The Mandalorian: Chapter 3

November 22, 2019 6:25 AM - Season 1, Episode 3

The battered Mandalorian returns to his client for reward.
posted by KTamas (42 comments total)

Protect Baby Yoda at all costs. This is the way.
posted by KTamas at 7:21 AM on November 22, 2019 [19 favorites]

Loved it. This is the sort of awesome flavor that I enjoyed in Rebels. People who grew up with Star Wars making the cool stuff I imagined while playing with my action figures.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:17 AM on November 22, 2019 [4 favorites]

Like mstokes650 a couple of weeks ago, I'm still wondering where this whole "Mandalorians don't take off their armor for nuthin'!" thing comes from, because it definitely was not a rule 10-15 years prior during the run of the Rebels cartoon, or earlier during the Clone Wars era.

Especially the helmet! Like, how does Mando eat/drink/brush his teeth? Does he have permanent helmet-hair like a hockey bro?

It gets even weirder with the thing we learned about how there's one of them allowed out of their enclave at a time(?), which makes me wonder what their whole situation with the New Republic is if they're still hiding in dark corners like hunted refugees. They clearly have access to enough firepower to not have to worry that much about people bothering them, so what gives?
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:24 AM on November 22, 2019 [9 favorites]

Django Fett also wasn't too skittish about un-helmeting around others, although TBQH I've lost track of whether the Fetts are actually Mandalorians in current lore.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:41 AM on November 22, 2019

Oh my goodness the absolute fanservice that was Mandalorians To The Rescue.

Also: Rocketeer Fett there at the end!

For a moment there I was really wondering if he was going to fly off and this show was going to be some whole other thing, but: nope! Definitely Mando & Yodaling.
posted by curious nu at 12:59 PM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

I loved this episode, but man was it heavy on some huge tropes. But in such a good way. They even had a Checkov's Gun. It was like Jon Favreau was trying to cram as many things into this episode as possible, and it still worked?!?!!

So good. Live a nice tiramisu with hot fudge _and_ a banana split.
posted by daq at 1:54 PM on November 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

"I gotta get one of those."

The Fett Squad was like all of my Star Wars toys as a kid. This whole series is just Favreau and crew playing with Star Wars toys. I'm good with that.
posted by rp at 4:12 PM on November 22, 2019 [12 favorites]

Hey can Carl Weathers' scummy bounty hunter manager be in all my Star Wars now? Because I love everything about his performance.

Also this show is going full Jerry Lee Lewis on my 90's Dark Horse Star Wars comics buttons.
posted by jason_steakums at 4:51 PM on November 22, 2019 [10 favorites]

My husband laughed his head off at the ice cream maker. This whole thing is ridiculous fanservice and knows it, and we as a family are watching this every Friday like we’re living in the 90’s again. Good stuff.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:03 PM on November 22, 2019 [9 favorites]

Other subtle things - in the background of the scene where Mando finds the space bassinet, there's the kind of pole that Luke uses to try to stop the garbage compactor. Also, one of the bounty hunters says "e chu ta" when Mando comes back in to see Carl Weathers.
posted by condour75 at 5:06 PM on November 22, 2019 [8 favorites]

Yes it's exactly perfect "Star Wars" so much fun, incredible images, total nonsense plot that rehashes previous nonsense that utterly inconsistent within the universe.

Fett's and Yoda's are enemies, what a good tidbit, so what to do? Rescue the cute 50 year old enemy.

Arghhhh, but I'll watch it again.
posted by sammyo at 5:55 PM on November 22, 2019

Is it just me or did I spot the Millennium Falcon taking off next to Mando’s ship?
posted by jzb at 6:53 PM on November 22, 2019

I loved the first two but this episode really was a noticeable step up, the pacing was great and reminded me of anime more than anything. The director of this episode is working on the Obi Wan series too, which is exciting.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:14 PM on November 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Huh, I guess it's my change to be That Guy. I thought this was the weakest of the episodes so far, story-wise.

"Mando" (not his actual name) planned his attack on the former Empire folks, and was told that all the other bounty hunters had tracking fobs, but didn't plan his escape from the bounty hunters?

He's given whistling birds and uses them against four (former) storm troopers, instead of saving them for when he's facing dozens of bounty hunters?

And instead of something subtle and sneaky, to retain the fact that there's still a community of Mandalorians, they literally fly out to defend the "sinning" Mandalorian. Because they knew he was in trouble when he didn't call to say he was off-planet?

Yes, I enjoyed the episode, but I was taken out of the moment by dumb decisions, or lack of decisions, or plot magic.

