The Mandalorian season 3: why the end of episode 2 is a turning point for the series
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 saw Din Djarin first visit Mandalore, with a reveal that gives the your next. Spoiler alert!
The Return of The Mandalorian, for Star Wars fans, it's like when the ice cream truck returns after a long absence. The series created by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau takes care to satisfy a wide audience, remaining playful enough for neophytes, and full of references and lore for seasoned fans. After a solid, yet quiet start to Season 3, the second episode seriously upped the ante by heading straight to Mandalore, the planet of the people that gives the series its name.
A rather radical decision for a series accustomed to making detours before arriving at its goal. Din Djarin had to go to the mines of the planet to clear the affront of having removed his helmet. He ended up doing it, after several adventures: he was notably saved by Bo-Katan Kryze, the ex-princess of Mandalore who came out of her initial torpor (well helped by Grogu, who asserts herself). And if this little initiatory journey has finally allowed us to discover the face of the native world of the Mandalorians since its last appearance in Star Wars: Rebels, it mainly ended with an appearance that completely reshuffles the cards for the sequel.
When Din Djarin finally reaches the sacred waters below the Sundari mines, he begins a ritual of purification before he is suddenly sucked into the shallows. Bo-Katan, decidedly inclined to come to the aid of his new ally (one suspects a little loneliness) then throws himself in pursuit. As she fishes out her friend, she briefly lights up the silhouette of a gigantic creature lurking in the seabed. That creature is the Mythosaurus, and its presence here is of paramount importance.
The creature is one of the symbols of Mandalorian culture, and it's been found all over the iconography of the warrior race since the first season. Thanks to Bo-Katan's little history lesson, we know that Mandalore the Great, a legendary figure revered by the Mandalorians, would have managed to tame a Mythosaurus to make it his mount. But the mysterious animals had supposedly been missing for some time, long before the events of the series. The presence of one of them, perhaps the last of its kind, in this Chapter 18, therefore constitutes a major symbol of rebirth for the Mandalorians.
The spin-off of The Mandalorian< /strong>, The Book of Boba Fett, had already mentioned the creature, through the armourer. She then claimed that a new age of Mandalorian culture would be launched by the return of the Mythosaur. Will this new era be launched during this season? And if so, by whom? While The Mandalorian is often criticizedits reluctance to enact big changes, the beast's presence could augur an upheaval of the status quo, and promises an at least partial reunification of the Mandalorian people.
We can think that whoever manages to tame the creature will become the new leader of Mandalore, which could be an alternative to the Darksaber for Bo-Katan. As a reminder, the weapon held by Din Djarin can only be won by combat. While waiting for the sequel, with no doubt adventures outside the cursed planet (we think of the return of Moff Gideon), the series has set a clear end point. As promised many times by the Filoni/Favreau duo, after two seasons centered on the mystery of Grogu, this one belongs to the Mandalorians, and we could see their triumphant return after years of wandering. A return that will necessarily go through the mysterious Mythosaurus.
