Topic: The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6

Airing in just under 7 hours from now, the 6th chapter of 8 for the season. Please feel free to discuss spoilers before/during/after the show here.

Bryce Dallas Howard is reportedly the director. Rumored to be a 44 minute runtime (including long credits).

Update

* Axe Woves and Koska Reeves are back
* Jack Black, Lizzo, and Christopher Lloyd have bit parts
* No Boba Fett in the episode
* Episode's story content is closer to 38 minutes excluding the recap and credits

Disappointing episode

Is that the best they can come up with? The episode could have been a minute long, just seeing how Bo-Katan regains the Darksaber, everything else was just dreadful filler. Why are Filoni and Favreau so obsessed with the Prequels? Can someone explain to me why these Battle Droids were still activated?

How could someone read the finished script and then decide "we're going to make this" Is this really the best they can do?

This episode was completely underwhelming, I expected  this episode to be great (as the episodes directed by Bryce Dallas Howard usually are) But I don't even know if I can call this episode good. The tone was all over the place, The plot was contrived and boring. The writing was pretty poor. The acting from Jack Black and Lizzo just wasn't there (Why were they even cast?). Same with Christopher Lloyd, I was hoping he would be an elderly Mandalorian or something but his security officer character (who is a separatist and Count Dooku sympathizer) was just not interesting and the line delivery was iffy at best. The opening with the Quarren and Mon Cala Romeo and Juliet was definitely something, I understand this season is no longer a Western and is now more like an Arthurian Legend/Fantasy but who cares about this stuff? These side quest episodes are the worst type of Mandalorian episodes, We're two episodes from the finale and It's just not going anywhere. This episode had all the worst parts of the Clone Wars filler episodes. also seriously did we really need a call back to Drash and Skads biker gang? The whole ordeal at the end with the dark saber was probably some of the worst writing in the episode, again the Dark Saber is an honor weapon you can't just obtain it through a trap/ambush. The "But technically it's now Bo-Katan's!!!!" line from Din Djarin was awful, just forced. This is the third? time Bo-Katan has been given the Dark Saber and there's yet to been an actual legitimate reason for her earning it. Also does Din Djarin not have a character arc anymore? He just hates droids and is back to his whole zealot routine. He's essentially back to his season one self. I did like some elements of this episode such as the Ugnaughts and battle droids and droid bar but that's about it. When the title appeared as "Guns for hire" I was hoping perhaps they would recruit the rogue Mandalorians then go to Tatooine to get the original Guns for hire (Boba Fett and perhaps Fennec and maybe just maybe Black Krrrsantan) but nope we have this whole episode unfortunately. No plot progression, nothing real was achieved it's just content. Overall I am extremely disappointed with this episode and will rate it 2/5.

We went from Mayfield having a deep and suspenseful conversation with Valin Hess to Lizzo (why?) playing games with Grogu.  How is this the same show?

This episode sucked.  This season has been mediocre.  Its turned into an MCU knock off.

I loved S1 and S2.  The show has lost is way.  And why even bother giving Din the dark saber?  They really did use the convoluted alien fight to give it to Bo.

Favreau needs to step up his game, because this was embarrassing.

I've lost faith in Favreau after Book of Boba Fett and and this season of The Mandalorian. Absolutely abysmal and baffling writing - there's no salvaging any of these characters anymore. Everything that was developed in the first 2 seasons has already been reversed. Din and Grogu separated? Din winning and training with the Darksaber? Din's notions of the Mandalorians being challenged by Bo, Boba, and Mayfeld? Din's reluctant acceptance of droids? All pointless setups/developments that end up with with either no payoffs or reversing them altogether. Now Din's back to being a droid-hating zealot. How do they expect us to ever become invested in their stories again? Same thing happened with Boba suddenly reduced to an incompetent old man from Mando s2 to BoBF. Frankly, I'm hoping Boba doesn't show up in this period of Star Wars canon again, or at least not in any of Favreau and Filoni's projects.

I'm kind of divided on this episode.  It was such a weird and bizarre episode, but I actually enjoyed it, mainly BECAUSE it was so weird and bizarre.  But, it seemed so out of place on the Mandalorian.  Maybe, that's why I liked it.  You have these two serious, hardened warriors in this absurd almost comical situation, that they both obviously feel is beneath their skill set.  I did kind of like how we saw many of the same types of aliens around from the previous episode that Bryce Dallas Howard directed (including Bo Katan's Mandalorians). 

