The Ringer-Verse - 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 Primer: Essential Moments and Animated Watch List | House of R

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

This is the way. This is also the pod to prep you for the upcoming season of 'The Mandalorian'; Mal and Jo give you their essential Mando moments from all of 'Star Wars' (10:15). Later, they also give some extra credit with their favorite animated Mando moments, giving you even more lore to look forward to (1:49:13). Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're lost in the darkness, look for the pod. Specifically, the Prestige TV podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, where we're breaking down every new episode of HBO's The Last of Us. On Sunday nights, grab your battery and join Van Lathen and Charles Holmes for an instant reaction to the latest episode. Then head back to the QZ on Tuesdays for a deep dive with Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin. From character arcs to video game adaptation choices, story themes to needle drops, we'll parse every inch of this cordyceps-coded universe.

Watch out for mouth tendrils and follow along on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease

and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphia today. Call 1-800-526-77-3-3-3-3-3-3-3. to learn more, or visit trimfireradio.com.

This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, The Love Hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances,

chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Being a Mandalorian's not just learning about how to fight. You also have to know how to navigate the galaxy. That way, you'll never be lost. There's something dangerous happening out there. And by the time it becomes big enough for you to act,

it'll be too late. None, kid. To the Ringerverse, here on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin, and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only. into the bubble of our N1 Starfighter. Also, to join us on the ringers Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom, here with me today,

so that she may be forgiven for her sins. It's my fellow member of Clan Mudhorn and House of our. Joanna Robinson. What's up, Joe? I would do my Grogo impression, but I don't have a good one. So I kind of would go like, it's my Babu-Fric impression.

It's impossible to do a Grogu impression because no one and nothing can capture the magic of Grogu, which is probably a signal of what we're here to talk about today. We are mere days away from the premiere of season three of the Mandalorian, so it is time to rebuild our covert here at the House of Our. But before we gather our foundlings for today's Mando Season 3 Primer Pod. Programming reminders.

As always, first of all, catch up on all of our Ant Man and the Wasp Quantum Mania coverage if you haven't yet. You can find the Midnight Boys Poo-Bew! Instant reaction up on the feed. You can find our house of our deep dive up on the feed. And then

next week, when you come back to the feed, it's Mando time. In-season Mando coverage begins. Every Wednesday during season three, The Midnight Boys, Poo! Beo! We'll be with you

for an instant reaction to the newest episode and then every Friday we will be here with a house of our deep dive. In case you're wondering, yes, Van and Charles and Joe and I

will also still be covering the last of us over on the Prestige TV podcast throughout season one. Joe, that's a lot of pods. How can people follow all of it? Wow, double Pedro, you know?

And if you want to get all... Thrilling. Absolutely thrilling time. to be alive watching television. If you want to get all the the page of best gal you like, you're going to want to listen, why don't you just subscribe

to not only this pod, the Ringerverse, but also the Prestige TV pod where we're covering The Last of Us. Subscribe to all those pods. What a clear and easy way to do it. Also, why don't you just follow us on social? That's a great way to do it.

Jomey and Dinner on is doing such great work on Instagram, Twitter, you just posted a TikTok recently that revealed that the official Star Wars account is following on TikTok. So if the official Star Wars cares about what Jomey is doing on TikTok, don't you care about what Jomey is doing on TikTok at Ring Reverse? Also, why go ahead and email us?

Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. Are there any hobbits and dragons? They're great dragons, the Middle Orients. So I'm deciding that counts. Hobbes and Dragons at gmail.com. You can send us your apple opinions, your mushroom recipes, your Pedro Pescal thoughts. Your GroGoo, Googles and coos, your theories, your Star Wars, Lego sets that you have bills that may be rival Mallory's. Who's to say?

Hobbits and Dragons and Dragons. Malar says no. Hobbiton Dragons and DMATCOM. Mallory, back to you. Oh, my goodness. We have a lot to get to today. We're excited. Today's pod is a big old primer.

And, of course, in traditional house of our preseason fashion, and that means it's top moments time. Joe and I are each going to be sharing our eight most essential moments to revisit before the Mandalorian season three premiere. Now, what does that mean? You might be wondering. These are not necessarily our absolute favorite Mando Canon moments in a vacuum, though they might be in some cases. They can come from, we should say, by the way, the Mandalorian, the book of Boba Fett,

the Clone Wars, Rebels, anything that touches this aspect of the character set or the canon. Grogo, Din, Bocatan, Manzlorah, the Dark Saber, cloning, all of it. Your friendly neighborhood spoiler warning

for today is Star Wars. Good old Star Wars. These are the moments from not only the first two seasons of the Mandalorian, but other properties that cover related canon that feel most likely to position us for what is to come.

Most relevant, not only for where we have been with beloved Din and Grogu so far, but where we think we might be going, based on the trailers, based on where we left off at the end of season two, based on where we left off in Boba Fett, et cetera. As always, the moment's countdown will be a real-time reveal. We don't know what the other person picks.

Steve knows what each of us pick because he has our clips, our soundbites, but we don't know. And so if we have the same moment, but one of us has it higher on the list, we'll wait to the higher spot to discuss it. Before we tease the second segment today, Joe, anything else in terms of the nature of the moment's countdown

that you want to mention or hit? Just to reiterate what you said, I mean, as folks know, Lucasholm was highly secretive, so I'm just going to say, we don't know what's happening in season three other than what's been in the trailer. We have not seen a second of the show

other than the trailers that you all have seen. So there are no spoilers here. This is just like our gist of what we think might be coming. But yeah, we have not seen anything more than you have. Later today, the end of the episode, we're going to be offering up some advanced prep for anybody who wants to dive into the animated canon, the animated verse, the Faloni verse. And the part of it specifically, again, that seems likely to be most relevant. for season three of the Mandalorian, if you have seen all of Clone Wars,

all of Rebels, all of Bad Batch, and you want a targeted rewatch guide, what should I revisit? Great, this segment's for you. If you have seen not a second, and you've heard us and others talk about it, and you're wondering, is this the time to dip in and soak up some of the animated verse

that people seem to love so much? But, oh, my Lord, there's a lot of this. Where do I begin? Great news. We're going to tell you where to dip your toes into the living waters. dip your little tridactal feet into the water here. I loved you put together this watch list.

You are way more of an expert on the animated than I am. And even though I've seen it all, it was so helpful to me to rewatch this list that you put together to get me all pumped and ready to go for Mando. So thank you for your fine work here, Mallory Rubin. Joe, that's really kind. I'm so excited to share this journey together. I'm so ready to be back in a Mandalorian season re-watching all of these episodes to get ready for this pod.

Genuinely, like, some of the most fun I've had doing a re-watch to prep for a pod run. Legitarily ever. And we've never done Amanda's season together. It's so exciting. In a way, yeah, because a large stretch of that was really interstitious season of the Mandalorian.

But a full season of Mando, we have not covered together. This will be a first. Yeah. Should we dive, right in to our eight most essential moments. Is there anything you want to say about how you thought about your moments before you reveal your eighth? Did you like me have an absolutely impossible time narrowing this down to eight? Nothing has ever been harder. I had an impossible time and so then I just

decided to like craft myself a little narrative. So I decided to tell myself a little story and these are eight little landmarks along the story that I'm trying to tell. And that might all go out the window once we start going like shuffling things higher or whatever. But that's fine. Well, I'll still manage to tell my little story that I want to tell. So. I love this. I strongly considered picking just eight moments where Grogu is adorable and precious and having a snack or cooing or babbling in absolutely darling fashion and then realized even that wouldn't be impossible to narrow to eight.

I consider picking eight moments where Cobb Vance is adorable and precious and snacking and babbling and cooing. But that was just like I could not, I couldn't only pick eight of those moments. So here we are. I assume you're going to have a couple, though. I'm counting on it. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activia yogurt today for two weeks and see if you feel a difference.

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What do you have at number eight? My first clip comes from season one of the Mandalorian, from the episode The Sanctuary. Do you have anything from the sanctuary, Mallory Rubin? I have a plot point or two mentioned in smuggle form, but not an actual selection. So you're clear. Steve, let's go ahead and play that clip.

How long has it been since you've taken that off? Yesterday. I mean in front of someone else. I wasn't much older than they are. You haven't shown your face to anyone since you were a kid? No. I was happy that they took me in. My parents were killed and the Mandalorians took care of me.

I'm sorry. This is the way. Wonderful. All right. So that was the luminous Julia Jones as a, Mara, one of the Sorgon farmers from season one episode, Chapter 4, The Sanctuary. We get a couple different moments in the seasons where we find out Dingerin's origin, how he was taken in by his covert after the purge, etc.

But I really liked this moment for a couple of reasons as sort of an encapsulation of that idea of like the fact that he has been sheathed in armor since he was a child, since he has not revealed his face to anyone since he was a kid. O'Meara was the closest thing we had to a love interest before Cobb Vance swaggered onto the screen. And O'Meara, I would say, almost got the helmet off. Like, really, like, he was thinking about it, right? Almost got the pants off, that's for sure. And so this idea of a couple things, of Dindjaran sort of, like, she's, like, she's,

wielding himself in this armor from connection from other people, this concept of sanctuary, a peaceful place to be. He tries, he thinks about leaving Grogu here with these people. But right as Omera is like almost kind of not really getting the helmet off, right then is when an assassin, like there's an assassination attempt basically on Grogu that Cardoen's wars. One of the most unforgivable things this show has ever done is show, literally show us Grogu in the crosshairs. outrageous

and you know and Dinn basically is like okay I can't leave my kid here kids gotta stick with me right not even thinking of Grogu as his kid at that point but so I just liked it as this

origin for Dyn this he's looking at these kids playing and happy and light and he's thinking about himself as a kid and what happened to him then and I just like this as a good

moment for the origin and the importance for him at that point to keep the helmet on, even when the extremely hot Julia Jones is like, why don't you take this helmet off and stay a while? Oh, man. Yeah. Great pick. I love that one. I love that episode. Yeah.

Absolutely wonderful. Also features one of the absolute cutest go-go moments. The bone broth sipping. Great meme. I love that pick, Joe. that's a beautiful way to kick off today's episode. This is going to be a joy. I don't think you're going to have my number eight on the list.

Do you have anything from The Clone Wars season two, episode 12, the Mandelor plot? No. Steve, please play my clip. Your peaceful ways have paid off. Mandalore has prospered since the last time I was here. Not everyone on Mandelaw believes that our commitment to peace is a sign of progress. There is a group that calls itself

Death Watch. I imagine these are the renegades you're looking for. They idolize violence and the war your ways of the past. There are those among us, certain officials, who are working to root out these criminals.

It has been an ongoing investigation. How widespread is this Death Watch movement? It's hardly a movement. A narrator? It was a movement. And this is the episode. where we find that out.

My number eight moment is Death Watch revealing itself in full to Obi-Wan to the Duchess Sotene and to us. The clip I picked there is actually earlier

in season two, episode 12, The Mandelor plot. The moment in question really comes a little bit later in the episode on Concordia when pre-visla

emerges dark saber in hand and we see the shape and face of Death Watch. We will, as we noted in the intro, hit the Philoniverse more later in the episode,

but I felt like it was worth including this in my moments list for a couple different reasons and that it felt like it was going to be really important season three set up. I should also just say this is an amazing Obi-Wan and Duchess a Teen Arc. That is not relevant for today's exercise,

but I... Always relevant in your heart. It's always relevant in our hearts. Exactly. Exactly. So, why does this matter heading into season three of the Mandalay? Well, first of all, this is the first Mandelor arc in the modern canon. This is a great snapshot.

