The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Mines of Mandalore Is A Hymn To Adventure, An Excellent Star Wars Story
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Grogu, Katee Sackhoff
Director: Rachel Morrison
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
In a sense this is the real premiere of The Mandalorian Season 3, this is the real continuation of the premises that we have seen forming during The Book of Boba Fett (by the way, here is the whole Mandalorian story for those who skipped Boba Fett). We are still convinced that the production of Filoni and Favreau is proceeding with the handbrake on and that something is not totally in focus (it is too early to go overboard on the motivation), but it is here that the story of Mandalore begins once and for all in live action. A beginning that for a Star Wars fan cannot be considered just any moment, especially for those who come from the ranks, from. The Clone Wars and Rebels had an engaging subplot involving the Mandalorians. The episode then takes on contours that are both epic and melancholic, mammoth and decadent, legendary and sadly real, in a constant word of mouth between what was and what is now, especially when a well-known character returns to the scene. A mix of experiences and inspirations gives the public a good chapter which, however, with a little more foresight could have become a classic of the series or almost.
And which perhaps should have already given a decent acceleration to the horizontal plot, still half-hidden in the maze of the next few weeks of programming. Here, perhaps the right word to give voice to that bitter aftertaste we feel is “didactic”: Mando had to carry out a certain task and he completes it, full stop, without timid teasers or hints at what awaits us next. Therefore, we can only start our review of The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 by emphasizing how the work of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni has managed to rejuvenate a formula that in last week’s episode seemed to show signs of tiredness and has plunged into full hands in everything that makes Star Wars a unique universe of its kind. As if that weren’t enough, The Mandalore Mines manages to do it without an ostentatious reference to the past but illuminates the way with a light aimed at the future.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 Review: The Story Plot
But let’s proceed in order: after the events – not exactly full-bodied – of the last episode (here you can retrieve our review of The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1), Din (Pedro Pascal) is always looking for the components to repair the good IG-11 and goes therefore on Tatooine by his trusted mechanic Peli Motto ( Amy Sedaris ), who offers him a “valid” alternative. Mando on Navarro understands that he has to acquire spare parts, goes to see Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) on Kalevala – a planet in the Mandalore system – and then goes to Tatooine to fix his droid problem and finally reaches Mandalore. It’s a matter of details that in the end have little or no impact on the success of the final product, mind you, but it’s an itinerary and consequently, a montage between the episodes that makes absolutely no sense, almost as if it had been written straight away, and in fact, a few minimal corrections were enough to make everything more homogeneous.
With that said, Din lands on his people’s home planet harnesses his shiny new Astro droid to make sure the atmosphere is breathable, and begins exploring the ruins and mines of Mandalore, even if something or someone still seems to inhabit these ruined places. And here he immediately launches into exploratory atmospheres a bit like Indiana Jones, between some clashes with “locals” and hopefully traps to be avoided; a section that is certainly pleasant and competent enough, with that pinch of mystery and extreme curiosity that makes the whole tastier. It could have been the extended storyline of the season and, instead, the first surprise of the episode is that the plot does not linger further in secondary missions and immediately takes us inside Mandalore, the home planet of Bo Katan and our Din Djarin.
It is a planet where dangers are always lurking, considered cursed for some time, yet the main stage of the Mandalorian’s path to salvation. His mission appears simple: immerse himself in the living waters of the planet to atone for the sin of having taken off his helmet and return to being considered, according to the Creed, a Mandalorian. To do this, Din manages to recover a droid suitable for the exploration of the planet (returning from an old acquaintance) and, together with Grogu, he will explore the mines of Mandalore where he can start the ritual. Things won’t go the right way, and the hidden dangers inside the planet’s mines will give our two protagonists a hard time. It is an opportunity to review the Darksaber in action (the black-bladed lightsaber, recovered at the end of last season by Gideon) and transform the pair of heroes into a particular trio: Bo Katan will join Grogu and Din to help them complete the mission.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 Review and Analysis
The episode, however, at least from our point of view, really explodes only in the second half: we won’t make any spoilers, but the return of a character allows us to admire the remains of the now destroyed capital Sundari and the little that remains from a very different point of view of the mines of beskar. It is here that the themes break through the viewer, as Mando has no real connection with these places, perhaps only a sort of reverence for where it all began and for the legends that surround it. From a certain point on, however, nostalgia and regret merge, a typical Mandalorian sense of pride and a terrible wave of impotence, also because the imperial purge is not dated eons ago, but a few years earlier.
