Qwynn settled herself, the armor felt strange as she removed her helmet and stared at a small piece of green glass. It appeared to be sea glass, but any sensor would reveal its partial radioactivity. Glass creauted in the fire of genocide and a dying world.
"My lady, we should make for Kalevala,' Qwynn heard one of her guardsmen. As members of her small Clan they were her warriors-at-arms, and just as he spoke, she made her decision.
Episode 1 | Chapter 17: The Apostate
We are reminded of the interactions from Season 2 of Mando and the end of the Book of Boba. Din Djarin is no longer a Mandalorian creed as stated by the Armor. Onlly the holy waters of Mandalore itself can return his status as a member of the Mando'ade.
We open on a scene where the Armorer is prearing a pice of Beskar, a mythosaur skull hangs above her work. She appears to be forging a new helmet, has someone else joined the Children of the Watch. Is this a sign for the coming of the new Manda'lor? Several other Mandlorians in full armor wait outside holding banners showcasing various Clan and House banners. This appears to be Din's past as a joined. As there are two Mandorlians there with Clan Krize markings.
I wonder if this kid is Din, the helmet color seems off.
We hear more about the Creed and the oath one takes to never remove their helmet. As the kid swears to never remove the helmet a massive crocodilian like creature comes attack. It eats one guarian and the younglings flee as the various warriors open blaster fire. They take to the sky and land atop it to attack, only the Mandoade are this skilled and brave. As several detonators go off we watch one mando tossed hard against the rock as others unleash their grapples. The Creature is held as more ar injured. Is THIS a mythosaur or some other great crature.
It looks like a massive crocodilian mixed with a turtle with the huge carpace scutes on its back. The armor joins the fray to rescue a downed warrior and is tossed by the attack. Our little youngling stands over her facin down the creature as the Clan Visla member shoots.
A massive bolt hits it and we see the Naboo Speeder. This is not a memory, this is the Tribe! They have started inducting more foundlings and Din of the Mudhorn clan is there with Grogu. Back inside the forge we see the Armorer beneath the mythosaur. The Armor berates Din for actions and as he talks of redemption. He gives her a relect and they speak of the Purge. He states his intentions to find the hiddne waters and be redeemed.
Again, we see how religious ferocity can help with hope, but can also cause unnecessary issues. But, as a door closes another opens. Din jumps to a hyperspeed route heading to the ancient home of all Mando'ade. In the shadow of Concord Dawn, and the sands of mandalore he will find solace. Grogu watches the stream of hyperspace as a strange almost squid shaped form appears.
is that one of the weird hyperspace whales from rebels. And yup, its them. Seeing them in a more realistic portrayal makes them far more ominous than friendly as they were before. Upon reaching a planet (which I think is the primary one from season 2) we see a modest outpost and starport. This place, Neavarro reminds m more of Tytho in Season 2, and is definitely rough. But it has plenty of greenery with a touch of dry sun.
Grogu floats around and we see many animals including monkey-lizards. Din says much has changed, and they walk past a small street band while coming to stop as a droid monument. Its a bounty droid from Season 1. Now Karge (aka a big whig in the Bounty Hunter's Guild is a Republic Magistrate)! Nevarro is a trade spur of the infamous Hydian Way, and the planet is starting to prosper about the terror of Moff Gideon.
I wanna say watching Grogu spin in the chair was, so fucking cute. Karga asks about why Grogu was back and mentions of his Exile and Grogu's return. Grogu, of course, uses a force pull to steal some food. A droid appears to speak of Pirate trouble and we find some aliens harssing a brown protocol droid. The captain, Vane, talks about a drink.
So it sees that they want to drink in the school (formerly a bar) and he mentions a bit of treasure used to build it. Greef Karga tells them they can drink in his office and they start tossing insults. this pirate pudu thinks he can just push folk around. Grou floats around semi-interested as the two have a face off with their blasters. Vane gets his gun shot out of his hands and the rest of his crew are mowed down for trying to draw in h is defense.
We switch back as the two talk about the need for a standing peace officer on the trade port. Greef wants to make Nevarro an independent colonial outpost. So Din wants G-11 back, and the statue gets pulled apart to rebuild him. having a handy trustworthy droid is a tad of a character development for a man who use to outright hate them. By the Codes G-11 could be Mandalorian, if they decide to go that route I'll be so damn happy.
Our friend pops to life, his upper body raising as his "eyes and sensors" swivel around. he starts spouting bondsman guild code at every and tries to seize Grogu. This scene was pretty damn great, I do like how it was the protocol droid who killed him. It's sad we saw G-11 will have to be rebuild. His update programming redone. The Magistrate talks a game and suddenly we runinto a little friend from "Rise of Skywalker", its the Anzellans! If you guys remember DuDER was an Anzelan who featured heavily in the last New Trilogy story.
Small little aliens about six inches tall and seeing them work with Din sitting crosslegged is great. Even better is Grogu being a silly Toddler and trying to squeeze the poor droidsmith. All seems lost when the inform Din of his friends ruined memory cuircuit but all that changes as he learns he just needs a new one.
