That's really my big gripe with the show at the moment. Everything is executed really well, but the pacing seems off. We're over halfway through the season, and there's still no end goal in sight.

I feel like the hunter at the end of Episode 4 should've had something on him that gave a clue to where Werner Herzog is lurking, and then Episodes 5-7 being the Mando following the clues to him, with episode 8 being the whole "siege his fortress, kill him, and revoke the bounty to make sure the kid is safe forever" thing. As it is, I'm enjoying what I'm watching, but it very much feels like spinning the wheels, and it could be much better than that.

 

I think I enjoy the fact that there's no particular plot beyond the main man trying to survive a bunch of bounty hunters while protecting the kid. I'd rather it not be tied to some sprawling Mandalorian/Mandalore plot, or to be somehow tied to the main storyline. I'm enjoy the episodic nature, much as I never though I'd say something like that. Feels ... slice of life? For a disgraced bounty hunter?

However, that tracker macguffin on the kid is 100% pure unadulterated bullshit. Having said that, I'm okay with it.

 

I'm watching this as an anthology. Not a show with a set plot trying to tell some epic story.

Think more supernatural and less game of thrones.

I typically don't enjoy these types of shows and refer grand plot, but the Mandalorian is pleasantly charming. I like it.

 

Totally agree. I'm enjoying it immensely as a standard western. The gunslinger goes from town-to-town doing his thing. Sometimes there might be a several-episode arc, sometimes not. I'm fine either way.

 

I just wish it weren't only 8 episodes. At this rate, all the fun will be cut short all too soon.

Hopefully the success of this one motivates disney to greenlight a larger buy for next season.

 

Sure, but like, Supernatural also has wider season plots that run through each episode to connect them together. There's really no reason there can't be an overarching plot for the season, even if each individual episode only lightly touches on it.

Like, for example, instead of Mando getting shot at and forced to land on Tatooine (or hell, in addition to), it could have easily been that the hunter from Ep. 4 had, say, a Hutt insignia on him. Mando looks into it, finds a Hutt that had taken over Jabba's operation, and heads to Tatooine to ask it about his original client. The Hutt then demands an exorbitant price for the information, which leads Mando into the bar and the rest of the episode is pretty much the same, just have the ending be the kid ambushes Mando as he returns to the Hutt's palace, the newb gets handled and the Hutt shares a lead that points Mando to wherever the next episode takes place.

The big reason I think this kind of thing is important is that, as it stands, Mando is being kind of an idiot, and it's not exactly in-character. "The kid's being hunted by every bounty hunter in the galaxy. Guess I better hunker down and hope not a single one of the hundreds of people after us gets lucky." That... doesn't really jive with how he's portrayed, which is prepared, highly competent, self-aware, and intelligent. He should know damn well that a) he has to succeed every time, while their enemies only have to succeed once, and that's a losing proposition from the getgo, and b) the kid's only gonna be safe when his original client, and possibly the Imperial forces with him, are dead. It kinda blows my mind that he's not actually doing anything about either of those things, and it's a mark against what is otherwise a nearly flawless show.

 

I didn't know it was only 8 eps... fuck.

 

I'm just assuming they're not planning on having a standalone plot for each season, and it's going to be spread out over a longer story.

 

Episode 6 was tight.

 

Real tight.

 

Show is definitely a great comeback from episodes 7-9. Feeling Star Wars-y again.

 

You've seen an advanced copy of 9?

 

Very solid episode. Prolly best one so far.

And then I saw the writer was Christopher Yost and it made total sense. Yost is a legit writer.

 

Just watched Ep 6. Can't help but be frustrated with the writing on this one. All character nuances that might 'humanize' the other badasses are left behind for cartoonish simplicity. Just a few lines could communicate whole backstories of information, but instead we get 'other bounty hunters are bullies, v2231'.

Spoiler: if only...

"Your brother? But you hate your brother."

Qi'an yanked her brother's head back by the headtacles. "Yeah, but he's my brother. Scores unsettled, and all that."

"This still about the fruit basket?"

"My fruit!" she exclaimed.

"My basket," he replied.

The plot was alright, the fights were good. I found the Twi-leks' headtacles unconvincing, but what can you do. Poor Nat Tena was struggling to act around her fangs and Clancy Brown must have been rolling his eyes to be back to playing 'the really big bad guy' again.

 

I thought Tonks the Twi was the best part of the episode tbh. She brought that same weird alienish feel to Twi'leks that Bib Fortuna did, and which every other hot supermodel in Twi makeup has failed to do.

Hope she comes back next season.

 

Don't get me wrong. I love her to pieces and she embodied the role in every frame. I just wanted her - all of them really - to have more to do than be cardboard cut-out mercs.

 

Well episode 7 came out a bit early (right after the Rise of Skywalker reviews tanked, funny enough). Folks who wanted more advancement in the big main plot should be very happy.

Spoiler

Poor Kuiil, though.

 

Wow, Ep. 7 went from 0-100 like that. So much great shit in one tidy episode.

Spoiler: Great Shit

- Poor Kuiil indeed. Is next episode IG-11 going on a rampage, or was he the one that shot Kuiil?

- Gina Carano's "NOT OKAY" moment after getting force choked was a big laugh. Loved it.

- But how the hell is that instinctual for Baby Yoda?

- Giancarlo Esposito has more menace per minute of screen time than just about anyone I've ever seen.

- That TIE Fighter was the absolute shit. Wow.

- FUCK YEAH DEATH TROOPERS

Have to wait until the 27th for the finale. Cruel.

 

Holy shit. Episode 8. Holy shit.

 

Spoiler

Watching that trooper literally melt. Holy