The Mandalorian, Season 3 Review (2023) Review

“You see where we’re going here?”

https://youtu.be/Znsa4Deavgg?is=4qwst9vAJCcxxTmq

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED SERIES. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The Mandalorian has been a great delight to see on Disney+ thus far with two seasons and a Boba Fett spinoff. So when it came to excitement over Season 3, we were all seated for sure.

PLOT

The season premiere ‘Chapter 17: The Apostate’ follows bounty hunter Don Djarin reunite with his foundling Grogu, the latter who has chosen to stay with him rather than master the ways of the force under Luke Skywalker’s teachings. He saves the Armorer and her Night Watch following a Turtle Gator attack. He proposes redeeming himself to be re-enter the brotherhood by visiting the Living Waters of Mandalore’s abandoned mines. With a green shard being proof of it being habitable, he is given the Armorer’s blessing to do so. He first takes a stop to Nevarro to visit High Magistrate Greef Karga. The latter asks his help to deal with some pirates led by Gorian Shard (Nonso Anozie), but he turns it down at the moment to focus on rebuilding the droid IG-11. His intent is to have him as the most suitable droid that’ll accompany him to Mandalore. A group of Anzellan mechanics explain to him that he’ll need a new memory core to be repaired. When leaving Nevarro does he evade Shard as heads to planet Kalevala where Bo-Katan Kryze resides. He asks for her to accompany him to Mandalore, but she is not motivated to do so because him still wielding the ancient darksaber resulted in her not having an army she hoped.

‘Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore’ would show Mando & Grogu return to Tattooine and ask for a new memory chip to repair IG-11. She doesn’t have one, but does supply him an R5-D4 droid that’ll help him scout ahead for Mandalore. There, the droid confirms the planet to be non toxic and scouting further leads to him encountering the likes of Alamites. When overpowered by a cyborg, he sends Grogu to get Bo Katan for help. She gets to him in time and ultimately helps him reach the Living Waters. As he swims to restore his Mandalorian status, they barely escape the wrath of the rare Mythosaur, the creature that is a cultural symbol to Mandalorians. 

‘Chapter 19: The Convert’ proceeds to show two different stories. The first of which would depict Doctor Penn Pershing in Coruscant become pardoned by the New Republic, as he was still deemed a valuable scientist. He would at first be startled to see Elia Kane who was one of Moff Gideon’s communications officers, but she offers to help him continue his cloning research that’s been outlawed. Sadly, she would instead betray him and sabotage his mind wiping procedure that would be used on him. Resuming to the main story, Bo-Katan’s home gets destroyed by imperial TIE squads resulting in her to join Mando to the Armorer’s enclave, keeping from him that she saw the Mythosaur. At the enclave, Mando brings his proof that brings him back to the fold of Mandalorians and Bo-Katan is also welcomed as she swam the waters too save him from drowning.

‘Chapter 20: The Foundling’ transitions to Grogu using the force to train with other Mandalorian foundlings. When his opponent Ragnar (Wesley Kimmel), son of Paz Vizsla (Tait Fletcher), gets captured by a Shriek-Hawk, Bo-Katan leads a hunting party with Djarin and Paz. As Grogu waits for them to come back, the Armorer forges for him a rondel bearing the same mudhorn digit Mando has. As she does so, the child would remember how the Jedi Kelleran Beq protected him during the chaos of Order 66. Although Paz would successfully rescue his son and slay the raptor that took him, Bo-Karan’s pauldron would be damaged upon the commotion. When returning to the enclave, the armorer forges a new one for her. She would tell her of seeing the Mythosaur, but she would not believe her.

‘Chapter 21: The Pirate’ would then proceed with Karga reaching out to Carson Teva for help with Shard now fully invading Nevarro after expulsion towards his right hand man, Vane (Marti Matulus). Ironically, Teva goes to Mando for help. Despite past differences with Nevarro, Mando & Bo-Katan are able to convince the covert to help Karga. The battle would be deemed a success because despite Vane fleeing, many pirates get detained while Shard gets killed. Off of this, the Armorer acknowledges the Mythosaur as an omen for Bo-Katan to be the one to reunite all Mandalorians. As Teva returns to his base in Adelphi, he would be stunned to discover a wreckage of Gideon’s prison transport, finding fragments of beskar alloy inside.

‘Chapter 22: Guns for Hire’ then shows Mando joining Bo-Katan to the idyllic planet Plazir-15 where she plans to regain her army now led by Axe Woves. Before that can happen however, Captain Bombarbier and the Duchess ask for them to neutralize some imperialist/separatist droids that have been malfunctioning after being repurposed. When they stop one rogue droid, they follow its trail to a droid where they deduce they’re being sabotaged with nanodroids in the maintenance fluid, caused by head of planetary security office, Commissioner Helgait, who reveals himself to be a devoted separatist. When apprehending him officially sentenced him to exile on the moon of Paraquaat, the Mandalorians reach the privateers as planned. Because Mando admits Bo-Katan helped him from the cyborg in the mines, the technicality is able to allow her to challenge Axe for the darksaber and win it back.

