The Mandalorian Season 3: Mid-Season Review
“The Mandalorian” seasons 1 and 2 have been high-water marks in the Disney-era of Star Wars, and have embodied the attributes many fans gravitate toward when thinking about what the Star Wars franchise represents, adventure, creature effects, space battles, and traditional, mythic storytelling. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have guided their creative teams in building something fans old and new can latch onto and enjoy. They are also responsible for creating what might be the most adorable Star Wars character of all time, Grogu, more colloquially known as, “Baby Yoda.” All that being said, season 3 of “The Mandalorian” has a lot to live up to. Can it reach the bar set by its predecessors? WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Episode 1, Chapter 17: The Apostate
Following the events of The Book of Boba Fett, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) has been reunited with Grogu, and has learned from The Armorer (Emily Swallow) he can redeem himself and become a Mandalorian again by bathing in the Living Waters in the mines of Mandalore. Din and Grogu return to Nevarro to ask Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), now the High Magistrate, if IG-11 (Taika Waititi) can be rebuilt to help him with his descent into the mines. Din and Grogu are told by a group of local Anzellans that IG-11 cannot be returned to his old programming without a new memory core, which they do not have, and is exceptionally difficult to come by. The episode ends with Din leaving Nevarro and visiting Bo-Katan Kryze (Katie Sackoff) on Kalevala to ask for her assistance in reaching the mines as well. She informs him that without the Dark Saber her followers have abandoned her, and she is no longer interested in reclaiming Mandalore.
The Apostate is a standard paint-by-numbers opening episode. It sets up Din Djarin’s primary mission and informs the viewer of what he needs to accomplish it. The goal is to find a memory core to restore IG-11, use him to decend into the mines of Mandalore, and bath in the Living Waters so he can restore his honor as a Mandalorian. The episode puts us back into the world and re-introduces all its main players and some new ones.
Upon first viewing, the show seemingly has a strong foundation to work with, however episode 2, The Mines of Mandalore, retroactively makes The Apostate worse.
Episode 2, Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore
The episode begins with Din Djarin returning to Tatooine with the hope of finding IG-11’s new memory core from Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris). Peli Motto promptly convinces Din to give up on finding the memory core, and instead buy R5-D4 (the malfunctioning droid from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) from her. Din acquiesces, buys the droid, and departs Tatooine for Mandalore. Upon reaching the surface of Mandalore, Din instructs R5 to go ahead and run diagnostics to ensure the air is non-toxic. When R5 does not return, Din and Grogu have to venture into the planet to find him. While doing so, Din is captured by a cyborg-like creature, and Grogu must independently return to Bo-Katan on Kalevala so the pair can rescue Din from the creature together. Grogu leads Bo-Katan back to the cyborg after encountering a few obstacles and pausing on this seemingly urgent mission for some conversation. Bo-Katan defeats the cyborg, and Din Djarin is rescued. Following this harrowing experience, Bo-Katan guides Din and Grogu to the Living Waters. Din wades into the pool, however, it is deeper than he realizes, and Bo-Katan must dive in to prevent him from sinking to the bottom. The episode ends with Bo and Din returning to the surface, and Bo-Katan catching a glimpse of the legendary Mythosaur through the darkness of the waters.
The Mines of Mandalore is a mixed bag. It reveals elements of Star Wars mythology fans have been waiting for since “The Mandalorian” began, yet it is riddled with pacing issues and subverts expectations by firstly, disregarding one of Din’s goals laid out in episode 1, and secondly, expeditiously completing another. The subversion of expectations is not always a bad thing, the benefit to Din accomplishing his goal of bathing in the Living Waters this early in the season means we as an audience can be surprised by the twists and turns of the remaining six episodes. This is akin to the Avengers killing Thanos in the first 10 minutes of Avengers: Endgame. However, as I mentioned, this subversion makes The Apostate retroactively worse.
Peli Motto convinces Din Djarin to completely abandon his quest to revive IG-11 in a matter of minutes, which makes me wonder, what was the point of even introducing that as a plot point in the first place? When returning to Mandalore to rescue Din, Grogu and Bo-Katan don’t seem to be in much of a hurry considering their friend is about to lose his life. It is as if empty plot points and a lack of urgency are being implemented to account for a shortage of actual storytelling material. That being said it is difficult to judge the overall quality of a narrative when we are only two episodes into the season. Let us continue.
