The Space Pirates Of The Caribbean

There are only three episodes left of The Mandalorian’s third season, and even though Episode 5—The Pirate—was a very welcome step in the right direction, it’s starting to feel like this season might be a great big swing and a miss for the beloved Star Wars show. Up until this point, it’s been a mixed bag at best, and at times downright cringey to watch. The writing has taken a nosedive, and even the production values seem to have deteriorated.

Thankfully, many of these problems were not on display in this week’s episode, which saw Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) head to Navarro with the covert of Mandalorians, including the Armorer, to take on a group of space pirates led by Gorian Shard—the Star Wars version of Davey Jones from The Pirates of the Caribbean.

The help comes by way of New Republic fighter pilot Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) who received a distress signal from High Magistrate Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) when the pirate king attacked. Karga rules the bustling trade center that Navarro has become but has neglected hiring defense contractors. When Cara Dune (Gina Carano) was kicked out of Navarro for having Imperial-leaning politics deemed problematic by the powers-that-be, and Mando declined the job offer, Karga decided it was no big deal. What could go wrong?

Everything, naturally.

Teva, unsure of his next steps, headed to Coruscant to ask for help from his superior officers. Unfortunately, the New Republic is run by incompetent buffoons in this version of Star Wars, and the red tape is just too thick to cut through. The requisitions officer Teva plays the distress message to—Captain Tuttle (played by SNL alum Tim Meadows)—is unwilling to push even a pencil to help. Worse, Imperial spy Elia Kane (Katy O’Brian) just happens to be there at that very moment, and nudges Tuttle in the direction he needs to be nudged, suggesting that Navarro should pay for its lack of obeisance to the new order.

Watch my video review of this episode below:

Teva tracks down the Mandalorian covert using Mando’s new droid buddy R5-D4 (though how he knows Mando has the droid is anyone’s guess). He beseeches the covert to help and later Mando pleas with his people to come to Karga’s aid despite them once fighting on opposite sides. He promises them huge tracts of land on the planet and a new beginning, a place to start over and build.

The Children Of The Watch seem hesitant until Paz Vizsla gives a rousing speech (that at first sounds like he’s arguing against helping) and reminds them all that they’re Mandalorians—badass fighters that should start acting like it. I hope his speech reminds the show’s creators of this, as up to now the Watch has been almost as incompetent as the New Republic, getting their butts kicked left and right and giving up without a fight.

Fortunately, they put on their big boy Beskar steel pants and take it to the pirates in some of the best action this show has given us all season. The fight—on land and in the skies—is a great bit of Mandalorian-vs-pirate combat, especially when the Armorer goes to work on the turret gunner’s squad. It’s just a shame that the Mandalorians have been presented as such lame fighters all season. They’ve lost a lot of their mystery and badassery and one fight against goofy pirates isn’t enough to restore their honor or mystique.

Still, the Mandalorians win the day and Karga welcomes them as heroes and new residents with their own land to settle. The Armorer tells Bo-Katan to remove her helmet and go forth, acting as the Watch’s emissary, sending her on a quest to bring the Mandalorian diaspora back to Navarro, uniting the clans in order to take back Mandalore at long last.

Meanwhile, on his way back from helping out with the pirate problem, Captain Teva comes across a New Republic prisoner transport that’s been attacked, its crew killed and its prisoner missing. The prisoner? Moff Gideon. The big bad of the first two seasons has been rescued or kidnapped. My money is on liberation. Perhaps Admiral Thrawn is behind the daring rescue?

Whatever the case, things are finally starting to get good this season, but we only have three more episodes to go. This has been the weakest of the show’s seasons so far, squandering too much time early on and making the Mandalorians seem weak and feckless. The show’s focus, which used to be lasered in on Mando and Grogu, has been all over the place and while that may be necessary to some degree, it hasn’t had the desired effect. Here’s hoping the next three episodes are much stronger and this season ends with a bang.

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Read my previous Season 3 reviews below:

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