Triple Click - Beanscast: Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

In honor of MaxFunDrive 2021, we decided to put a beanscast from earlier this year in the main feed! This episode originally aired in the bonus feed on February 21, 2021. If you'd like more bonus episodes (and to get some extra MaxFunDrive swag), sign up to become a member today at https://maximumfun.org/join.ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:For this month’s bonus episode, Jason, Maddy and Kirk put on their beskar helmets and jetpack straight into the rough and tumble world of Star Wars: The Mandalorian. It’s a wide-ranging discussion that goes from the specific (how can a helmet be so expressive?) to the broad (what are the most and least interesting things about Star Wars?), with plenty of detours along the way.LINKS:Become a Maximum Fun Member: https://maximumfun.org/joinA retrospective article about Joe Johnston, the art director who designed Boba Fett’s armor along with concept artist Ralph McQuarrie: https://www.starwars.com/news/empire-at-40-joe-johnston-boba-fett-interview#:~:text=MAY%2018%2C%202020-,Empire%20at%2040%20%7C%20Designing%20an%20Icon%3A%20Joe%20Johnston%20on%20the,Journey%20to%20Create%20Boba%20FettA very cool series on the groundbreaking visual production techniques used on The Mandalorian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rkJoin the Triple Click Discord: http://discord.gg/tripleclickpodTriple Click Ethics Policy: https://maximumfun.org/triple-click-ethics-policy/ Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointripleclick 🚀  SUPPORT TRIPLE CLICK:Join Maximum Fun | Buy TC Merch💬 JOIN THE TRIPLE CLICK DISCORD🎮 Triple Click Ethics Policy📱 SOCIALS | @tripleclickpodInstagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

Hi, everyone. Kirk here with a little bonus for you all as we enter the second week of Max Fun Drive 2021. As you all doubtless know, if you've listened to the show, folks who sign up to become Maximum Fun members get access to our monthly bonus episodes which often take the form of beans casts, a.k.a. spoiler casts where we spill the beans on games, movies, and shows that we've played and watched. Earlier this year, we did a beans cast on Star Wars, The Mandalorian, which we all really liked. It was a lot of fun recording it. So during Max Fun Drive, we wanted to share. that bonus episode with all of you here in the main feed. That episode follows this little intro. There's nothing new about it. If you've already heard it, we didn't edit in any new takes or anything. But for those of you who haven't heard it, we wanted to share it with you all to let

you know the kinds of bonus episodes that you will get if you become a member and support us creating this show. And of course, if you become a member now or before May 14th, while MaxFundDrive is still going on, you can also get access to some cool bonus goodies. So go to maximumfun.org slash join to find out more about that. And just as a warning, this episode does spoil all of the Mandalorian's first two seasons. All right, let's get to it. I'm Maddie Myers. I'm Jason Shrier.

And I'm Kirk Hamilton. And this is a beans cast about the Mandalorian. It is a beans cast. Time to spill some beans. In a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were some beans. There were. And we got to decipher them. We got to share them.

Oh, man. Well, thank you. thank you to everybody listening this because if you're listening to this, you're a subscriber. So thanks for supporting the show. Yeah, you're a Max Fund member and we appreciate your support as we talk about Star Wars.

We hope you watched both seasons because there's a lot of crazy shit on this show and you should experience it for yourself. You should complete both seasons. We will be spelling the beans on both seasons of the Mandalorian, both current seasons of the Mandalorian. So, just to refresh everybody's memory.

Baby Yoda's name is Grogu. Just to refresh everybody. Just to refresh everybody, Baby Yoda's name is Grogu. We will be calling him Baby Yoda roughly 50% of the time for the episode because he goes by both. So, season one, episode one of the Mandalorian, was a Disney Plus launch day release. Very, very exciting stuff. Remember November 12th, 2019?

I kind of do. Can I say that it was kind of the demon souls of Disney Plus's PlayStation 5? It was, it was. And you and I watched it, Kirk, and I think we talked about it on split screen way back at the time. We watched that debut. We were excited about it. Jason, I don't think you watched it at the time. Did you?

No, because my Disney Plus was entirely old Simpsons episodes and still kind of is. The Astros Playroom, if you will. But that to me was the Demon Souls of Disney Plus. It was the God of War at 60 frames per second. Yeah, exactly. Of the D.S. It was not 60 frames per second. but it's more like the original Demon Souls on PS3 is what Simpsons episodes are.

But Jason, you did not watch this show until the past couple weeks. You didn't watch any of it until the past couple weeks? Well, I'm just going to start with you. Why not? Jason. Well, so first of all, I should say I got so much of it just from people fucking spoiling it on Twitter, which is really obnoxious and rude, especially when they spoiled the very end of season two for me, which kind of sucked. And yeah, I mean, that's happening with Wanda Vision, too.

It's interesting that just people, what happened, the other day on Triple Click, I talked about Wanda Vision as one more thing. And I actually said that I really enjoyed that it was airing week to week because there could be this conversation about it. But the downside to that is that if you're not watching it, it is like you will, it is impossible to avoid getting things ruined for you. You know what? Let me tell you a good way to avoid getting spoiled on Disney Plus shows on Twitter. It is not reading Twitter. not going on Twitter ever Galaxy brain tape

if you go to any website you go to any website and like there will be like I go to the ringer every day Or if you work at any website for example Yeah if you work at one Polygonne Yeah yeah I mean I'll see the headlines that are like

The big reveal on this event But I don't get directly spoiled The way that on Twitter It'll actually be like gifts of the thing that happens Sure sure sure You can avoid them if you Or like the person's name The character's name will be trending

because people can't resist typing it out in their tweets and then you're like, oh, I guess BobaFed is in this show because every single person is tweeting BobaFed at the same time. So that's like that's how these things get revealed. Or at least that's how I learned that BobaFet was going to be on this show. I imagine that's many people's experience. But Jason, what are your overall thoughts? Yeah, I marathon all of this.

I always knew I was going to watch it at some point because I watch most Star Wars related things. And I marathon this. over the past couple of weeks, and it's so funny. Like, my opinions of season one and season two are so drastically different. I watched season one, and I was just like, okay, this is cool, and it's fine. And then season two, which I think really develops a relationship between the Mandalorian, Mando, and Grogu, in a way where it, like, really takes it to the next level. Just blew me away.

Like, I thought season two was awesome. I got really, really hyped on all of season two and enjoyed it very, very much. So yeah, those are my overall impressions. I think it's a pretty cool show. It can be overwhelming with like the names and the action can be kind of blurry in that Star Wars style. And also the dialogue, especially in season one. I noticed this more of the dialogue can be very wooden in that Star Warsy way that is like, like, I feel like everything involving Star Wars has to just follow the George Lucas spirit of having like at least some. absurdly bad acting and dialogue and stuff like that. Um, but overall, I've just, yeah, really enjoyed it.

Um, really, actually, maybe it's, it's the fact that John Carlo Esposito popped up and since he popped up like the show has been awesome because he always takes everything to the next level and it's like, oh, oh shit, Gus Ring is here. It is time. It is time for the real show to begin. Um, but yeah, um, I really enjoyed season two and yeah, overall, I like the show. a lot. I think it does a lot of cool things and was just really fun to watch even if I was looking at my computer during some of the action sequences. Fair enough. So, Kirk, you were way on the other end of the spectrum. You watched all of it live week to week, right? How was that for you? You know, it was different. I've actually kind of the opposite of you, Jason. I like season one

better than season two. So did I. That's so funny. And here's why. I, I, loved this show when it first came on. And that was because when I watched it, it was in the sort of just smoking wreckage left by the rise of Skywalker, which in a certain other podcast, there is a very long episode of the three of us teeing up on that movie for a long time. We don't need to re-tee up on it here. But that movie just left me feeling bad and burned out. And like, I was so tired of Star Wars. And The Mandalorian, to me, was so surprising. I was not to like it as much as I did. And what I liked about it was that it was so different. It was so the kind of Star Wars story that I had wanted to see. It was like Dark Forces Star Wars. It was no

Jedi, no people you've actually ever even heard of. The only tie-ins of the show are like pretty backgrounded for the most part. And it's just this Western. And they're using all these classic Western setups. The one episode, the Bryce Dallas Howard episode, I can't remember what it's called where they go to the town. And the town is like the bandits with the ATS. and they have to fight them off. It's so classic. And I was like, this is just cool. Like, it's Star Wars stuff. Crucially, it looks like Star Wars, which I think is important. Like, just seeing a TV show that looks like this, that looks like a friggin multi, multi-million movie was just kind of fun. And it's just, it was just cool and really low-key in a way.

