Chapter 23: The Spies

Finally! After a lackluster season, we get our first great episode. This is what we expected after the fantastic finale of season 2. Last week's episode was brutally bad and pointless; this is what this show should be like -- actual tension and good storytelling.

Last week's episode featured pointless side missions that brought nothing to the series. It was just an excuse for a few famous faces to have a cameo in Star Wars. This time we got good storytelling, great action, and real tension. Who cares about Mando chasing a droid around a city? No one. Who cares about real worldbuilding, character development, sacrifice, human connections, and high stakes? Everyone.

It has been a sporadic seasom of Thr Mandalorian, and I was hoping this chapter would being the various story threads together, in this regard, it certainly did not disappoint in some regards, but other threads remain open. Katee Sackhoff's performance as Bo Katan was exceptional, showcasing her talents and delivering a character that was both fierce and vulnerable.

One of the highlights of the episode was the humorous moments with Grogu and his new fancy robot suit. Seeing him waddle around in it was an adorable sight and brought some light-heartedness to the episode. Additionally, the inspirational moments of Mandalore coming back were moving and gave me a sense of hope for them.

Amazing special effects and a great action scene at the end was exciting. Some truly sensational work from the film makers here.

Still haven't quite captured the magic moments of the first 2 seasons, and I'm hoping the finale brings it all together. I think I'm largely disappointed with the season, but I'm along for the ride.

I enjoyed this episode but didn't love it. The story was exciting but the script, acting, and production leave much to be desired.

Now that Mando has lost its novelty - and unfortunately shed its samurai/western pastiche - its quality depends on its story, characters, and spectacle. It has spectacle aplenty, that's the good news.

This episode crams a season's worth of exposition and plot into a few flat monologues. It "tells" and doesn't "show". The story has substance but the storytelling lacks finesse.

As for the characters - the show puts the entire weight on Giancarlo Esposito and Katiee Sackoff's shoulders because everyone else is hidden behind a mask. It's difficult to emotionally connect with masked characters and the production is allergic to the subtle and intimate moments that show who these characters are inside their armor and inside their minds.

I'm mostly disappointed by "what could have been" which admittedly isn't entirely fair, but my time is valuable and I'd rather spend it watching truly great entertainment.

Many people have been questioning the strange dip in writing quality this third season of the Mandalorian compared to the first two seasons...but it's not that hard to work it out.

The only person on the entire Lucasfilm writing team that knows what they're doing, that KNOWS Starwars (even more so than hardcore fans) is Dave Filoni.

After taking a backseat on the writing for this season to concentrate on Ahsoka, Filoni finally writes an episode for Mando, taking over from the mess Favreau has been creating..and lo and behold, we're back to season 2 levels of mando greatness. It's a great, tight episode, full of action and excitement. It FEELS like Star Wars again.

With KK still in charge Star Wars will continue to be a mess, focusing on the wrong characters, on forceful identity politics...BUT we do have Filoni. All is not lost.

Bob Iger would do well to finally do the right thing. If you want Disney to start making money with the Star Wars brand once again, put Filoni in charge! But even that could be too little too late..,

Penultimate episode and they've rammed as much predictable cliches as they can into it.

Gave it a 7 because the last 5 minutes were excellent but even those were cliched nonsense.

Moff Gideon character gets more annoying with every scene he's in too. He's a cut and paste bad guy who just happens to have all the best tools all he's missing is a top hat and a moustache long enough to twirl.

Grogu is being forced into these eps but I love him and have nothing bad to say about him, he's too cute.

All in it's a decent episode but honestly, if this had been spread across the whole season it would have been as good as the first one.