We’re back with… well, it’s basically just an episode of The Mandalorian! Who coulda seen that coming.
Recap
Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) goes to a meat processing factory to collect a bounty on its Klatoonian manager. He winds up in a fight with the guy’s muscle team and brings the Darksaber to bear in the fight—accidentally slicing his own leg in the process. After cutting the guy in half, Din retrieves his head and tells the factory’s workers that in exchange for letting him pass, they should help themselves to all the credits in the next room. Din brings the head in to collect his bounty on a giant space station, insisting on the information that was promised along with his payment and refusing all attempts to get him to sit and eat. The information leads him to the Mythosaur crest and the Armorer (Emily Swallow). She tells him that there are only three of them left now, as Paz Vizsla (Jon Favreau) patches his wound.
The Armorer tells Din the history of the Darksaber; that it must be won through combat for Mandalore to flourish, and if it isn’t, it will bring ruin. This is what happened with Bo Katan Kryze—she was gifted the Darksaber, and the Armorer believes that this is the reason that Mandalore fell when the Empire destroyed their world. Her group were still living on the moon of Concordia, which is why they survived. Because Din earned the Darksaber in combat, he is allowed to keep it, but the Armorer tells him that the spear must be melted down because it is made of beskar… which means it can be used to kill Mandalorians. Din asks that she use the spear’s metal to forge something for his foundling, Grogu. The Armorer notes that because he was returned to his own kind, Grogu is no longer in Din’s care, but Din is adamant. The Armorer forges some mail for the foundling.
Din does some combat training with the Darksaber against the Armorer, but it begins to feel heavier. She insists that he is fighting the blade rather than his opponent. Viszla takes exception to the whole situation and decides to challenge Din for the Darksaber, since it was forged by his ancestor. Din agrees to the fight and almost loses, but he beats Vizsla in the end, holding a vibroblade to his throat. In the process, however, it is revealed that Din has removed his helmet in front of others: According to their rules, he is no longer Mandalorian, and the only way he can do penance is to descend into the mines of Mandalore… which no longer exist. Din leaves them and charters passage to Tatooine.
He arrives in Mos Eisley in response to a message he got from Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), who has a replacement ship for him. It’s an old Naboo starfighter, which needs a lot of work. Din almost walks out, but Peli insists that he wait until they can spruce it up, and that the work would go much faster if he helped. Together, they begin outfitting the ship, souping it up so that it can go much faster. They work with the Jawas to source parts and piece it together bit by bit. Once it’s complete, Din still isn’t convinced, so Motto tells him to take it for a spin. He flies through Beggar’s Canyon and up into space where he’s stopped by a New Republic patrol for flying too fast around the commercial liner. He gets off with a warning, but has to bolt using his fancy new sublight engines before Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) begins questioning him about past activities.
Din lands and agrees that the ship will do, but Motto lets him know that while he was away, someone arrived to see him. It’s Fennec, and she offers Din money to serve as their muscle. Din agrees to do the job for free… but there’s someone he has to go see first.
Commentary
It’s just, I said that I wanted their theme songs to do battle last time, and then that’s exactly what they gave me when they rolled the episode title, so I’m already winning this week.
This episode really makes me wish that they’d just gone the route I was expecting and made this season three of The Mandalorian full stop. Because within that context it works wonderfully—anyone who is Mandalorian can be “the” Mandalorian in any given week on the show. But outside of that context, it reads like you didn’t have enough story with your main character to continue with him… which is weird. Weird vibes all around.
As episodes of The Mandalorian go, though, this one is fabulous. Look at Din Djarin, this man is a mess. Slicing himself on his own Darksaber, tucking his chin when a cute little Rodian kid waves at him, forcing the Armorer to keep Grogu’s status as a foundling. He is not okay. He misses his son so much that he has the Armorer forge him a mithril beskar shirt for the kid, just to keep him safe. It’s tied in a sack that looks like the kid’s ears, and you can feel the emotion rolling off this guy when he stares at it. He’s fine. It’s all fine. He’ll go cut someone in half and feel better.
