop at 9:15 AM on February 10, 2022 [8 favorites]

A singular keystone bolt that crippled an entire leg. The designers of that droid were probably executed years ago.

The Empire clearly employed some shit-ass engineers, always leaving one critical weakness in everything they built.

(Yes, I know Rogue One established that Galen Erso purposely engineered the vulnerability into the Death Star, but that's just stupid so I'm ignoring it for the purposes of my joke.)

The one thing that bothered me about Fennec Shand taking out the heads of the Families is... well, why didn't she just do that before? It doesn't seem like it would have been very hard for her to sneak into the Pyke's HQ at any point and just blast everyone.

The "Oh, ok, one more time"-thing, are they going into hyperdrive (again, for no reason other than the initial transition)? And they'll drop out. Then back into hyperdrive again?

Yeah, I mean, was he planning on flying throughout the galaxy at normal speeds or something? That makes no sense.

You could start your Jedi training today.
Or you could go spend 40 years with Mando. If you're going to live to be 800 years old like Yoda - a couple of decades is like taking a gap year.

Well, even though Luke took off in the middle of his... week-long Jedi training to go rescue Han & Leia, I think the Jedi generally frown on padawans not devoting themselves heart & soul to the Order. 40 years with Mando would just increase Grogu's "emotional attachment" to him, making him more susceptible to misusing his Force abilities (at least according to Jedi thinking). I think that despite having a very unorthodox Jedi training, Luke post-RotJ is trying to go full traditional in his Jedi Order 2.0, which, no doubt, contributes to Ben's turn to the Dark Side. (by the way, going back to Rise of Skywalker, why didn't any of Kylo Ren's special guard use lightsabers? I thought they were supposed to be the other Jedi acolytes he had turned against Luke?)
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:52 AM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

I cheered when they revealed Grogu left cult recruiter Luke and was wearing the beskar shirt. And then I fell asleep during the action.
posted by antinomia at 9:59 AM on February 10, 2022 [4 favorites]

by the way, going back to Rise of Skywalker, why didn't any of Kylo Ren's special guard use lightsabers? I thought they were supposed to be the other Jedi acolytes he had turned against Luke?

Because they were ret-conned as Jedi trainees in the second movie after being introduced in the first?
posted by leotrotsky at 10:57 AM on February 10, 2022

The one thing that bothered me about Fennec Shand taking out the heads of the Families is... well, why didn't she just do that before?

Bobba was trying to be nice and friendly. Then they betrayed and who needs that?


My biggest pet peeve is the bacta tank breathing device: WHY DOESN'T IT COVER THE NOSE? It's such a minor thing, but god it bothers me everytime I see it, are people breathing in the liquid? Luke didn't in the Empire Strikes Back.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:55 AM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

This season feels like it was rewritten halfway through production. Establish tuskens, Hutt twins, Jennifer Beals ... kill / discard them all, furiously introduce new characters and allies who are flimsy even by Star Wars standards, dispatch beloved characters from better cousin show to try to prop things up, shoot all the characters at each other, curtain.

Like, the climactic moment of the season is Fett facing down Cad Bane, why was Cad Bane introduced about 50 air-minutes before the facedown?

I'm glad Baby Yoda peaced out on Luke. Luke is so fucking flat and boring. All the Jedi are. My headcanon is that Day 1 for a padawan is just getting the lifetime benzo prescription set up. or maybe the midichlorians excrete valium, I dunno.
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:44 PM on February 10, 2022 [11 favorites]

Bobba was trying to be nice and friendly. Then they betrayed and who needs that?

Right, but she could have stealth assassinated head Pyke, right?

Because they were ret-conned as Jedi trainees in the second movie after being introduced in the first?

Oh Ok. I have forgotten... most details of the movies. (I only finally watched RoS about a month or 2 ago.)
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:50 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Finally I got around to watching this. Ugh. Wish I hadn’t. Seriously. This was just bad. All this just to, in the end, reunite Mando with Grogu?

Deus ex rancor was ok, I guess. On the other hand, the damned thing wrecked more of the town than the spider gunbots would have.

Unlike most of you, I had no idea who Cad Bane is/was, so my reaction had no preconceived notion of the guy. But, damn, he was just about every wild-west-Hollywood-gunslinger stereotype poured into one character...and I don’t mean that as a positive. He was so over-the-top it was just laughable. I’m surprised he didn’t spit tobacco juice.

And, now we get to look forward to Mando and Grogu in “Road to Somewhere Other than Tatooine”. I honestly can’t say this series did anything to hype me for Mando s3. Oh, I’ll likely watch it, of course. But, man, it’s gonna have to be some epic shit to adequately make up for the time I lost watching BoBF.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:32 PM on February 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

I’m surprised he didn’t spit tobacco juice.

