Most people seem to agree that season 3 of 'The Mandalorian' seems to be a bit lost in the woods. Despite strong episodes, like last week's "Pirates", overall the larger plot seems to be a bit directionless at times. It's a cloud that is hanging over the show and seems to be casting a primarily negative shadow on it's reception this year. This week's episode unfortunately continues that trend, but it also continues the trend of having extremely entertaining side missions, with the inspiration-de-jour being a 'CSI' or 'Law and Order' style procedural/neo-noir detective caper. With cameo's a plenty from well known actors, an extremely jovial escapade to a new outer rim planet that is actually wealthy for once, and plenty of Clone Wars era callbacks, it's hard not to be entertained. Thankfully, the final moments of the episode tie us back into the larger plot (in a pretty clunky way if we're being honest), and setup the last 2 episodes of the season. Which are complete mysteries at this point. Plus, Rachel and Julian discuss the three new Star Wars movie projects announced at 'Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023', and dive into the brand new 'Ahsoka' trailer.
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SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E5 "The Pirate"
Just as Din seemed to be fairly aimless since his bath in the living waters, so to did the show itself. Wandering from plot point to plot point with no regard for pacing or sense of direction. That largely changed this week as Din is recruited to rescue Nevarro at the behest of an unlikely ally, all with the possibility of using the opportunity to create a new home for his cohorts. The threat of pirates brought many dangling plot threads together and helped establish a new purpose for our heroes, with the mystery of a reemerging threat lingering in darkness. That's without even mentioning some absolutely stellar action sequences realized with top tier visual effects, adding a much needed sense of quality to the whole affair that has felt oddly absent as of late. Oh, and don't forget about our boy Zeb!
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SSSW - The Bad Batch Season 2 Finale
It's a rare thing to get a season finale that hits as hard as this two-part season 2 capper of 'The Bad Batch'. Lucasfilm Animation was firing on all cylinders for much of this season, with gorgeous animation, top tier performances, and scoring from Kevin Kiner that is as good as anything you'd get in a feature film. Yet somehow they took it to another level with "The Summit", and then somehow found yet another gear for the heart-wrenching "Plan 99". For which it's episode title alone now carries more emotional weight than probably any scene from 'The Rise of Skywalker'. For our money, Star Wars doesn't get much better than this folks. There probably isn't much more to be said about how great these episodes were but Julian and Rachel dedicate the entirety of this nearly 2.5 hour podcast to Clone Force 99 and it's well deserved. Look for coverage of Mando later this week, because since when "have we ever followed orders".
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SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E4 "The Foundling" + The Bad Batch S2E14 "Tipping Point"
A big reveal accompanied by a nice surprise are the highlights of this week's episode of 'The Mandalorian', that otherwise felt mostly inconsequential. Not quite a bottle episode (but close), we spend much of the relatively short runtime with the Mandalorian covert as they attempt to rescue a child from what is essentially a dragon. Meanwhile, over on 'The Bad Batch' we are treated to one of the best episodes of the entire series. Table setting for a finale has never been this exciting or engaging. Between prison breaks, escape attempts, and political intrigue, there isn't much more you can ask for from this show. Superb!
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Episode 183 - Tom Cruise Requested to See 'The Flash'
Julian and Jeremy return to the mic to dissect the latest in film and TV news. As it always seems to be the case, the guys start by unpacking the latest drama with DC Studios. With 'Shazam 2' underperforming, there's more scrutiny on a botched crossover with Black Adam, James Gunn continues to get heat, seemingly for no good reason this time, and Ben Affleck is done with Batman... this time for real. Meanwhile leadership at Disney continues to blame 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' for the reason they can't seem to commit to any new Star Wars film projects for longer than 5 minutes. This coming on the heels of Patty Jenkins 'Rogue Squadron' movie being shelved. Plus, stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear a full spoiler review of HBO's 'The Last of Us' season 1. All that and so much more in this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!
