There is a vast world that we get to explore in Star Wars. Many of us have the desire to visit these fictional places we grew up seeing, like Naboo or Alderaan. We want to go to Tatooine and have a fun time there even if you hate sand. The point is, it is a world we love and want to explore.
Usually, we see planets in the Star Wars universe and want to go there. But after the latest episode of The Mandalorian, I’ve decided I’m good not going to Mandalore! Throughout Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) journey in The Book of Boba Fett and into season 3, Din has been searching for his “redemption” within his clan. And this week, we saw just how far he was willing to take it.
**Spoilers for The Mandalorian Chapter 18 “The Mines of Mandalore” lie ahead**
In Chapter 18 “The Mines of Mandalore,” Din gets a droid from Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) when he can’t find what he needs to bring back IG-11 and he heads to Mandalore with Grogu, the droid, and a stubborn will to bathe in the waters there. Because the Armorer (Emily Swallow) told him it was the only way to be a Mandalorian again, Din is determined to “redeem” himself. Despite everyone around him telling him to just let it go.
And maybe they were all right because once he returns to Mandalore, we get to see just how much the planet has changed for the worse. And it’s scary! Everywhere he turns, someone is trying to kill him and Grogu has to save him. Which makes me less than excited about ever going there because an alligator bird tried to eat Grogu! That’s not a fun planet in Star Wars. It’s almost a horror show.
Din almost died three times!
Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) warned Din Djarin about the planet and told him that it was not the Mandalore it used to be. But still he wanted to go, even though he admits to Grogu that he’s never been there before, pointing out what planet he is from on the map. And after his first visit, I’d be good never coming back!
As soon as they land, Din makes the droid go check the atmosphere but when it doesn’t come back, he goes to check on him and is attacked for the first time. Alamites were apparently always on Mandalore (per what Bo-Katan tells him) but they were in a different area of the planet. They are a species who, at least in this episode, live in the shadows and hang from the rocks there in the mines, fighting anyone who cross their path. They’re big, they’re angry, and they can take on Mandalorians with ease. Since its destruction, everything has changed which had them in the mines. Din defeats them (after a struggle), saves the droid and goes back to his ship. But they did try and murder him right off the bat.
Then, as Din and Grogu decide to search further in for the water, Din is captured by another creature living there and is so disarmed that Grogu has to zoom out of there and go get Bo-Katan to help all on his own. This creature is almost a mix of a droid with the organs of a living thing? Sort of like General Grievous but even more frightening. And it takes Din out easily.
Which does show us just how underprepared Din was because Bo-Katan knows how to fight these things and function around Mandalore without almost dying like Din! And this is all before he even gets to the water.
Don’t go swimming on Mandalore
When Din gets to the living waters, he’s beginning to say what is needed to be redeemed in the eyes of his clan. That is until something pulls him underwater because nothing is safe in Mandalore anymore. Again, Bo-Katan has to rescue him and while she might have seen the mythosaur in the living waters, meaning that the legends could be true, Din is too knocked out from almost being killed again to know what is going on.
The mythosaur is the symbol of the Mandalorians. Boba Fett had it on his armor and we’ve seen this figure for some time but, for the most part, we were told it was a legend. That they existed on Mandalore prior to the Mandalorians and that they have been dead for quiet a while. Seeing it for Bo-Katan meant knowing that the legends (at least of the mythosaurs) were partially true.
And that was the joy of this episode. We got a lot of information in the midst of chaos. While Bo-Katan was walking with Grogu, she told him of how Mandalore used to be. And it was important to the lore of the planet and her own history. In this scene, we see what could be the mythosaur as Bo-Katan is saving Din, knowing that that’s going to be something she has to unpack.
It’s all a lot going on at once and yet we are left screaming on the edge of our seats about it all. Still, I don’t think that I’d want to go to Mandalore. Not when even Din Djarin almost died every step of the way.
(Featured image: Lucasfilm)
Published: Mar 8, 2023 11:13 am