SPOILER TBOBF Ep.5 - Return of…

I don't think she is evil or sinister (and I love her character, she's so complex)...just that she has her own motivations that she's keeping close to her vest.

I think it was inevitable that Paz wanted that saber and was going to duel Din for it. She might even have suspected, given his love for Grogu, that Din could have violated the helmet rule. She also knew that (from what we can gather from ch. 3) after a duel between covert members, the Creed vows are restated, I guess to restore solidarity.

She's no dummy--she's going to use that. Afterwards she practically pushed Din toward the living waters of the mines under Mandalore, knowing how desperately he wants to stay as a part of their covert...

What is there that she wants? (More beskar?) What does she think Din is going to do on Mandalore? Because I don't think what she has in mind is simply a matter of taking a little symbolic bath.

 

This was 100% a Mandalorian episode. As part of Book of Boba Fett, it seems very odd. What’s bizarre isn’t that we spent so much time with Mando. We could conceivably do that and still be dealing with the themes of this show. What’s bizarre is that this picks up the themes and questions from The Mandalorian. This is absolutely essential Mando viewing and if you haven’t seen Mando, you’ll be entirely lost.

But do I care? Nope. Because as a Mandalorian episode, it’s at least a top ten for me, maybe a top five.

This episode was just pure Star Wars joy. Incredible to see the destruction of Mandalore. Incredible to see the Darksaber in action. Awesome to see the N1 starfighter and BD. Just so many details that tie the universe together.

And it also so advanced the plot of Mando. I’ve been waiting for Mando and the Armorer to meet again. Now we’re seeing the consequences of Mando removing his mask.

There’s so much here. If this was the opening of Mando S3, I would be 100% satisfied. Instead, we got it in BoBF. Does it belong here? Probably not. But dang I’m glad we have it.

that leads me to a question though: Do you guys think this was originally filmed for Book of Boba? Or was this originally filmed for Mando?

Not just because of the plot focus. In terms of budget, this looks like it cost more than the previous BoBF episodes combined. New locations, tons of new creature designs, gorgeously rendered space ships, the Mandalore explosion.

 

Or cult leader

 

I am with you. I love this episode so much I really don't care how it fits in.

The tone, the directing, the settings, the bigness of the universe--it all seems like an episode of the Mandalorian. Maybe the showrunners decided late in the game that we viewers needed some background for something that happens in the last two episodes of TBOBF? And so whiz-bang, just pop this sucker in before it all shakes down...? It would be easy (to my showbiz-ignorant mind) to tack on that last "muscle" scene with Boba and Fennec in ep. 4, then also tack on the bit at the end of ep. 5 where Fennec shows up to hire the "muscle," and suddenly there's some (albeit tenuous) glue.

It does seem odd though that there would have been an episode of Mando S3 just sitting around ready to be inserted.

 

So when Din visits Grogu at Luke's, will Luke just stand there and be like "thanks for visiting, he has missed you" or will he maybe train Din with the dark sabre?

 

Maybe an accountability thing?

Oh good question! I hope he trains Mando. Although, I think I'd be partial to Ahsoka training Mando. She needs an apprentice! (And I could totally see the two of them hitting it off romantically in another world. Rosario Dawson has chemistry with everyone.)

 

It was a great chapter, great to see Mando back getting him ready for the next one.

 

Well, so far this was the best episode of the Boba show. Probably will get better in the next episodes.

Even if I am not a big fan of this show, I really loved to see the N1 Naboo Starfighter back. And with all the modification and get her chromed! It matches perfectly for the character of Mando.

 

You're right: she could be saying there is no atonement, so this is goodbye.

But it could also be another way of having him test his worthiness, possibly in a few ways at once. If that really was a way to get atonement (and I doubt she would lie since she seems very sincere about religious matters), she was giving him a very slim chance to achieve it if the waters still exist... She knows he's done crazier and more daring things! But also, if there was something there on Mandalore/in the mines/in the waters that she wants him to "find," he might bring it back to her. And in this latter case, he might have no idea that he is part of a larger scheme--Din is a pretty straightforward and simple guy, in the best sense, and he trusts her.

EDIT: It is interesting that in the very next scene after being told by the Armorer that he is no longer a Mandalorian, Din identifies himself to the security droid at the spaceport as a Mandalorian...

 

For the people asking "why is this episode in the series" seem to have short memories of how Lucas rolled out episodes of Clone Wars. This is how classic serials work. Captain America: Civil War was really an Iron Man film. This is serialized, interconnected story telling. This is what Lucasfilm said the were going to do and this was a perfect example of doing it well.

It seems like people are really working themselves up too much over each episode. A few years ago people were calling Howard's Mando episode the weakest and blaming her. Now she's on top of the world because they liked her episode. I continue to insist that the directors are getting far too much blame and credit for stories they didn't write. This is very much Jon Favreau driving the train here. So far we've seen over 20 episodes and for me he gets the benefit of the doubt. Each season has delivered thrills and contributed a lot to Star Wars.

 

I'm feeling bad that even when we get back to Boba and his story, I'm more interested in seeing Black Krrsantan in action again and admiring Fennec's beauty while she's also a badass.

Boba is cool and all but I just like other characters better. I am looking forward to seeing him ride the Rancor though and hopefully an action or fight scene where he's as awesome or even better than his episode in Mandalorian

 

We interrupt this discussion to bring you this sappy moment:

Just like with the Rodian kid, when Din is working with the little BD droid, he's thinking of Grogu. The timbre of his voice, gentle but slightly impatient, calls to mind the failed wiring experiment on the Crest...




*wipes tear*

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

I could be wrong but didn’t Vizsla say three survived? And did he mean Din or
?

 

I interpreted it as a ‘kiss and make up’ deal. In other words, “okay boys, you had your little fight, now reconfirm you are true Mandalorians and be brothers again.” Unfortunately for Mando, what was intended to be a ritual vow of solidarity ended up ‘outing’ him.