the mandalorian (season 3)

When The Mandalorian first launched as the inaugural flagship series on Disney Plus, there was a distinct appeal to its modest ambitions. Essentially an old-fashioned space western in which its titular hero (played by Pedro Pascal) got into weekly adventures alongside his almost criminally adorable ward Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) Lone Wolf & Cub-style, the show felt refreshingly, almost defiantly unbothered by the trappings of the iconic universe it inhabited. That shifted in season 2, as creators Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni steered more heavily into Star Wars mythology and overt fan service, then abruptly spilled over into spin-off The Book of Boba Fett, which inexplicably morphed into The Mandalorian 2.5 around its midpoint and never really looked back (those who didn’t bother to watch will no doubt be left wondering how on earth Grogu returned to the fold after departing with Luke Skywalker in the season 2 finale).  

Season 3 eases back on the throttle once again… to the point that the starship is all but left idling in neutral. It’s a curiously slight and narratively static collection of episodes. Ostensibly, the focus is on the Mandalorians themselves, as Din Djarin (aka Mando) seeks to redeem himself in the eyes of the creed and Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) attempts to unite the tribes in order to take back their home planet of Mandalor. But forward momentum proves incremental at best. Much has been made of how the lines between television and moviemaking have become troublingly blurred in the streaming era… and how the art and rhythm of constructing an individual episode is becoming increasingly lost as the medium gravitates towards more of a cinematic long-form mentality. It’s how you end up with a largely inert season premiere in which Mando just scrounges for droid parts… or an episode like “Guns For Hire,” in which five minutes of genuine plot muscle (Bo-Katan challenging Axe Woves for control of her former fleet) are preceded by a whole lot of unfortunate narrative gristle - including Jack Black and Lizzo as flouncing nobles who dispatch Mando and Bo-Katan on a roundabout side quest in order to pad out the runtime.

There’s also a bit of insight into the dysfunctional bureaucracy of the New Republic, which sounds compelling… but these scenes feel a lot like the Daily Wire trying to craft a clumsy Star Wars allegory about what happens when the Democrats come into power. The last two episodes do manage to feed the basic appetite for galactic action space adventure - including the welcome return of a key adversary and a memorable sequence in which Mando fights his way through a gauntlet of stormtroopers. But like much of the Star Wars content on Disney Plus, the show’s sense of the moment proves a little too staid (compare it to a series like Stranger Things, whose crowd-pleasing beats detonate with maximum thunder). If there’s an obvious bright spot this season, it’s Sackhoff - the sort of actress whose mere presence can improve virtually any project she’s injected into, and whose Bo-Katan lends the series an additional dose of gravitas (Grogu’s main purpose remains selling stuffed toys, but he does have an amusing “Timmy’s trapped in the well” bit in the second episode).​

Playing the lead in a Star Wars series was undoubtedly a no-brainer at the time, but given Pedro Pascal’s dramatic rise in profile of late, the role - between Din Djarin’s limited emotional range and the obvious constraints of his helmeted visage - is probably starting to feel a bit like a poisoned chalice. The final shot of season 3 could easily have been series-concluding… and it wouldn’t necessarily be devastating if it were. Of course, there’s lots more Mandalorian customs and traditions to explore, but let’s be honest… we were never particularly drawn to Boba Fett’s cultural upbringing as kids, we just thought it was cool he had a jet pack.