"The Mandalorian", season 3: "Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore

Welcome to another review of what happens in the final episode of The Mandalorian. First of all, please note that this is a full review of the final episode of the series and contains spoilers! Before you read on, watch The Mandalorian - Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore.

New week, new episode: Din Djarin still has to earn his rehabilitation in the Tribe. Since removing his helmet in season two, Din Djarin is effectively no longer a Mandalorian. Removing his helmet and revealing his face to other living beings is a serious violation of The Way of Mandalore. Redemption is possible, however, for which Din Djarin must travel to Mandalore, the allegedly poisoned planet. If he manages to bathe in the Living Waters beneath Mandalore's mines, he will be rehabilitated.

This episode teaches us that the Living Waters aren't called that for no reason.

Boonta Eve is back!

Let's start with the very first few minutes.... Boonta Eve makes her return to the Star Wars universe! It's not a human being or any other species. Boonta Eve is an annual celebration on Tatooine. At the heart of the festivities is a motorised death race. How could it be otherwise on the sand planet once ruled by the Hutts, a mafia people if ever there were one. In this race, they also compete for glory, honour and a hell of a lot of money.

Fans of the franchise will probably recognise the race from Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace. At the time, young Anakin Skywalker won his freedom in the race in question, beating the clear favourite, Sebulba, driving his Podracer despite being less powerful than his opponent's.

In 1999, George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, drew heavily on the iconic chariot race from the 1959 film Ben Hur. Not without adding a twist, as the machines look more like Formula 1 cars than horse-drawn chariots. And the soundscape goes with it, as you can see in the video above.

Still, Peli Motto, the curious mechanic who has appeared in other episodes of The Mandalorian, seems to be taking advantage of the fact that hundreds of wealthy tourists from all over the galaxy are flocking to Tatooine to watch Boonta Eve. She's having parts that have mysteriously disappeared replaced on luxury speeders at great expense and her business is flourishing. The wealthy tourists are obviously unaware that it was she who had the coins in question stolen by Jawas she hired beforehand.

R5-D4, the real hero of the galaxy (no shit)

The Mandalorian wouldn't be the same series without the inevitable reunion with old acquaintances. Peli Motto is visited by Din, who is looking for spare parts for his old droid friend IG-11. However, Peli makes him a better offer and sells him R5-D4. The latter is not just any astrodroid, but the very one Luke Skywalker and Owen Lars originally bought from Jawas in Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. If you pay close attention, you can even see where the droid had a motivator fault in The Mandalorian.

By the way, in the official Skippy the Jedi Droid comic, conceived as a joke and therefore not part of the canon, R5-D4 is the real hero of the galaxy. In these few pages, R5 is called Skippy and is force-sensitive. When Luke and Owen buy him from the Jawas, a vision of the force suddenly takes hold of him. A dark vision of horror and ruin. There R2 is taken back to Vader who destroys him, kills the prisoner Leia and thus sets off a chain reaction of terrible events leading to the brutal crushing of the rebellion. A bit like what Simon and I did in the board game Star Wars: Rebellion:

To prevent any of this from happening, Skippy triggers a slight implosion making Luke think he has a broken motivator. Skippy then uses the force on C-3PO and makes him tell Luke to buy R2 instead. Skippy then stays with the Jawas, is shot by a stormtrooper during a later raid and thus sacrifices his life for the galaxy without anyone ever knowing. What a sad story... He's a real hero.

But back to today's episode. Din Djarin sets off for his next stop: Mandalore.

The ruins of Sundari

Since the first season of the series, Mandalore, the home planet of the Mandalorian people, has been mentioned over and over again, however this is the first time we've been there, at least in live action. We've already seen Mandalore in the animated series The Clone Wars, for example, where the planet even played an important role and was at its peak. Today we travel to Sundari.

This city was once the capital of the planet Mandalore, a planet then verdant and full of life. But the Mandalorians themselves turned the forests and grasslands into lifeless deserts during the Great Clan War, also known as the Mandalorian Civil War. A bio-dome was then erected in the middle of the desert to house the magnificent city of Sundari and an entire civilisation: the New Mandalorians. The latter eventually won the civil war against the Mandalorians, a more conservative group that sought to impose a much stricter interpretation of the Mand'alor warrior way. The New Mandalorians were then led by the Kryze dynasty, headed by Duke Adonai Kryze. The latter died during the civil war and his eldest daughter Satine Kryze inherited the throne and title.

