The Mandalorian kicks things up a gear with its most consistent episode yet. Spoilers follow for the whole series to date.
It’s time to put all the cards on the table now. If you are reading these reviews I have to assume that you’re either watching the show or are willing to have elements of the plot spoiled. With that in mind, I’m going to dig a bit deeper into the episodes going forward so if you really don’t want to know anything then stop reading now!
Episode three feels like the end of The Mandalorian’s first story arc. It brings back characters from the premier and resolves Mando’s first mission in spectacular fashion while also establishing a new status quo for the show going forward. Had these three episodes been edited together and released in the cinema, I could imagine them being held up alongside the best of the theatrical Star Wars outings, the show really is getting that good.
We pick up the story with Mando (Pedro Pascal) arriving back where the story started, delivering his prize to The Client (Werner Herzog) and collecting payment from Greef Karga (Carl Weathers). The return of both characters is welcome and they are each positioned as potential ongoing antagonists, both threatening and both with different agendas. The Client is the only imperial character we have seen in the show and likely will lead to the more galaxy-spanning storylines one would expect to see in later seasons. His interest in the creature has led to fan speculation that we are seeing the beginning of a cloning storyline that will culminate in The Rise of Skywalker this December. Whether this turns out to be true or not, it will be fascinating to see how the Empire leads into the First Order and whether The Client will play a part in it. We also learn a little about the New Republic which was briefly introduced in The Force Awakens before being Starkiller Based into oblivion. It appears that to the denizens of the galaxy the New Republic is seen as something of a joke at this point in the timeline, but then we appear to be operating on the fringes of society here, so perhaps we’ll need to wait for a different show to explore the politics of the galaxy.
We also learn a fair bit more about Mandalorian society in this episode as we revisit the enclave last seen two weeks ago. We get a repeat of Mando’s last visit as he again has new armour forged. An interesting tidbit is that he is offered a sigil of the mudhorn he killed in the previous episode implying that Mandalorians who slay great beasts can wear their likenesses as a badge of honour. The customs seen previously are also expanded upon with the idea of never removing masks re-iterated leading one to wonder what was going on with Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. You might assume that Favreau is taking a jab at the prequels were it not for the fact that he directly references them with a flashback to Mando’s past. In this sequence, the battle droids are reframed as terrifying killing machines and the clone wars as gritty urban warfare, if only the films had done as good a job.
This is also the episode where we learn the most about Mando himself. His arc here is perhaps a little too easy to predict as he goes from following the bounty hunters code to giving in to his conscience and doing the right thing by episodes end. It’s not a surprising turn but it is a crowd-pleasing one that leads to the show’s best action sequences to date. Mando infiltrating the Imperial stronghold and gunning down stormtroopers is thrilling but pales in comparison to the finale where he confronts the whole guild. This evokes John Wick as Mando becomes a wanted man, and leads to a triumphant appearance from the whole Mandalorian enclave. Again the show is pushing the limits of what can be done on a TV budget and delivering a visual spectacle that matches Game of Thrones in its grandeur.
The Mandalorian is certainly making its case as the best thing to come out of Disney owned Star Wars so far, and we’re not even halfway through the season yet.
The Sin - Chapter 3 Reviewed by Jim King
Name: The Mandalorian
Description: The battered Mandalorian returns to his client for his reward.
Jim King is a lifelong geek who enjoys talking about anything and everything out of the ordinary. He co-hosts a Star Trek podcast and is pretty good at Street Fighter 2.