To make up for all my grumpiness, here's Den of Geek's explanation of the Easter eggs in this episode.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:14 PM on November 22, 2019 [6 favorites]

I am baffled and entertained by the continued use of "parsec" as a unit of area in this show (like "sector" or "quadrant"); it's been used at least twice. Given that parsec is a unit of distance and was used incorrectly in the original SW movie as a unit of time, I'm assuming Lucasfilm is now trolling all of us nerds.

I did wonder where Mando's jetpack was. And why call him "Mando"? It reminds me of all the Irish immigrants called "Mick" in the US. Does he mind?

My other question is, like, where does this interpretation of Mandalorian culture come from? My only real knowledge of it is from Rebels, since I never watched the prequels or the Clone Wars series. But the sense I had was a pretty tribal/caste-based system with strong family/clans. People took their helmets off all the time. Did Mandalore get blown up by the Empire during the war with the Rebellion? Why are there all these refugees?

And where, godhelpme, are all the women? The only woman with a speaking part in 3 episodes hasn't shown her face. I'm reminded of a famous essay by Chip Delaney that noted that humans in the Star Wars universe must reproduce like bees, to account for the paucity of female characters in the movies...
posted by suelac at 8:24 PM on November 22, 2019 [19 favorites]

This one felt even more like a video game, presumably intentionally. Deliver special item, get treasure, return to store, upgrade armor and get new weapon, [moral decision branchpoint], return for special item, shooter badguys in structureless series of rooms and doors, use new weapon to defeat minor boss battle, exit building and go to proper boss stage which instead of boss monster in circular arena is shootout in corral, shoot shoot shoot until miraculous rescue, on to the next level. Even the beautiful visuals can seem like crude video games when the helmeted characters speak while waggling their heads like 00s-era CGI.
posted by chortly at 10:00 PM on November 22, 2019 [15 favorites]

All I know is that this gets the teenagers in the house out of their rooms and (mostly) off their devices for a half-hour or so a week, so it’s worth the Disney+ fees on its own.
posted by Etrigan at 4:53 AM on November 23, 2019 [15 favorites]

This one felt even more like a video game, presumably intentionally.

We were talking about that through the episode. There must be a video game in the works, it's fairly blatant how video game-ish the show is (not, lemme stress, that it has detracted from our enjoyment). The "acquire Beskar steel, get new armor, rinse, repeat" thing is so obvious. The bit in ep. 1 where he took out the gunner and then used the platform gun on the rest of the guards felt straight out of any number of video games.

If somebody isn't working on a video game adaptation, I'd be amazed. Actually, I'm surprised they didn't have a title ready for release for Christmas...
posted by jzb at 2:39 PM on November 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

I was under the impression that the Fetts weren't actually Mandalorians, they just affected the armour. Kinda cosplay or cultural appropriation.

The helmet thing is definitely weird - perhaps it developed after they were genocided. I wonder if foundlings are culturally Mandalorian or if they will take in other species? The helmet thing could explain why they might be having trouble making babies...

The aged stormtrooper armour is bringing me a ton of, if inexplicable, joy. Even moreso than the kid.
posted by porpoise at 3:49 PM on November 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

Regarding the question of whether the Fetts were Mandalorians or not (taken from the "Canon" portion of Wookiepedia):

Jango Fett was a human male bounty hunter, widely regarded to be the best in the galaxy in the years preceding the Clone Wars. Although Fett wore a set of Mandalorian armor during his time as a bounty hunter, the government of Mandalore regarded him as a renegade and pretender.

So whether or not the Fetts are Mandalorians we can assume that they don't hew particularly close to Mandalorian tradition.

Every time CARL WEATHERS* says "Mando" I hear "Lando" and expect to see Billy Dee Williams and/or Donald Glover. This show is breaking my heart.

* Yes, I know the character's name is Greef Karfa; my headcanon is that his name is CARL WEATHERS, written in all-caps bold text.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:00 PM on November 23, 2019 [21 favorites]

I too "have to get me one of those".
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:05 PM on November 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

It gets even weirder with the thing we learned about how there's one of them allowed out of their enclave at a time(?), which makes me wonder what their whole situation with the New Republic is if they're still hiding in dark corners like hunted refugees. They clearly have access to enough firepower to not have to worry that much about people bothering them, so what gives?

