There are some delicious updates about The Mandalorian Season 3. After the second season of The Mandalorian, confusion has been generated about the return of the show. If Mando’s and Grogu’s season 3 returns were shot through with a seriousness that spoke to how high-stakes their adventures have become that’s not very surprising. It seems like The Mandalorian’s season 3 premiere felt to be much more like a purposeful return to what the show was when it first premiered: a big and sometimes rather goofy joyride through space that’s focused on forging the next generation of young Star Wars faithful.
After teasing out the two seasons having some new facets of Mandalorian culture in bits and pieces, the way “The Apostate” opens on the Armorer unveils a young Mandalorian’s induction ceremony feeling like a signifier of how the show’s entered into a new chapter of its existence, defined by providing more information instead of leading with intrigue. Similar to how it was sort of wild to see an infant of Yoda’s species, it’s interesting to see how young Mandalorians are brought into the fold and given their first child-size beskar helmets.
What’s even more fascinating about “The Apostate,” though, is how the episode uses its brief glimpses of other Mandalorians and its action set pieces to illustrate important pieces of Mandalorian cultural identity that have been weighing on Din and others.
This time it follows Mando to places like the new and improved and mostly pirate-free planet Nevarro, you can feel The Mandalorian trying to tap into that classic lived-in and practically created Star Wars magic. Especially in moments when “The Apostate” has also been focused on Grogu, or any one of its other tiny alien creatures brought to life with puppetry, it’s easy to be reminded of what first made The Mandalorian feel distinct in this era of larger-than-life Star Wars narratives.
“The Apostate” is moving through the tale so swiftly that you never really get a chance to appreciate all of its rich detail, which sometimes makes it feel like the episodes really just check off a series of general scene-setting boxes rather than trying to more deeply explore this universe.
We are expecting there’s probably more to The Mandalorian’s third season than its premiere would have you think. It’s very possible that the show might revisit or expand on some of the things that work well in “The Apostate,” along with Grogu’s gaining a much more nuanced understanding of the world around him.
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