Television Reviews

The Mandalorians – The Return

  • Title: The Mandalorian – Chapter 24: The Return
  • wiki: link

The Third Season of The Mandalorian comes to a close with the battle over Mandalore, and, as I correctly called, not a single hero met their deaths in the action-packed but pretty predictable final episode. Even the most minor of the Mandalorian clan make it out of the battle without a scratch. There’s plenty of action here involving the Mandalorians fighting the Imperial Commandos of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and destroying the Imperial Remnant facility which I’m assuming must have had a greater purpose than just feed Gideon’s ego and secret experiments.

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The Blacklist – The Troll Farmer: Part 2

  • Title: The Blacklist – The Troll Farmer: Part 2
  • wiki: link

The final season of The Blacklist continues to play back its hits with the return of the Troll Farmer (Aaron Yoo) from Season 3 now working for Wujing (Chin Han) to steal a cutting-edge cyber-weapon from the NSA. The theft goes off without a hitch, althought the task force is able to capture him somewhat easily afterwards. While getting their hands on the Blacklister, and another couple familiar faces, Wujing continues to illude the task force’s grasp and the exact target he had for the malware remains a mystery.

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Abominable and the Invisible City – Chinese Nian Year

  • Title: Abominable and the Invisible City – Chinese Nian Year (Part 1 & Part 2)
  • IMDb: link / link

The two-part First Season finale centers around Chinese New Year. While “Part 1” teases magical creatures being kidnapped around the city, ending with the abduction of Everest, the first-half of the story is more about the various characters perusing their own interests. Yi (Chloe Bennet) obsesses with an upcoming musical performance and Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) is distracted by a minor role in the parade. With no one else to join them, and believing the festival will hide the look of yeti, Peng (Ethan Loh) takes Everest on an eating tour through the city which eventually leads to the others searching for the pair only to find them as they are taken by Nian.

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True Lies – Independent Dependents

  • Title: True Lies – Independent Dependents
  • IMDb: link

In an episode centered around the team attempting to save hostages from terrorists who have taken control of a weapons manufacturing plant, the focus of both the A & B plots involves characters resistant to asking for help needing help. Of course the framework is more than a bit forced when neither situation were setup prior to this episode as suddenly Harry (Steve Howey) apparently doesn’t ask for help and the other pairing involves Gib (Omar Benson Miller) and a character created solely for this episode. Despite the hostage situation, the late twist involving deadly nerve gas secretly created by the company, and Harry being temporarily blinded, nothing about the episode is at all memorable.

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The Mandalorians – Guns for Hire / The Spies

  • Title: The Mandalorian – Chapter 22: Guns for Hire / Chapter 23: The Spies
  • wiki: link, link

The two episode building to the season finale focus on bringing the Mandalorian tribes back together and the return to their homeworld. Well, that is except for another side quest that takes up 90% of “Guns for Hire,” but at least this one involves our main character. Feeling like a mix of world building and rehash of previously defeated villains, with some odd Asimov-ish droid plot thrown in, neither episode is bad but neither really focuses on either the characters or the plot offering something new. That’s not to say there aren’t enjoyable moments, such as Grogu thoroughly enjoying his new murderous mode of transportation (which also allows him to more easily communicate to the other characters).

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