Mandalorian Season 3

General Discussion
#41

Another good one.

The training scene was nice, but I do wonder what good shooting at no target in the water does, perhaps I didn’t see what they were shooting at; but the point of the scene is appreciated. I love seeing all those different Mandalorian armours. The training duel with darts was fun, although I’m not overly convinced by nor loving the Grogu jumping about visuals, I appreciate the effort, and I like that they do it.

The Grogu flashback was cool, to get a better sense of what actually happened. I suspect we will see more of those flashbacks and get some more hints about how Grogu ended up where Din found him. The chest plate was cute. I’m wondering about where they are going with Grogu as a character, currently there’s not much to him except cuteness and potential. I suspect this is a challenge, and I hope they have a good plan for how he will develop and turn into a character on the show (I do wonder who’ll be the voice actor when he starts talking).

Ragnar is Paz’s son, who is the mother, the Armorer? It’s not important, but I do wonder. Which makes me wonder, do they reproduce with helmets on? :person_shrugging: Again, unimportant… but is the “son” designation just an affectation of a particularly important foundling? Could be, but I doubt it.

Bo-Katan is developing nicely. I liked that she her armour is being changed/added to, she’s becoming more her own, she is shedding the political and social shackles of Pre Vizla, Death Watch, her royal background, and becoming more Mando. She’s definitely the most interesting character so far.

Now I think I understand why the Visual Guide to the Mandalorian was cancelled.

The raptor creatures foundlings may be cool addition if the show covers sufficient time for them to grow up. :crossed_fingers:

#42

7/8 on the fifty-cal scale, not because there weren’t issues, but because there was so much about it that was just so good.

As for the issues…
Didn’t I just say Star Wars has a problem with gigantism? >_<

The training scene was good in theory, but the execution left something wanting. The firing into the water made no sense, and the waste of perfectly good (live!) guided munitions was disappointing. The scene with Grogu dueling was similarly flawed, with the strange situation where the other kid fires one shot at a time and they reset in between, and then Grogu fires three times in quick succession. It works one way or the other, not both.

Current Star Wars needs to get better about damage scales. Or, considering how ineffective all sorts and sizes of blasters seem to be, they should switch to slugthrowers. Good old-fashioned kinetics always get the job done in the end.
(Seriously, the tail of that BARC should’ve been obliterated.)

The creature’s behavior seemed strange to me. Why would it keep the kid alive that long? Why would it flee the nest/its hatchlings?

Finally, on writing, there was too much exposition/repetition/obvious statements for my liking between Bo-Katan arriving back with her scouting report and then giving them instructions before climbing the cliff. Fairly minor concern, just something that stuck out to me.

As for what I liked, there was quite, quite a lot.
Everything with Bo-Katan was wonderful. She’s definitely taken a top-three spot on my favorites list after these last few episodes. I especially appreciate her integration with the Children of the Watch and interactions with Grogu. She’s a tragic character, so it’s good to see moments of levity or enjoyment. I’m not sure we’ve seen her smile in any other Star Wars media. And I mean genuinely smile, not smirk. She smirked a lot when she was just the cartoon villain’s sidekick. When she came into her own as an actual character, no smiles. Very sad.

I said see her smile, but we didn’t in this one, she was wearing her helmet. However, I’m sure she was smiling under her helmet a couple times based on voice and body language (besides, Baby Yoda has that effect on people).

I absolutely love the helmeted acting, where it’s so much about voice and body language rather than just facial expressions. It also has the effect of making the viewer try just a little bit, creating (in my experience) more active engagement. Helmets are a wonderful tool for characterization, and I’m happy they’re being used so well here.

I enjoyed the symmetry of Baby Yoda’s flashbacks to those of the Mandalorian in seasons 1 and 2, but they were different in kind. Din’s were more presented as actual flashbacks, with accordant editing, while Grogu’s was more just “and now we’ll take you back in time for a scene explaining Grogu’s history.” It isn’t wrong, per se, I’m just citing the difference.

I loved seeing all the Mandalorian armors and what-not, and the sparring was great. There were just too many men sparring women for my tastes. For practice rounds it definitely makes sense, as it’s good to have experience against a larger, stronger opponent because real fights are seldom “fair,” but if they’re actually going at it… Yeesh.

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#43

He’s very, very young, and ages very, very slowly. I can’t imagine he’ll be speaking any time soon.

