The Mandalorian: First Trailer

[Peelee]

First of all, Jawas are not a real race, so there is no point getting offended by this...

More importantly, I'm not talking about statistics or numbers, I'm talking about story-telling.
Especially in the first episode, the use of certain recognizable elements like the carbon prison or the R2 droid are to say "we are in the star-wars universe", and it's fine as long as it's not too often.
So when the writers planned the second episode, the thinking process was along the lines of
"we need to delay him on the planet"
"Someone is trying to scavenge his ship"
"who do we have that will be recognized for this role?"
"Don't we have those little guys from the first movie?"

It's not based on a true event, and the choice of Jawas was not accidental.
You can have the problem I described even if no one explicitly says "they are a race of".

And again, It's not like I see it as a major problem, I don't even see it as a problem at all.
It's all a matter of frequency, how often shortcuts like these are used.
Used for brand recognition once in a while? No problem, and I will probably forget about the Jawas and lose the nagging feeling by next week.
But used too often, and this is a thing that can and did ruin story-telling for books, comics, movies and tv-shows.

How often is too often, though? We've seen them twice now. Seems like more of a "cant use them twice" argument to me.

[Cikomyr]

The showrunners have confirmed that we will never see his face outside of flashbacks to before he was found by the Mandalorians.

The Helmet IS his face.

Also, it's like Dredd. Any respectable Dredd media keep his face hidden.

[random11]

How often is too often, though? We've seen them twice now. Seems like more of a "cant use them twice" argument to me.

Not really "can't use twice" as much as "can't use twice for the exact same role a member of this race appeared in one of the movies".

And how many of these before it becomes an actual problem?
Don't think there is a clear line for this either. It depends how important the encounter is, how important the original character is, etc.
It even depends on how good the show generally is, a show can get away with a full "planet of hats" cast if it's good enough to distract me from minor issues.

Anyway, off to see 3-4 once the pizza arrives

EDIT: After pizza and two more episodes, I can safely say that my memory regarding the possible fear are starting to fade.

The way I see it, episode 1 was the prologue, and 3 was the actual start of the series.
Not sure if the series will be "obstacle of the week" with occasional hints about the baby yoda, or if it will have more episodes dedicated to the "main plot", either way I consider both paths as a good way to tell a story as long as the episodes themselves are good.

Kudos for a bounty hunter that is willing to live so many years without anyone seeing his face, although that might have some advantages in the pimple phase in puberty, it must be a downer beyond that age.
Double kudos for an ACTOR willing to take an entire role without anyone seeing his face. Not only it makes his job harder since facial expressions must be translated to subtle body movements alone, but facial recognition is an important part in an actor's resume (at least from the viewer's perspective).

[Peelee]

Spoiler: Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

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Can't really say a lot about this one. I liked it, but I think it's the weakest of the series so far. It's a "bounty of the week" type story when I'm hoping for an overarching story. Chapter 4 showed us the Mando trying to find a place to hide, the troubles he had, and why it couldn't work. This episode has him get shot down, forced to land for repairs, and then fill up his day until the ship is repaired. We don't get any information on who he is, we don't get any information on the child, we don't get any information on the goings on of the galaxy or the Imperial Remnant or the Mandalorians, it's just what he does until his ship is fixed, which itself wasn't an issue until they introduced it. Kind of like Chapter 2, except that one was still showing us who he was and that a great many others wanted that bounty.

[Mando Knight]

Spoiler: Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

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Can't really say a lot about this one. I liked it, but I think it's the weakest of the series so far. It's a "bounty of the week" type story when I'm hoping for an overarching story. Chapter 4 showed us the Mando trying to find a place to hide, the troubles he had, and why it couldn't work. This episode has him get shot down, forced to land for repairs, and then fill up his day until the ship is repaired. We don't get any information on who he is, we don't get any information on the child, we don't get any information on the goings on of the galaxy or the Imperial Remnant or the Mandalorians, it's just what he does until his ship is fixed, which itself wasn't an issue until they introduced it. Kind of like Chapter 2, except that one was still showing us who he was and that a great many others wanted that bounty.

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The stinger may have set something up for later. Maybe, depending on whose spurs and tattered cape that was.

