Going into this episode, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) has one mission: Bathe in the waters of the mines of Mandalore, in order to be redeemed as Mandalorian by members of his sect. Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) previously revealed that the air on the planet, which was bombed by imperials, is not toxic as is widely assumed. However, in order to confirm this, Mando needs a droid who can scout ahead and measure the toxicity of the atmosphere.
Last episode, he was fixated on restoring IG-11, an assassin droid-turned nanny who sacrificed itself heroically in Season 1, whom Mando trusts. However, during a quick trip to Tatooine, old friend Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) convinces him to take up an R5 droid instead, who has the added bonus of being able to pilot Mando’s starfighter after Motto reinstalls its astromech unit holder.
Mando gets to the city above the mines, but doesn’t make it far before he is ambushes by a scavenger cyborg creature that captures him. Out of options, he tells Grogu to go back to the ship and fly to a nearby planet to get Bo-Katan to help. The former Mandalorian imperial comes reluctantly, helps Mando get free of the creature and then decides to serve as his guide to the mines, which makes a lot of sense as she has been there as a child, being a previous resident of the planet. The episode presumably ends with a tease of a legendary mythosaur, which Mandalorians get their iconography from as the first Mandalore (leader of their people) rode one.
So far, Season 3 looks gorgeous — far better than the sequel films — pulling no punches in its spectacle. We get daring space fights, sprawling cities and magnificent alien landscapes. The first two seasons of this show felt almost like “Firefly,” as most episodes took place on alien worlds that were convenient for filming, like Tatooine (you just need footage in a desert), but come Season 3, it feels like Disney is willing to spend some real money to make this one of their best-looking shows to date. Perhaps it also reveals the showrunners’ increasing mastery of “the Volume” — a dome essentially made of screens used to film this show that has proven to be superior to green screen technology.
Beyond the action, the best parts of this episode come from Bo-Katan describing the glory days of Mandalore and its fall due to infighting, noting that, while the planet’s ruins look abandoned for centuries, it was a bustling population center only decades ago. This season Bo-Katan shows a deep bitterness stemming from her confronting the ruin of her homeworld and her people’s unwillingness to fight to take it back unless she has the Darksaber. Last season, many fans complained about her addition, writing her off as a forced “Clone Wars” cameo. This season, we see her purpose in the story: to provide deeper insight into the Mandalorian people Mando doesn’t have.
While this episode is not as strong as last week’s, it is still a very excellent one. Season 3 has been a great big leap forward in all the right ways for this show, proving that it is still the centerpiece of Disney’s current “Star Wars” projects.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian” Season 3: Episode 2 “The Mines of Mandalore” gets an 8/10
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