The Mandalorian season 3 episode 2 recap & review: The Mines of Mandalore

Open Go TV / March 9, 2023 / Reviews

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In episode 2 of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin travels to Mandalore after acquiring a droid that can help him with his quest but he runs into trouble he didn’t expect. The episode is streaming on Disney+.

Recap

Din Djarin travels to Mos Eisley to meet Pelli and asks her if she can find a memory circuit for IG-11. She tells him that the part will be nigh impossible to find since the droid is such an old model.

When he mentions that he needs a droid to test the atmosphere of Mandalore for toxicity before he goes himself, she offers up her astromech, R5-D4, even though the droid is terrified of the job.

She fixes R5 to his ship and he sets off to Mandalore. Along the way, he shows Grogu the Mandalorian moon where he grew up called Concordia. He also mentions that Kalevala is nearby too, the planet where Bo-Katan lives.

They land near an opening to lower levels of the ruins and Din sends out R5. When the droid disappears from his radar, he goes and checks it out himself. He runs into some savage creatures at the mouth of the ruins but quickly dispatches them and finds R5.

R5’s analysis shows him that the atmosphere is breathable so he and Grogu explore further down below to find the Mines of Mandalore. As he’s exploring, Din is suddenly attacked by some kind of cyborg that subdues him with a syringe.

The cyborg takes him back to his lair where he places him in a sort of contraption before handling other things. Grogu sneaks up to help Din but is found out and Din tells Grogu to go get Bo-Katan.

Grogu rushes back to the ship and flies to Kalevala. Bo-Katan assumes its Din and is ready to send him back but when she sees Grogu, she gets the information of where they were from R5 and heads straight back.

She asks Grogu to lead her to him and eventually saves Din who was having his blood drained by the cyborg. She uses the Darksaber effectively to defeat the cyborg and its bigger mech.

After Din regains consciousness, she offers to take him back but Din is adamant about visiting the Living Waters in the mines below. She tells him that she’ll take him there and leads him to the spot.

She reads an inscription about the history of the Living Waters and how the mines first housed a large mythosaur before it was vanquished by Mandalore the Great.

Din takes off his weapons and jetpack and begins stepping into the water while chanting the sayings of the Creed when he is suddenly dragged inside. Bo-Katan rushes in after him and finds him deep below.

As she’s dragging him back out, she sees what appears to be a giant mythosaur in the waters. She and Din get out safely, gathering their bearings after what she had just witnessed.

Review

Having Din Djarin head to Mandalore so quickly is a bit surprising, but also opens up several other avenues for where the narrative can go.
The visuals of a Mandalore in ruins are absolutely majestic. The effects and art departments have always excelled at producing beautiful exotic landscapes on different planets.
Katie Sackhoff is a wonderful actress and it will be interesting to see her interact with Din Djarin a little more over the next few episodes as they dive deeper into what may have survived on Mandalore.