The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 3 Review

Credit to: Disney and Lucasfilm

Three for three! Get it?

Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re taking a look at episode 3 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 3! Hey I gotta say, even though I love this series and I had a good feeling about it, I really didn’t know that this episode specifically would be so good. It showed me a side of the story that I honestly didn’t realize I’d want, but after watching, I realize that the ideas used here could really make for a good spinoff. Let me not dive too much into that, I’m just shocked. Anyway, let’s get this going. Without any further ado, let’s just jump right into it.

Chapter 19: The Convert

Pros

I think the best way to break this down is to have three parts for the three things I loved most in this episode: the characters, the plot, and the atmosphere. First of all, the characters. I think that when we do see them, Din Djarin and Bo-Katan kill it together. You still feel that underlying antagonistic energy from Bo due to her situation with other Mandalorians and the whole Darksaber dilemma, while feeling the dedication in Din for his journey and his goal. The Darksaber is important to him, but this is something that he still struggles with. He doesn’t understand it as well as Bo, which is made clear in the last episode before this one. Such an important weapon that can unite all Mandalorians, in the hands of a man too focused on himself and his wrongdoings. After we see him redeem himself, we don’t really know what his next move is. We know that he and Bo will remain with the Armorer and the covert, but will he make it his goal to become Mandalore and lead his people? Likely not, but after the events of this episode, maybe Din comes across something(s) that motivates him to lead the people over someone like Bo. Bo herself is an interesting case here, as we see her filled with a new sense of purpose after personally witnessing, HEAVY spoiler alert, a living, breathing Mythosaur. The Mythosaur is represented all over the Mandalorian culture, directly tying into their belief system. Mandalore the Great, an ancient Mandalorian was recognized as the ruler of Mandalore after taming and riding one, so perhaps Bo-Katan has made that her new goal. One would assume as such, as she keeps her findings to herself, interestingly enough. Perhaps Bo does lead the people at the end of this season, but it looks like Din will remain the rightful wielder of the Darksaber permanently if that’s the case. But what would be more important to the people? Bo-Katan Kryze riding an ancient, thought to be dead beast into battle, or Din Djarin wielding an ancient, powerful, one-of-a-kind saber into battle? Maybe we’ll find out. But oddly enough, we don’t progress with these two much. We actually wind up with the character of Dr. Pershing, former Imperial scientist from the previous 2 seasons, along with the female communications officer who now has a name: Elia Kane. Sweet. Today’s episode belongs to these two, hands down. We see the change in politics around the galaxy after visiting the planet of sweet old Coruscant, where these two have been reintegrated into society, reformed from the Empire. I love the way these two function together. This is a whole new side we see to them. We see Pershing as himself, warming up to the idea that he’s finally free from the Empire, and we see Elia with a smile on her face quite often, being a human being. I loved it. This episode really did great at handling all of these characters.

The next thing is the plot. As I mentioned above, I think we’re heading into an interesting playing field with these two Mandalorians. These concepts that we’re playing with are ideas from not only the animated series like The Clone Wars and Rebels, but also from the video games Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Mandalorian culture is something that’s been fleshed out in both canon and Legends material, but Legends is where it’s really at. I hope they pull more and more material from this erased history, because there’s so much great content in there. Let’s see ancient battle armor, let’s get some more ancient lore, let’s hear about the battle between the Mandalorians and the Jedi, let’s namedrop Revan, hmm? Getting ahead of myself here, but all of the Mandalorian culture that we’ve dove into with this episode and the one previous just puts a big smile on my face. It’s such an important part of the franchise, specifically for those of us who are deep into the lore, so I’m glad to see it becoming more relevant with each episode. But then we have the story of Pershing and Kane. The story we get from these two is so rich, so full of interesting ideas. We see the way this new government, the New Republic, treats former Imperials like them, and it’s not exactly cruel, but it just feels wrong. It feels like there’s false hope. Sure, the galaxy is happy and so is Elia, but we see Pershing struggle a bit. He dedicated his younger years to his research, and it’s through him that we see the ignorance of the New Republic, just thoughtlessly throwing out Imperial data instead of using it for good. On one hand, I understand that yes, the Empire sucked so let’s be rid of them, but on the other, we have to understand that they still had some groundbreaking technology and discoveries which could be used for the people instead of against. It’s Pershing’s desire to help the good guys that’s admirable, but it’s this same desire which may get him in trouble. Now, the atmosphere. With Din and Bo, it does get a little dark after they discover that there’s very much so a big Imperial threat near Mandalore and Bo’s home, but then with Din’s redemption at the end, it’s such a happy moment. Even Bo is accepted into the tribe, and things look good from there on, but then we have the parts of the episode with Dr. Pershing and Elia Kane. That whole section feels like it’s an episode straight out of Andor and I LOVED that. It felt so dark, and it felt so real. After this episode, I would love a series about the lives of the people throughout the galaxy now controlled by the New Republic. Things feel wrong even though they’re clearly better, and that’s something that should be explored thoroughly. I loved it. Every single minute.

Cons

There’s two issues I have with this episode, unfortunately. While I loved everything we saw, I feel like the stories of Mando and Bo didn’t have enough room to breathe, being paired with the stories of Dr. Pershing and Elia Kane. It felt like we didn’t really see their stories progress enough. In reality, we only saw what happened within the same hour as what happened in the last episode. We see the Mythosaur, Din wakes up, Bo and Din leave the planet only to fight some Imperials, go see the Armorer and show proof of the Living Waters. That’s all. That’s pretty unfortunate. Not only that, but I feel like things were going by so fast. When we’re on Coruscant, the episode slows down to a good pace to flesh out that storyline, but then when we’re with Din and Bo, we’re on go time. Like, “Let’s hurry up so we don’t take away from Pershing’s part of the episode.” That didn’t sit right with me. Something that would’ve helped is if the first episode had part of the second episode for a longer runtime. I understand that they would want to have the big Mythosaur surprise as the cliffhanger, but honestly, we still could’ve had that, while having Bo pretend like she didn’t see anything when Din wakes up as the closer for that second episode. It would’ve allowed a bit more time to expand on their story here, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

Final Thoughts

I know the cons sounded a little rough, but it’s all just genuine criticism. You know I gotta be completely honest when I push these articles out. I’m happy with the episode, very much so, but it could’ve done better at some things. It’s all good though, we’ll get more from the next episode that’ll surely take us further with Mando and friends. I’m really hoping that we revisit Tatooine specifically, because an adventure to reunite Mandalore would feel empty without the OG himself, Boba Fett. “BuT hE’s NoT a MaNdAlOrIaN-” hush. Hush it up. Hush it right on up. Mandalorians wouldn’t be a thing without Mr. Boba Tea himself. But what did you all think? Let us know on our Instagram, and make sure you’re following us there to stay up to date with the latest and greatest entertainment news and reviews. But that’s all from me, this has been The Wolf Den!

3.5 out of 5.