‘The Mandalorian’ Finally Hits Its Stride In Episode 7, But Is It Too Little Too Late For Season 3?

The latest episode of The Mandalorian is probably the best of the season and I’m beginning to feel like I have whiplash at this point. It’s as if every other episode has a quality reversal.

Episode 2 was great! It felt like a Dark Souls x Star Wars hybrid. Episode 3 was the worst of the entire series.

Episode 4 was fine, but nothing special, and then episode 5 was an exciting fight against the space pirates. Episode 6 was another filler episode with way too many cameos and then Episode 7 gets back on track, reintroducing Moff Gideon and his plans for the galaxy.

What worked for me this episode:

• Baby Yoda in the IG-12 mecha was both a very cool way to bring back IG-11 without bringing him all the way back, and just so hilarious at times. Grogu having the ability to say “Yes” and “No” is wonderfully funny. He’s become a tyrant toddler that Mando can’t control.
• Hearing Moff Gideon and the members of the Shadow Council discuss Admiral Thrawn is awesome. Gideon is a great villain but all I could think about is just how much he’s underestimating the Grand Admiral. I wonder where this goes. I’m genuinely excited to find out. It’s fun to see Captain Gilad Pellaeon as well, another figure from Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy.
• I’m also very curious about Project Necromancer and it’s pretty neat to see Brendol Hux, father of Armitage Hux from the sequel films. Brendol is played by Brian Gleeson, brother of Domhnall Gleeson. Is this something to do with the Emperor?
• The fight in the depths of Mandalore was fun, though I felt like a lot of the action could have been filmed more dramatically. Sometimes it just feels like people standing around shooting blasters. The big sacrifice of Paz Vizsla at the end was great, but the troopers just standing and firing feels silly to me. Get behind cover! Have some of them kneeling, some firing from the air etc. Put a little more effort into dramatic camera angles, especially when the super badass Praetorian Guard show up to finish him off. Still, a great scene overall.
• The surviving Mandalorians on Mandalore riding around in the Mad Max ship were a neat addition. I’m curious how they survived all this time. Is there food on this wasted planet? They seemed quite sickly, starving, but it’s been years since the destruction of their home world.
• The confrontation between Pax Vizsla and Axe Woves was great. The two Mandalorian cultures clashing. That it was Grogu—using his IG-12 “No” button—that broke them up was one of the best moments this whole season. Bo-Katan’s admission of surrender, later that evening, was a perfect coda to this melee. To defeat their enemies, they need to work together for once.
• Oh, and the reason it wasn’t totally destroyed, it turns out, was because Moff Gideon wanted to plunder its precious resources. Namely, its beskar steel, which he’s using to outfit new and improved Dark Troopers. His own suit of beskar steel armor—jet black—is extremely cool.

He’s no Force user, but Moff Gideon is definitely one of the coolest villains since Darth Vader, and he’s giving off major Vader vibes in this episode:

I just wish that they’d come up with a Moff Gideon theme song as distinct as Vader’s.

“The Spies” mostly worked really well for me but it wasn’t perfect. Dialogue still feels clunkier than ever. Whenever we go to Coruscant and Elia Kane I’m thrown off. And while I like that Bo-Katan is taking on a heroic role here, I’m still uncertain where that leaves our titular hero, Din Djarin, who seems less and less important these days.

Then again, he’s captured by Moff Gideon at the end of the episode, so who knows where that will lead in the Season 3 finale next week.

I can’t believe we’re already at the finale, by the way. It feels like we’ve gotten almost no relevant story this entire season. A lot of filler, a lot of spinning wheels, some ridiculous cameos and now—just when the story kicks into high gear—it’s basically over.

It’s also just a little odd to have Moff Gideon be the villain again after he was captured by Din and Bo-Katan at the end of Season 2. Bringing him back, just like bringing Grogu back, felt like a massive retcon of that whole arc. I wish that at the very least they’d made his escape more dramatic and shown it on-screen as part of this season.

Oh, and that one Imperial woman in the Shadow Council who says that the people of the galaxy are sick of the New Republic’s rules and regulations? That felt like some right-winger in American politics, not something an Imperial fascist would say. The Empire had tons of rules and regulations. That’s kind of their thing. Bringing order to the galaxy. Come on, writers. Get your politics straight.

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