This was a really rough start. The season premiere episode of The Mandalorian Season 3 was plagued with bad writing, silly plot contrivances, and nostalgia-baiting moves that has me really worried for the future of the series.
There really couldn’t have been a worse way to start off the season than this episode.
From the ridiculous mega-alligator fight scene in the first few minutes, the repetitive, dull, and character-breaking plot (more on that in a second) of Mando’s “redemption”, the whirlwind pacing of the episode and time spent in new locations, and to the downright cringey dialogue and combat scenes, Episode 1 of Season 3 was a really poor way to get people excited about The Mandalorian after a two year wait.
Well, more like a year as the actual first two episode of Season 3 were strangely spliced into The Book of Boba Fett, but that’s a topic for another day.
Anyways, back to Season 3, the writing and general direction was seriously lacking.
The opening scene of “The Way” (I forget their actual name) cult Mandalorians baptizing a new initiate in a lake to only then get attacked by a giant alligator-like creature really did establish the tone of the episode. The visuals and cinematography were mostly great and high quality, but some of the costumes, writing, and character logic just made no sense.
How did these Mandalorians not realize that a 50-foot alligator monster was lurking within the waters just outside of their home? Why were the 40 or so expert fighters so inept at fighting a relatively slow, lethargic monster (the creature only moved when the Mandalorians tried to pull it on its side with some jump cables)? And why did some of the Mandalorians look like power rangers? Seriously, some of the helmets and costume designs were laughably bad.
(Disney/Lucasfilm-The Mandalorian-Season 3 Official Trailer)
Nonetheless, the worst part of the episode for me came in the very next scene with Mando, who arrived just in time to blast the creature with his ship (obviously), tried to become reinitiated with the cult.
Essentially, the general story arc of the season for Mando will be him getting redemption for taking his helmet off by visiting Mandalore, ensuring that it is no longer poised, bath in the holy waters, and then come back to The Armorer to complete the redemptive arc. Sounds riveting, right?
I thought the whole point of Mando taking off his helmet was out of his love for Grogu, and that he was willing to set aside the dogmatic ways of his upbringing to help those he cared about.
If I’m remembering correctly, the only reason why Mando took off his helmet in Season 2 was to blend in with the Imperial soldiers on Morak and get their information on Moff Gideon, who had stolen Grogu at that point, while the second time was to say goodbye to Grogu for the final time as Luke Skywalker took him away to start his Jedi training.
By having Mando crawl back to The Armorer and the rest of the Mandalorians (who also tried to kill him for the Dark Saber last season) for “redemption”, Disney has just ruined all of Mando’s character growth. This kind of logic just makes no sense.
Moving on, the episode also had Mando travel back to Nevarro, the same planet the first episode took place, to get the assistance of Greef Karga, who is now the High Magistrate of the planet, and IG-11, who was supposed to be a pile of rubble after self-destructing in Season 1, to help survey the surface of Mandalore.
Instead of remembering said fact and moving on, Mando helped Karga kill some space pirates that really wanted to get a drink in a school for some reason (God knows why) before deciding to go on a fetch quest and get the “super rare” memory processor that would restore IG-11’s memory.
Yeah, this is the kind of writing The Mandalorian has come to.
Both the pirates and the hilariously stupid IG-11 (yes, he came back to life for a second to attack Grogu) fights were woeful and artificially manufactures dramas that only served to get some conflict into the episode. Why Mando couldn’t have taken up Karga’s offers of living on Nevarro, which somehow turned from an outer-rim outlaw town to a high-class civilization in less than a year is beyond me, or taking another droid on his Mandalore expedition still doesn’t make sense.
(Disney/Lucasfilm-The Mandalorian-Season 3 Official Trailer)
The IG-11 droids are assassin/bodyguard droids only built for combat, not surveying planet surfaces and measuring the toxicity of an atmosphere. A protocol droid, astromech unit, or some other type of droid that Karga had in abundance would have been a far better companion than a destroyed IG unit. Plus, it also would save us 3-4 filler episodes of Mando going on a stupid side quest.
Moreover, one of Mando’s only friends left not only offered him free land and a stipend to live in a beautiful village with the sole responsibility of being the town’s sheriff, but that same friend is also the leader of the place. Why would he reject a life of opulence and safety for Grogu (which was his sole priority in the first two seasons) for being a part of a cult that not only rejects him for being an apostate, but also had some members try killing him in the last season.
For as long as Mando has the Dark Saber, his life is in jeopardy from any ambitious, power-hungry Mandalorian that wants to establish themselves as the ruler of the planet.
And, to top it all off, the episode ended with Mando getting into a space battle with the Star Wars version of Davey Jones (no, I’m not kidding) and then met up with a dejected Bo Katan for a quick second to say hello. I’m not joking.
It’s really sad to see such a unique concept and character be misused and milked out for money, greed, and new toys as Mando’s character arc and role in the Star Wars universe concluded the moment Luke Skywalker took Grogu off the Imperial cruiser.
Mando was a ruthless bounty hunter who became a better man after having to save and care for an innocent, naive child from a malevolent, desperate force (The Empire’s survivors) still clinging onto the evil ways of the past.
Such story telling is rare in any piece of entertainment media (books, films, television, poetry, music, theater, etc.), let alone a Disney+ show that originally only served to get fans reinvested in a franchise that lost its way from a disastrous conclusion to one of the most revered sagas in film history (the Skywalker saga).
Mando’s “redemption” was that of being a more caring and loving person towards an innocent child (Grogu), while his selfless action of saving Grogu from Moff Giedion and his Imperial Scientists was the embodiment of his character change. This show literally has nothing else left to tell or do with Mando, and it shows with how rudderless this episode was.
(Disney/Lucasfilm-The Mandalorian-Season 3 Official Trailer)
I still really enjoyed most of the visuals, Mando and Grogu’s dynamic, and some of the nostalgia characters involvement, but I can’t give this episode anything higher than a 6.0/10.
The next few episodes better be a vast improvement on this one or else The Mandalorian will have to go down as yet another show that lost its way to Disney’s uncontrollable lust for greed.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (The Mandalorian | Season 3 Official Trailer | Disney+ – YouTube)
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