Only because he normally has a toothpick
posted by nathan_teske at 1:40 PM on February 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

Has anybody mentioned those scooters the young toughs drove? Those stupid, brightly-colored Vespa-looking things? Worst vehicle design I've seen in any Star Wars property, I think.

Also, American actress Sophie Thatcher (also in Yellowjackets) was using the worst fake British accent. Because teenagers on Tattooine are English?
posted by LooseFilter at 1:42 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Like, the climactic moment of the season is Fett facing down Cad Bane, why was Cad Bane introduced about 50 air-minutes before the facedown?

And the climax of the climax is Fett defeating Bane using the Tusken weapon we haven't seen since episode 3? The Tuskens who also haven't been mentioned in what at least 3 episodes? As if that's supposed to be meaningful in the context of his fight and history with Bane, who is only connected to the Tuskens because he told Fett that it was the Pykes what killed 'em. That's just sloppy.

I'm in the same category as Thorzad w/r/t knowledge of Cad Bane. I've seen maybe 2 eps of The Clone Wars, but besides that, this show, and the Mandalorian, I've virtually zero knowledge of Star Wars lore outside of the films. I guess maybe if I knew the whole history of BF vs. CB this might have had some significance for me, but from what everyone here is suggesting, probably not.
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:40 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

At least Space Dad had an easier time using the darksaber against the droid. Maybe the secret is not to think about it so much?
posted by orrnyereg at 3:30 PM on February 10, 2022

I also have not watched the Clone Wars, but has it been established that Boba Fett doesn't kill? Because didn't Vader tell him "NO DISINTEGRATIONS" which, I'm pretty sure is fatal? And then at the end, Cad Bane is like "I always knew you were a killer," right before Boba kills him. Like, yes? Was there ever question about that? That's the line you wanna go out on? You sure you don't wanna take a mulligan and try again, with some better, more bad-ass line?

And yes to what people said upthread. How was Cad Bane the final Big Bad in this series? Shit I'm not even entirely sure who the protagonist was, but I'm damned sure the antagonist wasn't Cad Bane.

Then again, maybe it was, because we kind of didn't really have an antagonist in this series, just a bunch of generic bad dudes. But none of them were villains. Maybe the Hutts. Although again, why were they even in this? Why did you include the Hutts at. all. if you were just going to have them peace out.

This was the worst story arc I think I have ever seen in a season of a tv show ever. Honestly, Black Mirror had more of a thru-line than BOBF.
posted by nushustu at 3:33 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

I also have not watched the Clone Wars, but has it been established that Boba Fett doesn't kill?

He was an absolute psychopath in the Clone Wars. He wasn't a sadist but he did some fucked-up shit, first in the name of avenging his dad and then just as part of becoming a bounty hunter. And he did it all as a child.

There is a thread of something where a hard-bitten Boba Fett crawls out of the Sarlacc pit a broken man and is inspired to become something better through his stint with the Tuskens but by the end of the series is right back to where he started. If they were going for that they failed though.
posted by Anonymous at 5:36 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

There is a thread of something where a hard-bitten Boba Fett crawls out of the Sarlacc pit a broken man and is inspired to become something better through his stint with the Tuskens...

They really did piss away that whole mystic magical dreamquest in the desert buildup, didn’t they? What did he learn from that, other than, apparently, how to kill with a fancy tree branch? Fett’s no different in the end than he was when he fell in the sarlac pit. He’s certainly not a better person, despite his “these are my people” schtick.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:28 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Despite fannish obsession with canon, Star Wars is like the least-thought-out franchise ever. Shit happens, gets undone, things change around, characters get introduced and never developed, Fett himself was a complete black box for 40 years, and everything always feels like it's a scheme to sell toys, games, etc. So I have not been too critical of this series. But, hoo boy, was that finale a hot mess.
posted by briank at 6:32 PM on February 10, 2022 [6 favorites]

What did he learn from that, other than, apparently, how to kill with a fancy tree branch?

He learned it was important to be part of tribe, which the show did a great job telling the audience, but a poor job of showing.

Two things struck me about Boba over the course of the show. One is how naive and bumbling he could come across when attempting to behave like a businessman. It was almost embarrassingly painful to watch, because he clearly had no idea how to inspire trust.

Secondly is how utterly savage he could be when push came to shove. A better show would have integrated those two over the course of seven episodes.

In my mind, Boba still would have been bumbling around at first, trying to do business, being all polite while his helmet was off, inquiring about "how would you like to business?" But by the end, I would have had him entering establishments with the helmet on, gun and Fennect at his side, still asking "how would you like to business?"

