 Mandalorian season 3 has begun and I wasn't gonna cover it at all And I'm not really planning to cover it after this unless I don't know who knows I'm supposed to be filming my reading wrap-up right now But instead I watched the first episode of the Mandalorian and was so horrified isn't the right word But just kind of uh, yeah, I don't really know what the right word is to describe how I feel about it It's not good though. It's not good feelings. So I decided I'm gonna film a video about it Just to get it off my chest. So some disclaimers about me and Star Wars I've never really well, that's not true. I have talked about Star Wars I talked about Andor in a video where I talked about prequels and I'll leave that link down below if you're interested in that But other than that, I haven't really talked about Star Wars at all on my channel And I don't really plan to make talking about Star Wars a habit So when it comes to Star Wars, I've seen all the moot. Well, I haven't seen solo But I've other than that. I think I've seen all the movies. I've watched the first two seasons of Mandalorian Obviously I watched Andor because I talked about it. I watched like one episode of Boba Fett So for anyone, I mean for for Mandalorian the Mandalorian episodes of Boba Fett I have not seen those episodes, but I have seen reviews and clips and discussions about them So like I generally know what it is that I missed and I'm pretty mad already that they did that So like I went into season three kind of miffed already, but I don't like I haven't read any like extended universe stuff I've never seen the Clone Wars or what's the other animated show? Rebels? Is that a thing? I don't know, but I haven't seen that I haven't yeah, I haven't read any of the books. I haven't like delved into any lore I haven't played any video games So what I know about Star Wars is other from the films The shows that I mentioned being Mandalorian and or and like one episode of Boba Fett And one episode of Kenobi. Did watch one episode of that or Obi-Wan? I don't know what the show was called, but I watched one episode of it And then like watching like discussion videos on YouTube So I've gleaned a lot of information about the extended universe just from like review videos that talk about Star Wars as a whole But what I'm trying to say is I'm not an expert on Star Wars I mean casual fan of Star Wars. I don't think the Mandalorian is incredible I've never thought the Mandalorian is incredible But I do think that it was a it was a good thing and I was enjoying it And I was excited about it and I was I was pretty that's why I said It wasn't like the me seeing episode one of season three wasn't like this thing that was so great has been destroyed Like I never thought it was like that great, which is fine Like it doesn't have to be that great like I think andor truly is great again more thoughts on that in the other video But Mandalorian is like fine for what it is like adventure of the week spaghetti Western Like gunslinger in space kind of thing, which is fine Like that's all it needs to be and it's like good to have a show That's a little simpler in its story and a little narrower in scope When you have so many movies and shows in the Star Wars universe that are doing so many like bigger stuff So having a show that's like not really Skywalker centric not really Empire centric Just kind of this little like side quests in the Star Wars universe. I think is a great idea So it doesn't have to be like groundbreaking like that's fine. Um, it's entertaining You know, it's it's cute. It's whatever. So it's like a perfectly fine concept for our show And my last disclaimer is that I will be referring to them as Mando and Baby Yoda for most of this video most likely I do know their names, but I'm probably not going to use them Also, uh full spoilers for episode one. Although, um, my first spoilers that nothing happens in episode one. So I wouldn't be too worried about it So first of all, um, stop trying to make Mandalore happen. Like I said, I don't know anything about the extended universe I only know what the show has presented me with Um, in terms of what Mandalore is and what Mandalorians are as a people and what their beliefs are and what their culture is Which is not a whole lot and what they have presented is pretty dumb So if there's better lore out there, that's fine But they're clearly not doing that in the show or they're not doing a good job of presenting it In a way that it's clear to the audience. What's so great about it? So Initially in the show, we weren't like delving into Mandalorian culture So like just having this enigmatic enigmatic dude who's like a Mandalorian Um, and and won't take his mask off or whatever like, okay. That's fine. It's whatever We're not really like delving into that So now that we're like really focusing on Mandalore and Mandalorians and what they believe and what their culture is like again The way the show is showing it to me is really dumb So unless they're going to do a better job of like presenting me this culture in a way that's less ridiculous Just don't focus on it. It's fine. Like just this doesn't need to be central to the plot It really doesn't especially if it's going to look that dumb. So like what do I know about Mandalorians? They never take their helmets off. Why? Because this is the way how does that work practically speaking like for eating for hygiene for um, for injuries for identification I mean, who knows is it that they can never take it off at all or never in front of other people? Again, unclear in how it's presented on the show. Maybe it's very clear and extended