The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 might be a little bit on the shorter side, but it welcomes fans back to the series with action and humor.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead For
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1
Chapter 17: The Apostate
The Mandalorian is back and season 3 starts off incredibly strong. Fans will be welcomed back into this world and it will only take seconds before they realize just how much they missed Grogu, Din, and a whole slew of fan favorite characters.
This show has been dubbed as the best of the Star Wars series and it continues to prove that with a phenomenal beginning to season 3.
The Mandalorian season 3 episode 1 starts off with The Armorer forging a helmet for a new Mandalorian, a young boy. She brings it to him and he starts to recite the Creed. However, the ceremony is interrupted when a giant beast springs from the water and starts attacking the troop of Mandalorians looking on.
Viewers will be treated to a visual spectacle as an epic battle unfolds. Mandalorians are using their jetpacks to take to the air as well as using every gadget they have available to them. Even though they are giving it their all, the beast very clearly has the upper hand. That is, until Din shows up.
Din and Grogu arrive just in time to save the day. They pilot their brand new ship directly into the beast, causing a slew of blood and guts to scatter the beast where the young Mandalorian was just being welcomed into the clan.
After meeting with the Armorer, it becomes clear that Din is a shamed man, and after showing his face and removing his helmet, he is no longer considered a Mandalorian. He tells the Armorer that he will go to the Mines of Mandalore and bath in the living waters to earn redemption.
She warns him that the planet is desolate and poisoned now, but he wants nothing more than to earn his honor back. He tells her that he will go complete this task and prove to her that he has done it, so he can be called a Mandalorian again.
A Trip To Nevarro
Din and Grogu leave the clan and make their way to Nevarro, where they meet with Greef Karga. The planet has changed for the better. It has been fixed up since the battle there, and Greef is now High Magistrate Karga. He offers Din a job as Marshall there and a plot of land, stating that he and Grogu can settle down there. However, we all know how Din gets when he has a mission ahead of him.
Greef briefly mentions Moff Gideon and Cara Dune. He says that Dune has been recruited and Gideon has been sent to a High Republic prison.
In the square of Nevarro is a statue that is an ode to IG-11, who sacrificed himself in order to save his friends. Apparently it is made up of many of his droid parts, and Din asks if he can have them to rebuild their friend. Greef does not think this will work, however Din is able to bring him back. The only problem is that he has reverted back to his initial programming and attempts to kill Grogu.
The scene is a hilarious take on a horror film as IG-11 drags his half body towards Gorgu. Ultimately, Greef’s droid knocks a statue on IG-11, killing him. Din learns that he will need a memory circuit in order to fix the droid after speaking with a group of Anzellan mechanics, the race of Babu Frik. The interaction is hilarious and adds a lot of fun to the episode.
It isn’t all fun and games on Navarro as pirates arrive and try to bully Greef Kargo into working with them. A fight breaks out and Din and Kargo make short work of the pirates, leaving one to deliver the message that Nevarro is respectable now.
After leaving Nevarro in search of a memory circuit, Din is attacked by the pirate they let go and some of his friends. This delivers more action to the episode and helps move the pacing along, while showing off Mando’s skills. This all happens as he is passing an asteroid belt and he uses the giant rocks as cover. He pilots his ship behind them and whenever one of the pirate ships gets close, he destroys it.
It is all going well for Din until a massive pirate ship arrives and locks a target on his ship. The captain of the pirates tries to get Din to surrender, promising to let him live. Din tells Grogu to never trust a pirate, and he is able to take off, leaving the pirates very unhappy. We are sure to see them again sooner rather than later.
Bo-Katan Rejects Din
After escaping the pirates, Din takes Grogu to a planet with a Mandalorian Castle. The two are greeted by a K2 unit droid, and it becomes very clear who they are going to be seeing as soon as they step inside the castle.
Bo-Katan is seen sitting on her throne, sprawled out and looking as powerful as ever. Din and her talk and she explains that when she arrived back without the Dark Saber, no one wanted to follow her any more. Her troops are traveling the galaxy as mercenaries. Din tells her that he arrived there so that he could join her, but she has since given up on the hope to restore and retake Mandalore.
She explains it is ravaged, plundered, and poisoned. He tells her he needs to bathe in the living waters so that he can reclaim his honor and she says that if he waves around the Dark Saber, the other Mandalorians will follow him. This is something that Din is not at all interested in.
Bo-Katan reveals where the living waters are located, under the Civic Center, and sends him on his way – not eager to join him at all. Din and Grogu leave Bo-Katan, and the episode ends.
Overall Thoughts
If The Mandalorian season 3 episode 1 is any indication as to how the rest of this season will go, fans are going to be absolutely thrilled. It wastes no time giving viewers action, humor, and a bunch of characters that we know and love.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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About The Mandalorian Season 3
The journeys of the Mandalorian through the Star Wars galaxy continue. Once a lone bounty hunter, Din Djarin has reunited with Grogu.
Meanwhile, the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history. The Mandalorian will cross paths with old allies and make new enemies as he and Grogu continue their journey together.
The Mandalorian Season 3 is streaming on Disney+ now.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.