The beginning started off pretty interesting, with the rest of Mando's working as Mercenaries.  Nice to see they still have Moff Gideon's cruiser.  Didn't they mention in the previous Coruscant episode  about a "Mon Calamari prince" being "kidnapped" in the outer rim?  Thought that was a neat tie-in.  Arriving at the planet looking for the other Mando's, those two shiny black Imperial droids gave me a very 0-0-0 and BT-1 vibe (from the Vader and Dr. Aphra comics).  I was half expecting Doctor Aphra to show up from the comics, as well.  The domed city felt very much like a nod to Logan's Run, which was pretty cool, with a mix of the Futurama exhibit from the 1939 Worlds Fair; very "EPCOT-esque."  The whole dinner table scene felt very "Alice in Wonderland."  Even moreso, towards the end, when they're playing that weird handball type game with the roly-poly bugs.  I honestly didn't have an issue with the actors they cast.  I know both are big Star Wars fans, and if I were an actor I would definitely love to get a cameo in my favorite show, too.  It was a bit over the top, but I believe that was the whole intent.  Hence, the whole "what kind of freak show did we walk in to" looks from Bo Katan and Din Djarin.

The majority of the episode was like an episode of "CSI: Mandalore" meets "I, Robot."  Very, very weird and odd.  Especially having the Battle Droid on a "slab" at what's basically a "Droid Morgue."  I guess having Christopher Lloyd in there was perfect casting for an episode like this.  Few actors can do "weird and odd" better than him.  The underbelly of the city and the interaction with the Ugnauts work area was actually pretty neat.  It was interesting to see the roles of "diplomat" switching between Bo Katan and Din Djarin.  To each their own strength.  Watching Djarin kick the ever loving crap out of those Battle Droids was too funny.  It reminded me of those videos with the guys designing those robot dogs (like the ones they used for background props in Book of Boba Fett) showing how resilient they are at maintaining their balance by basically doing the same.  That must've been very cathartic for Din Djarin.  That had to be the fastest I've ever seen a Super Battle Droid ever move.  It was like they were chasing "Sonny" from "I, Robot" down the street.  If they'd moved like that in the Clone Wars, they would've been the most menacing thing on the battle field, instead of just "klanker" cannon fodder for Clones.  The Droid bar... again, pretty neat and also so bizarre.  Like something you'd expect in the Droids cartoon, back in the 80's.  It should be weird there are still places that use Separatist Battle Droids for anything, but honestly, would you really waste an easily re-programmable resource like that?

For the end, I was honestly expecting a lot more Mandalorians and ships in their "little fleet."  It was good to see some familiar faces again, and I honestly liked how they "upgraded" Axe Woves costume with a more traditional style Mandalorian chest armor, instead of that odd design you see alot of "The Tribe" Mando's using.  The token Mandalorian "fight for control" was expected.  Still, always fun to watch, though.  However, why did Bo Katan not have her helmet with her this entire time?  That never made sense to me.  My biggest beef, as I've seen a lot of others complaining about online, was how Bo Katan got the Darksaber back.  I think the logic they used was flawed and kind of lazy.  Yes, he lost the Darksaber to that crab droid thing under Sundari, but the crab droid thing was NOT actively using the Darksaber against her.  She just grabbed it from off the ground (in a very Sabine Wren move; nice touch with that), but she didn't take it from the thing in combat.  The gist I always got with the Darksaber is you're supposed to take it from the person who is actually using it against you in personal combat.  She basically just had it handed to her again.  That, in itself, killed the entire importance of her getting it back to me.  She still hasn't "earned" it in combat.  Having Moff Gideon show back up again, taking it from Djarin, and then having her take it back from him.  Now THAT would be THE WAY to give complete validity to her claim over the Darksaber and not have to kill Din Djarin to get it. 

Like I said, I'm kind of divided on the episode.  I could go 4/5 stars or 3/5 stars.  It's one of those, it's so bizarre it's kind of good.  It felt like when you were a kid and you had your own adventures with your Star Wars figures, using elements of every other tv show you liked at the time.  It was a very kid friendly and imaginative episode.  However, what I felt was lazy writing on how Bo Katan gets the Darksaber back just didn't sit well with me.  That was just some pretty lame reasoning.  So, I'm going to have to go with 3/5 stars.