Summary: Bo Katan retreats and prepares a counterattack. Mando escapes from captivity and Grogu finds him. They head to Gideon's command center and find a bunch of clones which they promptly destroy. Gideon angrily confronts them afterward and Mando fights him. The fleet escape the capital ship and send reinforcements to Bo Katan, engaging Gideon's forces. Bo Katan arrives to fight Gideon, while Mando leaves to save Grogu from the Praetorian guards. Mando kills them. Gideon breaks the darksaber, but the capital ship crashes into the base and kills him. Grogu protects Mando and Bo Katan from the fire. The Mandalorians successfully retake Mandalore. Mando contacts Teva to do independent work for the New Republic. He settles down with Grogu in a cabin on Nevarro.
The Good: It took a while, but the focus finally shifted back to Mando for this final episode, and the episode is stronger for it. There are some good action scenes here, especially the one where Mando fights guard after guard on the way to the command center, and this allowed me to remember how much I missed watching Mando solve problems on his own. We haven't seen enough of him in his own show this season (see: The Bad), but this season finale spends a good amount of time with him at least. I liked how conclusive the ending felt with Mandalore retaken and Mando moving on to a new, yet familiar, chapter of his life with Grogu under his care. The Bad: But despite that, so much of this episode was poor. This entire season has been built around Bo Katan, so even though we shift gears back to Mando for this episode, he doesn't have any interesting story to tell. This season has let him down in terms of creating a story for the character. We've essentially just had a few sporadic moments of fatherhood, including some cheesy scenes here where he adopts Grogu and makes him an apprentice through a pretty stupid technicality that continues to undermine the Mandalorian culture. This is not a good enough story to build a season around, and the result is that Mando feels like a passenger throughout the entirety of season 3, which is problematic because seeing this character is the main hook of the show. Even more disappointing is Bo Katan. She essentially hijacked this show for season 3, and the show failed to come up with any compelling ideas for her to make this worth our time. She's just guilty about past mistakes and has to rise up to lead her people to success this time. It's such a simple storyline with little intrigue or conflict for her to deal with. Her rivalry with Gideon is poorly fleshed out and never becomes interesting. I'm extremely disappointed with the simplicity of Bo Katan's storyline. A few episodes ago I raised up an interesting possibility where Bo Katan may be using the Mandalorian groups for her own ends, and may have ulterior motives for everything she is doing. But sadly, the show is never interested in introducing such nuance to its characters. Everything ended up being exactly how it appeared on the surface involving Bo Katan, and that was the single least interesting direction that the story could have gone. I wish there was more to this. Gideon ended up being a spectacular disappointment. Every season he came in, talked big, and promised a menacing new threat. And every season he proved to be absolutely incompetent, getting soundly beaten almost immediately with no victories or accomplishments to make him feel like a threat. Because of this, he was sorely in need of some success this season to make him feel like a worthwhile antagonist. And the show completely let him down. Gideon manages to escape imprisonment off-screen, comes back for two episodes, and after what felt like hundreds of moments of typical villain incompetence, he finally dies in the most anticlimactic way imaginable. What a waste of Giancarlo Esposito, who can be such an asset if used correctly. Instead, Gideon was incompetent at every turn, and the grandiose performance rings completely hollow when you realize he's all bark and no bite. We finally learn what his grand plan was in this episode, and it's the most unoriginal, boring answer imaginable: he wants to clone himself and make himself stronger. Even worse than this is how we learn about the plan. Gideon gives an awful villain monologue to Mando explaining his entire plan for no reason at all. This is one of the worst villain tropes out there, and the execution in this show is terrible. Even Giancarlo Esposito could not salvage something from the terrible dialogue he was given. There was so much tonal dissonance and bad writing in this episode. For tonal dissonance, this episode had too much dumb childish comedy in the middle of intense scenes. While Mando is risking his life fighting guards, why do we cut to a dumb scene with R5 fighting an army of mouse droids? It completely takes me out of the moment. Even worse is when the Praetorian guards corner Grogu, and instead of killing him immediately like they