March 1st marks the 2-year anniversary of The Mandalorian season 3's premiere, and as time has gone on, it's become quite clear that there was a better option for this crucial premiere episode - but it was wasted on another Star Wars TV show. The Mandalorian season 3 was ultimately met with mixed reviews, falling far beneath the standard of its highly-revered first two seasons. This reception ultimately had a lot to do with another Star Wars show.

Acting as a spin-off from The Mandalorian season 2, The Book of Boba Fett unfortunately has a legacy that has nothing to do with its titular character. This series is instead known for changing direction halfway through, focusing on a continuation of The Mandalorian season 2's ending - including cameos from the likes of Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano in the process. Despite the frustration over this move, Din Djarin's episodes in this TV show are very highly acclaimed.

This is especially the case for The Book of Boba Fett episode 5 "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian," a 50-minute adventure that sees Din Djarin's return to the Star Wars galaxy after his immensely bittersweet goodbye to Grogu in The Mandalorian season 2. Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, "Return of the Mandalorian" is universally praised as one of the best Din Djarin episodes ever made, despite not being in The Mandalorian. The season 3 premiere, however, proves it really needed to stay within its own series.

Return Of The Mandalorian Would Have Been The Perfect Season 3 Premiere

We Needed To Meet Din Djarin Where He Was At After Season 2

A big part of the reason why "Return of the Mandalorian" is so well done is because it explores Din Djarin's character in a way The Mandalorian hasn't been able to do since its very first episode. It's the first time the audience has seen him living without Grogu ever since season 1, and its storytelling does a fantastic job of showing just how much Mando has been changed by his little green friend. Even his livelihood has been affected.

This is the kind of character development we needed to see in The Mandalorian season 3's premiere. "Chapter 17: The Apostate" isn't bad by any means, but it pales in comparison to what "Return of the Mandalorian" offers in of setting up Din Djarin's new journey. Its opening scene is deliciously jarring, with Din essentially slaughtering an entire room of people with the Darksaber - and injuring himself in the process. It's the perfect in media res way of reuniting us with his character after the juggernaut that was The Mandalorian season 2 finale.

The Apostate Was A Retelling Of That Very Same Episode, Anyway

Conversations Were Rehashed To Prevent Confusion Between The 2 Shows

In fact, because "Return of the Mandalorian" was such an effective reset for Din Djarin's character, Mando was left feeling pretty stale in "The Apostate." This is because so much of Din's character journey for season 3 had already been set up and told in The Book of Boba Fett, especially in "Return of the Mandalorian." His character development was essentially cut in half, with one half told in the spin-off series and the other half drawn out for 8 episodes of The Mandalorian.

His character development was essentially cut in half, with one half told in the spin-off series and the other half drawn out for 8 episodes of The Mandalorian.

The fact this all happened in two separate TV shows also led to "The Apostate" retelling a lot of the events that had already taken place in The Book of Boba Fett, "Return of the Mandalorian" especially. The Armorer has to remind Din Djarin that he's now considered an apostate for removing his helmet and can only find redemption in the Living Waters beneath Mandalore. Later on, Mando offers a hilarious "It's complicated" to Greef Karga when explaining his sudden reunion with Grogu.

Din Djarin and Grogu reunite during the Battle of Mos Espa in The Book of Boba Fett's finale, "Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor."

This causes a lot of rather frustrating, unnecessary rehashing for those who have watched The Book of Boba Fett - and, sadly, the way it's done is nowhere near as compelling as it was in "Return of the Mandalorian." There's so much rich Mandalorian history told there that isn't retold in "The Apostate," too, including the Armorer's brief retelling of the Night of a Thousand Tears. It's, unfortunately, a discounted version of an extremely well-done episode of Star Wars TV.

The Mandalorian Season 3 Was Hurt By The Book Of Boba Fett

Too Much Crucial Character Development Happened Outside The Mandalorian

Ultimately, it wasn't only The Mandalorian season 3 premiere episode that was hurt by this move. It was the season as a whole, as its dependency on the story it told in The Book of Boba Fett caused pacing issues and gave off the impression that certain characters' development was staler than it actually was. Had we started by seeing Din Djarin the way he was in "Return of the Mandalorian," his season 3 journey would have been so much more impactful.

Instead, one of the biggest criticisms of season 3 became that Bo-Katan Kryze's own character development far outshone Din's - and, ultimately, it did, because Mando's was affected by how his story was split. Starting off with that raw hurt we saw in him while he was apart from Grogu in "Return of the Mandalorian," just for him to end up adopting Grogu as his son in the season finale, would have made for perhaps his most enticing character journey yet.

Starting off with that raw hurt we saw in him while he was apart from Grogu in "Return of the Mandalorian," just for him to end up adopting Grogu as his son in the season finale, would have made for perhaps his most enticing character journey yet.

At the end of the day, however, that isn't the choice that was made. Din Djarin's journey was drawn out, and as a result, he was forced to move more slowly than the other characters, giving the impression that there wasn't much going on for the titular Mandalorian. I'll always love "Return of the Mandalorian" regardless, but on the 2-year anniversary of The Mandalorian season 3's premiere, I'll definitely be mourning what we could have had.