For real, Vizsla almost won that fight. He had Din on the ropes, but then he had to get cocky and make the mistake of saying that he was gonna wipe out Din’s clan, and it was all over from that point. (The Vizslas are notorious for this type of mistake exactly—they are terrible at reading people.) Because Vizsla thinks that he’s just insulting Din, but Djarin is a Clan of Two, so all he did was activate his Dad Powers—you can literally see the man get stronger at the thought of wiping out Grogu’s clan. How dare you talk about his son that way.
What the Armorer breaks down here is pretty much what I predicted in the last season of The Mandalorian with regard to Bo Katan’s tenure with the Darksaber. It’s important to remember that the Armorer is not really correct about all the legends surrounding the saber because, as I am very keen to mention always, this is a ding-dang cult. Mandalore didn’t fall because Sabine Wren gave Bo Katan the Darksaber—it fell because the Empire was entirely aware of how dangerous the Mandalorian people were to its cause and knew they had to wipe them out. Death Watch got lucky because they lived on the moon, not because they were special and truer than other Mandalorians. It’s wild to watch this terrorist group with historically woolly affiliations become a purveyor of evangelism within their own culture.
I’m worried that Din is gonna spend next season trying to find those mines and atone, though. When what he should really be focusing on is picking up his kid from daycare.
Which, is that where he’s going by the end of the episode? Is this reunion happening now? Because if so, that is a true comic book style move there—hey kids, if you’re confused about why Grogu’s back in season three, don’t forget to watch The Book of Boba Fett! And on the one hand, I don’t love it, but also… if they don’t give this man his child, he will give up on life. The depression is very real.
Speaking of which, Peli removed the astromech chamber on Din’s new starfighter SO THAT GROGU COULD HAVE A SEAT AND THIS WILL FINALLY BE WHAT KILLS ME.
The whole section rebuilding the starfighter is absolutely the sort of thing that I want Star Wars to waste more time on. I would have watched an entire season of that, really, just letting the droids be cute and helpful, and Sedaris ad-lib about her unconventional dating history. (When she spoke Jawa, I died? I had no idea that my favorite party trick could be such a useful skill.) Frankly, if they wanted to give me an entire show of Peli Motto treating her various customers as straight men while she fixes up their stuff, I’d be all in. The first Star Wars sitcom, come on, Lucasfilm. Hook me up.
But I have a side question here, because the starfighter is great and fast and useful for a number of things, I get that. Very stylish, good for getting out of tight spots. But also, the Razor Crest was a home, in a manner of speaking. Din could hold bounties on it, but also sleep on it, and have a little nook where Grogu could sleep, and there was a whole cockpit for the kid to get up to mischief. You can’t do that in a tiny starfighter. It’s relevant in a universe where ships often serve as mobile homes: Din lost his house when he lost his ship. A starfighter is great, but it doesn’t actually replace that.
But I guess that’s a problem for a different moment.
Buy the Book
Goliath
Bits and Beskar:
- That’s right, the bounty at the beginning is a Klatoonian, which also comes from “Klaatu barada nikto” because consistency probably.
- Very into this space station. It’s very Star Trek, which is something that Star Wars could stand to take a few more notes from now and then.
- I’m just saying, the Armorer agrees Grogu is a foundling but isn’t requiring him to wear a helmet, so what’s the age requirement on that because we saw tiny kids wearing them. There’s a handbook on this somewhere and I want the whole thing. Come on, Armorer. Explain to me how little Mandalorians are made if people aren’t allowed to take their helmets off in front of their significant others.
- I do love the Armorer, but there’s something deeply hilarious in her opening up this very paint-by-numbers tool cabinet like it’s something holy, like I know it is to her, but maybe she could gild it or something, put on some fancy paneling, it just looks like the sort of thing you’d find in any reasonably handy garage. Ah yes, the beskar hammer. And now look up to find the Sacred Pliers of the Mand’alor…
- We see droids of K-2SO’s model doing siege-type work on Mandalore. That whole segment is a lot to observe, and a perfect example of how lethal the Empire could be without any Death Star at all, thanks.
