“Chapter 12: The Siege”

Thanks Jammer!!

Thanks so much for revieiwng this Jammer. Inalways find your reviews entertaining and therapeutic and often enlightening. As an aside, Woukd you PLEASE consider reviewing Doctor Who at some point. Or going back to finish Andromeda? It got better at the end.

Hope you and family are well.

Yeah, Doctor Who should be doable in a weekend or so. There's only about 38 seasons. Get on it Jammer!

I found myself getting annoyed in this episode with how stupidly incompetent storm troopers are. I know this has always been the case, but something different would be appreciated.

I'm not a huge Star Wars expert, so does anyone know:

#1. Can the Darksaber be used only channeling the Dark Side?

#2. How much of the Empire is left over? I get the impression that the Outer Rim is a No Man's Land, but it still appears like the Empire has vast resources. The Republic controls the galactic center, right?

#3. What was I seeing in that last shot? Are those droid Mandalorians standing in alcoves? They looked vaguely Darth Vader-esque. (I thought of the Borg).

Anyways, other than the narrative shortcut of this one base happening to still exist on the other side of the planet, this was refreshing. Everyone behaved logically and that planet felt like a real alien place.

Baby Yoda is .... yeah, he's super cute and I love him. That scene with and the wires was fantastic: I'm astounded a pupoet can be so expressive and realistic.

Unfrozen Blue Fish Alien was very acted well, imagine my shock when I looked up the actor and saw it was Horatio Sans from SNL (of all people). I didn't think he was capable of that kind of nuanced performance, but I guess I was wrong.

Excellent scripting and direction. The cross fades don't come across as kitschy like you'd think they would. Sometimes a wipe really is better than a hard cut. The editing here is airtight.

Kudos to the composer for using more orchestral forces this season. I know Favreau wanted a more industrial type feel to the soundtrack, but the show feels the most Star Wars-y when a symphony orchestra playing a neo-romantic score swells in the background.

This is really enjoyable escapist fare.

⭐⭐⭐½

"I found myself getting annoyed in this episode with how stupidly incompetent storm troopers are. I know this has always been the case, but something different would be appreciated. "

Well, they've managed to hit Mando several times, which is something. Unfortunately this only further demonstrates their stupidity, because shouldn't they learn their blasters are ineffective against his armor?

@ John lol I don't expect Jammer to do Doctor Who quickly. I figured just doing the revived series starting in 2005. I honestly forgot about before that because I've never seen it. That mightbe more doable over several years and his kids would probably like thst show too.

@Dave

1) Darksaber doesn't rely on the dark side at all; it is a symbol of the leader of Mandalore and was used at various times by multiple characters in Rebels and Clone Wars, including Bo-Katan herself. Red lightsabers, on the other hand, are the result of "bleeding" a lightsaber crystal using the dark side.

2) The answer to this depends on how much old canon from the Expanded Universe they want to reference in The Mandalorian. Probably a lot of empire left as in EU, but with a weakened New Republic as in the sequels.

3) Dark Troopers, originally from the Star Wars Dark Forces game from the 90s which is no longer considered canon. They're very bad news.

This was lightyears better than last week.

Katee Sackhoff as... can't remember her name... Seems some Mandalorians take their helmets off :question:

Fighting for the retake of Mandor? I'm sure the dark sword thing will come into play somewhere here.

Nice to see Baby Yoda didn't eat the baby frog person thing. haha

Now Mando has some real intel as to where to go to reunite Baby Yoda with hhis kind.

This is the way!!

Sorry, wrong thread...

@ Leandro

Thanks so much!

Hmmm, I was under the impression this all took place during the same day. So after the Mandalorian jet packed up out of the base there was maybe 5 minutes remaining on the clock? Then how did he jet pack all the way back to town, pick up the kid, and get in his ship (that was completely trashed but got fixed up good as new in a few hours), and then swoop in to save the day so quickly? That had me scratching my head at an otherwise enjoyable episode.

This season so far has not gripped me nearly as much as season 1.

This episode has a mixed reaction from me. Something I liked about season 1 was the subdued and small conflicts, rather than things that could change the entire political climate of the galaxy. I enjoy that Mando is just a tiny part of the galaxy, rather than a Luke Skywalker, determining the fate of the galaxy at large. The story around Mando and Baby Yoda appears to be building to something that will likely be a, "If we don't stop Gideon the Empire will return!"

The small scale of Mando helping a village fight raiders who have an AT-ST and that one vehicle being almost overwhelming to overcome felt so cool in how scaled down it was...and in this ep, the good guys take out dozens of Stormtroopers, several speeder bikes, and a handful of Tie Fighters. It's a big scaling up in stakes and consequences that I'm not sure how I feel about.

So, specific thoughts on the ep:

- I liked the teases of the larger story and what Gideon is actually up to.

