Star Wars fans were thrown a curveball with this week’s episode of The Mandalorian. After an excellent battle in which Bo-Katan and Din Djarin took down a squadron of TIE Interceptors, we abruptly switched gears to focus on Omid Abtahi’s Dr Pershing, who was trying to get hold of Grogu’s blood in season one and was last seen in the season two finale.
We followed him as he entered the New Republic’s Imperial rehabilitation scheme, though its outwardly friendly and therapeutic exterior proved to be a mask for some deeply disturbing mind control technology. Along the way, we got a welcome taste of what life was actually like under the New Republic.
With The Mandalorian mostly taking place on remote worlds it was nice to finally take a trip back to Coruscant, though what we saw has some fans wondering if the New Republic is really all that better than the Empire. Here’s hoping we continue the explore this theme and return to Pershing, as we want to see what that brainwashing machine did to him.
But, in an unexpected twist, we’re now wondering whether The Mandalorian might not be the Disney Plus smash hit it once was.
The Mandalorian sees shock decline in viewing figures for season three
After the dreadful The Rise of Skywalker, the Disney Plus Star Wars shows have reinvigorated the franchise. The Mandalorian has led that charge, with Din Djarin and Grogu’s adventures popular all around the world. But, according to new data from analytics company Samba TV (via The Wrap), season three hasn’t exactly blasted off the launchpad.
They report that The Mandalorian‘s season three premiere lagged behind both Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett in terms of viewing figures, as well as failing to match MCU shows like Loki. The data says that Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s season opener was watched by 2.14 million US households, and The Book of Boba Fett‘s by 1.5 million. This indicates that the season three premiere reached fewer than 1.5 million households, which must have caused some consternation and confusion over at Lucasfilm.
We’re at a loss to explain why this has happened, though perhaps there’s some fatigue setting in amongst viewers about Star Wars in general. Here’s hoping this is just a blip, as so far we’ve been thoroughly enjoying The Mandalorian‘s return.
Grogu just said his first words… kinda
Grogu has won his place in all our hearts with his adorable force-wielding antics, but up until now he’s been a mute (but expressive!) companion to Din. That may be beginning to change, as this week’s episode technically sees him speak his first words. Well, almost anyway.
The moment came when Din and Bo-Katan were Mandalorianishly concurring “This is the way”. Grogu piped up from the rear of the shot, sounding very much like he was joining in with his own “This is the way.” Fans are here for it:
Dave Filoni had already teased that Grogu might be piping up in this season, saying to Entertainment Tonight:
“We don’t know that he’s not talking in his own way, and, obviously, he can communicate with Ahsoka where she can at least divine from him some communication.”
So, this slightly garbled attempt at talking could be the first inklings of Grogu being able to directly communicate. We can’t wait to hear what he’s got to say for himself.
The Mandalorian drops a very sneaky and goofy reference to one of Star Wars‘ most-memed lines
It’s safe to say that when George Lucas wrote Admiral Ackbar exclaiming “It’s a trap!” he didn’t foresee just how popular that line would become. “It’s a trap” has become an enduring meme on social media, though we didn’t anticipate The Mandalorian giving it a nod in one of the show’s most disturbing sequences to date.
This comes as Dr Pershing is strapped into the New Republic’s totally-not-evil-we-swear-we’re-the-good-guys mind control machine. He tries to get out of it, protesting to the Mon Calamari scientist that “It was a trap!”. Fans on Reddit were quick to note that joke:
It’s good to know that even in the midst of a horrifying sequence in which a person struggles against insidious mental rearrangement, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni can still squeeze in one more fun reference to the original trilogy. Man, what can’t those guys do?
We’re sure this Pershing-centric episode is going to cause some significant debate amongst Mando fans and we can’t wait to find out where the Imperial cloning project storyline is headed. Is it finally going to answer the “somehow” in “somehow Palpatine returned”? If that abysmal line can be redeemed in the slightest, just give Favreau and Filoni all the awards.