The Mandalorian - the rest of Season 3 (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)

2023, Disney+ - episodes 4-8 (Chapters 20-24)
created by Jon Favreau

[Episode 1 (Chapter 17) | Episode 2 (Chapter 18) | Episode 3 (Chapter 19)]

I fell off of weekly reviewing of season 3 of The Mandalorian, not for lack of interest, or as any indication of the show's quality, but because once I got a week behind, I just couldn't catch up in the longer reviews I was writing.  I still love the show....

I still love the show...but... this season was all sorts of awkward and disjointed. As I mentioned in the Chapter 18 review, there was a redundancy that seemed unnecessary there, and that inefficiency of storytelling was pervasive throughout the season. 

For example, in Chapter 22, Bo-Katan has a fight with Axe Woves who for leadership of her former clan (now a band of mercenaries). In the end the fight means nothing, as these people are unwilling to follow her unless she possesses the Darksaber. Din Djarin brings up the fact that, in Chapter 18, he was defeated by an enemy and lost possession of the Darksaber, an enemy which Bo-Katan defeated (with the Darksaber), so technically, the Darksaber is hers. Technically. As silly as this Darksaber/torch-of-leadership idea is in general, it would have been less cumbersome if Din gave Bo-Katan the laser sword back in Chapter 18... just, like, she hands him the Darksaber, and he says, no, I believe this is yours now.  It would have been a lot less clunky.

Likewise, at the end of Chapter 21, the Mandalorians gain a new home on Navarro, only to, at the season's end, 3 episodes later, return to inhabiting Mandalore. So...why bother if you know that's where they're going to wind up. Or the Mandalorians leaving a fight to go to a refuge for, like 2 minutes of exposition, and then return the the fight once reinforcements arrive. Clunky.

Time sensitivity/urgency also seems to be an issue. Like with Din's capture in Chapter 18, and the long journey for Grogu and R5-D4 to take to get Bo-Katan and come back... that creature who captured Din really, really took its time with him. Or Greef Carga needing help from a pirate attack, only for Carson Teva to jump from planet to planet before ultimately asking the Mandalorians for help, and then the Mandalorians needing to deliberate on the matter.  Or Paz Vizla's kid getting taken by a giant winged beast, and the Mandos going in pursuit, but having to camp out overnight before rescuing the poor little whelp. 

These are all what I consider to be "first draft problems", as it seems like scripts are being written (mostly by Favreau) without much revision. There's a stream-of-consciousness aspect to the writing of this season with a lack of consideration for how it all hangs together, or, at times, even how the dialogue sounds (there's a lot of clunky dialogue, but that's nothing new for Star Wars).

In a larger context, it seems like if there were revisions to the scripts, it was to strip down the role of the Mandalorian since Pedro Pascal was otherwise occupied during the film of the season.  I took the title of "The Mandalorian" this season to be the plural, meaning the peoples of Mandalore as a whole. Also, this season, it's like the title of "The Mandalorian" really went to Bo-Katan (and I really loved Katee Sackoff here), as the journey this season was much more hers than Din Djarin's.  It's been said by some that the more Mandalorians you have on screen, the less special they become, and I'm inclined to agree. Any sequence here (and there are many) where there are more than a handful of Mandalorians just look...kind of silly.  The Mandalorians are supposed to be one-man-armies in a way, but on the more limited streaming budget, the action sequences with these Mandos seem constrained, and the Mandos as warriors are not so impressive.

While I enjoyed this season, I get the criticism that its focus on Mandalorian affairs may have been too in-the-weeds for the more casual Star Wars fan. The premise of the show really was sold on the idea of "of-the-week" adventures, and while season 2 started really building connective threads to the sequel trilogy it really focused on Din and Grogu's bond.  Season 3 is focused almost entirely upon Mandalorians as a culture and only episode 22 feels like an of-the-week episode.  Where the show ends, though, having put the cloning/Moff Gideon story to bed, Din Djarin has taken a role as contractor for the New Republic and has a home on Navarro, it leaves the show with the promise of returning to a more of-the-week nature next season. 

Perhaps the most notable change this season is that Joseph Shirley has taken over scoring duties from Ludwig Göransson, and the difference is palpable.  Shirley is a competent composer, but Göransson is an innovator. Göransson's scores stood out, and are worth seeking out on their own.  When Shirley's work sticks out, it's not in a good way. Certain musical stings, certain rehashes of Göransson's theme, they seem clumsy, or discordant. This season isn't much of a western, so the stings don't feel appropriate. Kevin Kiner's work on the various animated series (Clone Wars, Rebels, Bad Batch) has redefined what Star Wars music can be, as Kiner has taken the tones of Star Wars into synths and electronics, often beautifully, something that Nicholas Britell took up on Andor.  Shirley did the composition on Book of Boba Fett, and I don't remember anything but Ludwig Göransson's theme.  John Williams defined Star Wars for so long, but with the breadth of media output the past decade, it's no longer the only sound of Star Wars, and I think experimenting with what that can be is what composers should seek.

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Let's look at the episodes... the good, the bad, the ugly and the awesome.

