IT’S fair to say that the third season of The Mandalorian has dialed back its seriousness, at least in the first two episodes that theSun was given access to.
Not accounting for their appearance in The Book of Boba Fett, the last time audiences saw series lead Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and adoptive son Grogu was at the end of the second season, when Luke Skywalker had to rescue them before taking Grogu with him to complete his Jedi training.
In The Book of Boba Fett, Grogu makes it clear to the legendary Jedi that he chooses being with Djarin over completing his training, and Skywalker agrees, paving the way for Grogu to return to Djarin.
Reintroducing old faces
In the third season’s first episode, “Chapter 17: The Apostate”, Grogu follows Djarin as the Mandalorian journeys to atone for a grievous “transgression”; breaking the Mandalore code by showing his face to someone else, in this case, Grogu.
The episode also cements what the previous two seasons were teasing; exploring the rest of the Mandalorian lore, by opening with a sequence of the Armorer (Emily Swallow) and the rest of the Children of the Watch inducting a new, young Mandalorian before the entire ceremony is gate-crashed by a giant monster.
“The Apostate” then ushers Djarin – now branded an apostate by the Armorer and other Mandalorians – towards the ruins of his tribe’s home planet, Mandalore, as he seeks to “purify” himself in the “living waters” running underneath the mines of Mandalore.
Grogu is also set up to do more this season. Now having developed increased control over the Force, along with additional “skills”, Djarin seems to be training him in ways similar to how Mandalorians are trained.
Will we eventually see Grogu in his own tiny set of Mandalorian armor?
To Mandalore and beyond
Due to Djarin’s almost unyielding fealty to the Way of the Mandalore, the second episode brings through another element to the story, by bringing back Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), the former ruler of Mandalore who is propped up to play a bigger role in this season due to certain events in the second episode.
It’s an excellent contrast; one attempts to follow “the Way” religiously, while the other believes only a cult would follow it religiously.
Bo-Katan is also brought back as part of Djarin’s journey to the planet, and because she needs to regain the Darksaber (currently in Djarin’s possession) to become the rightful ruler of Mandalore.
The way the second episode pivots what the first episode sets up is also noteworthy.
“Chapter 17: The Apostate” hints that the entire season will be about Djarin trying to find his way to the Mandalore mines, but then the second episode resolves it immediately, and introduces a much bigger scale to the story.
Now, it’s impossible to guess where exactly the remaining episodes will head.
But a few things are clear – Djarin’s role as a Mandalorian, the state and possible future of Mandalore, and Bo-Katan’s role in the latter will be expanded upon exponentially.
