Alright, so The Mandalorian Season 3 is now at the halfway point, and after an almost hour-long episode last week, we’re back with one that’s half the length, like your ex’s new boyfriend.
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You know I’ve always got your back, and in this video, we’re going to be breaking down The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 4.
Packed with Star Wars Easter eggs, hidden details, and a lot of hints to where things will be going in the future, we’re going to be breaking it all down in this recap video.
Last week saw Mando and Bo Katan exiting the living waters of Mandalore completely cleansed, and after they were swarmed by Tie Interceptors, Bo’s home was destroyed. Episode 3 kind of took a segue from there and made us get up close and personal with Pershinal, the Empire’s number one cloner. In an entrapment situation with Elia Kane, he was captured and tortured by the spy, which is when we saw Mando and Bo meeting with the armour and her group. We’re gonna get into all of episode 4 in just a second but first just a quick word from this videos sponsor so we can help pay some bills and don’t go anywhere cos you’re my number one subscriber.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 4 Breakdown
Now Episode 4 is called The Foundling, and it’s directed by Carl Weathers. Foundlings are, of course, a big thing in Star Wars lore, and the term is primarily used in Mandalorian culture.
It means a child that was found by the Mandalorians and was then adopted into their ways, like Dinjarring and Grogu.
We start off on the planet with the Mandalorians training away and this includes the child that got baptised in the first episode of the season. My man has the most rigid shot I’ve ever seen, and it’s such a dynamic way to open the episode that potentially highlights where we could be going in the season with a big, all-out Mandalorian war. Now according to leaks on the episode that talked about the costume, parts of the mandalorian armour actually comes from repurposed stormtrooper outfits.
I really hope that’s true too, and it shows just how scattered the Mandalorians are when Beskar is in such short supply that they have to resort to that. Many of the suits we see are similar to Dins at the start of the first season, and it shows how downtrodden they are and how far hes come.
Now, juxtaposing this violent and over the top training, we see Grogu doing his own with a circle of stones. He moves them with the force, and this is of course similar to what Luke did during the Empire’s attack on Yoda. Nice little bit of Grogu grabbing a shellfish and most of the stones being revealed to be them, so maybe he didn’t move the stone. Sorry, mate, don’t have the force. It’s pathetic.
Anyway, we see a little apprenticeship training programme, and the Mandalorians very much mirror the Jedi in several ways. They take children in from a young age and indoctrinate them in their ways; even the words foundlings and apprentices are used within both groups.
The new kid on the block doesn’t see Grogu as being worth fighting because he doesn’t have a helmet yet, and my guess is that at some point we will see him get one. The wrist straps theyre given have three darts in them and Jango used something similar during attack of the clones and his solo game Bounty Hunter. When made lethal, they’re one-hit kills and sometimes contain poisonous fluid that paralyses the target before then killing them.
It’s paintball practise, with the kid getting the first two shots and then Grogu doing some flips. Go on, do a flip.
He comes out on top, but the victory is short-lived when they’re attacked by one of the planet’s inhabitants.
Honestly, I dunno why they still hung around this lake after what happened in episode 1, and it’s even dumber when you find out this dragon has done this attack several times before. I think it kind of speaks to the pride that the Mandalorians have and how it can often lead to them doing stupid things that aren’t really worth it in the end. Last week we talked about whether Mandalore was even worth saving, and I kind of get the same feeling here with them hanging out in this cave. They’re very stubborn; we won’t move, you move, and this has caused constant conflict and infighting with the group.
Now, the history of Mandalore is pretty convoluted due to all the civil wars and political changes that the planet has had to deal with. Mandalore existed on it’s own without outside influence until the Taungs arrived and they discovered a planet rife with new opportunities. Amongst the ranks of the Taungs was Mandalore the great and in order to assert dominance he took down the beast at the top of the food chain. That was the Mythosaur and this was in a time before the more high tech weapons that the franchise has become famous for and the guy gained the respect of his tribe for doing it single handedly. Thus the planet was named after him and from this point on the Mythosaur became the symbol of the Mandalorians.
Mandalore created a helmet out of the slain Mythosaurs skull, and this also set the style that the creeds would carry from that point on.
Over the centuries, the Jedi and Mandalorians duked it out until a Mandalorian Jedi named Tar Viszla rose up.
He created the Darksaber, and this became the weapon that every Mandalorian rallied behind.
We’ve actually met one of his descendants in Paz Viszla, who is voiced by none other than Jon Faverau. I’ve already gone into theories about how he might unmask and show Jon under the helmet, but people always kick off, so I won’t do it. I said I’ll not do it, mate; I’ll just stick to the Darksaber.
Anyway, the wielder of it has been seen as someone who is fit to lead the Mandalorians, and this can only be won in combat. This is why nobody followed Bo, because originally she was given it by Sabine rather than taking it in battle.
Bo ended up following one of it’s holders in Pre Viszla but he was killed by Darth Maul who then took the weapon. After this it was found by Sabine who handed it to Bo before she went on to lose it to Moff Gideon.