[Maelstrom]

Spoiler: Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

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Can't really say a lot about this one. I liked it, but I think it's the weakest of the series so far. It's a "bounty of the week" type story when I'm hoping for an overarching story. Chapter 4 showed us the Mando trying to find a place to hide, the troubles he had, and why it couldn't work. This episode has him get shot down, forced to land for repairs, and then fill up his day until the ship is repaired. We don't get any information on who he is, we don't get any information on the child, we don't get any information on the goings on of the galaxy or the Imperial Remnant or the Mandalorians, it's just what he does until his ship is fixed, which itself wasn't an issue until they introduced it. Kind of like Chapter 2, except that one was still showing us who he was and that a great many others wanted that bounty.

Spoiler: Cantina

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Anyone else guilty of looking for carbon scorching in the booth, or at least a sign of a patch? ;)

[PoeticallyPsyco]

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I wasn't as impressed with this episode, honestly. The trick Mando pulls to beat the fighter at the start shouldn't have worked unless his opponent was a) incompetent, b) was using a ship that for some reason couldn't pull the same kind of reverse acceleration as Mando's and didn't compensate for that by staying further away in which case see point a, or c) if Mando was faking his ship being more damaged than it was to sucker the guy into thinking it had reduced maneuverability... but I didn't see any signs of that. Not saying it's impossible that there's a reasonable explanation, but some attention should have been drawn to said reasonable explanation to avoid immersion issues like this.

The next issue: why in the world did they bring only two speeders when they knew they needed the bounty alive? For that matter, why is this the first bounty we've seen that was alive only? That second bit I'm willing to chalk up to plot-related-reasons that will be revealed later, since the ending scene suggests that this will become part of something bigger, but there really is no excuse for the first one. It's a rookie mistake from a character we're supposed to believe is highly competent and experienced. On that note, why didn't Mando bring his own sniper rifle? He visibly still has ammo for it on his bandoleer, and it's not like encumbrance is a problem when he's using the bike.

Not really a criticism, but if I'd been the wannabe gunslinger, I'd have gone a bit more elaborate with my plan. Probably wouldn't have shot the assassin, just left her alive in the same spot, then ambushed Mando with the sniper rifle or just my blaster, targeting his bike first (I might even let him get close enough to dismount before opening fire just to ensure I got the bike) and then taking potshots at him to see if I got lucky. The second I lose track of him, I hop on the remaining bike and speed off. (If this is an AU where they brought enough bikes, I also then head back to the travel beast that's name I forget (Mando's most likely first destination so he doesn't have to walk all the way home) and repeat; otherwise, skip this step). Only then would I go for the baby to use as a hostage, because that's got a relatively high risk of him turning the tables on me; too many moving parts.

[Peelee]

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I wasn't as impressed with this episode, honestly. The trick Mando pulls to beat the fighter at the start shouldn't have worked unless his opponent was a) incompetent, b) was using a ship that for some reason couldn't pull the same kind of reverse acceleration as Mando's and didn't compensate for that by staying further away, or c) if Mando was faking his ship being more damaged than it was to sucker the guy into thinking it had reduced maneuverability... but I didn't see any signs of that. Not saying it's impossible that there's a reasonable explanation, but some attention should have been drawn to said reasonable explanation to avoid immersion issues like this.

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It's pretty much taken straight from a trick Fett pulled in the Bounty Hunter Wars; doing that more or less nearly destroyed the ship and required extensive repairs afterwards, so while it won the battle, if any other ships happened upon him afterwards it would have lost the war. Basically an incredibly risky, last-ditch maneuver to pull. As for why the other wouldn't do the same thing..
reaction time, at the very least, would cause some delay, as well as surprise at what exactly was happening and how they were able to do that. I'd assume most people wouldn't assume you're actually shooting yourself in the foot until it's too late.

They also do show more engine damage being done due to the maneuver.

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The next issue: why in the world did they bring only two speeders when they knew they needed the bounty alive?

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If you know of a way that two people can drive three speeders, I'm all ears.

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For that matter, why is this the first bounty we've seen that was alive only?

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I'm fairly sure the vast majority of the bounties were alive only. Imean, what's the point in killing bail jumpers? Plus, even the first ones we saw our Mando bring in were all alive; he carbon froze them, which doesn't mean he killed them.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

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It's pretty much taken straight from a trick Fett pulled in the Bounty Hunter Wars; doing that more or less nearly destroyed the ship and required extensive repairs afterwards, so while it won the battle, if any other ships happened upon him afterwards it would have lost the war. Basically an incredibly risky, last-ditch maneuver to pull. As for why the other wouldn't do the same thing..
reaction time, at the very least, would cause some delay, as well as surprise at what exactly was happening and how they were able to do that. I'd assume most people wouldn't assume you're actually shooting yourself in the foot until it's too late.

