DECEMBER 18 2019
VIEW: (1080p)


Chapter 7
"The Reckoning"
An old rival extends an invitation for The Mandalorian to make peace.

A legit ball-tearing episode...

..but that ending has me

The best episode yet with a sad death, a cliffhanger of uncertainty, more development for Baby Yoda and stakes raised to the point where we don’t know how Season 1 will end.

Final score: 10/10.

Deborah Chow’s gonna nail the Obi-Wan Kenobi series

Couldn't have said it better myself. Ch. 7 fucking killed it, in every way.

I'm truly stunned, and don't know what to say.
I just wanted to stop by to show my appreciation to the director, writer, cast and crew for giving me the Star Wars, that l crave. That was really incredible stuff and is what's holding my interest, in modern day Star Wars. Thank you

Great episode with a bad-ass ending!
And I found Kuiil's (spell-checked!) recounting of his reprogramming of IG-11 surprisingly poignant.

Indeed.
Me too.

BRILLIANT writing.
Poetic.
The end is declared from the beginning, and the journey goes full circle.
The hero's journey.

Quite the cliffhanger.
Unexpected.
Best episode yet.
Isn't it amazing what love for the Lucas legacy and careful plotting from the very beginning of the enterprise can achieve?

I still wish that the Deadpool wannabe actress had never been hired, as even Jake Lloyd can outperform her. Hopefully with their next series, a little more money will be tossed into the budget, and they can avoid such C-Grade performers altogether.

I’m sorry. But, I don’t agree. I think Gina Carano’s acting wasn’t bad. She’s just being crapped on like Gal Gadot when she got cast as Wonder Woman for accusations of not being able to act until she proved them all wrong. I believe we should give Gina Carano more time to act to show she can become a good actress. It’s not fair to hate her acting just because she’s a wrestler who hasn’t been nominated for Oscars.

More powerful and steely-eyed Cara Dune, please. I'm loving her character! Her militant way with weapons is rad as fuck!

It’s really like watching an episode of Rebels. Again, lots to like... but I think it’s very middle of the road and so pedestrian in terms of scope, narrative and production values. In terms of a TV show, I can only compare it to Game of Thrones and Watchmen, and in comparison they are like The Empire Strikes Back to Mando’s Ewoks: Caravan of Courage.

It’s a shame really that Star Wars has been reduced to this (saw TROS last night).The Mandalorian would have made for a much better big budget live action film, but clearly Lucasfilm is in chaos now... and I suspect that the mixed reaction to TROS, and the suspected associated drop in box office, will result in less Star Wars content going forward... until they reset and have a new team in place. I fear for the Obi-Wan show.

The other day, my friend curiously remarked that he didn't see anything "profound" in the latest TROS trailer and thus felt letdown.

Guys... let's not blow Star Wars out of proportion. Your words, Doctor When, remind me of certain critical reviews from 1977, 1980 and 1983.
You can't expect Star Wars to titillate as Shakespearean macabre does or be as devious as satirical deconstruction is. Apples and oranges.

This was a great episode. I'm happy to see the main narrative back on track.

Why is that?
Pretty uniformly so far, the director of this episode and another, Deborah Chow, has done superb work with what she's been given.

Again, the lack of budget largely translates into a lack of TIME to do reshoots to guarantee better melee combat angles, evened out special effects, etc. If one looks past these dips in quality that are, really, beyond her control (and shouldn't be held against her), she's done a splendid job.

I have zero worries about her taking on Obi-Wan.

And to RogueOne, my main issue with Gina Carano's acting is her lack of good timing and emotive range. She frequently behaves as if she already knows what the other guy is going to say, which, of course, she does, but an actor cannot betray this foreknowledge in their performance, and she is doing this. I'm not asking for Oscar level acting either. Stay above the routine "Hayden Christensen" level, and I'll be satisfied.

Could she become a better actress?
Sure. Practice makes perfect for anyone, BUT...

...these Star Wars TV series need to, and certainly can, avoid talent at her current quality level. Female actresses who are athletic and who are already good at performing are available. They need to hire them first.

Why is it ‘apples and oranges’? One can only compare it to other popular ‘on demand’ shows. Star Wars, prior to Disney, was never this vanilla. The Mandalorian is bland. It’s certainly not crap, I never said it was bad.... but it’s so irrelevant. And I worry for the future of Star Wars if this is the very best Disney have to offer... all in my humble opinion of course.

Primarily because they’ve taken, what was a concept with huge potential (i.e. a Mandolrian bounty hunter story set post ROTJ), and made something that mostly just limps from episode to episode. As already mentioned, the show isn’t bad... the direction isn’t bad... the acting isn’t bad... Indeed, if they’d given this a movie budget, and scaled it up, it could have been really good. But as it is, the budget looks limited, it’s similar sets/locations week to week, and it doesn’t particularly offer much (IMO).

A Kenobi film was probably the single most ‘ready to go’ concept that could have made for a big and popular movie. A relatively popular star (Ewan) reprising his role, the opportunity to bring Vader, the Emperor, Yoda, Maul, Boba Fett et al into the story, with a built in scale that would have matched Rogue One at least.

I very much anticipate a ‘Kenobi’ TV series will have the same production values (or similar ball park) to The Mandalorian... and given some of the negative critical response to TLJ, they ain’t gonna throw tons of money at a Kenobi project. Indeed, they may pull back. If I had to choose between Rogue One/Solo and The Mando, it would be the former every time. Not because they are better concepts per se, but they offer more visually, cinematically etc. The Mando looks like an episode of the 80’s A-Team in comparison.

