Other than Din enterprise the search to journey to Mandalore and assembly up with Bo-Katan (who has given up on her quest abruptly), nothing of notice actually happens. There’s Mando’s unsuccessful try at reviving the stays of IG-11, as he wants a devoted droid to navigate the potentially-dangerous floor of Mandalore.
Nevertheless, the delight of “The Apostate” lies in its particulars — Grogu having a good time on a revolving chair and force-summoning an orange deal with for funsies, IG-11 menacingly crawling in the direction of Din like some horror creature from past, and Din having to take the mangled droid to the Anzellans for restore. “Star Wars” is incomplete with no fast go to to a droid-repair store, the place some kind of alien creature provides some seminal piece of knowledge that makes the plot a-going. It’s a time-honored franchise custom that works on this case, because of Grogu, who grabs an Anzellan and squeezes him like some squeaky toy (forcing Din to embody dad mode).
In essence, the season 3 premiere of “The Mandalorian” whips out time-tested franchise tropes which have had their hits and misses up to now, however the present in some way manages to create a breezily enjoyable, thrilling opener that can undoubtedly elevate the stakes as time passes. We glimpse a droid quickly chopping meat on the road, a hostile IG-11 being squashed with Greef Karga’s bust, and Grogu intently absorbing Din’s pearls of knowledge with regards to planet-hopping and bounty searching.
These unspoken moments — together with ones which might be an enormous deal, such because the presence of Purrgils, or the area whales Grogu sees whereas they’re touring by means of hyperspace — make the episode a strong jumping-off level for an journey that’s solely about to get higher. That is the best way.