Chapter 17: The Apostate

Season 3 of the Mandalorian starts off with something we have never seen before in Star Wars: a young Mandalorian of the ‘Children of the Watch’ taking the creed. The Armorer, a familiar character to those who have seen the Mandalorian in the past, brings a newly forged helmet to a young kid. While the kid is putting on his helmet and taking the creed, a massive alligator sea-monster thing emerges from the water and starts wreaking havoc on the ceremony. The Mandalorians put up a good fight, but cannot eliminate the beast. All of a sudden, Din Djarin, the Mandalorian himself, flies in with his new ship (a Naboo N-1 starfighter) and blows the monster to pieces. The Mandalorians don’t seem too thrilled to see Mando, though. Since he removed his helmet in front of Grogu at the end of season 2, he is “a Mandalorian no longer” according to the Armorer. Mando seeks forgiveness from the Armorer and she tells him that the only way to become Mandalorian again is to bathe in the living waters of the mines on Mandalore. Mandalore is thought to have been ravaged and poisoned by the empire in the ‘Great Purge,’ but a crystal from Mandalore that Mando has proves otherwise. Mando and Grogu depart for Nevarro 7.

While traveling through hyperspace, Grogu sees purrgils alongside them. Purrgils, who  were explored in Star Wars Rebels, can travel through hyperspace. Mando and Grogu land on Nevarro and walk through the renovated city. Greef Karga, a familiar face, greets them in front of a statue of IG-11, the droid hero who saved Mando, Karga, and Grogu in the season 1 finale, and brings them to his office to offer Mando a job as a marshall of Nevarro 7, which he rejects. The job of marshall is vacant since Cara Dune was ‘promoted’ to special forces after bringing in Moff Gideon (Gina Carano, who plays Dune, was actually unrightfully fired from Disney for a Twitter post). Karga is confused why Grogu is still with Din, so he explains why (as a way to catch those who didn’t watch the Book of Boba Fett up to speed). Karga and Mando walk through the town down to the school, which was formerly a saloon. They see five pirates which are led by Vane, a new antagonist. After a couple minutes of a back and forth argument, Karga and Vane find themselves in a western-style Mexican standoff. Karga shoots the gun out of Vane’s hand and, after a brief pause, Mando and Karga gun down the four other pirates, leaving Vane alive to bring a message to his captain that Nevarro is a respectable planet now.

Mando tries to hot wire IG-11 back to ‘life’ in its deformed state when it reverts to its original programming from back in season 1 episode 1, which was to kill Grogu and bring him in as a bounty. Mando’s blaster fire does nothing to IG-11’s armor, and it doesn’t get neutralized until Karga’s droid pushes over a bust onto its head. Din brings IG-11 to the Anzellans, a small species that is known for their mechanical work, to try to fix him. They discover that IG-11 is missing a memory circuit, which is near impossible to find for this exact droid. Mando says that he will find this memory circuit when Grogu humorously picks up one of the tiny Anzellans and tries to take him as his pet.

Din and Grogu depart from Nevarro and fly through space as Mando teaches Grogu some of the basics of flying, showing his fatherly influence on the foundling. They are followed by Vane and some other pirates and they get into a deadly chase. Mando is able to school the pirates in his N-1 starfighter, skillfully flying and shooting down all the fighters except for Vane, who is able to escape back to his captain’s ship. We briefly see the captain, who looks like some mossy plant alien type of thing. I don’t think that this species has ever been seen before in Star Wars, but it definitely gave off Pirates of the Caribbean vibes, which makes sense considering these are pirates. Mando escapes by the massive guns of the captain’s ship into hyperspace. The captain or Vane could be one of the main antagonists in this season.

The two arrive on Kalevala, home world of Mandalorian Clan Kryze, to find Bo Katan pouting in her castle, all alone. She seems very depressed after not rightfully earning the darksaber at the end of season 2 (the darksaber, for those who don’t know, gives authority to rule all of Mandalore, and Din Djarin possesses it after defeating Moff Gideon in combat in the season 2 finale). Bo Katan really dislikes Mando for this reason. Mando tells her that he is going to Mandalore’s surface to find and bathe in the mines. She calls him a fool and makes fun of him for following his creed so deeply (Bo Katan is from a more laid back Mandalorian faction where she can remove her helmet freely and doesn’t believe in the same rules that the Children of the Watch believe in). She says that there is nothing special about the mines other than when they used to supply beskar to their ancestors. She tells him where to find the living waters and bids him farewell in a pretty malevolent tone. Bo is setting herself up to be a primary antagonist this season, and it will be interesting to see where Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni take her character. Mando and Grogu leave the Clan Kryze castle and the episode ends.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. I think that it really felt like Star Wars and set us up for an interesting season to come. It will be interesting to see how big of a part Bo Katan plays and if she is more of an antagonist or ends up helping Mando. I think that she will find a way to get over herself and help Mando if he really needs it. I wonder how prevalent the new pirate gang will be. I would give this episode a solid 8.3/10.