The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 3 Review

by Chelsea House, Senior GGR contributor

The last episode of The Mandalorian left our hero, our baby, and our Frog Lady headed to Trask in a less than luxurious ride, and Mando definitely said no potty breaks. This episode opens with the struggle of landing due to the ship being held together by paperclips. So Mando and Frog Lady make a great team and somehow manage to get the ship all the way down to the landing dock. The Razor Crest seems like she’s going to land nicely until one of the thrusters pops and the ship flops into the ocean giving us a great metaphor to what this whole year has been. 

“You’re not going to charge me for those first 10 mins, right? I wasn’t actually in the space, I was in the water.”

Din pays for his ship to be fixed while we watch the touching reunion of Mr. and Mrs. Frog who have so very obviously missed each other. Awww… froggy love. Din asks Mr. Frog where he can find more information on people like him. He is directed to yet another cantina where Baby Yoda has a rather karma-like moment where his food tries to eat his face.

“Mando, I don’t know about this soup. I don’t want to be rude, but it’s moving. Would it be rude if I sent it back to the kitch…..OH GOD!”

Mando is introduced to a Quarren that can lead him to his kind, they just need to go sailing first. 

Our rather non-discerning Mando is like, “Sure!” while the rest of us are scratching our heads with the hint that this is somewhat sus. Our gut feelings are brought to validation when the Quarren pirate crew (I’m not sure they actually are pirates, but for me it feel like the shoe fits) feed Baby Yoda to a large sea monster and try to kill Mando for his armor, which really makes me wonder if this armor is worth all this hassle. In perfect timing, three Mandalorians swoop in and save the day! 

Mando is super pumped to finally run into his kind, after all, the last time he was around them, they were just a bunch of helmets piled on the floor. His last live Mandalorian was the smith when she made his beskar armor, and also totally warned him that it would make him a target. You can see he is feeling rather jittery until all three of them remove their helmets, which immediately draws a line in the sand of how different the two sides are. Suddenly an excited Mando looks more like an incredibly uncomfortable Mando as he asks rather judgingly where the three got their armor. The leader of these 3 Mandalorians, Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) sets him straight when she explains that she’s from Mandalore and this armor has been passed down for generations with her being the last of her line. She further explains that Din is a part of a cult like sector of the Mandalorians called “The Watch” which is why his rules are so strict. He snips back as most zealots who feel convicted do, that there’s only one way, the way of the Mandalore and sulkily flies off. 

Mando: “You’re not a Mandalorian.”
Bo-Katan: takes off helmet, takes off earrings
Koska: “Oh snap, now you’ve done it.”
Bo-Katan: “First off…”

It doesn’t take long before more Quarrens find him and try to jump him because they think he killed the lead Quarren’s brother. Once again, Bo-Katan and her gang swoop in to save the day. She says that they will help Din find more of Baby Yoda’s kind if Din first helps them with a mission: to capture weapons on an Imperial ship that can be used for her and her people to recapture Mandalore. Din feels a little confused by this as he’s always been told the planet is cursed and whoever lives there dies. Bo-Katan gives him a knowing look and states that he shouldn’t believe everything he hears. Din doesn’t really seem to agree, but is desperate to place Baby Yoda with his people, so agrees to help. He leaves our green bundle of joy with Mr. and Mrs. Frog as they watch their first egg hatch with glee. 

Mando gets a rundown of the storm troopers on the ship and how they won’t be a problem at all for them to take down. We are then led through a series of mini battles as the squad struggles to get to the cock pit. During their movement forward, Bo-Katan lets it slip that they are capturing the ship. When Mando says that wasn’t part of the deal, she smugly says deals change and “this is the way”, and even though I’m pretty positive she’s not to be trusted, I kind of like her a little more. She’s got some swagger.

Meanwhile, while our squad is moving through their mission, the Captain of the ship (Titus Welliver) contacts Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) to let him know what’s happening and that they need reinforcements. Moff is like “nah, too late bro. You know what to do.”

This leads to the Captain shooting his two pilots and taking the ship to cause into a nosedive. Almost too late, Mando and squad retake the ship and manage to save it from crashing. While the drama of that is happening, Bo-Katan questions the Captain about her weapon, the darksaber. She asks if Gideon has it, the Captain confirms, and then bites down on a suicide pill before she can question him further. 

Because there was a distress beacon sent out, Bo-Katan orders the ship be taken into hyperdrive immediately so they can escape. She invites Mando to join her, but he declines and states he wants to stay on their mission. She then reveals to him that if he travels to the city of Calodan on the forest planet of Corvus, he'll find Ahsoka Tano there, adding, "Tell her you were sent by Bo-Katan." 

We end the episode with Mando picking up Baby Yoda as he adorably plays with Mr. and Mrs. Frog’s new tadpole. (Hopefully not wanting to eat it…) He picks up the poorly fixed Razor Crest and heads off. 

This episode has A LOT going on in it. Lots of little nuggets that I’m not quite ready to form solid theories on, however, I do have some questions. Let’s go over some of them so far. 

1. I want to say how much I absolutely love the depiction of strong female characters in this show. It has been a consistency since season 1. From the Armorer (Emily Swallow) to Cara Dune (Gina Carano) to Bo-Katan and I’m sure many more. Even Frog Lady shows the fierce side of a mother protecting her young. I just love that the women of the series are rounded, a little complex, and definitely can hold their own, even when compared to a standalone character like Mando. I wonder what other women we will be able to celebrate throughout the rest of the series. 

2. Bo-Katan and the Night Owls have brought a bit of complication to our once rather linear perspective of the Mandalorians. But let’s focus on just her for now. I /do/ know she is a pretty awesome character from the Star Wars: Clone Wars and I’m fighting the urge to research her character as I really want to make theories of my own. But why does she have the dark saber? Is it a light saber of some kind? And if so, why does she have it? And how does she know the Imperial side so comfortably? Or at least Gideon. What’s the story with that? Was she once apart of them? Also she said “her people”. Does that mean that there’s a large amount of Mandalorians waiting somewhere for her to launch an attack? If so, why did Mando have such a freaking hard time finding them? 

3. With Bo-Katan came the possibility that Mandalore is livable. If so, are we going to see a possible resurrection of it? Or maybe even reformation of it? 

4. It was mentioned that Mando was part of a cult. Is that so? If so, will he be a little bit more relaxed in episodes to come. Will he even *gasp* remove his helmet? Will he maybe even join with the Night Owls to help Bo-Katan take Mandalore back? I want to know more about the Cult, though. What makes his beliefs Cultish? 

5. Ahsoko Tano is supposedly a Jedi (and another cameo from Star Wars: Clone Wars ) and will be able to help Mando on his journey with Baby Yoda. With her connection with Bo-Katan, and the fact that I don’t fully trust Bo-Katan’s intentions, and the fact that Mando is a little less than observant (or maybe just desperate) of people’s characters, I’m concerned that she is possibly part of the dark side. And if so, that leads us right back to Gideon getting what he wanted in Season 1. Poor baby Yoda. 

Again, I’m fighting the urge to do research on these already established characters so I don’t ruin it for myself later on. So you may already have answers to these questions. If so, feel free to giggle at my ideas.  Until next time!