Is the consensus that The Mandalorian season 3 is a letdown? I saw a few reviews to that effect.
I watched the season premiere with the worry that, after Andor, it would be hard to go back to the more juvenile approach of the previous Star Wars shows.
I’m afraid that was the case. Andor was so smart, so grown-up and thoughtful, that going back to the more adolescent tone of The Mandalorian...well, I just wasn’t that interested.
But the other problem is that the show’s premise has changed. The first two seasons were about the Mandalorian returning the child (“Baby Yoda”) to his people—accomplished at the end of season two. But then in Boba Fett (spoiler), the child chose to go back to the Mandalorian.
That’s all fine!
But because he was feeling like a human being in the season 2 finale, the Mandalorian took off his helmet to say goodbye to the child—and, upon revealing that to his people, got banished for violating his creed.
So now he has to return to the sacred waters of Mandalore and do a ritual baptism to be restored to his people.
You know what never has a lot of suspense? Aliens being banished from their stupid societies.
It’s dramatic for what it does to the character, but there’s never a lot of suspense. We all knew Worf would be accepted again, it was just a matter of time.
But at least Worf was banished for doing something noble.
I guess this is obvious to me, but the dramatic problem I’m having is that the Mandalorian creed seems stupid. Keeping your helmet on all the time is impractical, dehumanizing and ridiculous.
And even inside the show, other Mandalorians are saying that they think it’s dumb, too.
The Mandalorian creed was cool when it was compelling our hero to take care of the child and go on a quest that was impractical and honorable.
But now that it’s compelling our hero to do something that’s inconvenient and dumb, I just don’t care.
It seems to be setting up some kind of revolution within the Mandalorian society...but it’s hard to figure out the stakes and who to root for.
And if Jon Favreau’s reading this, I take it all back—please hire me!