Not only of this specific conflict between Death Watch and the pacifist government of the Duchess Seteen and these specific players, we'll talk about more in a second, but a great lens into this larger fractured history of Mandelor. People often at war with themselves, civil strength, war, violence, and. dissension, destruction. This is like the defining through line of Mandalorian history. And because different factions

of Mandalorian culture are so often roaring with each other, this positions them to be time after time, more vulnerable to, more susceptible to, outside influence. Duku and the separatists,

in this case, eventually Maul, eventually the empire. The introduction here of Death Watch, We get some time with pre-visla, Tarvisla's descendant, Paz Vizla's ancestor, pre-and-Pas are both voiced by John Favro. Have you heard of them a lot? And so Favro and Falonian, this is worth saying, I'm sure it won't be the last time we say it, are both deeply attached to the history of Mandelor and Mandelor's canon and very invested in continuing to unspool that for us in the live action. The Moon of Concordia, which is where this pre-Visla Death Watch review,

unfolds is an important location. This is where the Mandelar's warriors were exiled after the Mandalorian Civil War. The Mandalorian Civil War in question there earlier in the timeline 42 BBI. But you zip ahead. This is the location where in secret, in the shadows, Death Watch grew into this extremist sect and it grew into something else after that. This is where they became the chill. we can glean from all of the bits of information and canon that we have picked up over time,

the children of the watch. Think back to what the armorer says to Dinn in Book of Boba Fat Chapter 5. Had our sect not been cloistered on the moon of Concordia, we would have not survived the great purge. They have not outright said in the show, the children of the watch used to be Death Watch, but for numerous reasons, the name, clues like that, the signets on the Paldron, the adherence to the old warrior ways, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. It's very clear.

This is also the Dark Sabre intro. I'm just going to save all of my thoughts on the Dark Sabre and just spoil that that will be coming up again. Fear not. That will not be the last Dark Sabre mentioned today. And Death Watch is really fierce, staunch opposition to Sotene's passivist ways, neutral ways.

This insistence specifically that a peaceful life robs mandolore and mandolarians of like their warrior soul. This feels like a very important element, not only of who the children of the watch are, and what kind of history shaped the creed, shaped the way that then shaped in Jarin. Bo Catan was a member of Death Watch before she split off.

I will also circle back to that later. Spoiler. And so understanding how this group's often, like really violent, really extreme, really hideous history helped to harm or shape Mandalorian history and these fractures inside of it. Really important to have that awareness heading into this quest, this stated quest from Boe, to retake Mandelor, to rule Mandelor. What does that mean and what does that look like when these are the things that have happened there? So that's my first or, I guess, eighth pick.

Great, great stuff. Love this. Good old Death Watch. You love Death Watch. You're a big Death Watch head. Well, yeah. I would have joined Death Watch. Obviously, I love being a violent extremist.

You know, sent off to languish on a moon somewhere. All right. My next clip is also from the Clone Wars. Oh, okay. Exciting. Season 7, episode 10, Phantom Apprentice. Love it. I don't have this on my top plate.

Go for it. Steve, will you play this clip for me, please? Soon. The galaxy will be remade. And in the chaos, we must seize what power we can. It is not the way of your people to hide here in the gutters. If you die, I promise you, it will be on the field of battle. And if you die, you will die as warriors.

All right, so that was the great Sam Whitwer as Darth Mall. Not the last time you'll hear Sam on my list today. Of all the animated episodes that I rewatched, you know, after Mallory sent me the list, I had the best time rewatching Phantom Apprentice. This is, I think, my favorite Clone Wars episode. I just think it's really, really fantastic, really, really great Darth Mall Nasoka stuff set on Mandelor. But why I picked

this moment, when I was doing my rewatch of those episodes, I wrote down an underline, this line is not the way of your people to hide here in the gutters because where we meet, Mali already used the word covert earlier when she was introducing us, where we meet Dinharn and Children of the Watch

are in the gutters and the sewers of tomorrow, right? And so this idea that the Mandalorians have been scattered to the wind, after the Great Purge that they are hiding out in these various clusters and coverts and

and that that is not the way. We already heard Dinger and say this is the way. We're going to talk about that several times on our list as we go here. Yes, this will come up a lot. What is the way? Is there only one way? What is the right way? Is it just wrong?

Just say this is the way ever when you're talking about Mandelor. What does it mean to be a Mandalorian? That is the most important question, I think, on the mind of the show. The show is called The Mandalorian. What does it mean to be a Mandalorian? It is such confusing question for a number of factors that we're going to go over as we continue to climb up the list. I know that it's on both of our minds.

But so this idea of your people are not meant to hide here in the gutters, right? That's one thing. And then Mald talking about the field of battle and dying as warriors, this is what Mallory was just talking about in her first entry, this idea of like the fighting spirit of the Mandalorian people. And is it in them to be a pacifist culture the way that Sabine wanted them to be? Or Sotin, sorry. Is it in them to be a pacifist culture the way that Sotin wanted them to be?

Do they have to be violent, you know, like there's a number of different. inspirations for the Mandalorians. An easy one that a lot of people to like to talk about is, like, if you think about Satin versus Death Watch, it's like Athens versus Sparta thinking about ancient Greek cultures, but also the Celts and also like there's a number of different inspirations for the Mandalrians. But this idea of them as fighters and this idea of Bo, a leader in exile, or Dingerian a Mandalorian with currently without a you know, a covert without a home to go to. What does it mean to be the Mandalorian, the Mandalorian, A Mandalorian? What does it mean to lead the Mandalorians? And then also to your earlier point as well, Mal, Darth Mal is using Palpatine's, you know, larger scheme that's happening in the background of this episode.

Order 66 is imminent right around the corner, right? He is using, he's like, in that chaos, we can grab power. So that idea, once again, of the Mandalorians being very susceptible to being pushed around by a Duku or a mall or something like that, and this idea of a power grab, who's going to grab power in Mandalore at this point. So that is my second entry on this list. I'm delighted. What a great pick. I love that episode. I love that.

That closing arc to the final season of the Clone Wars is just start to finish. Stunning, gorgeous. Is this where you tell the people how you feel about animated Darth Mall? Sometimes, Mallory, I text you things while I'm watching shows that are not necessarily meant for... We could gut it.

We got it. It's a prompt. You can say no. I think Darth Mall is extremely... Animated Darth Mall is extremely hot. Yeah. That has a lot to do with Sam Where's voice work. You'll hear it again. On this list.

I love this so much. He's extremely... extremely hot. I'm sorry. Sorry not sorry. It just is. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. We all know how you feel about animated Obi-1 Canobi. I know. I fully support and embrace the take. I love it. House of Horny, as usual.

And putting the horns on horny at Starth Mall. Oh, God. No, there's a moment in... Forgotten where the Dear Me button is, I think. There's a moment in... Phantom Apprentice. When like Mandelor is just

like in embers falling around them, right? And Darth Mal reaches out to Asoka, the old Kylo Ren. Great moment. Join me. Moment.

They hit me so hard with the Kylo, with the Raylo vibes in this episode. That tool is incredible. Oh, so good. Couldn't resist it. Yeah. Love it.

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consumer protection tools. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremfaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremfaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tremfaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections

or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more, or visit Trimfaira Radio.com. My number seven, you might have. It is from the season one finale of a little television show called The Mandalorian. Chapter 8, redemption. I don't have it.

Steve, please play my clip. You must go. A foundling is in your care. By creed until it is of age or reunited with its own kind. You are as its father. This is the way. You have earned your signet. You are a clan of two.

My heart. Can I just say two things really quickly? Number one, I was counting on you to have this. It's one of those like Mallory will do it so I don't have to moments. And number two, I probably could have populated this eight entry list with just Emily Swallow as the armorer saying things, honestly. Everything she says feels very important. Some remarkable weight in every armorer line. for sure. Number seven, the armor telling Din that he and Grogo were a clan of two.

Just an all-timer. Absolutely wonderful. Fills the heart with joy and purpose. First and most importantly, I picked this because of an obvious reason. The forging of Clan Mudhorn. Din and Grogu, their found family, this signet that symbolizes the moment when we first saw Grogo use the force and realized what he could do, didn't realize what he could do, this moment calling back to the Mudhorn when they united in fellowship, despite Din having been sent there to acquire him for the client. Second, there's a nice little snapshot in this larger conversation. Obviously, the clip is just one piece of a pretty meaty scene.

Of the history between Mandelor and the Jedi, which is also worth revisiting and keeping in mind here, it is an enemy? No, it's enemy. It's kinder enemies, but this individual is, not. First of all, can we just do it a whole pod on calling Baby Yoda this individual? It's so funny. I could not love it more. I'm trying to remember what they, so during the press tour before season one of the Mandalorian, when they weren't allowed to say that like Grogu was in the show. I keep, I'm trying to remember what they would say like the creature or the being. Oh, even before the child, because the child was saved for. Yeah. Yeah, they weren't even saying the child.

It was just sort of like the creature. This individual. So good. Third, this is a sequence that really hammers home, the centrality of the hammers and tongs home. I love to see the arms and whip out the tongs. It is just a thrill.

The way and the creed and the guiding principles of this covert of the children of the watch. including how they think about foundlings. What is it? It is a foundling by creed it is in your care, including this idea of the sanctity of a mission. You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature

and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers? This is the way. And tied up in that, because we'll talk more again about the way and the creed as we go. So I won't spend too long on that here. But the thing I really wanted to call out here is the armor.

Romer's role in Dinhart's life and the way that he heeds her guidance, which given the last interaction we see between them, which is in the book of Boba Fett chapter five, really matters. This is the reveal that he took off his helmet. This is a smuggle. This is just a full-on smuggle. I'm just now going to talk about that conversation from chapter five for 45 seconds here. by what if I have that? Do you have that coming up later? Okay.

Then I won't, but I will just note here and we can revisit it when you have it that the fact that he gets that talking to and is like, okay, I guess I have to go be forgiven for my sins really speaks to not only the hold that the way has on him, but the armorer specifically. And I have some questions about whether the Armourer is a character that we and Dan should be trusting and following. Again, something I think that will come up as we go. But long, long, long running fan theory since like the first time we saw the Armourer in season one of the Mandalorian, you see horns on a Mandalorian helmet. You think Maul's supercommando. And if you are a part of Maul's rule, that's a problem for me. I have some concerns.

No matter how hot he may be, it's not great. Okay, this just feels like that in the perfect moment. Steve can you just go ahead and play my next clip. Is this where you had it? Yeah. Oh, wow. Dingerian, have you ever removed your helmet? Have you ever removed your helmet?

I have. Then you are a Mandalorian no more. I beg you for your forgiveness. How can I atone? Leave a post. According to Creed, one may only be redeemed in the living waters beneath the minds of Mandelor. But the minds have all been destroyed. This is the way.

All right. So we are a Book of Bobafet, Chapter 5, Return of the Mandalorian. Great pick. And it had to be here. It had to be here. It had to. Once again, that's Emily Swallows the Armor and John Favro as Pazzyla saying apostate. We have apostate.

State is iconic. It's so good. Okay, so a couple things. Whenever someone breaks out a take on a pot that I don't like in the future, that's what I'm going to say. Leave a post. Couple things. Everything that you just said about, like, whether or not we should be trusting the armor,

blah, blah, blah, din immediately being like, please. And the pleading in his voice here. A real fear. He is so upset to be kicked out of his covert here because, like, yeah, this is his family. He was so vulnerable and scared and alone, and then they took him in, and this is why the armor has such a power over him. Her saying, you are a Mandalorian no more. We're going to revisit this a little later on my list and possibly yours, but, like, Dennis already met other Mandalorians who live a different way by the time he hears this. So when she is defining what a

Mandalorian is, again, we already have conflicting definitions of what a Mandalorian is. So when she says, you are a Mandalorian no more, this is the way we have to be questioning that because we have met other people who don't have permanent helmet hair, you know? And again, and then we get this very evocative mention of the living waters beneath the minds of Mandalore, right? This is a huge, this is the hugest hint we probably have about what we can expect in season three. And I'm, it's such a evocative, beautiful location line in Star Wars. First of all, we know that Mandelor has been, like, as a planet has been decimated. This is explained in Rebels, by Sabine, et cetera.

