Disney+ brought us the newest episode of “The Mandalorian” today, and multiple storylines were connected in this week’s episode. The episode drew from almost all the previous episodes of this season as the independent planet of Nevarro came under fire from the Pirate King Gorian Shard, whose men Greef Karga and Mando had killed in Episode 1. As Mando and the rest of his tribe are tasked with saving a friend in need, Grogu takes a backseat this week as his adoptive dad goes to work. The ending raises quite a few questions, including the burning issue of what became of Moff Gideon. Here’s what happened in this week’s episode:
Spoilers Ahead
Nevarro Under Attack
High magistrate Greef Karga’s planet Nevarro is by now a booming trade capital that only keeps growing in size, and as Karga is discussing future prospects to improve the conditions, there’s a commotion coming from the outside. Karga goes to his balcony to find his citizens clamoring as a massive pirate Corsair flies through the sky, and soon after, he’s heralded by Pirate King Gorian Shard. The invader alerts the Magistrate that since he shot down Shard’s men in Season 3 Episode 1, he’ll now be retaliating. When Karga reminds the pirate that Nevarro is protected by the New Republic, he responds that the planet is an independent one and refuses to listen any further. Immediately afterward, the Corsair begins firing at the citizens as they scamper to flee, and Karga refuses to get on an escape pod and instead asks to send a directive to ask for help. On a peaceful island where the New Republic soldiers are reclining and enjoying some downtime, Captain Carson Teva, who had helped Mando escape the ice spiders in “The Mandalorian” Season 2, receives a message from Karga. The Magistrate of Nevarro beseeches the New Republic to send a patrol to get rid of the raiders, lest the planet is defeated and turned into a pirate base for Shard. Upon learning from a colleague that Coruscant is too busy to return any of the messages for weeks, Teva decides to head to the ecumenopolis himself.
Upon arriving on Coruscant, Teva walks into the New Republic HQ and requests to see Captain Tuttle (Tim Meadows), and we can spot Elia Kane immediately showing interest. Teva introduces himself to the Captain and hands him the hologram message in which Karga asks for help from the New Republic. Just then Kane, or Officer G68, as she’s referred to, arrives at the office, obviously to listen in on the conversation, and Tuttle asks her if she’s heard of Nevarro. She says she has actually spent a little time on the outer rim planet and also informs him that it hasn’t signed the charter with NR and remains independent as of now. Tuttle says there are member planets that are on the priority list and need more help, but Teva argues that Nevarro has reported Stormtroopers on the streets and TIE fighters flying through. Additionally, with news of Moff Gideon planning to take over Nevarro, it seems a lot more sinister than just a coincidence that a pirate is now attempting the same thing. When Tuttle tries retorting, Teva counters that rumors have circulated that Gideon escaped before reaching the trials, and he has an argument with G68, calling her thinking Imperial. Teva quickly realizes Coruscant can’t offer any help to the ones requesting support and decides to opt for a different option.
An Appeal For Help
Karga and the Nevarro citizens arrive at the Lava Flats, and he tells the people that he has requested assistance and that help will be arriving soon. Meanwhile, Teva scours through the rocky terrain that we’re familiar with by now until he spots Bo-Katan’s ship and descends before the cave where the Children of the Watch dwell. As the Mandalorians keep their blasters aimed at the officer from behind the dunes, Teva asks for an audience with the dwellers on a time-sensitive matter. Paz Vizsla walks out with his trusted automatic blaster, followed by the rest, including Din Djarin. When Vizsla suggests they kill Teva because he now knows of their location—thanks to guidance from his former colleague, the R5 droid—Din says the officer had helped him in the past, and it’s his turn to return the favor. When he asks Teva to leave, he throws them the hologram message from Karga and then tells Mando separately that since the High Magistrate is his friend, Teva thought Mando should know he’s in trouble, and the officer is particularly interested since the NR has to realize that the Empire is back on the move again.
After Teva leaves, Mando speaks to the assembled Mandalorians and asks them for help, appealing that even though it was the same Karga who fought against them on Nevarro, the man is now a changed person, and he has offered Mando a piece of land on the planet. So probably, it’s time that the Mandalorians have a plot of land for themselves so that their children can learn to enjoy living in the open and playing in the sun. After him, Paz Vizsla stands up to speak and says that many of them had fallen when they fought to save Mando and his little green foundling Grogu, and once more, he asks for help. Vizsla asks the question of why they should suffer yet again and sacrifice once more for the sake of Din Djarin and then responds that it’s because they belong tot eh Mandalorian tribe. He continues that Din saved his son from certain death while Bo-Katan never gave up on the kid even when his own father had. So Vizsla shall take up arms to help the two. The others join in and agree to help Din and Bo-Katan, while the Armorer agrees that “This is the Way.”
Saving Nevarro
Bo-Katan lays out the battle plan where Din Djarin and she shall be distracting the fighters from the air while the rest of the Mandalorians will drop in from Bo’s Kom’rk transporter ship and act as a tightly-knit military group that takes out the pirates on land, using the element of surprise. On their way to the planet, Bo lays down the battle plan and adds that it’s time that Mandalorians live with pride on the same planet where they used to hide under the sewers. Nevarro is now overrun by pirates, who’ve taken over every major section and are hurting and abusing the citizens who couldn’t escape in time. When the pirates think they’ve finally found the perfect base for themselves, Gorian’s Corsair is shot at by Din’s N-1, and the pirate king orders snub fighters to be sent after the attacker. As all the snub fighter pirates, including Vane, whom we saw in S03E01, chase after Mando, he continues destroying multiple pirate ships, and Karga thanks him for showing up. Mando responds that he’ll be taking Karga up on that offer for land and distracts the Corsair as the Kom’rk releases the first group of Mandalorians on the ground. The first lot descends and cleans the house, ridding the area of multiple pirates, as the N-1 makes the rest of the snub fighters chase him into the Lava Flats. Using the distraction, Bo-Katan blasts an engine on the Corsair using her Kom’rk as Gorian orders Vane and the rest to return.
