‘Mirzapur’ Season 3 Review: Ali Fazal and Pankaj Tripathi’s ‘Gangs of Purvanchal’ Returns in Much Improved Form! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Mirzapur Season 3 Review: Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh's 'Game of Thrones' returns after four years after an explosive finale of what was a weak season 2. Mirzapur's Joffrey, aka Munna (Divyenndu Sharma), is dead, and in case you had any doubts about him surviving his fatal encounter with Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal), the new season begins with his cremation. His father, Kaleen Bhaiyya (Pankaj Tripathi), is missing, with people unsure if he is dead or not. Guddu has taken over Mirzapur with Golu (Shweta Tripathi Sharma) by his side, but without a conclusive answer on Kaleen Bhaiyya's whereabouts, he has yet to put a full stake in Purvanchal's power nexus. ‘Mirzapur Season 3’ OTT Release: Here’s How To Watch Pankaj Tripathi, Shweta Tripathi and Ali Fazal’s Series Online!

His biggest rival is Sharad Shukla (Anjum Sharma), who has now teamed up with Devdatt Tyagi (Lilliput) to keep the still-alive Kaleen Bhaiyya safe and sound. Shatrughan (Vijay Varma) is still tricking his family and everyone else by passing himself off as his dead twin Bharat while clamouring for revenge against Golu.

Watch the Trailer of 'Mirzapur' Season 3:

Kaleen Bhaiyya's widowed daughter-in-law and UP's Chief Minister, Madhuri Yadav (Isha Talwar), is determined to pull off a 'Daenerys' - she wants to break the wheel by destroying the Purvanchal nexus while also wanting to bring down Guddu. Beena (Rasika Duggal) and her baby are in their old house, now under Guddu and Golu's control, and she is back to her wily schemes to keep herself and her child safe if her husband ever returns. Guddu's father, Ramakant Pandit (Rajesh Tailang), surrenders himself to the police for killing SSP Ram Sharan Maurya (Amit Sial) in the previous season and goes to the same prison that houses Lala (Anil George).

'Mirzapur' Season 3 Review - Better Paced Than Season 2

That is a nutshell of where all the main characters are when you start watching Mirzapur's new third season. Directed by Gurmmeet Singh, with occasional episodes co-directed by Anand Iyer, Mirzapur Season 3, in my opinion, is an improvement from the previous season that, while it had its moments, was too stretched in the middle episodes. The new season has its blocks well-placed and paced, handles its multiple-arc narrative in a much better manner, and the show feels more Game of Thrones this season than the previous ones, with political play more at the forefront over mindless violence.

Mirzapur Season 3 hasn't shorn itself of the brutality we associate with it; the first episode itself has a stomach-churning beheading scene. In a later episode, the show pulls off another GoT power play by having a character meet their end in nearly the same manner as Oberyn Martell. The show continues to be viciously dark; I am not sure if I got numb by the violence two seasons in of the show, or if the new season is premiering the same week as the ultra-violent Kill, but the deaths, except for the beheading scene, felt a little less gratuitous. There are some shocking kills, and the occasional glimpses of action are handled well, like the attack on Guddu in one of the earlier episodes or the prison fight scene that comes in the penultimate episode. ‘Mirzapur Season 3’ Screening: Parents-To-Be Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha Arrive for Special Screening of the Prime Video Show.

'Mirzapur' Season 3 Review - Overstuffed But Smartly Woven

Yes, I did miss the impulsively dangerous Munna, while Kaleen Bhaiyya isn't allowed to play on the front foot till the last episode. Instead, Mirzapur allows other characters to come forth and play more in the scheming. The story is not now relegated to Guddu and Golu, but the spotlight gets shared by others like Madhuri and Sharad Shukla. This comes with both pluses and minuses. There are just too many characters to keep track of now, and many times, it is difficult to follow who got beheaded or who is being betrayed and how. While you can't escape the feeling that the new season is more overstuffed than the previous seasons, the tracks more or less connect to each other well, and the turns give the resultant events a domino effect.

An interesting aspect of the new season is that the protagonists you rooted for in the past seasons make it more difficult to root for in the third season. Guddu and Golu weren't nice people, but in comparison to Kaleen Bhaiyya and Munna, they fare better and made up for protagonists we could follow the show through. Now, with Munna out of the picture and Kaleen Bhaiyya on the sidelines, Guddu becomes more and more of a monster, as his father worries he would, culminating in a brutal scene that is one of the show's most intense sequences.

Golu's shrewdness and manipulative nature make her more dangerous than most of the characters, though her obsession with Guddu is still the most annoying trait about her. In comparison, the rest of the main characters feel less, how do I put it, malicious. While there may be some who are disappointed to see a more laidback Kaleen Bhaiyya, I liked how this allowed him the opportunity to be the behind-the-scenes Shakuni, like how he uses peanuts to determine who is with Sharad during the meeting of the crime-lords of Purvanchal. Mirzapur 2 Review: Too Many Characters and Plotlines Spoil the Fun in Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal’s Web-Series.

The finale felt more anticlimactic this time. For all their flaws, the previous seasons of Mirzapur ended with some banger finales. Here, there were some obvious twists, like Kaleen Bhaiyya's return to form and the death of a character that felt imminent. It felt more like a mid-season finale rather than a proper season finale. The cast continues to do excellent work here, with Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Rasika Dugal, Vijay Varma, Lilliput, Anjum Sharma, Isha Talwar, et al blending well with their roles.

'Mirzapur' Season 3 Review - Final Thoughts

Mirzapur Season 3 felt more of a narrative improvement than the previous season, even if it does feel overstuffed. The abundance of characters and subplots can be overwhelming, but smarter writing, good performances and interesting use of legacy characters make Mirzapur Season 3 a compelling entry in the series. Mirzapur Season 3 is streaming on Prime Video.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 05, 2024 12:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).