- The blade Din holds to Viszla’s throat is a vibroblade, and you can actually see it vibrating, which is very cool.
- Sorry, but Peli shouts “Hey, look everyone, it’s Mando!” to her droids and I shrieked with laughter because isn’t that pretty much what all of us say any time the guy shows up anywhere? Peli Motto is all of us.
- Then she asked about his first flight on the starfighter and DIN DJARIN SAYS “WIZARD” IN JUST THE MOST SCATHING WAY, this was not the callback to tiny Anakin Skywalker and his pals that I was expecting, ffs, WARN ME NEXT TIME. If you’re gonna Easter egg like that, you go off, Jon Favreau.
- The Naboo starfighter is the same make and model that we see in Episode I, of course. Din sands off a lot of that bright yellow paint job to make it fit his aesthetic.
- Yes, Beggar’s Canyon is the very same one that Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter used to bullseye womprats in from a T-16 skyhopper. Cute.
See you next week for… well, who knows, at this point?
Emmet Asher-Perrin is gonna freak out when Grogu puts on his beskar. You can bug them on Twitter, and read more of their work here and elsewhere.
This one reminded me of the end of the movie Predators (another Robert Rodriguez joint) where they play the Little Richard song “Long Tall Sally” over the end credits. A great song, but it really only accomplished in making me think of a much better movie.
Having said that, this premiere episode to Mandalorian season 3 was a sheer wizard delight.
Boba who?
I wonder if they’ll follow up on the possible set up of Din getting a BD droid? Or a droid companion period? Because he’s seen various helpful droids and seems to be warming up to them a bit and I think a BD droid would be great for him and for Grogu to play with
AAAAAHHHHH IT’S A CULTURE ORBITAL!!!!! I finally see an Orbital onscreen! I never expected that to happen in a fantasy franchise like Star Wars rather than something more grounded, but I guess Star Wars is a hodgepodge of all pop-culture influences ever, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. You know that saying about how English doesn’t just borrow from other languages but chases them down and mugs them for vocabulary? You could say much the same about Star Wars and genres.
Heck, this episode shows that in spades. It opens in a seedy meat-packing plant, then there’s a high-tech sci-fi Orbital, then it becomes a samurai movie, then we get twenty minutes of gearheads building a custom car. It’s never been more clear that The Book of Boba Fett doesn’t have any strong narrative drive but is just Jon Favreau and his directors playing around with their toys for six hours. Good grief, they’ve only got six episodes and they devote a whole one to a character from another series entirely.
I had the same questions about the starfighter — how can a bounty hunter transport prisoners in a one-seater like that? It doesn’t make any sense.
I saw the station and thought Ringworld, not a Culture orbital but that might just be the older imprinting. Its smaller than a ringworld or an orbital but looked like it had shadow squares(?) rotating like Niven’s world. I also wondered about the lack of space in the new ship as was pointed out—no room for passengers or prisoners or sleeping, or playing Dejarik.
It’s pretty telling we’re on chapter five and this “book” has yet to justify its existence. Just a theory, but I’m thinking maybe someone came up with some sweet concept art of Boba Fett sitting on Jabba’s throne as a lark, Favreau and company loved it, and they’ve been trying to figure out to make a series out of it ever since. Looks cool, but where’s the story?
Doesn’t help that The Mandalorian already took a lot of the deadly coolness of Boba Fett, what fans had in their minds for decades, and applied to this new character. Take that coolness and add layers of fatherhood, a strange cult identity, and loneliness, and you’ve got an interesting, winning formula.
That’s not to say they couldn’t do something interesting with Boba. Hey, he’s a clone. Maybe he’d like to find others like him. You know, find others from his “tribe.” Just a thought.
I know I’d rather see something along those lines than snarling crime lords, pop-ins to the local casino, and moped chases. Ugh.
@3 and @@.-@
My first thought was the space station moon thing from Treasure Planet.
And maybe the cockpit seat reclines so he can lie down when the Grogu seat isn’t occupied by Grogu or a bounty? Then again, maybe the plan is to only take bounties that he can get to in a single trip without sleeping? Just spitballing here haha.