And then season two was also just really entertaining throughout. I really liked it. I loved all the stuff they were introducing. You get these great characters. You get Rosario Dawson and Katie Sackoff, a bunch of like, It flushes everything out. I do like Giancarlo Esposito, though he's a little bit of a mustache twirling villain. I don't know. He wasn't totally my favorite, if I'm being honest, of his many performances. And he's kind of in everything now.

Like, I just watched The Boys and he's in that. And he's kind of always the same character. Like, he's always Gus Fring. He was cool, but I'm more into some of the other stuff. But then, toward the end, it really started to just feel so Star Warsy to me. And it really coincided with when all the Jedi shit started happening. And as cool as Rosario Dawson's character is, I was like, oh, we're like getting into the force, and now he's, like, reaching out with the force.

And then, like, Luke Skywalker shows up as this Deus X Machina at the end. And I was like, Luke Skywalker is here. Like, and now we're back with the Skywalker's. And I just was done with them. And it didn't, like, color my overall enjoyment of the show. Like, every episode of the show is just, like, a really entertaining good time for, like, 35 to 45 minutes. I don't have any real gripes there. But seeing all of that and then also seeing all the spin-offs they're setting up and how it's going to become this.

huge thing. And I was a little bit like, man, I liked when this show was just this kind of cool scrappy Western that like had a bunch of my favorite TV directors and movie directors just kind of screwing around in the backwaters of Star Wars. So I kind of am a little more hesitant about future seasons even though I'll absolutely be watching it. It's so funny. So Maddie, I'll throw it to you in a second to give your overall thoughts. But Kirk, I just want to respond to one thing, which is that I think my reasons for liking season two so much more than season one are the total opposite end of the spectrum from the stuff you were talking about, which is totally valid reasons to not like it. But the reason I like season two so much more

is because it feels like it's one overarching story and it's more about the relationship between Mando and Grogu in a way that wasn't really, was like kind of developed in season one. But like even just like the season two moment to me that really stood out, like I'm sure everyone was like, oh my God, Luke Skywalker. And yeah, that was cool and all. But the moment to me that was like, this is the show in a nutshell, was Mando taking off his helmet and, like, having that moment with Grogu. And that to me was like, this is the reason I'm watching the show. This is the reason I love this season. It felt like this season had an overarching story, an overarching character arc and relationship. And like, it was building to something. Whereas season one, the Western stuff that you all like also

felt to me like such a monster of the week type of like, oh, what kind of mayhem is he going to get into this week? Like, oh, now he's fighting an ATST. But that's cool. There's not enough TV shows. like that. I like that. That's not what I want from TV. Every TV show is a big serialized story. I know, but I don't want that. Like, I want like Monster of the Week stuff that, to me, it's totally fine if that died out in the 90s and never comes back. Like, I want overarching stories from my, and overarching relationships. I think that the first season had both. But I want to hear more of what Maddie thought of the show. Yeah, Maddie, what are you? Sure. You know, it's funny, Jason, because I feel like my take on this reminds me also of what you said about WandaVision on the show recently, where

you tossed off the fact that you didn't like the first two episodes of Wanda Vision and that you liked it more as it went along. And this feels very similar to both my take on the Mandalorian, which is like the first season is doing something specific that no other Star Wars property is doing. And also Wanda Vision in those first two episodes is doing something very weird that no other MCU property is doing. And those are also my favorite things for a lot of the same reasons that Kirk just laid out. But let me backtrack and describe how and why I even watch this show. So back when it aired, I watched the pilot, Kirk and I talked about it. If somebody were to go all the way back and listen to that split screen, they'd probably notice that I was a little more lukewarm on the pilot than Kirk was. And I did not watch any more of season one at the time. I watched it. And I was like, I don't know. I'm not ready to go back to Star Wars.

I was so mad about that movie. I was so disappointed in it. And I watched the pilot for the show. And I was like, seems cool, but I don't know if I even like Star Wars anymore. And then like months and months went by. And I don't even know why I started watching it again. I don't know. I was bored. COVID happened. I had nothing to watch. I was depressed. I was like,

maybe I'll give the Mandalorian another chance. And season one is really slow. And that was something I noticed when I watched that pilot. I was like, you really got to get into a different mental mode to even watch season one of the Mandalorian. Not that much stuff happens per episode. Like, yeah, there's a monster of the week. But like, it's not necessarily a big monster all the time. Like sometimes it's like a pretty minor conflict that the Mandalorian is just like standing around thinking about. And like there's barely any dialogue. It'll just be him like driving a speeder for 10 minutes while some cool music plays. And you're just like chilling watching this show. It's very meditative. So I think I got in this depression place during COVID where I was like very, very into season one of the Mandalorian. And it was done by the time I was watching it. So I got to watch all of it and one go and be like, this is a very thoughtful show. And it's weird. And I like it. And it doesn't feel like Star Wars and I'm enjoying that aspect of it. And then season, season, two was almost a disappointment for me in some of the way that midway through WandaVision was where I was like, I need to readjust my expectations of what this show is.

I am now watching more of a Star Wars movie in season two. And like around the Assoc atano episode, which I think that is a gear shift for the show. Like after that point, it becomes much more Star Warsy. It's not just that the Jedi are there. It's like the episodes pick up speed. They get snappier. More stuff happens per episode. It is not the slow meditative crawl across the desert.

And yeah, you're right, Jason. Like, they're building on the relationship between Baby Yoda and the Mandalorian. But I would argue that's happening the whole time and the payoffs that you're describing in season two are possible because of the subtlety of season one. But, yeah, I mean, you're right. Those payoffs do happen in season two, and they're very emotionally rewarding. And I totally agree with you. Those are the strongest parts of season two for me.

But it's also just true that season two feel. more shiny and Star Warsy and peppy and quippy and action focused in a way that the first season wasn't. You know what I mean? Kirk, you think you have thoughts. Well, there's like a transformation that happens that the show earns. And I think that's very true what you said about how all of the character stuff that happens in season two. And there's some great stuff. I mean, the scene where he takes his helmet off in the Imperial mess hall is just like really fantastic. And you've learned he's doing it all for Grogu. He's doing it all for of the baby Yodes.