universal or not clear on the show In the show, it makes it my impression of it in the show The way they talk about it is that it's like literally never Although I think we had I mean other side from the time when he took his helmet off, which got him excommunicated Um, I think he did take it off to eat at one point. I'm not totally sure about that But anyway, the point is like Why in either case why I mean is the idea that you shed your individuality to become Just Mandalorian and not the individual you were before is at the point of like having the the helmet that you never take off because like that really doesn't like Follow from how they are presented in the show either. They have like different colors. They retain their names They retain individual identities even as Mandalorians wearing helmets. So like that can't be it So it just comes across as like really arbitrary and dumb every time they say this is the way it just sounds Dumber again focusing on the lore in the culture at all not great Especially the way they're presenting it and treating it so like seriously too like you could like show a bit of it I guess Um and treat it more lightly, but they treat it quite especially in the beginning of this first episode very dramatically It's just funny and unintentionally funny number two the beastie in the water Okay, so these Mandalorians they are having this like initiation ceremony because you know Mandalorian culture or whatever And there's they're just on this beach and there's a cave, but there's like this isn't a civilization There's no town in sight. There's no people other than the Mandalorians that have gathered for the ceremony So this like giant beastie shows up and it starts like attacking them um unprompted and They all have jet packs or most of them have jet packs. So one, why don't they just leave? Like there isn't anything here that you need to be defending There isn't like a town that's under attack where you need to save the women and children There's not like property that you need to protect. It's just a beach Why are we working so hard to defend this random beach? So we're going to defend the random beach for some reason. Okay, fine I'm sure you have your reasons Mandalorians know what they're doing There there's one thing they know about, you know, it's fighting and and battle tactics and stuff like that Right, so can't wait to see these this whole group of Mandalorians work together to take down this beastie strategy one Flamethrower one that those flames they are not even reaching the beastie So it's just a waste of fuel two. It's in water currently Even if even if your flames do touch it like it can immediately douse those flames In the water. Okay. So strategy two they like shoot out these cords Um that like attach to its shell or skin or whatever and these cords are anchored to nothing But the bodies of the Mandalorians who shot them So like I would think that this would just kind of like yank the Mandalorians off their feet because this the This thing is ginormous So the Mandalorians would not be able to exert any force on it. And then yeah, that's exactly what happens As soon as the beastie moves they all like fall over who saw that coming And of course the point of this scene is just to have a reason for Mando to show up and save the day quite dramatically But it's like you your culture already seems very stupid And then the one thing you're supposed to be good at is fighting and you all looked like complete idiots on this beach So I truly do not see the value of the way number three Appa state apostate apostate I never know how to say that so Mando removed his helmet and he removed it of his own free will therefore He's like no longer Mandalorian Who cares seriously who cares we have not been shown why this should matter to him And certainly not why it should matter to us the audience But so he says what about redemption? So for some reason he really wants back in to this cult again unclear Why like what's he gonna get out of this what emotional attachment he would have to it Like why should we be rooting for this furthermore over the course of the show? If anything we've seen his character grow towards that kind of like questioning whether he really Whether this really is the way like he did choose to remove his helmet. That's what got him excommunicated Um, which would seem to be a step in the direction of like is this really the way which would be an interesting Direction to take this character as he introspects And questions whether the way that he has followed his whole life is really the right way But no we're gonna have him pursue redemption because he wants back in to this This cult which seems very dumb and very pointless and the way that he's going to redeem himself It's not something that's like spiritually or emotionally or psychologically difficult No, he's got to go to this random place to go bathe in some random water So it's it's a fetch quest so it's not even like In that sense that character beat where like I I would prefer to see him sort of like move away from the way and question it and go his own way Have some growth But okay, if we're gonna go the other way where he's like, no, I'm even gonna be even stricter Mandalorian I want back in fine but then like Is redemption truly just a fetch quest for these people because again your culture already seems stupid to me It's getting stupider by the minute So, okay, we're that's I guess the mission statement for this season Mando's got to go bathe in some water so we can get back in the cult I don't know why I should be interested in an entire season of television that