TV Review: ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3, Episode 1
by Frank Martin
One weakness plaguing The Mandalorian since its beginning is the length of episodes.
The Season 3 premiere was all around a very solid outing. It answered some questions while reintroducing some old characters and also providing a framework for the adventures to come — not to mention it also had some great action both planetside and in space. Nevertheless, audiences have been trained to expect a certain length from its dramas; they are typically between forty minutes to an hour. Since The Mandalorian has its episodes hover around thirty minutes, it stinks to be so invested in an episode just to feel it cut short.
Coming back into the story after a long pause (and several episodes of The Book of Boba Fett), Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) attempts to redeem himself the eyes of The Watch. This requires him to revisit Mandalore, a planet that is believed cursed and poisoned. To explore its potentially hazardous surface, though, he needs a non-organic companion. He visits Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) on Nevarro to get IG-11 (Taika Waititi) operational again. Unfortunately, his visit leads him into a clash with a band of pirates that is bound to be a major plot point moving forward in the season.
Now that The Mandalorian is in its third season, it’s fairly obvious what the show is about and how it unfolds. Fans are either going to be into it or it will turn it off. Fortunately, this opener follows the same trend that has been so successful over the past two seasons: it’s very simple. Fans of the show will like where things are headed while those that don’t like to show won’t be swayed. This is the best thing a show can do as sometimes change can only be to its detriment. The Mandalorian knows exactly what it wants to be and doubles down on it, creating one of the best Star Wars shows on the platform.
The Mandalorian streams Wednesdays on Disney+.
