REVIEW: The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 2, “The Mines of Mandalore”

"Down here, we're completely cut off from the rest of the Galaxy."

Television Reviews

***SPOILERS***

In “The Mines of Mandalore,” Mando returns to Tatooine to visit Pelli. She can’t get the part for IG-11 and sells him an astromech. On Mandalore, he sends the droid to take an air sample. When the droid goes missing, Mando fights off mysterious creatures. The air is breathable, so he and Grogu head into the mines. Mando is attacked and trapped by an organic droid and sends Grogu to Bo-Katan for help. She defeats the droid, rescues Din, and shows him the way to the waters. 

We get some decent backstory on Din in this episode, specifically that he is from the system of Mandalore. He’s from Concordia, the planet Mandalore’s moon. Concordia was where Death Watch was based and led by governor Pre Vizsla in The Clone Wars. This makes sense, as Bo-Katan has previously referred to Din as a child of the Watch. Presumably, Din’s sect is an offshoot of Death Watch proper. I’m curious to see exactly what the story is behind that. It’s interesting that Bo-Katan begrudges them for being splitters when, as an original Death Watch member, she overthrew her sister and inadvertently got her executed. She then went on to somehow blame Obi-Wan for this in The Clone Wars season 7, but now I’m just rambling. When she tells her droid something like, “Let’s get rid of him once and for all,” I wondered if Bo-Katan was actually willing to kill Mando. I was then shocked that she came to his rescue, but I’m sure she has her own reasons. I believe Bo-Katan never does anything just for the good of others or because it’s the right thing to do. Grogu is proof that Mandalore is inhabitable, or at least breathable, so Bo-Katan likely sees an opportunity to take the planet after all. I loved the conversation between her and Din about the civilization of Mandalore, her father, and the customs. We only ever saw Bo, her sister Satine, and their nephew Corky. I’d love to learn about their parents and other family. Does her line about her father being a great man have anything to do with Katee Sackhoff’s relationship with her father in real life? That’s a stretch, but she does seem to have a lot of respect for him. 

My favorite parts of “The Mines of Mandalore” are the backstory and lore. This episode’s action seems silly, from Grogu’s little backflip to the monsters in the caves. Something in this department feels off to me, whereas The Mandalorian normally looks great all around. I want to know more about the droid that attacked Din, and maybe we will find out more, but I also understand that’s not the point of the episode. Bo identifies the monsters as alamites, creatures who used to roam outside the cities of Mandalore. They don’t seem intelligent, so I assume they won’t be important. I wonder if, at some point this season, Din and Grogu will go to Concordia. It would be interesting to see if and how that place has changed since the purge. Finally, I think the creature that attacks Din under the living waters is a mythosaur. That seems like a pretty obvious setup; they even mention the beast again in “The Mines of Mandalore.” I don’t know why else they would show a massive animal below the mines, and if Din tames the beast, it would prove him to be the rightful ruler of Mandalore. I’m not sure they will take his character that route, but it would be interesting. A fun little nugget we get is the holiday of Boonta on Tatooine. We don’t learn much about it, but it seems like Christmas; there are fireworks, it’s stressful, and Pelli remarks that she should charge extra for fixing the Rodian’s ship on the holiday. This was a cute little gag, with Pelli helping the Jawas scam the wealthy man into paying for his own parts back. 

I think the droid Pelli sells to Mando is the same R5-D4 from A New Hope. This is the type of fanservice that I question. What’s the point of Pelli having the droid Luke and Owen almost purchased? What does this add to the story? Does anyone even care enough about R5 to be excited that he’s here? It’s not a significant writing flaw, but it makes me wonder why there need to be so many tie-ins. We know it’s Star Wars. I love the exploration of Mandalorian lore and character details; to me, that makes the galaxy feel bigger. Everything feels more real as we learn about it. Shoehorning in characters for no particular reason has the opposite effect. 

The music is excellent in “The Mines of Mandalore.” However, as I mentioned earlier, the effects and stunt choreography aren’t that good. Last week’s episode looked even better than expected, so I’m surprised to see a downgrade like this right away. I’m inclined to lay some of the blame on director Rachel Morrison. She hasn’t directed any prior episodes of The Mandalorian, and I don’t know of any other work of hers, for that matter. There’s a consistency in quality to the work of Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, and other directors on the show that’s lacking here. 

Overall, “The Mines of Mandalore” is disappointing. It has some interesting dialogue and lore, and Ludwig Goransson’s musical score is as good as ever. This episode has some moments that go over-the-top cheesy, like Baby Yoda doing backflips. I don’t know the whole production process behind an episode of TV, but I imagine this has much to do with an inexperienced director at the wheel. Hopefully, the next episode will be an improvement.