Wednesday 19 June 2024

The Mandalorian Marathon - Chapter 17: The Apostate


After a brief diversion to deal with an attack by the supporting feature, it's time to start the third season of The Mandalorian.

If you didn't watch The Book of Boba Fett, and skipped the recap, here's a quick rundown: After entrusting Grogu to Luke Skywalker, Din Djarn reconnected with the survivors of the Mandalorian covert from Navarro. However, he was cast out because he had removed his helmet in front of somebody, and is tasked with bathing in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore.

Anyway, it turns out that the Armourer has managed to find other Mandalorians to rebuild her enclave, but a large sea creature disrupts an initiation ceremony. Din Djarin arrives in his "hot rod" Naboo fighter with Grogu and saves the day, but receives a cold reception. In a scene that's largely exposition for anyone who didn't watch The Book of Boba Fett, Din and the Armourer discuss rumours Mandalore has been rendered uninhabitable since the Imperial purge. She permits Din to return if he can prove the rumours wrong. Again, the quest that was outlined in the spin-off, which goes to explaining why those events should have been depicted in this series rather than that one.

But I digress. Din returns to Navarro, which has received a makeover and become a prosperous independent trade port under High Magistrate Karga's supervision. He even offers Din a home in the region. However, all's not well as a subplot emerges: A group of pirates are causing trouble at the local school (which used to be a cantina). In the ensuing showdown, Karga proves he's still a fast draw, but he seeks to recruit Din as a new marshal; Cara Dune's been promoted to special forces (as Gina Carano had been fired at this point), and his desire to make his town independent has made him reluctant to approach the New Republic. He's also kind of crestfallen when he learns that Din had come back on business; seeking to rebuild IG-11 to help him go to Mandalore.

As stated above, the story gets a little jumbled in this episode. Although it does finally reveal what happened to Bo-Katan in the aftermath of the last season; her people abandoned her when she didn't recover the Darksaber, and she's since grown bitter over her failure, giving up on her quest to reclaim Mandalore and living in solitude at her castle on one of the other worlds in the system.

Jumbled story aside, there's still some good action sequences, with the monster battle at the beginning of the episode and the stand-off with the pirates. There's also a Terminator-like sequence when a rebooted IG-11 tries to kill Grogu, and a space battle with more pirates.

Speaking of Grogu, he provides a bit of comic relief in the episode; using the force to steal candy and spin the chair in Karga's office, and later trying to hug the diminutive Anzellan technicians whom Karga tasks with rebuilding IG-11.


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