Loved the episode, but does feel like they don’t have enough story for Boba’s present actions, with all the flashbacks and this diversion. Not that I really care, I like the flashbacks, but still feels like they’re padding it out.
@6, maybe he’ll stop giving them a choice between cold and warm and keep collecting heads? :D
@7 heads WOULD fit quite nicely in that back seat haha
Hmm, according to Wikipedia, there are seven episodes in the season, so I guess they have a bit more time to develop some plot?
@9 Especially if they give us the hour long episodes like… 2? Or 3? Can’t remember which jne
Come on guys, that is a Nivenesque Ringworld, right down to the shadow squares giving it day and night. There have been knockoffs in other stories, but let’s credit the originator of the concept.
Boba’s show has been episodic, but this is taking that whole wandering storyline to a whole new level, with the star of the series not even appearing. But I’ve been thinking all along, “This is fun, but not as much as the Mandolorian,” so I can’t say as I mind too much. I look forward to the Helmet Bros starting their own little empire on Tattooine. That’s a lot more fun than seeing Mando caught up in homeworld dynastic struggles, which is what I was afraid Series Three was going to be. So I am excited to see what comes next!
I thought the Ring World was supposed to be Nar Shaddaa. Not according to Wookieepedia, apparently.
Has there ever been a situation like this on television? This wasn’t a backdoor pilot situation like what Star Trek did with 1968’s Assignment: Earth. This was a straight-up new episode of the Mandalorian placed in the middle of another show! An episode that doesn’t even feature the title character! If there are fans of the Mandalorian who don’t necessarily watch Book of Boba Fett (and they probably exist,) what happens if next season starts with Grogu already onboard Mando’s new ship?
And man, I adored the callbacks to Phantom Menace! Just listening to the Naboo fighter’s engine sound was pure nostalgia in the best way (about time they threw some nostalgia towards the Naboo instead of yet another New Hope easter egg for the 115th time; I’m looking at you Chapter 4, with the Wookiee ripping off the guy’s arms!). Favreau and Bryce Dallas Howard got every shot of the original podrace correct.
Not a space station, a ringworld. And I geeked so much at seeing that in a live action TV show.
The butchers’ felt a bit too much like a regular modern Earth butchers’, and the dog-faced Klatooinians in pretty normal work clothes made it feel like Din had strolled into an episode of Angel. But a fun episode of Angel, so that was okay.
And the little package, my heart.
Lots to love and lots to hate in this episode. I think it’s telling that this episode in what I call The Mandalorian Season 2.5 is much more compelling than all the others before it featuring Boba Fett. I think the difference is that we only know about Boba from his legacy in Legends, while we already spent two seasons with Din Djarin and left him at one of the most heartbreaking moments of his story so far. Which once again leads me to my big problem with modern Star Wars: it seems Disney is assuming that everyone watches all Star Wars content they put out, when this is definitely not the case. I know despite my whole family loving The Mandalorian, I am the only one watching The Book of Boba Fett. What happens when people like this try to watch Mando S. 3?
The main thing I disliked about this one was all of the cringe-worthy Episode 1 references, especially “Wizard.” and more generally the sense of “Oh look, it’s a N-1, let’s do all the things in it from Phantom Menace” including Spinning -That’s a Good Trick, Anakin’s Flip-Flip-Flip-Push Reboot, and running what looked to me like the podrace course. Don’t get me wrong, the N-1 is a beautiful ship and I’m super excited for Mando, but we didn’t need that many references. (And as several of y’all have already mentioned, where is he putting his bounty heads? In the droid socket? This is the same issue when the Jedi Council asked Obi-wan to bring back Jango. Where? On his lap?)
Things I loved (to end this review positively) – The ring station is super cool looking, the redo of the N-1 is gorgeous (as mentioned), Peli Motto is always fun (used sparingly; I hope they don’t over do it), and the whole sequence with the Armorer and Vizla. I almost had chills while watching the destruction of Mandalore. Oh, and Space Cop. Poor man, he’s just trying to tie things together.
