Further Star Wars Thoughts

Still in a Star Wars mood last night, I watched The Empire Strikes Back. I guess I wanted to watch Boba Fett in the context of his first live action appearance (not counting the Episode IV special edition footage added in the '90s). Of course, nothing Boba Fett does in the movies contradicts the way he was characterised in The Book of Boba Fett. Even if you discount the possibility that Boba Fett is the kind of person who could grow and change, two of his few lines in Empire have him asking Vader not to kill Han Solo. So the idea that he's not a killer by default was already present. A bounty hunter isn't an assassin.

Some people have refined their complaints to say that the collective impression of Boba Fett that developed over decades is more important than the actual evidence in the films. Watching Empire Strikes Back, I could certainly sympathise with this. I remembered the various books and video games that played off impressions of the world in the original trilogy that could only form in the absence of any additional information supplied by the special editions and prequels. We had so little information about Boba Fett, people's imaginations were free to roam wild based just on that cool, quiet helmet. George Lucas quite intentionally left things mysterious in the original trilogy in many cases, a more significant example being Darth Vader himself. There was plenty of speculation but there's actually no information anywhere in the original films as to why Vader always wears a mask and suit until the end of Return of the Jedi. And then it's no more than the observation from Luke; "But you'll die!" when Vader asks that he remove it.

Jon Favreau respected the idea of a character never removing his helmet--that's a foundational concept on The Mandalorian. Favreau made a mistake when he provided a reason for it. If he wanted it to work like in the original films, he should've just had Mando going about his business, wearing the helmet, and everyone around him not even questioning it, just like Boba Fett in the movies. But Favreau couldn't have done that with Fett himself because Lucas had already given him a backstory in the prequels and on Clone Wars. For better or worse, Boba Fett had already ceased to be the guy who wears his helmet all the time long before The Book of Boba Fett came along.

I wonder if a Star Wars film as good as The Empire Strikes Back could be made now under Disney. It doesn't seem likely, not entirely because of an absence of will or even a willingness on Disney's part to take a risk. The ideas that make Empire work are ideas that audiences are increasingly less willing to engage with. The Empire Strikes Back is one of the greatest movies ever made about the messiness of youth contrasted with the clarity of adulthood. Yoda and Darth Vader, as the elder characters, are genuinely shrewd and confident. Luke, Han, and Leia, because they're young, have beliefs about the universe and each other that are very confident but often mistaken. One of the most memorable being Han and Leia's feelings for each other. He pushes her on a journey to realising that she's been in falling in love with him but he goes to his doom without owning up to feeling the same way about her. The reason that tragedy is so effective is because their awkwardness is written so authentically.

Few people would relish the idea of experiencing the intense and painful trials and tribulations of youthful romance. So it's no wonder that young people increasingly prefer to be alone with an increasingly addictive alternative--the internet, where all social mistakes can be erased with your screen name. Under the philosophy of fear and avoidance that builds up in such a community, a scene like Han pressing close to a recoiling Leia on the Falcon would be terribly problematic, and wouldn't be seen for what it is--an accurate and really sweet portrayal of two kids not quite knowing what they're doing and perhaps letting their instincts guide them to an accident.

Good romance has been sadly lacking in Star Wars since the prequels. The idea of Anakin and Padme as a romance is a good one and John Williams wrote a lovely theme for it. But it fails largely because of Natalie Portman's weak performance and the infamous dialogue. But the strongest part of the sequel trilogy was Rey and Kylo in The Last Jedi. Rian Johnson, for all his faults, knew what was wrong with Rey in The Force Awakens and he correctly remedied it--just because she's a smart girl, even a genius, doesn't mean she wouldn't make big mistakes, particularly about her own motives. It's a shame the subsequent film couldn't have developed it further. With all the confusion and compulsion implied between them in The Last Jedi, the followup could almost have been a story like Vertigo, in which the two struggle to see the truth past each others' attempts at manipulation. Of course, in The Force Awakens, Finn is the best character because he has to carry all the credible youthful confusion.

