Mandalorian Season 3

[NakedMoleRat]

Yeah, I think having been treated like a well-done hamburger gives one a pass on the whole “helmet never comes off” thing…

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Well done Anakin, well done!

 

[NakedMoleRat]

 

[NakedMoleRat]

Well done Anakin, well done!

@ Alley. I knew that you’d get the meaning.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

I think a lot of Folks here are still conflating what The Children of the Watch believe with ALL Mandalorians.

In Attack of the Clones with Jango, and then throughout all of Clone Wars and Rebels, Mandos took their helmets off all the time. Even Pre Vizsla (voiced by Favreau), head of the Death Watch, took his helmet off all the time and only put it on for battle or business. The only Mandos who didn't were the generic background canon fodder and that was most likely done to save on budget, like how the non main character Imperial Officers in Rebels had their hats pulled down to obscure and save on animating the top half of their faces. And I can guarantee that Sabine is not going to be keeping her helmet on all the time in the upcoming Ashoka show.

When we, the audience, are introduced to this idea of the Helmet rule in Season 1, I think it was deliberately done to shock us long time Star Wars fans who had followed Filoni's previous work, to shake us out of our complacency on Star Wars and make the point that we might not know what is going to happen next. Then in Season 2 we get re-introduced to Bo and her crew who take their helmets off immediately. When Din expresses his shock and slight anger or disgust, we can pretty much see Bo and Crew sigh, roll their eyes and go, "Oh, he's one of those folks." So then it is clearly established that no, not ALL Mandalorians believe they must keep their helmets on at all times, but there are SOME that do, and those that do are not the Main Stream or Majority.

To everyone saying it's not normal, or its weird, or its over the top, yeah, that's the point. This behavior isn't "normal," and the vast majority of Mandalorians in the universe agree with those sentiments.

But it is a clear, easily identifiable representation of a system of beliefs. It is a clear and straight forward way to demonstrate the characters internal struggle. Din's struggle to decide what is important to him, what really matters, and what he wants to do and be, the drama of that was only served to be elevated by having a concrete action for him to take. Is Grogu more important than this easily demonstrated physical action. It can be hard to show a character's inner turmoil in a visual media, but having this simple action of taking off his helmet or exposing his face telegraphs to the audience, this is the moment, this is the choice.

It's a visual short cut to show a dogmatic belief and clearly delineate the members of the CotW from other Mandos, and to show the complexity and struggle to define what it means to be a Mandalorian, and how that definition can vary.

I think it will be interesting to see where we go with this for the rest of the season. Has Bo kept her helmet on for the past Episode and a half simply because she is trying to play nice and potentialy recruit the CotW to her cause of retaking Mandalore and reestablishing their home, or does having seen the Mythosaur and having her beliefs shaken while at a low point in her life caused her to question who is right, her way or the CotW's way.

Well said. The only point of contention being that the difference between the Children of the Watch and the rest of the Mandalorians was well established (especially in regards to helmet removal) in the context of the show itself so I wouldn't necessarily equate misunderstanding with disapproval of the custom of keeping helmets on at all times.

 

[Borjis]

The circuitry in the armor is probably at least for "owner coding/signature." In Mandalorian S2, when Fett gets his armor back he shows Din his & Jango's signature in it.

 

[Thain]

Speaking of the circuitry, I was just looking through some reference images and found some of my favorites. We might not know what practical purpose all that electronic work serves, but it's hard to deny how damn cool it looks. Even the detailing on the vest where the chest piece attaches

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I can’t wait to see these chicken-dragon things wearing beskar armor and keeping their helmets on…

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I wonder how many of the podlings / younglings / foundlings they will snack on before they are trained not to recognize them as a food source?

This is the way…

One thing I didn't notice until I saw a video on Youtube is that before they go to rescue the kid, The Armorer tells Paz Vizsla to take the Shriek-hawk training unit with him. Those things are Shriek-hawks that are on house Vizsla's symbol (like on his shoulder pauldron). So apparently they have been capturing them and training them before that. I didn't catch that bit when I watched it.

 

[Somerset]

A pretty decent episode today and not a huge amount to say about it. It didn't really leap the plot forward (pretty much gets us back to where we were in episode 1 of season 1!), but didn't feel like the the filler of some of the earlier episodes this season.

