First of all, its great to be back watching Mando. It feels like forever since Mando Season 2 was released and until I watched this episode I didn’t realise how much I missed these characters. As a result, despite it not being a particuarly great episode imo, it was still very enjoyable. Here are a few interesting things I noticed in the episode.

When Din landed at Bo’s castle, it felt a lot like Obi-Wan landing on Kamino in Attack of the Clones. I also loved the design of the castle as soon as I saw it, sleek and smart just like the Wren Stronghold on Krownest in Rebels. It wasn’t just the outside of the castle but the inside also looked great, the cold, dark and angularity making it fell very emotionless and Mandalorian-esk, especially the throne design which I love. Mandalorians truly are great architects. 

Despite being such a short run time, they seemed to pack a lot into the one episode. The pacing felt different to any other Mando episode and it felt odd how they kept jumping on to the next thing. Also I honestly didn’t like the design of the pirate king, he looked kind of stupid with the strips of plastic hanging off of his face. 

He seems to be powerful however, so I wonder if he will show up in The Book of Boba Fett Season 2...

In the opening scene when the kid was about to become a Mandalorian, I at first thought it might be a flashback to a young Din. Anyone else think the same? Yes, it would have meant they didn’t do a great casting job but I was pretty convinced when the kid was just about to swear not to remove his helmet before getting interrupted - it would have meant Din never really swore to not remove his helmet. I don’t think this was a coincidence however, the somewhat look-alike may have been chosen so the audience could connect him to when Din once swore the same oath, many years ago. Also we can’t exactly tell how old The Armourer is under the mask…

Also, if you Google 'The Mandalorian', a popup will appear on the bottom of the page and if you click on Grogu who should appear, an animation will play. Interesting feature which they also added to The Last of Us.

Thoughts?