- Still iffy about Giancarlo Esposito...not because I don't like him (I think he's one of the best actors in the business and absolutely think he's an imposing, scary villain) but because he is EVERYWHERE right now. I mean, I just finished watching The Boys season 2, and he's one of the chief antagonists of that series, and is even the main antagonist in the next Far Cry game.

- The action/escape went on way too long. By the time the tie fighters came in to pick up where the speeders left off, I had become bored by the nearly silent 10min action scene by that point. I also felt like you could've skipped the speeders and gone right to the tie fighters and it would've yielded the same result.

- Great performances as usual for the most part, but I'm still struggling with Carl Weathers. His acting is basically the same as it was in Predator, but for some reason in this show his wooden delivery really clangs for me. Gina Carano is fantastic, though. My wife has mentioned that she really loves seeing a woman who's actually built and physically impressive in a role like this, as it is (sadly) very uncommon.

- Found Mando's save at the end jarring, only because he had just been at the base with them 10-ish mins ago. This means he jetpacked back to town, got Baby Yoda from the school, got to where his ship was (which was fully repaired, apparently?) and made it back in time to shoot down tie fighters.

- Where is the hooded guy we saw at the very end of ep 1, who had apparently been following Mando on Tattooine? Weird to drop a breadcrumb like that in ep 1 and have it still not paid off by ep 4?

Overall, still an excellent series and probably the best non-game thing SW has done since RotJ (maybe even better) but I really do prefer the quieter feel of season 1.

@MossBoss Had the same thought, as I mentioned in my comment above. Kinda got the impression that the ep made sense more as a two-parter with a big of a time lapse inbetween. It also felt like the pacing dog wagged the story in this case, as the chase scene went on WAY too long, and I think was elongated to make Mando's rescue in the nick of time more believable when they realized the script didn't leave enough time for it to make sense.

I do like The Mandalorian but I'm concerned about it falling into repetitive decline. At the moment the series is very much like Kung Fu where the protagonist arrives at a new community in each episode and solves a problem. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But I hope we can see more episodes where Djarin doesn't do this.

Another thing is the continued ineptness of the Stormtroopers. In the previous episode Djarin was reluctant to join the other Mandalorians in taking the Imperial freighter. But the four of them were able to do it despite the presence of dozens of Stormtroopers onboard. Here in "The Siege" another Imperial stronghold is penetrated and none of our heroes get hurt. Knowing that the Stormtroopers can't shoot and kill their targets really undermines them as a foe and reduces dramatic tension.

This is a 4/4 episode for me. Not only are the action sequences amazing, Horatio Sans was hilarious (“There’s no guard rail on this”). But aside from that, the way this ties into the original trilogy by dealing with a post-Empire society is great. Then, it bridges the gap to the sequel trilogy by showing hints of how the First Order came into existence, and maybe explaining Snoke. AND it explains why the Proto-First Order wanted The Child, a question that hasn’t been fully explained since episode 1. AND it even ties into the prequel trilogy by referencing how high of an M-Count (midi-chlorian) The Child had. I mean, it’s masterful, and it does more to explain the sequel trilogy in 40 minutes than even the trilogy itself did throughout all 3 movies. Best episode yet if you ask me.

The moral: don't trust space babies with red and blue wires. Neither Baby Yoda nor Baby Groot!

I like the small scale problem solving episodes and I like the ones that sniff around larger galactic issues. There's room for both, especially with such consistent, competent work.

The stand alone ones remind me of the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV show, where the anti-hero helps local people with a problem, and then is forced to move on because there's really no place for him that won't eventually rain down fire on the people he tried to protect.

Again pretty basic plot but super-well-excuted action scenes and landscapes / visuals. Gotta take the battle scenes with a grain of salt in that insurmountable odds are always overcome. Always impressed with Gina Carano -- she's built like a tank and she's hot! But the show mixes in its more tender moments whether it be Dune feeding some little animal or Baby Yoda doing something cute.

Nice to see parts of Nevarro starting to look like a normal world with schools etc. And this would add to the be part of bigger story of the good that comes from getting rid of the old imperial presence.

I think Mando's turning into a decent dad -- trying to guide Baby Yoda to do some electronics, wiping him up after he barfs...

Would seem Cara Dune is looking for some purpose -- she lost every one on Alderon and is wanted for local support.

Not sure what to make of the experiments going on at the imperial base but it gives one example of why Baby Yoda is so valuable to Moff. And it sends the message even louder that it is to be protected at all costs.

2.5 stars for "Chapter 12: The Siege" -- particularly heavy on the action scenes with small tie-ins to the bigger picture. Odds are getting longer and longer with Moff's massive ship on its way and a tracking beacon on Mando's ship. But these are nice, well-contained little episodes that hit the right notes.