Episode 3, Chapter 19: The Convert
The Convert is the longest episode “The Mandalorian” series has ever produced, clocking in at 59 minutes long including the credits. Yet its runtime is divided unevenly between two disparate narratives. The first follows Din Djarin, Grogu, and Bo-Katan as they return to The Armorer to prove Din has bathed in the Living Waters. Despite this plot line following the main character of the series, this is actually the B-plot of the episode, comprising roughly 10% of the runtime. The episode’s remaining 90%, the A-plot, diverts the viewer’s attention to a character whom has only appeared briefly over the course of the last two seasons, Dr. Penn Pershing (Omid Abtahi).
For those that don’t remember, Dr. Pershing was a scientist involved with the remnant Imperials’ cloning experiments. The Convert explores Dr. Pershing’s reintegration into the New Republic, similar to our real world’s Operation Paperclip after World War II. Over the course of the episode, Pershing befriends a fellow ex-imperial, Elia Kane (Katy O’Brian). After gaining Pershing’s trust, Kane convinces him to continue the research he performed under the Empire, despite its morally questionable nature, and sneak aboard a decommissioned Imperial Star Destroyer to collect the necessary tools to do so. While aboard the Star Destroyer, Kane alerts the New Republic law enforcement to their whereabouts, and betrays Dr. Pershing, seeing that he is arrested in the process. At the end of the episode, the story transitions back to Din and Bo’s plot line, and we see both of them reinstated as Mandalorians for bathing in the Living Waters.
There is a lot to like about The Convert. Getting a glimpse into the lives of defected Imperial remnants after the fall of the Empire is incredibly interesting and adds verisimilitude to the world of Star Wars. Bo-Katan’s unexpected conversion to Din Djarin’s unique sect of Mandalorians is unexpected and welcome considering her previous opposition to their outlook on the Mandalorian culture, however, spending 90% of the series’ longest episode away from its lead is reminiscent of some of the weaker writing tactics used in The Mandalorian’s lesser sibling show, “The Book of Boba Fett”. If these Disney Plus shows were allotted more than eight episodes a season, or if each episode had a runtime longer than the average 25-minutes, an episode structured like The Convert would be enjoyable, however, because time with the lead and their story is a precious commodity, The Convert seems misplaced and creates a sense of narrative unfocus.
Episode 4, Chapter 20, The Foundling
Episode 4, The Foundling, fully returns to the main plot of the season. Din Djarin, Grogu, and Bo-Katan are settling in with the other Mandalorians, and Din introduces Grogu to combat training with other Mandalorian children. Grogu wins his first match against Paz Visla’s son, Ragnar, however, the group is unexpectedly attacked by a Shriek-Hawk and Ragnar is taken by the animal. Bo-Katan, Din Djarin and Paz Visla venture to the Shriek-Hawk’s nest and mount a rescue mission, while Grogu stays with The Armorer back at their home base. The Armorer constructs a new piece of armor for Grogu to wear, and while watching her forge it, Grogu has a flashback to when he was rescued from the burning Jedi Temple on Coruscant during Order 66.
The information presented during this flashback has been a long time coming for many fans of the show. It is revealed that Grogu was saved by a Jedi by the name of Kelleran Beq, played by none other than actor Amed Best, famously known for his portrayal of Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars Prequel trilogy. It was incredibly gratifying to see Best’s cameo in such an important, and frankly badass role, considering all of the hatred and mistreatment he faced after his role in the Prequel Trilogy.
After the flashback, Grogu is gifted a new beskar chest plate adorned with the sigil of the mudhorn, just like Din’s, and the plot returns to the rescue of Ragnar. Ragnar is retrieved by Din after Paz Visla’s actions to rescue his son cause the plan to go sideways, and the group return to their home base mostly unscathed. The final scene of the episode shows The Armorer replacing a pauldron Bo-Katan lost during the scuffle with the Shriek-Hawk, and Bo tells The Armorer about the Mythosaur she saw in the Living Waters.
The best part of this episode is Grogu’s flashback. The rest of the episode shares similar problems with the rescue of Din Djarin in the The Mines of Mandalore. After Ragnar is abducted by the Shriek-Hawk, the Mandalorians make illogical mistake after illogical mistake. Despite stating they have faced the beast multiple times, none of its victims have come back alive, and Ragnar is Paz Vista’s son, there is absolutely no sense of urgency to ensure the boy’s survival. Once again the pacing of the show seemingly illustrates a need to take a small amount of material and sketch it to its breaking point.
The first four episodes of “The Mandalorian” season 3 have their moments, but are overall a disappointment. Where the first two seasons were focused on Din Djarin and Grogu’s relationship, season 3 has thus far fallen prey to numerous pacing issues, narrative unfocus, and a lack of material from which to construct a story on par with its predecessors. That being said, there are still four episodes to go until the season is complete. I can only hope the quality improves from this point forward.