The Mandalorian Season3 Premiere - Review

It has been a while since we last saw the Mandalorian and it seems Din Djarin hasn’t done a lot since then. At the end of his own show, we last saw him as he watched Grogu leave with Luke Skywalker and if you watched the Book of Boba Fett, you saw their reunion. Given how the events of that show and how it was going to lead into this, there was always a chance things wouldn’t move forward and it seems that was the case.

First things first, the show started out with what appeared to be a flashback, with a young child reciting the creed and being given their helmet, which they stated they would never remove. However before the ceremony could be completed, a space crocodile appeared and started to cause havoc. Now I am not one to know exactly how a Mandalorian is meant to fight, but given each time we see them in other shows, they tend to be kickass, watching this group of radical Mandalorians fail to kill a creature, it made me laugh. I also chuckled when it started rolling in place, a move that some crocodiles and alligators do and I said, Mandalorian Hunter this aint. The problem with it was that there was no way that Din didn’t appear to save the day, I expected him to land on the back of the creature with the darksaber, but it seems I was wrong.

The reason that this irked me, not how he saved them, but the entire sequence is that it felt more like a flashback and then when Din and the Armourer started to repeat lines from the Book of Boba Fett, I knew things wouldn’t progress. I was proven right when Din and Grogu went to Navaro again, in order to recover a blown up droid, which was something that I really didn’t like. The problem with that isn’t that he needed a droid to help him explore the potentially poisonous world of Mandalore, but rather he needed one specific droid. This has pivoted the mission from visiting the planet, to getting a rare part for the droid and there is nothing worse in videogames, when one quest becomes seven extra quests and the final goal is still the same, its padding for the sake of padding.

I knew that they wouldn’t just kick things off in a big way, the return of Grogu proved that, but I was hoping for something more and yet that seems to not be the case. Characters that were dead might be back and characters that really don’t add much are given plenty of screen time and while there is nothing wrong with keeping characters, keeping them for the sake of keeping them is not a good idea. The show introduced a potentially dangerous new adversary for Din and one that sports a very cool design, the problem is that they already have so many potential enemies, I don’t think they can support another one.

I will give the show credits for bringing back the hyperspace whales that Star Wars Rebels ended with, even if that was just to help show people who haven’t seen that show, that they exist. They will no doubt play a part in Ashoka and while cool, it also begs the question, how often have people seen these creatures.

Visually the show was good, there was a lot familiar, but also a lot of new. Seeing a Mandalorian castle, that wasn’t a ruin, in live action was nice. Navaro being a bustling center of trade and peace was also nice, though I would have loved to have seen some trees that were more unique than what they used.

The premiere episode for the third season was not what I wanted and part of that is because they had to explain the mission Din was on, having already done so in another show. This complex web of interconnected shows is an anchor around its neck, because what happens in one, has to be explain in another. Din’s major plot was to return Grogu and he did, now he needs to atone for his actions at the end of that quest and while I can understand their desire to space it out, I don’t agree with it. A very short episode that failed to deliver much progression and retread to much history did not make for a good time. The single action sequence was cool, but space battles can be hard to track at the best of times, making them harder by hiding ships, is not the best idea. If the third season is truly about redemption, then they had best get to it, because I don’t think I can handle bite sizes pieces.

The Score

7.0

The Pros

+The show has found its visual style and everything looks much better for it

+Space battles are almost always fun to watch and this was no different

The Cons

-They spent too much time retreading old ground, something almost no other show does

-Giving Mando more fetch quests feels like a cheap way to drag out the length of the series