Leaving, we watch as Din explains a few things and out pops Vane along with two mooks in cheap A-Wing copies. The idiots decide to pick a dogfight with a Naboo Fighter, one of the fastest snubfighters in modern galactic history. Idiots, he spins around an asteroid and blasts one head one. More pirates pop up forcing Din to bo and weave among the floating rocks. What I like the most was how Din spooked the shit out of our mixed alien pilots. Thoroughly reminding them that a mando'ade in a claw fighter is dangerous, but stick one in an even faster ship and you die.
They draw him to the primary pirate King Gorian Shard. Shards Makeup is astoudning giving us a strange ape like species with weed and vine-like hair. Loved it.
Away from the Pirates we land on Kalevala (nice naming a planet after a Finnish Epic). We land on the outskirts of a mssive castle in the traditional Mando'ade style. heavy geometric and triangular designs. Enter, we instantly know whose land this is. The Nite Owls and by extensin, Bo-Katan and Clan Krize rule here. Bo gave up after her forces. And she points out how the Children splinted the loyalty of the Mando'age. How her forces split away because she didn't have the saber.
He informs her of his quest as she gives him a location as she decides against aiding him. Poor Bo she watched her own sister die, and failed to act in Duchess Satines sted. Leading a dead Clan there isn't much more she can do.
Episode 2 | Chapter 18 - The Mines of Mandalore
We are given a memory of the past. Of the fall of the House of kryze and the Deathwatch. How the ending of Clan Wren igniting the Clan unification fell again. Will the Mines be proof of the healing of Mandalore, what will Sundari show us?
On Tattooine a Rodian argues with certain crabby repair shop owner we all love. After a little bit of complaining the two whine at each other about work. The Rodian leaves and the Jawas appear to put it all back together. Ah yes, an old scam with jawas included. Their little conjob is ruined when din arrives in his Fighter, the chrome exerience shining the triple light of the suns.
Grogu leaps into Peli's arms using a force jump and we learn that the IG Circuit is pretty rare. Peli immediately advertise an R5 astromech who actively shows fear about spelunking. Offering a free astromech port and giving him a oil bath he's bought by Din. Now with a scaredy cat R5-D4 mech in tow they head off in the wake of the celebrations of Boonta Eve. Now, as they come from the black of space they fly over the torn landscape of Mandalore.
Massive swirling electrical storms drift across the ancient homeworld's surface. Apparently, Din never lived on Mandalore itself and instead grew up on Concoria, which is an old Death Watch powerbase. They dip into the storms of manalore as rain and lighting blights their view. The light barely creeps and when they break through a massive glassed landscape lays out before them. Fusion bombing has destroyed the ability to use interspace communcations. We look at the glassed ruins of Sundari itself, where House kryze held sway over an entire alliance of planets.
R5 ignores an order and gets booted outside (or dropped) to do his job. I like how we get a cowardly Droid, but also that Din is kind of seeming to care. I can still sense that shit is about to go down as R5 trails across the ground. He disappears behind a small rocky outcropping (which I'm betting he's going to disappear from in classic R2 style). Yup, he immediately disappears on the sensor, Grogu make a worried trill and pushes Din to go after him. Around the same bit of rock and into a cave he goes, dark greenish light being the only source there is.
The greenish tint to the fusion glass gives it a strange ethereal feeling. He happens upon a sigh, an old city, is this Sundari or what was once under Sundari. Then a group of crudely dressed reptoid creatuers with four eyes and tusks appear. they almmost look like the Taungs from starwars legends, only far more brutish in appearance. So what are these things, they wield what are obviously forged weaponry (specifically axes). Din retrieves R5 and we learned Mandlore still has breathable air. What is wrong with it then?
Why has there been no attempt to retake the homeworld? This interests me and I feel a sense of disquiet as Din uses his jetpack to lower himself down. A massive opening, well more of a giant abyss filled with pipe opeings meets their gaze as pipe after pipe passes by we see the opening tunnels of an ancient sewer. Are those "Taungs" down there. As Din goes forward a green and glowing eyed reptile barks at him. The water of the dark of the tunnel shows more growling lizards along with massive collapse from the Purge.
But we find a much more obvious means to the mines which while still damaged is open. This is the way.
Din watches the ground and ceiling. I'm guessing he's looking for a mixture of threats and alos maybe more on his people. In the dirty, half buried we see an open visored helm. One ages old and covered in rust before a giant mech pops to life and grabs him. Holy shit, its some weird giant bettle mech. Fuck I wanted a basalisque war droid!
Grogu drifts after the Droid which has Din in its jaws and we pass pile after pile of abandoned helmets. How many mandlorians have died. Bits of metal, chains and other debris cover the room as the droid drops the its victims cage before going offline. We are then reminded as an eye moves past the droids red sensor, that is in fact a strange cyborg entit. And yup, out comes a monster creepier than General Grevious.