At fifty, he should theoretically be about five, but he isn’t talking yet and shows no signs of starting, so I expect he will remain a non-verbal character even as he continues to develop. Like helmeted characters, I think this gives an excellent tool for characterization. I appreciate seeing artists work within limitations, and a non-verbal character is a significant limitation.

“…you are as its father.”
-The armorer to the Mandalorian after he saved Baby Yoda.

Foundling/adopted parent=son/father.

Short answer, they specifically refer to Ragnar as a foundling. Long answer…
Heh, buckle up.

Mandalorians are known to be very affectionate towards their family (spouse, children), and to place a high value on the next generation (although they have some contradictory customs around when to bear children that artificially lower birthrates and accordingly don’t make much sense).

What we’ve seen so far with the Children of the Watch is somewhat contradictory to that, but you can’t build a culture without any kind of romantic interest and the logically following offspring-producing actions. It’s simply contrary to human nature, not to mention self-defeating. Therefore, there must be more depth to the culture that just isn’t examined on-screen.

The way I break it down in my article on Mandalorian armor and associated customs (which I highly recommend! :D) is that spouses can remove their helmets in each other’s presence based on the unity of riduurok (“we are one when together, we are one when apart”) and in front of their young children (after all, it is incredibly important for young children to see faces, not only for emotional development but also for speech), but when children reach the age where they take the creed and start their training (eight), they “age out” of the caveat.

(Edit: This is contradictory to my statement regarding the specific mention of Ragnar as a foundling. I don’t know what I was thinking since I knew better, so consider this a “what if.”)
Paz is either the child’s adoptive father or the child’s mother is dead. I was hoping we would see a mother rush to join the returning father and son, but given how Mandalorians are, the only reason she wouldn’t be on that mission was if she was pregnant.
(Edit 2: Paz and the armorer were the only survivors of the massacre on Nevarro. The foundling would be a relatively recent addition, certainly not long enough to have been conceived, born, and grown.)

Ugh, they could’ve added so much drama if Paz’s wife/Ragnor’s mother was along. Mama-bear Mandalorians are something to behold, and Mandalorian family dynamics are not explored nearly enough in canon media.

#44

“as its father” is not the same as “he is my son”. I’m being pedantic, but I think that flies in this company. :wink:

Perhaps we’ll get to know. Perhaps not. Currently, I think it’s irrelevant.

I think I’ll pass on your summary musings on Mandalorian culture.

Considering the Mandalorians don’t even eat in front of each other, I wouldn’t be surprised if the helmet stayed on during the act, and that children don’t actually know what their parents look like. I mean, that’s possibly unlikely, but eh. :person_shrugging: it would be strange and perhaps contrived to bring that up as a plot-point, but who knows. They keep expanding and doing fun stuff with the Mandalorians.

That we have seen on screen. I can’t recall having seen children before season 3 (but then my memory isn’t what it used to be); so they could’ve been off-screen somewhere all along. Din does reference foundlings when he brings back his rewards in season 1… But yeah, in the bigger picture it seems irrelevant whether Ragnar is the offspring of Paz or a foundling. As it seems the Watch is big on foundlings and their obligation to them, which is cool. There’s a “new” obligation for an EotE character, a variant on the family one; Foundlings of the Covert…

#45

It was an example I could pull for sure off the top of my head without scouring through the show to find where Mando refers to Baby Yoda as his son, which I’m pretty sure he does. But I made a precise case based on actual statements within the show supported by logical extrapolation to explain the conclusion that Ragnar is a foundling.

But if you want to be pedantic:
As:

  1. to the same degree, amount, or extent; similarly; equally.
  2. for example; for instance.
  3. thought to be or considered to be.
  4. in the manner (directed, agreed, promised, etc.).

“Like” has meanings both reflecting something identical and something more what you’re implying, similar or analogous, but different. Here, “as” utilizes either the first or third definition. While in casual usage, “as” may be used to mean “like,” that is technically incorrect. Given how the armorer talks, I doubt she used it in an imprecise, casual way. Everything she says carries a great degree of intentionality.

And that’s besides the in-show evidence I could give if I rewatched the show to find each mention so I wasn’t just saying “I’m pretty sure XYZ” without giving a verifiable source.

There were children in a couple scenes based in the Covert. There’s a scene (I believe it’s the first Covert scene) where we see (helmeted) children running down a hall.

If that’s how they say the culture works, then I have serious issues with that worldbuilding because it just doesn’t make sense. Always being helmeted is very unusual human behavior, but certainly doable. Never removing the helmet around children or spouse is just not compatible with human nature and causes very serious relational and developmental issues. If they don’t bear any children and only adopt children old enough to have already begun speaking etc., then as I discussed that opens an entirely new can of worldbuilding worms.

