The Mandalorian

[Doppleganger]

Episode 02 was written by Jon Favreau and was a LOT better, much closer in line to the first series.

I like that both Mando and "Baby Yoda" are rough around the edges. They're not immoral, but neither are saints.

[Doppleganger]

The new episode was an ode to Dark Forces:

1. Dark Troopers, obviously, are the roided droided terminators that served as the bosses in Dark Forces
2. The Razor Crest getting destroyed is a reference to the Mouldy Crow getting destroyed in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight

Cool.

[Doppleganger]

Mando season 2 is done and it basically concludes Mando's story (for the time being).

I think the series was cool but was too cramped and got too 'epic' too quickly. It needed to slow down. The final episode in particular was crazy rushed like The Rise of Skywalker.

I predicted some of the twists like

Spoiler: show

Darksaber = Elder Wand and needs to be won to recognize an owner, and Baby Yoda being the basis of Palpatine's new clone body.

Don't like the CGI Luke. Just get a younger actor to portray him, and have Mark Hamill dub if necessary.

I thought the portrayal of the Phase 3 Dark Trooper was respectable. The only downside is the Dark Troopers didn't have the same kind of high-caliber weapon you'd expect from them, not that it would make much difference.

Also, the weird jamming blaster rifle. That took me out.

Overall, while Mando season 1 was a 10/10, I'd rate this a 7/10. It was good, But not great. It had a lot of cool moments that would have had more sting with more breathing room.

[Doppleganger]

Book of Boba Fett has a terrible name but is very watchable. It's basically Boba Fett's "new" origin story. It simultaneously tells what happened to Fett after Return of the Jedi while also showing what happened after The Mandalorian.

Both storylines are interesting as Fett doesn't command as much respect as Jabba did due to his mercy and lack of greed, so maintaining control over Jabba's fief isn't easy. The past storyline is interesting as it gets into the tribal culture of the Tuskens.

There's less spoken word than in The Mandalorian, surprisingly. The story structures aren't as rigid and it gets wild in a few places, like during Boba's vision quest.

[Doppleganger]

OK, I finished Book of Boba Fett and it's not terrible. It's not great but it's very true Boba Fett was heavily nerfed, looked old/tired/useless and was demoted in his own show. But outside of that, I didn't have a problem with some of the logic the show went through.

Could it have been better? Yeah, especially that finale. Was some time wasted? Sure. But it wasn't bad.