Because he would have learned that he can't be polite and honest with crime families and every criminal. He would have learned that on Tatooine you don't get anywhere by being nice, you get somewhere by letting people know not to cross you. It's a hard lesson, but a necessary one if you want to protect your tribe.

Also, I absolutely would have had him riding the Rancor, but being careful not to destroy buildings. Guide it down streets, being mindful of the people he's decided to protect and their property. And damn it bring the Rancor back to help rebuild what the droids destroyed, to demonstrate to all that he was there for them. That, yes if you crossed him, you pay dearly, but if you supported him, he'd support you, have your back.

Even 10% of that would have been better than the shitty spectacle we got.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:59 PM on February 10, 2022 [4 favorites]

Also weren't daiymo servants of the shogun? Sure the former wielded a lot of power, but it was the shogun who were the actual rulers. Boba calling himself a daiymo just sounds like he was ignorant or a running something for someone else.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:01 PM on February 10, 2022

. One is how naive and bumbling he could come across when attempting to behave like a businessman. It was almost embarrassingly painful to watch, because he clearly had no idea how to inspire trust.

The whole crime family set up, where they pledge neutrality and Boba Fett says later that they can be trusted because it's in their best interest. I wanted to scream NO IT ISN'T! THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS! But I was sort of willing to suspend disbelief because I thought they were signaling that Fett can read people and, whatever, if the writers think differently than I do about the political science behind criminal gang behaviors that's fine. He's neutralized the other crime families, plot point noted, we'll move on.

Then they betray him, and now I have no idea what they were doing with that scene. Where they trying to make Fett look stupid? It wasn't framed that way. But he is just makes objectively bad decisions in this over and over, without ever even to seem to realize he's made mistakes, let alone learn from them.

Secondly is how utterly savage he could be when push came to shove. A better show would have integrated those two over the course of seven episodes.

Do you have an example of that? He seemed consistently to err on the side of mercy to me. But not sure I remember it all.

Unless you just mean in a fight itself, which OK.
posted by mark k at 7:35 PM on February 10, 2022

Yes, in a fight.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:54 PM on February 10, 2022

I mean, he's about as savage as Mando, I guess... maybe even less, to be honest.
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:52 PM on February 10, 2022

I did not care about anything else in the show (though hey, it's nice to save Cobb Vanth, and thanks for confirming that was him since it wasn't a good angle to check) except for BABY YODA REUNITES WITH DADDY. Fuck the boring Jedi.

Also, this:

"Grogu? That's a TERRIBLE name. No way am I calling you that."

-Peli Motto SPEAKS FOR ME. BEST LINE IN THIS SHOW.

On a related note, I am making one of my many Baby Yodas some beskar armor out of crochet right now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:37 PM on February 10, 2022 [21 favorites]

I like how the Pykes clarified it wasn’t the biker gangs.

Anyone else sensing vibes between Fennec and that Mod?

I liked when an attacker hid behind a column and the rancor just plowed through the column instead.

In the bacta tank, after the credits, it’s Timothy Olyphant Cobb Vanth in the bacta tank, and the body-mod-happy healer Mod outside it.


>> Who sold the syndicate those killer robots?

> I found myself wondering what it's like to be a droid that's...that for a living, and all I could think of is Krombopulos Michael from Rick and Morty: "Oh boy, here I go killin’ again!".

I usually imagine droids asking "why was I programmed to feel pain?!"
posted by Pronoiac at 12:38 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

I feel like this whole show was retro-engineered to get baby back to Space Dad* while fitting around Pedro Pascal's limited shooting availability (although... like... you don't see his face for episodes on end, surely that makes scheduling conflicts much easier to manage!), with a dash of giving the fans what they thought we wanted which was more Tatooine and more Fett. I don't think this was a story that desperately needed telling. I really liked Fennec Shand but I feel like she deserved better.

* I was very happy to see this. What a RELIEF. Honestly the only thing I really enjoy about this show is that it very UNSUBTLY, even hamfistedly drives home its theme which is that you need a tribe, when as we all know the rejection of all attachments is a big drawback of the Jedi thing. So it was very satisfying to see baby noping out of Jedi school ("the way, this is not") and going back to dad. And he got his little ball back. Excuse me, I've got something in my eye.