should, they break the mech and completely fail to catch Grogu as he leaps around. This completely broke my immersion, and seeing Grogu laughing is absolutely stupid. We have seen that Grogu does understand when he's in danger and is often afraid, so to see him laughing in this life or death situation is not only tonally wrong, it's a total misinterpretation of the character for the sake of bad humour. As for bad writing in this episode, I can honestly go on forever. Last episode Gideon told his men to take Mando to the debriefing room. I thought maybe Gideon had a plan for him. Maybe he wanted something. Instead this was just an idiotic convenience so Mando can escape, and Grogu can somehow find him in the middle of an imperial base, and Gideon is somehow totally fine with this. Gideon looks so stupid for letting this happen, and even though he knows exactly where Mando and Grogu are, he does nothing and allows them to destroy his clones! This is horrible writing because Gideon makes the single stupidest decision at every turn, making everything nice and convenient for our heroes. Last episode the Praetorian guards were ruthless and intimidating. Already they have been wasted because this episode sees them not show any degree of ruthlessness and they are disposed of with frustrating ease by Mando. Now I will never view these guys as a threat ever again. The crash at the episode's end is similarly poorly written. An entire ship has crashed into this base, and you're telling me that Grogu can just use the force on some flames and that's enough to allow Mando and Bo Katan to survive? That makes no sense. Would they not get crushed by debris? How about the force of the explosion? How do they get out of there if Grogu is only holding back the flames? None of this makes sense. The handling of the darksaber gets a section of its own. This artifact was a massively important plot thread throughout the entire show. There was such fascination surrounding who owns it, how people can get it, and what it means to Mandalorian culture. After we saw a contrivance to get it back to Bo Katan, now thie darksaber gets broken in the most anticlimactic way possible. What the hell? Why did we bother investing in this thing if it breaks so easily, and nobody really reacts to it at all? The destruction of the darksaber doesn't get brought up again, and it has no relevance to the episode at all. After so much of the season 2 finale and the intrigue heading into season 3 was centered around the darksaber, I can't help but be massively underwhelmed with how it was handled this season. The Unknown: So Gideon's grand plan was to clone himself and give himself the force. Is that all there is to it? Is he dead now? Or has he managed to survive this season too? With the discovery of clones of Gideon, I have to ask if there is another clone of him out there somewhere. Is the darksaber destroyed for good? Can it not be fixed? How does this affect the Mandalorians? Will Grogu get his mech back at some point? Or has the show moved on with the new IG-11 marshal in Nevarro? What will come from Mando working with Teva? How much more will we see of Mandalore and Bo Katan in this show? Best Moment: Mando setting us his new life was a nice, sappy conclusion. Character of the Episode: Mando. Conclusion: Ultimately, this was a deeply disappointing finale to a deeply disappointing season. This episode was anticlimactic, poorly written, sloppy, and overall unsatisfying in just about every way. Season 3 was also deeply disappointing. This season was a disjointed, unfocused mess that stumbled at nearly every turn. I feel like the idea and expectation of season 3 ended up being much better than what we got. A season where Mando and Bo Katan team up to unite the Mandalorians and retake Mandalore while also defeating Moff Gideon sounds like it should be a good time. But the season was so messy, it failed to tell compelling stories, and the writing was even worse than it had been in previous seasons. Add in a couple of awful episodes in the back half of the season when the show should have been ramping up to something great, and we have a season that fails on almost every level and is even worse when you look back on it. I hope season 4 can get this show back on track. Score: 46
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Summary: Kane is a spy and informs Gideon that the Mandalorians are going to retake Mandalore. Gideon gets reinforcements from his allies. Bo Katan unites the Mandalorians and they leave for Mandalore. On Mandalore, the group meets up with another clan that has survived on Mandalore. They are loyal to Bo Katan and follow her. Bo Katan admits that she surrendered the darksaber to Moff Gideon, who betrayed her. The group get attacked by a monster and go underground to the great forge. However, it's a trap as Gideon is waiting for them. He has new troopers with Beskar that attack. Mando is captured, and Paz Vizsla is killed. The others escape.