is about that that is not Interesting not from a world-building perspective not from a character perspective not even from like a narrative interest perspective Number four Mando ship design. This isn't new to season three Um, but it is in season three and they could have changed it and it's stupid. So I just Why is this the ship design dad traded in a camper van For a Corvette and now he and the kid are gonna live in it. It's just so Incredibly impractical For living and traveling on Um, I can't think of any reason why they would have made this change except for merchandising Number five the robot which seemed to take up most of the runtime of the episode I haven't done the numbers on that but it was at least a third of it. I think so first of all How is there anything left of this robot? Like This is another death star where even though it disintegrated into a tiny little specks We still have like most chunks of it intact. Is this credence from fantastic beast? He exploded, but somehow It's fine. He's a nearly whole like what why why it's not exactly a character that I'm like Oh robot is back Yay, like I I don't care It's not like it's c3pio or something So, okay, like if any of them is left in these sort of like large recognizable pieces which Beggars believe but okay, these big pieces of him did survive to be collected Presumably they'd be kind of like bronzed over to form this statue But nope, they literally just put the parts as is as a statue That are like totally self-functional robot parts or like in theory functional robot parts like that's not how statues work And okay, so they have this statue, but mando shows up. He's like that I want that as a robot and they're like, okay Even though that's ridiculous, but okay. And so somehow Mando gets it working and it immediately tries to kill him So another robot has to smash its head. So now it's even more damaged Mando still insists. This is the only robot for him Even though it's been proven to be unreliable because it immediately tried to kill him and it's even more broken now Its head should be like full on crushed but apparently not also during this interlude. Mando tosses grogu like a football So if that's not evidence of him being an unfit parent, I'm not sure what it is So then we take this complete lost cause of a robot to babu frick's cousins presumably just so we can all go Oh, those guys are like babu frick Well, and so that baby yoda could be like adorable and destructive and try to grab one which like, yeah It was cute. I'm not gonna lie. It was very adorable when baby yoda tried to grab one, but it was also really dumb I mean, this is a season one joke We are in season three Like the level of storytelling needs to have progressed a bit more Like the fact that Mando is just letting him do that letting him stand next to this creature When you know what he has a habit of doing this seems unsafe both for grogu and for the mechanic It's just it was so predictable And not really that funny because as soon as we went in there and we saw grogu you're like grogu's gonna do something He's gonna touch something he shouldn't he's gonna grab one of the alien mutes like he's gonna do something and it'll be cute Okay, is that really all you got? Is that all this show is really just going to be a grogu? Adorableness delivery mechanism, but okay So then Mando is now on a quest In addition to finding those waters he got a bath in he's got to find this part Which is the one part that they don't have to fix this completely unfixable destroyed robot This robot got exploded and it got its head crushed But the only thing these mechanics need to fix it is this just this one part So Mando's going to go find it because this robot Is so worth it like am I supposed to be rooting for this? Is this a plot line I should be interested in uh number six we've got pirates that show up Just to cause trouble And it feels very spaghetti western, you know some troublemakers show up. So okay fine We kill most of them, but we leave the leader alive And then he doesn't escape. No, they let him leave Because we're told this is the wise thing to do because this pirate dude is going to go and tell his compadres that Oh, no, don't go to that town. They killed all my buddies. They'll kill you too. They're defended. They're guarded It's not welcome to us pirates there anymore. I mean personally as a lay person I would think the most likely outcome would be that that this pirate dude would want Vengeance would want revenge Would want payback for you killing his buddies. Oh wait, that is exactly what happens who saw that coming Which leads me to number seven the ambush, which again, I get that Mandalorian is like A spaghetti western in space. Sure So if this really was a western and we had like a little showdown in the little village And in the wild west and then the dude that was the problem Leaves But then when our gunslinging hero leaves the town by the one path that leads out of this little town The bad guys are hiding behind the rocks on the one path that leads out of this town and attack him Like that's a reasonable scenario for a literal wild west town But this is a planet And unless that pirate put a tracking device on Mando's ship It is so wildly unreasonable that they would have been lying in wait ready to ambush him when he leaves The planet which there's no reason for them to actually be certain that he's going to leave the planet at all But assuming they do know that he's gonna leave the planet Like it's a planet They this is the tiny ship. That's not even big enough to live on They're lying in wait for him to leave the planet. Like it's