‘This is not the way’ - Mandalorian loses focus in season three

Blasting off back into a galaxy far, far away comes the latest entry into the Star Wars franchise as The Mandalorian returns for a third season. Viewers once again can follow Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us) and his adopted son, Grogu, as they attempt to navigate the cosmos in order to reunite the scattered sects of the Mandalorian people. Aided by Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Djarin struggles to find his way and redeem himself after being declared an apostate of his people, with his only chance of redemption being to bathe in the Living Waters of Mandalore. Meanwhile, the foundation of the New Republic’s fall is being laid under the looming threat of the insidious Imperial warlord Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito, Breaking Bad) and his “Shadow Council.”

The season’s opener, appropriately titled “The Apostate,” sees Mando embarking on his mission of redemption after taking off his helmet in the second season’s finale. Over the course of the next few episodes, he travels to what remains of Mandalore, only to be captured and desperate for help from Bo-Katan. After Bo-Katan saves him and they are both cleansed in the Living Waters, a fleet of TIE Interceptors attack, leading them to flee to the Mandalorian covert on a desert planet.

At Star Wars Celebration 2023, showrunner Dave Filoni announced plans for a film that’s the culmination of all the so-called “Mando-Verse'' Disney+ series (consisting of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka releasing in August 2023), that will attempt to bridge the gap between the dawn of the New Republic in Return of the Jedi and the rise of the First Order in The Force Awakens.  In fact, in “The Convert,” the groundwork for the New Republic’s failure was shown off as clear as day with the infiltration of Imperial covert units ingratiating themselves into the good graces of the government in a program not too dissimilar from that of the real-life Operation Paperclip. As the season progresses, the faults in the New Republic’s system start to reveal themselves more and more until the arrival of the mysterious “Shadow Council'' in the episode titled “The Spies'' made up of various different Imperial warlords with yet another name-drop of Grand Admiral Thrawn (who was recently revealed to be making his return from Star Wars: Rebels in Ahsoka, once again being played by Lars Mikkelson). 

In addition, as a surprise to many fans, multiple famous faces have joined/been reintroduced into the fray including Jack Black (Nacho Libre), Lizzo, and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), all of whom appeared in the same episode. However, the most shocking of these cameos, spoilers, was the return of Steve Blum’s Zeb Orrelios from Star Wars: Rebels consoling Captain Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Kim’s Convenience) in “The Pirate.” This appearance was especially surprising due to how small it was within the episode, not taking fans too much out of the viewing experience, unlike other celebrity appearances. 

Despite what fans would have been led to believe given the ending of both The Mandalorian’s second season and The Book of Boba Fett, Mando and Grogu seem to be taking a backseat in the new season, as the focus shifts to Bo-Katan and her quest to reclaim her rightful place as the ruler of Mandalore. After losing the Darksaber to Moff Gideon at some point between the animated series, Star Wars: Rebels (where heretofore she had last been seen chronologically) and the events of the second season of this series, she seemingly had magically gained it back by the end of “Guns for Hire,” working on logic akin to that of the rules of the Elder Wand found in the Harry Potter franchise. The only true evidence found in the show to support the reason for this shift is because she had seen a Mythosaur while in the Living Waters of Mandalore, a mythical creature meant as a symbol of hope for all Mandalorians. Outside of the in-universe lore, Pascal was also preoccupied with filming for the HBO hit series The Last of Us from July 2021 to June 2022, around the same time that filming for the third season of The Mandalorian took place.

All in all, The Mandalorian season three’s overall shift in tone and scope has left the series feeling more empty of the charm found in the first two installations, similar to that of the made-in-a-garage type feel that the original trilogy films had with its grounded nature. Instead of just being a simple space western about a dad and his foster child traveling the galaxy, it has devolved into yet another cameo-riddled fanfest that retains very few of its distinctive features that made it unique. 

A-: In an attempt to bridge the gaps leading up to the events of The Force Awakens, The Mandalorian season three loses some of its shiny beskar luster that it's known for in return for further world-building, yet it still feeds fans the guilty pleasures that the Star Wars franchise has been known for since making its way on the silver screen in 1977.

by Evan Parfitt

Published April 24, 2023

Oshkosh West Index Volume 119 Issue VII