Phew. Anyway that’s a brief history of the planet but the civil wars have completely destabilised Mandalore. Though Bo is clearly being painted out as one of the good guys you have to bear in mind that she has her own wants and desires. Bo believed that she would be the leader of the planet and she think it’s her birth right to rule. Ryan Arey even pointed out on his breakdown last week that she may have asked whether Mando saw the Mythosaur because if he didn’t then it’s info that she can use to regain power. She might now be a genuine convert though or she might be Elia…Kane…in that she’s playing things for herself.
Now Bo has tracked the dragon on her ship the gauntlet and they form a hunting party in order to get the boy back. We get a scene that riffs on the death star trench run planning and in that they talked about how they used to bullseye wamp rats back on Tattooine which was also roughly the size of the exhaust port. Bo talks about how the mountains are no higher than the peaks of Kyrimorut which she used to climb as a child.
These mountains have been mentioned in the saga before and the area was the home of the Skirata clan before the clone wars. After it was used as a refusge for clone troopers who deserted the grand army of the republic. First mentioned in Republic Commando true colours this has become a major place to escape persecution for those seeking to flee the Imperials.
The Armoror also mentions the shriek hawk accompanying Paz and shriek hawks were a predatory bird that was native to Mandalore.
Driven to extinction by the Mandalorian Cataclysm their signit was used by the Clan Viszla and then later broguht across into the death watch faction.
Now the armorer also brings up Lariats which are basically ropes. There was actually a lairat of armistice in the canon and this was an unbreakable rope similar to the magic one that Frodo and Sam had in Lord Of The Rings.
Speaking of Lord Of The Rings, there was the scene in that in which Galadriel showed Frodo a vision in her magic bowl and the Forge is used as a similar framing device at this point. The Armorer begins to shape the steel and she talks about how this relates to the life of a Mandalorian. They are built from the ground up and forged through trials and tribulations that make them.
It allows us to travel back to the past and learn what happened with Grogu during Order 66.
Who Rescued Grogu From Order 66 In The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 4?
Now Order 66 is taking a lot of prominence in Star Wars shows recently. We of course saw snippets of what happened with Grogu all the way back in Season 2 and Obi Wan opened with Revas story which echoed what we saw in the show. Both Fallen order and The Bad Batch season 1 had it playing out as well and here we see what happened with another young Jedi involved in it. This was a great purge similar to what happened on Mandalore in the night of a thousand tears and it’s one of the defining events in star wars history. Everything changed from this point onwards with the empire taking over and the Jedi losing their control. They were the guardians for generations and we see how in their stead that the New Republic isn’t really up to scratch. This is what allowed the First Order to rise up and due to Jedi being all but extinct, the Imperials gained a foothold once more.
Anyway we get a continuation of the scene from Season 2 and see what really happened. Early on we hear the name Kelleran and we end up meeting him later on in the scene. Kelleran first appeared in Jedi Temple Challenge episode 1 and he carried the nickname Saberhand.
He was primarily a jedi master that superveised padawans and he carried with him two droids in AD-3 and LX-R5. These pair were protocol and astromech droids which gave him a similar set up to what Luke had with 3po and R2.
It makes sense that they would try and get Grogu to Kelleran as he was a teacher who led the Jedi who the trials and he was known for his kindness towards younglings. I dunno what the feedback to him rescuing grogu is yet as we’re making this pretty early and I know people hoped it would be someone like Mace Windu or another famous Jedi.
But shut the f**k up for a second cos I’m gonna tell you why this is great. So Kelleran beq is played by none other than Ahmed Best. He’s appeared in Star Wars before and incase you don’t know…this is the guy who was Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy. Best has talked a lot about the backlash he got from playing the character and how it pretty much ruined his life. However, this very much redeems him and I actually…not gonna lie…had tears in my eyes a bit thinking about how this guys waited over 20 years to finally live that stuff down. Meesa thinking it grea…you know what I’m not even gonna do a crap joke.
Kelleran Beq builds off the back of Achk Med Beq who is a character that appeared in the back ground during the clone wars. It’s been confirmed now that the pair are related and due to the same actor playing them both, I’m guessing that theyre twins or something
Kelleran gets a great scene where he races through the skies of coruscant and we see the jedi temple burning behind them.
He shows his prowess with a lightsaber and it’s such a good moment for the guy.
Was great finally getting this filled in and Kelleran makes it to a tunnel similar to the chase scene in Attack of the clones.
We once more pass the peak of the highest mountain in courscant and this of course popped up in last weeks episode when it was seen as a ourist attraction. Here the feeling is completely different but we still see that the civilians have little to no idea whats actually going on. They were thrown into a dictatorship overnight and had absolutely no chance to react to what was going on. We’ve mentioned the Kristellnacth before but that was a similar situation where the german army stormed in and changed things completely in the space of a few hours.
Kelleran makes it to the landing platform and we see the H-Type Nubian Yacht that Padme used in Attack of the clones.
V-wings swoop in and these were the precurosors to tie fighters.
