Season 3 of ‘The Mandalorian’ has taken more than two years to arrive on Disney +, but it is fair to remember that there came a point where ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ was transformed and seemed more like a continuation of the series starring Peter Pascal anything else. In fact, the return of ‘The Mandalorian’ is understood to be regular without having seen that other story from the Star Wars universe.
In addition, this new installment of ‘The Mandalorian’ opts for a different approach to its predecessors, since at least its first episode has put aside its adventure of the week nature a bit to present a story arc with a longer journey. The goal is for Din Djarin to achieve redemption for having transgressed the honor code of the Mandalorians, but everything indicates that it will be something almost impossible to achieve.
Watch out for spoilers from here on out.
This is ‘The Apostate’
The start of ‘The Apostate’ He plays with the possibility of seeing the moment in which Pascal’s character began his journey as a Mandalorian, but the truth is that everything is nothing more than a lure for Din to make a triumphant appearance and save everyone from a tremendous beast with giant crocodile form that seemed unstoppable until his arrival. It is then that all the cards are put on the table and Din begins his new adventure.
From then on, almost everything is setbacks for the protagonist, from the failed reunion with IG-11 to later leaving that plot aside -we hope it will be temporarily, since everything indicates that some future episode will focus on Din trying to get hold of a circuit from memory for the droid- until the incident with the space pirates. That is where Jon Favreau, who writes the script for ‘The Apostate’ alone, remembers that one of the strengths of ‘The Mandalorian’ is the fun of the moment.
Since that first confrontation of Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) with one of them about such a trivial aspect as that building is now a school instead of a bar in which to get drunk until that space skirmish, everything there works to add a little more lightness to the matter and that not the whole episode is a great presentation for what is to come. Especially successful is the duel in which ‘The Mandalorian’ reminds us once again of its roots in the western genre.
In addition, the series agrees to close other fronts such as explaining why there is no sign of Cara Dune. Let’s remember that Gina Carano She was abruptly fired from the series after the controversial comments she made on social networks, so we already knew that her character was not going to appear in this third season, but at least they have not opted for the easy solution of killing her either, so that the door is always open to a very improbable return in the future. Nor is it that the actress does exactly well away from ‘The Mandalorian’…
Finally, the final sequence serves to redirect the story towards what really interests Favreau in ‘The Apostate’: Din is not willing to give up on her path to redemption. Her reunion with Bo-Katan was her first great opportunity to achieve it, but the reality has been different, since the character played by katee sackhoff Little less than she has accepted her defeat and is totally apathetic at the possibility of fulfilling the objective that previously marked her life.
It is evident that the dark sword is called to play an important role in future episodes, but before that it will touch a new dose of sad reality for Din, since this third season would have little mystery if Mandalore is not poisoned and can be redeemed so easily -or even if it is. Be that as it may, all those promises of a possible redemption are nothing short of a hoax, something that fits with the somewhat disenchanted vision that Bo-Katan offers. We will see.
In short
‘The apostate’ is an effective introductory episode that has several spectacular scenes, something that we undoubtedly owe in part to the good work behind the scenes of Rick Famuyiwa, and introduces a new path for the character of Pedro Pascal that at least has managed to hook me. I don’t think this start of the season has been wonderful either, but I have been happy to meet again with the Disney+ series and has left me wanting more.