It’s been over two years since we had a proper new episode of The Mandalorian, although last year the two protagonists of Lucasfilm’s smash-hit live-action Disney+ Star Wars series did pop up to steal the spotlight in a few installments of The Book of Boba Fett.
Now, if you haven’t seen that (ostensibly) Boba Fett-centric spinoff, you may be unaware– though this seems shockingly unlikely to my Star Wars-immersed brain– that Grogu and Din Djarin were reunited there, rather than in the mothership series that introduced them, after the former was taken by none other than Luke Skywalker himself to train to become a Jedi at the end of The Mandalorian season two.
Anyway, all that aside, suffice it to say that Djarin (voiced by Pedro Pascal and performed mostly by Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder on set) and the youngling-formerly-known-as-Baby-Yoda are back traveling the galaxy together in Mando’s spiffy new N-1 Naboo Starfighter (again, see The Book of Boba Fett for how he came by that souped-up hot rod of a ship). And they start off season three by paying a visit to the Armorer (Emily Swallow) on an unnamed beachy planet where she and her dyed-in-the-wool Mandalorian pals are busy pledging new recruits– which they call “foundlings”– into their orthodox sect. Mando helps them bust up a giant alligator monster that attacks their ceremony, and then Djarin has a sit-down with the Armorer about how he can go about getting back into the cult after he broke the rules by voluntarily removing his helmet last season. As previously established, he’ll have to visit the decimated and abandoned planet of Mandalore and bathe in the “living waters” beneath the Beskar mines in order to be fully redeemed, but everyone around Djarin seems to think this will be far more difficult than it sounds.
Regardless, our hero sets out on his quest with the Armorer affirming that “This is the way,” but he needs to make a couple pit stops along his path first. He flies the N-1 to Nevarro, where his old friend– and now High Magistrate– Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) is dealing with some unsavory pirates from his past who are causing trouble in the cleaned-up city. Mando wants the parts from IG-11’s statue to reconstitute the droid (voiced by filmmaker Taika Waititi), but that too turns out to be a difficult task– even the Anzellans (Babu Frik or not, the voices for these diminutive aliens are still provided by Harry Potter actress Shirley Henderson) can’t get it working again without the right, very rare, replacement parts. So Mando skips town again and heads to a different planet in the Mandalore system, where Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) is sulking about losing out on the Darksaber to Djarin. Mando tells her his plan and she basically laughs in his face, but still gives him permission and directions to visit the mines in question. She sends him off to Mandalore with another dismissive warning, and that gives us the cliffhanger ending to episode one.
As a pretty huge fan of this show, I have to say I’m extremely happy it’s back and I thought this first episode of season three was a really fantastic, fast-paced way to start it off. I think there’s a lot of setup happening here, giving us Mando’s main goals for the season and (re)introducing the various players who will likely be involved in the proceedings. The visuals look better than ever, with veteran Mandalorian director Rick Famuyiwa delivering plenty of kinetic punch alongside some incredibly impressive visual effects courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic– even the Grogu puppet somehow looks more expressive this season; I have to wonder if they gave it an upgradeI also thought it was interesting how series creator/writer Jon Favreau chose to explain the absence of actress Gina Carano’s character Cara Dune– I wasn’t sure he would even address it after the events that led to Carano’s departure from the show, but I’m glad Dune was at the very least written out with suitable in-universe cause. I was thrilled to see IG-11 again, even for only a brief, panicked moment wherein it reverted back to its original programming, and I got a big kick out of meeting the very colorful new pirate characters (I need Hasbro to make a Gorian Shard action figure ASAP). The big questions going forward are what exactly Djarin and Grogu will find when they do visit Mandalore and what will break Bo-Katan out of her funk long enough for her to lend a hand. Overall, I thought “Chapter 17 – The Apostate” was just the right mix of action, emotional character beats, and humor– gotta love those adorable Anzellans– to make it feel like The Mandalorian is back in full swing.
New episodes of The Mandalorian are released Wednesdays, exclusively via Disney+.