The idea that we are going to have to physically go to Mandelor and maybe spend a good deal of time there we'll see is something that's interesting about season three. But also, if you think about that location, the living waters beneath the minds of Mandalore. We are then, as Star Wars fans, urged to think about these various underground journeys that are heroes have taken and what they have found there. There's a number in the animated, but like if you're just an OG original trilogy, sequel trilogy person, you have to think about Luke in the caves with Dagaba, or you have to think about Ray in the Mirror Cave and Acto.

Like, these are huge journeys of personal discovery, reconciling with a fractured self. Luke discovering his own face in the Darth Mall mask or Ray discovering her own reflection in this mirror. Din Jarin, as we will continue to talk about as we go up this list, is a character who is deeply divided and conflicted and fractured inside of himself. So what will he find in the living waters beneath the minds of Mandelor? Will it actually help him rejoin this extremist section? he is a part of, will it help him align himself with Bo Catan and her way, or will it help him forge, which is my hope, a new way and a new path, you know, sort of thing? So this is,

confronting self is such a vital part of any hero's journeys, very specifically also Star Wars hero journeys. And then as we'll talk about the Dark Sabre more and more, it's tied very specifically to this very specific weapon, which is such a big part of what we expect to be the plot in season three. So phenomenal pick. My most fervent hope is that the thing Dinn finds in the living waters is not only a sense of self and clarity, but also the literal mythosur of prophecy that is meant to Harold in a new age.

That would be great. That's what I'm hoping for. But also, someone to be like, hey, Dyn, you're a handsome fella. You don't have to wear your helmet all the time. Give the people what they want, which is Pedro Pescal's face, you know? Amazing pick. My next one is also from the season one finale of the Mandalorian. Chapter 8 redemption, so I think I'm clear here.

Steve, can you play my number six? Do it. Do what? Just get it over with. I'd rather you kill me then so am. I told you I am no longer a hunter. I am a nurse droid. IG's are all hunters.

Not this one. I was reprogramed. IG 11 and Grogu speed biking into town to rescue Dinn, grief, and Kara from Gideon's troopers. There are a few different things I want to hit inside of this moment, but the main key idea there is that idea of reprogramming, which connects to, I think, what you were just talking about, Joe.

So I'll come back to that at the end and hit some of the other aspects of this quickly first. One, I wanted to return to this moment just to remember why Gideon was there in the first place and why the imperial remnants are hunting Grogo. That Moth Gideon's speech in episode seven in the penultimate episode of season one as he was preparing to lay siege, you have something, I don't. want. You may think you have some idea what you were a possession of, but you do not. In a few moments, it will be mine. It means more to me than you will ever know, of course, building toward the just all-time moment when Din throws that back in his fucking face in Hall of Formen season two.

But the imperial remnant hunting Grogu for his blood, for his force abilities. Dr. Pershing, think of the Navarro sequence clearing out that old facility and they stumble in into a lab, into a scientific facility, and find this Dr. Pershing Hollow in season two, episode four, I highly doubt we'll find a donor with a higher M count. Do any of us want to be moving toward a palpatine cloning plot? We do not. However, are we without question? Without question.

And so if that's done with the kind of care and deftness that has defined the mandatness that has defined the Mandalorian to date, maybe it will really help overall with how we think about that aspect of the story, regardless, I think in the context of this timeline and this world, we should just never forget why they are hunting Grogu.

Which brings me to his force powers. Also very, I'll just play in a very memorable way in this particular sequence in the season one finale. You know, we'd seen our little gumdrop used the force a few times before and I've obviously seen it many times since he'd fought the mudhorn at this point.

He'd force choked, Kara. He had force healed. Grief Carga. And then here, this is the moment where he rises. This is a great shot behind Q. And he inches off his little ears and the little hair into the frame. And he reaches out with the force. And he bends off the fire from the incinerator trooper's flamethrower.

I mean, this is just top tier good shit. really is. His power display keeps growing to the point where in the Boba Feth finale, he can force connect with an animal. He can lull a rancourt sleep and then take a nap. And he even gets to the point where he's

able to use the force to steal a snack without immediately needing a nap. So the power, the power and his ability to use it is growing in a way that we should also not forget. What will we see him do with the force in season three? And I think when we think about how Groger uses the force too,

when he's doing something bad, when he's doing something good, it's almost always to protect somebody he loves. It's almost always because Dinn or Krogo himself is in peril. And thinking about the way he uses the force in that sense is, I think, important heading into season three, too. Then there's the IG 11 aspect of this, which really stood out to me rewatching. IG11 is just delightful in general in this episode

on the action front, you know, the decimation of, the fucking monstrous scout troopers who hurt Grogo the speeder bike ride into town the way he swirls

about all of that's great but I think he has a really hugely important thematic role here some of that is in the context

of season one for Mando because he's gone from really loathing and mistrusting droids to

embracing IG11 here which shows us that this is a character who despite having been raised in this

really rigid culture is capable of evolution and change and evolving his opinions about the people who are around him in the world. And I think that like the specific clip I picked really stood out to me the most because of that idea of reprogramming. And I think that this connects to what you were chatting about earlier, Joe. It feels like not only for season of three and the journey that Din is about to take to Mandelor, but I think we agree, like a central thesis of the show. and a central preoccupation for the creators, IG-11 went for being a hunter to a nurse. Mando went for being a hunter to a dad.

He has already let go of a lot of the strictness and strictures of the way. He's shown his face when he either needs to or when he wants to. Not going to talk about that here. No doubt that's coming up again. When... And yet, when the armor tells him

that he's not a Mandalorian anymore as you just outlined, like he still thinks that he has to repent, that that he has actually failed in some way. And when Bo and Koska and Axe spoke of the children of the watch in their first meeting in season two, Chapter 3, The heiress, he genuinely did not know what they were talking about. He had no context or frame of reference for the fact that he had been raised in this isolated and distinct. community that the way was just a way, not the way, and that he could maybe make different choices, like you said, or embrace different customs, like you said. And a lot of that is just being exposed

to other characters or having a moment like that with IG. So what does reprogramming look like for Dinn? We've seen a lot of it already. What more will we see in season three? Steve, can you go ahead and play my next clip? I don't even need to check with Maui. Oh. Where did you get that armor? This armor has been in my family for three generations. You do not cover your face. You are not Mandalorian. He's one of them.

Dink Farik. One of what? I am Bokitan of Clan Crees. I was born on Mandelor and fought in the perch. I am the last of my line. And you are a child of the Watch. The Watch? Children of the Watch are a cult of religious zealots that broke away.

zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal was to reestablish the ancient way. There is only one way. The way of the Mandalor. Children of the Watch are religious zealots who follow Chris and Andy. Yeah, it's Boketan Chris, right? Anyway, so this is the Mandalorian season two, chapter 3 or chapter 11, however you prefer to do the counting, the heiress.

As Mallory just mentioned, this is Coscar Reeves, played by Mercedes-Vernardo. Axe-Woves is played by Simon Cassianades and Bo-Kat-Tan. It's played by Katie Sack-off, and this is Boat-Tan's introduction into live action. Katie Sack-off, of course, also voiced Bo in the animated series. And I felt confident to play this because, I'm just say play this like this is a game, but like to do this because this is exactly what you were just talking about, this moment, where Dindjarn meets people who live a different way.

When he is confronted with this idea that like the way, the people, the Mandalrians that he has been around his whole life are considered religious zealots by other Mandalrians. He sees them take their helmets off and he's like, you are not Mandalorians. And they're like, we are Mandalorians. So we just live a different way than the way that you were brought up. And the way that you were brought up was pretty fucked up, actually, to be honest with you. So, again, challenging directly this idea of there is only one way to be what is the definition of a Mandalorian. Bocatan is such an important character. Like Asoka, you know, is to Faloni and Favro, Bocatan.

The way that she's introduced in season two and the way we know. know she's going to be used in season three in the way that she is so important to so many of the Mandalorian arcs in the animated series. Like, this is such an important character, an important introduction, and just an important contrast. Again, it doesn't mean that the journey for, you know, especially as we get into some of the tensions at the end of season two, it doesn't mean that the journey for Dynjarn is away from the children of watch towards Bocatan, because I'm not sure that that's where we're going. But it is, as you say, this sort of idea of like, what, you know, Dindjarn's not necessarily like a super, super sheltered guy.

He's a bounty hunter. He's going around. He's meeting all these people. He's bringing them in warm or cold, like, you know, whatever you prefer. But a key part of a hero's journey is exposure to experience into people, to broaden your worldview, to build your understanding. And so meeting these other Mandalorians is such a key part of his journey. And that is why I have it here halfway.

up my list. I love it. And Bo is in particular, really the perfect character to unlock a lot of that because Beau herself has moved through so many different factions of Mandalorian society, which will come up again later today. Great pick. I love that episode. Great one.

Season two in the Mandalorian is fucking great. But my next pick is not from the Mandalorian. It is from another show that I love. Star Wars Rebels. Season 3, episode 15, trials of the Dark Sabre. Do you have any kind of this, Joe? I have some things from this episode, so this is going to be complicated. Can you get a little more specific for me?

I am specifically selecting at number five on my list, Canaan training Sabine and how to use the Dark Sabre. Okay. I have that high. Yeah. Okay. We will wait then. What's your number four?

My number four is from Clone War Season 3 episode 15. Have you heard of it? Trials of the Dark Saber, but a different moment. And this is when Canaan Jaris is getting a download on some Dark Saber lore from Fenrow. Do you have this higher on your list? I do not have this higher on my list. I have this kind of incorporated into some... Like smuggled into something.

So go for it. Sure. All right. Steve Lee plays, please. I didn't know Mandalorians developed a type of lightsaber. We didn't. This was one of a kind. Legend tells that it was created over a thousand years ago by Tar Vizler,

the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi order. After his passing, the Jedi kept the Sabre in their temple. That was until members of House Vizler snuck in and liberated it. They used the saber to unify the people and strike down those who would oppose them. One time, they ruled all of Mandalore wielding this blade. This saber is an important symbol to that house and respected by the other clans. I imagine Sabine was excited to recover it. You wouldn't know it.

After we got back from Dathamir, she gave it to me for safekeeping and hasn't brought it up since. She doesn't want the responsibility. Canaan, if Sabine can wield this saber, she can reunite one of the most powerful houses in all of Mandelor. You're talking about raising an army with Sabine leading it. All right, there's a lot going on here for folks who have not watched Rebels, season three, episode 15, trials, the Dark Saber. So if you've never seen either Clone Wars or Rebels, Canaan Jaris is a as a Jedi force wielder,

voiced by Freddie Prince Jr. And Fenrow is a Mandalorian voiced by the great Kevin McKitt. It's so fun. Mallory knows him from Rome. Some of you might know him from Grey's Anatomy. but this is like a really fun little sequence. And you might want to just watch it on YouTube if you don't want to watch the full episode because it's basically almost like a Deathly Hallows little animated sequence

where we see sort of in shadow this origin of the Dark Sabre. But there's a few things that are very important about this idea of the origin of the Dark Saber. One is this idea that Tarvisla, again related to all the characters played by John Vavro. was both a Mandalorian and a Jedi. And that's so interesting because, as Mallory has already pointed out, there's a history of Mandalor of the Mandalorians being opposed to the Jedi, right? Very suspicious of the Jedi and sort of developing their armor and their weaponry so that they can defend themselves against the Jedi.