Other random observations: I thought it was interesting that Mando is portrayed in a much more contemporary, naturalistic way, even in the way Pascal is directed to deliver his lines, than Temuera Morrison plays Boba Fett, very like High Fantasy Movie. I feel like the show just likes having him; I felt like the scenes with him just came alive in a way that the rest of it fell flat for me. I really enjoyed crazy young Boba in Clone Wars, so his journey should have been far more interesting for me than it actually was.
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:29 AM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

There were a lot of problems with this show, but at the root was the fact that it was never ever established why Boba Fett cares about Mos Espa or why we as the audience should care about Boba Fett. Every time he tried to say that they had to stage this big last stand for the people, I kept saying "Why? Your only connection to this place is that you used to do a lot of work for Jabba, who was probably terrible to this town, too." There was no emotional core to the story. I think they were maybe trying to draw a line between Boba learning about the value of community from the Tuskens, but at least the Tuskens actually seemed to care for Boba. Mos Espa was just indifferent for the most part.

I think there's probably a good show in here, where Boba plays kind of a Will Munny in Unforgiven role.

He gets out of the Sarlacc and taken in by the Tuskens, but mostly he's just tired. He's had enough of this and wants to have a quiet life. But then the Pykes move in and start running their spice, doing violence to and displacing the Tuskens (and actually displacing them, not just running a train past them and taking random pot shots). When Cad Bane shows up as their enforcer, Boba realizes he can't leave his past completely behind him and puts the armour back on to chase the Pykes out of Mos Espa. Then we see his terrible vengeance and in a tragic ending he comes to the belief that the Tuskens can no longer see him as the peaceful man he was trying to be and he moves on to some other planet.
posted by synecdoche at 4:18 AM on February 11, 2022 [18 favorites]

Damn, synecdoche, I want to watch that show.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:30 AM on February 11, 2022 [7 favorites]

OMG @jenfullmoon - That sounds AMAZING, care to share the pattern?
posted by Space Kitty at 6:35 AM on February 11, 2022

but Cyber Tim Olyphant isn't the hook that will get me wanting another return trip to Tatooine.

Okay, but hear me out: what if Timothy Olyphant but WITH a hook?

I’m not really sure why people fleeing a massive war droid in a ten-metre wide bubble would all run down the middle of a wide street. Why not upstairs or downstairs or into a doorway or any of the thousand places all around you it could not follow?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:19 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

Another thing about those droids... why make giant battle droids that take like 60 seconds just to turn around? Sure, they've got their shields, but that just gives your targets time to run around from one side to the other having little chats about their next move while dodging laser beams.
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:26 AM on February 11, 2022

I mean even if you're going to make it with legs instead of wheels or tracks (I guess so it climb stuff) at least put the main guns on a goddamn swiveling turret, you know?
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:27 AM on February 11, 2022

I made up the pattern, but can attempt to document it later. I had to basically work it out around a stuffed Baby Yoda with a large plastic head and unremoveable coat. I haven't uploaded the pic yet other than on Ravelry before I went to work, but can try to document it all later.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:17 AM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

why make giant battle droids that take like 60 seconds just to turn around? Sure, they've got their shields, but that just gives your targets time to run around from one side to the other having little chats about their next move while dodging laser beams.

Again, I blame Robert Rodriguez for this. Each of the three (three!) episodes he directed had the slowest. action. ever. The fight with Boba and Fennic surrounded by the assassins with the shields was super-bad and super-slow. Those vespas go at a light jogging speed. And now we get giant droids that are so slow they feel like the first boss battle of any moderate video game: it takes a little longer to knock them out, but you just keep moving and they'll never hit you.

That dude is the worst director.
posted by nushustu at 8:30 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

I’m not really sure why people fleeing a massive war droid in a ten-metre wide bubble would all run down the middle of a wide street. Why not upstairs or downstairs or into a doorway or any of the thousand places all around you it could not follow?

They instinctively knew that its AI was trained by watching Stormtroopers from Episode IV shoot blasters with "pinpoint accuracy." Which is why, as long as they stayed in the open, the shots would just hit the ground behind them as they ran away. I don't think it hit any of them in those scenes. The thing might actually be able to hit the side of a building though, which would fall on them and be a real danger.

This show is so easy to dunk on but it wasn't the worst episode of the season and, I dunno, plenty of Baby Yoda and relatively little Boba. It was diverting enough.
posted by mark k at 8:55 AM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Seriously, pick the absolute worst movie ever, then put Grogu in it for 10 minutes or more. Watch it become so much better.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:18 AM on February 11, 2022 [13 favorites]

THAT IS CLEARLY THE NEW MEME THAT EVERYONE SHOULD DO.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:56 AM on February 11, 2022 [5 favorites]

Lots of people rave about The Clone Wars show and Rebels and this was exactly one of those. The only difference being size of budget and live actors. Those shows have so much cringe I only made it through them because I love the SW universe and will spend as much time in it as they allow me.

As much as I loved TLJ for maturing SW I loved this for going full rancor.