For the greatest puppet that's ever been designed by anyone. Yeah, and that's really nice. And it does work because they set it up in season one. The part of the transformation, I guess, that bums me out is the inevitability of it. And Wanda Vision is a really great parallel because WandaVision starts as this completely weird thing that is very specific and not like anything else. And even while sharing, I think, Jason, some of your feeling like, I was definitely rolling my eyes some at the sitcominess while knowing this isn't going to be this.

show. Like I knew that there was this inevitable thing that's going to happen at some point we're going to go outside of the TV, not to like turn this into a Wanda Vision Bean's cast, but when that happens and now these current episodes, it basically becomes an MCU movie. And now it has that same energy, that same look, the same lens flares, the same tech. Yeah, same costumes. You get to see Vision and his movie characters, right? And so on, yeah. And they're talking about all the stuff that happened in the MCU. And sometimes that's cool. Like I'm down to hear people talk about whatever MCU stuff, just like a Star Wars. Sometimes it's cool. And I'm like into the idea of like Grand Admiral Thrawn. I know that

that guy is like a great character that people love and when. Yeah, he's in the Clone Wars cartoons. Don't worry. We'll get to it. Right. So like that and I know people are excited about that, but you're, I completely agree about that episode because that was the episode where I was looking stuff up because I didn't watch the Clone Wars. And I was like, okay, who is Rosario Dawson? Who's Grand Admiral Throne? I thought she was going to be involved with Moff Gideon, but she isn't. And really what she's doing is setting up her spin-off show, which is going to be a whole whole, other thing about her. And then, like, also, who's this person and who's that person? And soon it's like, oh, wow, these are all characters from the expanded lore and like, oh, my goodness, this has

become so complicated. And that was the first time I was explaining to Emily, stuff that I was like on my phone being like, oh, okay, so this is who that was. And it's not even like I knew. I was just sort of reading it off to her after we watched the episode, where in season one it was much more like, there's this, the episode with the Jawa's, where he's like, it's almost a silent film that whole episode. Like it's just him trying to get his stuff back from these weird little like sand guys and like then he just gets his ass kicked and then has like like it's just this long weird kind of I don't know a western samurai thing. I feel like the other thing that I noticed about season one that isn't as true of season two is that in season one I found that I couldn't

really look away from the screen that often because I would miss something because so much of it is purely visual. Like I would miss like, you know, Baby Yoda doing something in his little egg while floating around. And then later I'd be like, wait, what happened there? And I'd like have to go back and watch it. Like I had to actually sit and watch the show in season one

because it's, it's, there's almost no dialogue and nothing happens other than you watching the characters exchange meaningful glances or like do physical actions. Whereas in season two, I mean, it's fun. But it's like, you can kind of watch it in the background of something else. And you're like, you're gonna understand what's going on. You know what I mean? Like, there's a lot more, there's a lot more expository dialogue.

So, anyway, I guess, I guess we can, we can talk about season. So, I mean, one of the other reasons, I mean, to both of your points, one of the other reasons that I didn't connect as much with season one is because all of that quietness and stillness and visual focus storytelling is really, really tough to, makes it really, really tough to connect to a main character who is wearing a helmet the whole time and doesn't show his face. And that shows, I thought, I thought, thought that you did barely any shred of you. I really thought it works. I connected with him once he started demonstrating humanity and like

being protective of, like over the course of the season, definitely, but really, season two. Well, yeah, he's got to have an arc. He can't just be a nice guy from the very beginning. That's the point. But there's the difference between a nice guy and nobody, like literally a helmet that you're watching. Would we call the Mandalorian a nice guy?

That of itself is hilarious. Yeah. There's a difference between, between a, like, yes. the character arc has to start somewhere, but that somewhere is like literally nothing. Like you're just staring at a piece of armor. I think that's so cool. Like he doesn't have a face. And he's Pedro Pascal, the man with one of the greatest faces in the world. And like, they got to look up to that face. Yeah. It's so funny. And you just, you know, it's him. And it's, you know, it's a stunt actor, some significant percentage at the time. But it's him whenever he could be because he really wanted to do the performance.

And then. But I also, I also thought it was super contrived, like all the flashbacks to him like in as a kid, like getting, getting his planet getting bombed i don't know there was this a lot of stuff about season one that just did not work for me as well as like once i got really into the show once you started hearing mando talking a lot more and pedro pascal is phenomenal like talking in that kind of he is good a monotonous voice but also like yeah like like it's it's a great he he captures a character perfectly and a lot of that didn't start until like the latter half of season one once he started like really getting connected to this kid and that to me is the heart of the show

and so much of season one just didn't work for me because it didn't have that yet and maybe it needed to be slow and it needed to set up those arcs but for me like season two could have it could have even been like a monster of the week but we just watch this growing connection between Mando and Grogu

as long as it like that is really what made it work for me. I don't care I haven't watched Clone Wars or rebels or any of that stuff so I didn't know who Asoka or where any of these characters were either but like I couldn't look away in season two because I didn't want to miss any Mando lines of dialogue or Mando and Grogo's stuff versus season one where I just didn't care as much. So yeah, it's interesting. It's really

interesting that we had such, that I had such a disparate, like a different reaction to the show than the two of you. You know, one thing I think that this show is a testament to is the incredible costume design from the original Star Wars movies because whoever designed that helmet, the Boba Fet helmet, bing, feature Kirk here just to tell you who designed that armor. It was Star Wars art director Joe Johnston, who worked with a concept artist named Ralph McQuarrie, to design the original Boba Fet armor for the original Star Wars trilogy. The story is pretty cool. I'll add a link to the show notes. They were actually initially asked by George Lucas to design a sort of super stormtrooper.

And the idea was they were making this elite stormtrooper armor. But then when they came up with the design, they thought the design was cool, but it would have been too expensive to make a whole bunch of that armor. So they scrapped the idea. and then later came back around to it when they were designing armor for Boba Fet. So Joe Johnston, credit to you, man, your art, this design for this armor has carried on for so many decades, and it really is pretty amazing-looking armor. Okay, back to the show.

Bing! It's so incredible, I think, and this, I guess, is that Jason, you maybe don't feel this way. But, like, I think that it was amazing how many different energies that freaking have. helmet was able to convey just through body language and through the pacing and the other actors that were acting off of the Mandalorian. There are so many scenes where someone will say something and then it just cuts to him and he like looks at them and it's just this weird vertical line in the middle of like a metal helmet and yet it's like menacing and or like sarcastic or like just with the tilt of a head. It's like such a cool challenge to set up for yourself at

the beginning. And I think the way that they navigated it was was great. Throughout And, like, they did this amazing arc. Like you said, by the end, you totally believe it and you know him as a character. That was a real feat. And I can't think of many shows that have ever done that before with the character showing their face a little. Yeah, that's really true. And I think it also speaks to how popular Boba Fett became as a character, even though

he does functionally nothing at all when you first see him. It's truly just that his helmet and his overall look was so freaking cool that you can project onto him. You can just project all. of that badassery onto the like two lines you hear about disintegrations or whatever and just be like, great, Boba Fett is the coolest guy ever and he dies and that is

overshadowed by the fact that he rules and we're going to be obsessed with him forever. He dies in a comically shitty way too. I know. It's like a joke but he doesn't die guys. he clearly didn't die. Well no I know but in for most of my life he died. But like he died.

Like it was retconed. Like can we just all accept that that He died. He died. And we're just accepting that he is now alive again and it's okay. And there are space wizards and it's all fine. I feel like we must have talked about this in the past with Star Wars, but like my, my childhood experience of Star Wars is more prequel stuff than sequels than original

trilogy stuff because the prequels came out when I was like, like I saw them in theaters, blah, blah, blah. So I remember Boba as being like Django's son and I remember Django as being like the father of all the clones a lot more like that that to me is a lot more I don't know I guess integrated into the lore than just Boba Fed is some random ass mercenary who has two lines and serves job of the hut so so like the Django stuff is kind of like so so I I see a lot more importance in that that family as a result of that I'm very impressed by past you because even though we are the same age roughly and I also watched the prequels I feel as though I retained none of them at the time and I did not put

together who the clones were or why any of those movies mattered at all. They're not that sticky. Until I watched the Clone Wars cartoons, which are essentially like an extensive fix-it fiction by Dave Faloni, who also worked on this show, attempting to take the original prequel movies and fix them just in a series of elaborate seasons where he's like, okay, Annegan didn't have a character arc, I'm going to write one. I'm going to create a Padawan for him. named Osokatano, and by training her and bouncing off of her personality, I'm going to create a

character for Anakin Skywalker that never previously existed so that it is sad when he becomes Darth Vader and betrays everyone. Because without that arc, you don't give a shit about those characters. And if you are a person listening to this show and you've never watched the Clone Wars cartoons, first of all, I don't blame you. A lot of them are really dumb. But also, if you have seen them, you will finally like Anagan, for one. And also, you'll know who Asokka. is and she's the coolest. And it is really cool that she's on this show. Even though she's in a season that I have kind of mixed feelings about, I'm also like,

I feel as though I'm finally being rewarded for watching a whole bunch of a children's cartoon that is fine, but has some really, really awesome moments. And it's also like a reward for Dave Foloni for like coming up with a cool character arc on this show that only children watched and a couple of weird adults like me, that he's like, okay, finally, my time is now. I'm going to come in and help John Rowe write this live action Lucasfilm project for Disney Plus and put in my cool Mary Sue and I say that in a loving way about Osoketano, double light saber wielding badass Jedi defector and put her into this show and people will realize how cool she is finally. And she's a Twilic which is like a corrective for how Twilocks have been treated on this series. Yeah, it's.

