Title: The Mandalorian: “The Sin” Review
Release Date: November 22nd, 2019
Network: Disney Plus
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Western
(This review contains full spoilers for episode 3 of The Mandalorian)
Forget everything I said last week. All of it. Well, not everything. Simply anything and everything I said about our Mandalorian not being the best. No disrespect to Jango or Boba, none at all. But our boy here, he’s the best in the galaxy, possibly ever. What I’m saying is, I can admit when I’m wrong and I was very wrong. “This is the way”.
The Mandalorian Way of Life
The bigger the bounty the bigger the reward. Not in this case. For the price of cute little Baby Yoda, you get one of the biggest spoils ever. Enough beskar steel to outfit an entire badass suit of armor and then some. All you have to do is trade in Baby Yoda’s life. Would you do it? No, of course, you wouldn’t, not a creature on this planet would. Baby Yoda is all things sacred. However, it seems that Mando would. At least temporarily. I can’t see past that helmet but I could still tell how he felt about our pride and joy. Despite that, after collecting a reward and leaving him with the Empire, I worried. Would this be an “I’ll make it right moment” or would it end up being “I’ll avenge him and fix what I did” type of arc? Luckily, it was the former.
I’m not the only one who had doubts about making deals with The Empire either. In this episode, we get to see what’s left of the Mandalorian way of life. They might be few, but oh what a sight it was to see the entire Mandalorian tribe gathered. Each in their own unique set of armor. The purge that saw almost their entire race wiped out wasn’t fully explained, but it’s easy to guess. The Empire fears anything it can’t control. Anything it can’t control, it destroys. A planet filled with a warrior race? I’d put money on the Empire disposing of the Mandalorians when they disposed of the Jedi. Not to mention the valuable resource that is beskar steel.
Throwing it all Away for Baby Yoda
It should come as no surprise then that some within the tribe don’t fancy where our hero got the beskar steel. Disagreements were had and it’s clear even after the end of the Empire, Mandalorians never forget. Despite the fact, their first and foremost priority is the continued survival of their race. I guess that means sometimes making deals with the devil. A man of few words, we can only guess what made our Mandalorian go against everything.
Did he do it because the child saved his life? Was it his hate for the Empire? Maybe it was how everyone seems to throw around his people’s culture as simple goods and rewards. My guess is, somewhere under that cold hard steel is simply a Grinch heart that grew three sizes that day. In all seriousness, our character demonstrated plenty of depth. We are slowly fed the annihilation of his people and how he survived it all. He’s a proud warrior indeed but absolutely a man with a heart. I would guess it was all of the above that kept him from taking off without the little guy.
Why else would he go against the guild, thus blacklisting himself as a bounty hunter? Not only making future work near impossible but also putting the biggest target on his back in the galaxy. Everyone knows how much Baby Yoda is worth. Including remnants of the Empire. He goes against his people. Defies what his leader commanded. It’s a good thing he did, none of us would have forgiven him if he hadn’t. Undoing a deal that has been made while keeping the spoils is no easy task. We watch as he expertly infiltrates the base, thus finally shutting up those back talking Stormtroopers. It was truly special to watch Mando go in and pick them off with such precision. Even when the odds were against him, he found a way with his “whistling birds” weapon. Limited ammo but oh so fun to watch in action.
Mandalorians Take and Then Take Some More
Now I hadn’t thought this all way through. I’m not sure he did either. Everyone in the guild had a tracker. Everyone was sulking because they didn’t get the biggest prize out there. Turns out, they all have their trackers still. In unison, they knew pretty quick what must have happened. Opportunity again knocked at their door, even the man in charge stepped up. I didn’t have much hope for The Mandalorian in this situation, but again, I was wrong. He is an absolute legend. The armor helps sure, he looks the part and is protected better. Still, that isn’t all. His skills were put and pushed to the test, surrounded by beings whose job it is to capture and or kill other beings. Might I add that when he uses that rifle, everyone scatters, I love it.
Jango & Boba Who?
Do you know what separates him though from Jango or Boba? He has a tribe, a family. He has a large group of Mandalorians to watch his back. Sure he has the skills to pay the bills, but he also has support. That support came to his rescue in what is the most epic scene displayed on this show yet, possibly one of the coolest Star Wars scenes ever. We got to see different types of Mandalorians, all of which make their weapons and armor their own. I have to say I love the Mando with the large machine gun paired with the bulky armor that fought with our hero earlier in the episode. “This is the way” automatically became my future most overused phrase.
The Tribe Will Always Have His Back
The tribe’s sacrifice does not go unnoticed by viewers or our Mandalorian. They will now have to uproot and find a different place to go underground, they’ve revealed themselves and survival is still key. That’s family though. The good ones will step up for you, even when you don’t ask. The second best line of the episode? “I gotta get one of those”. YES, YOU DO! Why do they all have jetpacks and he doesn’t?! He’s got the armor, the ship, clearly the skills, but we draw the line at a jetpack? Still some room for improvement, I suppose. But it remains a hilarious and well-timed line, none-the-less. Also yes, I’ll say it again and a million times over. Baby Yoda is the cutest. Give him that part of your ship. Hell, give the whole ship and whatever the cute little guy wants, he deserves the galaxy.
Verdict: I never expected this show to have the main focus be Baby Yoda. It’s something I never knew I wanted. I’m so glad it is though, I don’t know where they go from here, but color me super interested. This by far was the best episode of the three. The show is keeping a great pace, consistent developments, and answering questions but not answering too many along the way. I once again, can’t wait for next week’s episode.
Tune back in on November 29th when episode three lands on Disney+ and for the full release schedule, you can check it out here.