Mandalorian S2:E5 Chat (SPOILERS)

Maybe Mace Windu alive and is at temple?

Michael Biehn From Terminator, Alien, Tombstone was great addition

I think the pace of the show was nice and the location sets with the trees and city

The movies could learn alot from this episode

Ahshoka was great but I like Bokaton better

Looks like lots more to come with another jedi maybe Kenobi?

I'm sympathetic to anyone's critiques because each person's experience of the show is their own, but that doesn't mean I agree with those critiques or feel the same way about an episode. In this particular case, I want to address the criticisms of @avihas

Any show has room for improvement, so it's anodyne to say that a show "could have been better". For me the first thing that I noticed that didn't work for me was Ahsoka's hair or whatever you want to call it. There are different possible interpretations of what that thing on her head is, but for me it either moves too much or not enough. There isn't really an interpretation of her head piece that works for the amount of movement they choose. It just looks weird to me in a way that it didn't in the animated series where she was previously portrayed. Aside from that, I liked this episode quite a bit. All of which is to say, if avihas position was , "The show was great, but I noticed several things that could make it even better," I'd be fine with that. It seems to me though that avihas' position is somewhat different & somewhat more negative. (To be clear, avihas isn't saying the episode was bad, but was still "disappointing".)

So let's look at avihas' points:

1. This seems to be a compliment, and I largely agree. You don't want to burden a show like this with too much exposition.
2. I'm with avihas in that some of Ahsoka's proposed solution seemed odd when presented in dialog. But it didn't remain odd for me. This is another situation in which exposition would have hurt the show. Ahsoka is worried about excessive attachment & being unable to displace it. So she gives the pair a quest, which is to say that she gives the pair time. And then she wants Baby Yoda to choose for himself. The strength of BY's call for a teacher seems to me to be dependent on the strength of his commitment to being taught. Ahsoka doesn't believe that she can teach a potential Jedi (and since the only model she has for a previous mentor is someone who fell to the dark side, it's reasonable to worry that she might not have the wisdom necessary to guide BY through the temptation of the dark side). Instead of insisting that his powers fade, she is giving BY that one more chance to decide his own fate. He'll need the strength to convince a teacher he's teachable, and that seems a fitting emotional journey for him to pursue during the physical journey to Tython. On top of all that, if she makes it too obvious what his emotional journey needs to be, that might make it harder, not easier. He really does have to choose for himself if he's going to be able to take to his jedi training & resist dark side temptation. Too much direction from Ahsoka burdens that freedom of choice. We need him to choose from his own commitment, not merely go along with what other people seem to think is right. So I'm actually fine with all this. Not because it seemed obvious or natural in the dialog, but because if I don't want too much exposition about Thrawn in the middle of the episode, then I can't complain that Ahsoka doesn't halt the action to spend 5 minutes explaining her reasoning for the Tython journey either. One prefers minimal exposition or one doesn't. If they're going with minimal exposition, then this was the way to handle this scene. The need to keep BY's choice unencumbered adds additional plot-internal reasoning for Ahsoka to provide minimal explanation.
3. I can't remember if Ahsoka said she "needed" Mando's help or just said that she could use it. Either way, I think avihas' critique has merit. It has more merit if Ahsoka actually used the stronger framing of "need". That said, I think she didn't need Mando's help to win, but did need it to protect the villagers. Being able to sneak around the battlefield and take out Morgan Elsbeth's warriors is one thing. Being able to control all those warriors in a way that leaves them no opportunity to inflict retribution on the villagers while Ahsoka is busy doing her ninja stuff is very different. She could rationalize losing a few villagers in the attack, since the remaining villagers would probably live longer, and certainly would live happier lives. So she could have been prepared to attack no matter what, but been grateful for the help protecting villagers when it became available. Still, like avihas, this is a place where I think a little more explicit dialog would have been helpful. Even if they didn't want to reveal the plan in advance, it could have been mentioned when Ahsoka was handing over the spear. Mando says he didn't earn it, Ahsoka says his job wasn't to kill anyone, but just protect the villagers while she was busy, and he did. That would have wrapped it all up nicely. I think that was a place things could have improved.
4. Meh. I think this is personal preference. I'm okay with how it was done, but I understand how others might not feel the same.
5. As for how Ahsoka should have had an easier time defeating Morgan Elsbeth, I was surprised that she lost a lightsaber in the fight, but not that the fight took some effort. As others have said, trying to defeat someone thoroughly enough that they'll see their situation as hopeless & give up information is a different task than trying to kill someone. One quick stroke that takes off a hand or takes away the spear might be luck. But allowing ME to go through all of her moves and see them all fail (or all but one in this case) is how you convince someone through the language of combat that resistance is futile. If Ahsoka was seeking to take not life or hand or weapon, but instead to take all hope, that required a different form of combat, a patient form. I'm fine with this.

I had my own critique of Episode 9 (AKA episode 1, season 2) that I know not a whole lot of people found convincing, So if you, avihas, aren't convinced by me here I'm not surprised. But still, I disagree with at least a couple of your points. Yet thinking through your critique helped me see the episode differently & I appreciate it just as much if not more, so thank you for your comment.

"khdelboy;c-2196998" wrote:

"Sebek;c-2196973" wrote:
She isn't Jedi so Why?