Once again, it feels like this season should have been retitle The Mandalorians, given how Din isn't the solo star of the show right now. That said, I think its confirmed that this group of Mandalorians are pretty much the B-team, especially after getting trapped in the street like that.

I enjoyed the new use for a previously seen astromech part. I'd like to now see the R2 builders incorporate that into their droids!

In terms of the question posed at the very end of the episode - do people think that the Mandalorians were really involved (not inconceivable - Bo's old crew knew about Gideon), or just a cover by the Empire?

 

[Cameron]

Was that who I thought it was hanging out at the new republic cop base? Tall purplish fellow with big ears?

 

[kalkamel]

Was that who I thought it was hanging out at the new republic cop base? Tall purplish fellow with big ears?

It was. This is keeping in line with Filoni's practice of using the show to transition all of his cartoon characters to live action. Still waiting for Rotta the Hutt to appear.

 

[janglesworthy]

They just can't seem to pull off cool live action sequences this season can they?

 

[kalkamel]

Is it me or do some of those Mandos not look imposing at all? Compared to the impressive Death Watch Mandos that rescued a young Din in the earlier seasons' flashbacks. these look more like Mandalorian Merc rejects you'd find loitering outside a convention hall.

 

[VanPersie]

Well i've tried, but this year I just cannot see any real movement in a forward direction with Din's character that builds upon the finale of last season.

It's not been terrible, but it's just, to me atleast, wandering more aimlessly than it did before.

I think I personally may be at the end of my interest of The Mandalorian, which is a shame after the previous two seasons had me hooked in despite any issues they had.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Is it me or do some of those Mandos not look imposing at all? Compared to the impressive Death Watch Mandos that rescued a young Din in the earlier seasons' flashbacks. these look more like Mandalorian Merc rejects you'd find loitering outside a convention hall.

I think that could be by design. Since these Mandos are really just surviving on scraps, with no ships, & no real means of income, they're probably costuming them as basic & mismatched as possible.

Just how I've been looking at it.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

I was totally surprised by that one character's cameo, not because they appeared, but because I always hated the original design from the '70s. When it was reintroduced in animation, I grew to appreciate it, but never though it'd work in live action. This surprised me because I thought it looked great.

I also LOVED the pirate ship, from the design, to the function.

 

[The Sweatshop]

In terms of the question posed at the very end of the episode - do people think that the Mandalorians were really involved (not inconceivable - Bo's old crew knew about Gideon), or just a cover by the Empire?

No chance imo, I think this episode heavily set up more pirate shenanigans for next episode. I was quite surprised we didn’t see Hondo at the end, but that’s still my guess on who Vane left to after abandoning the seaweed salad king. That also my guess on who was hired to extract Gideon, since Captain Teva wants to make such a connection as imperial remnant being connected to pirates.

The beskar aspect I’d suspect is either planted by Gideon to frame Mandalorians which doesn’t make sense since they are responsible for his arrest, or left by the pirates, who I would imagine have an affinity to Beskar being more of rare treasure seekers, though leaving it behind doesn’t seem very pirate like so I’m leaning more towards Gideon planting it.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Last random thought...

I think I realized today, the whole helmet thing, the Maul followers, the CotW, & all the other different beliefs & 'Paths' that various Mandalorian groups follow are hammered home & smashed over our heads each episode to show the deep, DEEP fractures between ALL Mandalorians that have to be overcome to unite them.

This people have been infighting & in various civil wars for almost their entire existence. It's only been during times of a strong, uniting leader that they've flourished. That seems to be where the show is heading, & I personally don't believe that Bo, the Armorer, or even Din are going to be the ones to do it.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

The "talking" hammer was a highlight of that episode for me. Another fun tribal cultural cliche.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

I do love that the Armorer uses her tools as weapons though. Reminds me of how farming implements/tools have been used to fight with throughout history when weapons were either expensive, scarce or illegal. She could very easily use other weapons but she doesn't which further defines her identity/role.

 

[JoeG]

Loved this episode. Battle scene was great! Loved the cameo. Had no idea that was coming.