I am sorry, but, I don’t agree with everything you just said. The first season of The Mandalorian cost $120M to make, $15M per 8 episodes.

I would like to think Kenobi will be allowed to cost 67% higher, because, it’s only one season (at least for now), and it’ll only be 6 episodes, thus making it a $150M show, which is good enough for it’s budget as it will be in line with the budgets of the Marvel Studios Disney+ shows (WandaVision, Loki, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, Hawkeye, etc.).

Also, I feel Kenobi at the very least, even if it’s a movie split into 6 1-hour episodes, will still be like how it was initially planned.

You do realize there's never been any sex in Star Wars, right? And most of the darkest aspects are merely implied, no? Star Wars has always been Puritan (read: vanilla) country. Look at the fan base.

The Mandalorian is very true to what Star Wars has always been. Don't let the size of the phenomenon blind ya. That happens.

Star Wars, up until Disney, has never been conceptually and visually bland. It’s always been focused on pushing the concepts and filmmaking processes. I’m not sure I’d think differently if The Mandalorian had sex in it? That seems to be a very strange criteria for assessing relative blandness??? My perception of Star Wars isn’t based on the liberal mindness of the filmmaker, but what’s portrayed on screen in real time.

As I said, it’s all based on preference. I’d take the Star Wars films any day over The Mandalorian. For example, in terms of Disney material, Rogue One would be (IMO) infinitely inferior if treated in the same way as The Mandalorian. Which isn’t to say a TV series couldn’t be great, and a TV series could complement the big cinema releases... but Disney are now going with a policy of ‘either or’ and not ‘both’.

That Disney would choose to take Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan and put him in a small scale TV series, rather than a big budget live action film is, in my opinion, a huge mistake on Disney’s part... and should start alarm bells ringing. I’d posit, it’s a decision based on reaction to TLJ/Solo rather than anything else (and the negative buzz around TROS won’t help). And that kind of strategy (reactive) rarely ends well.

Vanilla is a loaded term with a particular socio-political connotation for me. But I disagree that the turn with Disney has been that sharp. Visually no but with regard to conceptual focus and process advancement, I'd tend to agree. Innovation and Star Wars under Lucas always went hand-in-hand. But The Mandalorian does boast some extremely interesting new technology (Stagecraft) and modernizing of archaic ones (models and motion-controlled shots).

I suppose our disagreement chiefly arises from a conflict between honoring resonant conventions and coveting more modern ones.

I find the Cara Dune character to fit the context of the show, with her shock trooper background and no nonsense ability to look after herself. Gina Carano is well suited to the role imo.

One more week until the finale...

I haven't had an issue with any of the acting in the series so far despite what have been some very new types of characters in live-action Star Wars. This feels like such a finely massaged and considered effort all the way around. I swear some people just look for flaws.

"Too many notes."

I’d rather not be alarmed until we have more proof of what the budget for this series will be. Also, it’s one director (Deborah Chow) filming an entire 6-episode series as if she’s filming a movie that will cost $150M (what Rogue One and Solo cost prior to their costly reshoots) and not multiple directors doing different episodes like they’re doing with The Mandalorian. So, I have faith Disney will at least allow the Kenobi series to cost $150M.

What if I told you...


...IG-11 kills Kiuill


<stunned reaction intensifies>

I’d say ‘get out of here’...

While we are on the topic of The Mandalorian, here’s what I hope to see in the season finale, which now has equal pressure to deliver after the disappointing box office opening weekend of The Rise of Skywalker:

1. I hope We see The Mandalorian find renewed trust for some droids and realization that Kuiil was right about what he said when IG-11 comes into help them save Baby Yoda to avenge Kuiil’s death.

2. I hope We see The Child (Baby Yoda) use the Force in an EPIC way to save The Mandalorian and his friends.

3. We see The Mandalorian Clan’s Armorer (Emily Swallow) commit one final act of service by building a jetpack for The Mandalorian, before Gideon’s troops come in and kill her, which I also predict will happen.

4. I hope We see, as the Armorer builds The Mandalorian’s jetpack, more flashbacks of the final piece to the puzzle of The Mandalorian’s past in finding out that the person who saved him from the Separatists when he was a kid, and that person is said to be Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, per reports that Jason William Ward of Making Star Wars heard.

5. I hope We finally find out the name of The Child (which Bob Iger teased on The Star Wars Show last week) along with the name of it’s species (also Yoda’s species), which Jason Ward also heard was contributed by George Lucas in his Making Star Wars report.

6. I hope We see the scene from the footage at Star Wars Celebration of The Armorer bashing the bottom of a Stormtrooper’s helmet right off his face as she fights one of them.

7. I hope We get to see setup in the final 5 minutes of the finale for what the plot of Season 2 of The Mandalorian is going to be.

8. I hope we see Taika Waititi (who’s directing the season finale) not go the humorous route like the Marvel movies or make the episode totally jarring, in other words, I hope he sticks to the seriousness set up at the end of Chapter 7 with the season finale.

9. I hope We see The Mandalorian show his face in the closing minutes of the finale along with him confirming his name 2B Dyn Jarren.

10. And, most importantly, I hope we find out and see who the mysterious figure was at the end of Chapter 5 and set him up as the main villain of Season 2, assuming Imp Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) doesn’t survive the season finale. I also hope we find out he’s Boba Fett and that they get either Daniel Logan or Temeura Morrison back to play him.

11. Oh, one more thing, I hope it’s the longest episode yet, between 45-50 minutes long.

What do u guys think of these predictions/wishes? Too much? Or enough?