The eventful travels of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his adopted son Grogu (or Baby Yoda, whatever you want to call him) have returned to delight Star Wars fans. While the season three premiere was a fun welcome back to their world, The Mandalorian 3×02 is an even more action-packed and thrilling episode.
Throughout the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, Din focused on protecting Grogu and finding a Jedi to teach him about his Force powers. Now that Grogu has returned to Din, they can settle into being their “clan of two.” Mandalorians do not remove their helmets as part of their creed. Din did so, however, when he said goodbye to Grogu, so his goal now is to atone for that and regain his status as a Mandalorian. To do that, he must bathe in the Living Waters under the mines of Mandalore. But the planet may not be habitable at all since it was purged by the Empire. There is no guarantee that Din could even breathe on Mandalore or reach the mines but he feels he has to try. Redeeming himself this way is important to him. And, of course, Grogu is beside him throughout this journey to redemption.
The action of The Mandalorian 3×02 is exciting but a lot of the storytelling details of the episode add even more enjoyment. The episode also opens up possibilities for the rest of the season that the viewer will be eager to experience. At least, I know I am.
“Such a heart-warming spectacle.”
The first order of business for Din is to locate a part for the droid he wants to accompany him to Mandalore to test its safety. He visits his old friend Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) on Tatooine for help. Peli is always a reliable source of amusement and this episode is no exception. She brings the laughs this time by running a scam with the Jawas where they strip someone’s speeder and she gets money to fix it but they just put the old parts back on. She also convinces Din to forget about the part and just buy her astromech droid R5-D4 (the same one from A New Hope!) to take with him.
Peli has been around Grogu quite a bit and adores him just like the audience does. He was with her when he and Din reunited in the midst of Din helping Boba Fett with his adventures. So Grogu knows Peli and is excited to see her again. He does a huge jump from Din’s ship into her arms and it’s so cute! Peli often voices things the audience can relate to, such as here when she asks if Grogu is talking yet. Haven’t we all been wondering when he’ll say his first word? And if it’s something like “Dada” to Din, then we’ll all melt, won’t we? Grogu vocalizes more than ever in this episode, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that milestone is in the cards for this season.
“I want to be left alone.”
As light-hearted as all this is, things turn ominous once they land on Mandalore. The poor astromech droid is very nervous, and it’s so sweet to see how nervous Grogu is for him. When the droid doesn’t come back, Din must fight off subterranean creatures to get to it. Then he is captured by a half-robotic spider, half-alien creature that is beyond creepy. Din sends Grogu to get help from Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), a member of Mandalore’s ruling family who’s still on a nearby planet. That adorable floating bassinet has never moved so fast!
Bo-Katan arrives just in time to defeat more of the subterranean monsters, which she calls Alamites and which remind me of Morlocks from The Time Machine. She says they used to live on the surface of the planet in the wasteland fringes outside the cities. “If they survived, I wonder what else might have too,” she says. She’ll find out soon.
Once she finds Din, Bo-Katan deftly wields the darksaber to kill his captor and free him. She urges him to regain his strength, but Din insists he must do what he came there for. Bo-Katan had been sunk into a depression since losing the darksaber to Din. Her followers drifted away after that leaving her as a ruler with nothing to rule. Now, she decides to indulge Din and take him to the Living Waters.
“This is the way.”
The end of this episode highlights the difference between Din and Bo-Katan in their relationship to the Mandalorian creed. He is devout, she is skeptical. Despite being royalty, Bo-Katan views the basis of the creed as myths. To her, the Children of the Watch, which Din is a part of, are the cause of the divisions on Mandalore. Din, however, treats the place with holy reverence. He recites the Creed and enters the water. After a few steps, he abruptly drops out of sight. Bo-Katan immediately goes after him. Those trademark Mandalorian jetpacks certainly come in handy in this episode. When she’s bringing him back to the surface, she gets a shock.
By the light on her helmet underwater, Bo-Katan gets a glimpse of an enormous creature that looks exactly like the very symbol of Mandalore itself: the mythosaur. As Din coughs and recovers, she is clearly shaken, even with her helmet still on. She has always considered these legends of her culture to be fairy tales, and now she has seen something real. Earlier in the series, the Armorer from Din’s enclave mentioned songs that said the mythosaur would return to herald a new age of Mandalore. This brilliantly raises the stakes for the plot in this season.
Will these different factions be able to join together to reclaim their culture and planet? Or is Mandalorian civil war always inevitable? I’m in to find out, especially if the design continues to be as impeccable as it is in The Mandalorian 3×02.
The Mandalorian is streaming on Disney Plus.
