The Mandalorian: Guns For Hire

Summary

Din, played by Pedro Pascal, and Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff, head to a remote world to try and win over a Mandalorian fleet.

I thought the episode earlier in the season that ignored Din, Bo and Grogu was the worst episode of the show, but then this episode just came out of nowhere and blew that out of the water in terms of potential terribleness.

Where to begin.

I suppose the thing I hate, yes that’s right hate, about this episode was how goofy it was. Not only did it feel like a filler side quest, but it didn’t even feel like it fit into the tone of the show it was way too goofy and silly. It felt like fan fiction that Din and Bo had been placed into rather than an episode proper. I will admit some of the questions this episode raises around droid rights is slightly interesting but that by no means makes up for the rest of it.

Continuing on, I like Jack Black and have done since I was young, but he was entirely miscast here, as was Lizzo who only feels included because the older folks at Lucasfilm think the kids like her. There scenes were such terrible cringe that I couldn’t bare to watch them and skipped through them on my first viewing, only coming back for the purpose of review.

In addition though I like Bo-Katan a lot as a character and like that she is going to be the new leader of the Mandalorians, it is beginning to feel like Din is barely a part of his own show anymore as he barely gets a look in. I understand all of the Mandalore stuff is very important to the direction of Star Wars but I would like to see Din and Grogu go back off on their own for a while and leave the rest of it behind.

A final point I will note is that considering there is only a couple of episodes left before the finale this season doesn’t feel like its been building to anything, there is no ramping up of tension, I am not expecting much going forward from the show. I think Ezra and Thrawn will probably show up at the end of the season as the rumours say, but if the other rumours are true that they are going to kill off Din, then I think the show should end.

Overall, the worst episode of the show thus far.

1/5

Pros.

It is nice to see Bo-Katan getting another chance to rule

Cons.

It doesn’t fit tonally

It is stupid and goofy

Black and Lizzo don’t fit

Din is becoming a shadow in his own show

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The Mandalorian: The Pirate

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorians are called upon to serve.

I think for the most part this is a great episode of The Mandalorian and showcases the show at the top of its game. Having a fairly large urban warfare sequence wherein we got to see the Mandalorians fighting pirates in the streets was quite cool. I would have liked to see a bit more variety in the armour worn by the Mandalorians, in terms of colour and different elements but clearly the costume department had a budget.

I also thought the final tease that Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, has escaped was nice. I have a feeling that he won’t be the big villain of the season as everything is quite clearly building to the return of Thrawn. Maybe Gideon will have been captured by acolytes of Thrawn or maybe Gideon will have been working for him all along. Either way knowing that Esposito will be coming back to the show in the future gives us something to be excited about.

My one issue with this episode was the stuff with Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff. I don’t understand how she can be the one to reunite all of the Mandalorians despite her not having the dark sabre or even wanting to rule, it seems totally alien to her character to want to go back to a leadership position after how badly things have gone in the past, but maybe the show will address that.

Overall, a good episode but the stuff with Bo-Katan at the end dragged it down for me as it didn’t seem to fit her character.

4/5

Pros.

Seeing the Mandalorians in action

The teases of things to come

Moff Gideon’s escape

Din’s speech

Cons.

Where they take Bo-Katan by the end of the episode and the fact it feels totally out of character for her

Also the New Republic are just awful

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Plan 99

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Bad Batch faces their darkest day.

I thought this episode felt very impactful, but at the same time I can’t help but be a little let down by it.

The good first. It was nice to see Tech get one final hero moment, it was so clear the season was building to his death, but I didn’t see that until after it had happened. The death was quite emotional and had me welling up a bit whilst watching it, for what it is worth I don’t think he is dead and think he will be back next season. Look at Echo and Maul.

I also thought it was nice to see the Batch finally get their will to fight back at the end of the episode, even if it did take them being betrayed and having Omega kidnapped in order to do it. I think the next season really does need to have the Batch be fighting back against the Empire and less focused on this idea of retiring, they need to accept that Echo was right.

Now the bad. I didn’t like the fact that other than a quick look in at the end of the episode Crosshair barely appeared in this two part season finale. In my head I thought he would escape with the Batch or at least die saving them but no he just stayed strapped to a table the whole time. I found the whole thing very disappointing.

Overall, a good season finale that sets up a lot of interesting things to come, but I found the lack of Crosshair disappointing.

