The Mandalorian: Season 3 Episode 1
Where has the Mandalorian been?
The last time we saw Din Djarin in season two, he confronted Moff Gideon and won the Dark Saber from him. In a climatic resolution, Luke Skywalker saved the day and took Grogu to train him as a Jedi.
If you didn’t watch Book of Boba Fett, you might have missed the two episodes where Din trained with his new lightsaber, got banished from his Mandalorian order, acquired a new ship, and got Grogu back from Luke.
Now that the band is back together, we can proceed with season three.
Recap
The season opens with the Mandalorian Armorer shaping Beskar, a metal sacred to her order, into a helmet. She exits the forge onto a beach crowded with masked Mandalorians. A ceremony takes place, The Armorer approaches a boy standing in the surf. She raises the helmet and makes him recite a creed before placing the helmet on his head. The crowd of Mandalorian observers chant ‘this is the way’. As The Armorer recites another promise the boy must repeat, to keep his helmet on forever, she stops, sensing something.
A giant alligator beast lunges out of the water. The company of Mandalorians scramble to fight the beast. The mammoth alligator resists their attacks. Right as it’s about to devour more of them, Din Djarin’s N-1 Starfighter hits the beast with a salvo of its blasters as it zooms past. Din comes around for another attack, slaying the beast. He sets down on the beach, ready to confront his former order with Grogu by his side.
Din Djarin meets with The Armorer. She rejects him, as he has removed his helmet willingly, he is no longer Mandalore. Din reveals an artifact from the decimated surface of Mandalore. Din explains that if this artifact exists, the redeeming waters of Mandalore still exist. If Din bathes in the living waters, his sins will be absolved. The Armorer bids him farewell on his quest.
Grogu and Din travel through hyperspace. Grogu spots a pod of hyperspace creatures resembling whales.
They land on Nevarro, a planet in the outer rim. They walk through the now thriving streets of the city. Greef Karga, an old friend of Din’s and now High Magistrate of Nevarro, greets them. They clasp arms.
Karga receives Din and Grogu in his office. Karga brags about how fast Nevarro has grown. He offers a parcel of land for Din to buy and settle down on. Before it can go further, a droid informs them that pirates are in the courtyard.
Karga confronts the pirates who are demanding a drink. He tries diplomacy, that doesn’t work. They face off, hands hovering over their pistols. They draw, Karga shoots the pistol out of the pirates hand. When one of the other pirates draws, Din already has his pistol out, blasting away the rest of them.
The magistrate confesses he needs a marshal and Din would be perfect for the job. Din refuses, but asks for a favor. Din wants the IG-11 droid that was destroyed in season 1. Karga had it repurposed as a statue in its memory.
Din repairs the droid only for it to try and ‘terminate’ Grogu. Luckily, they disable it before it can do further harm.
Karga insists he should just get a different droid but Din wants a droid he can trust. He explains he needs IG so he can explore the surface of Mandalore safely.
Din and Karga take the IG droid to a group of droid smiths called the Anzellans (the same species of fan-favorite Babu Frink). The small alien tells Mando that they can’t fix the IG droid without a specific part. Departing with some Grogu hilarity as he tries to pick up one of the Anzellans as a pet.
They leave Nevarro to find the required droid part. As they fly, Din shows Grogu the ins and outs of his star fighter cockpit. The pirate from before turns up with two friends. The pirates chase Din through an asteroid belt. More pirates join the pursuit. Using some clever maneuvering, Din takes down the fleet of pirate craft. Despite his tremendous efforts, he’s led into a trap with Pirate Captain Gorian Shard and his large capital ship.
Din escapes with his nifty sub-light thrusters, getting out of a desperate situation.
Din and Grogu arrive on Kalevala, another planet in the Mandalorian system. They land at a Mandalorian castle and are greeted by a droid. They walk into the towering grey bastion. Din Djarin greets Bo Katan as she rests on her throne. She explains that her army is gone. When she didn’t come back with the Dark Saber, she lost their loyalty and gave up her plans to retake Manalore.
Bo Katan tells him there is nothing left of Mandalore. It is a poisoned place of death. Din is going anyway.
