The long wait of seeing the internet’s favorite dad, Mando, and his adoptive green son, Baby Yoda, finally ended today as Disney brought us the first episode in the third season of “The Mandalorian.” The last we saw of the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu, they had reunited at the end of “The Book of Boba Fett,” after the little green guy trained with Luke Skywalker to master the Force. Now traveling the galaxy in a new Starfighter ship from Naboo, Mando and Grogu are ready for a whole new series of adventures that await them. Now let’s take a deeper look at the episode and find out what lies ahead for the father-son duo.
The newest episode opens with The Armorer—the leader of the Children of the Watch guild—crafting a helmet with intricate precision as part of the ceremonial initiation of a new member for the guild. The Armorer steps out of the cave where she was crafting the helmet and proceeds to anoint a young boy into the Mandalore as several other Mandalorians—both young and adult—stand watch. The process is nearing its end when The Armorer is alerted by a sudden noise, and a gargantuan armored crocodile springs out of the water and starts attacking everyone. While the Mandalorians immediately go on the offensive, the massive beast’s armor can’t be penetrated while it eats one of the members. The jetpack-wielding Mandalorians, led by Paz Vizsla, detonate bombs on the beast’s back, but it barely flinches. All hope seems lost against this prehistoric nightmare until an N-1 Starfighter whooshes in and shoots at the crocodile before ripping out its guts with a missile. The eponymous Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal)—also known as Din Djarin—steps out of the fighter with his adopted green son, Grogu.
Inside the cave, The Armorer denies Mando a position among the Mandalorians, for he had removed his helmet of his own volition, and thus he’s an apostate. Mando argues that their Creed allows redemption and also offers a crystalline shard with Mandalorian inscriptions that he had taken off Jawas, who in turn had traded it in from a traveler. The traveler had found the Shard after visiting the planet’s surface, which suggests the planet isn’t toxic. Mando offers to visit the planet and bathe in the Living Waters under the Mandalorian surface, which, according to the Creed, shall absolve him of his sins. The Armorer looks into the big, round eyes of the cooing Grogu and accepts that “This is the Way.”
While zooming through hyperspace, Grogu spots spectral whale-like creatures flying on the other side of hyperspace before snuggling in the arms of Papa Mando. The duo arrives at Nevarro, and the planet is barely recognizable, with bustling trade, children running around happily, musicians singing on the streets, and visitors of all species and nationalities making their way through the streets. Mando and Grogu pause to look at the statue of the IG-11 droid that sacrificed itself in the Season 2 finale, although only its head and torso are intact. High Magistrate Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) arrives to receive Mando, and he’s dressed in the absolute finest of clothes with two droids holding his cape, and he takes the two into his office. As Grogu swivels excitedly in a swivel chair, Mando learns from Karga that Nevarro is a booming trade hub, and he even offers Mando and his son a location in the area, and the adoptive dad mentions that the little green guy’s name is Grogu. Mando’s telling his friend how he’s now an apostate for removing his helmet while Grogu is using the Force to chew on candies when a droid arrives and informs the High Magistrate that pirates are making a scene at the courtyard.
Karga and Mando arrive at the spot to find five pirates threatening a droid outside a school, and the Magistrate identifies their leader as Vane, an old acquaintance. Vane wants to have a drink with Karga inside the saloon, but he states that it’s a school now, and it’s best if the conversation is continued inside the Magistrate’s office. The pirate argues that Karga built the place from the wealth he received from Vane’s boss, and the Magistrate retorts that everyone knows Gorian Shard, the pirate king, and he offers to toast Shard with the pirates. The thick-headed pirates refuse and keep insisting that they’ll drink inside what used to be the saloon. As tension soars, both Vane and Karga place their hands on their blasters, and before the pirate can use his, the Magistrate blows the weapon out of his hand, and Mando shoots the four companions of Vane. Karga shoos the pirate off and reminds him that Nevarro shall be closed to pirates from now. Afterward, Karga offers Mando a position as a marshal, now that Cara Dune (Gian Carano) has been recruited by Special Forces after she arrested Moff Gideon. Mando is forced to refuse and asks Karga for the IG-11 droid because he requires a trustworthy droid that can help him explore Mandalore.