Given the bureaucratic difficulties in using commercial transport in this episode, the new ship (which I hereby christen The Mandomobile, no need to thank me) is an unlovely compromise, but a necessary one. At least it will get him from one planet to another without having to check the Darksabre again. It kind of reminds me of when Blake’s Seven lost Liberator, replacing it with the clearly down market Scorpio. Which ship, come to recall, soon got an upgrade that made it the fastest hunk of junk in that galaxy…
the ship clearly indicates a lifestyle shift. As everyone’s pointed out, it’s not a work vehicle and not one he can live out of
So less bounty-hunting and more short haul quest steps are likely in his future.
Besides, it’s just gotta take him as far as Mandalore & back so he can do a bit of spiritual spelunking
I’m liking the theory of him and Boba teaming up to make an empire on Tattooine and a New Mandalore of sorts. That would allow for the N1 to just be a commuter haha
Since the fighters of Star Wars are heavily influenced by WW2 fighters, maybe Mando can haul his prey in pods under the wings. Something like the drop tanks from a P-51.
@20 That’s not a bad idea
Yeah, it’s not like he’s ever cared about their comfort during transport. He used to freeze them.
@11/Alan: “Come on guys, that is a Nivenesque Ringworld, right down to the shadow squares giving it day and night.”
Not even close. That little hoop was to a Ringworld what a speck of dust is to a planet. A Ringworld encircles an actual star in its continuously habitable zone. It’s so vast that it appears absolutely flat to anyone on the surface, because its curvature is far too gradual for anyone to perceive up close. It contains the surface area of millions of Earths. This was basically a small city curved into a loop a few kilometers across, so tiny that there’s no way the “sun” at the center could be anything other than artificial.
Although on second thought, it’s way too small to be an Orbital either. It’s more like a small Bishop ring, though not large enough to realistically retain an atmosphere without some kind of sci-fi force fields.
@13/Eduardo: I’m not sure I agree that this was a straight-up Mandalorian episode. If it had been, I expect it would’ve been a tighter story and advanced the plot more. This feels more like an interstitial story, a sidebar filling in the gaps between seasons. That’s why so little happened in it. Maybe they knew where season 3 begins and made this to bridge the gap, but there wasn’t enough story to make a real episode so they just frittered it away on building a hot rod and making continuity-porn references. (Like that long rod-like piece the Jawas scavenged off the Pyke ship — I read that it’s a replica of the rod Luke and Han used to try to stop the walls of the Death Star trash compactor.)
Okay, while I can empathize with people who are a little upset that this episode is a total departure from the main plot, as if the plot itself isn’t filling enough to take up the entire series, I kinda don’t care. There were those little references to the Pykes and stuff so obviously it’s coming around, just very slowly and in a roundabout way.
One of my favorite things about this show is that it just kind of takes it time kicking around the Star Wars universe showing us the mundane things. I love seeing stuff like annoying airline travel, patrol stops and just hanging out fixing a ship. I loved the new space station city too! It was such a cool look.
I am not even exaggarating but when I heard that N-1 engine sound (and I think I heard some podracer in there) and saw those shots of the Boonta Eve track, I teared up. Phantom Menace was a hugely important and special movie to me and I still love it unironically and this whole episode felt like a big love letter to it. Wizard, indeed. :D Although I do also wonder where Din is going to put cargo and if he’ll eventually change ships, or if it signifies a career change. Perhaps he too will find a tribe?
As for more serious thoughts – there was definitely some juicy stuff about Mandalore history/culture (through the slant of the old remnant) and definitely interesting to see how Din might be perhaps breaking away from that. I see why they feel the way they do, but at the same time…now it’s just the two of them (and I think Emmet’s thoughts are on point). I wonder if he will eventually go back to Mandalore, if Sabine will come into somehow, etc…The idea that Din can only atone in the (now gone) mines of Mandalore kind of gives me some post-diaspora vibes with the Jewish Temple being destroyed. So will Din actually end up trying to go there, or will there be a new ‘way’? (Ironically, every time I hear Scripture at Mass and when Jesus says ‘I am the way’ I giggle inside and think of Mando…) (ETA: upon re-watching, I realize they are also called ‘the living water’ which is another one of those kind of generic fantasy thing but ALSO has pretty strong connotations in both Old/New Tesetament Scripture).