That said, Din doesn’t remove his helmet around Baby Yoda aside from the time he did and wasn’t supposed to, so that would suggest they really don’t remove their helmet around their children and thus would need additional parsing.

#46

The Jedi was played by Ahmed Best.

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#47

:rofl: Thanks, I needed that.

The distinctions in language and argumentation is fun stuff :sweat_smile: I mean, it boils down to the question of what a “parent” (father or mother) is. Is it a biological quality or a socially constructed quality? If it’s the former, than “you are as its father” is not and cannot be the same as " you are its father", if it’s the latter, then they can be considered the same (very simply put). As we see in research on fostered and adopted children, this distinction is not clear or universally settled, but it often ties to the child’s identity with regard to their relationship (attachment) with their adoptive parents. And presumably the other way around, adoptive parents may feel more or less like a child’s “real parent” depending on their relationship, internal and external circumstances relative to the family situation (“real parents” referring to the prevalent notion of the biological principle). Adoptive parents like adopted children, may possibly be more likely to feel like “real family” without the need to justify or explicate any caveats or premises, than foster parents and children (but now I’m getting way too close to the real world here).

Ah, yes, thanks.

Yes, it could have interesting repercussions on their psychology - I mean, they are all a bit weird, but probably not weird enough - and social capacities.

I’m not sure about bringing “human nature” in as any kind of argument, that’s a whole iffy can of worms that’s usually contradictory without (usually arbitrary) delimitations to support some kind of (ideological) perspective. If they never remove helmets in a functioning Mandalorian (sub-)culture like the Watch, then to them, this would or could be seen as “human nature” (it’s natural to them). The effects this would or could have on attachment between adoptive parents and foundling/children would be of great interest to proponents (and detractors) of attachment theory. As the Watch has been called zealots, this group could be more like a bunch of monks so to speak, a (religious) sect, an epistemic culture or epistemic bunker of some kind, rather than a national, or ethnic culture.

Now, if they only adopt children to the Watch, which is a nice nod to the KOTOR portrayal of Neo-Crusaders or whatever they were called (those that recruited from every species into their ranks), it could work. They adopt (traumatised) children after wars or raids, give them a home, teach them how to fight, and give them a community and a set of values that create strong bonds. There are certainly questionable aspects to this, but as a storytelling device it’s pretty cool.

He showed his face to Grogu when Grogu was an “outsider”, someone that should be returned to their own kind. This is what makes him an apostate. Sure, Grogu was still a foundling, but he was not to be included in the community (in this case foundling is more similar to youngling, someone young that has been found, not a station within the Watch’s social order). Afterwards, as Din became his mentor (so to speak), we don’t know if it is okay for him to show his face to Grogu now - possibly not.

Fun stuff. :slight_smile:

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#48

That’s a very good point, thank you. I’ll ride with that for my headcanon. ^_^

In Mandalorian culture (pre-canon, obviously), the phrase to adopt a child (ni kar’tayl gai sa’ad) means “I know your name as my [son/daughter],” with “know” meaning “to hold in the heart,” and adopted children bear the same status as biological children. There may be tension in individual families as to how “real” the relationship is, but in Mandalorian custom there’s no distinction.

While this is a different breed of horse, I expect the same would hold true, and for theoretical discussions I think it’s close enough.

That’s sort of true, but we do know things empirically about human nature or through purpose/use logic. Children develop differently if they don’t see faces, for one. For other things, we can look at the variety of human behaviors around the world and extrapolate. While we do see people habitually covering their faces for religious reasons (Muslim women in more strict sects), we never see anything where people keep their faces covered all the time in front of everyone. If there is anything like that, it would be on a very, very small scale and would generally be disconnected from family and/or any broader culture.

So theoretically, could I imagine that this really does work? Yes, but it’s quite a stretch.
My point is not that it is impossible for individuals, but that it cannot sustain itself as a culture because it is too resistant to human nature. Especially if it is accompanied by a lack of romantic connection/union.

(Just a note: People do things contrary to human nature all the time. The question is whether a culture setting itself up with a requirement this contrary to human nature can survive.)

#49

Yes, this is a classic example of a socially constructed quality or category. This also resonates with the general theme of the newer Star Wars stuff, about family being more than, or at least not contingent upon, blood relations. It is about belonging, recognition, and being able to identify with ones parental figures (chosen or given) - and more can probably be added. The point being, it’s not deterministically based on limited variables that must all be fulfilled and that are intended to exclude, but rather a wider selection of variables with the intention to include.