I also think this show has jumpstarted an entirely new era and deeply subverted the Skywalker legacy. Grogu seems to be on the path of mastering the force without the Jedi/Sith conflict looming overhead. Now they can absolutely ruin this and keep bringing Luke/Ahsoka around to meddle but what a refreshing start. The Skywalker stories ended up being so much about bloodlines and fate that the fact that there are hundreds/thousands of force sensitive characters was almost completely lost.
posted by M Edward at 10:01 AM on February 11, 2022 [5 favorites]

Face it, there are only two people who love Tatooine and neither of them was in this series.

I'm happy to follow Space Daddy and Force Baby wherever they take us though.
posted by ceejaytee at 11:52 AM on February 11, 2022 [4 favorites]

Face it, there are only two people who love Tatooine and neither of them was in this series.

I would totally watch a Mandalorian/Phineas & Ferb crossover.
posted by briank at 12:08 PM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Grogu all force pushing Gina Gershon down the stairs so that he can be star of the show.
posted by Sauce Trough at 1:13 PM on February 11, 2022 [4 favorites]

The "Oh, ok, one more time"-thing, are they going into hyperdrive (again, for no reason other than the initial transition)? And they'll drop out. Then back into hyperdrive again?


No, that's not hyperdrive. That's his turbo-boost button - the one he used to get away from SpaceAppa and IcantbelieveitsnotLuke in their X-wings a few episodes back
posted by coriolisdave at 6:04 PM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

I think my big problems were:

1) Boba Fett made a big speech about working for backstabbing scumbags as a bounty hunter, but he trusted the same kind of backstabbing scumbags he used to work for not to betray him?

2) The Republic has enough X-Wing Jabronis to hassle somebody flying too fast (in…space…) but they can’t spare somebody to check out a massive firefight involving BATTLE DROIDS AND A DANG RANCOR in an urban center?

Apart from that, I was suitably entertained by The Book of Boba Fett starring The Mandalorian.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:24 PM on February 11, 2022 [4 favorites]

I liked when an attacker hid behind a column and the rancor just plowed through the column instead.

True. The guy hides behind a column, figuring he is safe. The rancor swipes away the column entirely and scoops him up to head height, at which point B. Fett shoots him, then the rancor tosses him across the rooftops of the city. When last we see the hapless pyke, he is disappearing into the distance with a Wilhelm scream, which I think we can interpret as him observing that things went fast in an ugly direction.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:30 AM on February 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

Yeah not sold on this. But I’m here for space dad getting hugged by baby yoda. Made the whole show worth it.

The "Oh, ok, one more time"-thing, are they going into hyperdrive (again, for no reason other than the initial transition)? And they'll drop out. Then back into hyperdrive again?

Totally tracks with my 3yo, it would happen 100% like this if we had a spaceship.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 7:50 AM on February 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

2) The Republic has enough X-Wing Jabronis to hassle somebody flying too fast

#ACAB
posted by M Edward at 11:44 AM on February 12, 2022 [5 favorites]

I will admit the moments in the Mandalorian and now Boba where the X-Wings are symbols of law enforcement are really weird. Are they going for a "say hello to the new regime, same as the old regime" theme?
posted by M Edward at 11:48 AM on February 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

> Grogu all force pushing Gina Gershon down the stairs so that he can be star of the show.

Am I missing a Gershon TV/movie reference here, or did you instead mean Gina Carano?

Although now my brain is trying to figure out who Gershon could be opposite a miraculously survived Garsa Fwip as they run off together with Shand and The Expanse's Camina Drummer in my Star Wars: The Lesbians Strike Back headcanon.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 1:29 PM on February 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

2) The Republic has enough X-Wing Jabronis to hassle somebody flying too fast (in…space…) but they can’t spare somebody to check out a massive firefight involving BATTLE DROIDS AND A DANG RANCOR in an urban center?

Well you know, they make a lot of money from the speeding fines...
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:55 AM on February 13, 2022 [3 favorites]

The total lack of weight and consequence and stakes in the big battle just didn't work for me. I know it's Star Wars, and Star Wars is mostly family-friendly swashbuckling in space, but the way the protagonists went up against two giant walking tanks, and not only won but took no losses whatsoever while mostly running away from them in the open streets with basically no tactics aside from "run and hope the robot canons can't aim", just entirely thrashes suspension-of-disbelief for me. It's also inconsistent, in that the story had no problems fridging the Tuskens off-screen. It's not that I want my Star Wars to be violent and gritty, necessarily (though Rogue One was some of the better Star Wars IMO, so, consider my biases) but that consequence-free violence doesn't really work narratively for me.