just so absurd Like this is outer space like i'm willing to give you some grace as you're trying to make a wild west story in outer space, but come on that's just It wasn't exciting or surprising as soon as you let that pirate go Like I hoped that like in a later episode this season We would circle back to this and be like at the worst possible time Oh, no, that pirate guy we shouldn't have let lived is like gonna come and mess things up for us But it's literally like five minutes later Like that setup and payoff was like so fast and so meaningless and so stupid that like Okay, mando did some cool flying. Um, I guess that was impressive Cool, which leads me to number eight bokeh tan who spends her days in an abandoned palace sitting on a cold stone throne Just waiting for somebody who might possibly come by and want an audience with her as one does This is somehow more ridiculous than the pirates lying in wait in conclusion Disney is so afraid of change Because the original formula was so successful that they will do anything to maintain status quo Even when it begins to hurt the story mando gets separated from baby yoda Got to find a reason to get them back together again Even if we have to crash a different show to make that happen Mando's beginning to have some growth learning to be a better caregiver for this child Oh no, it was funny when he was bad at it better make him forget all about that and be bad at it Mando takes his helmet off demonstrating some growth in terms of his world view Maybe questioning the way maybe not being so devoted To the cult of the mandalorians Nope, better make him regret that and want to atone for it immediately got a return to status quo in the beginning of the show like you can root For the gruff loner who gets saddled with a kid and like didn't ask for this and doesn't know what to do about it Is like kind of doing us best grudgingly like it's a dynamic that's pretty tried and true A lot of books shows movies have done this. It can be cute. It can be charming. You can root for it But you cannot sustain that dynamic for an extended period of time Like if you want us to keep rooting for mando being the caregiver for baby yoda He needs to actually be kind of good at it or at least like reasonably attempting to be good at it And he is such a terrible caregiver that I do not understand why I should be rooting for this Like this is the worst place for the child to be and you can't have him be the gruff grudging caretaker of grogu anymore like We've moved beyond that like he needs to be willing at this point and you need to make us see why we should root for that Other than it being cute. That's not a reason. Likewise in the beginning, you know You can have this sort of enigmatic mandalori and never takes his helmet off Doesn't really say much of anything at all. He seems to abide by this kind of enigmatic code of the mandalore And you're like, oh, I don't know what the deal with all that is, but okay that's kind of cool and mysterious and He's the gruff gunsling and loner that doesn't have a lot to say like, all right, sure But we're in the third season now We need to have either a better understanding of what motivates him to be like this gruff mandalorian abiding Dude or we need to see some growth from him and see how he's leaving that way and changing as a person And and coming away from that way of being but we don't really understand what motivates him at all in this show as a character He's not really a character which is fine in the beginning But at season three when he's your main character doesn't really work anymore So basically the show started out as this like little adventure of the week story And you can have this gruff loner and this like cute little gurgling baby They get into trouble and each week we go to a new place and new shenanigans happen And then the kid gets in trouble and we have this kind of overarching Story that threads it all together that people are after the kid So he's got to protect the kid But mainly it's just kind of going from place to place And there's just like a villain of the week and that's a very simple structure And that can go on for quite some time and you could keep it that way But they chose to expand the scope and make it this bigger storyline which is already kind of a bad idea There's enough of that going on in star wars But once you've done that you cannot then also just stick with this monster of the week Adventure of the week villain of the week formula because you You shot your chance at that by expanding the story and bringing the skywalkers into it and making it this bigger story So if you're going to have that be this bigger story You can't have it be these like simple character archetypes that don't grow and don't change And just kind of go on meaningless fetch quests that doesn't work anymore because that's no longer the show that this is That's the choice you made in conclusion conclusion The mandalorian at present Is a mess. I will watch the next episode which is airing like tomorrow or something. Um And uh, I hope it's better, but uh first episode Did not give me much hope let me know your thoughts in the comments down below If you are enjoying mandalorian if you it's your favorite show if um I'm totally missing it if there's just like so much deep lore that makes all this makes sense And it's like if only I understood the deep lore then I would understand why the show is brilliant You know, feel free to let me know or not Whatever you want me to know I post videos on saturdays other random times as well But definitely saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you Bye