She consider herself to be a force user but refuse to be tied with the Jedi Order after they disown her for a bombing plot that she have no involvement. It’s a huge part of the Clone Wars series.

It seems that she has accepted that she is a Jedi again in this episode.

Plus Grand Admiral Thrawn? Oh man. Can’t wait to see him. He’s bates the main baddie.

Or Snips is tired of correcting people. Plus, at that point, what is a Jedi? Most don't remember them.

Not sure if Thrawn will be the main bad guy. His loyalty to the Empire was conditioned on Imperial goals lining up with Chiss goals.

"LordDirt;c-2197758" wrote:
No one care about the Nightsister?

No offence but I’d want something more than the word of a hairstylist.

"Chucko_marek;c-2197930" wrote:

"Kripty;c-2197792" wrote:

"LordDirt;c-2197758" wrote:
No one care about the Nightsister?

No offence but I’d want something more than the word of a hairstylist.

Unless that hairstylist was George Lucas. :D

I used George Lucas in another thread to back up a point and got told that he changes his mind so isn’t reliable either ?

"Gouj4;c-2197931" wrote:

"Chucko_marek;c-2197930" wrote:

"Kripty;c-2197792" wrote:

"LordDirt;c-2197758" wrote:
No one care about the Nightsister?

No offence but I’d want something more than the word of a hairstylist.

Unless that hairstylist was George Lucas. :D

I used George Lucas in another thread to back up a point and got told that he changes his mind so isn’t reliable either ?

I've been hit with that particular chestnut a few times.

"DarthVenomis;c-2198582" wrote:
I want to know more about that lady, like how is her boss Thrawn!? I'm hoping this gets answered either in Mando or in the Ahsoka show that hopefully is made.

I get the appeal of wanting to know more, but this post made me realize something I'd almost forgotten about;; One of the things about Star Wars that I found fascinating when I was younger was the breadth of characters that were interesting but also very mysterious.

For example, we know SO much about Boba Fett now, but when he first debuted, he was a complete mystery. Between his appearances in ESB and RoTJ (not counting the TV special), you didn't have much else to go on, so you'd let your imagination run wild with possible backstories and then discuss those with other fans. It was fun to speculate and debate.

So, while my curiosity always wants to be satisfied, I think there's something nostalgic and tantalizing about some of these characters being a mystery. I eventually want to know more the Magistrate. But, for now I'm happy to be kept in the dark.

"Chucko_marek;c-2198626" wrote:

"CG_Doja_Fett;c-2198605" wrote:

"DarthVenomis;c-2198582" wrote:
I want to know more about that lady, like how is her boss Thrawn!? I'm hoping this gets answered either in Mando or in the Ahsoka show that hopefully is made.

I get the appeal of wanting to know more, but this post made me realize something I'd almost forgotten about;; One of the things about Star Wars that I found fascinating when I was younger was the breadth of characters that were interesting but also very mysterious.

For example, we know SO much about Boba Fett now, but when he first debuted, he was a complete mystery. Between his appearances in ESB and RoTJ (not counting the TV special), you didn't have much else to go on, so you'd let your imagination run wild with possible backstories and then discuss those with other fans. It was fun to speculate and debate.

So, while my curiosity always wants to be satisfied, I think there's something nostalgic and tantalizing about some of these characters being a mystery. I eventually want to know more the Magistrate. But, for now I'm happy to be kept in the dark.

Shes ok, but lets get down to brass tax here. I want to know more about Thrawn, forget his underlings, unless they tie in to the seventh fleet. I loved reading the new Thrawn trilogy. I want to see how my theory about how he survives to the real story and I would like to see them reestablish Thrawn as true villain and not what we see in Rebels. I thought he was sub-par in Rebels and made huge tactical blunders that he wouldn't make.

The Zahn trilogy was my first introduction to the Star Wars books and it blew my mind.

"CG_Doja_Fett;c-2198605" wrote:

"DarthVenomis;c-2198582" wrote:
I want to know more about that lady, like how is her boss Thrawn!? I'm hoping this gets answered either in Mando or in the Ahsoka show that hopefully is made.

I get the appeal of wanting to know more, but this post made me realize something I'd almost forgotten about;; One of the things about Star Wars that I found fascinating when I was younger was the breadth of characters that were interesting but also very mysterious.

For example, we know SO much about Boba Fett now, but when he first debuted, he was a complete mystery. Between his appearances in ESB and RoTJ (not counting the TV special), you didn't have much else to go on, so you'd let your imagination run wild with possible backstories and then discuss those with other fans. It was fun to speculate and debate.

So, while my curiosity always wants to be satisfied, I think there's something nostalgic and tantalizing about some of these characters being a mystery. I eventually want to know more the Magistrate. But, for now I'm happy to be kept in the dark.

Yeah I totally agree with you here. It feels like people there days need to see Fett or (anyone famous in the movies, eg Solo) expanded on.. like in Solo people NEEDED to see the Kessel run.

Personally I feel making more movies and having Cameos where people meet up makes the SW universe feel smaller, making new characters and stories will expand the universe and feed games like this with new content to keep going.. or we will keep getting more Han, Luke or Chewie characters in game :/