4/5

Pros.

What it sets up

The emotional impact of Tech’s death

The Batch finally getting their groove back

Sid’s betrayal

Cons.

A distinct lack of Crosshair

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Summit

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Bad Batch attempt to rescue Crosshair and the other imprisoned clones.

In many senses this episode was anti-climactic.

My main issue with this episode is how it can’t stand on its own and exists almost only to prop up the final episode. Adding to that is the fact that a lot of the things that happen in this episode feel forced, it feels like plot contrivance after plot contrivance all to get the Batch to a specific point despite the fact that they aren’t behaving like they normally would do at any point along the way.

I quite like Saw Guerra as a character and think there is a lot to explore there with his ideology, as such I was happy to see him show up in this episode. However, his whole attitude towards the Batch and how he just happened to be there at the exact same time felt incredibly poorly set up and again to repeat the word of the day contrived.

Overall, a weaker episode made to set up what comes next without having enough to stand on its own.

3/5

Pros.

Returning faces

Hemlock and Tarkin

The things to come

Cons.

It feels contrived

The characters aren’t behaving like themselves

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Servant: Series Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Turners, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell, have their lives turned upside down when a nanny, played by Nell Tiger Free, turns up on their doorstep and performs the impossible.

This will be a review of the entire 4 season run of the show as it is intended as a series overview.

There was a time when I couldn’t stop watching this show and watched the first few seasons back to back over a number of days, the supernatural mystery and not being able to guess what would happen next kept me on my toes and kept this show as being a must watch. The chemistry between the cast was really quite hard to look away from and I don’t think there was a single bad performance in the show’s whole run, additionally it may be this series that saved the career of Rupert Grint, Ron from Harry Potter.

However, then came the final series and the cracks began to show in a massive way. An argument could be made that if the show had stopped after season 3 it would have been much better, as the final series didn’t seem to know how it wanted to end things and this then resulted in a deeply disappointing finale that felt frankly like a cop out, with character behaving in ways that made no sense to how they had been previously.

The central question of the show was, who is Leanne, played by Free, what is she and ultimately will she win. Over the course of the show these questions had been given slight answers but never anything concreate and the final series tried to address them more but ended up ruining the character. It made no sense for Leanne who was embracing her cult leader status just a few episodes earlier to set herself ablaze in the final episode, it reeked of convenient writing to me.

Overall, the high score I have given this show reflect how good it was in the earlier seasons, if the last season hadn’t ruined the character of Leanne and missteped so badly on the ending then it may even have gotten higher.

3.5/5

Pros.

The chemistry

The mystery

The supernatural tease

The world

Cons.

The answers we got made no sense

The series ruined itself by the end

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Tipping Point

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Crosshair sends a warning to his old friends.

I thought this episode was one of the best so far, and it was so, so nice to have this after last week’s incredibly slow episode. I think this was a powerful episode on a number of levels, as it showed both the evils of the Empire but also how far the character development of Crosshair has come as not only does he defy the Empire but also tries to warn his old teammates.

Moreover, I am also very excited to see the return of Echo and see further insights into the clone rebellion and how they are fighting back against the Empire. I would like to see a spin off focusing on Echo or Rex and the clone fightback, or failing that I would like to see the Batch at the end of the season join the fight back against the Empire.

The one thing I would say about this episode in a negative sense is that it is very heavy and depressing. Which for me worked as I prefer the episodes of this show where they try and take a darker tone and deal with deeper issues, but could also be quite off putting to some, The torture scenes involving Crosshair were quite surprising in how far they went with it.

Overall, another great episode and it is nice to see a return to stakes after last week’s diversion.

4.5/5

Pros.

The darker tone for me

The emotions

Crosshair’s character journey

Seeing the clone rebellion

It is nice to have the Batch back together again

Cons.

It was quite dark and some people might find that off putting

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The Mandalorian: The Convert

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A long pointless aside from the story you are actually interested in.

So when I first turned on the episode and noticed the hefty runtime I was rubbing my hands with glee thinking I was going to get more time this week with Din, Played by Pedro Pascal, Grogu and Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff, but no it was mostly all dedicated to a forgettable secondary villain character from the earlier seasons that you likely won’t even remember.