The last pre-credits scene though, with Mando and Baby Yoda in the N-1? Chef kiss. I am fine with Adventures of Space Dad and Baby Yoda In Space, if the show wants to do that.
posted by Alterscape at 7:25 AM on February 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

I never liked the idea of Cad Bane. Alluding to a spaghetti Western gunslinger might have worked, but ripping off Lee Van Cleef to the tenth decimal place just took me out of it.
posted by whuppy at 8:22 AM on February 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

NObody reads the comments way down here but I have Thoughts and I'mma share them.

This had a real RPG feel to me; sure, because I have actually run a Star Wars game. But there were several moment where I could almost hear the table talk--

"Can I use my Mechanic skill to make the droid go faster?"
"How are you gonna do that while it's in motion?"
"Uh... I throw my wrench at it!"
(laughter from players, amused chuckle from DM) "All right, roll."
(*Critical success*)

There were other incidents-- Watching Boba try to Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomance and above all Sense Motive was painful; he's the guy at the table that just has the worst luck with rolls, even though he's got a good character build.

Ride check on the Rancor-- the "Pull you right off its back instantly and get a free chomp on your head" is because Mando doesn't have much in the way of Animal Handling.

"You peer out from cover, and watch the killbots come in, stomp stomp, their ponderous technology awe-inspiring against the rugged backdrop of the desert city. They approach, hydralics whirring, and get to here---" (puts minis on map) "--and they raise their force-shields, enclosing themselves in impenetrable hemispheres--"
"We start blasting!"
"Your fire bounces right off the shield."
"I use the bigger gun!"
"Same thing."
"Flamethrower?"
"Nope."
"Darksaber!"
"Nope."
"Fuck, guys, maybe we should have interupted that descriptive monologue before they got their shields up."
"What do you do now?"
"Uh, keep firing."
"...Dude I've told you like six times your weapons Do. Not. Work. against them. Why are you still shooting?"
"Because what the fuck else are we supposed to do? Also, in this game system we have unlimited ammo, so why not. Maybe a crit will get through."
"Ok well, the droids are still shooting at the NPCs. You gonna help them or--?"
posted by The otter lady at 10:34 AM on February 13, 2022 [17 favorites]

Oh oh, and the Twi'lek bard!
posted by The otter lady at 10:41 AM on February 13, 2022 [4 favorites]

Grogu would be a min-maxed caster whose spells, if the opponents don't save against them, are basically an I Win button.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:19 PM on February 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

David Pasquesi’s PDA was a Coleco Bowlatronic game.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:27 AM on February 14, 2022 [7 favorites]

Fennec Shand was terribly wasted in this series. I'm not really familiar with the character other than this and The Mandalorian, but Ming-Na Wen is sooooo good at being menacing, and for most of what could have been decent fights she was absent. Did they have to limit her screen time for some reason?
posted by lhauser at 9:44 PM on February 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

Did they have to limit her screen time for some reason?

I have no information, but it could've been Covid. Really, Covid might explain a lot about how strange this show is.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:07 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fennec Shand was terribly wasted in this series.

She had no individual goals, desires or (beyond "menacing" and "ironic amusement") visible emotions.

Back in the Tusken episode there was the split where some viewers thought something interesting was happening. I felt tropes were embraced, not subverted. Shand's treatment is another case in point. She's a lazy cliche of a sidekick, Boba saves her life and now he has a loyal servant. They didn't even bother to giver her a short speech about how she's staying because she owes a debt, or is tired of fighting, or is actually fond of Boba, or is going to be entertained watching this play out, or any other derivative reason, let alone an interesting one.
posted by mark k at 10:44 AM on February 17, 2022 [7 favorites]

Okay, I finally posted the Baby Yoda Beskar Armor pic and approximate description of how I made it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:13 PM on February 17, 2022 [7 favorites]

jenfullmoon - if I manage to dress the grandbaby in Beskar Armor you'll be my hero for life! *THANK YOU*
posted by Space Kitty at 9:49 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

If you do, send pics! Or MeMail me if you need any vague advice/tips as to how to make up something like that :)
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:22 PM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Finally watched this and feel bad for everyone involved. I was sort of OK with the show the first 4 episodes, then the two Mandalorian episodes came and I was like "oh wow, this is so much better". And then this...

They must have been so excited to make this episode. It's one long battle! On Tattooine, our favorite planet! With big shielded droids and bad guys and a Western gun duel and hoverbikes and a Mandalorian with a light darksaber and a freakin Rancor! Pew pew! Smash crash! Let's put all our action figures together and have a big fun fight!

And it was sort of fun and reasonably competently made. But without any gravity or reason for being or joy or interest. The whole setup of "let's not be in our safe palace" is just completely idiotic, as discussed. But worse it split all the cast up. I'm sorry but Fennec is the best character on the show and to have her off-screen for 90% of the action was a really poor choice. We got more of Black Krrsantan and he was fun, the sheer brutality of his fighting, but then he's not really much of a talker is he? The mods were just embarassingly dumb.