Maddie, the reason that the prequel stuff has stuck with me. me. I guess two reasons. One is that I saw them in theaters with like large groups of friends. So I have fond memories of like going to the midnight releases and and all those like the theater cheering. After the movie discussing trade embargoes with all of them. Yeah. Trade embargoes. Yeah. It was awesome. No, I remember the theater going crazy when Yota took out his lightsaber and fought Count Duky. I mean, I did too. What about when they were discussing Senate bylaws for like 10? That was great as well. Democracy dies. Everybody laughs. Also, I have the Legos. I have the Lego sets from the Sauerous prequels.

And that's what I was saying. That really solidified the clones. As always, it's the merchandise. But I actually thought, and I was so confused for many, many years, because I assumed that all of the Stormtroopers were then clones. And then there was some convoluted nonsense about, no, they were humans because they were all set, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, but yeah, I actually thought that was one of the coolest parts of the prequel's that,

like, all these Stormtroopers we had watched in the original films turned out to be clones of Boba Fett's dad. And then that didn't even turn out to be true. So, yeah, there's some some real nonsense. Yeah, also, like, barely makes sense even if you think about it. Like, is that actually cool? Like, what you just said. If you think about that, is that cool?

Maybe that's actually. I was talking about me as a kid. I thought I was a kid. I thought it was cool. If you're 11 years old, it is cool for every single character to turn out to be Bobafeck, kind of. That is kind of cool. Well, that's what George Lucas thought when Lucas film was working on, LucasArts was working on Star Wars 1313.

and at E3, like just before E3, 2012, George Lucas comes in and it's like, hey, everybody, the character is Boeufet now, and they're like, what? Every single Stormtrooper is Boba Fett. All of them. They're all kind of that guy. Everyone loves BobaFet, that armor. I'm telling you. So Dave Filoni also worked on Avatar the Last Airbender as a happens.

He was a director on multiple episodes of the first season of that show, which, so this guy has, like, got real cred. And I am really impressed by him. He was someone who I wasn't aware of until I watched this show, and then I started looking up the directors of various episodes, because I know Favreau, of course, he's like become, he's like the AAA whisperer of non-video game properties. You know what I mean?

Like Marvel and now Star Wars, he's very good at making this kind of stuff. He's come a long way since Swingers. That's pretty good. I mean, Swingers was great, too. He's kind of always just been pretty good. He's on one of the worst episodes of The Sopranos called D-Girl, where he's shooting a movie. And Christopher comes and meets him

and threatens him, and it's a whole thing. Like, he plays a director on the show. He plays John Frette. He plays himself. He plays himself. Oh, oh, I see. That's fun. And so Christopher meets with him, and, like, he's talking about doing a mom movie,

and then he steals Christopher's idea. And Christopher, like, brings a gun to a meeting with him. It's a whole weird, weird thing. That's kind of when that show is, well, anyways. We'll talk about the soprano some other time. So, Filoni rules. Future Beanscast. Sure.

And also, so, season one, also, Rick Famoyua, who was the writer and director of that movie dope. Have either of you seen this movie? No. He rules. And so there's kind of all of these people, Bryce Dallas Howard, of course, people know from like the Jurassic World movies, but also as a director. And then Tycho Waititi, who directed Thor Ragnarok and what we do in the shadows and many other things. It's really cool that there are all of these, like every episode basically, season two has Robert Rodriguez directing that one episode. Peyton Reed, who made the Ant Man, two Ant Man movies. They've got a bunch of really great

talent on this. And that's something that this, I guess, underlines the way that Disney can bring that kind of talent to bear on a show like this. This just doesn't quite feel like any other TV show to me. Because both the budget, the technology that they're using, I don't know if you've ever watched, if either of you watch these InVIDIA videos that are like about the technology that they use, they have this like rear projection screen technology where they're rendering in real time the backdrops with like sets that they've built that are not exactly on green screens. They're like on screens that are actually showing the background of whatever planet they're on that then moves and changes focus with the cameras and lines up.

It's this wild technology. And when you watch the videos of it, it's like, oh. So that's how they're able to make this show kind of so quickly and probably for cheaper than it would be, though it's still really expensive. Anyways, all the talent, all the technology, all the productions of it, the way that it has this like, considered artistic viewpoint and someone like John Favre running the show who's like at the helm of some of the most successful things anywhere in the world. Like it just, it's, the whole thing is operating on this huge level that I guess it kind of feels like to get a show like this, you have to pay the price of it eventually becoming a

Star Wars movie maybe because you're just never going to get a show like this in any other universe. Well, I think that, I think that like, I guess this is kind of cynical. But I think a lot of the reasons they stuff so much in the season two is because they were setting up for all the other Disney Plus shows that they're adding to the table. They have like 10 new Star Wars shows. That's their whole thing. I mean, that's what every Marvel movie is.

Like, they've been doing this for a long time and it's working out. First of all, I'm actually really happy that they're going the route of TV shows rather than more movies because I feel like going, they had their chance to like make a coherent Star Wars movie series and clearly did not work. I mean, there will be more Star Wars movies too. I'm sure, yes. But like, hopefully they'll give them some thought and plan them all out in advance. But the confinements of a TV show may mean that essentially, especially when you're doing like these eight episode runs, 10 episode runs, you have to plan out everything in advance of your one season at the very least.

And that alone will make it way more coherent stories than the Skywalker, the new Skywalker trilogy, right? But also, but I think that like knowing, I mean, after the ending, which we can get into where like Luke Skywalker comes and takes Baby Yoda to Grogu to go off and mentor him, and who knows what's going to happen there. And clearly Mando is going to want to see him again. Mando has this whole plot line where, like, he has this blade that, uh, that what's her face, Bokitan needs to, uh, to rule. This is some clone war stuff, right, Manny, the dark blade and the who rules Manderlore? Oh, yeah, it is.

The dark saber. Point being that there's a lot of plot lines left for them to go down at this point that they could go in any sort of direction. And it feels like some of the stuff like Boba Fett, there's a post credit scene where like Boba Fed is sitting on the throne of the huts and Tattoo-Me. Yeah, because they're going to do a Boba-Fet show as well. That's setting up the Boba series. So Katano, like, episode was setting up her series.

I feel like maybe even like, I don't know if what that renegades, what's called Rebels of the Galaxy season. No, no, there's one other. Yeah, no, the other one. Like Rebel Hunter or something like that. But Bing. Future Kirk here again, the show that Jason is talking about is called Star Wars, Rangers of the New Republic.

And it's one of a whole bunch of Star Wars. shows that are announced. Some of these I didn't even know about. The Bad Batch and Or, Star Wars Visions, a Landau show, the Acolyte, a droid story. There's a lot of Star Wars shows coming. But anyways, the one that Jason is talking about is called Rangers of the New Republic. Okay, back to the show. Bing! It feels like that. It's also like maybe Bill Burr's character is going to do that, but it feels like they've already done kind of, they laid their ground, they've done what they needed to for that stuff. And so those people, aren't going to appear again, and we can just kind of focus on, like, Mando and Grogu, and, like,

it feels like they got that out of the way. Yeah. You know how it's going to work, though, right? It's going to be like, it's going to be like these comic movies where, yeah, they each get their own show, and then occasionally Mandalorian shows up on Boba Fett show, and occasionally Asaqa turns up on the Mandalorian, and then probably at some point they do like... But I think that's cool. I'm not complaining about that.