The Good: Gideon's return is welcome for the show. He comes back and brings the plot some much needed urgency and tension as he works to stop the Mandalorians from reclaiming Mandalore to further his own agenda. It's interesting and exciting to see Gideon interacting with other Empire loyalists, showing that there is a growing threat right underneath the New Republic's nose. There's also a neat reveal showing us that Kane is still working for Moff Gideon. The opening sequence works so well at providing urgency, and it's helped greatly by Giancarlo Esposito's electric performance. I liked most of the set-up done in this episode. Mando and Bo Katan's relationship continues to develop in a nice way. They have developed a mutual respect with the journeys they have been through together, and Mando telling Bo Katan that he will be loyal to her was a good moment to conclude the tensions they have had against each other. I also quite like that the show is examining Bo Katan's anxiety of being a leader combined with the guilt of her letting down her people during the Purge when she surrendered to Moff Gideon. This is good additional depth for the character, and I like it a lot. The highlight of this episode is the action sequence at the end. This is a lengthy sequence that is packed with suspense because it felt like anything could happen. The action is beautifully choreographed, the situation is easy to follow, and Gideon's presence and interactions with Mando and Bo Katan are immensely fun to watch. It's always good to see the villain behaving competently, and Gideon is quite ruthless in his approach here, which I appreciate. I really liked the introduction to the Praetorian guards. They were strong and intimidating with how easily they disposed of Paz Vizsla, and I hope that they will be a major threat in future seasons. The Bad: Paz Vizsla's sacrifice falls a bit flat because it feels unnecessary and it feels like familiar territory for "Star Wars". How often in "The Clone Wars" did we see this exact same type of heroic sacrifice from characters who were one-dimensional and not fully fleshed out? It works better there in a children's animated story, but in a more mature live-action show it feels cheesy. It's also quite amusing that Paz Vizsla claims that there are too many men to kill, and yet he somehow manages to kill every single one himself. Every Mandalorian could have just stayed and they would have been fine! The fight over the chess game was stupid. It's melodramatic and predictable enough as is, but I'm baffled by the Mandalorian culture indicating that nobody can step in and stop this fight. Why?? This is infighting, and immature infighting over a stupid debate. Why on Earth should this not be stopped, and why wouldn't Bo Katan, the leader, do something about this? Perhaps even stupider is when Grogu stops the fight and everyone applauds him for it, with Bo Katan telling Mando that he taught him well. WHAT?? So nobody is supposed to stop this fight for some unknown reason, yet when somebody does interfere they get praised for stopping it? What the hell is this? I can't make heads or tails of what is supposed to be happening in this scene. It's very sloppily executed. Of course a random monster attack happens and forces the Mandalorians away. I bet we will never see this thing again for the rest of the series. It's disappointing because I love seeing world-building in this universe, and I would love to know what this monster was and why it was there. Instead, we get no details about it and limited reactions questioning what it was. It will ultimately go down as just another meaningless spectacle. The Unknown: Is Thrawn going to come back? Will he play a role in this show, or will he only be in the Ahsoka show? What is Project Necromancer? My best guess is that it's the plan to bring Palpatine back from the dead. Why did Gideon take Mando to the debriefing room? Does he have a plan for Mando? Or is this just the villain doing something dumb for the convenience of the story? Is the Mandalorian fleet going to get wiped out? Will their reinforcements help Bo Katan and the other Mandalorians escape? Best Moment: The action sequence at the end of the episode was exciting and intense with great direction. It had me at the edge of my seat at times. Character of the Episode: Moff Gideon. Conclusion: A good episode that gets the season moving again in time for the finale. This was the most important and high-stakes episode of the season, and it delivers an action-packed and adventurous episode with some good moments. There is still some stupid writing and cheesiness, but overall this is entertaining. Score: 66 Summary: Mando and Bo Katan head to Plazir-15 to get Bo Katan's army but they are diverted by the planet's rulers who want help for their malfunctioning droids. Mando and Bo Katan track the malfunction to Helgait, who is a Separatist. The rulers allow them to meet the Mandalorians and Bo Katan challenges Axe to a duel for leadership of the army. Bo Katan wins. Mando surrenders the darksaber to her.
