The Mandalorian
Din Djarin, our titular Mandalorian, is criss-crossing the galaxy in his dinged up rattlebox of a starship, the Razor Crest, with the Child in tow, looking for a way to return our "Baby Yoda" to it's people. Din Djarin is looking for other Mandalorians who can help in turn locate the Jedi since the Child is strong with the Force.
DIn's quest takes him back to Tatooine where he is reunited with on my favorite characters from Season 1, Peli Motto. Portrayed by Amy Sedaris, Motto runs a repair shop with a bunch of droids she is always bickering with. Peli Motto is probably the most human character I've ever seen in anything Star Wars. She's gruff and ballsy, talkative and more than a little weird and she thinks the Child is just the cutest thing!
Din's journey takes him to a forgotten Tatooine mining camp of Mos Pelgo where he has intel a Mandalorian has been spotted. The hard scrabble town is under the watchful eye of its marshal, Cobb Vanth, wearing a helmet and armor that looks like Boba Fett. Underneath the helmet is Timothy freakin' Olyphant.
A lot of people know Olyphant as Sheriff Seth Bullock in HBO's classic western series, Deadwood and as Deputy U.S. Marshal, Raylan Givens from FX's modern day western series, Justified. Casting Olyphant in Star Wars' version of a western just makes so damn much sense.
(Personally, I discovered Timothy Olyphant from the late and still lamented Netflix zombie comedy, Santa Clarita Diet. I have not seen Olyphant's star turns in Deadwood and Justified but I've recently resolved to fix at least part of that. More on that later in the post.)
Cobb Vanth is not a Mandalorian so Din Djarin wants the armor back. Except Vantg is kind of using the armor. After he bought the armor from Jawas, he uses its weapons to protect Mos Pelgo. But those weapons are of little help against the Alaskan Bull Worm Greater Krayt Dragon that's threatening the town.
Din Djarin agrees to help Cobb Vanth stop the dragon and save the town in exchange for Vanth returning the Mandalorian armor.
Meanwhile, the tribe of Tusken Raiders outside of town are also under threat from the dragon.
Din Djarin and Cobb Vanth team up with a plan to stop the dragon but it will require the cooperation of the both the town folks and the raiders.
It is a big, epic movie level battle as the Dragon refuses to go down without a fight.
Side note: Boba Fett ain't dead.
Next, Peli Motto cons Din Djarin into taking on a passenger, the Frog Lady, who has a container of eggs. She needs to get to a moon called Trask where her husband will fertilize her eggs. And her husband has information about other Mandalorians.
On the way there, the Razor Crest crashes into an ice planet. This is Star Wars. All planets are desert worlds or ice planets. While on the planet, Din, the Child and the Frog Lady are besieged by ice spiders.
Frog Lady doesn't run like a humanoid. She leaps and hops like an actual frog. It's pretty cool.
Oh and "Baby Yoda" keeps eating Frog Lady's eggs.
The Mandalorian's 2nd season is off to a great start, really leaning into this western roots. The guest stars are strong, creating a de-factor supporting cast for our wandering Mandalorian. I hope we get more visits with Peli Motto and a return encounter with Cobb Vanth.
Seeing Timothy Olyphant in a sci-fi western environment prompted my curiosity about his more down to earth work. So I went over to Hulu and began exploring the world of Justified.
Justified
Justified is based on Elmore Leonard's Raylan Givens stories. Timothy Olyphant portrays Raylan Givens, a deputy U.S. Marshal with a laconic, tough demeanor. Givens is a throwback to an earlier era, a dispenser of 19th-century-style, Old West justice. It is a style that makes him a pain in the ass to his superiors in U.S. Marshals Service. After he shoots mob hitman Tommy Bucks in Miami, Givens is reassigned to the Eastern District of Kentucky Marshal's Office is based in Lexington, KY. Givens is not all that happy about the move as it sends him back to Harlan County where Raylan grew up and hoped to hell he would never have to go back.
Givens immediately has work to do, running to ground one Boyd Crowder, a former acquaintance of Raylan's youth and now a local criminal with a penchant for high explosives and down with some white supremacist shit.
I watched the first episode and I am down to follow the rest of this journey. I am big fan of Elmore Leonard's work and Justified looks like it will be a lot of fun to explore.
Fargo
Meanwhile, Timothy Olyphant's journey on Fargo has come to an end. Dick "Deafy" Wickware's pursuit of prison escapees Zelmare Roulette and Swanee Capps comes to a violent end at the Kansas City train station when bad cop Odis Weff betrays Deafy and shoots him. What a terribly ignominious way for Dick "Deafy" Wickware to die.
We've got 3 episodes to go. Things are getting really tense now. Loy Cannon's plan for Gaetano Fadda to take out Justo does not work out; damned if Gaetano hasn't changed his tune about Justo and respects him now. So the alleged brains and the brawn of the Fadda family have joined forces.
Loy Cannon, still thinking his son Satchel is dead, escalates the war with the Faddas with a single word: "Fargo".
The episode ends with a strike team attacking the Faddas home which ends of killing Justo and Gaetano's mother. Well, that's only going to piss them off even more.
Look for more on Fargo in a future Tuesday TV Touchbase.
The Comedy Store
I finished up the Comedy Store docu series and I can't say I recommend it. Despite her ubiquitous presence, Mitzi Shore is almost an afterthought in the series about her club. By all accounts, Mitzi Shore was a complex woman who help launch hundreds of successful careers in comedy and acting but she also could be brutal in her assessments of those who walked through the doors of her club. In short, any accurate accounting of Mitzi Shore's life would have to include the bad along with the good. I think the presence of so many people with the name "Shore" in the producer credits may account for the less than detailed picture we get of the Comedy Store's living, beating heart.
The Comedy Store series does provide opportunities to see comedians kicking back and speaking frankly about themselves and dropping some tea on their fellow comics. But the shaky structure of the series and the reluctance to put Mitzi Shore under a spotlight undermines the whole project.
Next week on the Tuesday TV Touchbase, I'm going to be writing about watching M*A*S*H again... for the first time?
Until next time, stay safe, remember to be good to one another and keep it down, will ya, I'm tryin' to watch TV here.
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