The Disney+ shows have curiously focused on older characters. The Mandalorian is played by 46 year old Pedro Pascal, Boba Fett by 61 year old Temuera Morrison, and the upcoming Obi-Wan series stars 50 year old Ewan McGregor as one of the most famous oldsters in film history. 42 year old Rosario Dawson will embody an older and (so far) less interesting version of Ahsoka Tano in her series--the Rogue One prequel series, Andor, will star 42 year old Diego Luna. Though it is supposed to be set before Rogue One so he'll at least be playing younger. The Book of Boba Fett actually spent time ruminating on what it means to grow older, leading to a nice pay-off in the dialogue of the climax. But maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to make a Star Wars show about young people at some point, especially since that's part of what made Star Wars successful to begin with.

Mind you, I'm not counting Grogu. He's cute but he's more of a doll than a character.

Twitter Sonnet #1521

The trembling mochi's baked by nervous hands.
An eye became a pen to write a road.
The friends became a pair of deadly bands.
The flashing swords and dust on horses rode.
The faster gun was never seen by some.
The bitter eye was blind to sweeter sights.
The dancer couldn't sing but softly hummed.
A name by any slip was dead to rights.
The dusty tinsel hid behind the plug.
He turned the spit to clearly roast the ham.
As juices dripped she waited close and snug.
The fading stars present the shape of ram.
The active feeling fell upon a crew.
Alone, the lovely legs were cold and blue.

The Book of Rodriguez

I was enthralled by last night's finale of Book of Boba Fett. It's been pretty cold around here lately and I have a little heater next to my computer. I was two thirds of the way through the episode before I realised I'd forgotten to turn the heater on. That's definitely the mark of a good TV show or movie--it quite takes you out of your life. The writing was decent but the lion's share of the credit goes to Robert Rodriguez who, despite the grudge many people in the industry and netizens have against him, is undeniably talented at putting together action sequences and evocatively framing characters.

A lot of people might be tempted to call this The Book of Grogu. The little tyke formerly known as Baby Yoda certainly stole more than one scene, first just by showing up in Luke's X-Wing, then by lending a hand in the decadent melee at Mos Espa. So we still haven't had a Disney+ Star Wars series that can show it can stand on its own without the tiny superstar. Oh, well. I didn't like Grogu in season one of The Mandalorian but I'd warmed to him in season two. In this episode, I liked the scene where he soothed the rancor and the scene where he showed up with Amy Sedaris whose comedic timing perfectly punctuated her "Mando, have I got a surprise for you!" line.

As for Boba (Temuerra Morrison) himself, his best scene was his showdown with Cad Bane (Corey Burton). I'm conflicted on whether or not I want Bane to be actually dead from that scene. On the one hand, it makes for a satisfying conclusion to Boba Fett's story that was developed on The Clone Wars. On the other, Cad Bane turned out so well in live action it seems a shame to only have him around for two episodes of one series.

Did you hear the rumour that Han Solo was supposed to show up in this episode? From what I read and heard, a lot of people were dead certain it was going to happen. So much so I wonder if it was a false rumour planted to sew seeds of disappointment as part of the campaign against Rodriguez. I suspect this grudge is a leftover from the Me Too movement as a lot of people feel Rodriguez must be guilty of something for his former association with Harvey Weinstein. The same people probably feel the same way about Tarantino but Tarantino proved much too big to take down. Rose McGowan also made vague, bitter statements about Rodriguez, her former boyfriend of several years. It wouldn't surprise me if many of the netizens spreading random, inexplicable bad comments about Rodriguez are former members of the "army" she tried to build online. It's pretty sad--I saw Rodriguez and McGowan in person at Comic Con when they were promoting Grindhouse and it was clear that she absolutely adored him. Now she seems to have a career driven by bitterness.

I'm glad Han Solo didn't show up if it was going to be like Luke last week. It's since been revealed that Mark Hamill wasn't at all involved with that episode, that his voice was digitally created. At the time, I'd thought he sounded a little flat but I thought it was just because he was in a recording studio. Sometimes actors forget to change their voices when doing voiceovers to match an outdoor scene. Is the irony lost on Lucasfilm that Luke has become more machine now than man? Sadly, I think it is, especially since they can't seem to write Jedi in a positive manner at all anymore.

The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.

Characters Appear

Last night's Book of Boba Fett was certainly a technical wonder. Yet, in contrast to the earlier episodes of the series, this one's blending of special effects and live action is much rougher and distracting. Director Dave Filoni continues to be, in my opinion, vastly overrated and anyone who thought the Vespa chase was slow in the third episode was probably twiddling their thumbs a lot here. But, while the special appearances were a little gimmicky, they were amazing and carried a few bits of interesting development.