So, I'm moving past "wondering about this" and into developing my own headcanon for it at this point. We haven't heard about this "Purge" they keep mentioning in anything else, AFAIK, so I've gotta imagine that [minor spoilers for later seasons of Rebels] Sabine's success at convincing the other Mandalorians to fight back against the Empire must have ultimately backfired in a big way - Palpatine knows his history so he'd know how dangerous Mandalorians going to war can be, so the minute his planetary governor loses control over there he's gonna crack down, hard. So, I assume in response he'd somehow "purge" the planet, driving most/all? of the surviving Mandalorians off-world, and then pass laws forbidding them from gathering together in large numbers anywhere else (cracking down on freedom of assembly is a time-honored way of preventing rebellions). In response, the scattered Mandalorian survivors would go into hiding in secret, still living together but developing all these rules to make it seem like there are fewer of them than there are, like only leaving the colony one at a time and never taking off their helmets (which makes it harder for non-Mandalorians to tell if you're the same guy they saw before or not). Over time (though 17 years doesn't really seem like long enough, but I can suspend my disbelief on that point) these rules that were originally purely practical could take on a kind of ritual/religious quality. And it's also possible that the rules are specific to just this one isolated colony of Mandalorians - maybe the Armorer just started doing these drastic reinterpretations of the Code of Mandalore to keep all the other Mandalorians in this one spot from going rogue.

Besides, laws against Mandalorians gathering in numbers are probably not something that the fledgling New Republic (in no shape at all to withstand a full-blown Mandalorian uprising) would have been in a big hurry to repeal. Especially if the Mandalorians no longer even have representatives in the New Republic, having been so scattered.

The main thing I'm wondering after this episode is where the hell did Palpatine dust off an old Clone-Wars-era B-2 battle droid to use during the purge of Mandalore? And why? But maybe we'll see some more about that in future episodes, since we seem to get a little more detail on that flashback every time he gets an armor upgrade.
posted by mstokes650 at 5:16 PM on November 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

Just finished watching this episode.

Very much a western saga, this calls back to a general wanderer tv show where one episode is just a side quest and the next is plot development. Egg quest last week, major plot change for the character this week, etc.

Be interesting to see what his status is in the next episode - it seems that tracking a bounty isn’t the hardest thing. So more western / wandering ronin themes as he goes to the next planet with lax enforcement and low guild presence.
posted by mrzarquon at 5:02 AM on November 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

> This one felt even more like a video game

The Mandalorian’s tactical choices in Werner Herzog’s hideout made more sense once I decided that he was going for a Steam achievement, “Walking Armory: Use a different weapon to dispatch each stormtrooper in the Client’s base of operations.”
posted by Syllepsis at 8:18 PM on November 25, 2019 [19 favorites]

Right? Just because the Empire is gone doesn't mean you can't wash and wax that armor. Buck up li'l troopers... have some self-respect.

unless maybe they've lost access to special Empire cleaning products
posted by kokaku at 12:52 AM on November 26, 2019 [4 favorites]

To be fair, it does look like they live on Planet Mud.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:23 AM on November 26, 2019 [5 favorites]

All the pressure washers and armour polish were on the Death Star II.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:54 AM on November 26, 2019 [4 favorites]

there's the kind of pole that Luke uses to try to stop the garbage compactor.

I saw that! Also what appeared to be a Gremlin roasting on a spit...
posted by chavenet at 2:53 PM on November 28, 2019

Kowakian Monkey-Lizard
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:07 PM on November 28, 2019

I thought this contract was off-books, under the table, with no puck. Why are people going on (and on) about the rules of a guild they worked so hard to cut out of this specific deal? It's like when someone gets scammed in bitcoin and goes whining to the feds.

After you drop off the quarry the contract is over. You can go back in and fuck shit up later without breaking any sort of deal because there is none (see Johnson, Dwayne, Actor. The Rundown. Strike Entertainment, WWE Films. 2003). You're not instant BFFs because you picked up something for someone one time, come on. This is crime!
posted by ODiV at 9:52 AM on December 1, 2019 [7 favorites]

I thought this contract was off-books, under the table, with no puck.

It seems like that was just a convenient fiction; recall "How many of them had a tracking fob?" "All of them!" Even if it was off the books for recordkeeping purposes, it was still a guild-wide hunt which means that for one of the bounty hunters to liberate the person he was paid to capture undermines the guild's reputation as a whole (which is what that kind of code is about anyway).
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:22 AM on December 2, 2019

So if this show is a Space Western / Space Samurai Movie, which trope are they invoking when the backup Mandalorians fly to the rescue? I think of the titular Mandalorian as the canonical ronin / lone cowboy sort. It's already a departure for him to belong to a whole semi-secret enclave of fellow travellers, I guess all the other ronins find some value in hanging out to share their weapon religion. But the moment where they all fly to the rescue? That happens in Westerns if it's the cowboy's best friends whose lives he's saved. But just some random people who happen to share a racial and cultural affiliation?

I guess I was maybe reading the Mandalorian as a Native American in a Western movie, and the rest of his tribe came to rescue him. But I can't think of a single Western movie that did that.
posted by Nelson at 11:01 AM on December 3, 2019 [3 favorites]

So if this show is a Space Western / Space Samurai Movie, which trope are they invoking when the backup Mandalorians fly to the rescue?...

