Warning: There will be spoilers for the Mandalorian season 3 episode 1, titled the Apostate.
If you haven’t seen it yet, proceed with caution.
The Mandalorian Season 3 is finally here.
And if anyone was wondering why Rick Famuyiwa is among my favorite directors of the Mandalorian
series, this episode is why.
While the runtime is only 32 minutes, it packs a lot in…that’s actual screen time, not
counting the credits.
Action, adventure, lore, pirates…and of course Grogu is up to his cute antics, once
again.
Or Baby Yoda, if that’s what you know him by.
Star Wars fans have been looking forward to the Mandalorian season 3 for almost 2 and
a half years.
And the wait was worth it.
There are more Mandalorians than you can shake a stick at.
Seriously…who came up with that saying?
Why would anyone shake a stick at something?
Especially if they are trying to count it.
Le me know if you know the answer.
ANYWAYS…sorry for getting sidetracked.
Today I am going to give my Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1, the Apostate breakdown and review.
And there’s a lot to get through, so stick around for the full video to get the positives,
and the one or two negatives on the episode.
Before I move on with the Mandalorian breakdown and review, a quick word from our sponsor…me!
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With that said, let’s move on with today’s topic.
The Mandalorian Season 3 opens up with the armorer constructing a helmet.
A Mandalorian helmet unlike others we have seen.
But it leaves us wondering, who is the helmet for?
When the armorer emerges from the cave, the scene opens up to show Mandalorians…a lot
of them!
It seems the Children of the Watch are no longer just two Mandalorians, Paz Vizsla and
the Armorer.
In fact, they have grown in size to the point where they are yet again taking in foundlings.
And that is exactly who the helmet is for…a foundling.
In old Mandalorian lore, a Mandalorian was given their armor at 13 years old.
At which time the foundling has made the choice to stay with their Mandalorian clan or group.
In this case, the foundling looks to be about 13 years old.
Does that mean this bit from the old Expanded Universe is canon?
Well, we know Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau like pulling from Legends to reintroduce ideas
into the current canon.
We saw it with Boba Fett’s chain code in the Mandalorian season 2.
But the Armorer doesn’t just give the foundling his helmet.
It’s a whole ceremony.
But the ceremonious occasion is short-lived as from the waters leaps a giant salt water
crocodile turtle thing.
Some Mandalorians are lost.
Some eaten and some squashed.
It seems the Children of the Watch can’t get a break.
Enter Din Djarin and Grogu to save the day.
By dispatching the beast with the N-1 Naboo starfighter, the Children of the Watch are
again safe to explore their endeavors.
Din Djarin then shows proof to the armorer that Mandalore may not be poisonous, as assumed.
She agrees that if he can get to the mines within the Mandalorian home world and cleanse
himself of any wrong-doing that he may again be a part of their weird cult.
Din Djarin then travels back to Navarro and asks permission from Greef Karga to use the
remaining parts of IG-11 in order to revive him in an effort to use his skills to help
him on Mandalore.
High Magistrate Karga agrees but the task was difficult.
Even the little Babu Frick people can’t restore IG-11 to a directive that doesn’t
involve the droid trying to kill Grogu.
Navarro is then visited by pirates and quickly Din Djarin and High Magistrate Karga kill
all but one, sending him on his way to carry a message to his captain.
No, the captain isn’t Hondo Ohnaka…that’s a shame.
But I’ll get more into that in a bit.
Din Djarin then travels to visit Bo-Katan, who is now left all alone in her big castle.
Her nite Owls have abandoned her since she no longer has the darksaber.
But she didn’t have the darksaber when Moff Gideon possessed it…confused.
But I’m sure we will find out more about that in coming episodes.
Bo-Katan then tells Din Djarin that he’s a fool and that there is nothing magic about
the mines.
That if he wants to restore Mandalore, he has the darksaber and to go unite the people
himself.
Okay, that’s my recap of the Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1.
I left some details out, as I don’t want to make an hour video explaining all of it.
And I’m sure you all don’t want that, either.
But I will say this, Din Djarin made a new enemy.
Probably just a minor thorn in his side, but we will see how that plays out.
I’ll get to my biggest takeaway from this episode of the Mandalorian in just a bit.
But, before that, I do want to go over some themes and thoughts.
The first being that Jon Favreau has stated that Grogu…aka Baby Yoda had been training
with Luke Skywalker for 2 years.
We don’t know how long it was between Din Djarin being exiled and having Grogu return
to him.
I would assume it was the better part of that two years, as the Children of the Watch grew
exponentially since he last saw them.
They are also not hiding in the sub levels of a ring planet anymore, but rather on a
planet that seems desolate…other than giant beasts trying to eat them.
