The Mandalorian Season 3 has been a long time coming, but the biggest hype came from The Book of Boba Fett, which dedicated the majority of an episode to following Mando and Grogu. While the major change the spinoff introduced was the reunification of the Clan of Two after Grogu chooses to leave Jedi training camp with Luke, two more huge reveals teased future moments. Season 3 Episode 2 not only addresses these two plot points, but combines and resolves them in a clever way.
In The Book of Boba Fett, Mando had to account for actions his fellow Children of the Watch saw as blasphemous. The Armorer asks him if he’s taken off his helmet, and he admits that he has, once to pass himself off as an Imperial soldier, and again to say a tearful goodbye to Grogu.
The Armorer tells him there’s one way to atone for his sins: he must bathe in the living waters of Mandalore. Baptism, or something equivalent to it, is important in Mandalorian culture, as the opening scene of Season 3 makes clear.
While catching up, the Armorer also asks Mando where he got the Darksaber, and he tells her how he defeated Moff Gideon. This reminds The Armorer of a prophecy, and she says, “The songs of eons past foretold of the Mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of Mandalore. Sadly, it only exists in legends.”
Episode 2 shows the payoff to these teases in quick succession. A mine-crawling adventure quickly goes pear-shaped when Mando gets captured by a strange cybernetic alien, prompting Grogu to fetch Bo-Katan. She leads Mando to the waters, and he takes a dip, only to be suddenly pulled down by a giant aquatic creature.
It could only be a Mythosaur. Although the Mythosaur was believed to be a land-dwelling creature, it looks like some have lived in the “living waters” this entire time.
This one change — moving the Mythosaur to the water — is clever, because it unites the two identities Mando has been wrestling with since his appearance in Book of Boba Fett. He’s an apostate ousted from his sect of Mandalorians, but he’s also the wielder of the Darksaber, which carries with it the possibility of being a foretold savior who will bring back the Mythosaur. In this moment, he’s no longer an apostate, and seconds later his destiny literally emerges from the deep.
These elements could have been strung out into season-long arcs, like Grogu’s search for a Jedi in Season 2. Instead, the audience gets to see both identities brought to the surface and reconciled. Mando is now the Mand’alor, so let’s move on from the prophecies and get to the action.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 is now streaming on Disney+.