This new show landed with my friends like a damp fart, and looking at it now I see why. I hate to say this but I think the real problem was Temuera Morrison. I like the actor, he was great in Once Were Warriors, but he did not carry this show at all well. Pedro Pascal had more charisma even though he wore a bucket on his head for the whole show. Growly one note tired bounty hunter is just a boring character. Maybe the actor could have done better with better material.
posted by Nelson at 4:04 PM on February 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Pedro Pascal had more charisma even though he wore a bucket on his head for the whole show.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Though frankly, the material from what I saw didn't do anyone any favors.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:42 PM on February 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

Mandalorian Couples Therapy: "He hijacked my show!" and "Grogu got more lines than I did, and he can't even talk!"
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:20 PM on February 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

We got a late start and just finished this series, so I'm not just arriving late to the party... I'm arriving after everybody's gone home, all the beer spills have been mopped up and the carpet's been vacuumed. But I got opinions!

I generally enjoyed this, but I feel like Star Wars TV is going in exactly the wrong direction, trying to Marvel Universe everything instead of making each show its own special thing. In this case they literally dropped their main plot (and protagonist!) for two whole episodes while it turned into the Mandalorian season 2.5. They're including more and more Easter egg-y characters from the cartoons and expanded universe and expecting us to know all that crap and care about it. I gather that the blue gunslinger Jack Palance alien comes from some animated show, and frankly he felt like it. I don't mean that he was super goofy or that Star Wars doesn't have a place for a badass gunslinger lizard, but there was just a slightly different tone there in his design and behavior that made him seem like he should have been talking to some cartoon Hayden Christensen instead of real people. When he had that whole "consider this my last lesson" thing with Boba Fett I kind of checked out emotionally, because it felt like the show wasn't talking to viewers like me and this was the culmination of some longstanding relationship from a cartoon I'm barely aware exists.

There were a lot of strange plotting choices. Just as a for-instance, in one episode they established Fennec had her little flying observation drone and then immediately had Fett fly his ship dangerously close to the Sarlacc pit looking for his armor. Of course it resulted in a cool scene where the Sarlacc grabs then, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one hollering at their TV that Fennec could've just sent her little drone down into the pit! Did that really never occur to anybody behind the scenes? There was just endless stuff like that, weird things that made you wonder what the showrunners were thinking. It was always watchable and fun, but the plotting too often felt like a mix of the obligatory (like we've got to Mando and Grogu in there) and the simply baffling.

They did a better job with the CGI Luke Skywalker (I'm sure the pounding they took for his first appearance inspired them to do their very best) but I feel like the quick scene we got of him in the Mandalorian season finale was closer to how they should handle the character. Lingering on him like this just makes us focus on him as a special effect, we're constantly evaluating how realistic he looks in a given moment instead of engaging with him as a character. I like seeing a Luke who's a cool space wizard and not a bitter old failure swilling blue milk from sad boobie space monsters (I still have TLJ trauma) but I think they need to use him very sparingly. The character's iconic status and CGI resurrection combine to make his every moment onscreen feel like a moment, he carries too much weight to just be another character onscreen. (Also, what was the deal with him levitating the cyclops frogs? What point was he making? "Someday, my young apprentice, perhaps you too will be able to levitate cyclops frogs...")

I know that Favreau and Feloni are probably getting massive pressure to spin this into a TV empire of 9 shows with endless crossovers, and maybe that's actually what they want to do. But I sure hope they can resist all that. The Mandolorian's first season was a back-to-basics, cut-the-crap story that dispensed with decades of tangled continuity to remind us why we loved Star Wars in the first place. But as we go on, I worry that it's just spawning a whole new tangle for somebody else to hack away in the next reboot.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:12 PM on March 4, 2022 [7 favorites]

I don't think anyone pointed this out, but I'm pretty sure that when Grogu jumps into Mando's arms during the chase, it's a force-jump, since all he could muster before are tiny little hops.
posted by Gorgik at 9:25 PM on March 7, 2022 [7 favorites]

Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 11:47 AM on March 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

The last f ew seasons of Rebels is, to me, the best Star Wars we've gotten in 35 years, and it looks like they're gonna lean on that stuff pretty heavily in Obi-Wan. I'm gonna watch no matter how crappy it is, but the trailer leaves me hopeful.
posted by skewed at 12:44 PM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Pardon me if this was dealt with in earlier threads, but did we ever get any explanation for why Fett wanted vengeance against Bib Fortuna instead of Han Solo? I remember Fett saying something about how he was betrayed or set up, or something, but it was never clear to me. It really seems like his first order of business would've been to get revenge against the guy who knocked him into the sarlacc pit to be digested for 1000 years... although that would've been a very different show and probably would've utilized a CGI Han Solo voiced by somebody who wasn't Harrison Ford, so we're probably better off they didn't go down that path.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:29 PM on March 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

Pardon me if this was dealt with in earlier threads, but did we ever get any explanation for why Fett wanted vengeance against Bib Fortuna instead of Han Solo?