The Good: This episode has some decent references to the prequel movies with the presence of battle droids, separatists, and a mention of Count Dooku. It makes sense that separatist loyalists would still be around, and I appreciate that the show touched on this idea. The final scenes of the episode had some good stuff to them. Everything that came before was useless filler, but the ending had enough plot relevance to keep me engaged. Bo Katan fighting Axe was decent fun, and it felt triumphant to see her back on top after how miserable and alone she was at the start of the season. The Bad: From the first minute, this was a bad episode. The opening sequence is intended to reintroduce Axe and his group of Mandalorians, but the sequence is really bad. We're thrust into a random situation where a boy has run away with a girl and has to be retrieved. The show actually attempts to flesh out this relationship, and it does so with some of the most disjointed and clunky dialogue I've ever heard, voiced by voice actors who are doing a terrible job. On top of that, the introduction of the Mandalorians is also awful. The dialogue is again terrible, completely lacking in subtlety with characters simply saying everything that the writers want us to know. Lines like "we're privateers, individuals for hire" and "we are [honourable] kid, all it takes are a few credits" are so cheesy and predictable, illustrating their point without a shred of subtlety. And this is not just localized to the opening scene. The whole episode is written with spotty dialogue like this. The main story is the purest definition of filler and a waste of my time. The Plazir-15 plot is filler because if you remove it from the show, absolutely nothing is lost. Bo Katan and Mando could have easily gone straight to Axe without any issue and nothing would have changed at all. Instead, the rulers of Plazir-15 are inserted into the story as a needless "obstacle", providing a random task for Mando and Bo Katan to complete, a task that I have zero investment in, wasting my time until these two inevitably complete the mission so they can move on to the important stuff. The entire story was a yawnfest. We get a sloppily executed mystery story, and it is painfully bland because it's one of those stories that gives you no reason to emotionally invest and tries to make up for it by throwing in a bunch of random plot. It doesn't work at all. The Helgait twist is extremely predictable (just look at his name, for god's sake), and it adds nothing of note to the show since separatists have played no role in this series up until now. It feels more like a poorly hidden Easter Egg instead of something interesting in the world. The rulers of Plazir-15 are terrible. Jack Black and Lizzo completely took me out of the episode, and it feels like these characters only exist to justify these cameos. They were boring and nothing meaningful was explored with them at all. The planet of Plazir-15 could be a good opportunity to explore a different society in this world with unique living conditions, but this episode does not even attempt to explore any of the deeper ideas behind this story. That's very disappointing. Oh, and we get a dumb scene where Grogu gets knighted. I literally could not care less. The ending of the episode sees Bo Katan get the darksaber back, and I could not be more disappointed with how this happened. Mando is able to give it back to her through the silliest of technicalities which makes the culture behind the darksaber seem like a joke. It also raises the question of why Bo Katan didn't just fight Mando and have Mando throw the fight so she could get it back. Furthermore, this cheap technicality concludes the arc of Mando having the darksaber in such a disappointing way. Mando getting the darksaber for himself was a pivotal moment in season 2, and now it has been undone in the most uninteresting way imaginable with minimal conflict or drama. That's a damn shame. With Grogu retrieved again and the darksaber back with Bo Katan, season 2's ending feels almost completely pointless now. It hasn't even been a full season since then, and we are already back to the status quo for Mando and Grogu. The Unknown: Was Bo Katan's army the group that freed Gideon? Was that one of the jobs that they did? Is Bo Katan going to keep the darksaber for good now? Best Moment: Bo Katan fighting Axe was the one moment that felt like it had actual stakes. Character of the Episode: Bo Katan. Conclusion: This is what I don't want to see from "The Mandalorian". 90% of this episode was spent on a meaningless filler side story, and the other 10% was a poorly written, disappointing resolution to a long-running story thread. With only two episodes left in the season, we desperately need to see something better from this show. Score: 43 Summary: Gorian Shand attacks Nevarro and Greef calls for aid. Teva, a New Republic captain, sees the order and goes to the officials but they refuse to help. Teva then goes to the Mandalorian covert to let them know. Mando proposes that they help Greef, and they agree to go. The Mandalorians defeat the pirates and Gorian dies when his ship crashes. Greef gives the Mandalorians a new home on Nevarro. The Armorer speaks with Bo Katan and selects her to bring other Mandalorians to retake Mandalore. Teva finds a destroyed ship out in space and realizes that Gideon escaped imprisonment and Mandalorians helped him.