The pain is alive and pulsating and this character makes it evident with every gesture, look, and line of dialogue. As already anticipated at the beginning, however, it is as if in this third season of The Mandalorian, at least for now, something is always missing to fully rekindle the passion of the fans and the spasmodic, if not quite borderline nervous, wait for the episode next one. And it is partially because it is still not clear what the season wants to tell, if we are in a moment of transition or in essential segments, details on which a very commercial and mainstream series should leave no doubts.
With a perfect rhythm, The Mines of Mandalore completely satisfies the viewer thanks to an excellent visual apparatus, but above all thanks to an ever-present action capable of overshadowing the dialogues and letting the movement speak. It is the first major element that characterizes Star Wars and that we find here as we have rarely seen in the latest television products of the saga. Above all, it is striking how this second episode of The Mandalorian 3 manages to breathe that sense of adventure, of traveling into the unknown, which amazed us so much the first time we witnessed the adventures of Luke Skywalker.
As we said above, he does so without looking excessively at the past, but with a taste and pleasure in telling stories that can only be contagious. That’s what we’ve come to expect from Star Wars after all these years. Of course, the pure audiovisual language is betrayed by the usual almost videogame structure (objectives to complete, preventive exploration, battle, and so on) to which the series has accustomed us (and which in the previous episode showed the side a little too much), but here everything is compensated for by the massive presence of mythological information, which enhances the lore by involving newbies and fans. 45 minutes of healthy, simple, and honest adventure: a hymn to the purest sense of entertainment.
There are two innovations that we cannot overlook. The first is related to Grogu. The nice Baby Yoda up to this moment had always remained a bit in the shadows, resulting in an excellent comic sidekick concerning the events of the Mandalorian. In this episode, our adorable little friend will play a leading role in the story, demonstrating a nice evolution in building his character. This first time leaves many paths open for the future, certainly capable of renewing the formula of the series.
The second novelty, however, is purely on the narrative level. With the events of this episode concluded, we can only try to imagine what this third season will be able to tell. The feeling is that of witnessing the beginning of a cycle of episodes that will excite the viewers. Thanks to an ever-greater attention to the characterization of the characters and a taste in expanding the myths and legends that populate the Star Wars universe, one can only smile in front of the television screen, while the musical theme by Ludwig Göransson us accompanies once again in the credits. It matters little if not everything finds a necessary sense of cause and consequence: isn’t it for episodes like this that we are passionate about stories?
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2 Review: The Last Words
The second episode of the third season of The Mandalorian (3×02) renews the formula of the series with 45 minutes of action, mythology, and great leaps forward, both in the plot and in the characterization of the characters. Visually excellent, exciting, and entertaining, The Mines of Mandalore is a hymn to adventure, an excellent Star Wars story that leaves new paths open to travel. This is the real premiere of the third season of The Mandalorian, the true continuation of that intermediate step which was The Book of Boba Fett. And it’s an episode that shines from many points of view, starting with the somewhat Indiana Jones-Esque exploration of the Mandalore mines, between traps and some hidden and surprising threats. Nothing striking, mind you, but it remains a well-done and competent job that gives a successful sense of adventure. Where, at least in our opinion, the episode explodes, however, is from the moment in which a well-known character enters the scene, and relives Mandalore in a radically different way than Mando: in his deeds, in his looks, in his dialogues, there is it is all the suffering mixed with the pride of a people and a planet destroyed by the Empire and by futile civil wars.