Yeah, you know, I'm not saying this is bad. I'm just saying it's very clear. It feels very formulaic. And then at some point, they're all going to have to come together. to fight off, you know, Thanos. No way. They're not going to see that.

That would be some nonsense. At some point, they have to come together to fight off Emperor Palpatine, who is back. That will happen at some point, and it'll rule. Like, it'll be amazing. But he's collected a series of stones,

chiber crystals, and he's putting these chiber crystals into some sort of piece of armor. Don't worry about it. Yeah. Like, hyperglove. To circle back to your point, Jason, about TV shows versus movies. I agree with the thrust of what you're saying, but I also think it

really matters who's in charge of the TV show. And I just want to emphasize, like, Dave Filoni's gift with the Clone Wars in my eyes, it's not necessarily like television show pacing. I feel like that show has a lot of pacing problems. But his gift to me is simply that he and I agree about what makes an interesting Star Wars story. And to him, he does not necessarily, or at least the stories he writes indicate that he does not necessarily think the Jedi are very interesting or even very ethical and the idea of like no attachments like that's something that he and Asoka struggles with a lot in terms of her own training and like the context that's missing from this show is that Asoka defects from the Jedi council and decides she doesn't want to be a Jedi anymore.

Like everyone refers to her as a Jedi and the Mandalorian all the time but she actively rejects it because she's like there's a bunch of fucked up stuff that you guys have been teaching me. I was a kid here and I don't want to do it anymore. And after Anakin's downfall, she's basically like, screw this. Like, you guys are bad teachers. I'm going to go solo and just be a cowboy and like wander the world and have lightsabers. But like, I'm not dark side.

I'm not light sabers. Yeah. But like the fact that there could be a character in Star Wars canon who isn't super into that binary of dark and light. And there's a lot of characters in Clone Wars who are that way where like they are outside of that binary. And that to me is so interesting. And like that's the stuff that the last Jedi got into, like the idea of like,

is it okay to have feelings sometimes and be a Jedi? Like, what is true morality in this world? And like, is it as flat as it seems? And like those are very Dave Faloni vibes in terms of an energy you can go in. You know another character that has to deal with the fact that their role tells them to let go of all earthly connections. And then they decide not to. And forge a new path is Ang from Avatar The Last Airpenter. It's true.

It's true. I mean, there's a lot of similarities. They're going to say Grogu because that's going to be Grogu's all thing. Yeah. But that's what's so exciting about season two. So you saying all that, like, isn't that what's cool? I like that stuff. That's the stuff that I think is cool.

But then what is contradicted by that is the Luke Skywalkerness of it all. Like the ending where... But I just think of that. I don't think he's going to be in the rest of the show. First of all, because it's probably so impractical to have all that CGI shit for an entire show. And have Mark Hamill come in all the time. You know he loved it, though. Yeah, right.

He's not doing anything. But that felt so earned to me because it makes sense. Like Grogu is calling out. It makes sense that from the beginning, it makes sense. We knew from the beginning he was this creature that had the force, like is clearly related to Yoda and Yoda's family in some way, which, by the way, total tangent, but it reminds me of there's actually a Yoda creature in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, the old game.

And so like you get to see the earliest, earliest iterations of that species, which is hilarious. But yeah, clearly it's been setting up as like this kid has the force. like if he has the force someone needs to train him in some way or another whether it's his family or another jedi clearly they went with the jedi route but like who else is going to be around to come and answer that call like there aren't a lot of jedi left it all made sense to me and it also feels like a really good like coming full circle with like him wind up winding up being the master for this creature that looks exactly like his previous master i think it all is very earned and cool i also think it's not going to be a huge part of the future of this show like i don't see

Luke Skywalker coming in and playing a major role in the cast next season. I could see something where it's like Grogu escapes or Grogu is kidnapped or like some way of breaking them apart. Or like decides he doesn't want to be a Jedi. Yeah, that's the most likely. I think that that is true. I don't think Luke Skywalker is going to be

a main character. I think that the thing, the specific thing, it's that it was Luke Skywalker himself. It's the fact that there's this gravitational pull that the Skywalker's have over Star Wars and it's the feeling of like, never being able to get away from it, because the big, like, full-circle thing at the end of

season one was partly just that all of the people that the Mandalorian met over the course of the season came together for this final showdown. But really, it was that he repaired this droid from the very first episode that he killed. And then the droid, who you came to love, voiced by Taika Waititi, became this, like, wonderful sort of battle mom figure, like holding the baby and killing stormtroopers and then sacrificed itself to save them all. That was this, like, great full circle for an arc that they set up at the very beginning of the season that was self-contained to the Mandalorian. And I thought that was great.

Like, that episode was so much fun. And I loved the way that they paid that off. And it was like, oh, this is so cool. And it's its own little self-contained thing. And there is a big difference between that and having the payoff be. And now here comes Luke Skywalker. The same guy from that same bloodline that's been like coursing through the series to just show up. And he's going to be the big thing at the end of the episode.

But from the beginning, this always had to happen because you have. a baby friggin' Yoda who was like super high in the force power. No, but it didn't have to happen. What if the Jedi didn't come and then, you know, the Mandalorian just had to figure it out? Like, that would have been a cool twist. Then this kid might get all fucked up. Like, I, I think that like as a storyteller, you have to explore this, like, this will be fundamental to the tension between, like, that drives the show, the Grogu and Mando relationship next season is like, like, now he has this option of like going where he's supposed to be and like,

Is he going to answer the call? Is he going to break away? Like, there's going to be a lot of interesting stuff there. I'm not saying it doesn't work narratively. It's just the feeling of like, oh, it's Luke Skywalker. Here we go. Yeah, I get, no, I totally get you. I just feel like it's earned and it's not like he just popped in because we wanted to see Luke Skywalker. I mean, it kind of felt like they thought people wanted to see Luke Skywalker.

The Boba stuff feels a lot more contrived to me than the Luke stuff. The Luke stuff feels very earned and the Boba stuff doesn't. It's funny. It doesn't to me because Boba Fed is also such a key figure in the Clone Wars cartoon. So I feel like he's a little baby on those cartoons timeline-wise, but like little baby Boba Fett is on that show. So I feel like I know that guy and I like understand his journey in a more concrete way. And like the idea of him showing up again makes sense to me.

But Luke, I'm like, that guy's from the movies. What's he doing here? This is a TV show. Only TV show cameos in my TV show, please. That is the only thing that is allowed. It's a little of the feeling like when they go to Tatooine in season one, which was the one season one episode that I didn't care for, that Han Solo wannabe guy who winds up betraying him.

and they're like in the whatever the bar and tattooing and I was like this is too like I was like yeah like I don't I don't need this so it is and it's partly my thing just like I know it's a personal thing of just feeling kind of burnt out on it that anytime they're like but we're gonna go don't worry like Star Wars fans it's still a Star Wars show I'm like I'm like I'm like I'm like I'm like you don't have to do that but that set up Fenikshand who is pretty awesome oh yeah oh mingnawen speaking of man everyone on this show rules Mingna Wen rules the W do I think you watch Angels of Shield holy crap no but I know she's on there. She rocks ass on that show. Like, she is really awesome. Um, so there's one point I wanted to bring up, which I also found really compelling that we haven't talked about yet, which is that in season one, we learn all this stuff about the Mandalorian faith and their tribe and how this is the way and they can't take off their helmets and they like bring all their best vest bar to the, to the forge and make things and all this cool stuff, all this lore that we, we never knew before.