The Good: This episode was a good way to connect several of the disparate plot threads from early in the seasons. The pirates, Greef in Nevarro, and the New Republic storyline came together nicely to create the main conflict as pirates attacked Nevarro and a New Republic captain found a surprising amount of resistance when trying to help the planet. This continued the thematic exploration of the New Republic that the show has done really well so far. Clearly the new government is just as corrupt as the last, and these scenes nicely set up the New Republic as the new major villains in this universe. Teva is trying to genuinely help, and you feel for him when he has so much trouble with a simple request that is going to save lives. Much of this episode sees the Mandalorians saving Nevarro and it's decent stuff. Teva interacting with the covert is fun, and it's nice to see Paz Viszla stand up for Mando, agreeing to help Greef. The action scenes are well shot and entertaining as usual, and I had a good enough time watching them. The ending of the episode impressed me the most. This season has felt like treading water for much of its run, but the final two scenes finally injected some momentum into the plot, making it feel like we are going somewhere. Bo Katan has earned the trust of the covert and seeing the Armorer put faith in her to bring Mandalorians together is sweet. Now we have a goal and a plan for the season: retake Mandalore with the help that Bo Katan brings back. This is solid stuff and makes me excited for what's to come. Even better is the reveal that Gideon had escaped, bringing back a key antagonist to watch out for in the second half of the season. The final scene is intensely shot and great, and it offers a great new mystery as a Mandalorian seemingly helped Gideon escape. The Bad: The pirates never feel like a genuine threat, just the usual threat of the week. As a result, there's no tension here and the well-produced action scenes are wasted here without any suspense. These action scenes are technically fine, but they lack that level of investment to make me engaged with what I'm watching. It's a familiar problem for "The Mandalorian". The main characters quipping also doesn't help things at all. Mando comes into a 1:10 battle, but since he's quipping with Greef there is zero suspense whatsoever and we know Mando will be fine. Another familiar problem is how this series handles crowds. These crowds are unrealistically gullible and always seem to agree with whatever any person says at any given time. Mando and Paz Viszla addressing the crowd of Mandalorians became a weak scene because the crowd reactions were laughable as they went with the flow in literally every moment. A lot of little things bugged me about this episode. There were some clear budget problems when Nevarro completely evacuated, and the whole settlement hilariously seemed to be just a couple dozen people. They didn't even have any children for that school in the previous episode! I was also unimpressed by the lack of shields on Gorian Shand's ship. Surely a ship this big will have some sort of shields so that your average starfighter can't easily take it out. Yet there are no shields mentioned whatsoever. I'm frustrated by the turrets on the ship. They always fire and never hit anything in these fight scenes, so what's the point of having them? Lastly, how did none of the pirates in the building hear the Armorer coming? She was loudly murdering people a couple feet away from everyone else, and yet nobody reacts to her? That's impossible to believe. The Unknown: Who broke Gideon out? Was it Mandalorians, or were they framed? Why would Mandalorians help Gideon? Where is he now? What is he doing? Will we see Vane again? Will Bo Katan be able to recruit more Mandalorians? Will she take the dark saber from Mando? Best Moment: Bo Katan being chosen to retake Mandalore finally gives this season the forward momentum it desperately needed. Character of the Episode: Teva, he made an immediate impression. Conclusion: The ending of this episode provided a much-needed injection of momentum into this third season, and there was some nice integration of plot threads in this episode. But other than that, this was just another typical episode of "The Mandalorian". Score: 59 Summary: Flashbacks show Grogu being taken out of the Jedi Temple and flown off planet by Kelleren Beq, a Jedi. In the present, Grogu trains with the other foundlings. One gets taken by a beast and Mando, Bo Katan, and Paz Viszla go after it. They kill the beast and save the foundling.
The Good: The opening sequence was decent enough fun, showing us what Grogu is capable of and giving Mando some nice scenes of fathering his "son". It was nice to see him encourage Grogu's development and show some pride in his own way. I like that the episode spent some time with Grogu, highlighting a greater reason for why he is so timid and fearful by showing us a glimpse of his traumatic past in the Jedi temple (see: Best Moment). The Bad: Seriously, 26 minutes? Good TV can have shorter episodes, but this is meant to be an hour-long drama, and this episode is half as long as it should be. Furthermore, the last episode was twice as long as this one, making it jarring to go between really long and really short episodes. Even more criminal is the fact that absolutely nothing of real value happened in this episode outside of the flashback. This episode is pure filler and a timeskip glossing over the events of this episode would be more beneficial for the story. It's not like there was any good storytelling here that we would be missing out on.. I had no investment in the Mandalorians fighting a creature (we already saw this in the season premier!), so I had zero reason to invest. You could probably poke holes into the logistics of this episode as well (it makes no sense that this creature wasn't killed earlier if it has eaten foundlings before, why did Paz Viszla make such a dumb decision to go to the nest before scouting, etc.), but I was nowhere near invested enough in the story to get to that point. This episode was too boring and uninteresting to get me to that point. Even the opening sequence that I enjoyed more than most things in the episode was very overindulgent. The show wanted to give Grogu a cool scene and was gratuitous in making Grogu look cool by beating someone who didn't know what he was capable of. It was cheesy, cliched, and out of place. The Unknown: What happened to Kelleren? Is he still alive? Where did he take Grogu? Is Bo Katan actually embracing her Mandalorian roots now? Will she try to lead the Mandalorians back to Mandalore to find the mythosaur? Best Moment: Even though we have seen it many times before, the order 66 sequence was great. Grogu's fear as he is being shepherded out of the temple carried the emotional weight of the sequence, and the directing did great to portray that. Character of the Episode: Grogu. Conclusion: A short and ultimately inconsequential episode that did not do much for me, even if it did have a pretty good flashback sequence. Score: 50 Summary: Mando and Bo Katan leave Mandalore but are attacked by TIE fighters that destroy Bo Katan's home. Mando takes her to join his group of Mandalorians, and Bo Katan, having bathed in the waters as well, is allowed to join. On Coruscant, Dr. Pershing is taken into the Amnesty Housing program. There, he meets Officer Kane who used to work for Gideon. Pershing tries to adjust to his new life but misses his research. Kane gives him a chance to get back to his research, and after some time to find himself, he agrees. They go together to an old imperial junkyard to get supplies for his lab. However, Kane is working for the New Republic and it's a trap. Pershing is taken to a Mind Flayer to be indoctrinated better into the New Republic.
