The Mandalorian: The Return

 "Mandalorians are stronger together."

And so the season ends. Din Djarin gets an epic heroic quest to do, and shower himself in honour from all, with thev rather adorable help of R5, the honourable help of his lady liege Bo-Katan, and the rather awesome help of soon-to-be-Din Grogu, exemplar of how every fighter needs a magic user in the party to provide magical protection. This is the way.

This is an awesome finale. Yes, as has been discussed, this season has turned the focus somewhat away from Din Djaron and towards Bo-Katan and Mandalore. Yet the ending swerves decisively away from that, and why should a show called "The Mandalorian" not focus on such things?

Moff Gideon, I trust, is gone for good. He was a great villain, not least because Giancarlo Esposito (watch Breaking Bad and The Boys!) is an actor of the very first rank who needs to do some classical theatre very soon. He excels at morally flawed yet brilliant and charismatic figures. Prospero? Mark Antony? Coriolanus...? 

Anyway, this is both a dsuperb finale, destroying the Darksabre yet leaving Mandalore united and with hope, wheras Din Djarin and Din Grogu, shrouded in honour, unofficially set of to help the New Republic police the Outer Rim.

This is the way. This is how to cap an excellent season.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 23- The Spies

 "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."

Oh my. This is how you do a penultimate episode.

It's simple, really. Two sets of plans are made to retake Mandalore. The first by the united tribes of trad and rad Mandalorians under Bo-Katan, the second by Moff Gideon, finally revealed... and appearing in a splendid scene of imperial realpolitik that both references and rubbishes Grand Admiral Thrawn from the '90s Timothy Zahn books.

The Mandalorians' return to their home planet has an epic tale and feels like an ancient saga in how the events unfold. There are great character moments. Bo-Katan relating her surrender and betrayal by Gideon as Mandalore fell. Din Djarin declaring that he serves her not because of her royal blood but because of her character. That awesome, Michael Moorcock-like sand ship that evokes The Dragon in the Sword. How all seems hopeless at the end, like a film I need not mention. The heroic sacrifice of noble Paz Viszla.

And yes, IG-12, piloted by Grogu. The perfect comic relief to leaven this bread. Bring on the finale.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 22- Guns for Hire

 "I don't think they get many of our kind here..."

The Mandalorian can pretty much do no wrong at the moment. Take this episode, for example. Narratively, it's a case of the season arc quite transparently stopping for an episode so we can have a quasi-whodunit set in a decadent society where all citizens live lives of leisure, served by droids, and where blatantly Asimov themes of robotics, as on the Spacer worlds, play out.

And yet... look at the world building. The ultimate culprit, played by the wonderful octogenarian Christopher Lloyd, is a Separatist devotee of Count Dooku. Mando gets to show off his experience of Ugnaught culture. We have a brief appearance of star-cross'd lovers, a Quarren captain and a Mon Calamari prince. And we get a droid bar. I love the droid bar. Yet I also love the depiction of a post-work society which will, in a few generations, collapse into utter decadence.

It's such fun seeing droid-hating Mando interact with Bo Katan here, both joint stars of the show here. Yet the conclusion almost transcends all as Bo-Katan wins over the mercenary Mandalorians by taking the Darksabre from a willing Mando... on a devilishly clever technicality. This is all just bloody brilliant. And Grogu even gets a bloody knighthood...

The Mandalorian: Chapter 11- The Heiress

 "No, I have enough pets..."

Right, the Granada Sherlock Holmes has nearly finished, with one episode left (tomorrow), so it's time to alternate Sapphire & Steel with some other unfinished business and finish the promising second season of The Mandalorian. It's an impressive episode to return to, ad a reminder of how Jon Favreau has created an impressive piece of television, and quite conceivably a better space opera Western than Firefly.

Compared to last episode, which was essentially about getting from A to B with some excitement on the way, this episode is quite evantful. Yet the bare bones of the plot- Mando arrives on Trask (home of the Quarrens and Mon Calamari- it's great to finally see the planet, with its AT-AT cranes, dodgy mechanics, piracy and living squid soups) in search of other Mandalorians in order to get directions to a Jedi so he can take babby Yoda where it belongs- barely scratches the surface of what is going on here.

Those three other Mandalorians, led by the enigmatic and dangerous Bo-Katan are not as expected. It;s shocking to see them remove their helmets- but we now learn that most do; it's only the extreme "Chid of the Watch" faction, to which Mando belongs, that hold on to "the Way". This is quite a revelation and a superby done twist. Moreover, while Bo-Katan happens to be broadly aligned with the goodies, she is ambitious and power-hungry, and prepared to twist her promises. I wouldn't be surprised if she were to turn up one day as an antagonist. However, Mando now has a place to head for in order to meet a Jedi.

There's also plenty of action, plenty of humour and plenty of action, plus of course plenty of the usual Imperial dastardliness. I've really missed The Mandalorian and it's time to catch up completely.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Love in the Time of HYDRA

"Well, then. I guess it's safe to say we all hide our true selves, don't we?"

Nicely structured, this episode. Coming after the revelatory cliffhanger that Bobbi and Mack are working for a rival SHIELD, we get most of the exposition done in the form of a flashback to the big HYDRA eruption during Captain America: Winter Soldier, with all the flashback scenes being tinted distinctly blue. We learn how this other SHIELD, led by Edward James Olmos's Gonzalez, featured Bobbi and Mack (and Hartley!) from the start.

We also learn what makes them different: they disagree with Nick Fury's choices, and in particular his appointment of Coulson, whom they see as quixotic and alien obsessed- which, to be fair, he is; we only side against them because we happen to like and trust Coulson in spite of these things.