And it led to a lot of questions for Star Wars fans, like, why did Boba Fet take off his helmet or Django Fet take off his helmet, like, when they clearly can't take off their helmets. And then in season two, you find out from Boca Tan and some of the other Mandalrians that actually our main character, Din Jan, is part of a cult that's like a very different offshoot of the Mandalarians and like is super intense, a bunch of zealots. And like he gradually like starts to care less about that, partially because he heard that, but mostly because of Grogu, because he's trying to save Grogu. But I find that super compelling. And I hope that is like really explored in future seasons, the tension between that cult of like

Mandalorian zealots and their beliefs and their systems versus the the main population of Mandalayas. Yeah, I mean, my, my guess is that season three is going to be very mandolore focused, if only because Boca Tan clearly is vying for the throne and doesn't have the Dark Sabre because now, you know, the Mandalorian is the rightful owner of the Dark Saber, which doesn't make, unwittingly. Such a video game, such a video game plot. There's such a conflict coming between them though, but I like the idea of her becoming an antagonist. That's a more complicated, not a villain

exactly, but like someone who is coming for him. Well, she already kind of was an antagonist even in season two. Like, she's very tricky with the Mandalorian about like taking over that Imperial freighter and like not giving him all the information. And like eventually she tells him how to find Isoka. But like, she's very withholding

and also makes fun of him a little bit. Like I thought that she was going going to be a villain earlier. Like I just read Katie's Sackoff as being a villain. And also it was funny because I have watched all the Clown Wars cartoons, but I also completely forgot about Boketan because I watched those cartoons in 2015 and I, like, only vaguely remember all the Osoka and Anakin stuff. But there's like a trillion other characters on that show. And I'm like, wow, I didn't know that Katie Sackoff was voicing the character

Bo Ketan on that show. And then they cast her as the live action version of her character on this show, which, by the way, the fact that they can even do that is so freaking cool. Katie Sackoff is Katie Sackoff. You know she can handle an action heroine role and be fine. And I guess the ages like happened to line up for her because she's younger in the Clone Wars cartoons and so on and so forth. But yeah, that was just, it made me want to rewatch the stupid Clone Wars. And I'm like, why? I guess I'm a Star Wars fan again now.

So the show has done his job. I said I had issues with season two, but I completed watching it. It is whatever feelings I may feel about Luke Skywalker and being burned out on Star Wars, first thing I wanted to do was watch a bunch of Star Wars stuff. So they got me again. I'm going to watch all these stupid television shows. Wait, I have a question. Yeah. Why is it? So, so, Mando got the Dark Blade by defeating a young Garland. Yeah, Mof Gideon. But she, but he didn't have to kill him. Like he just fought him and then got it. Yes. So why can't he just like lose in a like single like one-on-one comment? Well, because she has to genuinely defeat him.

Yeah, but she doesn't have to kill him. Yeah, but she doesn't have to kill him. Well, but could she actually defeat him? Because she even defeat him at all. We haven't seen them go toe to toe to. And he can't throw the fight. He can't throw the fight. He has to actually genuinely be fighting.

I mean, I think they're going to fight in season three. That's in that. Absolutely. But also, like. Of course, there's a sword and you can only have it if you win a fight. There's a freaking cool sword. And the sword is like. The question will be, what if Manda, like, turns out he actually wants the throne.

That'll be interesting. Or what if, what if he has to, he has to win the throne to save Grogo in some way? Or she proves to not maybe be a great ruler, could also. Yeah. Yeah. Kirk, what were you going to say before? Oh, that, I mean, that I think that for all of my, my complaints about the tie-ins with Star Wars stuff that are overly familiar are pretty minor compared to how successful I think this show is at exploring the unexplored parts of the Star Wars universe. And that's always been what's so enticing.

That's what was so cool about those LucasArts games back in the day. That's what was so cool about Knights of the Old Republic is that you got to go to Kashik and hang out. with wookies and see what wookies were doing. And it was sort of this thing that if an imaginative person explores it, you know, you meet Chubaka and you're like, okay, well, there are these wookies. And they clearly have like an honor code because he has a life debt to Han Solo, but we don't know that much about him, other than that he's awesome. So like, what's the deal with rookies? And then in that game, you kind of got to see it. And at various other points, they've gone also in Jedi Fall Order. Well, in Jedi Fall Order, one of the nice Cotaur vibes of that game is

that they go there. Though it's nowhere near as, you know, it's not an RPG. It's not an RPG. so you're not going around talking to wippies the way that you are in Kotaur. But there's a little bit of cool stuff in there. And I mean, I remember talking on that episode where you talked about that game about the Clone Wars crossovers where the Knight Sisters are on that show. And like part of why I thought the Knights Sisters were so cool was because it was yet another example of non-Jedai force users, which again, this is Dave Faloni's fascination clearly is like, what about people who can use the force but they're not Sith or Jedi?

What's up with those people? It's a really big galaxy. And like exploring all those other tendrils of Star Wars that are not. not explored in the mainline films that are very Skywalker-centric, very Jedi-centric, and just being like, what are other people doing in the galaxy? That stuff is always more interesting to me because it's such a big world, as long as the right people are writing it who focus on the things that I personally like. So, you know, Dave Filoni, basically. It moves away from the fundamental, the least interesting thing about all of Star Wars is the

light side and the dark side. And yet, Star Wars is obsessed with the light side and the dark side. And it's so simplistic and challenged, and that's fine for like the first movie and for what it was supposed to be. But when you then build an entire massive like not just multimedia empire, but like narrative just universe off of the premise set up in the 1977 movie, suddenly the whole thing is built around this extremely binary and simplistic view of good and evil. And it's always going to be more interesting when you can take a character and be like, okay, but like this person doesn't adhere to that at all. They're just sort of in the middle, like most of us, like most interesting characters in the history of anything. Yeah, well, that's why it's interesting. That's why it's so great when the show does things, like make the rebel, what are they called? The New Republic soldiers dicks.

Yeah, like their guards are dicks. That's funny. One of those Dave Filoni, by the way, playing one of those X-Wing pilots. Oh, nice. And or there are people from the empire who are actually pretty sympathetic characters like Bill Burr's character or like. Or like Warner Bros. Is he sympathetic? Would we call?

He's a word of herdsug. You can't be sympathetic. I was going to say, I was going to say Kara Dune, who will no longer be on the show. The actress is not sympathetic. Kara Dune, it turns out, went back to her home planet and we'll never be seen. She went to the farm. Fun fact, Gina Carrano, I just discovered blocked me on Twitter because I did a tweet that went viral that was making fun of her acting. That was like, it was basically like, I see why she was fired for her tweets, but why wasn't she fired for her acting before that?

And she found that tweet and she bought to you. Yeah, she's stumbled upon it. That's cool. She knows who you are. Congratulations, Jason. Thank you. Thank you. We don't have to get into all that.

I mean, it is kind of disappointing, though. Like, you do have this actress who, like, has a body type that's often not shown in media. And, like, a character type in class that's often not shown in media. Like, there were a lot of things about her character in season one that people were very excited about. She knows out of fight. I liked Haywire. She can kick ass. I would agree with you, Jason.

and I think she has very wooden delivery. She clearly is more of an action star. It takes you out of the show when she talks, actually. I wasn't a fan of her line delivery. But I was also like, oh, it's pretty cool to see like a very physically built woman in a lead role in Star Wars thing. However, the actress's politics are abhorrent to me, and I agree with her firing. So, you know, you wouldn't suck or lose some.

But we don't have to get into all that. I was going to say, speaking of not being evil or good characters, But I was going to say, Kirk, to your point before, about Mof Gideon being a mustache twirling villain, I think, and I hope that he's going to prove to be deeper than that, sort of like how Bill Burr's character was revealed to how players, especially because we keep seeing him talk about how he already got Grogh's blood. We don't know what he's doing with that. I'm sure there's some big evil plan.