But we only saw a small piece of the planet.
In the Navarro sequence, we see that Kowakian Monkey lizards are hanging out in trees.
This is a stark contrast to how we saw them before…in cages and being eaten.
It’s a sign that Navarro has changed from a place of questionable integrity to one of
a Republic gem.
And that’s seen throughout the architecture, active citizens, and children running and
playing.
Not to mention the old bar that was the meeting spot for the bounty hunter’s guild is a
school…just as we saw in the Mandalorian season 2.
Overall, the galaxy still seems to be a rough place.
Especially in the outer rim.
The New Republic has a lot of work to do to make that place safe and prosperous.
But no one had been abler to tame it before the New Republic, and any sign of progress
may fall into regression.
That’s just a thought…look at Jakku during the time of the New Republic being in power
for more than 30 years by the time of the sequel trilogy.
When Din Djarin meets with the Children of the Watch and the armorer, there is no real
emotion.
Nothing suggests that these are a close people that care about one another.
Not that Mandalorians are the most feeling people, but look at the interaction.
Din Djarin didn’t congratulate them on their increasing numbers.
There was no handshake or greeting of any kind.
It was a cold encounter.
I mean, they didn’t even let the foundling fix his hair before placing the helmet on
his head and telling him he could never remove it.
Now he’s going to be stuck with helmet hair forever.
It was really good to see the Mandalorian series return.
It brought back a lot of the things we equate with Star Wars.
Giant beasts, a space battle, gun fights, and of course…a crap ton of new Mandalorian
lore. and with that lore comes my biggest take away…Bo-Katan Kryze…or Bo-Karen as
I like to call her.
A lot of Star Wars fans speculated she would be the villain of the show.
At least one of the villains.
I didn’t think that.
Yes, I’ve always thought she was the definition of a Karen, but I didn’t see her as an enemy.
Just a manipulator.
And it seems I was right…at least so far.
Instead, we find her on the edge of being broken.
Understanding her losses and coming to terms with it.
Bo-Katan is a complex character.
She’s probably one of my favorite Mandalorians and has been since Star Wars Rebels.
But in the Mandalorian season 3, she seems changed.
Developed into something we didn’t think would happen.
Maybe it was due to her understanding that she royally F…ed up as the Mand’alor,
but I think there is more to it than that.
And she delivers one line that solidifies this thought.
Din Djarin asks her if she gave up on her designs to reclaim Mandalore.
She did seem like she flip flopped, to be honest.
But then she says something profound.
Something with deep meaning.
She answers Din Djarin by saying, that his cult gave up on Mandalore long before the
purge.
She asks Mando, where were you then?
That the Children of the Watch and the factions that came before it fractured and shattered
the Mandalorian people.
This is an admittance of her guilt for what she’s done through the years, prior to being
the leader of the Mandalorian people.
Yes, she accused the Children of the Watch, but she was merely saying they took part of
destroying Mandalorian culture…not the entire cause.
That she is also to blame.
To understand this, you have to know a little of the history of Bo-Katan Kryze.
She wasn’t always the patriotic Mandalorian.
She was a part of Death Watch.
A group that helped assassinate Bo-Katan’s own sister, Satine Kryze, who was the leader
of the peaceful Mandalorian people and the leader of all of Mandalore during the Clone
Wars.
Bo-Katan even took part in one of the attempts on her sister’s life.
After splitting from Death Watch, Bo-Katan began her own faction, the Nite Owls.
Now she has guilt for her own involvement in these revolutions.
Revolutions that lead to the ultimate destruction of Mandalore.
She wasn’t just angry with the Children of the Watch for their inactions during the
purge.
She’s upset with the way Mandalorian warriors seem to cause their own destruction…and
she was part of that.
One last thought that I will leave you with.
I have been told not to stop making theories and speculating.
So, there is an easter egg that I think is more of a foreshadowing than fan service…Purgill!
Grogu sees them traveling though hyperspace.
With what we know of Grogu, he has a way with animals.
I believe this is foreshadowing that Grogu will eventually link up with Purgill and discover
where they had taken Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn.
I may make a whole video on this if there is enough support.
So, let me know in the comments if this is something you’d like.
Also let me know what you thought of The Mandalorian Season 3 episode 1 as a whole.
I give it a solid 8.5.
I took points off for the length.
At 32 minutes, this could have been a longer season premiere.
But I won’t complain too much as there is plenty packed into that time.
Before I go, a word from our sponsor…me!
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Until the next video, This is Gerald, a Star Wars Fanatic signing off.
Wishing you all great health, happiness, and peace.
thank you all for watching, and remember, this is the way…and positivity in the Star
Wars fandom is the only way!