As avid fan of the book(s), I’m kinda bummed what they did with Salvor plot. It’s not that they re-wrote, but they made it super slack and kinda pointless. The first book was a lean and mean machine. I would have kinda hoped same with the series.

The Lee Pace is very good in his role, as is Laura Birn as the Dermeziel,…

The one thing they can’t do at the moment, legally-speaking, is reveal Demerzel’s true identity from the books (“R. Daneel Olivaw”), since they don’t currently have the rights to Asimov’s Robot-stories (per David Goyer in last week’s Reddit AMA). But it’s possible that they could use the core principles of the Zeroth…

I just noticed Jane Espenson in the opening credits for the very first time as an Executive Producer (presumably, a writing-producer). Was this her very first episode, or was I simply not paying as close attention as I probably should’ve up to this point?

However, this decision does explain why the ship Gaal landed upon was locked against her, which thoroughly discredits my thesis from last week’s review.

You’re not. I read that and was like “....eh?”

This show has the biggest discrepancy between gorgeous visuals and miserably bad writing that I’ve seen in quite a while. Every time there’s a choice between nuance and complexity and cheap drama they pick the drama.  

I had that reaction to several of the plot points mentioned here.

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Does anybody like this show? I was thinking about getting Apple TV just for this but now I’m not so sure.

That’s kind of her deal. One Haim has bass face, another prominent nipples, and the third Haim is the lead singer.

I think we lucked out with Copolla getting the nod for Apocalypse Now.

Get it refitted. A Mando's gotta show some class.

They may not have done it deliberately but I also heard a quick ‘Silence of the Lambs’ shout-out when Cara Dune promises Mayfield not freedom but “a better view”.

Interesting reading the comments on the face-scanning... I assumed it was revealing a hitherto unknown past connection between Mando and the Empire. But all those saying "it just needed a face" has left me feeling a bit deflated. 

I swear I haven’t heard Fennec Shand say anything deeper than some directions and look at things. Ming-Na Wen had more to do in one episode last year than these two. Don’t be wasting one of the few talents from “The Single Guy” to have an eclectic career, Lucasfilm!

So we’re not going to talk about Mando taking off his helmet?

The Vietnam vibe might also be a nod to how George Lucas was supposed to direct Apocalypse Now before he got way too busy with Star Wars (and quite a few contemporary reviews of Return of the Jedi pointed out that the Endor scenes were basically him finally making his Vietnam film).

This is probably my favorite episode for the season. Big credit to Famyuiwa direction and reminding us Mando can actually wipe the floor with anyone as opposed to just absorbing bullets (or i guess blaster fire) with magic armor. Burr knocked it out of the park what a great arc for a character that woulda been fine…

Seriously gonna skim over Mando removing his helmet? There’s nothing he won’t do for that little green gremlin, including forsaking his “Way.”

I’m pretty sure this marks the breaking of Mando’s fundamentalism - rumours abound that Pedro Pascal has been renegotiating away - presumably for a bit more face time.