But I feel like, I hope that we get more of Mof Gideon that reveals him to be in more interesting character. And structurally, anytime you're setting up a secondary antagonist, like, they're doing with Boca Tan, your primary antagonist from before suddenly becomes, you know, the Bowser or whatever, you know, like becomes like a more, he's like a villain, but he's the villain that you kind of know and he's a little more familiar in. Maybe your, maybe their goals will align for a moment and they'll work together because, yeah, I would imagine that he'll become more flesh down. Yeah, which almost happens at the end there. The other storyline that I am, I was interested

for both seasons and am more interested in the third season is the attachment theory around Jedi powers and like the idea that it's somehow bad for Grogu to be too attached to the Mandalorian, which again, this is a Dave Faloni fascination and it's a fascination of mine. Just the idea that that's inherently bad for you to have any type of feeling for someone else. Jedi are so weird. Right, but it's so, it's very cool to see a story that is directly poking that weirdness of the original Star Wars movies and just being like, isn't that odd? Like is this sort of father's son relationship that the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda have? Is that inherently evil?

Is that what's going to turn him to the darkness? And that I just love that the show is about that, first of all. And that, I mean, I wish they had done a little more with Asoka because I know that as a character, that's something that she really struggled with. And I sort of expected that to get into that for her because I was like kind of surprised to hear from her that she was like, I can't teach him because he's too attached to you. because I'm like, come on, Asoka, you were like the person who thought that that was a problem in terms of the Jedi teachings. But, you know, maybe the years have changed her and she's had her own feelings after Anagan and Darth Vader and all that.

I read that as her, I read that as like literal her saying she's too, she's not powerful enough to be able to sever the attachment the way someone like Luke Wayne. That's, yeah, that's another possible interpretation of it. I thought of it as more the idea of no attachments according to the old guard, Obi-Wan. way. Of course, Obi-Wan is also informed by Anacin's downfall in his teaching of Luke. So, yeah. This is interesting because I don't remember her language, so I could be totally wrong here, but I actually read it as her being like, it wouldn't be right for me to take him away from you because he's so attached to you, which would then line up with your, would be consistent, right, with your read on her character. But she, but then she immediately gives him instructions on how to

contact the Jedi. Right, to the temple, yeah. Yeah. But does she know whether the Mandalorian's going to go with Grogu and Luke? I mean, Because it's Luke, and Luke's been taught this very firm, like, no attachments form of Jedi training, you know Luke is going to take away Grogu and be like, no feelings. You need to have, like, perfect mindfulness in order to use the force. And like, no love, no hate. That all leads to the dark side. Like, that's Luke's style.

And of course, you know, we know from the later movies that it's also something he feels bad about later on. Right. It's something he winds up regretting. Well, that's the thing is, like, the things we know from the later movies will contextualize this stuff. in an interesting way. Like, we know that Ben Solo shows up and kills everybody and was Grogu one of them? I mean, something's going to happen to Grogu?

Like, who knows? Yeah, is Groguer there? Does Ben Solo kill? Is Groguer Ben Solo? Is Ben Solo? Could be in theory. That's the perfect theory. Does do the Yodas have a pattern of development where they become Adam Driver for a second?

And then they become Yoda later. Do you think that there's got to be like some big conspiracy posts somewhere like connecting all the dots. Like Grogo is Ben Solo. Or like the Sith Jar Jar Theory's or whatever. Charlie with the red strings. I just want to, I want to go to slight tangent here, which is that watching Baby Yoda,

baby Yoda is so perfect in every way and watching him. The way he's handled is so well. Watching him as a father of a baby is so interesting because like I'm sitting there. I watch the show after dinner. Kid is asleep. I'm sitting there with the baby monitor and like sometimes I would be watching

and I would be able to look at the baby monitor to see if it was her making a noise on this like that baby Yoda would start floating away from you baby Yoda is handled so perfectly everything from him like eating things he shouldn't be eating to like the noises and the curiosity and committing genocide against a bunch of frogs it all it all lines up perfectly can I say that I know that the frog thing was controversial but I thought that episode was hilarious and it was really funny it was cute but yeah everything about him is like like as a kid, like it's, it's captured very perfectly. Like, they clearly were parents, had parents in the room, like, very clearly, like, knew

what they were doing. I feel like he was made in a lab to go viral. Like, I really feel like Baby Yoda was created for the age of social media. Like, the scene where he's drinking tea in the first season, I'm like, freaking, of course, they gave you a tea reaction gift. Like, I see all of the machinations and yet they still work on me anyway. So does it matter? But yeah, you do see the strings.

It's such a fine needle to thread to make that work even when you know that it's like being comprised for viral, for virality, for sheer virality. And I think like it's real credit to the show that they were able to pull that off and make it feel organic even while they're doing that. When the show debuted, they didn't have any Baby Yoda, any The Child merchandise and you couldn't get a plushy. Yes. They wanted to preserve the secret. Because it was a big, it was a big twist at the end of the episode. Right. And so then, but then for like a significant amount, it wasn't like they revealed it. And then they were like, and now on the store, $2,99, get yourself the child doll. You couldn't get one for a long time.

So then on Etsy, there were all these like sort of off-brand unlicensed baby Yodas that you could buy. And then they would, you know, they would get like taken down with like copyright claims eventually. And then they finally, now I'm sure there's tons of merch, but it was funny that there was this whole period of time where like the market just rose to meet the demand because Disney just didn't put out a toy of like the most adorable Star Wars character. maybe ever that everyone wants to plush you up. I mean, that's kind of nice, though, since they're usually merchandise to the hills. A lot of Etsy people probably did quite well because of that is true. George Lucas created the prequels because of merchandise.

Right, it's funny. It's funny. Like I mentioned before, I have the Legos. So, hey, I was part of the problem. Yeah. Did you also see that Werner Herzluck did that interview about how he had argued that they should keep the puppet? Because originally they were going to have a CGI baby Yoda.

And he, like, called them cowards. And he was like, you have to use the puppet. it's like the only way. I mean, thank goodness he stood up for it because I think part of why the show works as well as it does is because people are literally carrying baby Yoda around and he feels very real because he is real. Like it would suck if he was CGI. Yeah. There is a moment where Mando is holding him. I noticed this the other day and Mando is holding him and like Mando's hand moves way too easily. Like it feels like there's no weight in his hand at all. And it's just it threw me off a little bit. It felt like he was holding air or something or like a super like that. Yeah, because he needs to be like

the weight of a baby. Listen, he's very strong. Speaking of puppets, I really liked Coel, I think was his name, who Nick Noghie voiced in season one. Another incredible character. I have spoken. I have spoken is wonderful and just that he was this puppet and he looked like a fucking puppet. Like his lips didn't match up with what he was saying exactly. He didn't have that weird prequel like just CGI lips flapping exactly along with the things. He was just this, but it was wonderful. And like, Nick Nolte was wonderful. His performance was so great. And that was also a really meaningful death.

It really sucked. It was just sort of this out-of-nowhere character that didn't need to be on the show, but you still liked. It just sort of gets killed. And I like that about it, too. I thought just everything about his character was good from the beginning until the end. Yeah, I didn't expect him to reprogram that robot. Didn't expect any of it. It was great.

It was a great season. Season one, greatest season. I'm glad we can all agree on that. Season two is dog shit. The official triple-click stance. Fuck Luke Skywalker. Ruin the show. Show is ruined.

You know what else was really cool? Now we're just listing cool things. It was really cool when Mof-Kedian was like, release the Dark Troopers. I was like, that's sick. That was when I was like, all right, this is very, very Star Wars. I'm locked in on this. I'm locked in on whatever this is. I'm locked in on Mof-Gideon saying the phrase, release the Dark Troopers.