So, Mandalorians versus Jedi is such an important part of this story. But then also when we think about the Medhorn clan of two that Mallory already brought up, that is a force user in Grogu and a Mandalorian and Danjaran. So I think this idea of the Jedi and the Mandalorian and their union around the Dark Saber will be an interesting thing to track, especially since the origin comes from a Mandalorian Tarvisla, who was also a Jedi, right? I think that's just like a really interesting, especially when we think, like, because we're not talking about dark side, light side binary in the Mandalorian.

So what are some of the things they're on balance here? Like, what are we balancing back and forth? Are we balancing Mandalorian ideals and Jedi ideals? Are we balancing sticking to a code versus creating your own code? Like, what are the poles in one direction or another? Who are your people? Where do you belong? All that sort of stuff.

I think that talking about House Fisla and its history, it's important to think about this idea of the Mandalorian and their various houses, They talk about Sabine Ren in this clip. Sabine, a Mandalorian character in Rebels. House Ren is an important house. And Sabine, we should say, has been cast for Soca. Could Sabine debut in live action Amanda Season 3? Absolutely.

Yeah, Natasha Luw Bortizzo is playing her in live action. But this idea of House Ren being important and then these idea of these clans. A clan can be just two people. And I just think that that is really interesting. The history of House Vizla, again, we don't know how much Paz Vizla is going to be involved in season three. But House Vizla is, you know, they forged, so one of their members forged the Dark Saber. They founded Death Watch, as Mallory already mentioned. And they allied with Mahl in overthrowing Soutine.

You know, so like Fisla keeps coming up again and again and again and again. So something to keep an eye on. And the second, Paz Vizla had a chance in Boba Fett to go for the Dark Sabre to challenge it in. He did. He did. And he got dunked on, folks. I have a smuggle here. Do it.

And it's a Clone Wars season five episode 15, Shades of Reason smuggle. Do you have this? No. Okay. Steve, please play this. I claim this sword. And my rightful place is love. leader of Death Watch.

Never. No outsider will ever rule Mandelor. If you will not join me, you will all die. You're all traitors. Unfortunately for you, history will not see it that way. Execute them. Okay, so once again, that is the devastatingly handsome voice of Sam Whitwer, is Darth Mall. And this is when Darth Mall executes pre-Visla.

the John Favreau voice character in the animated series. And Previsla's right-hand woman, Bo Katan of Death Watch, voiced by Katie Sackoff, defects. And the problem here is no outsider will ever rule Mandelaar. And I just think that line is so important. It's so important. I wrote it in my notes. You wrote it in our main notes. It was a quote that really stuck out to us because.

again, as we think about Bo Catan and her conviction that she should rule Mandelor, when she says no outsider to have a room, Mandelor, what does it mean to be an outsider and Mandelor? Is Dindjarn Mandalorian enough

to be the ruler of Mandalor per Bo Katan's Right. You know, when we learn in the Mandelorian, Mandalorian isn't a race, it's a creed. Well, that's, is that what

Bo thinks? It's what didn't thinks. It's what people who have grown up in coverts and as found links think, and hopefully that has been embraced more widely, but maybe not. And then also this, this just like as you, as you already mentioned, like, Paz Vizla in the live action in that episode of Book of Boba Fett goes for the Dark Sabre immediately. And this idea that like people are just constantly killing other people to get their hands on

the Dark Sabre. So Darth Mark, Darth, Darth, Marr, Darth, D'Rexhaver. This is going to be an ongoing pattern. Real, like, trace the Elder Wands bloody the bloody path through history stuff with the Dark Sabre.

I love the pick. I love the smuggle. We're still not done talking about the Dark Sabre, but there was one of the things you said, I actually segues really nicely into my number four.

You mentioned this idea of the union between a Mandalorian and a Jedi inside. of this clan of two. And there have been other moments across the canon

where we've seen Mandalorian characters align and work well with Jedi characters. How does Mando make his way to Asoka in the first place in season two,

Bo points him there because Bo and Asoka have history together. For example, Sabine and Asoka have history together. So when we see this with Dan and Grogo, it's a wonderful magical thing,

but it's not just what's happening between the two of them. It's what Grogo himself represents as a character who is both a Mandalorian and a Jedi. And that brings me to my number four from the book of Boba Fett chapter six from the desert comes a stranger. Do you have anything from this episode? Go for it. Steve. He once said to me, size matters not. That's how he talked. He would speak in riddles. Have you heard anyone talk like that back home? Do you remember back home?

would you like to remember? Let me help you remember. Okay. Luke training Grogu. Luke helping Grogu remember his past. The foundling and the Padawan, right? Still difficult to overstate. Book of Boba Fed overall,

it was an up and down journey. Chapter 6 from the desert comes a stranger, genuinely stolen the best hours of Star Wars ever. I rewatched it. I was like, this fucking rolls. And it is really, I think, still difficult to overstate how cool it was to watch Luke train and Grogu. I am so glad that Grogu left. I will say no more about that for now.

But also so glad that we got to see this for a little bit and see Luke as a flawed and doubt-ridled teacher. You know, let him eat a frog. Luke, stop shooting him with the training remote. Stop forcing these. binary choices upon him. But it gives us all of these other wonderful moments in this stretch. Asoka and Luke discussing

Grogu and Anakin and Din and Grogu's bond and the nature of teaching. You know, Luke saying it's more like he's remembering than I'm actually teaching him and Asoka saying sometimes the student guides the master, the way they talk about the Jedi. The way that Luke says,

sometimes I wonder if his heart is in it. And the emotion and the number of things that are at play for Luke and for this larger quest to rebuild the Jedi as he's looking down at this 50-year-old baby who would be his first student. So much like your father, Asoka, says,

what should I do about him? This doubt, this uncertainty. This is just so crucial. There are so many precious grogum moments in this stretch. You know, the one-eyed tracking of the frog is he supposed to be meditating? The balancing, the knapsack travel, the jumping, the flipping, the squeal of delay when he destroys the training remote, the post-training nap, all of it.

But the real reason that I picked this, absolutely heart-wrenching sequence where, as we just heard, Luke, who is speaking to Grogo, they're taking this walk. Luke is doing these little, like, force pulls to move Groku alongside and step with him. And Luke is talking about Grogu and asks, about Yodagh, excuse me, and asks Grogu if he remembers his past, if he wants to remember his past. And we see despair, despair on sweet Grogu's tiny, wrinkly little face. The trepidation that is visible in his expression as Luke reaches out his hand to put on his head. And then the way that he closes his eyes and succumbs and allows that memory to surface again.

And what do we see? We see Order 66. Baby Grogo, even more of a baby. a 22-year-old button watching from his basket as the Jedi Temple and the Jedi Order falls around him, this drama, this pain, which Assook also mentions in Season 2, episode 5, but put a pin in that. We seemingly see a glimpse of Border 66 in the season 3 trailer, so it feels like we will be returning to this moment and we will get the reveal of this mystery.

Who rescued Grogu from Order 66? Who took him from the Jedi Temple? Or what did Grogu himself do to facilitate an eventual rescue? I just love all of this so much. It is so heartbreaking and sad. It really centers Grogu's Jedi past ahead of his Mandalorian future. And this idea that it doesn't have to be a choice and both of these things can be a part of who he is.

But again, I'll be returning to that idea later. And then, of course, I just have to mention before we leave this moment. The anguish that Mando and Grogu both experience in this stretch of Brogu reaching for his ship, Dyn saying, but I came all this way. He's right there.

I mean, this is just so beautiful and heart-wrenching, and I love it. This is the sequence I was, like, most confident that you would have that so that I didn't have to do it. I can't believe it's at number four. I can't believe it's not higher. It's great. We'll love it.

Great stuff. I love everything you said. I think it's a perfect segue into what I want to talk about next, which is Dark Sabre training. I have a smuggle. I have two Dark Sabre training clips. Shall I do the Book of Boba Fett one and then you could do the Rebels one since you had that lower? Sure. Yeah.

Absolutely. I will say I also have another. Dark Sabre Training one. coming elsewhere in a different way. But yes, I will hit, I'll hit rebels here. This will fit well. Do you have the training from Book of Boba Fett?

I don't. I had that smuggled elsewhere. So, yeah, it's a classic smuggle. So this is perfect. Steve, will you play my clip from Book of Boba Fett, please? You are fighting against the blade. It gets heavier with each. move. That is because you are fighting against the blade. You should be fighting against your

opponent. Stand up. There, feel it. You are too weak to fight the Dark Saver. It will win if you fight against it. You cannot control it with your strength. I want to try again. Persistence without insight will lead to the same outcome. Your body is strong, but your mind is distracted. I am focused. The blade says otherwise. All right, so Mallory is going to talk in a second about this nature of the dark saber and how it's revealed in that Rebels episode.

But I'll just want to hand on a few specific things here. This idea of, you know, fighting the sword, fighting yourself versus fighting your opponent and all that sort of stuff, what you need to be reconciled and centered on. if you were going to yield the dark saber in the first place. Again, there's a lot of rich stuff for mal of mine on that front. But I think this line here, your body is strong, but your mind is distracted. It's such an important moment in this particular Hammer and Tong's training sequence.

Because in this moment, this episode, Dinharn is missing Grogo so much, wanted to get back to Grogo, asking for the little Baskar, you know, shirt for Grogo, all this sort of stuff. And the armorer is talking about this idea of, you know, the Jedi and love and loyalty and all the sort of stuff like that. And just off the back of what you said about Luke, I think this is such an interesting moment of like, your body is strong, but your mind is distracted. And this idea maybe in a certain degree of like love or longing being a weakness or being a distraction.

and that's something, you know, attachment is something we talk about a lot when we talk about the Jedi and strengths and weaknesses. So I have to think and hope and wish that the direction that the Mandalorian is going in this TV series is that DIN's attachment, but not the negative attachment that we talk about that obsessive attachment, but rather the more helpful, wholesome, clan of two love for another, opening yourself. up to the vulnerability of caring about something else, that that is going to be a strength and a thing that actually unites the, you know, internal division that is at war with itself inside of Dynchart. So what do you want to say about Dark Sabre Training, Mallory Riemann?

So that was your number three. Yeah. The Dark Saber Training moment that I picked was my number five, but the thing you just had at number three, I had smuggled into my number five. So it's perfect to talk about these two together. Steve, can you play my little mini clip here for my number five? There's Paul.

Can you feel it? That sword is old, heavy, but powerful. Respected strength. This is from again, Trials with Dark Sabre, Season 3, Episode 15 of Star Wars Rebels. This is one of the best episodes in the animated Star Wars First period. Great stuff. We've had multiple moments from it.

Just watch the whole episode. When we get to our animated watch this later, we're going to say, if you just watch one, make it this. So watch this episode. This connects, I think, exactly to what you were just saying. Again, I'll just spoil that I have another entry coming on the Dark Sabre. And that one will be on what the Dark Sabre represents to other people. This one is about the bond between, as you just outlined, blade and wielder.

First of all, magical blades with minds, souls, intentions. I mean, that's just like extremely, extremely arshunders. shit. Yeah. So I had to have this on here, of course. And the way that Canaan talks about the blade, this is another sequence that gets into this history between the Jedi and the Mandalor, because Canaan is approaching this from the perspective of a Jedi, a Jedi knight. There are multiple moments in this episode where Hera calls out Canaan for not approaching training with Sabine, a Mandalorian, but not. a force user, the same way that he did with Ezra, which is fascinating in a really rich text.