‘Chapter 23: The Spies’ reveals Gideon to be alive following his escape and learns from Elia of the Mandalorians’ intent to reclaim Mandalore, which he relays to the Shadow Council. As a recon party is prepared at Nevarro, Karga shows Mando the newly repaired IG-11, now dubbed IG-12 (Taika Waititi), who can actually be controlled by Grogu. At Mandalore, Bo-Katan confesses that Gideon got the darksaber from her in the first place because she yielded to protect her people from further harm. Sadly, he quickly betrayed her at the time. When they find the ancient civilization, the Great Forge, they get outnumbered by Gideon and stormtroopers all of which are now wearing beskar armor. Trapping the majority of the party, he confesses to using Mandalore against them to complete the Great Purge. Bo-Katan does lead a way out, but Paz would buying them time against Praetorian guards. 

The season finale ‘Chapter 24: The Return’ results in a chaotic climax where Bo-Katan leads a squadron back outside while Axe fends off against imperial TIE squadrons. Grogu helps Djarin escape from captivity and proceed to find tanks full of force sensitive clones that they quickly destroy. Bo-Katan then aids them in their last stand against Gideon and the Praetorians. As the battle leads to the darksaber getting destroyed, Axe is able to crash the capital ship into the base that consumes the antagonists in a blast. Grogu is able to save Bo-Katan & Djarin by blocking the blast with a force barrier. As they escape, the Mandalorians intend to rebuild the Great Forge and Mando officially adopts Grogu as his son. The season would end with the pair residing in a cabin outside Nevarro’s capital and officially accept contract work with Teva.