It was also interesting to hear Din contrast the Jedi’s stance on attachment with the Mandalorian code, but in the end, it was his attachment to his son that caused him to break their version of the creed. And of course this probably all ties into his mirrored journey with Boba; Boba has found/is creating a tribe, whereas Din has reverted back to more solitary ways and then was kicked out of his ‘tribe’, but also wants to go find Grogu again.
But most importantly – any chance we will actually see Luke’s Academy?????? And I definitely yelled out that he got a mithril coat made for Grogu :D
@3 – … maybe this means Din is the kind of bounty hunter who doesn’t bring bounties in warm from now on … !
1. We got to see Womp Rats!
2. Re: Orbital/Ring world = I was reminded of the huge space habitation ring from ‘Intersellar’.
2. As great as it was to see The (ex)Mandolorian again, I was pleased to see The Armorer had survived and is still doing her job.
@24/Lisamarie: I don’t think Din needs to “atone,” because that “atonement” is only necessary in the eyes of the fanatical cult to which the Armorer belongs. I think season 2 showed that Din was beginning to move away from that rigid, arbitrary code and realize there’s a broader world out there that he has to adapt to. First he was forced to unmask in that Imperial-remnant base, but then he chose to unmask to Grogu, and that was a major step away from his cult. This episode showed him backsliding a bit but then being formally rejected by the cult, which really just solidifies where he was at the end of Mando season 2.
After watching this show, I have little faith that Favreau has any regard for proper story structure, but from a structural standpoint, a story like this, external to the main series, shouldn’t really establish any major plot threads that are relevant to the main series, but should only tell a side story nonessential to the main series, so that the series can still be followed by those who didn’t see the side story. So I think the Armorer’s rejection was just about reinforcing what season 2’s finale already established, that he’s broken the cult’s code and can’t go back, rather than introducing a quest for season 2. I think his rejection here is meant to set him up for continuing his growth away from the cult’s rigid “Way,” rather than regressing back into it.
@27 – yes, that is kind of my point with the very heavy handed analogy that they seem to be making. In Christian theology, the old way of atoning (at the physical Temple, and under various strictures of the law) was no longer possible, and so there was a new way (which coincidentally is also, referred to itself as both ‘the way’ and ‘living water’) so that is actually where I am thinking this story might be going in a sense. Din isn’t actually going to go back to the old way of doing things – I felt like when he left he was basically…leaving, and the two of them can sit around and muse about lost glory all they want.
But I do think he will find his own way forward and I am not sure, but it might be a similar journey as Boba’s finding his true ‘tribe’.
I would be surprised if they actually had his ‘atonement’ go in a straightforward way because I think all along I think they’ve been dropping hints that he is moving away from it, or realizing that there are other paths he wants. Then again, I suppose the trope of the ‘remnant guarding the true ways’ is also kind of a trope so…maybe they will play it straight? I kinda doubt though.
That said, I think the whole ‘using a sword won in combat to decide our leader’ is kind of wacky anyway. It kinds of reminds me of that Monty Python quote: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!
@28/Lisamarie: “That said, I think the whole ‘using a sword won in combat to decide our leader’ is kind of wacky anyway. It kinds of reminds me of that Monty Python quote: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!”
I think the idea is more about the combat than the sword itself — that you have to prove yourself strong enough to deserve the symbol. Although being able to win a physical fight isn’t really a good qualification for government work either.
Since Mando has already been kicked out of the club, I’m surprised he didn’t just take off his helmet to work on the fighter. It was painful to watch him work in that tin suit. And speaking of that, will the Armorer insist his show be renamed “The Ex-Mandolorian?
“Explain to me how little Mandalorians are made if people aren’t allowed to take their helmets off in front of their significant others.”
I’m assuming they are still allowed to take off their pants. They just need to keep the helmets on.
