Chapter 23: The Spies

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.

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.

Spoiler Free: The garbage that will forever be known as the "jack black episode" had me wondering if the show had jumped the proverbial shark. Everything that has been "teased" this season finally pays off. While I wish that Disney would release all of their episodes at once, apparently they know what they're doing. "Waiting for Wednesday" is some thing my 12 year old son, and I talk about all week. Instead of wasting a weekend of our lives, binge watching an entire season, the Mandalorian is the topic of conversation for a couple of months... This episode had it all. The Mandalorian's fighting in battle is what we all love to see. Grogu doing adorable Grogu things brings a smile to everyone's face. Furthering the character development of Bo Katan Kryze (who somehow became the main character of this season) has been a pleasure to watch. And there were more subtle Easter eggs tying the show's storyline to the Star Wars universe we've come to know. Throw in a monster and some heroic deaths...yah, this is why we love this show.

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..,

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.