THOUGHTS

To be honest, as of the 2020s, I don’t like how Hollywood approaches television dramas where we gotta wait over two years for a new season just to get the budget right. This was not a problem before the COVID-19 pandemic & WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes so this shouldn’t be a problem after. I know I did enjoy the filler that was The Book of Boba Fett, but we shouldn’t wait three years for a new official season for The Mandalorian considering how consistent Lucasfilm & Disney have been with Star Wars content over the years in advance. Off of that, expectations were officially high for what was to come. Due to said feeling, I don’t think this was better than the first two but I still had a good time. As long as showrunner Dave Filoni & head writer Jon Favreau assemble good directors each episode, there’s not much to worry because this remains an exciting sci-fi epic. Since this is still Star Wars we’re all talking about, you know all the technical aspects are gonna be on point in terms of quality. A dope Ludwig Goransson score? Check. Immersive costumes & set pieces? Of course. Subpar visual effects from ILM? You bet. It’s already one thing to show off landscapes to various planets, but seeing the Mythosaur in the water and Purrgils in hyperspace was a dream come true. As for practical effects, they still are at their finest when the focus is on Grogu. Him spinning on a chair, walking around IG-12, hugging Anzellans like they’re pets and using the force to do big leaps before blocking another inferno proves he’ll always remain an adorable badass. If we’re gonna get into Easter eggs, it does feel like most of it can go to the guest stars which only prove how big of a franchise juggernaut Star Wars has been over the past decades. I’m sure Jack Black & Lizzo brought a good vibe as pompous yet cheerful leaders who aim for a clean slate of authority when playing Bombardier and the Duchess. The true surprise in the same episode is gonna go to Christopher Lloyd, who like the late Carl Weathers, is an icon of the 80s. It felt so fitting for him to portray Helgait as the worst kind of zealot who misses what he sees as the glory days. If he’s calling Count Dooku a visionary, he’s got to be stopped and he’s lucky he was surrounded by the merciful. I even thought it was a good choice for Tim Meadows to portray Teva’s superior Colonel Tuttle because his complacency is mixed with negligence as he doesn’t consider Teva’s worries to be true. Steve Blum’s scene as Zeb takes place in advance, but it does become enough of inspiration for the captain to prepare for the worst. The character hasn’t been seen since Rebels, so it’s nice that he’s still on the right side and it’s even cooler how involved he gets in the movie. Also, it’s hard to not geek out when seeing Jar Jar Binks’ actor Ahmed Best play the Jedi Kelleran Beq. It felt like a redemption moment for the actor since the previous character he played is not that popular. Next, I do remember Shirley Henderson voicing Babu Frik in The Rise of Skywalker, which makes it all the more pleasing to hear her voice all Anzellans this season and in the following movie. Putting that aside, I think this season deserves respect for continuing to teach the importance of balancing tradition with flexibility. This is the case in Djarin’s perspective because he and Grogu are now so attached that he knows the best way to survive isn’t just knowing which side to fight on, but to maintain unity from his past. Pedro Pascal may have went the whole season masked while Brendan Wayne & Lateef Crowder do the stunt work, but he remains the voice of the character in order to express his traditionalism being respected, but still using it for a different kind of gain which is maintain the respect he’s earned from his second chance in life. Emily Swallow may still be a strict leader as the Armorer, yet she maintained respect to her culture by accepting Grogu the way she did for Djarin and saw the potential in Bo-Katan which paid off in the long run. Speaking of which, it would’ve made no sense for Kryze to not return for this season since the character has been important since The Clone Wars and had big intentions last season. Katee Sackhoff shows that while she was disgruntled of her plans being delayed almost indefinitely, she remained a humble leader we've always remembered her for and became more patient the longer she stays with Mando. It did suck that she lost the darksaber permanently, but she still held her own without it which reminds us how formidable she’s been. I don’t know if Axe Woves would’ve surpassed her in that category, but Simon Kassianides still shows him to be a pragmatic yet capable warrior who proved his loyalty to the very end. This would be the last time Carl Weathers would be seen onscreen before passing away the same year of the season’s release, and he made every second matter as Karga. The guy was more about optimism and being more dignified when it came to his leadership since he too focused on prosperity and wanted his own clean slate. Does it take a while for him to get there if pirates were still bothering him? Yes, but the process was still worth it when finding the right ally out of Mando. The same can be said with Teva because Paul Sun-Hyung Lee still nails it in portraying the captain as the most weary of his inner circle since he always felt it’s better to act now than later, which sure benefitted him big time. While it is an ideal happy ending for the Mandalorian & Grogu to settle down in Nevarro, it wasn’t an easy feat as expected. For the last time, Giancarlo Esposito made an excellent villain out of Gideon for pushing to be unhinged when wanting to take Mandalore from everyone and weaponize the planet to his liking. He almost succeeded had he not overdone his megalomania, yet it still had a big effect on those who do and do not follow him. Katy O’Brien’s portrayal of Elia Kane instantly implies it’s not easy to get rid of old habits as she learned to be just as manipulative as the former. Off of this, you would feel bad for Pershing because throughout his tenure on the show, Omid Abtahi depicted him as a timid guy who just wanted to push science for the better and couldn’t help being fooled so easily. The idea of cloning may have been planned for Gideon originally, but the fact it became possible only paved the way for Darth Sidious to pull it off for himself upon his return. With a big threat of the empire like Gideon dealt with, Mando can have some inner peace with his adopted son. But since the action keeps calling to him to the point where he’ll officially be a helping hand to the New Republic as shown in the movie, he'll surely keep trying to figure out how to balance being a father and a warrior.This was a fun season, but good stuff like this has some head scratching moments upon a rewatch. For instance, how would Djarin get proof of bathing in the Living Waters without Bo-Katan? There’s no other Mandalorian he knows outside the enclave, so he’s very lucky to take Grogu with him in that case apart from actually collecting a sample of the Living Waters. The same can be said when he takes him back without even knowing Gideon would be there. Hell, it’s kinda disappointing his ship doesn’t detect it being breathable to where he needs a droid to confirm Mandalore being so. It even makes no sense for Bo-Katan to ask Grogu if he thought Djarin was the only Mandalorian he ever knew. That’s obviously not true because he met the whole enclave after meeting her and Boba. That’s dumber than Djarin asking her how he found her when he literally sent Grogu for her. I don’t even see the point of Kryze not telling him of the Mythosaur until after telling the armorer. He’s religious enough to believe her, so that is pointless tension if you ask me. On top of that, the Armorer should’ve not even doubted the Mythosaur being found in Mandalore if she was even willing to let Djarin go to the Living Waters for redemption which was a suicide mission to begin with.Hell, there should’ve been cameras to see Kane tamper with the device that probes Pershing. And yeah, it’s just too crazy to get those giant chicks on the ship. Whether you cook it or train it, that’s a guaranteed hassle they could avoid. And it’s kinda embarrassing Karga only has butler droids to evacuate the city from the pirates. He could’ve asked Cara for some references when legitimizing Nevarro, as in way before Mando came back. It’s even odd how Bo-Katan waits until after the droid passes her to shoot when she could’ve made the draw the moment Mando got smacked by it. And it’s hard to believe not one Mandalorian was pissed when Kryze admits she did surrender the darksaber to Gideon in the first place. I know they all gotta focus on the now, but I’d be honest of feeling a bit bitter when in a zealot trained to not be so emotionally vulnerable. If we’re even gonna keep talking about how lazy stormtroopers are, they don’t even use their new jet packs when Paz pushes them off the edge. Lastly, it was really stupid for Gideon to say Mandalorians are weak without trinkets when he’s using their ancient armor against them. Ignore these issues, then you can still say The Mandalorian had a solid third season that can be enough of a sendoff if nothing follows up from the continuation movie. If you got Disney+ and enjoyed the past seasons, it should be a no brainer you’ll dig this too.