The Mandalorian (TV series)

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

It wasn't checking FOR clearance, it was checking for denial. Cara wouldn't pass because she's a registered republic commando. the assassin wouldn't pass because she's wanted. fett wouldn't pass because clone.

mayfeld specifically states in the episode that the console checks databases to deny people. it doesn't check lists to approve them.

Mando never worked as a storm trooper or anything.

If that's true that might be the dumbest thing written since the Sequel movies. You really think you'd have a security system that doesn't check to see if you're part of the organization it belongs to, then your clearance? Nope let's just see if a live person is staring into it. That makes zero sense.

 

[Psab keel]

His death in ROTS was already meaningless.

Would it suddenly give his character meaning to have him resurrected, having his survival hamfisted into numerous retcons that make little sense to justify why he neglected to be involved with the Alliance or Luke's training, only to somewhere along the line die a second time?

The point is sometimes a character needs to stay dead. Just because someone is cool doesn't mean it's good for the story to bring them back. I know the same could be said of Fett, but as I've argued before, his armor alone would have given him more of a fighting chance at survival. Mace was electrocuted (which if I recall stops your heartbeat) before he was thrown hundreds of feet out of a window. So sure he may have been able to slow his fall or catch a nearby speeder passing by with his Jedi powers, but there are instantly two problems with that.

First, you can't use the Force too well if you're already dead and have no heartbeat and even taking into account Yoda being able to influence the temporal world in TLJ, all we know of Mace in spirit form is him appearing as a disembodied voice in TROS. Two, if he survived, why would he wait 30 plus years to come back rather than come back to Palpatine's office immediately (in ROTS) to finish the job of killing him and Anakin for that matter.

I love Samuel L Jackson, but his talents were wasted on the character to begin with. Bringing him back to try and "fix" this perceived error would only make his character even cheaper than he already was.

 

[harrisonp]

I feel like we’re overthinking this face scan thing. Maybe anyone on the base is assumed to have clearance and the face scan is just a passive way of recording terminal users. That way later if anything incriminating comes up they have a record of who did it. It’s not an airtight way of doing things but Star Wars tech is always for the plot.

 

[Strikerkc]

Eh, makes enough sense to me. Empire is on the back foot. They probably don't have a good record of who all is still signed up. Have had to recruit fresh troopers, and probably don't want to create a master list of their own folks anyways, to keep it from being captured. So they run records checks to try and make sure known repiblic agents or hunters/killers aren't trying to get into the system.

Remember, the bulk of the passwords and imperial codes was covered on the code cylinder by Mayfeld (that's the number 1 reason they even went to go get him. They need his pass key/access knowledge). That was the initial check. The face scan was to make sure it wasn't some repiblic shock trooper that had just stormed the base, popping a recovered cylinder into the access point and hoping for the best.

 

[Toadmeister]

If that's true that might be the dumbest thing written since the Sequel movies. You really think you'd have a security system that doesn't check to see if you're part of the organization it belongs to, then your clearance? Nope let's just see if a live person is staring into it. That makes zero sense.

I get some better answers when considering the Dune universe, which Star Wars borrows from. Dune has something called the Bulgarian Jihad, which basically was a revolt on AI technology (or thinking machines). The Star Wars universe has a partial adoption of this, just not to the same level.

In SW, Computers and droids exist but are kept as “secondary citizens” and not allowed master control of ships systems for example. The human or physical interface is always there to prevent AI or droids from taking over. That’s why you have all these redundant human interfaces, code cylinders, and switches everywhere. Droids are allowed some autonomy but are generally designed out with safeguards, like physical lockouts and keys.

So, the face scan is just that, a lock out safeguard for AI, droids and anyone black listed. It’s the code cylinder Mando had that really allowed him confidential access. Imperials figure no one will be entering the secure base (or starship) to access these data points. Of course, they’ve been wrong a few times and get infiltrated but the system mostly works to prevent remote hacking and AI access, a bigger potential issue.

Our own modern world could learn a few things from this approach.

 

[ghostryder]

 

[DBoz]

I get some better answers when considering the Dune universe, which Star Wars borrows from. Dune has something called the Bulgarian Jihad, which basically was a revolt on AI technology (or thinking machines). The Star Wars universe has a partial adoption of this, just not to the same level.

In SW, Computers and droids exist but are kept as “secondary citizens” and not allowed master control of ships systems for example. The human or physical interface is always there to prevent AI or droids from taking over. That’s why you have all these redundant human interfaces, code cylinders, and switches everywhere. Droids are allowed some autonomy but are generally designed out with safeguards, like physical lockouts and keys.

So, the face scan is just that, a lock out safeguard for AI, droids and anyone black listed. It’s the code cylinder Mando had that really allowed him confidential access. Imperials figure no one will be entering the secure base (or starship) to access these data points. Of course, they’ve been wrong a few times and get infiltrated but the system mostly works to prevent remote hacking and AI access, a bigger potential issue.

Our own modern world could learn a few things from this approach.

It was the Butlerian Jihad in Dune; however, this explanation also does not work in this case. If this were the case, R2 would not have been able to access the systems in the Death Star or Cloud City.

Anyway, there’s a lot of mental gymnastics going on here to explain something that was just a convenient plot device to get Mando to take his helmet off. Personally, I think they could have spent a couple extra minutes thinking about it at the script stage and come up with something that actually made sense.