In a ghoulish fashion the creautre which is just what appears to be a brain and spine in a metal frame goes to work. It bears a shock stick in one hand and disappears from Grogu's sight. The kid gets closer to Din and keeps an eye while the monster combs through the debris of its den. Moving to free his father Grogu flees and force jumps to his pod. runs, and is attacked by one of the strange lizards. Dodging he makes it to the top and is in the home stretch, but our stupid other monster appear. Tossing the four-eyed creature he heads to the ship gives the order to fly.
R5 sets the fighter in geer and we pan to Bo-Katan's palace, and lone droid addressing "your majesty". As the fighter comes into view she talks about ending it. Too bad shes going to pick a fight with a baby yoda. She seems, curious, and after they get the info from R5 and fly to mandalore. Seeing the destroy city she comments, "it didn't always look like this". Bow has the kid lead the way as she heads out in full armor, her Nite Owl helm glistening in the sun of her world. Meanwhile, R5 watches from the ship.
Their entry belies the danger and Bo isn't playing this fast and loos. her gaze is sweeping everything and just as she reaches the precipe she gazes upon her charnel house of a home. A tomb where once the House of kryze held Court. Lilke before, we descend, Bo-katan seemingly feeling the nostalgic trauma connected to the nightmare in front of her. They pass the same piples Din did and Grogu hesitates about the lizzard.
"I know that you are frightened." Bo reassures Grogu that she needs hi. This kid isn't just a kid, he is a Mandalorian (burn whatever the Children of the Watch say). She talks to Grogu about how the Jedi and Mando'ade fought as one. Sensing danger she blasts open the ceiling and ends the alien orcs in a few concise blows.
So the monsters are Alamites, and it's good to learn more. This means our monster friend who seems intent on eating Din or maybe devouring his fluids, is something from the past as well. It does have four arms, but it can't be general Grevious. Which makes me wonder what horror of Mandalorian mythology are we witnessing. Pushing her the creature forces her to the ground after three strikes.
She draws the Dark Saber and fights with it, seemingly killing it, but only injuring the base frame. It heads for its monster frame and yup we get to see Bo being a bad ass bitch for international women's day. She slwys the beast with the Dark Saber, after Din lost it. Technically, I believe that would count as a trial by Creed. Saving one's life and using a legendary weapon to meet means that yes, she is Manda'lor. Or at leas thte one to teach the true Manda'lor.
"A great society, now a memory."
Waxin poetic about the ashes of Mandalore and we learn more about her history. She ruled and failed. Feeding him pog soup (a Mando stape which he tastes for the first time. We get more discussion on philosophy about the Creed and Bo's more liberal take on being Mandalorian. She agreeds to take him, and we are drawn back to the dark. Bo acts as another exposition dump and we get a pretty common concept. A warrior group divided by their own infighting. The Manda'lor is much like a nomadic ruler who unites the clans.
The two talk futher about the history of mandlore and Clan Kryze. He utters "this is the way" to her in an amiable fashion. Showing respect for the former Lord of Clan kryze. Finally, after a bit of drama and horror we witness the Living Waters themselves. Kryze recites a plaque and Din takes off his helmet. We see a reenactment of the scene before where the Armor was baptizing the child. But just as he steps lower, Din is dragged undr by something.
Bo-Katan drops low, and sims to find him, and she does deep at the bottom, only her jetpike giving her thespeed to head forward. What she finds is a literally fucking Mythosaur. A massive ancient alient Dragon which shouldn't exist. Breathing hard, we break, making me wonder what will happen next.
The Mandalorian continues to provide a lot lot of good sources for gay content. While some could easily ship Bo-Katan with someon I'd rather stick with someone like Ahsoka or even Barris. Din is the lost child child of an extremist religious faction. None of the actions I see him and Bo doing equal them having a romantic relationship. To me, it fits more in the manner of brother and sister. Din is there to provide her inspiration for rebuilding her people.
She in the while is there to point out to Din that being Mandalorian isn't just about being a person in a helmet.
This was perhaps one of the more action filled openings for a Mando season yet.
What i liked about this one was the revelation that the Tribe was still quite populaous.
That massive CrocoTurtle really foreshadowed the damn Mythosaur.
The scenes with Greef while short were pretty nice. I like seeing how Nevarro is evolving since season 2.
Gorian Shard's pirates were a nice update on who is ruling the underworld in the fall of Jabba.
The scene where IG comes to life and attacks everyone was pretty damn creepy.
Peli pulling scams with a group of Jawas heh.
The droidsmith scene really shows how even though Grogu is about 53 years old he is still a Toddler.
Okay, hearing that the Mando-ade have a moon named after a Finnish Poetic Epic was metal as fuck.
The Clan Kryze castle is gorgeous and quite dreary. I adore its geometric design that mirrors the old mandalorian Cubist designs.
Okay, the Alamits are weird as fuuuuck.
That flesh cyborgmonster was the worst of Spider Maul and General Grevious melded into one horror.
Din getting captured and turned into a Damnsel twice in this movie was so fascinating.
Seeing the increasingly sorrowful status of Bo-Katan Kryze makes me wonder if both are seeking redemption.
