Well, since I had typed my long post in Word to avoid losing it, and I hadn't gotten rid of it before we lost all the stuff . . . I still have it!
So, to quote me from ~4 hours ago . . .
Alright, here we go.
General thoughts:
Pretty consistent tone, sometimes darker, sometimes funnier, but fairly often comes back to fairly serious, but not too dark tone. Humor comes around a fair amount, but usually doesn't rely on specific comic relief characters (Unless you count the baby), which is nice.
Dialouge was usually fairly good. Some good lines in there, a few awkward ones. A few characters' way of speaking stood out, but not as bad the client in season one.
Music is quite good, though there aren't but a few memorable pieces. While I really like the main theme, I don't have a whole lot to say about the soundtrack as a whole. It was never ill-fitting, even the somewhat out of left field techno for the dark troopers managed to work well.
Fight scenes: Nice that they didn't go as over-the-top as the prequels or shows, but still very clearly runs on "Rule of Cool". This goes double on both ends for Ahsoka.
Specific characters
Greef (something): Not much this time, but I guess it's okay that he's turned over a new leaf.
Cara Dune: Still pretty obvious that she's supposed to be "cool", though I don't think they push that too hard. She's pretty straightforward as a character, but that's fine. She's entertaining on occasion and serves her purpose well in the story.
Bo-Katan: Haven't seen much of Clone Wars, so I don't have a lot to go of with this character. Even still, I didn't have a problem understanding what she's about, though I'm sure more context would help. She clearly has a issue of tunnel vision. Some interesting potential going forward.
Fennec Sand: Well, not much going on character-wise, outside of "Cold, occasionally snarky, professional", which admittedly works well. I personally think something could have been gained by drawing attention to her as a foil for Din's development. She's got some plot purpose and is another "cool" character, but that's about it as it stands.
Boba the Fett: Huh. Ten-year-old me is of course very happy to see him get to do some cool stuff on screen . . . but what we've got is more plot purpose than characterization. There's still some there, he's got a couple scruples, and cares more about his connection to his father than about attaching himself to larger culture. It's not much, but something. (I know he appeared in Clone Wars but I haven't seen any of his appearances, don't know if he showed up in Rebels)*
Moff Gideon: Started out as a pretty basic villain, just a little hammy. By the end though, he was really leaning into the dramatics, very much a "I have a hostage, so you're now a captive audience!" kind of guy. Fun to see, kind of hope he manages to get back into the villain role next season.
And of course, Din, the Mandalorian.
Obviously, he's got far more characterization than anyone being the main character. A lot could be said for him, but I want to talk about something that stood out to me looking back on the story so far, which is his transition from practical and rigidly defined relationships to personal and malleable ones.
At the beginning, he distant and disconnected, he connects with no one through his work, even rebuffing Greef's attempt to be personable. His relationship with his clan, even, is centered on practicality, as they enable him to engage in his virtues, both his loyalty to the clan (helping fund them) and giving aid to other war orphans, both of which he still engages in in distant, impersonal manner.
And then comes the child, an orphan that he saved in a manner similar to the way he once was. Then, because he can't get back to hand him over right away, he realizes that the child gives him loyalty in return. He realizes, belatedly, that he empathizes too much with the child, and it gets personal.
This much is obvious, as the Mandalorian accepting how much he cares about the child is a major part of both seasons.
However, I think that a (perhaps unintended) part of the second season is exploring this in more depth. Mando is still very rigid, even if he is allowing personal relationships to enter his life. Most of his relationships in the first half of season follow along his expectations of whether or not the other party will help or hinder him. Other people are allies or enemies, they have helped him or haven’t, and he has rigid expectations for what they will do. He doesn’t have quite the issues with people that he did in the first season, but attempts to maintain distance, and prefers to return people he knew before for the same reason as he did the first time.
But through the season, he meets people that can’t easily fit into a dichotomy of for/against him. Many have conditions, not just wanting some sort of barter or fetch quest, but needing what Mando wants to fit into their own plans and ideals. Part of this is meeting people with different views, clearly an intended part of the story, but there’s certainly a degree of him having to navigate more complex relationships.
Watching the final scene again, I realized that everyone who aids Mando at the end does so for a different reason, as opposed to combined empathy for the child in the first season. Cara is there for empathy, but also needed a second reason, so that her ideals would not conflict. Bo-Katan is there expressly to defeat Gideon, while her subordinate is there in respect to Bo-Katan and her expressed reason it would aid their people. Fennec is there for her debt/loyalty to Boba, who himself is there out of a debt to Mando, debt he keeps out of personal standards, rather it being demanded of him.
Mando also has to deal with relationships changing, not being what he expected. Mayfield turns out to be more than a trashtalking mercenary, and the way he and Cara deal with him changes because of that. More significantly, of course, is learning Grogu’s name and (some of) his history, letting him connect more with the child, but then following through with the prior decision to let him go with someone that could keep him safer. Essentially, having to end, at least temporarily and possibly permanently, a completely positive relationship
So I see the Mandalorian so far as being about someone disconnected from people and society connecting with others again, and learning the complex nature of relationships. Probably not the intended interpretation at all though . . .
Currently listening to: Sand Dream
Currently working on RPGMaker