Come to think of it, Tusken Raiders have a taboo about showing their faces too. Maybe Din should get himself adopted by a Tusken tribe like Boba did.
This episode was brilliant unfortunately it just puts another nail into Boba’s coffin because it shows how dull it is in comparison to the Mandalorian.
Putting it in so early before Book establishes enough of its own presence and themes was a huge mistake.
Pedro Pascal doesn’t help by bleeding more charisma and patho’s with his helmet on than Boba does with his helmet off.
It doesn’t look good for Book tbh.
Does anybody have any idea where this taboo against taking the helmet off came from? Death Watch and House Vizsla had no such compunction previously, as recently as during the Mandalorian Resistance period. Bo-Katan calls the Way an “archaic” practice, but there doesn’t seem to be any actual continuity even among the other traditionalists. So I can’t help but wonder how much of this was just made up by the Armorer herself, in the aftermath of the purge. Or maybe Paz thought Pre and the rest of his House were apostates, too? (Although he still seems pretty attached to the Vizsla identity.)
I did love the miniature ringworld looking fresh off the cover of a Niven novel, shadow squares and all. It did not, of course, look full-sized, maybe a couple of kilometers wide. If I recall correctly they were fairly coy about the overall context and only showed parts of the curve, not what was a the center of the orbital, which given Star Wars physics could be anything from a tiny sun to a very brightly-glowing space slug. The shadow squares were moving too fast to simulate a standard day-night cycle, but maybe they were just there to keep the surface from overheating. It looked like the underside where Mando and company were fighting was both open to space, so that you could fall off, but enclosed with an atmosphere, or his blood would have boiled out of his wound. Still, very interesting to see in a Star Wars setting, and very vulnerable…
I’m a little unsettled by the level of the hostility to the Armourer’s people. They have precisely one objectionable trait, a cultural obligation to cover their faces, and otherwise are the kind of people that will risk their lives in battle to preserve the life of a random stranger child (and now they’ve been exterminated because of that, apparently including previously seen children of the group.)
Meanwhile, Bo Katan is a traitor to both Mandalore and Deathwatch who lies and manipulates to serve her own ends, but…she’s the good team now I guess, because she takes off her helmet?
@36/wraith: The problem, I think, is how intolerant the Armorer’s clan is of divergence from their rigid rules. Anyone who doesn’t do Mandalorian exactly the same way they do isn’t a Mandalorian at all? Like this one small group has the right to define Mandalorian for everyone else on the planet? Sorry, no, that’s religious bigotry and sheer arrogance. Din is someone who was raised as a fundamentalist and is starting to realize there are other valid ways of practicing the faith. That’s a good thing.
And no, it’s not that Bo is good because she takes off her helmet. It’s that taking off her helmet does not in itself make her bad, or a non-Mandalorian.
This series is showing us two things: 1) that it is an inferior Mandalorian copy and 2) that it is utterly wasting the fantastic Ming-Na Wen.
@38/Austin: While I’ll agree that TBOBF isn’t working as well as The Mandalorian, I wouldn’t call it a copy, since they’re rather different in format and approach. TM is an old-school episodic series with evolving plot and character arcs (and I wince to refer to the standard practice of TV from my 20s and early 30s as “old-school”), while TBOBF is more of a serial telling one long story, albeit a very loose and meandering one. I suppose it’s appropriate that the one really episodic installment is the one that’s all about Mando.
Watching this show is like watching a chess player — er, more like a checkers player — sit down for a game, then spend five hours telling us about the history of each piece and what it means to them before making the first bloody move.
By the way, who is the other player in this game? Who is the big bad? Is it the Pikes? Who are the Pikes? And why should I care?
The designers of the ringworld thoughtfully added guard rails to the sublevel entrance, but neglected to install a floor.
“Anyone who doesn’t do Mandalorian exactly the same way they do isn’t a Mandalorian at all?”
All Mandalorians are like that. It’s why they keep having civil wars. Bo looks down on Mando, and then lies to him in order to get his help.