Under Satine's pacifist rule, the people of Mandalore can once again flourish, but a few bellicose survivors of the conservative group - the Death Watch - refuse to concede defeat. Led by Pre Vizla, descendant of Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian to be accepted into the Jedi Order and forger of the Dark Sabre, the Deatch Watch allies itself with the Sith Lord Dark Maul. Together, they attempt to regain control of Sundari and thus the Mandalorians, but with the help of the Jedi, the Deatch Watch is crushed once and for all. Ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano even manages to capture Maul in the final battle of the Clone Wars, the Siege of Mandalore. Following the death of Satine Kryze, Satine's half-sister, Bo-Katan Kryze, ascends the throne.

Bo-Katan takes leadership of the Mandalorian people until she is ousted by the new Galactic Empire. Years later, shortly before the events of Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, she returns to Mandalore with Sabine Wren, who is then wearing the Dark Saber. They fight together to liberate Mandalore and Sabine gives the Black Sabre to Bo-Katan, thus crowned her Mand'alor once more.

For years, the Empire tries unsuccessfully to regain control of Mandalore. It finally resorts to radical means: if the Empire cannot lay claim to the planet, then no one can. The Empire puts Mandalore to the sword with the Great Purge and the Night of a Thousand Tears, which will result not only in the destruction of Sundari, but also of almost all the Mandalorian people. Hidden away on Concordia, a moon of Mandalore, however, a tiny group of religious devotees, the Tribe, escaped the massacre. And so, nine years after the fall of the Empire and long before Episode IV: A New Hope, those who were once little more than a group of outcasts are all that remains of Mandalore's indomitable pride.

In short, the city we visit in this episode already has a long history behind it.

Bo-Katan Kryze: a born leader?

In the ruins of Sundari, Din Djarin is captured by a frightening cyborg that reminds me strongly of General Grievous. Fortunately, Grogu has developed his Jedi powers with Luke Skywalker and learned to read space maps with Din. As a result, he manages to escape and reach Kalevala to ask Bo-Katan Kryze for help. Bo-Katan rushes to Din Djarin's rescue and the great reunion finally takes place on the battlefield. The character of Bo-Katan is actually played by Battlestar Galactica actress Katee Sackhoff, who has already lent her voice for an animated series.

For me, this was almost the strongest moment of the episode: Bo-Katan eliminates her enemies in the blink of an eye, like a true Mandalorian, she forms a complete army on her own. She finally opens up in the following scenes, perhaps inspired by the spirituality of the mines. She recounts her past and her father, Adonai Kryze, whom I mentioned above to Din.

So we learn that, although Adonai was proud of the way his daughters recited the old Mandalorian stories and credos, Bo-Katan was always considered the black sheep of the Kryze dynasty. For the rest of her family, nobility was just a joke, played to keep the population in good spirits. Unlike her father and half-sister, Bo-Katan did not believe in the pacifist path of the New Mandalorians, but rather in the ancient ways of their ancestors. This led her to join the Death Watch.

The clan, however, is corrupted and manipulated from within by the Count Dooku and, after his death, by Dark Maul. With the Death Watch and other clandestine organisations, such as the Scarlet Dawn, Maul forms the Shadows Collective, kills Satine Kryze and takes control of Mandalore.

Shocked by Maul's betrayal and the death of her sister, Bo-Katan leaves the Death Watch and seeks the help of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Ahsoka Tano. The rest is history. Bo-Katan is clearly still scarred by this heavy history. As she discusses their shared culture with Din Djarin, these eternal armed conflicts between Mandalorians and their many victims seem to affect her particularly. Much more so than the sight of the ruins of the city she once ruled.

For me, this is precisely what makes her a born leader.

Hallucinating encounter with the mythosaur

In the fifth episode of The Book of Boba Fett, the Armouress recites the chants of eons past: "The chants foretell the return of the mythosaurus to herald a new era for Mandalore." So it looks like it won't be long before the prophecy comes true...

The mythosaurus is no longer a myth.

Enormous beasts have always played an important role in the history of the Mandalorian people. Thousands of years ago, Mandalore the Great, founder of the Mandalorian people and the Way of Mand'alor, is said to have tamed and even ridden mythosaurs. However, the mythosaurs had long been considered extinct. They were no more than a legend that appeared in old stories told to children. His skull, with its unmistakable horns, can be found on Mandalorian coats of arms.

And in particular on the Mandalorian coat of arms.

And notably on Boba Fett's armour in Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, a film released in the 80s.

The Living Waters were apparently once a mythosaur lair, at least according to the legends told by Bo-Katan. And just so happens, a very much alive mythosaurus suddenly pops up in the Living Waters. This event catches me completely off guard, it's a great moment for The Mandalorian, but also for the whole wise Star Wars. It confirms that mythosaurs really did exist, and even that they didn't go extinct. And according to the songs, the Mandalorian people will rise again and follow a glorious leader.

Or a leader.

What do you think of this season opener? Have I missed any benchmarks? Write it down in the comments. Next Wednesday (or Thursday at the latest) we continue with Chapter 19, I can't wait to see what happens.