That was cool. I was a little let down by the actual Dark Troopers. Were you? A little bit. were just kind of dopey. But it was cool that they were just weird robots. I really liked when Mandalorian fought that one and it was just this unbelievably hard thing to kill. See, I thought that was so cool.

Yeah, that was very cool. And the friggin Besscar spear, I mean, that's the part of season two where I am more close to the side of Jason, where I'm just like, once I clicked into just being like, oh, I'm just watching a Star Wars movie, I can just be like, okay, it's pretty sick though. The scene where Asoka is fighting that horrible magistrate lady. And they're just going off. And, like, meanwhile, Mandalorian is also having this fight. Like, that was killer. That episode ruled. Even though it was, like, this turning point to more Star Wars stuff.

It was a great episode. And the show is always, like, it's always entertaining. I said this Emily multiple times. I was like, I like that every time we put on this show, 45 minutes later, we're like, well, that was great. Like, it's kind of just like, well, that was a hell of a fun way to spend. It's another great episode of television. Incredibly fun to watch. Yeah, it's super fun to watch show.

And, man, yeah, credit to the folks behind. it, talented folks behind it. Shout out to Ian Milham, who was on the show a couple of years back, back when he was a game developer, who wound up working on this show and, like, is a visual supervisor at ILM on the show. There is, and there is one person that I didn't mention this whole episode, but I have to shout out, and that's Ludwig Juranson, the composer for this show, who wrote the sickest theme.

Fantastic music, yeah. Such good music. And also, it uses the bass recorder in a better way than most other things. there are a couple other uses of the bass recorder, but that is a bass recorder that whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What is a bass, is that like a recorder that's only bassist? That is a recorder. Is that what that is?

Because I love that theme. They played a billion times. I never get tired of it. It's so cool. Yes. That theme, every time it comes in, there's some great, there's like a recorder fugue that plays at one point in season two where it's a bunch of recorders like written into fugue. Yeah, that's nice that you know because as I was watching it, I was like,

What is this weird sound, this flute-like sound that they use on this theme song? It's strange. It's a bass record. I don't have one because I just haven't found the right place to get one, but I really want one. Because it's just, recorder can be a little high, but, like, bass recorder has just got that nice thickness to it. And it sounds very much like a kind of whatever, bass flute or something. But that sound, and then they've put it through some filters, and he's, like, overdubbing a bunch of it. And then it just mixes with, you know, these killer beats that he's so good at.

This is Ludwig Jaronsen, who also scored Black Panther. many other things he's a great film composer and it's again a sign of like how they were able to bring in like the top talent the coolest people to work on the show and he like all he does all the music for the show he didn't just like write the theme and then farm it out to someone else like he does all the music and it shows it's like so musically cool every other side is great it's so great it's so great okay so I guess we can close in on the end of this do you do you all want to say final thoughts final predictions for what for what you think might happen in season three. Jason, do you want to call it? Yeah, I mean, I spoke about some of them before. I think we'll see Grogu again pretty quickly. Like, I don't think the show is just going to be like,

okay, now he's gone for a season because I think so much of the heart of the show, like I mentioned before, is about that relationship between the two of them. And it would be a real shame to just give up on that and go, like, chase something else for five episodes. I think you need to like bring that back right away. I think there will be some reason why we have to go over Luke, go back to Luke and go chase after him. Maybe Grogu's in trouble. Maybe Grogu, like you guys said, decides that he doesn't want to be part of the Jedi order and get Jedi training. Maybe there are other options. I don't know.

But I'm very excited to see where it goes. And, yeah, I mean, watching the show has also made me really excited for, like, the Bubba show and the Asoka show in a way that I didn't think I would be before. because like you guys, I was pretty burned out on Star Wars after Rise of the Skywalker. So, yeah, I'm pretty stoked about this whole thing and very, very much enjoyed Mandalorian. Was considering watching Clone Wars, but I don't know if I really have the stomach to get through it all. It's a real journey. I don't even know if I would recommend it or not. It's so many episodes and, like, I don't know.

You look up some skip lists. I have other things to watch. I want to go watch The Expans next. So that's my next big sci-fi show. It's a good show. It was great. What about you, Kirk? Yeah, I agree that I think that Baby Yoda will be back very shortly and that, you know, Luke isn't going to be a main character or anything.

And I think it'll just keep going in these cool directions, which is nice just knowing that there's going to be this Asuka show. There's also going to be the Boba Fett show and that they can form their own little sub, you know, Star Wars universe on Disney Plus as the TV shows and then crossover with one another and build toward. I do think at some point there's going to be maybe just on the finale of one of those shows where all those characters. characters come together again for something, and it's going to be really cool. Like, it'll just be this great, you know, whenever in five years thing that I bet is on a whiteboard somewhere at Disney HQ. Oh, God. Or at Lucas HQ.

There's, yeah, there's got to be. One MCU is enough. I don't need that. This is going to be like Favre will be the, the, the figy of, you know, of this. That's my guess. Well, no. Kathleen Kennedy is the figgy of this. Well, that's true.

Well, true. But I think that the next season is going to cover Mandelaar. I think we're going to go back to Mandelaar. or we're going to learn more about it. Yeah. And I think that's cool because I was also enticed by learning that there are these different sects of their beliefs and that there's going to be this sort of political struggle between various factions for control. That all sounds neat to me.

I'm totally on board. Yeah, that sounds super cool. And then it was interesting. The empire turned it into glass, someone said at some point. Yeah. So I don't know. I assume that doesn't mean literally, but we'll see. It could.

It could. I mean, if it's a sand planet, there could be some glass there from explosions. There could, it could be a very weird looking planet, which could be very neat to see. Pretty cool. Use that in video tech. This is not a prediction so much as my hope that season three gets back to a little of the weird slowness of season one. I know that'll be sad for you, Jason, but I would like it if this show stayed in the weirder territory of Star Wars and developed more the outskirts and the characters that we don't see as often. I'm fine with your Boba Fats and your Luke's, but like I also enjoy just meeting completely new characters or like new kinds of droids or things we've never seen before. and then letting somebody play around in that space

and come up with something on the outskirts of Star Wars. So I'm hopeful that season three does that. I'm fine with that as long as there's still an overarching like storyline and mystery. Like as long as Luke Skywalker shows up at the end, I'm fine. Because we just need Luke. Will Leah show up at the end? That would be terrible. Don't do it.

That would really steal the deal. Don't do it. Did you guys think of this? I'm sure this has been brought up a million times. But it reminded me of like the opposite of Rogue One at the end of Rogue One when Darth Vader comes out and like massacres a bunch of people. This is the exact opposite of that. Lay is at the end of that one too, though.

No, but not, forgetting about that part. I'm just talking about the Darth Vader part where he, right, you just see him like going on a rampage, getting to see Luke doing that scene. You know my take on that scene, though, right? I have a whole take on that, which is that basically. Yeah, that the first part ruined it. I know. Yeah, it would be like that if Luke Skywalker had turned up halfway through the season.

Right. Just randomly. Yeah. Of Mandalorian season two. But this was them recognizing that mistake and remedying. Possibly. Possibly. I don't know. Depends.

Anyway, I'm excited for season three. It was fun to spill the beans. It was. It was. Yeah, fun beans. Yes. Thank you again to everybody who listens to the show and supports the show. Yeah.

And therefore gets our bonus episodes. Thanks so much. Yeah. See you all next time. All right. Bye. Bye. Triple Click is produced by Jason Schreier, Maddie Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton.

I edit and mix the show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom DJ. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes. Triple Click is a proud member of the Maximum Fun Podcast Network, and if you're listening to this bonus episode, it means you're already a member. So thank you. We really appreciate your support.

Find us on Twitter at Triple ClickPod, send email the triple click at maximum fun.org and find a link to our Discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time. Maximumfund.org. Comedy and culture. Artist-owned. Audience-supported.