The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6

I’m not reviewing The Mandalorian. It’s an entertaining series in its own episodic way but part of its attraction is that it doesn’t have a lot to say about anything. Season 3 is getting some criticism as being a bit aimless but the show had always seemed that way to me.

Having said that I really enjoyed the most recent episode which I suspect I may be an exception. Now if you’ve seen it you may think that’s because it has lots of robots in it and I’ll confess that I do like robots. However, that’s not what I liked about it. Nor was it the celebrity casting, although Jack Black, Lizzo and Christopher Lloyd were a fun addition.

What I liked about it was that it had the feel of a 1980s 2000AD comic story. I don’t mean any specific one but more the general approach. Social satire, comedy, science-fiction and violence would play out inconsistently and the stories would often work in pop-culture references in a way that, if you updated it to today, is comparable to having Lizzo being the democratically elected queen of a happy little planet. I could almost imagine the whole thing storyboarded by the late Carlos Ezquerra.

Does this show know where it is going? I’m not sure. It seemed to have a bit more direction last week but the narrative is as easily distracted as Grogu and that’s just how the show is. I think people tend to remember the finales of the previous seasons more than middle episodes and recall a show that had a much tighter plot.