The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 Review: A New Plot That Drives The Moral Dilemmas Of The Mandalorians
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers, Katee Sackhoff
Director: Rick Famuyiwa
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
After almost 3 years of waiting, the prodigal son of Disney Plus has returned. The Mandalorian Season 3, one of his best productions, is here. After the intense ending of the second part, which left Grogu in the hands of Luke Skywalker, fans have been eagerly awaiting to see how his adventure continues after their meeting in The Book of Boba Fett. The first chapter of this new installment begins with a lot of action and the return of old allies and enemies. The Mandalorian, the show created by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, symbolizes and replaces all the universe of the galaxy far created by George Lucas. No other product of the franchise has managed to gather praise and fans like this series, no character has entered the collective imagination like Grogu, and no phrase has managed to become a new slogan for fans like “This is the way”.
A success that even overshadowed other titles, some almost invisible (by Star Wars standards, Andor seems to belong to a niche of fans), others that seemed successful (such as the miniseries dedicated to Obi-Wan Kenobi, soon forgotten despite the initial hype, but also the unsuccessful The Book of Boba Fett, from which this third season of The Mandalorian takes up the narrative). Star Wars has become The Mandalorian, and vice versa. And it’s something to keep in mind when we start writing our review of The Mandalorian 3 × 01, the first episode of the series available on Disney+ which takes on the expectations of millions of viewers who intend to see the quality they are looking for unchanged within the Starwarsian universe but also hope for a less episodic and more horizontal narration of the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 Review: The Story Plot
Let’s say it right away: the plot of this first episode of The Mandalorian Season 3 does not reserve big surprises, even if the status quo with which this third season opens could raise some eyebrows to the less passionate spectator of the Star Wars universe. When we first see the Mandalorian, we find that Grogu has rejoined him. This is not a continuity error that cancels the conclusion of the previous season, but a continuation of the events that occurred in The Book of Boba Fett, the series released in December 2021. There, in a couple of episodes of the season that almost seem like a prologue to the facts narrated here, the deeds of our Mando were resumed by recounting Grogu’s decision to abandon training with Luke Skywalker and return to travel.
Having accepted this fact – which however does not affect the judgment of the episode in question – we can say that from this season, The Mandalorian seems to abandon a certain verticality of events to focus on a rather horizontal storyline, even if these first 35 minutes prove nothing ‘nothing but a nice and successful introduction to the adventure. Din took off his helmet, going against the creed of his people: now he is no longer a Mandalorian. To return to being considered such, he will have to bathe in the sacred waters of the mines of Mandalore. To reach him, he needs to visit an old acquaintance on Nevarro, he will face an unexpected danger and learn what his fate could be for him.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 Review and Analysis
The few noises that open the episode, the first shots, and the first musical notes are enough to savor everything that we had been missing from The Mandalorian. It is no coincidence that, of all things, the series starring Pedro Pascal has managed to forge a passionate love among Star Wars viewers. A few sequences like the one that opens the episode are enough, made up of an epic breath, a sense of mythology that is always present, and a tangibility of the visual effects (between Grogu, actors under prosthetic makeup, and digital creatures, one always gets the impression of something of truth, of a living world) textbook, to understand once again how much Jon Favreau (here in the writing) and Dave Filoni have hit the target. The Mandalorian exudes that sense of popular entertainment, even though it is closely linked to an ever-expanding universe, which few audiovisual products can boast.
Always clear in the narrative exposition, perfectly balanced between seriousness and humor, capable of capturing both the long-time Star Wars fan (who will also find a lot of references and easter eggs in this case) and the neophyte who is passionate about the universe created by George Lucas with this series. The Mandalorian is a fantasy western that exudes passion for the subject (the way the protagonist enters the scene: the gunslinger who arrives to save the day at the right moment), whose narrative structure could continue to the bitter end. Of course, this first episode only serves to bring us back into those atmospheres that – let’s face it – we missed, but in doing so it builds new imaginaries (the scene set in hyperspace, poetic and mysterious, or the introduction of a new character from above potential) and offers just over half an hour very dense, to make the episode seem longer than it is.
If it is difficult to find any fault in this first episode of The Mandalorian 3 (especially by contextualizing the series in what it wants to be: a simple and effective entertainment product), however, we must recognize how, having reached chapter 17, the series on Disney+ seems having crystallized like the surface of the planet Mandalore, re-presenting dynamics and characters sometimes a little too trapped in their role that they are forced to present. The narrative structure itself betrays a construction that recalls that of video games, composed of a main mission (return to Mandalore) and numerous side quests that seem to cross each other (reassemble a droid, look for missing pieces around the galaxy, find old acquaintances who in turn have a problem to solve).
If this proves to be a winning choice, in dissolving and breaking that consolidated structure as if to overcome a criticism – that of the self-contained episodes – which has always affected the series, we will find out in the coming weeks. For now, this return appears to follow a religious creed, about what Star Wars should be and what The Mandalorian should be. “This is the Way” say the Mandalorians, and it’s the first thought that we viewers also address to the screen as the episode’s end credits roll. Overall, this new episode has reminded me a lot of Cowboy Bebop. The non-linear structure that the chapter has followed has left several options open for the following episodes. In this way, Mando may go first in search of the parts to restore his droid friend, but it is also possible that he goes directly to Mandalore or even engages in a battle with the pirates. If you liked the first two seasons, you have to come back to see this third installment, which is very promising.
Having said that, it is not an episode that should be taken and trashed completely, far from it. As already underlined, the concept behind the premiere is solid and intelligent, with non-trivial subtleties in terms of staging: the opening sequence, suspended until the end between the present and a hypothetical flashback, remains an excellent manifesto of the work of Filoni and Favreau and their goodness, as well as a certain event in space remains a pleasure to watch. But wanting to dig deep, even the construction of the final scene is applause for the atmosphere or a faint reference to Star Wars Rebels that cannot fail to make the heart of a longtime fan beat faster.
However, there is so much beauty in this return of The Mandalorian, unfortunately, what is missing is the substance and further work to perfect the details, which willy-nilly make the difference in the end. In retrospect, in fact, one of the questions we asked ourselves is why not propose a double episode to kick off the season given the lack of meat in the fire? Or why not lengthen the episode by 10 minutes to give more substance to the – few – situations proposed and at the same time offer just that extra something in the closing? We could and should have done better, but we still have faith in a narrative arc that is too important and potentially iconic for the entire franchise.
The return to the scene – and on Disney + of course – of The Mandalorian half convinced us. In essence, the concept of the episode is very smart and intelligent, because it intends to take advantage of Mando’s preparations for the extremely delicate mission ahead of him to meet old acquaintances, make the viewer feel at ease again, remember the reasons why each piece of the mosaic is placed, starting with Grogu. And in some moments, it also manages to surprise, primarily in two excellent action sequences that can be watched with pleasure and in the construction of the general atmosphere, especially in the episode’s finale. Where we have found too many problems is instead precisely in the execution of these ideas, between situations and lines of dialogue that do not link very well with each other and which, on the contrary, they restore an annoying sensation of wanting to rush frantically towards the end. A bit as if even the screenwriters couldn’t wait to conclude this preparatory phase. We can and must do better, but we are only at the very first chapter of a long odyssey.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 Review: The Last words
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 is the first episode that brings us exactly everything we expect from the series created by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. It is a dense introductory episode, which picks up the threads of the narrative (even if an important event, which occurred in another series, is taken for granted) and prepares the ground for the next few weeks. True to what we expect from the series, true to its creed and its nature. The first episode of the new season of The Mandalorian starts with a very fast pace and a very interesting plot. The series recovers familiar characters and also introduces new dangers.