Chapter 20: The Foundling
d. Carl Weathers
The Good: A trip back into Grogu's past, during the purge of the Jedi temple on Coruscan... we see Grogu's rescue thanks to Jedi master Kelleran Beq.  Beq is played by Ahmed Best (who is best known for performing Jar Jar Binks), and Best originated the character on the official kids Star Wars game show Jedi Temple Challenge).  Genuinely fun and lovely that Best gets to canonize this character and be a total badass on screen.
The Bad: Hrm. The Armorer gives Grogu a medallion the size of Flava-Flav's clock necklace, a gesture that doesn't really serve any purpose this season. The dialogue gets pretty expository, stilted and clunky (but that's a lot of the Mandalorian talk of the creed and the way). The baby bird-things that are rescued from the nest...how did they fit into Bo-Katan's ship with all the other Mandos?
The Ugly: The opening sequence on the beach, where the various Mandalorians are all practicing their fighting skills and firing out into water, it doesn't look great. It looks perfunctory at best, silly at worst. Cosplayers, not performers.  And Ragnar Visla's helmet looks really bad (is it a training helmet, maybe?)
The Awesome: The flying sequences, where the Mandalorians are combating the flying lizard bird in the air, it looks amazing. Weathers really does a tremendously dynamic job with this sequence, the perspectives are wonderful.

Chapter 21: The Pirate
d. Peter Ramsey 

The Good: More Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) is always welcome, and we get space Tim Meadows which was a delightful surprise (always fun to see Star Wars bureaucracy)...I was just sad that Teva didn't join the Mandalorians on their battle against the pirates. Director Ramsey was responsible for Spider-Man:Into the Spider-Verse, so it's exciting to have him in live action and on Star Wars. The in-atmosphere flying battles look phenomenal.  Gorian Shard, what a great looking character. The pirate ship and the pirate snub fighters all look great.
The Bad: Honestly, from a storytelling perspective, Teva's journey is more about galaxy building than it is about the story at hand. Carga's message could have gone directly to Mando. Rallying speeches are kind of tedious, and there's two of them here.
The Ugly: The evacuation plan seems poorly thought out...in that I don't think High Magistrate Greef Carga thought ahead about where to muster his people should the city be bombarded or invaded. They're just out in the desert, exposed. And when we see wide shots, it looks like the city consists of about 100 people. Not great.
The Awesome: Zeb from freaking Rebels pops up. Just fist pumping the air so, so much!

Chapter 22: Guns for Hire
d. Bryce Dallas Howard

The Good: This episode plays out like Law & Order for a while as Bo-Katan and Din Djarin investigate what's happening with the droids in this affluent city, they chase down a rogue droid, visit a droid bar where they press a droid for info, then head to the robot coroner for a sort of autopsy, and then go off and have an arrest showdown. It's really great. Plus, Christopher Lloyd, Jack Black and Lizzo...unexpected (and probably controversial) choices, but I thought they were all fun. And I loved how new and different Plazir-15 is from almost any other Star Wars (save maybe Canto Bight from The Last Jedi). It's a real futureworld aesthetic.
The Bad: I hate to say it, but Lizzo's acting. She's a charming presence, but not a convincing actor.
The Ugly: The Bo-Katan/Axe Woves fight just drags an otherwise outstanding episode down.
The Awesome: The opening sequence, the love affair between a Mon Cala prince and a Quarren, and the Mandalorian mercenaries hired to break them up is just amazing. I really felt the connection between those two.

Chapter 23: The Spies
d. Rick Famuyiwa

The Good: Moff Gideon holds a session with his other regional counterparts (including Hux's dad, as played by Brian Gleeson, Domnhall's brother)...it's a great nonsense scene of both galaxy building and Gideon's preening and posturing. Bo-Katan's tribe and the zealot tribe come together, reluctantly, on Navarro. But it's only temporary as Bo-Katan has plans to take back Mandalore. On Mandalore they find more Mandalorians who are still loyal to the Princess Kryze. Bo-Katan tells of how she failed Mandalore in her efforts to save it. Underground, we discover that Gideon has built an entire base in the ruins, and has a squad of beskar-armoured stormtroopers (with jetpacks, because they fly now). Din Djarin is captured. Paz Vizla sacrifices himself for the others and kills a whole bunch of troopers, but succumbs to the deadly Praetorian Guards (more primitive versions of what we saw in The Last Jedi)
The Bad: Another rallying speech. Bleh. The lack of having Pedro this season means that Gideon, having captured Din Djarin, didn't take his helmet of (he's a petty prick, that Gideon, so knowing what it means to remove the helmet is totally something he would do).
The Ugly: Did they roast and eat the bird-ish foundlings from Chapter 20?
The Awesome: Greef shows Mando and Grogu the fine work the Anzellans did on IG-11, turning the robot into a mech suit for Grogu to stomp around in, one that also let's Grogu speak in binary yes/no responses, to his absolute delight. So much fun.

Chapter 24: The Return
d. Rick Famuyiwa

The Good: Famuyiwa has really aced all the flying elements, whether it's jet packs or fighter ships, it all looks fantastic in these last two episodes. When the squad of Mandos led by Bo-Katan fly into the squad of Beskar Troopers, it's so anime inspired, very dynamic. R5-D4 squaring off against mouse droids and it's somehow so, so Star Wars. There's a delightfully Muppet-y quality to the R5 sequences, but him fighting with the mouse droids was so unexpected and hilarious. It's a pretty epic set of closing battles and a satisfying resolution to the story arcs all three seasons had been playing with. Sir Din Grogu...not quite sure how that naming convention works.
The Bad: If only Din still had his beskar spear to fight Gideon with. Din and Grogu's fight with the Praetorians is a little sloppy.
The Ugly: Gideon crushing the Darksaber...it made me sad, 'cuz it's a really cool looking weapon, but I think it's symbolism needed to die for the future of Mandalore.
The Awesome: Din Djarin's fight sequence through the barrier shields (hearkening back to The Phantom Menace) is one of the show's best-ever fight sequences.