Back to our SHIELD, and there is still debate about what to do with the post-Terrigen Mist Skye: May wants her removed from operations, and Coulson eventually acts on her views, moving get to a safe house against his better judgement. He feels guilty, meaning that Very Bad Things are likely to happen as a result as such is the way that drama works. This way she's alone and a massive target. 

Oh, and we also see Agents Ward and 33, after a long, long time. Their motives have never seemed more mysterious, nor their motives so interesting. A game of Operation is played, giving all people my age a nice nostalgic glow. There's a nice comedy scene with General Talbot and a bunch of female US military "spies". Fitz and Simmons clash again, Coulson and Talbot deepen their mutual respect and Bakshi is captured, kinkily, by Ward and Agent 33.

We end with the discovery that Coulson and May are both distrustful of Mack, that Hunter has escaped. It's a good individual episode but, even betters ham that, a link in a superlative chain. I'm loving this run of episodes.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Writing on the Wall

"I have to know!!!"

So, it seems that in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2014, it is still acceptable to name young boys "Graham". Oh dear...

On a more positive note, Agents of SHIELD continues to be on fire as we finally learn that the alien script is in face the skyline of an inhuman (or, indeed, Inhuman- I've seen the clues; that alien is probably a Kree, and we're told it's been dead for millennia) city. Oh, and Ward casually mentions that the boss of HYDRA is one "Von Strucker"- last seen, I believe, at the end of The Avengers.

We learn a lot about the Tahiti project, and the team finally learn what their Director has been up to. Coulson, it seems, is cured of his compulsion. Is the Tahiti stuff all wrapped up and replaced by a quest for this city? We shall see.

Meanwhile, Ward has indeed escaped and is being both good at what he does (he immediately spots Bobbi as an agent) and a bit dodgy (bordering suicide bombing). He shows he's not entirely bad by neatly delivering Bakshi to Coulson, but his last scene is nicely ambiguous. What's he up to?

Oh, and there's a good scene between Fitz and his new mate Mack, metaphorically indicating that Fitz may eventually recover. We will see. There's only so much story mileage that can be wrought from his condition. Personally, I think Whedon will have him start to recover and then kill him. It's what he does.

So, this season. On fire.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Face My Enemy

"It didn't work out because interspecies relationships are hard. I was a human, whereas she was a demonic hell beast."

Wow. What an episode. Agents of SHIELD is on fire this season. I hope they can keep this up.

Agents Coulson and May are on an undercover mission at a posh do in order to recover this week's MacGuffin, a 16th century painting with some of that alien writing on the back. Having those particular agents on the mission accomplishes several things. Firstly, the fact that Coulson is on a mission at all emphasises SHIELD's reduced circumstances; he's supposed to be Director. Secondly, we get to see the amazing chemistry between Ming-Na Wen and Clark Gregg which suggests, perhaps more so than the dialogue, that they may have been a couple in the past. This isn't something I'd ever assumed before, but I certainly assume it as a possibility now because of the acting choices made.

Thirdly, of course, there's the fact that Coulson tries to spend the whole episode trying to get May to agree to kill him if his episodes of alien writing lead him to go full-on Garret. She's reluctant, and has a contingency plan to avoid this; beneath the hard exterior she cares for him deeply. There's a lot still to come out about their history together.

On a funnier note, though, I love the team's reaction to May's attempt at laughter. And I love how she just walks through the laser grid.

In other news, Hunter seems to be slowly bonding with the team, although Skye seems impervious to his charms (they're definitely going to get together), while Fitz proves his usefulness by, well, saving the whole damn team. He's still far from recovered, though, and still very much the outsider.

Arc-wise... well, HYDRA have suddenly become masters of disguise. Coulson's interestingly nuanced relationship with General Talbot continues. And we end with Raina in deep trouble; she has 48 hours to recover the big bad MacGuffin fircthev disturbingly sadistic Dr Whitehall or he will torture her quite horribly...

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Making Friends and Influencing People

"How is everyone?"

"Fitz is ok. He's hanging in there."

Three episodes in and we have loads of exciting season plot threads simmering nicely; it's going so much better than this time last season. It feels like a proper Joss Whedon show.

The plot is essentially that both SHIELD and HYDRA are after Donnie Gill (Blizzard) from last season, but so much is woven around this. The first big reveal is that Simmons is working for HYDRA; the second (rather less surprising) revelation is that she's a double agent, reporting directly to Coulson. But this is rather cleverly handled, having Simmons be HYDRA's negotiator with the proud Blizzard, in competition with SHIELD. Her cover is blown with her old mates, but not her supposed new ones; in fact, she ends up promoted. She's far from safe, though. As Skye says, she's a terrible liar.

We learn more about HYDRA's brainwashing techniques- the episode is bookended with a certain Agent 33 (a character we know from the comics?) starting her brainwashing and having completed it. HYDRA are certainly terrifying, and once again it's emphasised that the stand for fascism and oppose liberty.

Fitz is making progress; he shows self-awareness, realising that Simmons is just a figment of his imagination and that things are being hidden from him. His confrontation with Ward is both cathartic and a means for him to help the team. Coulson seems to show him greater respect afterwards.

No one trusts Hunter, unsurprisingly, although he seems to show early signs of incipient bonding with Skye, who still has no time for Ward. We end with a bombshell, though; Skye's father is alive, and Ward knows where he is. 

This was brilliant, and Agents of SHIELD is on fire with a first rate script and a superb cast. Long may this continue.