The real big story from the episode for most people would probably be the extended appearance by Luke Skywalker, voiced by Mark Hamill and played by a body double with Hamill's young face digitally imposed. I was reminded that Disney hired that deep fakes guy from YouTube who demonstrated he could do a better job de-aging Hamill than Disney did in the Mandalorian finale. Kudos to Disney for actually hiring the man instead of getting defensive about it. The effect still isn't perfect but it functions well enough.

As a character, we could look at this Luke as a bridge between his Return of the Jedi self and Last Jedi self. A big moment in the episode is when he forces Grogu to choose between training as a Jedi and going with Din (Pedro Pascal). So we can see that, despite not having been brought up in the more institutionalised Jedi structure from the prequels, he's whole-heartedly embraced the philosophy. In this case, so much so that when he renounces being a Jedi, he still lives as a hermit. I'd like to see a story exploring the fact that Luke is not only able to deny himself attachments, he actually seems to prefer isolation.

Lucasfilm is now leading people to believe that Filoni is sole creator of Ahsoka Tano, now played by Rosario Dawson, despite the fact that he didn't write any of the episodes that established her personality on The Clone Wars and most of the press early on was more about George Lucas' desire to make a character reflecting his experience with his daughters. But I guess since Lucasfilm wants an heir apparent to Lucas, they've been massaging Ahsoka's legacy. Now Filoni says in interviews he feels protective of her and seemingly won't let anyone else write her dialogue in live action. Which must be why she never has anything interesting to say. It's really a shame, she was such a good character in seasons two through six of The Clone Wars. Filoni had better shape up if he wants her series to be any good. She's going to be really boring if she's just Miss Tranquil Aloofness all the time.

Despite the fact that Filoni bungled the tension in the scene, the highlight of the episode was the appearance of Cad Bane, played by Corey Burton, who voiced him on The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch. I knew he was going to appear when they made his hat smaller and more feasible for live action on The Bad Batch but I didn't know I was going to like his appearance so much. He looks genuinely creepy. It's too bad Filoni spoiled the scene with the energy between the Marshall (Timothy Olyphant) and his deputy. When the Marshall looked over in irritation at the deputy, breaking his stare-down with Bane, it reminded me of movies where a driver speaks to and looks at a passenger for several minutes without glancing at the road.

On The Clone Wars, I didn't really like Cad Bane until his character was developed as someone very independent, who could make intelligent decisions without reference to the Separatists or the Republic. I don't know if they'll get a chance to show that part of his personality on this show but he works now as a physical presence.

I'm looking forward to next week's finale but I'm a little worried it'll feel overstuffed.

The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.

Everyone Goes to Tatooine

A surprisingly good episode of The Book of Boba Fett last night considering it was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. She directed some of the weakest episodes of The Mandalorian and I still think her presence on these shows is Disney paying back Ron Howard for stepping in on Solo. But she actually did a decent job on the fairly low key episode last night though, since it relied mainly on baked in, previous established elements, most of the credit probably has to go to the writing and performances.

The clues last week that Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) would appear this week turn out to have understated the fact. Not only did he appear, he took over the whole show, basically making this a new episode of The Mandalorian in which Boba Fett didn't even make an appearance. In a way, it makes sense considering the creators had been calling Book of Boba Fett "The Mandalorian season 2.5". But with only seven episodes for Boba Fett, I don't quite see why a lot of this material couldn't have been saved for Mandalorian season three.

Anyway, it was cool seeing Din wielding the Dark Sabre. When he cut that guy in half it was pretty much confirmed, if it needed to be, that Boba's reluctance to kill now has nothing to do with Disney policy.

And it was just nice seeing Din again and his colour coordinated armour. It really is a shame Boba has to wear black with dusty green. Obviously Boba changed the armour's original colours from when his father wore it, couldn't he do it again? Or would that be too drastic a change for fans? He can't lose those robes, though, considering how much they mean to him, being gifts from the Tuskens. But, damn, last night proved how much colour coordination matters.

The ring space station was cool. Din reconnecting with his old Mandalorian friends featured some subtle lore smoothing dialogue, confirming that, instead of being representative of all Mandalorians, they are in fact a small cult. Naturally they incorporated their survival into a justification of their beliefs.