Shhhh.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:28 PM on March 14, 2022

I am here with the traditional late-thread statement in a largely negative thread that I rather liked it? It was great to see Mando and Grogu back together again, even if the implications for Grogo's Jedi training are sad. And I pretty much enjoyed the episode, even if there were a couple of plot holes.

None of this invalidates anything you guys have said, of course.
posted by JHarris at 7:44 PM on March 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

How is no one mentioning the bizarre closing credits theme song? "FETT!, boba boba FETT!"
posted by tvgraphicsguy at 12:22 PM on March 21, 2022 [4 favorites]

I think a lot of people missed that Fett's name is in the song. I'd watched most of the series before I heard somebody point it out, then when I listened for it I still wasn't sure. It wasn't until the series finale that I thought, "Yeah, I think they ARE saying his name." Add it to the pile of kind of perplexing choices that went into this series.

Shhhh.

I don't know what to make of that, Brandon Blatcher.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:50 AM on March 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

I don't know what to make of that, Brandon Blatcher.

A mild joke about not pointing out plot holes, that's all!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:41 AM on March 22, 2022

did we ever get any explanation for why Fett wanted vengeance against Bib Fortuna instead of Han Solo?

Because, as Jabba's majordomo, Fortuna was one of Fett's employers, and as Jabba's successor might have taken a closer look at that sarlacc to see if the heavily-armored merc had survived. Solo had been captured and frozen in carbonite by Fett, and so Fett could have expected some payback from him, but Fortuna betrayed him, and that crap won't fly.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:40 PM on March 26, 2022

Huh. If Fett said something like that in the show it didn't stick with me. Did he really expect Fortuna to mount a rescue party for a hazardous mission into the guts of the sarlacc? I doubt that anything like that was in Fett's contract, and space gangsters aren't exactly known for their loyalty. I can see how Fett would be resentful that they left him down there to rot, but I'm kind of surprised he would take it as an act of betrayal. I don't know, maybe Fett and Fortuna used to be pals?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:06 PM on March 27, 2022

This whole series was like a phone conversation with my mom: there's a lot of love and history and I'm definitely not going to hang up, but a 30-second story like "the porch swing chair's chain broke but Doug from next door came over and helped us fix it" turns into a half-hour of reminisces of a chair I am barely aware of, the story of the chair's purchase and installation, a sidebar into anecdoes of dimly remembered distant relatives visiting and sitting on the chair, a recounting of how they met and know Doug from next door, some of Doug's personal history, theorizing about at what point the chair is not worth fixing, a bit of a tangent into other things around the house that have broken in recent memory and either not yet been fixed or have been deemed unfixable, a brief meditation on the passage of time and aging which makes me vaguely sad, more on Doug and his pre-retirement job as an insurance adjuster but passion for building sheds hence his tools and skillset for porch swing chair repair, questions about chairs I own and no longer own, questions about chairs I currently own, questions about chairs I may one day own, the importance of the chair being level and difficulties related to levelling a chair, and then the story kind of peters out because the fact of the chair being fixed was established at the midpoint.

Again: a lot of love, a lot of history. I'm not going to hang up on my mom. Similarly, it's going to be difficult to get me to bail on a Boba Fett story. But that was a very long walk to cover a short amount of distance.
posted by Shepherd at 4:58 AM on June 6, 2022 [12 favorites]

Perfect analogy, Shepherd!

I can 100% imagine myself overhearing this conversation as a family member and thinking "Doug? No, I don't think I ever--oh, yeah, him. He seems nice. Oh, wait no, please I'm not really interested in how he came to be an insurance adjuster with master carpenter skills, please lets focus on the chair!" And that's the same feeling I get watching Star Wars now!
posted by skewed at 6:46 AM on June 6, 2022

I dunno; depends on who's playing Doug.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:28 AM on July 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

I didn’t realize until this ep that that the leader of the Mods was Sophie Thatcher, who previously co-starred with Pedro Pascal in the indie film Prospect, that was kind of like Pascal’s audition for the Mandalorian, in that it’s a space western in which he wears a whole space suit for the entire thing. So that’s a cool reunion.

Prospect is totally worth seeing by the way, more than this series was. Not that I didn’t enjoy BoBF, it had good parts.
posted by rodlymight at 7:48 PM on October 28, 2022 [2 favorites]