Review: The Mandalorian, Season 3 Episode 2 (Spoiler Alert!)

With the season 3 premiere now out of the way after a mediocre start, viewers will be pleased to know that Episode 2 puts things firmly back on track.  It was quickly back to classic Mando:  action packed, cinematic, suspenseful when needed, paced well, never quite what you'd expect, and just plain all around fun.  I'm content to end this review right here to let the reader enjoy it for themselves, but I will elaborate nevertheless.

Before I get into the core of episode itself, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the opening recap finally revisited some of the conversation from "The Book" between Mando and The Armorer on the space station, although this felt too late here as it was very much needed in Episode 1.

"The Mines of Mandalore" was by Mando standards a well thought out and written episode that focuses on the journey and how it unfolds.  There were a number of seemingly ordinary events that were actually cleverly opportunistic setups for later on in the episode:  Mando ending up buying a discount R5 astromech droid, teaching Baby Yoda about planetary maps and basic spaceship navigation, both of these events ended up being important later when Mando was captured and needed Baby Yoda to fly to Bo-Katan for help.  This also showed that Baby Yoda has been understanding Mando's teachings after all and also demonstrated self sufficiency for the first time by directing R5 which planet to fly to, and it wasn't suddenly out of character to conveniently suit the plot.  Mando's unexpected capture by a strange alien bugbot was also a critical event that kicked everything into motion.  Even "the living waters" ended up showing a deeper meaning in the mines where they first encountered the giant reptile which we presume is the legendary Mythosaur.  

The scenes were well done, everything from the wide angles to capture the vastness of the underground networks inside Mandalore's ruins to the first person view inside "the living waters" showcasing the murkiness beneath with all the nuances of Bo-Katan's ascent to the water's surface playing with your imagination until the time was right to reveal the eye of the Mythosaur.  Bo-Katan's fight scene with mystery bug-bot was also impressively executed not only with timely camera cuts to set the frenetic pace of the action but also showcased Bo-Katan's masterful prowess with the Darksaber that she previously claimed in the Filoni-verse timeline.  BK's rescues reminded the audience of two things, that she is still very much the royal ass-kicker she was in Star Wars Rebels and Clone Wars, and Mando is indeed mortal;  the scenes were done in a believable and balanced manner that didn't suddenly diminish Mando's rescue by a woman for the sake of imposing social commentary at the cost of consistency, we saw two characters believably respecting each other.  And the amount of screen time that Mando and BK were given further reminded us that this show isn't all about the little green guy.

The visual effects were also excellent.  Showing the crystalized landscape and all the subterranean ruins were so detailed and convincingly lit and shadowed that I felt like I was part of their quest.  The lighting and shadows when Mando first steps foot on Mandalore was just stunning as were the weather effects as their ships entered the atmosphere.  

About my biggest gripe is the dim lighting.  Yes they're underground without power but it was still often too dark even when things happened that they wanted the audience to see (or did they?...).  And where did Bo-Katan's floating light orb conveniently come from near the end?...  Even their helmet lights had no apparent benefit to the characters or the audience.  This problem was also apparent in some scenes of Obi-Wan which by now I hope they had learned from but it seems this is some kind of Disney standard that isn't nearly as well done as say HBO's "The Last of Us".  Even the two troll fights seemed too dark to me.

While on the topic of gripes, I only have a few minor ones.  Why was BK still moping at her throne for a second straight episode?  It felt out of place for Mando to tell BK that her father "seemed like an interesting man" when she hadn't said anything interesting about him, editing oversight?  Since when did jetpacks work under water?  Doesn't BK's helmet pressurize too?  How did Mando get dragged down to the bottom of "the living waters" so damn fast?  Bug-bot's fight scenes went by too quick, it would've been nice if all the care and time they spent on a one-off adversary was prolonged a little more for no other reason than to show off an impressively designed character that I find myself genuinely curious to learn more about.  

I found this episode to be quite entertaining and well executed with only a few minor quibbles about consistencies.  Fans looking for the core Mando traits (cinematography, action, details) will get it in this episode.

9.5/10

Review: The Mandalorian, Season 3, Episode 1 (Spoiler Alert!)

The Mandalorian has established itself from its series premiere 3 years ago as a Star Wars adventure though simplistic in story was about the journey and their nuances of bounty hunting through space in a galaxy far far away, and largely told through cinematics rather than volumes of dialog, including what has become their trademark hands-on-fixit-repair scenes done so viscerally that the viewers feel engaged with a sense of tactility, and moreover activities the characters could bond over.  This style isn't exactly new as viewers of Jon Favreau's 2008 Iron Man movie would remember, however it is a perfect fit in the context of a lone gunslinger scouring the galaxy looking for work and surviving the many challenges along the way.  Also, the stories were compelling because the situations had a sense of urgency and stakes to challenge our protagonist and his allies, it wasn't always clear how the story would play out or end which kept viewers interested.  The episodes were on the short side but they were also eventful and kept good pacing as to not lose the audience.  And don't forget the frequent but clever use of Mando's arsenal of gadgets that are not only key to his survival and success but are effective plot devices that were well woven into the stories:  in short, a nerd's dream.  And to quote the most famous saying from the show, "this is The Way."

Fast forward 2 years to March 1, 2023 when Season 3 debuted, a long wait for an eager fanbase.  This is where I found "The Apostate" to be subpar in its delivery that they don't tie in previous events as well as they could have, and the summation of the various events didn't have the impact that fans are accustomed to from The Mandalorian, and they were even confusing at times.  A show that's defined by its attention to detail strayed from their own creed leaving me to ask, "is this The Way?"