There were some logistical problems I had with the episode's writing. Why were the clients desperate to pay so much for just receiving the head of the bounty when surely his death was the important thing? Why did Din risk losing his weapons, particularly the Dark Sabre, just to fly commercial? Why does he accept a new ship with no cargo hold? Does he need space to transport bounties? But it all felt like a nice way of making the world feel a little bigger to spend so much time watching Din and Amy Sedaris working on the thing. Even if it does seem like a bit of indulgence when there's not much story-telling time left this season.

The end of the episode teases an appearance by Grogu before Din finally meets up with Boba. Is Luke training Grogu on Tatooine or is Din heading off-world again? Once again, Luke's complaint about Tatooine in Episode IV, that it's the place furthest from the centre of the galaxy, seems a less and less accurate description. Everyone's going to Tatooine.

Next week is the episode directed and co-written by Dave Filoni which makes me wonder if it's the one in which we'll see Cad Bane. I suppose it would have to be if we're going to see Cad Bane at all, there's not much time left. I'm feeling less and less like Jennifer Beals is going to get a big scene.

The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.

Boba's Reasons

A solid episode of The Book of Boba Fett last night, if not quite as exciting as the first three. It was directed by Kevin Tancharoen, who directed the 2009 remake of Fame, a Glee concert film, and a Britney Spears concert film, among many other things. So I was hoping there would be a dance number in this episode. But I was happy to see the episode answer a big question I had going into the series.

Why is Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) so loyal to Boba (Temuera Morrison)? Now we know. Not only did he save her life, he inspired her with his ideas about how he thinks a family should be run. At the same time, this also explained why he's been such a merciful leader so far, though most of the more intelligent critics picked up on it already--the Tuskens taught him the value of community.

I also like how the culture of people addicted to cybernetic implants are called "mods". Looks like their bikes' resemblance to vespas is no coincidence--vespas were a part of mod fashion culture in the 1960s.

Speaking of modes of conveyance, I became really fond of Boba's bantha and was sorry to see it go, though I was glad he wasn't killed by stray fire and forgotten.

Though, of course, I was happy to see him get his ship back, too, and to see him swoop down on the biker gang like a god of hellfire.

Will people stop complaining now that Boba's too merciful? Of course not, because the complaints weren't made in good faith to begin with. Still, it was nice to see. The show has hinted the bikers weren't really responsible for killing the Tuskens but they did raid moisture farmers so I'm not shedding tears over them.

The Wonderfully Crooked Streets of Mos Espa

It was a short but satisfying new episode of The Book of Boba Fett last night. The second of three directed by Robert Rodriguez, this episode made me realise The Book of Boba Fett is the most Disney Star Wars has come to feeling like George Lucas and like the old adventure serials he sought to emulate.

Spoilers after the screenshot

It's hard to imagine anyone will complain nothing happened in this episode because nearly every scene featured a dramatic turn of events. When a water broker asks Boba to take out a biker gang raiding his stock, Boba hires the gang instead. Last week I said I was hoping to get more insight into how things worked in Jabba's dominion, this episode delivered, giving me a fairly good idea. It was also interesting hearing about how moisture farmers, like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, take their harvests to a city distributor.

Boba's strategy of ruling with respect continues to pay off as it's the biker gang who saves his ass when that big black wookiee gets the drop on him.

Apparently this is a character from the comics. The few Star Wars comics I've read since Disney took over where astonishingly bad and I've heard nothing but bad things about them since. But this guy was certainly a big hairy nightmare on the screen from the moment he yanked Boba out of the bacta tank. His name is Black Krrsantan, by the way, which I keep hearing as "Black Chrysanthemum", which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing.

The flashback was much shorter this time but came with the massacre of Boba's adopted family, the Tusken tribe. I knew this was coming--why else would Boba be wandering alone when he appeared on The Mandalorian?--but I was surprised it was so soon. So it took me a little off guard, which helped give me an impression of Boba's own sense of devastation. I hope Disney will allow him to get bloody revenge.

However, it's notable the badass female Tusken who trained him doesn't seem to be among the remains. Did the gang take her captive? That would imply a fate I know Disney would very much prefer not to suggest.

Back in the present day, Boba gets himself a new rancor as a gift from a surprisingly apologetic pair of hutts. Though it sounds to me like they're hoping Boba will defeat or at least weaken the Pykes so that the hutts can more easily take over the territory. I was surprised Boba let Krrsantan go, I was kind of hoping he'd make the wookiee into the replacement rancor.

