Further Thoughts on The Mandalorian: S3-E1 – The Apostate

After a second viewing, I’ve had a bit more time to simmer in the details of S3E1 of the Mandalorian – so what was my overall takeaway?

For most of the last year, I’ve been both anticipating and dreading the return of The Mandalorian.  By far my favorite Disney entry in the canon, my greatest fear was that the show couldn’t attain the heights previously scaled in seasons one and two.  My first viewing in the early hours of this morning left me in a strange place – happy to see the return of old friends and the continuation of a story that we’ve had to wait far too long to see, but also strangely empty and somewhat let down.  As expected, the first episode by necessity had to provide a lot of exposition to the audience.  You always want to limit exposition when possible, because it breaks a cardinal writing rule – telling, not showing.

(For a master class in expositional writing, see Obi-Wan explaining all of the factions of Star Wars to Luke and the audience in about 3 minutes flat!)

Even though I wanted something more from the first episode, I understand why this approach was necessary.  Episode 1 never reaches the highs seen in any of the episodes of Season 2, but after a second viewing I feel a *little* bit better about it.

I wanted to highlight a few things I forgot to mention in the reaction videos, and rebutt a couple of points that Pro made in his comments.

Without further ado – here’s a few more things I noticed and pondered on in The Apostate:

1. The Dragon Turtle

I don’t know what its name is, and I don’t care what they officially call it.  For once, I’m eschewing canon lore – that thing is a Dragon Turtle, and you’re not going to convince me otherwise.

When watching the episode in the wee early morning hours, I was both surprised pleased that they didn’t do something I thought they were doing in the setup.  I had mentioned in my pre-viewing video that I believed the episode was going to open with action.  (When in doubt, kick in the door!)  My assumption was that this would be a Mandalorian assault on Navarro, as factions of Mandalorians tried to take the Darksaber from Din Djarin by force.

Instead, we were treated with the ritual induction of a new member into the Death Watch clan.  While watching, I believed we were seeing a flashback.  My assumption was that we were seeing a young Din Djarin being initially inducted into the tribe.  I had a brief moment of panic when the ceremony was interrupted by the Dragon Turtle.  I was afraid (assuming the young initiate WAS Din), that he would try to argue that because the oath was never completed, that he wasn’t subject to the Creed and thus couldn’t be exiled.

When the N1 flashed onto the screen, my relief was palpable.

As for the Dragon Turtle itself – I love the creature design, but also felt this was too similar to the Krayt Dragon on S2-E1.  THAT Episode was one of my favorites in the series, and had incredible creature design, action, humor, etc.  It set the tone for the entire season, and I was hoping to feel that same high with this one.  Unfortuately, this opening scene undermined itself by feeling copycat – beware, Lucasfilm.  One of the dangers you’re now running into is repeating yourself.  Forward progress must continue to be made.

2.  The Purgill

I forgot to mention last night the scene of Grogu becoming aware of the Purgill “swimming” alongside the N1 as it travelled through hyperspace.  I don’t have any deep thoughts about it, just thought it was a beautiful image.

3.  IG-11, and why he is needed

This is one area where I’m going to take *very* slight exception to a comment Pro made in his thoughts.  While I think resurrecting IG-11 overall is a bad idea, narratively I think it makes sense for Mando’s quest to Mandalore.  It is unknown what the condition of Mandalore is – whether or not the surface is radioactive is in dispute, so a mechanical probe is the logical first pass.  While Din has grown beyond his initial hatred of droids, I doubt he’s checked all of those feelings at the door.  IG-11 is the first droid he bonded with, and it is only because of this trust that I think Din is focused on him.  The danger of this plot point is that it once again lowers stakes by bringing back a character who “died”, and Lucasfilm has already gone to this well far too many times.

4.  Nikto, Weequay, Klatooinians, and whatever the heck Gorian Shard is – Oh My!

One thing The Mandalorian does absolutely right is showing alien representation in Star Wars.  The sequels had bland and blubbery creature design, and other shows (particularly Andor) hardly showed any alien life at all.   Almost everywhere I looked in this first episode was an array of alien creatures, and the prosthetics and animatronics they use to create them improves with almost every iteration.  I’m a big fan of practical effects, so it was a lot of fun to see all of these creatures being proudly shown off on screen.