So the question remains, is the Watch a culture that is based on adoption or reproduction, or both? Currently we don’t know. I’d propose its both. However, I do like the possibility that it is based on adoption and recruitment rather than reproduction - it is a cooler device for storytelling in the campaigns I’d like to run.

Also, consider the history and the importance of the living waters. At a time when these waters were more easily accessible, and the clear analogy to baptism when you cleanse yourself in the waters after having removed the helmet, then at that time, reproduction and showing your face to your child - even if it was against the creed - would not have the same repercussions as post-Purge. It could even be a sort of “parental leave of absence” kind of thing; you leave the community to reproduce, and return cleansed with a new recruit some time later. :person_shrugging:

It could add nice storytelling twists if the PCs are dealing with a covert, and think they have overview of the members, but suddenly two (or more) suddenly reappear at an inconvenient time, possibly with their children as new “foundlings”, complicating things as new voices (and/or guns) are added to the mix.

#50

While there are some practical issues there (time being one of them), I actually really, really like this. It has some parallels to Jewish customs (I don’t know enough about Jewish practice to know if these are current in any sects or purely historical) regarding ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness around birth and similar reproductive concepts.

The verbiage around “redemption,” “no longer Mandalorian,” etc. make this unlikely, but one could argue that those words are only used in their contemporary society because of the loss of access.

Another practical issue is how much access they had to the living waters prior to their de facto exile. I don’t get the impression it was like a public bath, so what kind of process did they have to go through? How many other sites were there?
Those are more question than problem, and we don’t really have enough to answer them. It’s all very interesting, though.

Bottom line, I could see it being “this is acceptable, but you must cleanse yourself afterward” and then becoming “Welp, you can’t cleanse yourself, guess it isn’t acceptable anymore.”

#51

I’m not sure the children of the watch, or Din Djarin, are supposed to be portrayed as particularly healthy. They’re a weird cult, and Din… isn’t always very good at social interaction. Without the cool helmet that makes him look stoic whenever he’s silent, there’s a good chance that he’d stand around just looking confused and indecisive for the most part. I’d was going to say it added few boost dice to coercion checks, but then I remembered that most people Din tries to intimidate ends up not buying it and try to kill him anyway.

I’d say his social skills are on par with someone a bit relationally and emotionally stunted.

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#52

What you say is reasonable, but that isn’t my point. Unhealthy or not, my point is that a culture like that would struggle mightily to not simply die. If you aren’t generating children, you have to adopt children, and if you aren’t the Jedi with institutional power to confiscate children (whether by coercion or manipulation), that’s a pretty tall order.

Add on to that, you can expect at least some attrition from people leaving—aside from the loss of connection to the Children of the Watch, there’s no punishment or consequence for leaving, so someone can just decide “I don’t want to do this anymore” and leave. Another major—possibly even larger—factor is combat attrition. Din is a bounty hunter, and they need to make money, so likely many others are bounty hunters or other sorts of mercenary. Beyond any hostile action like we saw in season one, deaths in action already dwindle their numbers and increase the replacement rate.

My issues with the worldbuilding run much deeper than the impact on social skills, and social skills (rather than just expression and speech) don’t have to be impacted by “blindness.” If they were, people who were blind from birth would all be relationally and emotionally stunted.

As for social skills, I differ in my analysis, though yours is certainly reasonable. I see it more as a different societal standard for social conduction. The Mandalorians we’ve seen from the Children of the Watch are all pretty reserved and speak rather formally, at least as far as word choice and delivery.

He seems perfectly functional in social situations, if blunt and reserved (which does not necessarily mean stunted). The only scene I remember with any particular awkwardness was on Sorgan where he tries to bribe the waitress, and I chalk that up to being so used to a particular crowd and way of life that he misread innocent cues.

#53

They’re not a culture. They’re a fairly extremist cult. And I’d say they are struggling to survive.

I can’t imagine they’re intended to be at all reasonable. They might have a point every now and then, but they’re a fringe cult that are considered insane for fairly good reason. Child soldiers are not just the norm for them, it’s the ideal. I think you’re right when you say they can’t survive long in their current state, and I think that’s the point.

In his more familiar crowd, the bounty hunter’s guild, he needs to be clued in to the fact that everyone hates him, on account of hogging all the work. I’d say he’s quite maladjusted.