But it was nice getting that sure trademark of a Rodriguez production when Danny Trejo appeared as the keeper of the new rancor.

So let's just tally it up here--things that happened in this episode. Boba hires the biker gang, the sand people are massacred in flashback, the wookiee tries to kill him and is thwarted by the combined efforts of Boba's whole crew, the Twins make peace, and Boba gets a new rancor that imprints on him. All that, and the episode wasn't even done yet.

A trip to the mayor's reveals the man had scarpered and his weaselly major-domo attempts to do the same. If I have one complaint about the episode it's that the speeder chase through the streets of Mos Espa felt too slow. But I do love this teen biker gang with their brightly coloured bikes. What else were they up to besides stealing water? Think about it--they said they didn't have any money. How did they get those bikes and cybernetic implants? These kids are crooked. And that makes me happy.

The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.

Crossing the Desert is Dangerous

Wow. Even in this era of more cinematic television, last night's new Book of Boba Fett episode was surprising--and amazing--in its scale. This is director Steph Green's first work on a Star Wars production but she's had a pretty long career directing episodes of TV series and was even nominated for an Academy Award for a short film. That's a far cry from the randos Disney so often hires for middle episodes. I suspect Robert Rodriguez made some contributions as well in capacity as executive producer because, just like the first episode, the second Book of Boba Fett chapter integrates the actors much better with the LED virtual sets than The Mandalorian ever did.

So much of it was a surprise, too. Who'd have guessed we'd be seeing Boba and the Tusken Raiders taking out a train?

It's a great action scene and watching Boba and the Tuskens leaping from exploding speeder bikes onto the train it was hard to believe this was television and not a big budget film. The choreography and effects were flawless.

The flashback story dominated the runtime of the 50 minute episode, leaving only about 15 minutes for present day. The story of Boba Fett being accepted among a tribe of relatively passive Tuskens (they may take slaves but they evidently don't raid unprovoked as often as other tribes) before becoming a very useful "guide" to them is reminiscent of a lot of other stories. Dune and A Princess of Mars most obviously come to mind but the train sequence, especially the aftermath the Tuskens pillaging the wreckage, strongly brings Lawrence of Arabia to mind.

It's what's usually called the "white saviour narrative". But since Temuera Morrison isn't white, what do we call it? The "human saviour narrative"? In any case, this puts the show quite in line with how Lucas originally wrote Star Wars, finding ways of using the kinds of plots you'd see in adventure serials of the '30s, '40s, and '50s without the awkwardness of running afoul of changing political perspectives.

Speaking of the original Star Wars, there's another nice action scene when Boba Fett puts the hurt on a biker gang making trouble at the one and only Tosche Station, that place Luke never went to pick up some power converters waste time with his friends as soon as his chores were finished. Except, in a deleted scene, he did.

And Luke's old friends, Camie and Fixer, are still there, not getting off of this rock, now played by different people.

The present day stuff was good, too, however brief. I really liked the scene where Boba confronts the mayor who turns out to be shrewder than I'd have thought. He sounds quite reasonable talking to Boba and, really, you can hardly blame him for not immediately latching onto Boba's regime, not when "The Twins" are in town.

This is all great stuff but now I'm really itching to see just what the day to day operations are for the criminal organisation formerly presided over by Jabba. Okay, Boba takes protection money and tributes. So does that mean if there's a raid on Jennifer Beals' establishment, Boba will defend it or get retribution? Does he really have the resources? Does the town have an official security force? There used to be a lot of people hanging out in Jabba's palace. Is there gambling? Slave trading? Jennifer Beals clearly has some prostitutes on her payroll.

Anyway, my complaints are still really minor and have more to do with things I want to see than things the show has outright done wrong.

By the way, what I really want to see is Beals do the famous bucket of water dance to "Lapti Nek". I know Beals didn't do her own dancing in Flashdance so this could be a way to redeem herself and "Lapti Nek" at the same time.

The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.

Scavenging and Running

Within the first few minutes of last night's new Bad Batch, I was happy to observe it must have been written by one of the better writers. And indeed, it was written by Christian Taylor, who also wrote the other best episode of the series so far, "Cornered". Last night's new episode, "Reunion", again showed his ability to credibly give an impression of character thought processes relative to their environments and relationships.