They also do show more engine damage being done due to the maneuver.

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Yeah, this could just be me not being used to Star Wars' incredibly close engagement ranges. I still think that it's a very poor strategy to 'tailgate' an opponent closely enough that they can reverse behind you faster than you can react. Just stay a little further behind them, especially once you've visibly reduced their maneuverability with engine damage so they can't dodge as easily.

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If you know of a way that two people can drive three speeders, I'm all ears.

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There has got to be a way to hitch one speeder to another one for transportation. They have anti-grav; it's not like it's adding any drag. Regardless, what were these ace bounty hunters planning to do once they apprehended their target? Walk all the way back to the city? Didn't look like they packed enough food, water, or shelter for that. Let her drive her own transportation (assuming she had any)? As it stands, it looks like their plan was to pray to the writers that there was transportation conveniently close to their apprehension site, and that's a decent sized plot hole.

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I'm fairly sure the vast majority of the bounties were alive only. Imean, what's the point in killing bail jumpers? Plus, even the first ones we saw our Mando bring in were all alive; he carbon froze them, which doesn't mean he killed them.

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Then the line he always utters about "Bringing you in hot, or bringing you in cold" is relatively nonsensical. Sure, it could work as intimidation, but there are plenty of ways to convey the same point that don't reference bringing the dead body back for a bounty.

To be clear, I like the show and even this episode... but it's got at least one very real plot hole, which hurt my immersion quite a bit.

[Mechalich]

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There has got to be a way to hitch one speeder to another one for transportation. They have anti-grav; it's not like it's adding any drag. Regardless, what were these ace bounty hunters planning to do once they apprehended their target? Walk all the way back to the city? Didn't look like they packed enough food, water, or shelter for that. Let her drive her own transportation (assuming she had any)? As it stands, it looks like their plan was to pray to the writers that there was transportation conveniently close to their apprehension site, and that's a decent sized plot hole.

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The key point is that, during the fight, the Mando's speeder got destroyed. Presumably the original intent was to ride double on the way back and to tie their quarry to the other speeder. That was no longer possible after one of the speeders blew up.

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Then the line he always utters about "Bringing you in hot, or bringing you in cold" is relatively nonsensical. Sure, it could work as intimidation, but there are plenty of ways to convey the same point that don't reference bringing the dead body back for a bounty.

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The bounty for Fennec Shand, specifically, is apparently a New Republic job. It makes sense that the New Republic would want the target alive, since they presumably see propaganda value in putting her on trial for war crimes or something. No doubt many bounties are indeed 'dead or alive,' especially if the Hutts are the ones paying, but there's likely quite a bit of variation.

[Peelee]

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Yeah, this could just be me not being used to Star Wars' incredibly close engagement ranges. I still think that it's a very poor strategy to 'tailgate' an opponent closely enough that they can reverse behind you faster than you can react. Just stay a little further behind them, especially once you've visibly reduced their maneuverability with engine damage so they can't dodge as easily.

Spoiler

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There has got to be a way to hitch one speeder to another one for transportation. They have anti-grav; it's not like it's adding any drag. Regardless, what were these ace bounty hunters planning to do once they apprehended their target? Walk all the way back to the city? Didn't look like they packed enough food, water, or shelter for that. Let her drive her own transportation (assuming she had any)? As it stands, it looks like their plan was to pray to the writers that there was transportation conveniently close to their apprehension site, and that's a decent sized plot hole.

Spoiler

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Then the line he always utters about "Bringing you in hot, or bringing you in cold" is relatively nonsensical. Sure, it could work as intimidation, but there are plenty of ways to convey the same point that don't reference bringing the dead body back for a bounty.

To be clear, I like the show and even this episode... but it's got at least one very real plot hole, which hurt my immersion quite a bit.

Spoiler

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Basically yes, super close engagement distances. This is the same for any dogfighting in movies, really. I've heard that if Top Gun were realistic, we would have never seen enemy fighters except on their sensors. Every movie and show has ships fighting very close to each other.

