Three episodes in and The Mandalorian is heading in the right direction. “The Sin” is the best episode of the series so far.
Excellent stealth action, further exploration into Mandalorian lore as well as the ever-developing relationship between Mando and Baby Yoda sets the stage for a masterful episode from director Deborah Chow and showrunner Jon Favreau. Some minor budgetary hiccups shortchange the major action setpiece in the episode but didn’t take much away from the overall impact of the episode.
Removing Helmet is The Sin for a Mandalorian
The episode begins with some adorable moments featuring Baby Yoda interacting with the ship avionics.
Once Mando lands on Nevarro, he immediately takes Baby Yoda to Werner Herzog and receives an ample amount of Beskar steel as payment. You can tell that Mando is conflicted because he starts asking questions about what Herzog’s character is planning to do with Baby Yoda. Herzog admonishes Mando for asking too many questions and is simply phenomenal at oozing pure villainy.
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Mando takes the Beskan steel he earned from Herzog to The Armorer (Emily Swallow) in the underground section of the planet. While The Armorer forges more steel plates for Mando, more Mandalorians enter the picture. They chastize Mando for accepting payment from an Imperial due to the Empire’s actions during “The Great Purge.“
A brief scuffle occurs between Mando and one of the other Mandalorians, which is promptly broken up by The Armorer and the matter is settled with the following motto:
This is the Way
Then for the first time in the series, we get some background information about “the way of the Mandalore.”
- A Mandalorian must not remove the helmet in front of others.
- The helmet can’t be removed by others.
Whistling Birds
In a great scene, the Armorer offers to craft a signet for Mando in honor of the beast he slained back in “The Child.” Mando objects to this offer since it wasn’t a noble kill due to receiving help from an enemy. He’s referring to Baby Yoda. The Armorer questions why an enemy would help Mando in battle, to which he responds:
It did not know it was my enemy
Since he forgoes a signet, The Armorer creates “Whistling birds” out of the remaining Beskar steel, a weapon that comes into play later in the episode. As she’s crafting the armor for Mando, we are treated to additional flashbacks to Mando’s childhood and the death of his parents.
He then leaves the underground of Nevarro and meets with Greef Carga (Carl Weathers). Mando just wants to move on to the next job and forget Baby Yoda. Karga tries to get Mando to just relax. However, Mando is insistent on picking up his next bounty, which Carga reluctantly obliges. Before leaving this tavern to track his next bounty, Mando inquires about what Herzog is going to do with Baby Yoda. Carga tells Mando he’s doesn’t know and it’s against the guild code, but urges Mando to buy a Camtono of juice ( I could have sworne he said a can of Old Spice) to help forget the whole ordeal.
The most fascinating aspect of the entire sequence is finding out that the New Republic is considered a joke and most of the galaxy is ruled by independent warlords who defected from The Empire. In many ways, the time period between The Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is a mystery. Sequences like this go a long way to helping towards understanding the state of the galaxy at this point in Star Wars lore.
As Mando prepares for takeoff in the cockpit of his ship, he looks at the gear shift device that Baby Yoda was playing with to start the episode and decides to rescue the child.
The performances by Pedro Pascal, Swallow and Weathers are outstanding. With nothing but his voice, you can tell the tremendous weight that Mando’s carrying in regards to his action with Baby Yoda. Swallow continues to showcase wisdom and makes what’s really an information dump compelling. The dialogue between Pascal and Weathers has more back-and-forth than their scene in the pilot. Weathers feels like such a natural fit into the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars meets Batman
Mando proceeds to unleash a one-man stealth mission against Werzog’s compound. The sequence results in the best action setpiece of the series thus far. Mando uses his grappling hook, flamethrower, melee combat and eventually the aforementioned whistling birds to wipe out multiple waves of stormtroopers. The whistling birds are miniature missiles that Mando shoots from his wrist and takes out multiple enemies at once. The setpiece is similar to the warehouse sequence in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
After Mando retrieves Baby Yoda, he’s confronted on the streets of Nevarro by Carga and every bounty hunter that was in the tavern. The out-in-the-open setpiece is not nearly as scintillating as the stealth action sequence. The scene makes the town look very small and defies logic that Mando would have been able to escape. For really the first time in the series, you can see the budgetary strain.
There are two elements that elevate a sequence that otherwise is a misfire. Mando uses his pulse rifle, which vaporizes multiple targets. The other positive is the arrival of the Mandalorians via jetpacks and suppression fire that allows Mando to escape to his ship.
Carga does attempt to catch Mando in the ship but is thwarted and left wounded. As Mando is departing the planet, the Mandalorian who he was in a tussle with earlier flies next to the ship in a similar manner to Iron Man to close the episode. The scene is cheesy, but in a manner that’s a perfect fit within the Star Wars universe.
Final Thoughts on The Sin
Despite the last action scene being somewhat lacking, this episode was a blast from start to finish. Chow did a wonderful job with this episode and I can’t wait to see what she does with the Obi-Wan series.
What did you think of The Sin?
The Review
The Mandalorian Chapter 3 Review
PROS
- Outstanding performances across the board
- Deborah Chow as the first female to direct a live-action Star Wars project delivers the best episode so far.
- One of the best stealth action sequence on film or tv in recent memory.
- Deeper understanding into Mandalorian culture.
CONS
- The final setpiece against the bounty hunters is a minor hiccup in a phenomenal episode.