The first group of Mandalorians finds themselves boxed in between two groups of pirates, who continue blasting at the group and manage to injure a few. Things look dire for the rescuers until the second group arrives with Paz Vizsla at the head, armed with his automatic blaster. The heavy machine gun makes short work of the pirates, and they fall quickly before the repeating weapon. However, they’re not out of the woods yet because another unit of pirates manages to bring a big cannon-like gun out of Karga’s offices and begin shooting at Vizsla and the others. The Mandalorians need to hide and scamper for cover as they can’t face such a powerful weapon, and even Vizsla is dropped on his back. Just then, the Armorer walks into the office with her trusted hammer, and she starts attacking the pirates, with the one operating the cannon being thrown off the balcony. In the air, the combined efforts of Mando and Bo-Katan help bring down multiple snub-fighters, and yet another Corsair engine falls as a snub fighter crashes into the ship. As the rest of the pirates flee towards the Lava Flats, they’re cornered by Karga and the citizens on one side and Vizsla and the rest of the Mandalorians on the other. With the pirates surrendering their weapons, Vane realizes he’s fighting a losing battle and abandons the pirate king, who loses his temper and starts blasting the Lava Flats to attack the citizens. With the Corsair surviving on its final engine, Mando and Bo-Katan direct their fire at the last engine, and the ship crashes down into the Flats, with Gorian inside, and Nevarro is liberated.
Bo-Katan’s Task
Later, Karga thanks the Mandalorians for their valiant efforts in rescuing Nevarro from the clutches of the pirates and admits that although they’ve fought each other previously, it’s time they forgot their past differences and awards them land on the planet. Vizsla informs Bo-Katan that the Armorer wants to speak with her, and when she reaches the underground location, she finds the leader of the Children of the Watch looking at the forge that she used to build all the Mandalorian armor in “The Mandalorian” Season 1. After talking about how the forge of the Mandalore is different from the one at Nevarro, yet both serve the same purpose, she asks Bo-Katan to take her helmet off. When the Kryze clan member hesitates, the Armorer asks Bo to trust her, and she finally removes her helmet. She then gives Bo the task of bringing back the Mandalorians who’ve strayed from the Way and also mentions that the mythical creature Mythosaur revealing itself to Bo-Katan is a sign that a new age has dawned for the inhabitants of Mandalore. The Armorer asks Bo to be the one to unite all the Mandalorians since she has walked both worlds, and she accepts. When she walks outside, everyone stares at her since she has removed her helmet, and the Armorer tells her in the presence of everyone that since she’s walked on both sides, she should be the one to unite every tribe because now is the time to retake their home planet of Mandalore.
Something Sinister Is Underway
While patrolling through space, Captain Carson Teva spots a destroyed Lambda shuttle with its hull breached and showing signs of being attacked, so he contacts Lieutenant Reed and learns that a similar shuttle had gone missing in the area, but the details are classified. Teva commands his R7 droid to launch a probe that travels inside the breached shuttle to find ruins, and based on the flight logs, he learns from Reed that it was a prison transport ship of the NR. Upon spotting the hand of someone who died inside the ship, he asks for the departure times, only to find out that it is the same ship that was transporting Moff Gideon. This means the rumors are true, and he was actually broken out of the ship while the rest were left to die. Teva doesn’t find any survivors in the ship, but while scanning the insides, he finds a shard of pure Beskar alloy, and his first suspicion falls on the Mandalorians. The Captain wonders whether Mandalorians have helped break Moff Gideon out of the ship, and we’re left to wonder what this can mean for the Children of the Watch.
Season 3, Episode 5: Ending Explained – Why Does Bo Katan Need To Reunite The Mandalorians?
After defeating the pirate king Gorian Shard and his men, the Children of the Watch are granted a plot of land on the free planet of Nevarro by high magistrate Greef Karga, and the Armorer puts Bo-Katan Kryze to a task. She asks the brave warrior to take her helmet off and informs her that since she’s walked both worlds, it’s up to her to unite all the Mandalorians. By walking both worlds, the Armorer refers to how Bo has been an independent member of the New Mandalore who didn’t care about the conservative rules of traditional ways and also followed the creed of the Old Mandalore by not taking her helmet off after being redeemed. Bo, who has proven herself to be a fiercely brave warrior and a perfectly capable leader, witnessed the mythical Mythosaur, which the Armorer sees as a sign that the planet’s original inhabitants might have a chance to retake their planet with Bo at their helm. Thus, she sends Bo to travel through the galaxy and recruit as many Mandalorians as possible who are spread throughout the system and bring them under the guild of the Watch so that together they can take their planet back because right now, there are only a handful of Mandalorians.
The episode also raises the question of who might’ve broken Gideon away, and given the Beskar alloy, the immediate doubt falls on the clan of Mandalorians since they’re the ones associated with the alloy. While we can’t say for sure if the Mandalorians are actually involved in this, we’re reminded that Paz Vizsla had previously told Mando that he should’ve killed Gideon, so in case Mandalorians did break him out, it’d be for vengeance. On the other hand, it’s possible that the remnants of the Empire, including people like Elia Kane, helped him escape, but we’ll know for sure as the newer episodes arrive in the following weeks.