The issue of delivery occurs at 2 key encounters, once at the beginning between Mando and the Armorer and then with Mando and Starbuck-- I mean Bo-Katan Kryze at the end, however this was further complicated by the fact that Season 2.5 effectively happened in the spin-off show "The Book of Boba Fett" that "The Apostate" never recapped key events from, notably why Baby Yoda was suddenly back with Mando after leaving for Jedi school with in-his-prime Luke Skywalker at the end of Season 2, and Mando's previous encounter with the Armorer in the basement of a giant space station.  

The opening conversation with the Armorer (now on some new planet) seemed like a repeat of the one from "Boba" where she had already stripped him of his Mando membership when he admitted to removing his helmet, however the most recent dialog gave a misleading impression that their space station encounter had never happened.  This would've been better clarified with a few more choice sentences to the effect of "when last we met on ___, you admitted by Creed to removing your helmet of your own volition and thus lost your Mando membership:  why have you come back?"  Back to the cave dialog, Mando then brings up the matter of redemption by visiting Mandalore which was also said in a repeated manner which I found further confusing.  The key event to this conversation is the crystal he found from Jawas which suggests there maybe hope for his redemption after all.  Even if this scene wasn't exciting, it ended up being more confusing than informative.

The episode's final scene has Mando visiting Bo-Katan on a planet in an empty Mando castle seemingly at random.  After his walk down a long, empty hallway, he arrives at the throne sat on by a disillusioned BK and asks to join her.  Now, it's been a while for the viewers and Mando is a man of few words, but it wouldn't have been out of character to throw in a few more words to elaborate on what cause he wanted to join exactly and in doing so how it relates to his redemption quest; we are reminded of BK's prior ambitions to retake Mandalore but Mando's motivations and reasons remained unanswered.  Her sourness and lost ambition was due to losing her following of Mandos from not having the Darksaber that's needed to lead them, which by Creed must be earned through combat, and in this case would've been against Mando who is the current owner (Season 2 finale).  It was also never explained if she ever challenged Mando between the Season 2 finale and "The Book" and lost or if she never even challenged him at all...  and if not then why didn't she?  This seems like a big plot question that may not be the fault of "The Apostate" for not addressing, but the longer it goes unanswered the more confusing and less relevant her story becomes.  Back to the throne room scene, it and the episode end with Mando leaving the castle for his ship and onto his next unmentioned stop along the way to the planet of Mandalore.  This scene had little drama or tension and offered little insight into future episodes and events, which I feel was a missed opportunity and I couldn't tell if it was deliberate or an oversight.

Further on the matter of refinement and detail, the pirate ships fight scene felt lacking.  The main pirate and 2 wingmen fly in with plenty of warning and talking of revenge and capture which gives Mando all the time he needs to hit the gas.  Right away there was no surprise or catching Mando off guard.  When the next 3 pirate ships show up on Mando's radar, we should be worried that he's outnumbered 6 to 1 but the scene never made us feel that way.  The following chase scenes happened too quickly to create an atmosphere of mystique and deception, and the pirates themselves showed no underhanded savviness to bait and trap Mando, they just go for losing 5 ships before the only remaining pirate leads Mando to their giant pirate ship which Mando's bad-guy scanners somehow completely failed to pick up.  Mando easily flies past the ship and jumps to hyperspace without a scratch on his ship.  This scene could have been so much better executed than it was, but as it stands it looks like they were just going through the motions because it lacked a true sense of cleverness from anyone and didn't change pace to create surprise and urgency, not to mention the lack of any damage to Mando's ship.

The IG-11 revival scene was arguably the most unsatisfying, not in how it transpired but in how it ended.  Mando's many pointblank blaster shots had absolutely no effect on an IG-11 "gone scud" and it took a statue bust of Karga falling on top IG-11 and crushing his head to stop him.  For a show that prides and defines itself on detail and pseudo-realistic science, this seemed to break their own laws of physics for the sake of a dubiously timed one-liner ("now that's using your head") or the screenplay.  It would've been a much more plausible ending if the statue falling  pinned down IG-11's upper body long enough for Mando to go in and pull the plug, or do the obvious, have his blaster actually stop what's left of the poor droid!  Neither option would've taken away any sense of danger, nor would it have drawn unnecessary criticism.  Sometimes doing the most obvious thing is the best thing.

"The Apostate" isn't all bad of course.  New-look Nevarro looks like Disney spent time and money into the settings, makeup and actors to create a busy and thriving town that's now a distant departure from their Guild's cutthroat guns-for-hire ways.  The many aliens are what draw people into the Star Wars universe and what uniquely differentiate themselves from other shows.  The production quality and visuals are brilliantly done as usual with perfect lighting that helps set the tone for each scene.  The Mandalorian has spoiled viewers with rich visuals from the beginning and continues to do so in this episode.  And don't forget the obligatory Baby Yoda scenes that attract all the riff-raff-- I mean paying subscribers.

Going forward, I certainly hope future Mando episodes are tighter and as polished as the best Mando episodes have been.  Unfortunately "The Apostate" didn't live up to the usual high standards this show has repeatedly set in the past and gives me some skepticism towards the quality of upcoming episodes.  I also hope that lingering questions get answered.  It would appear that Mando isn't the only one who is in need of redemption.  Also, "The Book of Boba Fett", Season 1 Episode 5 is required viewing to fully understand everything that lead up to Season 3.

6.5/10