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SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E3 "The Convert" + The Bad Batch S2E13 "Pabu"
After a massive bombshell at the end of last week's episode of 'The Mandalorian', we take a sharp left turn into a completely different part of the galaxy and largely leave the Mythosaur thread to dangle... for now. The shift to concentrate on Dr. Pershing and his attempt to reintegrate into a post-war society, though surprising, was actually chalk-full of deep world building and does the leg work to set up a fascinating mystery. The Mando bookends featuring some stellar dog-fighting, and a surprisingly quick resolution to the whole "redemption" arch, were appreciated for their ability to keep the central story moving forward. On 'The Bad Batch' front, the season put the pause on things as it took our heroes on a short vacation that reminded us of what was actually at stake. It was slower, but intentionally so, and took the time to let us just "live" with the characters for a moment. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take nearly as long to unbox this episode compared to Mando
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ToB Interlude - Oscars 2023 + Best Picture Nomination Reviews
The Tower of Babble Podcast has always kept at least one eye trained on the biggest movie awards show of the year. The coverage has come in a variety of forms over the years. We've done round table previews with friends of the show. We've done smaller more intimate affairs with just a 2 movie lovers talking about their favorites from the nominees. We've even done live sessions on Twitter spaces. This year we return to the Twitter spaces format with Julian doing a solo show in which he gives his thoughts on the ceremony itself, before getting into each of the Best Picture nominees with thoughts on the winners from each category sprinkled throughout. What will next year's converge look like?
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SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E2 "The Mines of Mandalore" + The Bad Batch S2E12 "The Outpost"
Coming out of a lackluster premiere, 'The Mandalorian' steps things up in a big way with "The Mines of Mandalore". They waste no time in getting to the meat of the larger story, with a much better mix of lore to chew on with very exciting action (did someone say slice and dice?). Meanwhile on 'The Bad Batch' side, Lucasfilm animation outdoes themselves yet again with another top tier episode of Star Wars animation (unfortunately it's another one without the show's titular characters). In "The Outpost" we catch up with Crosshair as he's sent on what appears to be one of the few remaining military missions left for the Clones now that they're being retired. It's full of moody character work that culminates in what feels like something long overdue. What a time to be a Star Wars fan when we get two stories of this caliber released on the same day. This double-feature experience will continue for the next 4 weeks, so buckle up!
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SSSW - The Mandalorian S3 Premiere + The Bad Batch S2E11 "Metamorphosis"
The big brains at Disney have decided that for the next 4 weeks, Wednesdays will be Star Wars double-header day, with episodes of season 3 of "The Mandalorian" premiering alongside the ongoing season 2 of "The Bad Batch". It certainly makes for a very fun double-feature for Star Wars fans, but also makes covering those shows on the podcast slightly more complicated. As such, Julian and Rachel will be reviewing both series simultaneously. So look for more 2-part episodes of "Small Screen Star Wars" over the next few weeks. The episodes themselves lacked much of any connecting through-lines (except the inclusion of large space monsters). Mando kicks off with a reset episodes that brings some fun adventure, and The Batch is seemingly back on track with an "Alien" inspired episode that starts the process of looping the main cast back into the wider story.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E10 "Retrieval"
With no ship, and no help from Cid, The Batch are all but stranded. But wait! Omega has a plan! They'll track their stolen ship by zeroing in on their defective power droid, Gonky. This takes the crew to a mining facility that has their own problems. Namely, a tale as old as time, in that the workers are being abused by a greedy boss. Fortunately, with the help of the thief who originally stole their ship, they're able to kill two birds with one stone - retrieve their ship, and solve the labor problem. This wraps up what appears to be a two-part arch (maybe there's a third next week?) that leaned heavily into character work, with sprinkles of interesting action in this second half. That all being said, the show seems to be lacking in stakes, making it feel a little weightless. Hopefully that changes soon as we are well into the back half of the season now.
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