Hunter (Dee Bradley Baker) and Tech (Dee Bradley Baker) come up with the bright idea to loot the Jedi cruiser while they're there. This motivation for the characters shows Taylor's ability to think for them. The action that followed was a satisfying cat-and-mouse conflict between Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker) and his former comrades. I was even amused by Wrecker (Dee Bradley Baker) physically tossing a proton torpedo at some troopers.

Wrecker continues to have my least favourite Dee Bradley Baker performance but I like how Christian Taylor writes him as crazy instead of stupid. I love the fact that Crosshair ended up with what looks like some extensive scars. There's some very Star Wars-ish poetry about it. Maybe he'll end up with cybernetic parts?

The Guest Star of the Week didn't show up until the very end but it was worth the wait--the long anticipated return of Cad Bane (Corey Burton) was effected with a distinctly Spaghetti Western flourish, reminding us that was the mode Lucas himself intended for the bounty hunters long before Jon Favraeu went that route with The Mandalorian. The showdown between Bane and Hunter seemed straight out of a Sergio Leone film, though of course it was much faster, which diminished its impact a little.

Bane's familiar broad brimmed hat is noticeably smaller which I'd say is a sure sign he's going to be making his live action debut in one of the new upcoming series, probably The Book of Boba Fett.

Incidentally, Temuera Morrison recently confirmed in an interview that Robert Rodriguez is directing several episodes of the Boba Fett series. I suspected this would be the case but I'm overjoyed to have it confirmed. This makes The Book of Boba Fett the Star Wars project I've been most excited for since Disney bought the IP. Jon Favreau is a good director but Robert Rodriguez made El Mariachi which is a better film than anything J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Taika Waititi, or Jon Favreau have ever made. And Rodriguez is a bona fide action director. In a world less bogged down by corporate overhead, a director like Rodriguez would have been an obvious choice for a Star Wars project from the beginning.

I feel so happy for Boba Fett right now. Congratulations, man.

The Bad Batch is available on Disney+.

Thinking of Boba

Disney's announced so many new Star Wars and Marvel shows for Disney+, it seems like I hear about a new one every week. So far, though, I'm more eager to see The Book of Boba Fett than any of the others. It's almost entirely due to the presence of Robert Rodriguez as co-showrunner though I think I'm also interested in Boba's continued story, especially since I've been watching his story arc on Clone Wars lately. Although the mystery surrounding him was one of the coolest things about Boba Fett when he was first introduced in the original trilogy and animated short, I like the story George Lucas wove around him in Attack of the Clones and Clone Wars--Though the ordinary man just trying to make his way in the galaxy retains some mystery for how, in fact, extraordinary his life is.

In any case, I doubt anyone would argue the Robert Rodrguez episode was the best episode of The Mandalorian. And yet, Rodriguez was a last minute replacement, which might seem astonishing to many people. Aside from Jon Favreau and Taika Waititi, he's the only director who worked on the series who'd established a name for himself as a director prior to working on the series, and his credentials for action filmmaking far exceed Favreau's and Waititi's. El Mariachi and Desperado are classics while From Dusk Til Dawn, Sin City, Machete, and Planet Terror all have strong followings. Rodriguez should have been the elusive luxury, not the last minute replacement. Few directors alive are more perfectly suited to take the reins of Star Wars. Why doesn't Disney act like it?

There are a lot of reasons. There's reason to play your cards close to your chest when you're negotiating as we saw when it looked like Sony was going to take Spider-Man away from the MCU. So Disney might not want to look desperate and be forced into giving Rodriguez a bigger paycheck. But there are more issues than that. There are the political issues--and I don't mean Rodriguez being a potential target of his MeToo icon ex-girlfriend, Rose McGowan. I mean the politics that forced Disney to hire so many untalented directors in the first place, like Bryce Dallas Howard, who seems to be payback for her father coming in to take over directing Solo. The relationship there is obvious, but how many relationships do you suppose aren't obvious? How many people are hired as a result of negotiations for seemingly completely unrelated matters?

Some people would be inclined to cast everything in the light of Disney pandering to SJWs or conservatives, and I do think there is a little of that happening, on both sides, but less than the politically rabid may think. Some creative choices will be forced based on a conception of an overall Disney vision unique to the company. Some choice are about guessing and second guessing just what people want. Really, it's a miracle any lucrative material ever gets matched up with the optimal artist.

I hope Robert Rodriguez directs most if not all of the episodes.