Director: Deborah Chow | Distributed by: Disney+ | Rating: TV-PG | SPOILERS
Episode 3 of The Mandalorian, titled The Sin, brought Mando back to the second planet from the first episode, where he first met with the small contingent of the old Empire to first acquire the child. From here Mando works to trade the child for the Besker steel.
For the record, his name is not actually Mando, but Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) started calling The Mandalorian that so it seems fitting. Pedro Pascal revealed his name as part of the press junket for the show last week, but until they say that name in the show, it won’t be said here because the reveal could be more interesting coming from the story.
This episode was not only the best of the entire season so far but it also had the most ties to overall Star Wars universe than any other piece of material ever put out under the new era of Lucasfilm since the Disney acquisition.
The show took the action and gave the audience a better idea of what the Mando could really do against intelligent species, who were actually fighting back. The show started giving off a John Wick feel as Mando started working his way through his foes throughout the episode. The action set pieces in this episode were incredible.
This episode was also used to show how Mando fit in with the other Mandalorians. It shows how he is still close to the bottom of the hierarchy. It also appears that the Mandalorians despise the Empire above all else, and there is some friction when they realize who the Mando did the job for.
There is an interesting mix of showing how desperate the Mandalorians are to not only reclaim their power and their culture, but to reclaim their honor as well. The Mando’s decision process and the third act of the episode both reflect this.
The flashbacks return and give a fuller picture of how the Clone Wars caused him to become a foundling. Foundling means someone who is brought into the order, rather than being born into it. Also if it was unclear before now, the Clone Wars are definitely responsible for Mando’s hate and contempt of droids.
As the flashback tied this series to the Clone Wars, another moment in Episode 3 ties it to the Disney made Sequel Trilogy. When the client (Werner Herzog) and Dr Pershing (Ovid Abtahi) are discussing Baby Yoda, Pershing pleads with the client about how their instructions were clear, they were told to bring the baby back alive, even though the client keeps refusing.
This could be lead to believe that they may work for the faction of the Empire being controlled by Admiral Rae Sloane, who is one of the main characters of the Aftermath trilogy. Since no other part of the Empire has any power around that time, it makes the most sense that they’re working for Sloane. This could be the start of showing the transition from Empire to the First Order.
So Deborah Chow was the director of this episode and with it being as good as it is, it is now obvious as to why she was picked to run the Obi-Wan series for Disney+.
GREAT
The episode had heart, humor, and spectacular Star Wars action, everything needed to make this episode stand out compared to the two that have come before.