Also, as already said ride double on the way back. Which would be significantly better than giving the bounty her own speeder to drive herself. Not a plot hole at all.

Lastly, he could make a threat without referencing death, but that doesn't mean he has to. Also, i do have to not he kinda did bring him in cold, but still alive.

[Bobb]

Pffft!

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only three speeders? If I were in charge of that operation I'd have brought four. Just in case something happened to one of them. ;)

[druid91]

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The space battle in this episode just kind of highlights an issue from the last one. He fried that ship. With the guns on his ship. The ship he had one the planet with the Pug-People. Why didn't he just bring the ship and frag the AT-ST with those cannons?

[Peelee]

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The space battle in this episode just kind of highlights an issue from the last one. He fried that ship. With the guns on his ship. The ship he had one the planet with the Pug-People. Why didn't he just bring the ship and frag the AT-ST with those cannons?

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I'm guessing he didn't want to risk the walker frying his ship with its cannons.

[druid91]

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I'm guessing he didn't want to risk the walker frying his ship with its cannons.

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So he risked dying in some hare-brain scheme with the most obvious pit trap ever?

[Peelee]

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So he risked dying in some hare-brain scheme with the most obvious pit trap ever?

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It has missiles, which would be very unlikely to use against ground forces and very likely to use against aircraft. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume he took the lower risk of dying, which happened to be "not the ship."

[Fyraltari]

Just done watching the first five episodes.

This is a superior show. I'm impressed by how much character the actor and the directors manage to give to our hero without a face and ery little dialogue.

Yadorable is the best.

In fact I love every single secondary character in this (with an exception for the farm lady, nothing bad about her but she is a bit too cliché for me), too bad they tend to die quick I really would have enjoyed it if Mando and IG had teamed-up longer.

I really like the way the things that appear hramless in the saga proper are shown to be properly dangerous to everyone who isn't a superhuman space-wizard: the jawa's crawling fortress, the stormtrooper, the freaking AT-ST from hell.

Speaking of the jawas, they are either really forgiving or really uncaring for one another. I expected them to try to slash Mando's throat after they stunned him (with hermit guy coming to the rescue) but apparently killing five of them isn't a big deal.
Not to mention the beskar helmet and pauldron.

Speaking of which, people keep punching that helmet. What are their knuckles made of!?

I'm not sure where they are headed with the Imperial Remnant guys (you know, besides the First Order). Bad guys wanting to capture infant force sensitive we've seen in Clone Wars and Rebels but the head honcho (and possibly somebody else depending on wether he hired IG too) apparently wants Yodadorable dead, which is new. Also the doctor seems to be meant to be sympathical but the guy is wearing imperial colors after Endor and doesn't make a run for it when Mando takes the child with him so he's clearly a hardocre imperial loyalist which kinda kills it for me. But he's only been in three scenes so far so I'm not passing judgment yet.

The Mandalorian himself is an interesting character "hitman with a heart of gold" type but I'm not sure how much the show wants to adress his darker traits (excessive brutality and prejudice) besides the odd joke and cool fight scene.

Spoiler: Minor spoiler for Ep 5

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Tattooine was a bit gratuitous but at the same time very nice especially the cantina. I was bizarrely sad to see that cantina without any music.

Edit: also it was nice to see tuskens interact non-violently with someone and itjust makes sense that Madalorians (especially these Mandalorians) of all people would get along with tuskens.

Well I'm hooked.

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The next issue: why in the world did they bring only two speeders when they knew they needed the bounty alive? For that matter, why is this the first bounty we've seen that was alive only? That second bit I'm willing to chalk up to plot-related-reasons that will be revealed later, since the ending scene suggests that this will become part of something bigger, but there really is no excuse for the first one. It's a rookie mistake from a character we're supposed to believe is highly competent and experienced. On that note, why didn't Mando bring his own sniper rifle? He visibly still has ammo for it on his bandoleer, and it's not like encumbrance is a problem when he's using the bike.

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Two people can ride a speeder but the Mandalorian's was damaged. The bounty was alive only because that's what whoever is paying wants. She has worked for several different crime syndicates so she probaly knows a lot of very valuable things or possibly the client is a legitimate authority who wants to put her on trial. Or a relative of a victim who wants to kill her personally. Mando didn't bring his sniper rifle because that thing leaves no survivor.