At Karga’s office, Mando goes to work on the available parts of the droid and finally connects power to it. As Grogu looks on with wide-eyed curiosity, the droid comes back to life, and its first action is in pursuit of terminating the asset—namely, Grogu! Mando snatches his son away from the droid’s death grip, and the leg-less machine crawls towards the duo with murder on its CPU, impervious to Mando’s bullets. He throws the child at Karga, who stands bewildered at the approaching droid until Karga’s assistant droid drops the Magistrate’s statue on the IG-11, crushing its head. The Magistrate informs Mando that the best droidsmiths in the galaxy have arrived at Nevarro, so it’s best if Mando takes the destroyed droid to them—the Anzellans—and immediately, Grogu’s eyes light up upon looking at the droidsmiths. These tiny creatures try fixing IG-11, but unfortunately, its memory circuit is broken, so Mando offers to bring the part. Meanwhile, Grogu has found the frog-like creatures unbelievably cute and picks one up and starts squeezing until Mando takes the Anzellan off his son’s hand.
While flying through space, Mando is explaining to Grogu what it means to be a Mandalorian when they’re chased by the pirate Vane and five other fighter ships. Mando has to put all his piloting skills to use to swerve through the floating debris and manage to bring down four of the ships before Gorian Shard’s ship appears. The pirate king offers to spare Mando’s life if he surrenders, and Mando teaches Grogu never to trust pirates before warping into hyperspace. They arrive at a planet called Kalevala, a part of the Mandalorian system (it looks strangely similar to Earth), and land the Starfighter at a Mandalorian castle. Inside, Mando and Grogu find Bo’Katan on the throne, and he offers to join her. However, the rightful queen of Mandalore says there’s nothing left to follow because her forces dissipated because she came back without the Darksaber, and the fleet they had stolen in Season 2 is now a mercenary ship. She chastises Mando for having destroyed the Mandalorian people with his guild, and upon learning his wish to head to the planet to bathe in the Living Waters in the Mandalorian mines, she dismisses all of it as myth. Bo’Katan doesn’t object to Mando heading to the ravaged planet, though, and even guides him to the location where the mines may be found. Mando needs to go to Sundari city, where he’ll find the mines under the civic center. As the Mandalorian leaves with Grogu, the credits start rolling.
‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3, Episode 1: Ending Explained – Where Are Mando And Grogu Heading To?
After bursting onto the scene and saving the Children of the Watch from a monstrous crocodile, Mando seeks an audience with the Armorer. The leader of the guild—or cult, more like, given the rigidity of the rules they follow—allows Mando to be redeemed if he can bathe in the Living Waters on the home planet of Mandalore. After fighting through a bunch of pirate ships and landing on Kalevala – probably to find the memory chip for IG-11 – he meets Bo’Katan, who directs him to where Mando might find the Living Waters, and he leaves. However, it’d be wrong to assume that Mando and Grogu will be directly heading to Mandalore now because they need the memory chip to reboot the droid. It’s also a nice change to see that Mando has let go of his prejudice against droids and has accepted IG-11 as his friend. Will this help him change the way he looks at droids? After all, it was one of them that saved Grogu by destroying the murderous IG-11’s CPU. Interestingly, Grogu is a lot more comfortable using the Force and can surreptitiously sneak in candies without his dad or Uncle Karga noticing. Having destroyed the pirate king Gorian Shard’s ships, we can expect the pirates to start tailing Mando, and he’ll have to shake them off from time to time for a while now, and Bo’Katan’s frustration at Mando for being the reason she doesn’t have the Darksaber might cause problems. There are seven more episodes to go, and we’re ready to jump back into the hype train and watch the father-son duo traverse through the galaxy and follow along with their adventures.
