Mando is back! And if you’ve only watched The Mandalorian and nothing else in the wider Star Wars universe since last season: yes, Baby Yoda Grogu is back in his care again. The Force-sensitive green cutie chose to forgo his Jedi training with Luke Skywalker and has returned to Din Djarin’s Beskar arms. Now that there’s no question the lone wolf and cub belong together, the third season wholeheartedly dives into Mandalore’s rich culture and Din’s quest for redemption.
Episode 1 is titled The Apostate. I had to Google what ‘Apostate’ means, and here it is: a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle. The telling title sets in motion what the season will be: considered disgraced according to Mandalorian principle (for taking off his helmet at the end of season 2), Din is determined to reclaim his honor no matter what. To do that, he travels to see The Armorer for advice – but not before helping what remains of the Mandalorian clan fend off an attack by a gigantic underwater reptile. Always arriving in style, Mando is!
The Armorer tells him that he needs to go through a long, complicated process involving a dying planet to achieve redemption – no doubt a quest that will take a season full of side quests to complete. Sure enough, we get that first side quest in the next scene. Arriving in the now prosperous Nevarro, Mando and Grogu meet High Magistrate Greef Karga to ask him for the remains of IG-11 (how we miss you so!). To explore the polluted planet he’s heading to, Mando needs a droid he can trust – presumably for recon – and it can only be his old enemy-turned-ally droid. So what if he must figure out how to revive a defunct robot? Sure enough, things don’t go so smoothly for him. This is (always) the way.
The Apostate is a solid return for the Star Wars series. Clocking at around 30 minutes, it’s a lean, compact, and exciting episode. Right off the bat, we get Mando’s motivation, the obstacles standing in his way, and the checklist of things he needs to go through. There’s no random foreboding or weird twist, it’s a straightforward classic adventure story, and we’re down for it.
With every season, The Mandalorian feels bigger in scope. You can feel it not just in the diverse locales our dynamic duo visits but the attention to detail put in. The sets feel less and less like a set and more like tangible environments brimming with life. In this premiere episode alone, we get a desert surrounded by a lake, a glamorous city, and a Mandalorian Castle set on a cliffside. Oh, and that oh-so-exhilarating space battle among the asteroids between Mando and a bunch of space pirates. If there’s something we can always count on The Mandalorian, it’s top-notch worldbuilding. It’s not just background decoration but a whole civilization waiting to be immersed into. Kudos to Jon Favreau, Dave Filloni, and director Rick Famuyiwa for another standout entry. Forget about Kevin Feige, Taika Waititi, or Patty Jenkins – when are these folks making a Star Wars movie?
