Summary: Mando arrives on Tython and takes Baby Yoda to the seeing stone where Baby Yoda uses his powers and separates from reality. Boba Fett and Fennec arrive to the planet and start negotiating with Mando to get Boba's armour back. A sudden transport of stormtroopers arrives and attacks and the three team up to take them down. They are eventually overwhelmed but Boba gets his armour and chases them away. Moff Gideon arrives on an imperial cruiser and blows up Mando's ship. He sends dark troopers which take Baby Yoda and takes him. Mando goes to the New Republic and meets up with Cara as he, Boba and Fennec plan to get Baby Yoda back.
The Good: I thought that the opening scene of the episode was really good, far more emotional than anything we got in the last episode, which was quite hollow. This time we actually get to see how Mando feels about Baby Yoda, with his encouragement of his training and the realization that he won't be able to be with Baby Yoda forever since he isn't able to go with him into the world of the force. Mando isn't force-sensitive so there's forever going to be a barrier blocking him off from Baby Yoda, and he's never going to be able to cross that barrier. I enjoyed Moff Gideon's arrival in the episode. Much of what happened before he arrived was fun, but it was lacking in true suspense and tension (see: The Bad). But with Moff Gideon arriving and destroying the Razor Crest, a vehicle we have grown to love over the past 14 episodes, it elevated the stakes immediately and the episode reached a brilliant level of tension as Baby Yoda is surprisingly kidnapped and Mando loses everything he has. It's an effective sequence that serves as a surprising climax for the show while leaving an exciting cliffhanger as Mando prepares to get Baby Yoda back. Additionally, I quite liked the final scene between Gideon and Baby Yoda as it emphasized the tyrannical nature of Gideon and the angry defiance of Baby Yoda which could make him very susceptible to the dark side. I probably will not use the name Grogu. I don't like it very much and Baby Yoda sounds much cuter. The Bad: The return of Boba Fett was badly botched. This doesn't feel like the character he used to be, and not in a good way at all. Suddenly Boba has become a chatterbox which is far removed from what he used to be. And this would be fine if we got to see how he became like this, but it's never revealed to us, which is very disappointing. In fact we learned nothing about Boba at all in this episode. We don't know his motives, we don't know much about who he is, we don't know why he wants his armour, and this prevents me from relating with the character at all. He feels like he could be replaced with literally anybody else and it would not make a difference. I feel nothing towards the character and even though his return had some cool moments, it left me feeling extremely empty inside, not dissimilar to Ahsoka from the previous episode. The show is just lacking storytelling with its characters. It doesn't help that Boba's arrival has several plot holes to it. If Boba was simply after his armour, why didn't he just get in from Cobb? He clearly knew he had it, so it makes little sense that Boba wouldn't have done anything about it. Furthermore, it's been 5 years since Boba was eaten by the Sarlacc which is a long time. We needed answers for what he's been doing since then and why he hasn't gone for the armour or left Tatooine in this time. We get no such answers and that is very sloppy. Furthermore, we need to know how he survived being eaten and how he somehow ended up away from his armour. Getting no answers for this is really weak character work and it leaves me with too many questions for Boba's return to feel even slightly satisfying. Additionally, why didn't Boba confront Mando when he saw him on Tatooine? Instead he has practically chased him across the galaxy! This seems incredibly counterproductive for Boba to do. And even more annoyingly, how the heck did Boba chase Mando through hyperspace? This was established in "The Last Jedi", it does not exist yet. And it's impossible to believe that Mando flew to both Corvus and Tython without using hyperspace since Mando has clearly stated that hyperspace is essential for his survival. On top of all that, the dialogue between Mando and Boba isn't good either. Boba was just looking to get the armour which was rightfully his, knowing full well that Mando would give it once he proves that the armour is his, which as we saw, he could easily do. But instead, Boba comes in with hostility and threatens Baby Yoda while also making it seem like he was just some random guy who wanted the armour instead of the rightful owner. All he had to do was explain to Mando that his father was a foundling and the tension would have deflated. Instead Boba inexplicably kept saying the exact wrong things to make things more confrontational. It ended up being a frustrating sequence. The ensuing action sequence also did not do much for me. The stormtroopers keep getting effortlessly destroyed by the main characters so they have already lost any sense of danger that they originally had. Seeing an entire transport run away from one man wearing armour only to be blown up immediately was incredibly silly, and now even an entire legion of stormtroopers pose no threat in the show. I will never be able to take them seriously, and that removes any sort of stakes to the action as I'm never concerned for the fate of the heroes. I thought the action in this episode ended up being hollow and boring because of the lack of stakes, and I didn't get into it until Moff Gideon arrived. I found the end of the episode to be disappointing too. Mando lost everything and it feels like he should be in a really bad place right now. But the episode doesn't spend enough time focusing on what the events of this episode have done to Mando, instead they are happy to gloss over his emotions to set up a rescue mission immediately. Also, the episode reveals that Cara is now part of the New Republic. I'm very disappointed that this key decision for Cara was glossed over entirely, making it almost entirely meaningless to see her there. Furthermore, she's going to be breaking the rules immediately which should be a key point of inner conflict for Cara. Instead it's not explored at all, and the kidnapping of Baby Yoda gets Cara on board right away. Is it too much for me to expect even a little bit of storytelling and character conflict from this show? The lack of details also completely ruined the planet of Tython. Tython ended up being nothing interesting at all, which is hugely disappointing when you consider that this is a planet in the deep core that used to house a jedi temple. The total lack of worldbuilding is a massive disappointment, and I find myself wishing that we had gotten much more than what we actually got. Also, why was Fennec coming back to life not a bigger deal than this? This is literal resurrection and it should be a massive deal for this universe, instead Mando shrugs it off entirely, and the moment isn't treated like as much of a big deal as it should be. It's very disappointing since Anakin's entire turn to the dark side hinged on him wanting the power to save Padme's life. For Boba to just have this power now is absurd. As a final point, this episode wasn't even 30 minutes long which is absurdly short. It makes me even more frustrated to see so many key storytelling details skipped over when there easily could have been another 20 minutes to this episode. It's one thing to have short episodes that make me wish for more, but it's another thing to have short episodes when there is clearly a lot more story that should have been told. The Unknown: What does Mando need Mayfeld for? How will he try to get Baby Yoda back? What happened to Boba that allowed him to survive the Sarlacc? How did he lose his armour? Why does he want it back? Why didn't he get it back sooner? Why did he stay on Tatooine for so long? What are his goals? How did he bring Fennec back to life? Best Moment: The opening moments between Mando and Baby Yoda. Character of the Episode: Baby Yoda. Conclusion: This episode had a quick pace and lots of action but not much more than that. The character dynamics, worldbuilding and storytelling was hugely flawed and I did not enjoy much of it at all. This episode should have had a lot more to it. Season 2 has been fun but the lack of quality storytelling is hurting it massively. Score: 52
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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