After nearly three years without a season, “The Mandalorian” returns to content-starved fans with a large helping of mediocrity. Unless you count their short-lived cameo in “The Book of Boba Fett,” Mando and Grogu have not made an appearance in quite some time, so fans have been anxious for a meteoric return. This season we have an awkward assembly of mostly brain-numbing episodes with a few references for hard-core “Star Wars” fans, and a pinch of creative action sprinkled in.  

Unfortunately, complaints for this season are bountiful. Mistakes made writing-wise distract viewers from the little good there is to enjoy in this season. With pointless sacrifices, atrociously paced episodes, inconsequential character development, and random celebrity appearances, each episode definitely feels separately directed. The dry spell of anything interesting going on makes the viewer feel like a prisoner in a cell, scratching at themselves, waiting for just one good scene, and only for it to feel rushed when it finally arrives. 

You have to wonder where the 15 million dollars episodal production budget went. Most episodes are offensively slow, not to mention some just feel like placeholders with character development scenes crudely inserted in. There’d be virtually nothing going on for nearly an hour just to have 5 minutes reserved for role expansion. Of course, some episodes need to be slow in order to convey a message, or even build up the plot in order to have a flashy finish, but fans get a mediocre cliche ending that is extraordinarily underwhelming. 

Don’t be mistaken: there are various well-produced parts throughout the eight, separately directed episodes. As said previously, the action was a major strong point, especially in both the large and small-scale battles. 

Classic spaceship dogfights always seem different, and not just in the sense of setting. It feels as if Din-Djarin, i.e. the Mandalorian, always has something new in store for viewers every time he engages in aerial combat, using unique environments to push the battle’s winning odds into his favor. Getting into some minor spoilers for these next few sentences, the beskar-armoured bounty hunter hides his ship behind asteroids and stalks enemy fighter pilots like a stellar panther, taking them out one by one. The “extra” actors compel the true feelings of terror one might feel if being hunted, and eventually blown up by one of the most notoriously ruthless races in the galaxy. 

Not just the space and non-terrain battles shine, hand-to-hand and melee weapon fights are choreographed to excellence, nowhere near reflective of the season as a whole. Stormtroopers, Pirates, new species of alien, Assassin robots, every skirmish no matter who or what it’s fought against is interesting, and the Mandalorian’s infamy for creative takedowns is realized in this season. There have been multiple instances of Din and other Mandos showing off their combination of mixed martial arts and armed fighting styles, which are always exhilarating.

Season 3, even with its short bursts of exciting action, is an amalgamation of eight poorly written, and directed episodes. It tarnishes the show’s image and is nowhere near reflective of the show as a whole. Like a Jawa scavenging for useful trinkets through the barren deserts of Tatooine, it was hard trying to nitpick out things that made this season shine, because very little did. It isn’t so awful as to be written off as one of the worst seasons in television history, and to be sent to the “TV garbage pile”, however so many misguided decisions and poorly paced episodes restrict it from being known as a “good season,” it has a special place in purgatory.