The Good: At a time where "The Mandalorian" resolved many of its remaining storylines and was in need of a new interesting direction to go, we get a bold and ambitious episode that starts up a new story focused on the New Republic in a highly compelling way. I love the decision to focus most of this episode on a background character we only briefly met, humanizing him and telling a compelling story that changes our perception of the world. This personal story was highly emotional and it provided something completely different from the simplistic "Star Wars" style that we have become used to. For a franchise that is quickly becoming stale, this was a breath of fresh air. Pershing's story is really good. For this to work, we had to connect with him and understand him, and the show nails this. Pershing is so loveably nerdy and awkward, and Omid Abtahi plays the character masterfully. He comes from humble beginnings and is simply following a passion for science to get through his life. He has good intentions, but finds himself a prisoner scrambling for redemption. Yes, he makes a poor decision that ends up costing him dearly, but we understand his reasoning and his desire to genuinely help, and it's so sad to see him punished so severely for it. The episode does well to make Pershing feel like a real character to make the ending so devastating. Little moments like his questions for the droid, the fun developing relationship between him and Kane, and Pershing getting caught up in the thrills after jumping from the train are really good at humanizing the character and keeping the story grounded in reality. The themes of this episode are very effective. "Star Wars" is typically black and white, but this episode excels at showing that whether it is the Empire or the New Republic, evil will still exist in society. Sure, Pershing worked for the Empire, but we can clearly see that he had his heart in the right place and would genuinely do the same for the New Republic. But, he is treated like a villain and put through unethical torture provided by the New Republic, who think that being anti-Empire excuses any sort of evil that they do. The final scene on Coruscant is terrifying as we see these brainwashed individuals all sitting there and calmly explaining to Pershing that this will be good for him, while Pershing is terrified to lose his humanity. It's a sad moment that conveys the inherent evil that exists in governing powers, evil that is almost impossible to get rid of. Mando and Bo Katan have a small role in the episode, but what we get from them is quite good. The TIE fighter battle was well shot, and it picked up in tension a lot towards the end as Bo Katan's home got destroyed and a massive fleet descended upon them. But the best part about this storyline is Bo Katan's development. She's evidently shaken after seeing a Mythosaur, and her decision to ultimately join the Watch is curious. Perhaps she is having a crisis of faith and is going to return to Mandalorian roots, or perhaps she simply sees an opportunity to take some power for her own and is trying to use this organization to further her own goals. Many have criticized the show for not showing characters' faces, but not seeing Bo Katan's face here does wonders because it makes her next move tougher to predict. We have enough context to understand the character's emotions, but not knowing precisely how she feels has created some exciting tension in her scenes with the Watch. Grogu piping in by trying to say "this is the way" was a cute and funny moment. The Bad: I empathize a lot with people who were frustrated with this episode for spending so much time with a random other character who had little relevance to Mando. While I enjoyed this for being a radical departure because of how it gave some impetus to a show that I was losing interest in, I understand how it may be too radical a departure for others in the same way that the episodes focused on The Mandalorian were too radical of a change for me during "The Book of Boba Fett". This is not a subtle episode by any means. The main idea of the story is explicitly spelled out to you, and the good final scene with Pershing is a bit hurt by how in-your-face the thematic storytelling is. I appreciate the inclusion of these themes a lot, but the execution definitely needed some more subtlety. The fighter sequence at the episode's start was enjoyable, but it took a while for me to get invested in it. At first, it seemed like another filler action scene and that prevented me from getting into the scene for a while. This is telling of how the meaningless action sequences in previous episodes have damaged my investment and trust in the series. The Unknown: Is Bo Katan turning towards believing in the old way after seeing the mythosaur? Is she going to join the Watch? Or is she using them for her own gain? The story can go either way. Who sent the ships to attack Bo Katan and Mando? Why? Is Kane officially working with the New Republic? Does she have ulterior motives? Will we see Pershing again? How will he be changed by the