Our favorite duo is back! Din Djarin and Grogu have returned and are on a quest to redeem Din after his transgressions. Pedro Pascal returns as the Mandalorian, Din Djarin, along with many other familiar faces we’ve seen throughout the series thus far.
A Ceremony Interrupted
The Armorer and Clan Viszla are welcoming a new Mandalorian to their ranks after the Armorer finishes the young boy’s first helmet. The ceremony is interrupted by a giant sea creature and the clan is struggling to defend themselves against it until Din Djarin with Grogu in tow arrives in his N-1 Starfighter and makes quick work of the beast. (Did you watch The Book of Boba Fett? If not you’re probably confused. Go watch it. At least episodes 5-7.)
In the forge, Din once again speaks to the Armorer about redemption following the voluntary removal of his helmet at the end of season 2 as he bid goodbye to Grogu before sending him off with Luke Skywalker. She reminds him that Mandalore was destroyed in the Purge, the mines no longer exist. However, Din comes in with a relic obtained by a traveler who claimed to have visited the surface of Mandalore from some Jawas, proving that the planet isn’t completely destructed nor is it poisonous. The entire surface has been crystallized by fusion rays, however. Din Djarin sets out to bathe himself in the Living Water beneath the mines beneath Mandalore to have his exile lifted.
A Return to Nevarro
As Din and Grogu travel through hyperspace to Nevarro, Grogu is fascinated by the giant whale-like purgills swimming through hyperspace. This is the purgills live-action debut after being seen in Star Wars Rebels, possibly setting foreshadowing events of the upcoming Ahsoka series or Grogu having Force abilities through hyperspace. Only time will tell.
High Magistrate Greef Karga is there to intercept them in the now-thriving city, a memorial of IG-11 standing tall in the square. He tries to convince Din to settle down on Nevarro, there’s a lot of money to be made here now mining the asteroid belts, but Din refuses. He tells Karga he’s now an apostate, exiled, and Karga thinks that’s all the more reason for him to stay on Nevarro, but Din disagrees.
It’s also important to note Grogu’s free and unhindered use of the Force, while it’s a cute moment to see him spinning in his chair and stealing little candies, it’s more important that the usage of the Force is seemingly more natural and far less exhausting than it has been to him in the past. Those two years with training with Luke obviously did him some good.
Pirates in the Courtyard
The pirate king Gorian Shard’s crew led by Vane is putting up a fight after learning a bar their captain’s treasure helped build on Nevarro is now a school. It’s a good old stand-off at high noon in our favorite space Western starring Vane and Karga, Din standing in the wings waiting to step in, Karga shooting the blaster out of Vane’s hands when weapons are drawn. An awfully kind gesture from the High Magistrate.
Din and Karga take out all the crew members except Vane, letting him run back to his captain to spread the word that Nevarro is respected now and not to be trifled with. Here, Karga’s true motivations are revealed. He needs a marshal, Cara Dune has been recruited by Special Forces after bringing in Moff Gideon and is no longer available. Karga wants Nevarro to be independent of the New Republic, hence his trying to hire his own man for the job instead of requesting one be sent in. Din refuses and reveals his true motivations for coming to Nevarro. He needs what’s left of IG-11 to hopefully get himself a droid to help him explore Mandalore.
Reviving IG-11
Din is successful in reviving IG-11, with a catch. The nurse droid protocol Kuiil had installed is wiped out and he’s defaulted back to his old programming, his mission to kill Grogu on sight forcing Din to shoot at the zombie-like droid crawling around on the floor trying to get to its bounty. One of Karga’s droids drops a bust on IG-11’s head, killing the droid once again, and Din showcases his greatest dad joke yet.
Karga brings Din and IG-11 to the best droidsmiths on Nevarro, the Anzellans (Babu Frik!). He assures Din that they can get IG-11 up and running like he was with Kuiil’s protocols, but they tell Din IG-11 cannot be fixed. His memory circuit is broken and those are hard to come by, but Din is set on needing IG-11. He’ll find the part. Grogu sneaks a little hug in on the little Anzellan before they leave, the little icon.
Pirates on Your Tail
Din and Grogu are off to find the memory circuit, but Vane interrupts Grogu’s piloting lesson seeking vengeance for the crewmembers Din and Karga took down on Nevarro. A fight through the asteroid belt ensues, Grogu wearing Din’s bandolier like a seatbelt and giggling through the high-speed chase. Din picks them off one-by-one until Vane leads him right to Gorian Shard’s ship. They narrowly escape and arrive on Kalevala, another planet in the Mandalorian system and the home planet of House Kryze.
Recruiting Help
Bo-Katan is seated on a throne alone in the old Mandalorian castle of her family. Din tells her he’s come to join her in her quest to retake Mandalore, but she reveals her forces abandoned her after she returned without the Darksaber in hand. They’re mercenaries now, but he can lead them if he wishes, they’ll follow him since he wields the Darksaber.
She reminds him that his cult abandoned Mandalore long before the purge, the Children of the Watch and all that came before them were the cause of the fracture in the Mandalorian people. He tells her he’s going to Mandalore to be forgiven for his transgression and she tells him it’s all superstition. There’s nothing magic about the mines except for the beskar ore they once provided. She tells him where they are, beneath the civic center in the city of Sundari, and he tells her he’ll tell her if the planet really is poisoned like they’ve been led to believe.
The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 will release Wednesday, March 8 exclusively on Disney+.