@40 my point exactly. Since you asked, the Pikes (or Pykes? I don’t know) are a crime syndicate that appeared several times in the Clone Wars TV series, but if you didn’t watch those specific episodes or even if you did and you just forgot them, the entire looming threat of the show (already kind of weak) completely breaks down. And as I’ve mentioned before, this problem of expecting everyone to watch everything is a big problem with Disney Star Wars.
43. Ecthelion of Greg
Thanks. My fault for not consulting the manual, ha.
Yeah, they still needed to give us a “face,” a villain, earlier in this series (See Werner Herzog in The Mandalorian) to show us how bad the bad guys are. Something more menacing that vague stares from grumpy catfish people — uh, those are the Pykes, right?
@43/Greg: I think this show made it clear enough that the Pykes were the bad guys when they gunned down a bunch of Boba’s Tusken friends from their train. That was underlined when the Hutt twins said they were fleeing Tatooine because the Pykes were too dangerous to stand up against. So this show has done enough to establish the Pykes as a threat even if you don’t remember The Clone Wars.
Although TopHat has a good point that it would’ve been nice to have a specific main villain for Boba to stand against, instead of a largely unseen threat working through intermediaries like the Majordomo.
Yeah, I’m okay with them making the Pykes the main antagonists in this series. I think they just needed to do the work of building them up more, giving us characters and personalities that exemplify their particular brand of evil, just as Vader and Tarkin did for the Empire when it was introduced way back when.
Do any of the Pykes have names so far? I can’t recall.
@29 – well, yeah, that’s kinda what I’m getting at :) Not just the sword itself, but all the stuff that gooes along with combat based honor systems. And for the record some of this does apply to the Tuskens as well. Their culture has its good and bad points (and I think that applies to these Mandalorians as well). At least this version of Deathwatch doesn’t really seem to care too much about forceful ‘evangelizing’, and we know that at least some Tusken tribes to do engage in kidnapping and torture.
I think some of the comments have already gotten at this, but I will say this in the interest of being a devil’s advocate, but we mostly have Bo-Katan’s perspective as labeling it a ‘cult’, but given that she also was once part of it, she might also be a little biased. Of course, she could also have a bit more insight into it, but her arc in TCW involves her being sucked into it, and then leaving once Maul took advantage of their rules to take over (again, not a great system of government ;) ).
That said I also have some understanding even in my own religion as there are plenty of factions within it, and I also have seen (and undergone) similar transformations – being attracted to a more ‘rigid’ identity at first (which has its own comfort), and eventually moving on from that. So…yeah, they are kind of a cult ;)
Although more I think of it, I kind of am hoping for something parallel to what I wanted to see from the Star Wars sequels with the Jedi – a melding of the ways…perhaps Din will find that Mythosaur in the living waters and add a new perspective. It’s interesting that Din mentions how much the Mandalorians differ from the Jedi in their loyalty/attachments, and yet they were quick to cast him out (and Paz apparently was totally ready to kill him). Perhaps the Armorer is also playing some sort of long game here and is just setting a test before him.
Music stuff: Emmet’s remark about dueling theme songs made me think of how the title card actually was a true melding of both themes and I loved it.
The arrangement of the Mando theme over the ringworld reveal is one of my new favorite arrangements.
I also really liked the re-appearance of the music from ‘The Jedi’ (when Ahsoka is telling Grogu’s story) as Din was looking at the little package on the spaceliner.
Random desire for the show (or maybe season 3 of the Mandalorian): Luke teaching Din how to wield the Darksaber.
@46/TinFoilTopHat: “Do any of the Pykes have names so far? I can’t recall.”
Their names are Christopher, Zebulon, and Turn.
Haha, I was thinking Larry, Daryl and Daryl, but that works too.
Din was back for all of five minutes before he managed to saber himself in the leg.
That’s the Mando I know.
Glad to see Mando back, but this seemed like 2 separate episodes to me. Plus, I thought a South Park “need a montage!” would have sufficed instead of the unnecessary drawn out description of everything being done to the fighter. The reappearance of the New Republic cop felt a little tired, too.
Dating a jawa? I guess they “go up” instead.