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Not really a criticism, but if I'd been the wannabe gunslinger, I'd have gone a bit more elaborate with my plan. Probably wouldn't have shot the assassin, just left her alive in the same spot, then ambushed Mando with the sniper rifle or just my blaster, targeting his bike first (I might even let him get close enough to dismount before opening fire just to ensure I got the bike) and then taking potshots at him to see if I got lucky. The second I lose track of him, I hop on the remaining bike and speed off. (If this is an AU where they brought enough bikes, I also then head back to the travel beast that's name I forget (Mando's most likely first destination so he doesn't have to walk all the way home) and repeat; otherwise, skip this step). Only then would I go for the baby to use as a hostage, because that's got a relatively high risk of him turning the tables on me; too many moving parts.

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I think Toro had realized that the Mandalorian would beat him in fair fight even with a sniper, especially since his armor protects him from sniper shots. Taking the kid hostage to force Mando to not fight at all was his only option to beat him on his own. He could have contacted the Guild too but then he wouldn't have the fame.

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There has got to be a way to hitch one speeder to another one for transportation. They have anti-grav; it's not like it's adding any drag. Regardless, what were these ace bounty hunters planning to do once they apprehended their target? Walk all the way back to the city? Didn't look like they packed enough food, water, or shelter for that. Let her drive her own transportation (assuming she had any)? As it stands, it looks like their plan was to pray to the writers that there was transportation conveniently close to their apprehension site, and that's a decent sized plot hole.

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They planned to have her riding in the back. This is really not as complicated as you're making it out to be

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Then the line he always utters about "Bringing you in hot, or bringing you in cold" is relatively nonsensical. Sure, it could work as intimidation, but there are plenty of ways to convey the same point that don't reference bringing the dead body back for a bounty.

What would be the point of that? That threat's purpose is to smoothe things along by persuading the target not to fight. It doesn't have to be truthful to work.

[Peelee]

Just done watching the first five episodes.

HOORAY!

In fact I love every single secondary character in this (with an exception for the farm lady, nothing bad about her but she is a bit too cliché for me), too bad they tend to die quick I really would have enjoyed it if Mando and IG had teamed-up longer.

Samesies, I just loved me some IG-11. I'll see anything with him or Jemaine Clement, to be fair, they have yet to ever disappoint.

Speaking of the jawas, they are either really forgiving or really uncaring for one another. I expected them to try to slash Mando's throat after they stunned him (with hermit guy coming to the rescue) but apparently killing five of them isn't a big deal.

Eh, they knew they just jacked his stuff. At least, that's how I see it.

Besides, would you trust that he wouldn't be able to take you out if you stopped to finish him?

Speaking of which, people keep punching that helmet. What are their knuckles made of!?

It's kind of like all the soldiers who punched battle droids in TCW cartoon. Apparently you just do that in this galaxy, and apparently it works?

I'm not sure where they are headed with the Imperial Remnant guys (you know, besides the First Order). Bad guys wanting to capture infant force sensitive we've seen in Clone Wars and Rebels but the head honcho (and possibly somebody else depending on wether he hired IG too) apparently wants Yodadorable dead, which is new. Also the doctor seems to be meant to be sympathical but the guy is wearing imperial colors after Endor and doesn't make a run for it when Mando takes the child with him so he's clearly a hardocre imperial loyalist which kinda kills it for me. But he's only been in three scenes so far so I'm not passing judgment yet.

Fun fact, the Imperial scientist is wearing the same logo that the cloners had on Kamino.

Dunn dunn dunnnnn!

[Fyraltari]

HOORAY!

You enthusiasm is appreciated.

Eh, they knew they just jacked his stuff. At least, that's how I see it.

So what? He killed five of them!

Besides, would you trust that he wouldn't be able to take you out if you stopped to finish him?

With a dozen friends each with a taser gun and him having just fallen off of my crawling fortress? Yes. He was passed out for quite some time judging by how far the thing had gone.

But really what was he expecting to happen when he started firing?
I can't really tell how clever he is supposed to be. When he brings the bountis back in the first episode and the Guild middle-man offers to pay him with out-of-date currencies or half the agreed upon price, why did he accept? Did he not realize he was being scammed or did he but had to accept it for some reason?

It's kind of like all the soldiers who punched battle droids in TCW cartoon. Apparently you just do that in this galaxy, and apparently it works?

