The Mandalorain: Chapter 17 "The Apostate" (Review)

The season 3 premiere of The Mandalorain (Chapter 17 "The Apostate") is a decent start to the new season.

In general, I enjoyed the episode. It obviously isn't going to be outstanding considering that it is a season premiere, but it was still good.

Some of the scenes felt a little dragged on, with filler dialogue, but the pacing was good enough for the 40 minutes to fly by. The scene that pops into my head when I think of moments lasting too long is the first scene we see with space pirates. The back and fourth between Greef Karga and the pirates went on just a tad too long. The space pirates seem like they are going to be the main threat of the season so far, but only time will tell.

I enjoyed how they dealt with Cara Dune after the mess with Gina Carano (good riddance) and seeing how much Nevarro has changed since the end of the previous seasons.

I do always love seeing a Naboo Starfighter in action, and we see a lot of that this episode. It is probably one of my favourite ships in Star Wars, so I am always glad to see that Din Djarin is flying one, though I will always miss the Razor Crest (R.I.P)

Something that might be an unpopular opinion, is that so far, Grogu has had no real impact on the plot this season. His story ended after season 2, so why was he brought back? He is barely written in and seems like an after thought. My guess? Toy sales. Everyone loves Baby Yoda, myself included, but it can become obvious that he is there because of how recognizable he is. I hope he serves more of a purpose to the plot later in the season, rather than becoming just a cute thing to look at and buy merch of.

What I am hoping to see this season is the return of Cobb Vanth. At the end of The Book of Boba Fett, we see him in the bacta tank, so he isn't dead like some might think. I hope we get at least one episode with him in it.

I'd give this episode a 7/10. I'm excited for more and I cannot wait to see how the story progresses.