The previous episode of “The Mandalorian” Season 3 was a bummer. It was so busy setting up the direction of Season 3 while recapping what had happened in the previous seasons and “The Book of Boba Fett” that it felt like a slog to get through. In addition to the stale storytelling, the pacing felt off, and the narrative inconsistencies were too much for me to digest. Hence, naturally, expectations were quite low going into the second episode. But after having watched it, I can say that with “The “Mines of Mandalore,” the show has kind of resumed its “one mission per planet per episode” structure. I say “kind of” because the sheen has worn off and the showrunners aren’t doing anything too interesting to bring back the magic of that first season. The positives do outweigh the negatives for now. So, let’s talk about it.
Major Spoilers Ahead
Din Djarin Gets Captured In The Mines Of Mandalore
Din Djarin goes to Tatooine to get the memory circuit for IG-11 from Peli Motto. She says that that’s not available. Even the Jawas can’t acquire such a rare thing. So, she gives her R5 astromech to Din and even makes some adjustments to the N-1 so that it can fit in there. On that note, Din, Grogu, and R5 make their way to Mandalore. Din teaches Grogu that a Mandalorian has to learn how to read maps so that they won’t get lost, no matter where they are in the galaxy. He points out Concordia (the moon on which Din grew up), Kalevala, and where they are with respect to Mandalore. Upon landing, Din sends R5 to scout the location and check whether the air is breathable. When it doesn’t return, Din takes matters into his own hands and runs into the Alamites (they are humanoid creatures who wield weapons made from the crystals in the mines of Mandalore). He has a hard time tackling them, but he emerges victorious and returns to the N-1 with R5.
Upon further inspection of the atmosphere of Mandalore, Din realizes that it isn’t, in fact, cursed, and the air is breathable. So, Din proceeds to dive deep into the mines in search of the Living Waters, where he can bathe and redeem himself for taking off his helmet multiple times. We see some green-eyed creatures lurking in the shadows. Since none of them engage with the father-son duo, things don’t get violent. But as soon as Din stops to inspect a discarded and broken Mandalorian helmet, he’s captured by a massive mechanical crab, which is being steered by a creature with a single, mean-looking eye and a skeleton made of metal parts and glowing tubes. Grogu tries to rescue Din but fails. That’s why Din tells Grogu to get out of there, board the N-1, get to Kalevala, and request Bo-Katan’s help. Realizing that his Force powers aren’t consistent, Grogu promptly bails. He does manage to force-push an Alamite, though. Anyway, after boarding the N-1, Grogu points out the location of Kalevala, and R5 handles the rest.
Bo-Katan Kryze Saves Din Djarin
Although Bo-Katan is ready to dismiss Din Djarin after seeing his ship, as soon as she sees that only Grogu is in it, she gets ready to go to Mandalore and save him. Upon breaching the atmosphere of her home planet, Bo-Katan says the same thing that Din said: Mandalore wasn’t always as ugly as it is now. She adds that her family used to rule the place, and they took the Mandalorian civilization to new heights. But then the Siege happened, and the Empire turned Mandalore into a tomb. After that little history lesson, Bo-Katan also runs into the Alamites and gives them a taste of her medicine. When Grogu appears shocked, Bo-Katan asks him if he thought Din was the only Mandalorian. This is a pretty weird question because Grogu has seen other Mandalorians. Well, maybe Bo-Katan is making a bad assumption because Grogu isn’t really good with words.
As Bo-Katan approaches the one-eyed creature’s lair, we notice that it’s either draining Din’s blood, pumping something into his body, or doing a bit of both. Why? Well, the show doesn’t answer it, so, naturally, I don’t have an answer either. I can take a guess and say that the creature is some kind of mad scientist who likes to experiment on things that come into its vicinity. If that sounds like a stretch, maybe it wants to eat Din and is ensuring that there aren’t any fluids in him that can mess with its chemistry. The creature doesn’t have a digestive system, though. So, there’s a good chance that it was planning to live off of Din’s blood before getting impaled by Bo-Katan. By the way, I have to say that Bo-Katan wields the Darksaber much better than Din. Din is still unable to grasp the concept of how the Darksaber works (unclear thoughts and prolonged usage make it heavy). Meanwhile, Bo-Katan swings it around like a normal sword. Hence, that can be the first sign that she’s eventually going to own the Darksaber.
Season 3, Episode 2: Ending Explained – The Mythosaur Of Mandalore Exists!
After rescuing Din, Bo-Katan brings him closer to the surface of Mandalore and feeds him pog soup, a nourishing food that apparently every Mandalorian has consumed growing up. As soon as Din starts to feel a little better, he decides to restart his search for the Living Waters. Although Bo-Katan doesn’t believe in the lore, she agrees to help Din get to the desired spot. On their way to the door that leads to the Living Waters, Din, and Bo-Katan discuss the devastating nature of the Empire’s fascist actions and how they’re slowly wiping away the memory of Mandalorian culture. As they get closer to the Living Waters, Bo-Katan digs deeper into her past to reveal exactly why she hates the Creed that Din abides by so religiously. She says that the Creed was used to command the loyalty of the subjects of the royal family of Mandalore. And even though she didn’t like this process, she did nothing to embarrass her father, who apparently died fighting to save Mandalore. Din is impressed by this because he relates to Bo-Katan’s father’s love for the Mandalorian way.
Eventually, they get to the Living Waters. Bo-Katan reads out the scripture etched on the walls surrounding the pool. It states that Mandalore the Great (yes, Mandalore was a Mandalorian, evidently) had tamed a beast known as the Mythosaur. The signet that every Mandalorian wears resembles the skull of that Mythosaur. Bo-Katan scoffs at it. But when Din walks into the pool to bathe and obviously sinks all the way to the bottom, and Bo-Katan jumps in to rescue him, she sees the Mythosaur deep inside the pool, alive and kicking. That’s where the episode ends, though, and we don’t get to see what the Mythosaur is about to do to the two Mandalorians. My best guess is that either Bo-Katan or Din is going to try and tame this particular Mythosaur. Why? The emotional throughline of Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” is the unification of the Mandalorians. The opportunity to use the Darksaber to do the same has already been fumbled by Din and Bo-Katan. However, the combined effect of wielding the Darksaber and taming a Mythosaur can motivate the Mandalorians to converge on their home planet and rebuild their lost civilization.