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#54

I know y’all make fun of me for referencing the dictionary, but definitions are important.
Culture: The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular group of people, as a social, ethnic, professional, or age group (usually used in combination).

Even if you could argue that they’re “too small” to qualify (although there is too little information to actually substantiate an argument for or against that proposition), what better word do you have to suggest to describe the “culture” of the group?

Whether or not they use “child soldiers” depends heavily on your definition and what era of history you are looking at for a standard.
In Mandalorian society, youths begin military training at the age of eight, and this lasts five years. At the conclusion of this, they are considered adults. 13/14 is not an unusual age to be considered “adult” in many historic cultures, even not that long ago.
(Note that this “military training” is not like boot-camp or other military settings. It is the responsibility predominately of the parents.)

A cited “minimum age” for Mandalorian marriage is 16, with it being fairly common to get married sometime shortly after that age. This difference between “adulthood” and marriage suggests a “transitory” period between being a child and being truly considered a full adult.

The role of these military-trained Mandalorians in the 13-15 age bracket (what we might consider “child soldiers”) is also quite different than what is usually conjured with the idea of a “child soldier” in modern thought, where children are used as expendable pawns, even as suicide soldiers.

While Mandalorians in this age bracket do fight, they would more rarely be chosen as frontline soldiers both because of older Mandalorians seeking to preserve the younger generation and because they are not as experienced and consequently not as effective or disciplined. They will most commonly be used when the situation is most dire, in family-defense situations, or when their skill and maturity is particularly respected (e.g., Jango Fett).

As for family defense, it is worth noting that historically young men have always been expected to defend their families should it come to that—an example that comes to mind is the American frontier in the 1700s and 1800s. The ability and willingness to use a weapon in defense of one’s loved ones doesn’t make someone a “child soldier.”

He doesn’t really hang around them. He’s off doing his bounty hunting thing, and then he comes home to his covert before leaving again to chase another bounty. In the limited time he might spend around them, he doesn’t eat or drink in their company, and doesn’t have any great desire to interact with them. It doesn’t seem at all unusual that he doesn’t know or care how they feel about him.

From an out-of-universe perspective, it’s also necessary to tell the audience that.

Speaking of out-of-universe, I disagree about “the point” as you say. The most negative light in which they have shown the Children of the Watch is a neutral light. Nothing obviously framed as negative. Frankly, that’s what I prefer. However, if I were to look at the various positive/negative markers and try to form a conclusion with only positive/negative and no third option, I would say positive. There’s been no serious dispute or grappling with the customs of the Children of the Watch, and the only person who has been vocally critical (Bo-Katan) has now sort of joined them.

Realistically, though, I think it’s a pretty neutral framing, and I like that.

Also somewhat meta-analysis, but they’ve been framed as dwindling/struggling because of hostile action, not a low rate of replacement and ideological attrition. In season 1, they were attacked by the Imperial remnant. In season 2, he looks for a covert only to discover that they were killed by hostile actors. There’s no mention of defection beyond Din.

As for “current state,” they’ve been around since pre-Clone Wars (although the timeline of how long before is ambiguous), so minimum ~35 years. That’s already more than a generation, and the problems I see make it unlikely (in my estimation) they’d be able to last even that long, although perhaps a bolstering of their numbers by displaced Mandalorians after the purge gave them an extension. However, that’s unlikely to have happened without shaking up the culture of the Children of the Watch, and it’s more likely any such Mandalorians would remain independent, like Bo and her friends.

#55

I’m not caught up on the episodes yet, but I wonder how they are going to handle Grogu needing to wear a helmet all the time if he’s going to be a Mandalorian. They’ll be shooting themselves in the foot (what’s left of it) not having the cute face to keep viewers.

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#56

Ouch—that’s a vivid and applicable analogy.

I really don’t know. My guess is that they won’t touch it, as Baby Yoda’s young enough to get away with not having to take the creed (he can’t even talk yet) and he ages like wine—taking a very long time to mature.

#57

Wow! 8/8 on the fifty-cal scale.

“Why? Why should we lay down our lives again?”
*Dramatic pause*
“Because we are Mandalorians!”

I love Paz. That scene was… *mwa* Chef’s kiss.

I am contractually obligated as a sentient fighter plane to say that that isn’t how fighter aircraft operate, but this is Star Wars, so all is forgiven. Lovely stuff.

I have a small issue with the no-negotiation and bombardment (with the stakes like that, the smart move would’ve been to surrender and send a plea for help simultaneously), but the underlying story was fine, and wouldn’t really be changed by how that particular element was executed.

