THE SPOILERS HAVE REMOVED THEIR HELMETS
Before I respond to The Mandalorian’s third season premiere, I would like to apologize to my spouse. I woke Pam up early Wednesday morning from a sound sleep, so we could watch this episode before people started texting me spoilers. She was, shall we say, as patient as a person can be expected to be under those circumstances.
I’m sorry I’m like this.
Here’s a haiku about it:
You were fast asleep.
I woke you. Begrudgingly
you stirred, for Grogu.
J.J. Abrams famously called his approach to The Force Awakens “going backwards to go forwards.” In order to bring Star Wars back to the big screen after the prequel trilogy, he decided to reorient the audience to a galaxy, far, far away with familiarity. That meant the return of X-Wings and TIE fighters, it meant a desert planet and an abandoned hero, it meant a villain in a black mask and Han Solo returning to the Millennium Falcon. To make us open to what was new, he gave us what we knew.
The Mandalorian’s third season lands its customized N-1 Starfighter in our living rooms in that same spirit. Every indication is that series is about to get weird: mythologically dense, incorporating more of the surrounding lore from other parts of the story, like hyperspace whales. Before we go there, we go back again. We return to Greef Karga, Nevarro, IG-11, The Armorer. It’s Big Season One Energy.
In service of this, we’re served up some trademark declarative Favreau-style Star Wars writing for clarity of purpose. We get dialogue like “It’s complicated, I completed my mission, the child returned to me, I removed my helmet, and now I’m an apostate” and “I will find out if the planet is really poisoned.” We are shown things we know well, reminded of what the show’s relationships are and how they work, some housekeeping is handled efficiently (writing off Cara Dune is done with one line), and we’re off to the pod-races. The show’s only real zinger is a Dad-joke groaner (“That’s using your head!”) which feels exactly right because Pedro Pascal is basically driving all of fandom to the middle school dance. It’s plenty funny, mostly because Grogu is dumb, stupid, loony cute, but it’s written so you can’t miss a beat. Everything is underlined, from where we are to where we’re headed.
That’s not to imply that Season 3 starts with a soft reboot or somesuch. On the contrary, even as it revisits old territory, it shows us how far we’ve come from the first episode of the series. Nevarro has been healed (how rare to see a thriving middle-class town in the Star Wars galaxy), Karga is respectable, the faceless bounty hunter and his quarry and now Din and Grogu, and IG-11 is now a hero with his own statue. This is about as comfortable as the show has ever felt. If our heroes wanted to, they could just settle down in the peace they helped make.
But what are heroes without their quests? The Mandalorian’s completed quest has given rise to a new one, a desire for redemption in the eyes of his creed, and that quest will lead him to rediscover allies and return to his creed’s source. He’s on a collision course with the history of Mandalore, The Watch (previously known as Death Watch), and Bo-Katan Kryze. He’s even run afoul of a particularly wonderful pirate king named Gorian Shard. Adventure awaits.
If you just read what I describe above you’d think this was all exposition and table-setting. Instead, “The Apostate” felt celebratory and joyful. It’s thirty or so minutes of delight, sprinkling little bits of the best of Star Wars all over its Corn Flakes. Like Babu Frik in Episode IX? Here’s Grogu hugging a g&*damn Anzellan! Like Salacious Crumb in Return of the Jedi? Here’s a treeful. Did you grow up loving Boba Fett? Here’s a field of Mandalorians battling a giant lizard. Like the asteroid field moments from Empire and Attack of the Clones? Here’s one, set for stun! Do you love that Star Wars is a western? Here’s a quick draw showdown outside what used to be a saloon. Love when Star Wars is high fantasy? Here’s a vast, rain-whipped castle, a would-be ruler sitting in her empty throne room. Star Wars is its very own thing because it is kind of All The Things. This episode is a great example of why.
The Mandalorian has been beloved in the Star Wars canon precisely because it gives the people what they want. This is Star Wars that plays to the back row, it’s literally fun for the whole family. It’s a story about being a parent, as many stories are these days. It’s about finding family where you least expect it, out there, somewhere, by accident, on your journey.
It’s also a show that came out just as the Star Wars Film Saga was coming to an end, forty-two years after the very first film blasted through popular culture like a Death Star. It’s never shied away from its magpie-like assemblage of the shiniest and most beloved parts of Star Wars, presenting them with unabashed glee. You can almost feel the creative team smiling as the jetpacks fly and flamethrowers fire, like kids who are getting away with something. Like someone gave them the keys to an expensive motorcycle and they’re doing wheelies and donuts in the driveway before someone shows up and tells them to stop.
It reminds me, in some ways, of what Jon Favreau did with Iron Man. It’s hard to remember 30 movies ago, before it was even called the MCU, but Iron Man changed what people thought of as comic book material. How? In a sea of comic book films about the burden of power, from The Dark Knight to Spider-Man, Iron Man was a breath of fresh air. Tony Stark was a fantasy built on freedom from, not the weight of, responsibility. Iron Man was buoyant. The Mandalorian shares that buoyancy.
Even the most entertaining and speedy Star Wars movies are operas about legacy, grief, maturation and family, layers of meaning nestled into the pages of a children’s book. The Mandalorian is the other thing: a big hug of a yarn, unspooling just to make fans cheer, and maybe make a few new fans along the way. It’s making fireworks out of the familiar, killin’ it with Dad-jokes, and giving fan-service a good name.
So welcome back Mando and company! Chapter 17 was so much fun, I think Pam even forgave me for waking her up. Find out next week if we are still married for Chapter 18!
This is so beautifully stated. Great piece.
“Star Wars is it’s very own thing because it is kind of All The Things.” - This is my new favorite way to describe why I love Star Wars. So ready for more Mando and Grogu!