And throughout this conversation and this training sequence and this episode, Canaan is not just talking about the blade, but much like you just outlined Joe, and this was why I smuggled the book of Boba Fett armor or Dinn's sequence, that conflict within. And for Sabine here, what is causing that is this guilt and shame that she's carrying about her own family. history, the mistakes that she thinks she made, how she thinks she failed her family and Mandelor. And again, like, even though the specifics are different, it's very of a piece heading into season three with like, what do the choices that I make mean for this larger idea of Mandelor and how we preserve and protect and nurture that and how we keep it safe from

other people? In Sabian's case, the empire. In Din's case, also the empire, but other factions of Mandalorians as well. Canaan says your thoughts, your actions, they become energy, they flow through the crystal as well and become part of the blade. It makes me think of Serio and aria. Like the blade must be a part of your arm. Can you drop a part of your arm? You know, this idea of really being a one, which is a beautiful and like poetic idea. But the flip side of that being what you already identify beautifully, if there's a beautiful and, like, poetic idea, but the flip side of that being what you already identify beautifully, if there are parts of you that are elsewhere,

that shouldn't be a bad thing. The characters in this world should be able to have the capacity to think about something other than just the one task or creator mission in front of them. Sabine, there's a moment where she says, the blade feels lighter. And Canaan tells her you're connecting with it. It's becoming a part of you.

And then there's a lot of tension, the sequence, he spits at her in this one moment. You're not fighting me. You're fighting yourself and losing. Well, part of the reason you fight yourself is if other people tell you you have to. And that's what's happening for our guy Dingerian right now, isn't it? Why does he have to fight the part of himself that wants to be with Grogu in order to properly wield the Dark Sabre?

Hopefully that will not be where he finds himself in season three. I love the Dark Saber. Me, you're fighting, yeah, you're not fighting me. You're fighting yourself and losing is what I have bolded and underlined and italicized in my, like, section here. It's a great line. Canaan's awesome. You're not, you're fighting yourself and losing, again, I think feels very like Luke finding his own head in the Vader helmet in the cave, right? Like, that's, you're at war with yourself.

You're at war with aspects of yourself. This idea that, like, Luke in Empire hates, you know, hates the dark side, like, is not reaching out for understanding. right in a way that he ultimately will in order to win the day in the end. And I think that I do want to get really briefly into the reason I think the Dark Sabre is such an interesting weapon for this particular character

and this particular moment in the story goes back to this thing that I like to think about a lot when it comes to magical, mythical, genre weapons, which is the association between the weapon and the original wound,

the thing that, like, made you in the first place. I talk about this sometimes. There's this, like, really famous literary essay called The Wound and the Bow is by Edmund Wilson, and it's about the Trojan War and philictides and stuff like that. But, like, this idea, I... An English professor of mine talking about that essay, which is not really about this,

started talking about this idea of, like, when your weapon, when your strength is connected to your original wound, that is such a potent story. So we think about a myth like Superman, Superman's super strength comes from being exiled from his planet. He has pushed out of his planet and thus has super strength on our planet. Or you think about Batman sort of cloaking himself in his own trauma, right? The symbol of the bass, you know, specifically how Nolan decided to depict it, but like this idea of just like cloaking yourself, armoring yourself in your trauma. And so, like, Dinhard walking around in this Mandalorian armor, which is so, this Bessgar, which is so protective for him, but is also just, like, so tied to that original purge memory that he has.

And in his particular case, quite literally, the Baskar handed to him by the Imperial Remnant and took it from the Night of a Thousand Tears. Yeah. Exactly. And then this idea that the saber is tied somehow to this like fracturing of his identity. Again, that is just such strong storytelling where it's not just like a sword you pull from a stone that has no connection to like, you know, or that like some watery tart flung at you from a pond. But it's like this thing that is so that the way to wield it, you have to move through these foundational, emotional, internal, turmoil issues, makes me really, really excited for season 3.

I love that so much. I think of that, too, with sweet little Grogu's shirt, which I won't talk about too much here, but what is it made from? It's made from the Baskar Spear, which is a symbol of Mandalorian strength and might, but to the armorer was a threat.

Well, that's the one thing that can pierce Baskar, that can harm us, and turning that into then a shield. is. Well, and that whole sequence from rebels that you were just referencing, during that fight, Sabine, like, her breakdown comes from her involvement in creating this weapon. The target specifically.

Baskar. Besscar. The Duchess. That she helped create, you know. She carries a lot of regret as you would, too, if you created for the empire a super weapon that could cook your people alive inside of their Baskar suits. But it's not great. We love a character on an arc.

For regrets, we have a few. We love a character on an arc. Okay, so you did your number three, so that's my number two, takes me to my number three? Yeah, what's your number three? Because you have, yeah, you have two more after the, okay. Yes, I'm on my number. I still have my three, two, and my one. Yeah.

So my number three is from the Mandalorian, season two, episode five, which is chapter 13, the Jedi. Nope. Steve, please play my clip. Is he speaking? Do you? Understand him. In a way, Grogu and I can feel each other's thoughts. Grogu?

Yes. That's his name. Grogu. A sequence that features three of my favorite characters ever. Just basically sitting around in front of the moon talking about life. There was no way this wasn't going to make my list. But it's not just because it's a favorite and I love it. I think it's very relevant for everything that has.

hasn't unfolded since and everything that's yet to come. I'll do a quick little, like, kind of extra credit smuggle here, too, because this is the episode, this is obviously Assoca's live action, intro, which is just like still for me an all-timer. But this is where we get Asoka's, where is Grand Admiral Thrawn call out? And while we are all collectively assuming that Thron will be very central to the Asoka show,

completely again in bounds that he could just suddenly, surprisingly appear in Mando season three, I would actually... Somehow, Thrawn returns. Exactly. Exactly. So I'm keeping my eyes out for that. Also, this is another area just inside of this episode where we get another Jedi

Mandalorian team up with Mando and Asoka fighting against the magistrate to return this village. This is also where the Baskar Spear that becomes the shirt comes from. The primary reason, though, that I've selected this here is what we just heard. It's Asoka communing with Grogu. It's where we learn Grogu's name. It is so funny to me now to return to this because at the time, I, like, I think the bulk of the people watching was like, are we sure? Brogu? Are we sure?

And now, like, I literally cannot imagine his name being anything else. And I do love the way that they've embraced that fan response. and incorporated it into the story, like in Boba, when Pellie sees him, just like, Grogu, whoa, that's a terrible name. Sorry about that, pal. No way, I'm calling you that. But now he is Grogu Daws, and he can never be anything else. And we hear, like, the hearing Dane call him Grogu,

and the way that he coos and chirps in response, it is just so touching and wonderful and just genuinely really meaningful to me, and I love it. This is all very top of mind for me here because, so this kind of emerged as, like, a throughline. as I was making my list, the bulk of what we have learned about Grogu has come from other characters,

not from Din and Grogu as a duo. Some of it's been the armorer, like explaining this history between Mandalorians and the Jedi. A lot of it has been Asoka and Luke. So one of my questions heading into season three is like, what does that journey of shared discovery look like for Din and Grogu?

Their bond has been fierce and has just forged ahead, what does their communication look like as it continues to evolve, what is just the two of them? I'm really, like, so interested and eager to see how that looks. This is, of course,

where we get a lot of really crucial backstory for Grogu, learning where that he was raised at the Jedi Temple, the many masters who trains him. We hear from Masoka here. At the end of the Clone Wars, when the empire rose to power,

he was hidden. Someone took him from the temple. Then his memory becomes dark. He seemed lost. alone. And Grogu looks so sad here. I already mentioned, like, we think we will just get the answer to that mystery and learn what happened. But the way that that was, this connects to what you were saying, Joe, about this wound, right? The way that that history and that trauma and that wound has defined these years of Grogu's lonely sequestered life, learning from Asoka that he had to

hide his abilities to keep himself safe. I mean, it's just hard. heart-wrenching, absolutely heart-wrenching. And I love the moment here, too, when Mando explains his task to Osoka, you know, that he's, I had to get him to a Jedi. Osama said, the Jedi order fell a long time ago. Now, there's a lot tied up in that for her, which we'll talk about it another time. But Dynne's saying, so did the empire, yet it still hunts him. Like, that always gives me a chill.

this idea of what remains after you think something is gone. All of that in the first conversation builds into this training session the next day. We get some great stuff here. We get sports dad din. You know, from the he's stubborn,

which is just so hysterical into how happy and thrilled and proud he is when Grogo uses the force to take the little razor crest metal sphere. Love that little ball. It's just so precious. But it builds eventually to Assoca telling

din that she can't train Grogu, that she won't train Grogu, that she sees too much of Anakin in him, meaning, as we've mentioned a few times, say that she sees too much fear and too much attachment in him. And it's just heart wrenching. She says he's formed a strong attachment to you. I cannot train him. What? Why not? You've seen what he can do. His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears, his anger. All the more reason to train him. No. I've seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight, the best of us, I will not start this child down that path.

So it was in the moment, part of why I love Asoka so much is because she's this character who broke free of the Jedi order and forged her own path and made her own decisions. And so to hear her echoing some of these sentiments

that we very much associate with the Jedi way was so sad, but then also you understand it because of everything that happened with Anakin in the way that those scars and those wounds have shaped Asoka's regret and remorse in a very intimate and personal way. And so again, this is another moment where Ken Dian and Grogu break free of the fear, not of the attachment, but of the fear of attachment, of the way other people

talk about attachment as this thing that hampers you or limits you or leads you astray. And they have so far, you know, despite on each side, the rigidity of the Mandalorian way and the rigidity of the Jedi way. And so can they continue to like, we've, this has come up in so many of our moments. I'm not surprised that this has been one of the main beats. Like,

this central focus of the story, let's make our own way together. And it doesn't have to be like either of these groups said that it was. So I just, I love that. And much like Bo is like the perfect character to unlock a lot of the mandolore specific stuff we talked about with Dan. Asoka is for Grogu too,

because, you know, this independent person who did things differently and still has some of the same concerns that other characters do. It's fascinating. Sweet Grogo. I love him. That moment where Assoca's holding him in profile with the moon behind them. Maybe I got like a full back. It's a beautiful episode. It's great.

Really, really beautiful episode. I love that I could count on you. Like, I have no Asoka moments because I knew that you would hit the Assova beats for us. Had to do it. All right. What's your number two? My number two comes from the Mandalorian Season 2 Chapter 15, The Believer. Do you have anything from this?

A smuggle, but not a pick. Go for it. All right. You're about to hear the voice of both Peter Pascal ever heard of him and Bill Burr as Miggs Mayfield. Steve play the clip, please. Do you really think all those people that died in wars fought by Mandalorians actually had a choice? So how are they any different than the Empire? Look, if you were born on Mandelor, you believe one thing.

If you're born on Alderon, you believe something else. But guess what? Neither one of them exist anymore. Hey, I'm just a realist. I'm a survivor, just like you. Let's get one thing straight. You and I are nothing alike. I don't know.

Seems to me like your rules start to change when you get desperate. I mean, look at you. You said you couldn't take your helmet off, and now you've got a stormtrooper one on, so what's the rule? Is it that you can't take off your Mando helmet or you can't show your face? because there is a difference.

Look, I'm just saying. We're all the same. Everybody's got their lines they don't cross until things get messy. As far as I'm concerned, if you can make it through your day and still sleep at night and doing better than most.

It's so good. Bill Burr is hilarious because this is a comedian that I don't often love, but then he keeps showing up on shows that I love and doing incredible performances. So what am I going to do? Shout at Reservation.