Yeah but this looks a bit more grounded than that, so it's kind o jarring.

Fun fact, the Imperial scientist is wearing the same logo that the cloners had on Kamino.

Dunn dunn dunnnnn!

That may be bad.


Also, it's a rare Star Wars production where bounty hunters have worse aim than stormtroopers.

[Mechalich]

But really what was he expecting to happen when he started firing?
I can't really tell how clever he is supposed to be. When he brings the bountis back in the first episode and the Guild middle-man offers to pay him with out-of-date currencies or half the agreed upon price, why did he accept? Did he not realize he was being scammed or did he but had to accept it for some reason?

It's not really clear that he was actually being scammed in that scenario. It's more like there are really currency issues in the Outer Rim territories, just as how in the real world today there are lots of national currencies that it would be very unwise to convert any large amount of money into and how lots of people will accept US dollars instead. So in this circumstance it appears that the New Republic has not yet gotten enough of its own currency into circulation to support the Outer Rim economy, so people are still spending the old money even though it technically doesn't have any value. That's also why the Imperial holdouts chose to pay in Beskar, a commodity, rather than a currency. The Client surely has a pile of Imperial Credits, but he knows that no one would accept them for a big job.

More broadly, I think it's partly that the constantly helmeted, mostly monosyllable-speaking approach makes the Mando appear much more rational than he actually is. He presents as sort of the ultimate professional, but underneath he's very much not Boba Fett. He's got prejudices, he has impulsive tendencies, and he's even surprisingly empathetic to near strangers. There's a growing sense of duality to the character between the armor and the man beneath, with that tension heightened by the fact that he clearly feels he owes the Mandaolorians everything that drives his devotion to the 'the way.'

He was trying to make it all work by living as the ideal bounty hunter, to let the job guide him, but the choice he made in episode three brought an end to all of that and he's kind of rootless now. One of the point's episode five did manage to make is that he hasn't adjusted to his new circumstances yet, because he failed to anticipate the betrayal properly.

[Fyraltari]

It's not really clear that he was actually being scammed in that scenario. It's more like there are really currency issues in the Outer Rim territories, just as how in the real world today there are lots of national currencies that it would be very unwise to convert any large amount of money into and how lots of people will accept US dollars instead. So in this circumstance it appears that the New Republic has not yet gotten enough of its own currency into circulation to support the Outer Rim economy, so people are still spending the old money even though it technically doesn't have any value. That's also why the Imperial holdouts chose to pay in Beskar, a commodity, rather than a currency. The Client surely has a pile of Imperial Credits, but he knows that no one would accept them for a big job.

Of course there are currency issues. But these did not appear while Mando was out hunting this particular bounty, did they? The Mandalorian agreed to do a job for a price and his employer then offered to pay him in the currency issued by a destroyed regime knowing full well he would refuse and then offered only half the agreed price as if he was accomodating the Mandalorian. That's a scam right there. If he couldn't pay he shouldn't have offered as much as he promised. If he really intended to be square with Mando but was having unforeseen problems he would have proposed sevral payments with the rest when he managed to get the actual money.

More broadly, I think it's partly that the constantly helmeted, mostly monosyllable-speaking approach makes the Mando appear much more rational than he actually is. He presents as sort of the ultimate professional, but underneath he's very much not Boba Fett. He's got prejudices, he has impulsive tendencies, and he's even surprisingly empathetic to near strangers. There's a growing sense of duality to the character between the armor and the man beneath, with that tension heightened by the fact that he clearly feels he owes the Mandaolorians everything that drives his devotion to the 'the way.'

He was trying to make it all work by living as the ideal bounty hunter, to let the job guide him, but the choice he made in episode three brought an end to all of that and he's kind of rootless now. One of the point's episode five did manage to make is that he hasn't adjusted to his new circumstances yet, because he failed to anticipate the betrayal properly.

Yup.

[Peelee]

Of course there are currency issues. But these did not appear while Mando was out hunting this particular bounty, did they? The Mandalorian agreed to do a job for a price

For credits. The Mando could have thought NR credits while the Guild deals in Imperial. Plus, he decided to agree to the price. He could have taken the whole amount in Imperial, but chose to walk away. He chose to take half in flan. Could have still walked away, though. He wasn't forced to hand over the bounties. He felt it worthwhile. For all we know, he knew this would happen and figured it was cost of doing business.

