The Bearded Trio

“People are predictable.” - Tobias Beckett in Solo: A Star Wars Story . In this case, Season 3 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian has been somewhat predictable, at least through the first two episodes. Din Djarin, last seen helping to liberate a town on Tatooine in The Book of Boba Fett, looks to atone for his “sin” of removing his helmet. The first two episodes of the season follow that quick, if predictable journey, to his creed-mandated redemption by taking a dive into sacred waters contained within the ruins of the planet Mandalore. But Wednesday’s third episode of the current third season was easily the strongest. The episode begins and ends with Djarin and Bo-Katan escaping from Imperial TIE Interceptors (my favorite TIE ship) before linking up with the remaining Mandalorians, led by The Armorer and Paz Viszla, as seen in the season opener.  Those sequences bookend the bulk of the episode, spent on Coruscant, following the story of Doctor Pershing, a character we’ve known since t...

The Mandalorian and the Child by LEGO It makes me happy to see these kind of Star Wars products being released.  Affordable, simple and fun for all ages.  It's important especially with all of us feeling the pinch that affordable gifts, toys and collectables are available.  At only £17.99 this 295 piece LEGO set, released just in time for The Mandalorian season three really is a bundle of joy that anyone of any age can enjoy and have fun with, without breaking the bank.   Build out of this world creations with the LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz The Mandalorian and The Child set. Both BrickHeadz come with baseplates for display. Build a hover pram for The Child and adjust its ears to create adorable happy and sad expressions. This cute LEGO figure may look like a Baby Yoda, but this lovable creature is referred to as the Child. The Mandalorian LEGO BrickHead carries a blaster rifle and blaster pistol, ready for battle. Inspired by the Disney+ live-action series The M...

The general upheaval that marked 2020 in all parts of our society has carried over into 2021 in a handful of ways. Star Wars publishing has been far from immune from the after-effects. After seeing several titles undergo long delays, some as long as a year, two forthcoming books that cover The Mandalorian have been canceled.  The Mandalorian: The Ultimate Visual Guide by Pablo Hidalgo and scheduled for a July 6 release date, has been canceled . In addition, an untitled adult novel based on the Disney Plus hit show has also been canceled .  All this comes on the same day Variety reported Disney Plus has now hit 100 million subscribers worldwide.  Hidalgo's Ultimate Visual Guide, which as of Tuesday afternoon was still available to order on Amazon, was to be the latest in a great series of hardcover reference books that detail the characters, weapons, environments and creatures of the show. Similar books exist for all other Star Wars film releases, and I have enjoyed ever...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 16 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 16 : "THE RESCUE" EPISODE PREMIERS ON December 18, 2020 DIRECTOR : PEYTON REED EPISODE LENGTH : 47 MINUTES Wow. What a finale. Director Peyton Reed, writer Jon Favreau and company didn't mess around in the final episode of season 2 of The Mandalorian. They went there, and by "there" I mean "THERE!"  We begin in sp...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 15 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 14 : "THE BELIEVER" EPISODE PREMIERS ON December 11, 2020 DIRECTOR : RICK FAMUYIWA EPISODE LENGTH : 38 MINUTES The penultimate episode of season 2 of The Mandalorian dropped Friday morning, just hours after the massive announcement of 10 future Star Wars projects at the Disney Investor Day. Similar to chapter 7, this episode served mostl...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 14 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 14: "THE TRAGEDY" EPISODE PREMIERS ON December 4, 2020 DIRECTOR: ROBERT RODRIGUEZ EPISODE LENGTH: 34 MINUTES This episode of The Mandalorian, more than any that came before it, combined elements of different eras of the Star Wars mythology together in an action-packed and tense chapter, the sixth one of the second season. We had strong vi...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 13 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 13: "THE JEDI" EPISODE PREMIERS ON NOVEMBER 27, 2020 DIRECTOR: DAVE FILONI EPISODE LENGTH: 47 MINUTES Best episode of The Mandalorian yet. That was the only thought in my head in the time after I finished watching the first episode of the second half of season two. There's so much to get to in this episode, which in my opinion, saw a ...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 12 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 12: "THE SIEGE" EPISODE PREMIERS ON NOVEMBER 20, 2020 DIRECTOR: CARL WEATHERS EPISODE LENGTH: 39 MINUTES More than any other episode this season, "The Siege" takes us back to the first season, revisiting characters and locations that were prominent then.  We return to Nevarro, a primary location throughout the first season, as D...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 11 Recap I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 11: "THE HEIRESS" EPISODE PREMIERS ON NOVEMBER 13, 2020 DIRECTOR: BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD EPISODE LENGTH: 35 MINUTES  This was by far, the shortest episode of the second season but it sure didn't feel that way watching it. This episode was packed from start to finish, a testament to the skillful directing of Bryce Dallas Howard, r...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 10 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON 2 PREMIER OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 10: "THE PASSENGER"  EPISODE PREMIERS ON NOVEMBER 6, 2020 DIRECTOR: PEYTON REED  EPISODE LENGTH: 43 MINUTES OVERVIEW : This was a very different episode from last week's season premier . Peyton Reed of Ant Man fame made his Mandalorian directorial debut, and he infused this episode with his exact type of wry humor while mi...

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 9 Review I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW, SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON 2 PREMIER OF THE MANDALORIAN ARE BELOW. I SHIELD YOU FROM NOTHING!  OK, YOU'RE WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET, STOP HERE, GO WATCH IT AND COME BACK FOR MY REVIEW. WE GOOD? OK, those are the formalities officially out of the way. Each week, I'll be posting a quick recap/review of each new episode of The Mandalorian. I'll give a basic play-by-play with some thoughts and speculation about how each episode could figure into the larger picture of this season, and Star Wars as a whole. So let's get after it. SEASON 2: CHAPTER 9: "THE MARSHAL" EPISODE PREMIERS ON OCTOBER 30, 2020 DIRECTOR: JON FAVREAU EPISODE LENGTH: 55 MINUTES OVERVIEW : The Mandalorian was a smash hit a year ago when it headlined the debut of Disney Plus, the entertainment giant's new streaming service. Friday saw the first chapter in the highly anticipated new season, and that ...