So, I love Miggs-Mayfield as a character, and I love his role in this episode. This is the penultimate episode of season two. And this is second time Dingerin takes his helmet off, but like the first he takes it off sort of almost by choice, I guess. The first time was like life or death, right? You need the back to spray on your head. Yeah. IG-11 is telling you he's not a person, which I found heart-wrenching. Yeah. This is I need to take the helmet off to unlock the thing to try to get my kid back, right? And I, so we need to think about like what put Dinn in that mindset that he could do that, that he was willing to do that. And a lot of it comes back to this conversation earlier in the episode that he has with Miggs, which is just sort of like it piggybacks perfectly on the point you were just making about forge your own way, right? Make your own choices. What is your creed? What is your credo? What is your code?

When do you bend it? When do you break it? When do you move it? Should you be so rigid, Dindjarn, and your ideas about this? Or should you, like me, Miggs Mayfield, understand that rules don't apply in every single situation. And sometimes you have to figure out what makes sense in the moment. And so this really key moment for Dind Jarn to take his helmet off, not the last time he takes his helmet off, but a key moment where he takes his helmet off. And this whole conversation about that, I just, I, this almost could have been my number one, actually. Like, I just think this is such an important unlocking of for something inside of Dinger to understand. Again, he's been raised with such a rigid code. This is the way. Okay, maybe there are other ways to do things. What, you know, what is the rule? And should you make your own rules?

Okay. Right. That's something. And think about those rules and think about what they mean. That's a great, it's a great pick. I love it. phenomenal episode. Have we mentioned that season two with Mitt, Lori? It's fucking great. A banger.

Amazing pick. You're down to just your number one, right? So there's, you don't have this because I feel sure we have the same number one. So, sort of. So I think we can safely play my, my number two, Steve. Now it belongs to her. She can't take it. It must be won in battle. In order for her to wield the Dark Sabre again. She would need to defeat you in combat. I yield. It's yours.

Oh, no. It doesn't work that way. The Dark Saber doesn't have power. The story does. Without that blade, she's a pretender to the throne. He's right. Come on, just take it. Okay. This is from the Mandalorian season two finale, The Rescue. This was the other slice of the dark saber pie that I teased. We talked about how you bond with it, how you wield it, how you forge that connection. Well, what is everyone else who sees that or doesn't see that? Think about it. That's going to be really important in season three of the Mandalorian.

How does the Dark Saber pass and what does that mean for? the citizens of Mandelor. What do you need to do to earn that recognition? Dean beats Moff Gideon in single combat and wins the Dark Saber. Everyone knows, including the viewers at home, that that is what Boatatat is after because she has said it many times since she has been in the show, including mentioning needing him to surrender to her. Dean has no idea what this means when he has this hilt in his hand.

But we need one glimpse of Bocahah's face when she sees it in his hands to know what it means to her. And the absolute glee that Mom Gideon oozes here when he's sensing. The evil chuckle. Giancarlo. Tremendous stuff here. Amazing. He knows. Here it is a little crack that can be.

comachasm, the story of the history of Mandelor, right here yet again. We've chatted a lot out a lot of ways that that has manifested with the Dark Sabre and just Mandalorian strife in general. A couple of the quotes that we haven't talked about that are emblematic, you know, when we were learning more about the Dark Saber canon in the Mandalorian, there was a lot of conversation. I remember chatting about this on Ringer Pause, a discussion in the fan base about like, what was new, what was additive, what had we just learned in real time? We did have some prior canon about this need to have won it,

but it was pretty minor. This is like a real centering and fleshing out of that aspect of the mythology. But if you go back to Rebels, season three episode 16, Ursa, Sabine's mom, when she sees that Sabine has the Dark Sabrever, asks where she got it,

Sabine says from Mall, and then Ursa says, you want it from him in combat? Sabine replies, uh, not exactly. She just literally finds it on Dathamira. We'll quickly mention that later in our watch list. And Ursa says, then you have no claim to it.

Sabine replies, while I'm holding it, that's a pretty good claim. And her mother says, anyone can hold the dark saber. The trick is keeping it along with your head. Now, zoom way forward from Rebels to BobaFat. Chapter 5, yet again, that amazing stretch with the armorer, where we get some prophecy downloading that we had not previously had before, the armor saying that if the Dark Saber is won by Creed in battle,

it is said one warrior will defeat 20 and the multitudes will fall before it. If, however, it is not won in combat and falls into the hands of the undeserving, it will be a curse unto the nation. Mandelor will be laid to waste and its people scattered to the four wins. There's a real Various power,

resides where men believe it resides aura around the Dark Sabre. But for Bo Catan in particular, her history is inextricable from that. And her sense of failure is tied up in that download from the armorer there. Well, people laid away scattered to the four winds, curse upon our nation. That's what happened. Sounds like Medallor. So what is Boe's history with the Dark Sabre? I mean, we've talked to. about a little of this, how she was a member of, she's a knight owl, she was a member of Death Watch. Visla's basically chief lieutenant,

splits off into this resistance after Mall took over, briefly regent of Vandalore, cast out by the empire, and then is gifted the dark saber. Sabine in Rebels gives it to her. We will talk about that episode

a little bit more in our watch list, but Sabine says in that moment, it's Rebel Season 4 Episode 2, you have the wisdom of a ruler, there's no one I trust to the Dark Sabre more than you and I am not alone. Bo takes it. The clans bend the knee. They toast her as ruler.

And we have a lot of blanks to fill in about what happened after. But we know the big thing, which is that she lost the Dark Sabre to Gideon and the purge unfolded. She's been hunting to get that back because she needs, she believes she needs to say, I won this by force. The iron price. Like, I won it by might. I took it.

Nobody gave it to me. And so I am worthy of your belief. And you can follow me as a leader what that means not only to house Vizla, to Klan Vizelah, but to Mandelor overall. So Dinn having it and being in full John Snow, I don't want it. Don't want it. Territory. And just trying to hand it back to her again, the agony of that of finally having it within reach.

And it's the same offer that doomed you last time. That is just so delicious from a storytelling perspective. I just wish that Bo had given him all the information. She did it. She's like, I have to do it. She has been like, it's the same thing that happens in the musical Into the Woods, which is a reference that everyone has at their fingertips, right? But it's just sort of like, give me all the information.

Evil sorceress and or Bocatan, give me all the detailed information. And I won't touch the hair. Or, you know, I won't let you touch it. Anyway, so it's like, it's like. Sorry to ramble, but like, well, if she had just said, put your helmet back on, she would have been more forthright.

If she had just said, I need to take it from him. If you just hand it to me, I can't take it that way. Right. He would have not done that. Let me tell you about my downfall. It's happening.

It's happening in the first place. It's true. But that didn't happen. And so it positions us for this huge season for both, Katan and Dinn and their dynamic. Will they unite and lead Mandelor? Will Dyn lead Mandelor?

Will Dyn lead Mandelor? Will Grogo lead Mandelor? Will these characters? Bo try to take the Dark Sabre by force? Exactly. Will they be allies or foes? Because if she thinks she needs it, and what's one of the things that we hear in one of the trailers for season three,

your cult fractured our people? Now, again, she has a very direct and intimate connection to Death Watch that makes that a little bit rich. But it also is one more thing positioning them to be adversaries. And we go all the way back to that front meeting. You know, there's the attempts to like recruit into her cause, but this is a real hurdle and barrier for her. And so the options are for them to fall out for her to try to take it like you're

saying, Joe, or for them individually or collectively to say, fuck this. Why does this thing need to be true? Why do we need to let the story have that much weight? Let's write a different story. And so maybe it can be another example of that reprogramming, of taking something that has been this dogma, this holy word in a society, in a group, in a sect, whatever the case may be. And having the people who adhere to that interrogated a little bit. I would really love that. I don't know if that's what will happen immediately.

I think Bo might make a move for the saber. I won't be surprised if that's what happens. But my hope is that something that could divide them, could be yet another pitfall, this recurring pattern for Mandelor, is a way that they can maybe forge yet again a new way together. That's my hope. Love the Dark Sabre. It's great.

If I were Dindjorn. Yes. I would, oops, drop the Dark Saber into the Living Water beneath the minds of Mandelor. and just say, I don't have it, man. Does that count, though? I don't even know. I mean, does it?

I don't know. Sabine, like, just picked it up essentially, right? Like, well, I mean, that gets to this interesting kind of, like, trail of possession. Because, like, I think you can make the case that actually Palpatine really is the one who has power over it at that point. Because he beat real elder one energy. By the transitive. property. It's actually Dr.

It's actually Draco Malfoyce. So I don't know what to tell you. Exactly. We're at number one. Yeah. It's the same, right?

Well, I teased for you before the pod, Joe, that I did something even by my standards and by the house of our smuggle standards that is egregious here, which is

yes, we have the same number one, but also we don't because my number one is a clan of two. I have two much. moments from different episodes and frankly different shows that I have combined into one super moment. But one of them is the moment that you have, I'm sure. So should we just start with my moment and then go to yours?

We can play the we can play the back to back and then talk about it all together. Okay, let's play them back to back. Steve. He go on. That's who you belong with. He's one of your kind. I'll see you again. I promise.

It's time to go. Be afraid. My smuggle then. In order to master the ways of the force, Jedi must forego all attachment. That is the opposite of our creed. Loyalty and solidarity are the way. I have this as a smuggle here too. Classic.

Amazing. Okay, do you want to continue to play yours or talk about anything here? I think it'll be very nice progression to hear them all at the top. All right, let's hear Mallory. Look who's here. What? Hey, what are you doing here? Oh, okay, little guy.

I'm happy to see you too. I didn't know when I'd see you again. It's okay. Yeah, I missed you too, buddy. But we're in a bit of a bind here right now. Be careful. You keep your head down. You stay hidden until the fight's over.

Hey, that's the shirt. You got the shirt. Oh. Departure and reunion. Remember how we were like, if we know one thing, we know they're not going to reunite Grogo and Dingerin in not their own show. But that is indeed what they did in Book of a little bit. Okay.

So the departure. Yes. I want to say a couple things. Obviously, this is the third moment that Dyn Jarn takes the helmet off, the big moment. CGA Luke Skywarker's there. Artu's there. That's great. He takes the helmet off just because it's clear that Grogh wants it to.

Grogo reaches out his little hand to the helmet, right? And then he takes it off and then Groghoku puts his little hand on Dindjarn's face, and we have to understand that nobody has done. Like, no, I mean, there's back to spray. No one has touched in Jaron's face with, like, love and affection since he was a tiny child, since his parents died. And the look on Pedro Pascals' face when that little Muppet paw, you know, taps at his little cheek is so important. There's a couple other things in the text here that we should talk about. Number one is like, is one of your kind, right?

It's your kind, Jedi being like, and this was the ongoing mystery of like, get Grogu back to his kind. So we're like, a planet of Yoda's, but it was like, no, the Jedi are his kind. Okay, but like really what we discovered a book of Bobafed is like, Dejarnas is kind. It's not Luke and it's not the Jedi order, right? Clan of two. And then also, and again, it's so interesting to hear the voice. change between like hearing Pedro Pascal's voice through the helmet versus like just with the helmet off when he says don't be afraid.