5.  Speaking of Nikto –

Remember the Nikto mercenaries who were holding Grogu before The Mandalorian liberated him?  Yeah, me too.  I’m hoping we get back to this plot point sooner rather than later.  Grogu NEEDS some character development, and digging into his history (as the trailers have already shown will happen) is a great way to do that.

6. Greefs Shady Past

I neglected to mention Carl Weathers last night, and I’ve been kicking myself ever since.  The man electrifies the screen in every role that he plays, and Greef is no exception.  Jon has done something really fun with Greef by making him a disgraced magistrate, and bounty hunters guild representative, and now the High Magistrate of Navarro.  This is one other area where I disagree with Pro’s comments RE: the pirates.  I believe they will be a vital part of the storytelling going forward for a couple of reasons.  The first is that they clearly tie into Greef’s past – Vane says that Greef had used them for murder and mayhem in the past, and I wonder if this is what led to his disgrace and the loss of his former position.  Secondarily, you need multiple adversaries, particularly in an episodic series.  These pirates feel like they’ll be the mid-tier bosses for the season, with the likely other adversaries being Bo Katan and Moff Gideon.  There’s another important reason for the Pirates to be involved, though!

7.  Nice ship!

Gorian Shards Carrier.  Many people have mentioned that The Mandalorian feels like a CRPG, and with good reason.  There are a myriad of questgivers, sidequests, armor upgrades, and experience boosts.  These are also fundamentals of epic storytelling, and a lot of mythic heroics involves “upgrading your status.”  Not for one moment have I believed that Din is going to remain in an N-1 starfighter for very long.  As the future Mand’alor, the man is going to need to ride in style – and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be riding in that sweet carrier before season end, with the N-1 acting as his and Grogus personal shuttle.

8.  Cornering the Market

It stands to reason that Greef and the pirates are now at odds.  In addition to making Navarro “respectable”, Gorian believes that the largesse that he gave to Greef was used against him.  Besides that, by opening up the asteroid field to mining, the miners are now encroaching on the pirates themselves, which prevents them from remaining hidden.  Because Greef is once again acting as an officer of the law, they had to find out if he was still on the take, or whether he was going to be a problem – thus the contrived beef over a drink.

BTW, can I gush again about the quick draw Greef pulled?  I’ll bet Carl had a blast with that scene.

9.  Gorian Shard, Vane, and the Pirates

My favorite scene in the episode was likely also the cheesiest – seeing Gorian Shard on his carrier thundering at Din reminded me very much of General Sarris from GalaxyQuest, or the aliens in the old movie The Explorers.  It’s a throwback to 50’s sci-fi cinema, which is very much in Star Wars DNA.  Yeah, Gorian looked a little cheap – I didn’t care, that was part of the appeal.  We need more space pirates, and I want to see LOTS more of the R-41’s.

10.  Bo Katan’s Hyporcisy, and a Mural from Mandalore

As other commentors have mentioned, it’s pretty rich for Bo to be lecturing Din about the Death Watch shattering Mandalorian society, since she was agitating against her sister as a member herself when Satine tried to lead the Mandalorians down a pacifistic path.  Bo’s sulk is in character, and Katee Sackhoff sold the scene.

Were I Din, I might remind her that Death Watch could make the very same claim against her – after all, Duchess Satine tried to radically transform Mandalorian Society, benefiting those of like mind, while ostracizing the more traditional elements of their society.

There’s a lesson there for us all.

Also – I noticed a mural behind her throne in the second viewing.  While details weren’t clear, it looks like it may be similar to the murals seen depicting the Mandalorian Wars in the Maul arc of the Clone Wars – specifically when Maul and Savage attempted to defeat Darth Sidious.  I’m betting that particular section of mural probably details the history of the Darksaber – a foreshadowing of her own obsession with power.

Final Thoughts

This episode didn’t reach the heights that I wanted it to, but it did improve on the second viewing.  If I had to rate the episode on a scale of 1-10, this morning I would’ve given it a 6.5.  After the second, I’ll give it a 7 with the chance for improvement depending on how future episodes go.

What did you all think?  Did you notice details I missed?  Tell me down below!