What makes this so bad in my opinion is that the opening that sees Din and Bo running away from Remnant Imperial troops is then thrown off course for this glorified side story. This then trades in all the tension and energy the story had from this opening and for what? The story itself about how the New Republic treats those Imperials who are still around is not one I had ever really wondered about or wanted to know.

The episode tries hard to get you to care about these mostly new characters but I just didn’t. It felt weird and forced in, if they don’t have the material to cover the full number of episodes promised then they should have promised less. If this had been in Andor then it would have felt more in place, though not be the right time period, but for the Mandalorian it doesn’t fit at all.

Overall, easily the worst episode of the new season so far.

2/5

Pros.

The opening

An Imperial warlord

Cons.

A needless aside

I don’t care about the new characters

It is dull and drags on

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Pabu

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Clone Force 99 finally get some peace.

This was not a good week for Star Wars between the long needless aside on the Mandalorian and then this episode of The Bad Batch, I haven’t been so bored watching Star Wars in a long time. I think what makes this episode so much the worse is the fact that last week’s episode ended on a cliff hanger for Crosshair, which not only wasn’t addressed here but we got an incredibly filler episode about the Batch finding a home and letting Omega be a kid for a while.

I think it is pretty clear that this peace will be short lived, but I have to say there was very little actual peril in the episode at all, yes you had the threat from the sea but that was incredibly low bar. I just think that with the excellent run of episodes up until this one that teased some pretty major things to come this massive step back was not only a misstep but also a move that entirely ruined the momentum the series had been accruing.

The best thing this episode did was have Sid finally go fully villainess, it was a long time coming and I am glad that with her betrayal of the Batch likely quickly incoming that it means she won’t be in the show for much longer as she has long, long outstayed her welcome on the show.

Overall, an incredibly slow episode that ruined a lot of the momentum the show had going for it.

2/5

Pros.

Sid’s turn to villainy

It was watchable

Cons.

It is far too slow

It feels like filler

There is no sense of threat

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The Mandalorian: The Mines Of Mandalore

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, returns to Mandalore.

I would say that this is a slight step back from the first episode, there were two things that I particularly didn’t like about this episode, but don’t get me wrong this was a good episode. The first was how easily Din was K.O in the mines by the monster and how he didn’t even try and get out of the cage, and the second was the incredibly long and drawn out opening scene with Din trying to find a new droid, this should have been cut down.

With the bad stuff out of the way let’s get into what really worked in this episode. The best part of this episode I would say was seeing more of Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff, not only did she have a fantastic action scene, but this episode dived further into her backstory and expanded on her a bit more as a character. I think her and Din have an interesting dynamic and represent two very different ideas of what it means to be a Mandalorian so it would be nice to see that further flushed out in later episodes. For what it is worth I hope the show keeps them together for a while.

A close second to that is the arc that Grogu gets in this episode, not only being as cute as ever, but also demonstrating his further developed force powers and resourcefulness when he is on his own. I also liked his and Bo-Katan’s interactions I thought she gave some great responses to his gibberish.

Finally, I think it can’t be overstated how cool it is to see Din and co back on Mandalore. Exploring the planet in its wrecked state is interesting, and I hope there is more to it then just him needing to have a wash to regain his standing in the community.

Overall, a good episode made all the stronger by Sackoff.

4/5

Pros.

The Mandalorian on Mandalore

Grogu

Bo-Katan and her character growth

Seeing and exploring Mandalore

Cons.

The needlessly drawn out opening

The plot contrivances with Din being captured

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The Last Of Us: When We Are In Need

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, is kidnapped by a group of cannibals, and a recovering Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, must fight to try and save her.

I think this may have been the best episode of the season yet. The emotion in the final ten minutes of the episode is so powerful that you can’t help but be effected. Whether it is the scene of Ellie hacking apart the leader of the cannibals and the look into her soul we get during that scene, or the moment where she meets up with Joel again and he finally accepts her as his daughter. Truly it is incredibly powerful.

I thought the character work within this episode was great, both of the characters go to some really dark places but it is interesting to see them hit that edge and to consider their reactions to the darkness within the show. It is through this that the morality and the complexities of the world are better realised and played with. Once again the performances from both Ramsey and Pascal are fantastic.

Overall, perhaps the best episode yet.

4.5/5

Pros.

Pascal

Ramsey

The emotional journey of the episode

The dark places the characters go to

The ending

Cons.

There are some light pacing issues especially around the first act of the episode that really do slow it down

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