I mean, it's so clear that he's like both talking to Grogu but also himself. So beautiful. And again, it goes back to the point that you've been touching on again and again, which is idea of attachment and fear. And it's like, don't be afraid, you know, to go without me or to miss me or to all. all the sort of stuff, like that fear that goes with love and with distance and with reunion and separation and all that sort of stuff. So it's just like, I mean, I, I will say, I liked, I loved the Mandalorian season two. I was not one of the people who, like, loved the use of

Luke Skywalker there. I had some issues with it. But, like, divorcing myself entirely from that and just focusing on this, like, Grogu, Dingerian separation and the little hand on the face. absolutely decimated me as I was putting this list together. So this is my number one. I couldn't pick anything else. And yeah, and then like what the armor says about the Jedi Cretto forego attachment, the children of the watch Cretto, loyalty and solidarity are the way. Just feeds back in this thing we keep talking about, this idea of like, I mean,

Grogu leaves, and we'll talk about your reunion. moment in a second, but like Grogu leaves Luke and Asoka, et cetera, because the Jedi way is not the way for Grogu and all of this. So the Jedi ideals of attachment, unhealthy attachment, healthy attachment that you and I have been critiquing the Jedi order for as long as we've been podcasting together. It was something to think about and this idea of like loyalty and solidarity, but to what end? How far does that go for Deniz? Who are you loyal and in solidarity with, to and with?

In solidarity with your clan of two, your child, your little grok, or with, you know, the religious death cult that raised you. You're right. So all of that sort of in the mix as these two go forward. Incredible stuff. I'm so emotional right now. This is just, I think part of the reason that I felt like I had to bundle these was obviously just so I can get another moment on the list.

But because they do feel the Mando season two finale and then this moment of reunion in the Book of Boba Fett finale, there are halves of a whole. You know, that whole heart and family and clan that they've forged together, their one wolf and cub, clan of two, they're found. family and their way that they're forging together. The parting in season two, everything you said I agree with, it is just like a perfect television moment. It is so moving and sweet and wonderful.

What did to get back there? This is where when you asked if I had anything from the believer where I met I, when I said I had a smuggle, it's here for exactly what you said, Joe. like it is amazing on a rewatch. You really appreciate how there's that progression of why he takes off the helmet. Okay, I need to stay alive. Back to spray. Okay.

Need to be able to find where Gideon is where that light cruiser is. And now just desire. The want in my heart. I want to look at him with my own eyes and I want him to see my face. And I know that it's what he wants. And, you know, you mentioned the he's one of your kind part, and the line that directly precedes that is that's who you belong with. And it's like, is it? It's not. They belong with each other. The reaching out with his little hand to the helmet, it's just perfection. And when we find the look on Pedro's face, the touching of the jaw, it's absolute bliss. When I was putting that clip together, like sometimes when I put clips together, I'll clip out like chunks of score or chunks of silence just to like... The changing of the score is so beautiful there.

So Steve doesn't have like a five minute long clip that he has to play for us. But like I couldn't clip out all of that score because the score, it's like, it's there. The I am sure we'll hear it again. It's the Grogo and Den like theme. And yeah, it's just very important. It's so, so, so beautiful. And like it's a moment too that really crystallizes a lot of what we've been discussing today. Like, okay, you're doing something there that is a violation.

that the person you follow and who guides you tells you is a violation. But it feels right. It feels more right than maybe anything you've done in the last couple decades of your life. So can that be wrong? What would it mean if that were wrong? Like you can't live a life or something that feels that right is wrong. You just can't. And Dyn becoming this character beat by beat by beat by beat who does things for Grogu

and thus for himself that he's unwilling to do for. for anyone else or has not previously been willing to do for himself. It's just a beautiful bond to watch in real time. The sadness on the faces is they're parting, that longing, that love, the way that Krogo holds onto his leg. I just can't. It's too much because they don't want to be apart from each other, but they think they have to be, which is why I felt like I had to include the reunion as a part of this moment.

And before we get the reunion, we get that terrible. forced saber or shirt choice. Shameful shit from Luke Skywalker. But the choice that Grobu makes, it fills us with hope and joy. When we see him on Tasmania, when we realize what he has decided, we know he picked Mando.

We know he picked his dad. We see the little glint of the Mithril, the Baskar's shirt. And it's not just that he chose the shirt, that he chose returning to be. in is that it's specifically rejected the idea that he would be giving into attachment, which is what Luke said to him. He rejected that.

And he embraced connection. And he's had the courage to do something that very few characters have. And I think that's fucking awesome. And he rolls. And then in the midst of this absolutely chaotic, frankly, more befuddling than I remembered when I revisited it, paddle. We get this beautiful little reunion. We did not, as you know, to have to wait until season three.

The forced jump hug. Oh my God. Just the cutest thing that has ever happened. It's just the cutest thing that we have ever had the privilege to see. The honor. The privilege. And so these moments belong together not just because their bookends, but because what they represent, the strength of this bond,

the depth of their devotion to each other, and the fact that they are willing to do something for the other one, that the people around them in their lives have told them time and time again, This is blasphemous. This is a violation. It's like, no. It violated the way to remove his helmet. Grogu violated the Jedi order.

Then this new version of it that Luke is trying to rebuild. And that is a good thing. And this is where Joe, I had the exact same armorer. A clip smuggled in here, too. In part because I think even though Dyn's response there is that that's the opposite of our creed, it's really the parallel that stands out in terms of, of the unyielding, unflinching nature of both of those dogmas. And so when you have those really strong, forceful guardrails there, you need something equally

strong. It's like the best gar and the best gar spear, right? You need something equally strong to break free of that. And their bond is the best gar spear in this case. It's the one thing that can pierce through. Are you saying that love is a dagger? Love is a dagger. Oh, boy.

The way is the friends we made along the way. So here we are. Clan Mudhorn. I'm just remembering I have Clan Mudhorn sneakers. I should have worn them today. I've seen your Darksever. I've seen your Boca Tan helmet. And you're telling me you've got Mudhorn sneakers.

Yeah. As you know, I have multiple Grogu's as well. I can see one right now over your shoulder. I'm particularly particular about my Grogumers because you have to capture the cuteness. It's difficult to do. It's difficult to do. He's very special. should we do a rapid fire run-through of our animated watch list?

If you want the advanced prep, the episodes that you should target. Let's do it. We're going to start with Star Wars, the Clone Wars. Season two, episodes 12, 13, and 14, the Mandelor plot, Voyage of Temptation, Duchess of Mandelor. Not relevant for this pod, but Voyage of Intentation, just all time, Obi-1, Sateen stuff. If you want to understand, you want to understand the core of Mallory's, like, Satine Obi-One thing,

you gotta watch that arc. Absolutely. Have to. We've chatted about most of this already today. We can keep this one really quick. This is the Mandelor Modern Canon introduction,

a lot of the bloody history, the civil strife. We're in Sundari, so when you see the ruins of Sundari in the Season 3 trailer, you're like, wait, I spend time there. Oh, boy, what a tragic future awaits.

That's just Sotene, her key role as this political figure in Mandolar's past. Bo is Sotene. sister, a lot of family drama there, the Death Watch intro, Klan Visla, this terrorist cell,

the things that they do, I mean, our intro to Death Watch is that there's a bombing and the Capitol, like, they're up to some really fucked up shit, and the Dark Sabre intro. So really worth checking out

this arc. It's great. Season 3, episodes 5 and 6, Corruption in the Academy, I would say, are less essential. Yes. Definitely.

This is, like, a, Asoka and her journey over onto Mandalore, we do get the introduction of a character called Quarky. Are you a corky as Satina and Obi-One's kid, Truther? Are you in on this theory or no? I am for you, like to support you. I actually don't know if I believe this, but I do like it. I do find it weird that, like, corky is another member of House Creeze, and we have no idea.

We know that Satina is his quote-un-un-un-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aunt. Aunt, and he's got another aunt, but who's his... But who are his parents? Parents, yeah. But this is, you know, as the first episode title connotes corruption, like, this is just exploring corruption on Mandelaura. And there's a progression of a character through these various arcs that maybe it's interesting to see this as a step along the way, but again, not essential.

What about season four? Season four, episode 14, a friend and need, I think is worth watching. This is Asoka versus Death Watch. It's Bo Catan's intro. So it's worth watching for that reason alone, though you gotta kind of like track her signature helmet. You're with a lot of members of Death Watch. The reason that I say this is essential,

in addition to the Jedi Mandalorian, warring aspect of this, is because this is a real, oh yeah, Boca Tan was a terrorist episode. And like we kind of can't forget, get that. We love our redemption arc. And Star Wars certainly loves a redemption arc.

But the things that Death Watch does in this episode to the community that they have taken over, it's appalling. Appalling. And so yes, it is true that Bocatan breaks away from that. But she didn't break away from it because they were doing things like this. Yeah. Because they killed her boss.

I'm like genuinely curious to see how much of that comes up in the live action. Like, are they like, oh boy, this is something we really need to account for? I know. Like, yeah, exactly. To your earlier point, it's like kind of rich for her to talk about cults and sex that destroyed Mandelar when she was part of Death Watch. But that's okay.

Since you love this season five episodes so much, do you want to hit season five and I'll hit season seven? Yeah. So we chatted a little bit about this. This is season five episodes 14, 15, and 16. Joe, you had some great mall nuggets from part of, this arc here earlier, I would just say the Lawless is my favorite Clone Wars episode. It's a 1A and 1B with the wrong Jedi, but this is just absolutely incredible Obi-Wan setan episode that

shreds me to me to my core every time I rewatch it. And I would highly recommend that everybody watched this entire arc in full. But as discussed earlier, as came up on the pod previously, this is Mall's takeover on Mandelor. This is the Mall Death Watch Alliance, the Mall pre-All really a good stretch for for seeing what it looks like when Mandelor's susceptibility to outside influence and control plays out. This is relevant for what happens with Moff Gideon

and more broadly, the empire's influence on Mandalore in the ensuing years in the canon here. Tease this long-running fan theory about the armor being maybe a former Mall Supercommando. You can get a good look at that in this stretch here. The Mandalorian soldiers, the members of Death Watch, who do side with Mall

and have this horned helmet look, you're going to watch that and say, boy, that looks familiar to me. Yeah, armor. I don't know about you. Boy, that looks familiar to me. And then again, this is a really key stretch for Dark Sabre dueling and, like, transference.

Everything you teased earlier, Joe, about Ball eliminating, besting pre-Visla and claiming the Dark Sabre here. And then this is the Bogotan Turn Stretch. So it's worth watching for that, too. This is where Bo splinters off, forms this resistance, and refuses to follow Moll because of what you noted earlier. An outsider. An outsider.

Some other tragic stuff happens in that, that I won't spoil. I'll let you all discover it on your own. But it's enjoy. So good, though. All right. So season seven, this is, so episode nine and 10, old friends not forgotten and the Phantom Apprentice, The Phantom of Presentist, is the one that I called out is my favorite Clone Wars episode. Mal has also included, for extra credit, episodes 11 and 12 that immediately follow it, shattered in victory

and death. They're just so good. Yeah. So season seven, if you don't know, season seven of Clone Wars, the final season of Clone Wars, there was a long break between season season six and season seven. People never knew if we would get this. Yeah, we didn't know we were going to get season seven and all, if there would ever be, like, full closure on this story, et cetera.

but they got, you know, Filoni, given his increasing clout in Lucasville, basically got to wrap up Clone Wars with Season 7 here. And I would say, with love and respect to seasons 1 through 6 of Clone Wars, this is a real jump both in story writing and animation quality, I think. So season 7 is just like high, high, high, high caliber. The final art in particular is just unbelievably good. Unbelievable good. But so like this Asoka and Bo a lot.

for the siege of Mandelor that happens here is really important. Bo fighting to retake Mandelor from Maul and some other Mandalorian characters that we got here. And then the extra credit that Mal has here shattered and victory and death, 11 and 12. The reason she has these here is there's a lot of like, there's some Boatana, Asoka stuff, but really it's like some cloning Order 66 sort of stuff that we're going to want to think about, or 66, sorry, most crucially, when we think about Grogu going forward. So great episodes.

