‘The Mandalorian’ Recap: Season 3, Episode 2 “The Mines of Mandalore”

Lindsey
5 Min Read
Lucasfilm

In this week’s episode of The Mandalorian, “The Mines of Mandalore,” things backfire during Din Djarin’s trip to Mandalore, where he hopes to find redemption for his indiscretions in the Living Waters.

Back to Tatooine

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It’s Boonta Eve on Tatooine, and Peli Motto is hard at work scheming with the Jawas at her hangar. At the arrival of a certain N-1 starfighter, Peli is thrilled to be reunited with her favorite tiny, green pal. Din tells her that he’s in town on business, and no, he’s not there to take out Boba Fett. Unfortunately, the Jawas say they can’t get him the replacement IG memory circuit he needs, so Peli somehow manages to talk the droid-averse bounty hunter into packing up R5-D4 for his trip to Mandalore.

Traversing Mandalore

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Grogu coos uneasily when Mandalore comes into view, and Din reassures him that it was once a beautiful planet, though he’s never been there. He grew up on the nearby moon, Concordia. As they descend to the planet’s surface, Din notes that the fusion bombs from the Purge seem to have disrupted the planet’s magnetic field — so their communications will be cut off while they’re there. Din sends R5 off to take an air sample before they exit the ship, chastising the droid not to be a baby about it.

At Grogu’s concerned insistence, when R5 disappears off of the map, Din relents and goes to check on him. Din walks into a cave, where he’s ambushed by a group of Alamites and forced to pull out the Darksaber to dispatch them. He finds R5 tipped over on his side, and they both return to the ship. The droid projects the atmospheric test results, and Din is surprised to find that the air there is breathable after all. Bo-Katan was right … Mandalore is not cursed.

Din and Grogu return to the caves, where the Civic Center is, and they descend in search of the mines. However, things go awry when the bounty hunter is captured. Grogu carefully follows the mechanical creature, but he’s unable to free Din. Instead, the Child flees in his pram in search of Bo-Katan. He encounters several creatures along the way, but his use of the Force allows him to defeat them. Having listened to Din’s careful instructions about how maps and navigation work, he hops into the N-1 and tells R5 where they need to go.

Bo-Katan rescues Din

At the sight of the N-1 arriving once again, Bo-Katan is annoyed, remarking that she wants to get rid of Din once and for all. However, when she sees Grogu in the pilot seat, her tune changes entirely, and she quickly leaves for Mandalore. They carefully walk into the caves, where Bo-Katan laments how the once-beautiful civilization has now become nothing more than a tomb. They encounter more of the Alamaites that attacked Din, and Bo-Katan wonders what else survived.

Once Bo-Katan finds Din, she has her work cut out for her fighting off the creature that’s imprisoned him, and she uses the Darksaber to defeat it. Later, when Din wakes up, Bo-Katan is baffled that he still intends to seek out the Mines of Mandalore. She relents and says she’ll take him to the Living Waters, even if she doesn’t believe the stories. As they walk, Bo-Katan reflects back on the planet and her childhood.

The surprise at the bottom of the Living Waters

When they arrive, Bo-Katan intends to ensure Din gets the full tour, so she reads off of a plaque that explains the history of the mines. Din slowly walks into the waters, but suddenly, he disappears, and Bo-Katan immediately dives in after him. As she drags him back to the surface, she’s shocked to see a mythical beast … a mythosaur.

The next episode of The Mandalorian will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on Wednesday, March 15. Follow along with all of our episodic recaps here.

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By Lindsey
Lindsey joined the Nerds and Beyond team in 2018. If she's not writing or out and about with her camera, she's probably watching anime, nerding out over Star Wars, reading manga, and definitely forgetting to water her plants. And waiting for the Genshin loading screen to pop up. Contact: lindsey@nerdsandbeyond.com
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