 

[harrisonp]

“Hey trooper, no helmets in the mess hall”

 

[Toadmeister]

It was the Butlerian Jihad in Dune; however, this explanation also does not work in this case. If this were the case, R2 would not have been able to access the systems in the Death Star or Cloud City.

Anyway, there’s a lot of mental gymnastics going on here to explain something that was just a convenient plot device to get Mando to take his helmet off. Personally, I think they could have spent a couple extra minutes thinking about it at the script stage and come up with something that actually made sense.

Your right about R2, he’s a Mguffin. I figure he has special access codes from Anakin back in the Clone Wars and the Royal house of Alderaan. He also had the Death Star plans. Cloud City security is pretty lax too.

R2 wouldn't pass the face scan however.

 

[AJK001]

I just realized Pedro Pascal has pretty good experience with spear dueling...reckon it would end differently this time...

I've just been binging GOT and it took me forever to figure out where I knew the actor from before I finally realized it was Mando.

 

[Psab keel]

It's interesting to me that this character moment (which was great) is such a point of contention for a lot of fans. I think it's an unnecessary nitpick when it advanced the story really well and also gave us a chance to see a human face under that helmet. Pedro is a fine actor and it was refreshing to be reminded there really is someone under there and not a droid.

It's something that isn't so egregious that I couldn't easily overlook it. Plus it was the "ticking clock" element that helped elevate the tension in the scene. Din is compromising his own code to save his friend at the risk of being stopped by the officers and the commentary from Mayfeld only confirms what he is experiencing. That "sometimes it's about being able to sleep at night."

Great episode.

 

[ZeroSum]

It's just a small contrivance, imo. Ultimately inconsequential and I'm not going to bother reading every post debating it. Every story has it's contrivances to move the plot forward. Whether the contrivance is too much for you to get past is up to you.

 

[HMSwolfe]

It's interesting to me that this character moment (which was great) is such a point of contention for a lot of fans. I think it's an unnecessary nitpick when it advanced the story really well and also gave us a chance to see a human face under that helmet. Pedro is a fine actor and it was refreshing to be reminded there really is someone under there and not a droid.

It's something that isn't so egregious that I couldn't easily overlook it. Plus it was the "ticking clock" element that helped elevate the tension in the scene. Din is compromising his own code to save his friend at the risk of being stopped by the officers and the commentary from Mayfeld only confirms what he is experiencing. That "sometimes it's about being able to sleep at night."

Great episode.

My brother brought up an interesting viewpoint to me when I mentioned my reaction to Mayfeld initially being reluctant to show his face to the officer, but being fine with it moments later. He took it as Mayfeld seeing Din willing to do something not only risky but against his very way of life in order to do what needed to be done, and Mayfeld going in a moment later to help Din out was a reaction to that character struggle, that seeing that had caused a change in Mayfeld as well.

 

[harrisonp]

The part I will continue to gripe about is Mayfeld not getting recognized by the officer in any way

 

[ghostryder]

 

[Treadwell]

The part I will continue to gripe about is Mayfeld not getting recognized by the officer in any way

It fits, though. People are not important to that officer, not even his own.

 

[HMSwolfe]

I’m starting to think now that Mayfeld may not have even thought the guy would recognize him, but more likely didn’t want to/couldn’t deal with the possibility of having to interact with someone he felt was evil in a much more real sense than we usually consider the Empire to be. May be stretching it, but I like it. Like Mayfeld knew if he were forced to interact with the officer, it was always only ever going to end up one way.

 

[harrisonp]

It fits, though. People are not important to that officer, not even his own.

It’s just the entire reason Mayfeld can’t do it so it bugs me, but knowing about Operation Cinder I’ll give you that point.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

I've learned throughout my life, there's people that I think about often, that I've had business or recreational relationships with, that have absolutely NO IDEA who I am.

I had an assigned mentor before I went into theology school. He & I met 3 times a week, had several trips together. When I got a bit too big for my britches, he gave me a dressing down that I pull from all the time when dealing with others.

We lost touch after he & his family moved, but last year, my wife & I saw him & his wife at a restaurant, so I went over to say hi. He said I looked familiar, but he wasn't sure he remembered me. I recounted how we knew each other, & he finally remembered my brother's name. He said it was good to see us again & as we were walking away, the couple they were with asked exactly who we were, & I heard him & his wife say that they had no idea.

I felt Mayfeld was in the same boat. Due to the actions of the officer, he thought about him ..A LOT. The guy had killed tens of thousands of his own troops during Cinder, so he sure didn't remember this one lowly field agent.

I thought it was awesome, when Mayfeld realized the guy didn't recognize him, he brought up Cinder himself. I knew then the guy wasn't gonna make it. Lol

 

[kickman88]

I’m starting to think now that Mayfeld may not have even thought the guy would recognize him, but more likely didn’t want to/couldn’t deal with the possibility of having to interact with someone he felt was evil in a much more real sense than we usually consider the Empire to be. May be stretching it, but I like it. Like Mayfeld knew if he were forced to interact with the officer, it was always only ever going to end up one way.

I think you may be onto something here. I also think Mayfeld knew things would go sideways for sure if he left Mando in there on his own so he decided to try to save the situation compared to when he would not go in before. I also think he may have only wanted it to end up one way-revenge!