'The Mandalorian' S3, E4 Delivers Unexpected, Chaotic Redemption
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Come one, come all, fans of The Mandalorian. Each Wednesday morning, we're breaking down the newest episode, from the best Grogu closed-captioning moment, to what’s going on with the latest friends and foes in Mando's redemption arc, to what it all means for the rest of the galaxy far, far away. Pop on The Mandalorian theme and dive in. This is the way.
"Chapter 20: The Foundling"
Disney+'s Cryptic Plot Summary: Din Djarin returns to the hidden Mandalorian covert.
Main Players: Mando, Grogu, the Armorer, Bo-Katan Kryze, and Kelleran Beq. (I implore you to read ahead, if only to learn where we've seen Beq before, because we have seen him before, in place you'd legitimately never guess.)
Director: Carl Weathers! Not much to say here. It's simply great that Weathers, after a few years of playing the always-delightful Greef Karga, had a chance to step behind the camera.
Can't-Miss Star Wars Easter Egg: Please see here.
Best Grogu Closed-Caption Moment: [Breathing heavily.] Freshen up on your Jedi skills, Grogu. You're out of shape!
Captain's Log
Meesa Save Grogu!
We're going to get this out of the way right now. Yes, Ahmed Best, who played the Meme Hall-of-Famer Jar-Jar Binks, returns this episode. This time around, he's a Jedi named Kelleran Beq, who, we learn, escorted one Mister Reginald Baby Yoda-Grogu out of the Order 66 disaster. I'm sure I won't be the only one who writes this today, but it's awesome that Best has a new, cool-as-heck rebirth in the Star Wars universe after the terror he experienced during the prequel trilogy's run. "Even though you play characters, you put a lot of your own personality into it, you get emotionally and personally invested in the work that you do, it's your work and you take pride in it," Best once said. "So when your work is criticized negatively, you feel a hit."
Now! Here's what I really want to dig into. We can't exactly call Kelleran Beq a new character.
Check this out. About two years ago, Best hosted a YouTube series called Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. It was a thinly veiled ripoff of Nickelodeon's Legends of the Hidden Temple, a reality competition series where kids basically ran around on an obstacle course. But in Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, where kids also ran around on an obstacle course but just screamed "Use the Force, use the Force!" while they did it, Best played a fictional Jedi, named... Kelleran Beq.
Do you realize how insane this is, having a fictional character from a reality competition series crossing back over into a canonical Star Wars show? That's like, if Regis Philbin hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? as a made-up person named Francois Moneybags, then Marty Scorsese put Francois in The Wolf of Wall Street opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. I'm not sure how to feel about this. Check in on me tomorrow.
Playtime Is Over
There's not a terrible amount to say about this episode, which is refreshingly straightforward after last week's detour to Coruscant. We pick up with life in the reclusive Mandalorian frontier, where Mando is trying to integrate Grogu with the other kids. After Grogu schools some loser in a bounty-hunter paintball match, a giant space Pterodactyl swoops in and takes one of the children back to its nest. Most of what follows in "Chapter 20" is a classic monster-of-the-week Mandalorian tale—our heroes save the kid and defeat the bird, of course—which effectively serves as a vehicle to show us that Mando, Bo-Katan, Paz Vizsla, and the Armorer are all working in harmony now.
Grogu's Vision Quest
Finally! I was worried that The Mandalorian was losing sight of our little green friend. While dad is off hunting space creatures, Grogu waddles into the Forge to shadow the Armorer. She gives a spiel about Mandalorian culture, and how making armor is a sort of meditative deep-dive into one's soul. This kickstarts Grogu's memory, so we see a flashback to Order 66, AKA when Palpatine called for the execution of the Jedis. Beq whisks poor Grogu away, managing to fly off into Hyperspace by the end of the scene. So, where are they heading? It feels like we might finally see the collision of Grogu's memories and The Mandalorian "Chapter 1" by the end of this season. Plus, we may even see the Grogu's first words, since we get yet another reference to the kid not quite speaking yet in this chapter.
Mando Merch of the Week!
$22.99
amazon.com
Official Grogu Metric Rating™
Seven out-of-breath Grogus out of ten! Either it's my Carl Weathers bias showing, or simple appreciation of an episode that (mostly) kept its focus on Mando and Grogu, but I'm feeling OK this Wednesday morning. In a way, "Chapter 20" feels like it would've been a better start to this season than the one we were given. Remember when Mando gave Grogu the choice to either stay with Luke Skywalker or take the Mandalorian chainmail? This episode feels like the natural next beat of that story. I.e.: Grogu's backstory unfurls week by week, we see a few Mandalorian training montages, and Mando settles into fatherhood. Again, you may very well see it differently—and I appreciate that!—but this is the show I want. Give me Mando and Grogu bringing Mandalore back to its former glory. Leave Dr. Pershing and Luke Skywalker elsewhere in the galaxy.
Next Week on The Mandalorian...
Should I just cut this section out from now on? For the hundredth time: this season has been so f*cking weird! So far, we've seen: this season's McGuffin apparent (Mando's bath!) resolved in a single episode, Dr. Pershing butting his head into the B plot, a bizarro Bo-Katan crisis of faith, and now, the implication that Ahmed Best might be playing the single-biggest Jedi in Grogu's backstory? The actor's return is welcome, of course, but what! You could tell me that "Chapter 21: The Creator" is 65 minutes of live security cam footage from George Lucas's ranch, where he takes one long, uninterrupted shit while playing Monopoly on his Blackberry, and I'd believe you.
I'm sorry for the superlatives, but with each and every episode, I'm feeling more like She-Hulk really wrecked something in Disney+ when she broke into its home screen. Someone save us. Reader, you're my only hope.
You Might Also Like
