The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
03-30-23, 02:51 PM
#26
Senior Member
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
I guess I'm in the minority, but this season has been a big miss for me so far. We're over halfway through and, while there have been some fun individual scenes, nothing in the plot has captured my interest at all. I'd even go so far as to say it's made me care less about the characters I grew to really like during the first two seasons. The quality of the writing and direction seem to have taken a big step down.
The siege and liberation of Neverro had a bunch of really bad moments. The people on the ground miraculously being able to see the gun doors opening with their naked eyes. The laughably inane 'we're just going to randomly fire into your city' plan of the homemade-cosplay pirate. The way the victims in the explosion scenes looked like they were jumping around in a stage musical rather than actually getting thrown around by explosions. The armorer loudly taking out a room of bad guys one at a time with no one realizing what was happening directly behind them until it happened to them. The whole population of the city seeming to be around 50 people. (Seriously, I think there were more people/aliens crammed into the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars than there were living in the whole of Neverro in this episode.)
I'm tired of Mandolorian culture. There's no real mystique to it at this point and what we've learned is pretty hokey. Also, their reputation as fierce warriors seems, at best, to be wildly out of date. And there only seem to be dozens of them left in a universe of trillions of sentient beings, but somehow they're still the only ones who use beskar and are extremely well known, to the point where a Republic official who hears the word beskar immediately assumes Mandolorians are involved. Speaking of which, our intrepid X-wing fighter pilot stumbling across the attacked prison transport played our like the universe's most unlikely coincidence.
A lot of my complaints sound nitpicky taken individually, but the season has felt like a constant bombardment of small-to-medium missteps and it's rapidly killing my interest in the show. At this point, I'd probably give it about a 4/10, with Andor S1 being a solid 9, the first two seasons of The Mandolorian being 7 or 8, Obi Wan Kenobi being a 5 and The Book of Boba Fett being a 2 or 3. I will likely still check out Ahsoka and whatever other live action series they spin off of The Mandolorian, but my expectations for them are very low at this point.
The siege and liberation of Neverro had a bunch of really bad moments. The people on the ground miraculously being able to see the gun doors opening with their naked eyes. The laughably inane 'we're just going to randomly fire into your city' plan of the homemade-cosplay pirate. The way the victims in the explosion scenes looked like they were jumping around in a stage musical rather than actually getting thrown around by explosions. The armorer loudly taking out a room of bad guys one at a time with no one realizing what was happening directly behind them until it happened to them. The whole population of the city seeming to be around 50 people. (Seriously, I think there were more people/aliens crammed into the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars than there were living in the whole of Neverro in this episode.)
I'm tired of Mandolorian culture. There's no real mystique to it at this point and what we've learned is pretty hokey. Also, their reputation as fierce warriors seems, at best, to be wildly out of date. And there only seem to be dozens of them left in a universe of trillions of sentient beings, but somehow they're still the only ones who use beskar and are extremely well known, to the point where a Republic official who hears the word beskar immediately assumes Mandolorians are involved. Speaking of which, our intrepid X-wing fighter pilot stumbling across the attacked prison transport played our like the universe's most unlikely coincidence.
A lot of my complaints sound nitpicky taken individually, but the season has felt like a constant bombardment of small-to-medium missteps and it's rapidly killing my interest in the show. At this point, I'd probably give it about a 4/10, with Andor S1 being a solid 9, the first two seasons of The Mandolorian being 7 or 8, Obi Wan Kenobi being a 5 and The Book of Boba Fett being a 2 or 3. I will likely still check out Ahsoka and whatever other live action series they spin off of The Mandolorian, but my expectations for them are very low at this point.
03-30-23, 02:52 PM
#27
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
Aren't there numerous factions of Mandalorians out there since their planet was glassed? Some of them may have been pushed into a different direction by an Imperial Remnant.
03-30-23, 09:57 PM
#31
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
So Pirate Pizza the Hutt's sidekick was Mr. Smee? 
So fuckin cheesy. That's up there with the Vespa gang on Boba. Who's in charge of these decisions?
This show is in desperate need of some practical sets. The Volume was cool when it was rocky planets or the dunes of Tatooine, but apparently it's met its match with civilization and buildings. Everything looks so glossy and fake.
So, Captain Teva desperately wanted to help Karga and recruited the Mandalorian assist but ended up bailing and not helping at all? wtf?
Other than those gripes, this was a pretty good episode.
So fuckin cheesy. That's up there with the Vespa gang on Boba. Who's in charge of these decisions?This show is in desperate need of some practical sets. The Volume was cool when it was rocky planets or the dunes of Tatooine, but apparently it's met its match with civilization and buildings. Everything looks so glossy and fake.
So, Captain Teva desperately wanted to help Karga and recruited the Mandalorian assist but ended up bailing and not helping at all? wtf?
Other than those gripes, this was a pretty good episode.
Last edited by Michael Corvin; 03-30-23 at 10:07 PM.
03-30-23, 10:39 PM
#32
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
The final scene of discovering the lost shuttle gave me flashbacks to the scene in Jaws where Hooper searches the sunken boat. I was braced for a Ben Gardner moment, and was a little disappointed they didn't go for it.
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Michael Corvin (03-30-23)
03-31-23, 08:43 AM
#33
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
I liked it. The only thing that bugged me was the emphasis on "hey, we're giving you a home, a place where you can settle down". And the Mandalorians were like "hey thanks, now we're off to claim our home. byeee!". :/
03-31-23, 09:38 AM
#34
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
The shot of them jumping form the drop ship looked really cool.
If she was younger Katy O'Brian would have made a great Abby in The Last of Us.
If she was younger Katy O'Brian would have made a great Abby in The Last of Us.
03-31-23, 09:54 AM
#35
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
Without official government permission he couldn't get involved with his X-wing or anything like that, but he could push some things around in the background just like real world governments push freedom fighters and such in the right direction.
03-31-23, 10:03 AM
#36
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
I like the series as a whole and I want to keep liking it. While I wouldn't call this season a big miss, I would agree that the writing and direction has taken a significant step down from the previous seasons, which is disappointing. I have absolutely no problem with a show that wants to do some world-building, but they're going about it rather poorly in this case. Any references to The Clone Wars or Rebels mean nothing to me, because I haven't watched those shows. I may be wrong, but I get the sense that the creators are relying more on familiarity with content from those shows than they have in the previous seasons and have lost the dot a little on maintaining a cohesive show that stands on its own.
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Rob V (03-31-23)
05-16-23, 02:51 PM
#37
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The Mandalorian (S3E05) - “Chapter 21: The Pirate” - 3/29/23
I know I'm a bit late, but I have just been catching up with the Mandalorian. I know exactly what you mean. A theater near me shows Jaws every summer, and every time I see it, that jump scare gets me. Even after seeing the film 30 something times.