Mind Flayer? Best Moment: The reveal that Kane was working for the New Republic and that they were testing Pershing by trying to emotionally manipulate him, testing his values. The realization of this was shocking, and you feel bad for Pershing who likely would not have done anything against the New Republic if it hadn't been for Kane. The lack of humanity in this approach was horrifying for me, and seeing that Kane had set up Pershing as a test was disgustingly sad. Character of the Episode: Pershing. Conclusion: This was a departure from the norm for "Star Wars" and it worked very well. While not the most subtle of episodes, the story worked very well and this paved the way for new, more interesting stories in the universe. Score: 67 Summary: Mando visits Peli, and she gives him R5-D4 to help test Mandalore's atmosphere. Mando goes to Mandalore and sends our R5, who promptly vanishes. Mando goes to investigate himself and fights several unique creatures before being captured. Grogu goes back to the ship and goes to Bo Katan. Bo Katan goes to Mandalore and saves Mando. Together, they go to the mines and Mando starts to bathe but he gets dragged underwater. Bo Katan saves him and realizes there is a mythosaur in the water.
The Good: I was impressed by how quickly the story moved forwards. I expected 1-2 more episodes of filler/time-wasting before we finally got to Mandalore, but pleasingly the story moved along quickly and Mando didn't waste any time in getting to Mandalore. I thought that the planet was visually spectacular. Seeing the ruins of the once magnificent kingdom was compelling, and it created a unique atmosphere for the episode. I was pleased to see Bo Katan play a big role in this episode. Her dynamic with Mando is good, and this episode did a nice job of highlighting their dichotomy. Both are Mandalorian, but both have very different interpretations of what that means to them. I enjoy seeing their ideologies clash. It's nice to see Bo Katan get moments to shine throughout the episode as she saves Mando twice. Grogu also gets some good moments to shine, especially when he has to go get Bo Katan to save Mando. I appreciate the idea of allowing other characters to shine alongside Mando. Peli is becoming a fun character to revisit every now and then. She doesn't have much depth and doesn't offer a whole lot to the story, but it's a fun distraction to visit her and see what she's getting up to. Through longevity of exposure, I am growing to like her. The Bad: Mando settling for the piece of crap R5 droid after going to extreme lengths to bring back IG-11 is some horrendous writing. I thought Mando needed a droid he trusted, so why on Earth is he going to take this pile of junk that is clearly terrified of doing anything? It makes no sense, and it makes Mando seem incompetent to put his life in the hands of this incompetent droid. Speaking of the droid, why did it have to venture so far into a cave to get an atmosphere reading? That makes no sense, and it looks like the droid only went so far because the writers needed a reason for Mando to risk his life. The enemies in Mandalore were cool and visually creative, but they don't feel like a real species. Instead, they feel like video game obstacles to overcome which makes it much less interesting to explore these creatures and what their lives are like. Even though they look pretty cool, they are nowhere near as interesting as many other "Star Wars" creatures. Mando was strangely incompetent in this episode. I get that Grogu and Bo Katan need moments to shine, but to manufacture this happening, Mando had to be much less careful and methodical than what we are used to. I wish that the show had found a better way to have Mando be taken out so that other characters are allowed a more organic chance to shine. This is a "Star Wars" show so of course it's very cheesy. The dialogue in particular is extremely cheesy in this episode, which took me out of the experience at several points. The Unknown: Who was Bo Katan's father? I don't believe we have seen him before. What happened when he died? What is the point of the mythosaur being here? Is this just another enemy to overcome or will it play a larger role in the story? What's next for Mando? He redeemed himself faster than I expected, so what else is going to happen in this season? Best Moment: Bo Katan seeing the ruins of her old home was a quietly beautiful moment. Character of the Episode: Bo Katan. Conclusion: A solid episode that progressed the story more than what I expected, but it got bogged down by some moments of weak writing. Score: 59 Summary: Mando returns to meet with the Armorer who tells him that he has to be redeemed in the mines of Mandalore. Mando goes back to Nevarro and meets up with Greef again. He gets the remains of IG-11, intending to bring him back to take Mandalore. After a skirmish with some pirates, Mando sees a castle in the Mandalore system where he finds Bo Katan. She has lost the faith of her people without the dark saber and tells Mando that he has to lead the takeback of Mandalore.