[Mechalich]

For credits. The Mando could have thought NR credits while the Guild deals in Imperial. Plus, he decided to agree to the price. He could have taken the whole amount in Imperial, but chose to walk away. He chose to take half in flan. Could have still walked away, though. He wasn't forced to hand over the bounties. He felt it worthwhile. For all we know, he knew this would happen and figured it was cost of doing business.

Pretty much. Note that during the same conversation, when he gets offered a next job he notes that the proposed reward barely meets the fuel cost. And Griev Karga, the guild administrator only has a handful of jobs to spread between something like three dozen bounty hunters. It's part of an overall point that there's a major economic breakdown going on in the Outer Rim. The New Republic hasn't managed to establish order yet (which after five years doesn't speak to their prospects, and goes a lot further towards explaining the First Order than anything in the ST), and everything's struggling. Subsequent shots, such as the location callbacks in the most recent episode, have gone further to support this.

To some extent this makes a certain amount of sense. The Empire, as a tyrannical military autocracy, appears to have run something of a command economy, in which everything was determined by either the central government or the Moffs. They ran huge resource extraction operations in the Outer Rim in order to power their massive military buildup, and that supported all kinds of activity. Now that's gone and everything's busted.

In Legends, notably this didn't happen in large part because the drawn out nature of the Empire's downfall in that continuity meant that not only did the Empire continue to build ships and vehicles, but the New Republic conducted its own massive build up in order to fight them. The new canon's sudden collapse of the Empire because reasons, by contrast, could legitimately lead to this kind of massive economic stagnation if the New Republic failed to turn on the spending spigot. Its actually reasonably believable, though it's not exactly a good look with regard to Mon Mothma and Leia's capabilities in terms of governance.

[Peelee]

Its actually reasonably believable, though it's not exactly a good look with regard to Mon Mothma and Leia's capabilities in terms of governance.

The books (Bloodlines especially) show the New Republic, and Mom Mothma chief among them, afraid of having a strong centralized government due to the Empire having that. It drops a lot of "swing too far in the opposite direction" vibes.

[Fyraltari]

For credits. The Mando could have thought NR credits while the Guild deals in Imperial. Plus, he decided to agree to the price. He could have taken the whole amount in Imperial, but chose to walk away. He chose to take half in flan. Could have still walked away, though. He wasn't forced to hand over the bounties. He felt it worthwhile.For all we know, he knew this would happen and figured it was cost of doing business.

Oh come on, Greef Karga had to know imperial credits are worthless, Mandolin even points it out to him: ‘You know the Empire fell, right?’. And again, if Karga intended to respect their agreement but couldn’t at the moment he would have offered to pay the rest later instead of going ‘it’s either half the price or nothing’.
And yes, Mando chose to take half the money. But what I’m saying is that it’s not clear (because you can only do so much with a mask on) wether he was actually scammed or if he saw it but accepted it because Karga is the only one giving him jobs in the region or something. I thought the latter until I saw him just blazing away at the Jawas without thinking.

[Peelee]

Oh come on, Greef Karga had to know imperial credits are worthless, Mandolin even points it out to him: ‘You know the Empire fell, right?’.

They still spend. Maybe not where the Mando goes. Maybe not in the coven. But that's hardly Greef's fault.

[Fyraltari]

They still spend. Maybe not where the Mando goes. Maybe not in the coven. But that's hardly Greef's fault.

Do they, though? And for how long? And if he wanted to be honest with Mando why didn’t he offer to pay the other half later?

[Cikomyr]

They still spend. Maybe not where the Mando goes. Maybe not in the coven. But that's hardly Greef's fault.

No. If I had to guess, Mando does it on principle because the Empire purged his people.

[Fyraltari]

No. If I had to guess, Mando does it on principle because the Empire purged his people.

Given that he was perfectly okay with working for them until he found out the target was a child, I find that unlikely.

[Cikomyr]

The new canon's sudden collapse of the Empire because reasons , by contrast, could legitimately lead to this kind of massive economic stagnation if the New Republic failed to turn on the spending spigot.

Because fascism is extremely unstable, innefficient, and more fragile than most form of government.

The Empire was ripe with corruption, waste, and could only sustain itself by having a permanent conquering campaign of the outer rims.