I wouldn't miss a single one of them, but, you know, it's really old friends not forgotten and the Phantom Apprentice. It's so good. It's so good. Please enjoy. The final few minutes of the final episode

of Clomor Season 7 with Vader. We talked about that. Shills. Yeah. So good. Rebels. Yeah. What do we got?

Okay. we're going to start. I think, can I just encourage you to watch all of rebels. It's great. We're going to start here with season two,

episode 13, the Protector of Concord Dawn. Now, you heard earlier when Joe played the clip and chatted about this Tarvisla Darksepar animated history lesson that we get,

the character who's voicing that is Fenrow. This episode is where we meet Fenrow and learn about the protectors. It's this Mandalorian faction, these elite fighters. Now,

If you're saying, wait, I've heard you say elsewhere that there's a Mandalorian faction of elite fighters, you're picking up on one of the patterns, which is that there are a lot of different groups of elite Mandalorian fighters who are working for their group's ends, but not necessarily in tandem with each other, another splinter cell. This episode centers on the rebels' attempts to recruit the protectors. Things don't go exactly according to plan. This is another good stretch for Sabine's personal history, which is, if you're watching Rebels, you're very invested in Sabine,

so it's really rewarding on that, on that level, but also often Sabine's direct history and family history is this lends into a larger slice of Mandalorian history, and that happens here, too. We learn a lot about Plan Ren as a vassal house of Clan Visla.

Sabine invokes the code, so there's this single combat Mandalorian challenge tradition that we get to see here. It was really great. There's a lot of great from Canaan and Azure to, like, what the fuck is wrong with all of you Mandalorian stuff in this episode? They're just absolutely confounded by the way that Mandalorians behave

and the way that they constantly find themselves at odds with each other. So it's just a really, it's a fun episode and it's a good one that you can watch in isolation and get a really pretty clear sense of how Mandalrians interact with each other, if they are not directly aligned. There's just a lot of tension from the jump, but it's hard for them to work through it

toward a more peaceful other end. It's also just a visually really cool episode because it's a neat. It's a neat, like busted moon. Yeah.

Yeah, love a medallorine sect chilling on a moon. Nothing's ever gone wrong before. Do you want to take this next one because I kind of want to take the one after it if that's okay? Yeah, sure.

Season three. episode seven. This is Imperial Super Commandos. And I would say that this one's a little less, essentially, you can put this one into more of the extra credits bucket because it's more about delving further into some of these other insights

that you'll get in the other episodes in the list. So one thing that Sabine says in this episode that is really crucial, though, is too bad our people can't stop fighting each other, which again is basically like a thesis statement for all of Mandalorian history. can it be a thesis statement that characters like did Jaran and Bocatan workshop in real time in season three of the Mandalorian? We'll see.

We'll see. This is also a really good episode for how different groups of Mandalrians feel about the empire, which is important for how we got to where we got with Gideon with the Purge, but also for like what Mandalians are looking for in. leader and why they make the choice to follow a certain person or to rebel against that. So there's this protectors versus supercommandos aspect to this episode that locks a lot of that. Gar Saxon, the Saxons are fascinating assholes in the Star Wars rebels experience. And there's like a lot of rejection of this idea of that Fenrao voices here of worse,

Mandalorians who serve the empire. You watch that and you're like, wait a minute. When I met you, the protectors on Concord Dawn had an arrangement with the empire. So it's like, what compromises do you make with yourself in a moment when you need to? That's another big part of Mandalorian history. The next one, season three, episode 11, visions and voices.

All time. Rebels episode. Iconic episode of Rebels. This isn't so much Mandelaar focus as it is Dark Sabre focused. And it's not even actually like, Super, super dark saber focus. This is about Ezra's connection to Ma. Mall, we should say, as a Phantom Apprentice, is, like, constantly on the lookout for a friend.

The way that he calls. Someone to join him. The way that he just refers to Ezra as apprentice. And Kenan's, like, excuse me throughout years of storytelling. It's just so great. But they have this, like, creepy little connection, right? And basically, Maul, like, lures Ezra to a... You never follow Maul to a second.

location should be the rule. But, you know, Sabine and Canaan are also there under a thrall of, we get some Knight Sisters action. But basically, Mall has the Dark Saver in his Rang Cave of Wonders, you know, like sort of thing, right? And at the end of all things, and this is the key, Sabine picks it up and walks out with it. Just grabs it from the mantle. Yeah. is how the Dark Savor gets into how did it get from Mald Sabine?

Elder Wand rules? Nope, she just picked it up and took it with her. So does she really own it? Not really, but anyway, what comes next? You said that in a real, like, she just tweeted it out way. Like, she just picked it up. It's working on this story for a year. She's tweeted it out now.

It leads right to something that we've talked about a lot today. Season 3, episodes 15 and 6. Trials of the Dark Sabre, which we've chatted about a bunch, and then Legacy of Mandler, which we haven't talked about as much. So we can zip through the trials of the Dark Sabre here. We hit it a lot in our moments. You have to watch it.

There are a number of episodes here that are worth watching. I feel strongly that if you were going to pick one, you should make it this one. Joe, maybe you would say Phantom Apprentice or another one for that. But this has got to be in the top couple considerations if you're only going to do. No, Trials of the Dark Saber, yeah.

You just have to. There's just so much lore about. the Dark Sabre and about Mary of the Lorian history here and about that bond with the blade and about how much the stature that the blade holds in Mandalorian society,

what it can mean for Sabine if she embraced it, etc. And then it builds into this next episode where Sabine confronts her family, goes back to Clan Ren, and that's where that conversation I mentioned earlier,

that conversation between Sabine and her mother about the Dark Sabers is a symbol and how you actually come to possess it. That's where that takes place. When we get that, then you have no claim to it line. So it's a rich couple episodes for the Dark Saber canon. It's going to be, I think, very crucial.

And also, like, a lot of, like, shifting allegiances inside of not just Mandalorian society, but clans and nuclear family units. Family, yeah. The movement of Ursa ran alone across this episode is just kind of wild to track. And a lot of it does connect to... that question you raised earlier about, well, what's the most important thing?

Is it the sanctity of the creed? Or is it your family? Is it the person you're trying to protect? That's very much on display here with Ursa and Sabine. It piggybacks on that conversation we're having a lot around our coverage with Last of Us is like, who is us? Yes.

Absolutely. It's say, I've got some bad news for Garcaxon. You're not a part of the us here. Speaking of the, those fascinating assholes, the Saxons, season four episodes, one and two,

Heroes of Mandelor, we've got Tyrus Saxons. Tobias Menzies enters rebels. Yes. I mean... Oh, my God. The chill goes down my spine as soon as I hear,

Tobias Menzies' voice. And then it's Sabine and Boe on the other side of this argument. This is, we referenced this a couple times, this engagement with, like, the weapons that's being helped create the transfers of the dark saber. First she tries to give it to Bo.

And Bo's like, no, no. You know, like, I'm not worthy. I had my chance rule. I failed. Like, I'm not my sister, Satin. Like, I'm not the leader. I can't do it. I don't want to.

I'm not my sister, Satin, who my terrorist friends attacked and bombed and tried to overthrow her. And lead directly to her death. It's fine. And then eventually, like, Sabine convinces bow.

Like you've got the right stuff. You've got what it takes. And let me just, I'm just going to hand to the dark saber. And as Mallory has already covered. And we get a bunch of people, as you say, bending the knee. Yeah.

And it's a big moment. It's like so emotional. Huge victorious moment. And then we only find out later that things did not work out that way. And then also there's a lot in these episodes, I would say, season four episodes one and two

about the desolation of the devastation of the devastation. the devastation of Mandelor as like a physical, just the physical cost of war to the very face of the planet is important. Absolutely. Yeah, the way that Sabine tells Ezra about war morphing and transforming the home that these people are theoretically fighting to protect. It's really great. There's also just some great stuff about art in these episodes, a lot of stuff about painting.

Yeah. There's some cool, like, Picasso and Klimt-esque paintings in and around Mandelor that it's always, it's always a good idea if you're watching Mandelor episode to check out the art on the wall. I'm pretty sure that Sabine's mom's portrait is, like, made of Bescar. Like, it's so cool. Anyway. And then do you want to just run through the bad batch of it all? Yeah, I think we can, we can put all of this firmly in the extra credit if you have time category. There's a lot more. that you could explore, but Bad Batch, I think, is worth dipping into, I mean, great, great fun show, but here, worth dipping into for the cloning canon, as we keep in mind, the Empire, the Imperial Remnants pursuit of Groguv for his, for his M count, for those mids, the middies, fairly mid. You could definitely watch the premiere, which is really good and has some also, for the Grogo of it all, really good Order 66 stuff in there.

but if you want to be a little more targeted, check out episode 9, Bounty Lost and episode 16, Camino Lost. Bounty Lost has a lot of the Boba Omega cloning cannon. There's some great bonus Cadbane Phenic Shand action, and there, of course, in the live action Mando timeline, so relevant there as well. But in Bounty Lost, one more time that we stumble into this cloning facility in this lab, and you're like pausing and freeze-framing.

Am I looking at an early version? of Snoke, you know, it's like really fun for that, much as season 2, episode 4 of Mando. Camino loss is the destruction of the Camino cloning facility, is the operation, which leads to... Great episode. So good. Now, I'll say, the scientific genius behind the Camino cloning

being brought to a new imperial cloning facility, which feels like, I think, the most, like, signals blaring, Palpatine cloning setup that we've had. Ever wondered about that somehow? Exactly. Here we go. Exactly. Thron, I'll just say.

You're going to hit the throne. I'm like, actually at war with myself over this because I kind of don't want to recommend a Thron episode out of order. I mean, the thing is, if you watch Heroes of Mandelor, you get some Thron in that. So you're good. You see how we think.

If you want a little bit more Thron in case he shows up in Mando season three ahead of Asoka, and you don't care about spoiling other aspects of rebels inside of just a random episode, then I would recommend season three episode 17 through Imperial Eyes, which shows you so much of his unique thought process, the way he works to counter his foes, anticipate their moves, study them. Really, really, really good. We should say they have still not announced any casting for live action Thron. Like, they didn't announce baby Yoda, and then there he was.

And Lars Mikelson is denied. Lars Mikulsen who voiced Ron in the animated is denying that he was cast. That makes me more suspicious. Okay. Whenever we get to like really fervent, no, I'm not in this thing. I'm like, sure wish Lucasfilm would call me. What's the, okay, is it more likely that you get Thron or that I get Cobbant in season three of the Mandalorian? We will 100% see Cobbant.

There's just no way. I'm a little worried. I've been on the, you know, I'm always on the Timothy, only fought hair watch. And I'm like a little worried. I mean,

he was the, like, stinger of the boba finale was getting to see him in the back to tank with the mod to promise us that he was alive and well. And I guess with a metallic

shoulder coming back into our lives soon. So perfect for, there's no way we're going to have to wait, right? Dinn is going to need a metallic shoulder. Ali's shoulder to lean on. And who better to give a tip than gone?

I love it. All right. Anything else? Do you want to talk about Cad Bain or are we good to go? I think we did it. I think we did it. Like, you know, like Din said, the shirt, you got the shirt.

That's the pod. You got the pod. Thank you, as always, to Steve Allman, for producing this episode. Arjuna Ram Gapal for his additional production work on this episode. And Jomea Deneron for his work on the social for this episode. Remember? pop over to the prestige TV feed

for our ongoing Last of Us coverage and then head back into the Ring Reverse on Wednesday, March 1st for the Midnight Boys Instant Reaction to Mando season 3's premiere and then Friday, March 3rd for our House of Arne. Deep dive.

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