The Good: True to the show, this episode has a lot of fun sequences that provide popcorn entertainment, and I enjoyed it. The opening scene is a solid reintroduction to Mando, featuring a unique action sequence that came out of nowhere. This was fun to watch. I also enjoyed the Wild West showdown (its become a signature for this show) on Nevarro, and also the starship fight scene, which was directed expertly with the action playing along perfectly with the soundtrack. I enjoyed going back to Nevarro. One of the most satisfying things in a long-running TV show like this is the chance to show recurring locations change and grow over time. Nevarro is a perfect example of this and it has become nearly unrecognizable from what it was like in season 1. It's been really satisfying to see Nevarro change across the last few seasons, and I enjoyed seeing how advanced the society has become. Greef is very fun in his new role as high magistrate. I love that he has two tiny droids holding his robe up above the ground behind him, and his interactions with Mando are fun as always. Greef also gets a nice meta line responding to Mando affirming the name Grogu with "if you say so", poking fun at the community reaction to Grogu's name. As for Grogu, he's as cute and fun as you would expect him to be. The Bad: Coming off of season 2, a lot of people would be very confused if they never watched "The Book of Boba Fett". That strange choice to further Mando's story in a separate show is felt in this season premiere. The recap starting this season bafflingly doesn't even explain how Mando got Grogu back, ensuring that anyone following on directly after season 2 will have to stop watching and instead waste their life on the god awful "Book of Boba Fett" to fully understand the story. This unfocused storytelling that forces people to watch other lower quality TV shows is appalling, and it kicks off this season premiere on a negative note. But enough about the poor business decisions surrounding the show, because this episode had a few problems of its own. It has become frustrating to see how "The Mandalorian" feels so much like a video game. Every storyline sees Mando talk to a side character, get a quest, accomplish the quest, get a reward, and then inch along towards his ultimate goal. This sounds eerily like a video game, not a TV show, and that's the problem here. This episode is all about Mando getting his main quest and going on a random side quest to "unlock" IG-11 for later missions. This style of storytelling feels phony and is frustrating because it isn't interesting to watch. It's bland, unoriginal storytelling that makes it tough to engage. On top of that, this is a very cheesy episode. While you can have fun with cheesiness, and I certainly did throughout the episode, there's a limit to how engaging and entertaining television can be when everything is so cheesy. The humour involving Greef is a perfect example and it feels so unnatural and sitcom-esque. The conflicts are also frustratingly bland, contributing to their cheesiness. Vane, the pirate character, is the embodiment of every boring children's TV show villain ever. He has nothing going for him and has zero credibility as a villain. It's obvious that this idiot isn't going to get one over on Mando so I have no reason to feel any suspense and interest in what will happen - obviously Mando has the situation under control. This makes the pirates utterly boring to follow. And of course they have to be assholes who want to threaten a school because why have any semblance of depth for this characters. Lastly, the storyline of Mando bringing IG-11 back is the most predictable and unoriginal story imaginable. We know he will succeed eventually, so I don't care for this as a long-running storyline at all. Furthermore, Mando seems stupid for being so fixated on this one specific droid. We aren't given a good enough reason to believe that Mando is only comfortable trusting IG-11 instead of any other droid, especially when IG-11's programming has reset and his memory is lost. The Unknown: Did Cara Dune and Moff Gideon just get written out of the show? Will we see them again? Who will Greef get as his new marshal? Will we see Cobb Vanth again? Will Mando be successful in bringing back IG-11? Who is Gorian Shard? Will he be important going forwards? Is Bo Katan alone in her castle? Why isn't she doing anything else? What's her plan? Best Moment: The starship fight was the most easily enjoyable part of the episode. Character of the Episode: Mando. Conclusion: This was a fine, but totally unspectacular premier. There were entertaining popcorn-flick sequences, but the episode was hampered by the show's video game-esque quest-completing nature, and the predictable, uninspired plot. Score: 58 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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