The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 3.01 - Chapter 17 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I finally got around to watching this first episode (considering PP's other series had its season finale this past Sunday). I gave it a 7/10. PP's TLOU show set the bar too high for me, so I had to lower it down a few notches as I started watching Season 3 of Mando; just don't hold me against it. We see the armorer engaging in some Mandalorian ceremony with some rogue members. You could've predicted that Din would come in and save the day after the alligator attacked. So the theme for Season 3 is set: Din wants to redeem himself among the Mandalorians for taking his helmet off. Ok. The Dark Saber, of which he tells Bo he still has in his possession, means little. I still find it strange that the notion of removing your helmet is taboo; given all we know from the Mandalorians through TCW. If you can remind me of an episode, even a late Season 7 one, where this was addressed, I'll rewatch and stand corrected.

But back to the episode itself. I don't have the patience to go through the back pages of this thread, but I'm sure I wasn't alone in noticing the space whales when Din was travelling through hyperspeed. Is that presumably a nod to Rebels and Ezra's eventual return?

Din engages in pirates, but of course no LA Hondo as of yet. It's strange how even the Disney theme parks feature Hondo as a costumed character and yet he's still a no-show in the later shows. It's Din's space action with the pirates that bumped my rating on this episode from a 6 to a 7. That was exciting.

And as I mentioned, Bo is back; though she's a shell of herself (sort of a pun considering we see her without her helmet the whole time). She's apparently given up everything since she relinquished the Dark Saber to Din. I was hoping she might've actually joined him to go to Mandalore, but I guess not.

 

No addressing is needed. Din belongs to a small sect, a splinter group that has never had occasion to appear in previous episodes. I'm sure they've always been there, but until recently there was no reason to see them.

 

But Bo always referred to them as The Watch, hadn't she? Death Watch certainly took their helmets off on occasion.

 

Din's group is 'Children of the Watch' - distinct from, albeit possibly related to, 'Death Watch.' They were introduced in this show and had not appeared prior.

 

Ok, I get that they're a spinoff of a Mandalorian sect that was possibly related to Death Watch; but who are they to tell anyone that they're not a Mandalorian if they remove their helmet? Does Bo, of whom we see more of her face than not, still consider Din a Mandalorian?

 

Why wouldn't she?

 

Because he took of his helmet.

 

She doesn't care about that.

 

I understand the notion of The Watch being a cult; but to this day IMO removing your helmet being considered taboo is really silly. I wonder if there was a point in the discussion of storyboards where Dave Filoni and co. proposed alternatives to what Din needs to seek redemption for; like maybe killing one of the sect's members.

I mean people have suggested Bo doesn't care. Her sect doesn't care. Maybe instead of redeeming himself with the cult that does care, maybe Din should hook up with Bo's people. Maybe he'd run into Sabine.

 

People aren't "suggesting" that Bo doesn't care about helmet-wearing. The show has explicitly shown us that she doesn't care, multiple times. She doesn't follow "the way" that the Children of the Watch do. That's a fact of the show, not a suggestion.

Also, Din did try to join Bo's crew at the start of this season. And Bo told him that she didn't have a crew anymore.

 

And that still doesn't make sense to me. I get there may be a larger group that left her...but I would assume that there are those that would stay with her because they believe in what she does...the re-unification of the Mandalorian people. Not just 'errrmuhgard she's got the dark sword'.

 

Maybe there were some and in her depression, she pushed them away. This happens in real life even, those who are depressed tend to push people away, even those closest to them. Who is to say she didn't even threaten to kill them if they didn't leave?

 

Wow you are so smart IG_2000

 

Great guess, kid. Don't get cocky.