Season 3 of Your Favorite TV Show Is Also Possibly Its Worst

Season 3 of The Mandalorian is finally over. While we do love having Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne/Lateef Crowder) and Din Grogu around, the overall feeling is that it could’ve been better. We all imagined a thousand different plots and storylines for this new season, from Din – I mean, Djarin – getting used to having the Darksaber to a possible clash between the many Mandalorian clans, but none of that happened. Instead, the show took the easy way out there and delivered a rather generic plot, with twists made and unmade according to its needs. So what was that all about?

What’s crazy is that, if we look at other hit series, most of them also seem to fumble when it’s time for Season 3. Recently, we had Ozark, The Umbrella Academy, and Outer Banks letting fans down, too, but the list goes on if we look further. Dexter Season 3 was terrible, just like Heroes and Sons of Anarchy… The list goes on. Either that or Season 3 is the peak of a show, where it really gets to shine. So what is it that makes this specific part of many television series such a crucial one?

Why Is Number 3 So Hard To Get Right?

If we think about it, this phenomenon is not exclusive to television. Classics like Star Wars and The Godfather experienced something similar. (Remember Godfather Part III and The Rise of Skywalker?) In fact, this is not contained only to visual entertainment and arts. For example, at the beginning of the 2000s, The Strokes, The Killers, and Arctic Monkeys took rock ‘n’ roll by storm, each with a powerful pair of initial albums, but fumbling when it came time for the third.

All this goes to say that creativity is beautiful, but can also be treacherous. Sometimes, inspiration hits all at once, helps an artist craft something beautiful, and then vanishes, never to return. For others, it may last a little more, but, with time, everyone can get comfortable with their set of skills and abilities, and, if they’re not careful, it fades. For people who rely on creativity to make a living, it’s important to treat it as if it were just another muscle in the body: if you don’t exercise it often, it will shrink. It’s that simple.

What’s important to remember about reaching number three in this sense is that, when you’re working for yourself, it’s definitely easier to let inspiration come and allow it to go. That’s art, and it’s not everyone that has the privilege to work in such conditions. What we’re talking about is a completely different thing, because, when art is incorporated by an industry, it usually becomes entertainment. Movies, records, and television series are definitely forms of artistic expression that are treated as entertainment. This is a common part of consolidating a career or an IP in the industry, and it changes completely on how people behind it look at creativity — and that’s when problems start to appear.

What Season 3 Is All About

Season 3 is a milestone for a TV series. It means you already left a big enough impression to have your own following, people who proved they will commit to watching a new episode every week when it airs on TV or streaming. This is what keeps shows going, but it’s not in Season 3 that this bond is formed. It’s up to Season 1 to impact viewers and catch their attention. Season 2 has to prove this impact can last more than a few episodes, and that it’s here to stay.

In Season 3, however, this deal changes. You’ve made your lasting impression, you’ve convinced people you’re worth being watched, and your first years weren’t just a one-off. Now you have to start taking a clearer path. The third season is where a show has to decide what it really is and what story it’s going to tell. It’s a tricky challenge, especially because, by then, critics and audiences will already have started to expect certain things, like tropes and gags, and will watch Season 3 expecting to be wooed like they were in earlier years. But, if that’s what happens, then it will inevitably be taken as a lack of creativity to bring new stuff to the show.

That’s why the third year is crucial for continuity. Many shows try introducing new characters to break new ground, as Breaking Bad does with iconic antagonist Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), introduced in late Season 2 in order to be a key player throughout Season 3. Their move was a success, but Dexter tried the same thing with Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), and it didn’t work – perhaps because the antagonists in previous seasons were so good, like Brian Moser (Cristian Camargo) and Lila West (Jaime Murray), or maybe we all knew what to expect, and the series didn’t correspond in terms of bringing new stuff to the table. What could top that awesome Season 2 finale and the demise of Dexter’s (Michael C. Hall) main threat? The answer can’t be “more of the same”.

It’s All About Planning and Structure

The era of the series with multiple seasons is gone. Back in the days of cable TV, if a show had good audience ratings, it could stay on for years, viewership was everything. Now, with streaming being the dominant way to consume this kind of content, whenever a show hits Season 5, it seems like it’s been on for too long.

Nowadays, people feel the need to be entertained all the time, so, whenever something good comes along, whoever’s behind it feels compelled to stretch it as much as possible. Take Stranger Things, for example. It began on such a small scale that it could’ve easily ended with just one season, and now is a juggernaut that not even Netflix could make last forever. News of its projected end with Season 5 is a direct consequence of how aimless it began to feel with Season 4. The same goes for Cobra Kai: can everyone in San Fernando Valley really be into karate forever?

So planning is extremely important as a way of shaping and giving a clear limit to where a story can go. Season 3, then, takes even bigger importance, because directing the plot is more important than ever since shows are not lasting as long as they used to. Succession, for example, had to come to terms with the fact that Logan Roy (Brian Cox) couldn’t live forever, so it had to end sooner rather than later. Season 3 had to heighten the impact of his death in Season 4, so it could wrap everything up in a satisfactory way.

It’s a shame to see shows with great stories end, but it’s in Season 3 that it becomes evident just how much further they can go. Let’s go back to The Mandalorian. Series creator Jon Favreau himself has admitted that there is no planned ending for the show, and this is crystal clear now, as Season 3 was a mess. Unfortunately, we are in a moment in which creativity has to be dictated by the industry itself, so, by Season 3, your endgame has to be clear.