He makes it to hyper space and we then cut back to see Grogu getting more armour. Given a rodel of mandalorian armour this is place on his chest over the mythril vest he got in book of boba fett. Look I know its not mythril but just bear with me. He has very much found a new home with The Mandalorians and the idea of finding a new home is something that we’ve seen happening with several character in this season.
Mando was deemed an apostate and he had to replenish himself in the living waters. This was very much the case with Bo too who’s followers had abandoned her after she lost the Darksaber. Dr. Pershing initially lost his mother and he found a home amongst the empire trying to do the right thing with Cloning technology. However he then ended up losing his position and power after the Empire fell and he tried to find friendship with Elia Kane. Elia was also an imperial and she ended up finding a home with the New Republic. There may still be other things going on with her but we have this theme constantly repeating throughout the show and it’s sort of like poetry they rhyme.
I love how the show is setting up all these different factions that are all kind of as bad as each other. Last week we watched the Amnesty soldiers still getting referred to as numbers like they were with the imperials and the mindflayer was also used. Lots of things going on and it’s basically your made who’s like ‘I can see things from both sides’
Anyway back with the tribe we see them heading up into the mountais and it’s clear that Bo is very much slotting into being a leader. She’s made the leader of the war party and with this rbings the privelge that she can eat her food at the fire whilst the rest have to hurry off and eat theirs in a private corner like some shameful moment you want to hide from your parents.
She’s clearly also found a new home after losing hers and I think that she is once more positioning herself at the top.
Cut to the morning and we see the Mandalorians crouched around. You might notice that we can actually see the Shriek Hawk symbol on their shoulder pads tying back to what we said earlier. Using the Lariets they climb the cliffside and it leads to such a cool mountain climbing moment. Again I’m guessing this has been used to potentially set up things for later on in the season but it’s also a good way of showing how competant that the mandalorians are. They dont need their jetpacks for everything and if the situation calls for it they can avoid using them when necessary.
Finally they spot the nest and there being a nest is the first clue that the dragon creature has kids there. Im sure it hasa some overly long star wars creature name but just call it like…Dragon Bird thing and we should be ok. Now like a bird it feeds its young from its mouth and I dunno why it took so long to hand this kid off but it leads to this big action scene.
Got a lot of flashes of fallen order at this moment and in that you have a big fight with a giant bat called Goraga on Dathomir. After beating it in its cave you jump on its back and take to the skies similar to what happens here. Now it’s important to bear in mind that Bo loses her shoulder patch during this and it foreshadows what comes in at the end of the episode. Similar to an AT-AT they take down the creature using ropes and manage to get the kid bac after tying up its wings.
Dumping it in the water its eaten by one of the crocodile creatures that appeared in the first episode and this is obviously riffing on Jurassic World and the ending of that. Spoilers.
Anyway nice little detail is that the foundling is revealed to be the child of Paz and this father and son aesthetic is of course mirrored in Grogu and Din. I’m guessing that the Armorer is his mother as well but ey, they didn’t seem that bothered when he got picked up at the start.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 4 Ending Explained
Also I wonder if they take their helmet off when they’re making…babies…anyway this does show why Paz threw himself in the mouth of the beast and it was a nice little addition to the story I think.
Now Bo has been redeemed by saving the foundlings and we see some more in the dragon bird things kids. Guessing these will mature and grow and they can be used later down the line at some point.
The Armorer asks if Bo wants the Nite Owl embossed on her new shoulder pad but Bo goes with the Mythosaur. Since seeing it in the living waters I genuinely think she now believes she is on the path to becoming the planets leader once more but whether people believe her or not is another thing entirely.
Thus I think she might lead them back to the planet and show them the beast which is when she could be seen as the leader. However we have Din on the other side who is the weilder of the darksaber and thus the conflict will be over who to really follow. You cant really be the leader of mandalore if you dont weild it and this is another issue that popped up with Bos sister Satine.
Now as for my thoughts on the season so far, I think it’s been solid with a couple of really good high points and though the show is still kinda finding it’s feet I do think that what we’ve had has been good overall if not great. I think in general that shows on Disney Plus have this weird thing where because they’re not slotted into an hour of tv that you never really know what youre gonna get. Some weeks you get an hour long one and the next it’s just half an hour which can lead to the pacing feeling disjointed. Sometimes youre in it for the long haul and the next week it’s over and done with quicker than a heavy spoilers release.
I don’t think my wife watches this.
F**ks sake. Anyway I think it’s been solid but yeah we will see how things go over the next couple of weeks before we probably have another two or three year wait until the next season. I can’t believe that Season 2 was back in 2020 and I hope we get some big bangs before the inevitable wait, though a lot of that I’m guessing was down to the pandemic.
Anyway that wraps up the episode and obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on the upcoming episode.
We’re running a competition right now and giving away The Superman 4k Boxset to 3 Subscribers on The 15th Of April. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is like the video, make sure you subscribe with notifications on and drop a comment below with your thoughts on the episode. We pick the comments at random at the end of the month and the winners of the last one are on screen right now so message me @heavySpoilers if that’s you.
If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect scene in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the entire thing so it’s definitely worth checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace
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