I guess I was maybe reading the Mandalorian as a Native American in a Western movie, and the rest of his tribe came to rescue him. But I can't think of a single Western movie that did that.

The exact opposite. They're the cavalry, saving him from the Natives.
posted by Etrigan at 11:18 AM on December 3, 2019 [2 favorites]

His disagreements with the rest of the Mandalorians felt more like a family squabble than anything else. All his spare cash is going into this community, so I read it as a much closer association than "random people who happen to share a racial and cultural affiliation". He's an orphan and this is the only people he has left. They might squabble, but when the chips (flan?) are down they support each other. This is the way.
posted by ODiV at 11:27 AM on December 3, 2019 [6 favorites]

Nelson - agreed - but not sure if there were any historical events where a First Nations lone wolf, after a prolonged period of genocide/ oppression, stood up for peaceful colonists against "bad" colonists.

Ok, various First Nations siding with the French vs siding with the English but that was group survival; can't recall any lone wolf stories outside of 'Last of the Mohicans' - and the lone wolf was a colonist.

I really like your interpretation, ODiV.

My initial gut feel was "orphan street gang" who have squabbles, but shares some (possibly arbitrary) identity that they can use for group identity to collectively protect each other. A "chosen family" type situation.

What I'm wierded out about is that the Mandalorians seem to resent Mando for enriching the gang's coffers (by providing the appropriate tithe). He should be a superstar.

Or am I misreading it and the animosity was bringing down scrutiny on the gang? Or just jealousy that he's a superstar and has some really good survival equipment, despite his tithe?
posted by porpoise at 8:04 PM on December 3, 2019

The resentment seems to stem from a combination of:

He got a very rare, culturally significant item, in large amounts for his group, in the “what thing did you just do to get this” kind of quantity.

From the space Nazis who were part of the extermination / scattering of the Mandalorian people once they were no longer useful to the space Nazis.

It ends up being jealously and anger mixed together. The challenge was laid that he may have done something dishonorable (such as removed his helmet) to accomplish such a feat.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:04 PM on December 3, 2019 [7 favorites]

I'm sure there's also some resentment of the fact that, if we're to believe that only one of them is allowed out of the sanctuary at a time, he used that honor to go work for space Nazis.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:36 AM on December 4, 2019 [6 favorites]

Interesting that so many people are taking that phrase literally and it didn't even occur to me that it might be forbidden to have more than one Mandalorian out at a time. I took it as 100% a figure of speech to describe their conditions as essentially refugees.

But yeah, that Nazi gold Imperial beskar certainly was a mixed blessing to bring back to the compound and I agree that's where a lot of the contention was coming from.
posted by ODiV at 9:36 AM on December 4, 2019 [7 favorites]

> I took it as 100% a figure of speech to describe their conditions as essentially refugees.

I saw it as the exact opposite - that is why Mando asked about them coming out to help him. They broke that rule and will have to move because they were open about their numbers and capabilities.
posted by mrzarquon at 3:52 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I am also in the camp that it means "limited numbers" (to bypass local "public assemblies" laws) and "keep your head down" rather than a "only one can be in public at any one time."

Thanks all for explaining why Mando was getting flack from the other Mandalorians! The "Nazi gold" is... ah!!

right. ofc
posted by porpoise at 9:18 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

And instead of something subtle and sneaky, to retain the fact that there's still a community of Mandalorians, they literally fly out to defend the "sinning" Mandalorian. Because they knew he was in trouble when he didn't call to say he was off-planet?

If I were to hide a secret tribe of warriors under a settlement, I'd certainly do so in such a way that they could detect a pitched gun battle on the streets above. They intentionally limit how many can go outside at once to hide their numbers, but they also won't leave one of their own out to dry when they're in trouble. Even if it means revealing their true strength and requiring everyone to pack up and run afterwards.

This is the way.

Also, I don't think the (eponymous) Mandalorian was sinning in the Mandalorian's eyes, he was sinning in the Guild's eyes. The Mandalorians probably don't give two shits if one of their number liberates a bunch of Beskar from the Nazis that sent them into hiding and then turns around and fucks up those Nazis again. That this pissed off the Guild is just an unpleasant side effect, but one that the rest of the tribe were willing to take action on.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:56 AM on December 9, 2019 [6 favorites]

I feel like he went from the one to the other.

"Liberating" the beskar from the Empire by giving them something they want more than a full suit of armor's worth of the stuff: Great for the Guild, bad for the Mandalorians.

Turning around and recovering the target he sold them, killing a bunch of stormtroopers in the process: Drags the Guild's name through the mud (as it'll be harder to assure clients that Guild hunters won't stab them in the back after being paid) but makes things right in the eyes of the clan.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:23 AM on December 9, 2019 [2 favorites]