(Warning: This review contains spoilers)
The third episode of Mandalorian continues it’s wild west theme and I have to say this show just keeps getting better and better. Yes, I know that we are only 3 episodes into the series but Jon Favreau and his team have done such an amazing job at balancing out both the growth of the characters and the action that now I feel we are fully invested in their personal story arcs. The effects in this episode are grandiose without overpowering the plot or the pacing. At no point in this episode did I feel that something needed further explanation everything just seemed to progress perfectly in sync with the tone and the direction. This was by far the best episode of the series to date.
The episode opens up right where we left off with the Mandalorian on his ship headed to collect his bounty. Once on the planet, we head straight to the drop off where the bounty is collected for the delivery of the package. This is where we get a glimpse that the Mandalorian has made the mistake of caring and asking what will happen to “Baby Yoda” and in doing so almost breaks the Guilds Code, “Once the deal is done everything is to be forgotten”. Pedro Pascal, the Mandalorian, does a phenomenal job of conveying emotions without ever showing his face. From there he grabs his payment and returns to his clan with the Beskar which is used to make armor. We see a flashback to the Mandalorian’s origin, his family seems to be escaping a battle of some sort, quite possibly from the Clone Wars, his parents tuck him into a safe space before they’re blasted by a battle droid. In the present he is confronted by his fellow Mandalorians for doing business with the remnants of the fallen empire, a fight breaks out but is over quickly when they are reminded by the armorer that this is not “The Way”, their own personal code of ethics.
Guilt-ridden over delivering the child The Mandalorian returns to the site of the deal and completely wrecks the stormtroopers and collects “Baby Yoda”. Heading back to his ship to go off world he is confronted by all the bounty hunters and mercenaries that originally failed the mission to collect baby Yoda as his tracking beacon has once again been activated. Faced with insurmountable odds our hero fights bravely but is outmanned and outgunned until his clan of Mandalorians comes to his aide. In what I can only describe as an amazing fight set piece filled with Mandalorians on jet packs this episode delivers on the big battle we’ve been itching to see from this Star Wars Series. Mandalorian and baby Yoda escape unscathed and with the respect of his clan. Now our hero must go on the run from the mercenaries that the Empire will recruit to take him down. I can’t wait to see where this series goes from here!!
Catch episode 4 Friday November 29th only on the Disney+ streaming app.