I absolutely loved the scene with the Armorer and Bo-Katan, and Paz’s face afterwards was priceless. I’m really loving the character/cultural development going on right now, and am wondering how Din’s past helmet-removal might play into the “walking both sides of the track” sort of thing. After all, he’s the one with the darksaber.

I also like how he didn’t pull rank and just say “I have the darksaber, follow me.” It also gives increased significance to the offer of land in the first episode, which is an excellent example of foreshadowing.

The semi-sentience and obvious intelligence of the Kowakian Monkey Lizards was a nice touch, and I really enjoyed all the ground combat. And Paz! Clutch with the SAW.

The carbines many of the Mandalorians carried were shaped similarly to EE-3s, but looked very … bland. Like props made out of paper towel tubes and styrofoam. Small point, but they stuck out to me since most weapons have more texture to them.

Oh, I did have one fairly large issue: G36, Elia Kane, whatever her name was, is just a nasty piece of work. She isn’t even trying to hide it. Yeesh. She always gave me the creeps, and now she isn’t trying to hide it. (Wait, that was poorly posed. That isn’t my problem.)
My problem is HOW IS SHE STILL AROUND? Did no-one notice that Pershing got his mind flayed while she was the only person in the control room? And if the effects of a full mind-flaying are indistinguishable from the “therapy,” I have serious questions.

I thought it would’ve been better if she was essentially on a suicide mission. Accomplish the objective in spite of the obvious consequences.

Then again, maybe the New Republic is just utterly incompetent at every level of existence.

Star Wars has always shown a good deal of respect for soldiers on the lower levels, and been fairly hard on higher-ranking officers, bureaucrats, and politicians. It’s quite interesting.

Oh, one last thing: I betcha the beskar is from a dark trooper. If it really is from a Mandalorian, God have mercy on his soul, because there’s no way in haran the Mandalorians will.

#58

First thoughts without reading others yet:

  • Loved the military-style mission, done well.
  • Double-barreled bubble blaster turrets fire rockets? They looked close or identical (would have to watch again) to the bubble-turrets on the top that fired blaster bolts, yet they fired rockets over and over, never blaster bolts. Should have made the turrets have some sort of rocket launcher platform, not blaster barrels.
  • Liked the pirate theme, but perhaps a little bit too on the nose? First Mate clothing, helm being a large wheel, bubble-turrets sliding out of gun hatches, etc.
  • Creepy-horror feel of the Lambda was done well.
    *Loved seeing the New Republic forward outpost. Y-wings!
  • Was surprisingly surprised by heavy-mando’s speech. I was expecting it to go south for Mando so Bo had to step in.
  • The cheese was strong in this one.
  • Been wondering since the Mythosaur was found that Bo was going to use it to go for leadership of the Covert. Each episode since adds to my feeling. Bo challenges Mando, Bo shows up surprisingly with a Mythosaur to be able to win against the Darksaber. But how does it end? Mando defeated and Bo gets the Darksaber at last to rule all Mandos atop her Mythosaur? Or Grogu steps in to save Mando? What does an outside-help-penalty do to earning the Darksaber? Bo still gets it even if she was winning when the outside help stepped in? Or are we going to have Darksaber wielding Grogu leading the Mandos? :laughing:
  • Almost forgot. I had an idea with the Covert going to be handed a tract of land and the Pirate Corsair with 2 engines down. The Corsair must make a hard landing outside town. Pirate King defeated. The Covert gets the tract of land where the Corsair crashed. Instant cool Mandalorian base springs up around and within the disabled ship complete with defensive blaster cannons, a command deck, and large landing pad. We didn’t see it crash, but the very large explosion beyond the hill makes me think we aren’t going to see this.
#59

Nice. I believe you’re going to be correct.

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#60

Yeah, that was strange. I noticed it in the pirate ship’s first appearance too. I can’t think why, unless there’s something we’re just missing (i.e., they weren’t actually fired from the “blaster turrets”).

Just the pirate theme, or more?

The pirate theme is very on-the-nose, possibly too much, but The Mandalorian has always leaned into themes of that sort (slightly campy cross-genre space opera and all), so I accept it for what it is. The pirate stuff is definitely pushing it, though.

It does seem that we’re done with the pirates aside from possibly the Nikto and various mentions, so it isn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Note: The Hondo Ohnaka pirate scenes are the gold standard for Star Wars pirates, and this isn’t so far off of that. Hondo’s gang had a distinction of classic UFO-style ships, though.