Disney+’s flagship Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian has returned, and god, how I missed it. Returning to the world of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) after he sent Grogu with Luke Skywalker, only go to and get him back on The Book of Boba Fett, the third season brings a new task for Din. And it’s all about repenting for his “transgressions” that he doesn’t really have.
From season one and on, we’ve watched as the Mandalorian clan Children of the Watch have convinced Din that in order to be a true Mandaloriam, you must never remove your helmet. That meant eating by just exposing his mouth, never really connecting with anyone outside of his armor, and then feeling guilty when he removed it twice. Technically, the helmet came off three times throughout the show, with the first being because IG-11 needed to save Din in season 1.
But through season 2, Din decided to take his helmet off twice to save his son and did so after he met Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and her clan of Mandalorians. Back then, she scoffed at his clan and their rigid ways, and now she’s the only one calling out the Children of the Watch for what they are.
(Spoilers for the season 3 premiere of The Mandalorian lie ahead)
At the end of the first episode of season 3, as Din is looking for answers to how to get to the Mines of Mandalore, he goes to a planet near Mandalore, to a Mandalorian castle there. It’s the home of Bo-Katan, and when he explains his plan, she calls his clan a cult—which it is, but no one seemed to want to call it that until Bo-Katan came along.
The Children of the Watch are a cult
The entire time I was watching “The Apostate,” I just kept thinking about how Din Djarin was part of a Mandalorian cult, and he didn’t understand that. And it was frustrating to me how many people just wouldn’t call the Children of the Watch what they are. There was a lot of “oh well, come to do this instead” and others seemingly knowing but not calling it out—that is, until he went to see Bo-Katan.
Sitting on her throne, angry at her own failure in the fight against Moff Gideon, Bo-Katan said to Din Djarin’s face that he was part of a cult, and whether it gave him pause or not, we don’t know, but at least she’s not afraid to tell him the truth about it. Yes, Bo-Katan isn’t perfect. Her hatred of Boba Fett is a big problem.
But she is the kind of character who knows a lot about the ways of the Mandalorians, and so, she doesn’t take kindly to a clan saying she’s not a “true” Mandalorian because she doesn’t adhere to their ways. Granted, she’s not afraid to do that to others, but she doesn’t seem to like when it is done to her. So, even though she’s not a perfect character, in this one moment, she’s very right.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
