The Mandalorian – Season 3 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Chapter 18 – The Mines Of Mandalore

Episode 2 of The Mandalorian season 3 starts with Peli Motto bargaining with a Rodian who wants his ship fixed up. After managing to get half the money upfront, she brings in the Jawas to help. However, Mando and Grogu touch down, interrupting her plans.

Mando is still looking for the IG part so they can go ahead and scout the land out on Mandalore. It’s a brief trip in truth, as Motto instead suggests they bring along an astrobot called R5-D4, which can map the land and do what they need instead of the IG unit. The droid is not particularly happy about going with them.

Eventually the trio make it to Mandalore, where Mando comments on the atmospheric static interference. In other words, they’re going to be completely cut off from everyone else in the Galaxy. That’s big trouble because how is Mando going to convince anyone else that he’s been in the Mines unless he has evidence of it?

Well, either way R5 is told to head off and take some readings of the atmosphere and surrounding area. Grogu and Mando watch R5 on the scope from the ship but when he suddenly disappears from the radar, Mando heads off to investigate alone. There, he’s ambushed by three warriors. Thankfully, he thwarts their threat, brings the droid back and once the readings come back that the atmosphere is breathable, it’s left behind at the ship while Grogu and Mando head deeper into the Civic Center, which is actually the exact location they landed at.

Mando decides to follow the water trickling down the tunnels, watching a passage that leads down and deeper into the mines. Mando walks right into a trap (again), grabbing a Mandalorian helmet off the ground and finding himself immediately ambushed by a spidery robot that snatches him up and takes him deeper into its lair. Grogu follows from afar, keeping a distance until finding an opening and… getting caught.

Mando commands Grogu to go and find Bo Katan to explain what’s happened, and the little baby Yoda uses the force to knock back one of the warriors.

Grogu pilots the ship all the way back, touches down to see Bo-Katan who downloads the tech from the astrobot (lucky that R5 was onboard for this trip!) and decides to follow in her own ship to Mandalore. Bo-Katan makes swift work of the creatures on the planet’s surface, which we quickly learn are actually called Alamites. They used to live in the surface wasteland of the cities, which backs up the theory that the atmosphere has been breathable for a while.

Bo-Katan and Grogu head closer toward the spidery creature, who is knocked down but soon makes its way into the large mecha suit we saw earlier. Bo-Katan makes swift work of it and eventually frees Mando. They head deeper into the mines, where they find the Living Waters.

According to a plaque on the side, these mines date back to the age of the first Mandalore, where – according to ancient folklore – they were once a Mythosaur lair. Legend has it that Mandalore the Great tamed the mythical beast in this very room.

Mando steps down into the water and recites the words but he takes one step too many and ends up falling deep into the water. Bo-Katan saves him and manages to use her jetpack under water to pull him back. However, there’s something much larger under the deep chasm and it looks very menacing.

The Episode Review

This episode sees the gang off on Mandalore to redeem Mando but given communication is completely cut off on the planet, I’m still struggling to understand how they’re going to convince the Armorer that they’ve actually been there. “I’ve done the Living Waters as commanded. I am now a Mandalorian again.” “Prove it.” I’m not sure word of mouth would be enough, especially in a profession working as a bounty hunter.

But then the contrivances don’t stop there. Grogu can use the force and he has enough power to knock these warriors back and get free to Mando’s ship, which he can now fly perfectly back to Bo-Katan. Well, couldn’t he have just, y’know, knocked the spidery creature down and used the force on it? Or used the force with Mando’s weapons and blasted the creature? Given the camera lingered on the gun I genuinely thought that’s what they were going for.

Ultimately, The Mandalorian will be able to coast by thanks to its action and fan service for Grogu, but when it comes to storytelling and looking at the machinations of how all of this fits together, the show is a bit of a mess.