The Mandalorian: Season 3 Review

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The Mandalorian: Season 3 continues the story of Din Djarin and Grogu. Even though Grogu joined Luke to train as a Jedi at the conclusion of the second season, he ultimately decides to go back to Din Djarin. Din Djarin officially begins to teach Grogu the ways of the Mandalorian, while also helping Bo-Katan bring the Mandalorians together again. 

Although I enjoyed this season, I think it was the weakest one of the three. Din Djarin and Grogu are still the best parts of this series. It’s their personalities and their relationship that really stand out and make this a good series.  

I really like how much Din Djarin has grown as a character. It’s nice to see him fully accept his role as Grogu’s father. He’s still the man we met in the first season, but it’s clear he’s opened up more. He’s been a likeable character from the beginning, but his fatherly demeanor toward Grogu and his growing sense of humor make him even more endearing. 

Grogu is still cute and lovable. I’ve grown fonder of him with each season and have begun to collect some merchandise of him. I really do like how much he’s come to trust Din Djarin and see him as a father.  

I think the writers wrote their relationship well and I’m glad that’s still one of the main focuses in this season. However, like I mentioned, there are some issues with this one that the others didn’t necessarily have.  

There’s an entire episode that felt mostly unnecessary. Or rather that they could have cut the episode down to only the necessary parts. While I get what they were trying to show, most of the episode felt like a waste of time. The writers could still have achieved the same results without all the extra fluff the episode had.  

I also think that way about the episode that featured Lizzo and Jack Black as guest stars. The last part of that episode was useful, but the whole arc with those two didn’t add anything to the story. It wasn’t written very well either. 

Jack Black was okay, though I didn’t feel like he fit into the Star Wars universe all that well. And another surprise guest star in that episode was fine as well. However, Lizzo is clearly not an actress. Her scenes felt so forced and poorly written. The writers tried so hard to make her sound smart and competent that it made the dialogue feel unnatural and made her poor acting skills more obvious.  

My other problem with this series was their push for Bo-Katan. Now, don’t get me wrong, I actually like Bo-Katan. It’s not that she’s poorly written. In fact, I think the opposite. In today’s entertainment, it’s hard to find a well-written female that doesn’t just hate men or is magically much better than the men. But that isn’t the case here.  

Bo-Katan isn’t stronger or more capable than Din Djarin. They didn’t write her to be perfect or know exactly what to do. And I like that about her. It makes her feel real and likable. She’s friendly with Din Djarin and wants his help to rebuild Mandalore. She’s kind to Grogu and Din Djarin and has become good friends with them. 

But when you start a series expecting it to be about the Mandalorian we met in the beginning, it can be a tad annoying that the writers push someone who started out as a side character so much. And it’s not like you can’t get into details about side characters. I actually like when series do. However, there was a point where it appeared that they were suggesting that Bo-Katan was the Mandalorian to whom the series’ name referred to rather than Din Djarin. 

I also really didn’t like how they handled the Darksaber story arc. It’s disappointing that Din Djarin gave it up just as he was becoming more comfortable with it. We even had some prominent scenes dedicated to him learning how to use it. 

I don’t like to include spoilers in my reviews, so I’m trying keep things as vague as possible. However, that can be difficult when trying to explain what was good or bad about a series. In this case, I may add a bit of a spoiler in saying I really didn’t like how they “resolved” the issue that Bo-Katan needed the Darksaber to be the leader of the Mandalorians.  

I have no problem with her taking on the leadership role. Din Djarin doesn’t have that vibe anyway. I think they chose the wrong way to give her the Darksaber. Not that I would want to see the two of them fight and have Din Djarin lose; I’d hate that as well. I would have preferred Bo-Katan to become the leader without relying on the Darksaber, given her unconventional approach to Mandalorian culture. 

Finally, another issue with season 3 was it did not continue where season 2 left off. When I started watching the first episode of season 3, I was confused. It was like I had missed a whole other episode but couldn’t find one. After looking it up on the internet, I discovered that season 3 of The Mandalorian actually picks up where The Book of Boba Fett ends.  

So, to not be confused about what’s going on, you need to watch The Book of Boba Fett. I guess you could just look it up and read it if you really don’t want to watch the other series. But still, I think it’s a bit underhanded how Disney basically is trying to force people to watch another series to understand a third season of another show. 

Overall, I still enjoyed watching The Mandalorian: Season 3. A lot of the aspects that made me like the first two seasons were still in this one. However, season 3 definitely had more issues than the previous two. The writers made a few poor choices story-wise and some episodes had pacing issues. However, I believe those of you who are already watching this series will continue to enjoy it. 

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