the mandalorian season 3 has two episodes and the religious overtones are strong with this one. Din Djarin, newly reunited with his adopted son Grogu, is trying to get back to his people, a clan of Mandalorians known as the Sons of the Watch. But for those of us who know exactly whose children they are, Din’s stubborn obsession with “the way” is even more troubling than it already is at first glance.

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Warning, spoilers for the mandalorian season 3 and details of Star wars, the clone wars (which could very well inform future episodes of the mandalorian) continue.

What about the Sons of the Watch?

As we know from previous episodes of the mandalorian, Din Djarin is a foundling rescued by the Mandalorians after his village was attacked by Separatist battle droids during the Clone Wars. But Din was not only rescued by any old Mandalorian, but by a death clock Mandalorian, as evidenced by the logo on his shoulder pads.

But who is the Death Watch? The group of Mandalorians, originally led by Pre Vizsla (father of Jon Favreau’s character in the mandalorian, Paz Viszla), wanted to retake Mandalore during the Clone Wars and return the planet to its former state as a militaristic monolith. Vizsla, in particular, wanted to take control of the planet from then-Duchess Satine Kryze (Bo-Katan Kryze’s sister), who was trying to lead Mandalore down the pacifism route.

But after repeatedly failing to retake the planet, the Death Watch eventually split into two different factions: a group of Mandalorian super commandos led, bizarrely, by Darth Maul, and another group known as the Mandalore resistance, led by Bo herself. -Katan. The two sects fought for the heart of Mandalore (Maul wanted to rule, but Bo-Katan’s squad wanted to help restore Satine), with the resistance working side by side with Jedi like Ahsoka Tano and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ultimately, both Pre Vizsla and Satine were killed during these conflicts, and Mandalore was destroyed soon after when the empire dropped fusion bombs onto the planet’s surface.

The Sons of the Watch, then, are exactly what they sound like: Sons of former Death Watch members. Notably, Bo-Katan has never had any children, so with the inclusion of Paz Vizsla we can safely assume that these are the children of Mandalore’s super commandos, the same ones who wanted to wage war against everyone and sided with Darth. Maul of all people (I mean, urm, all of Zabrak). Din was raised in the ways of the Children of the Watch, adopting their customs and religious beliefs. So yeah, he’s in some weird murderous cult.

The importance of the mandalorian season 3 episode 2

In the most recent episode that aired last week on Disney Plus, Din returns to the ruined planet of Mandalore to regret taking off his helmet (which is largely not “the way”, guys). There, Bo-Katan Kryze, Mandalore’s rightful heir, saves him twice and returns to his homeworld for the first time since it was destroyed.

After Bo-Katan saves Din from being squeezed by a General Grievous-esque weirdo, Din heads to the rushing waters beneath the Mandalore mines to be re-baptized so he can reunite with his cult friends. It is there that, because he is a himbo and wearing full Beskar armor, he immediately sinks to the bottom of what he thinks is a shallow wading pool, but is actually a very deep body of water.

As Bo-Katan dives in to save him once more, he comes face to face with a gigantic underwater creature that Star Wars fans will recognize as the Mitosaur. The rather obtusely named Mythosaur is a Mandalorian legend, a creature that, as the Armorer puts it in an earlier episode, “songs of eons past foretold…would rise to herald a new era of Mandalore.” The Mythosaur is the symbol that unites all of Mandalore, a planet famous for being divided into different clans and political factions. But until now, even the most devout of Mandalorians believed the creature was just the stuff of legend.

Proof of his existence could have many ramifications: the Sons of the Watch could become even more devout and cultured, Bo-Katan could restore his faith in Mandalore, and/or Din could further double down on his repetition of his family’s beliefs from worship. All this, however, creates incredibly strange vibrations.

What’s next for Din Djarin?

If you’ve ever been a member of a pretty extreme religion (ex-Catholic here, hi), then the experience of Din without the added Star Wars the context is enough to make you uncomfortable. His tenacious belief that he needs to atone for his sins (remove his helmet) makes him dangerously stubborn, so much so that he is nearly killed several times upon his return to Mandalore. His belief that this is the only way sounds a lot like the religious fanaticism we deal with in our own modern society, the beliefs agitated by those who try to ban drag shows and abortions.

Bo-Katan, a former member of the Death Watch, mocks Din’s beliefs in almost every way, telling him in season 2 that “the Sons of the Watch are a cult of religious fanatics who have broken away from society.” mandalorian. His goal was to restore the old way.” He also rolls his eyes at any conversation he has with Din when he does little more than preach in monosyllables about The Way. She’s been through it, she’s been through it, Scientologists would hate her.

Naturally, I’d like to believe that Bo-Katan will slowly lead Din away from the Children of Clock cult, especially after he immediately jumps to Din’s rescue and effortlessly wields the Darksaber (a sword believed to belong to Mandalore’s true ruler). , one that must be earned in battle, which Din obtained at the end of last season from Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon). But with the reveal of the Mythosaur and Din’s technical renaming returning him to cult goodwill, I’m afraid Din’s religious journey will only continue for more than this season.

But, as my companion suggests, there is a very clear end to this path, one that is likely to devastate him: the Children of the Watch, emboldened by the confirmation that Mandalore is not completely destroyed and that the Mythosaur is real, will welcome him back. With opening your arms only to turn around and say, “Okay, let’s make a holy war.”

Hopefully, at that point, Din will either excommunicate himself or try to unite all the clans by wielding the Darksaber alongside Bo-Katan. That would be the way

The next episode of the mandalorian will air on Disney Plus on Wednesday, March 14 at 12 am PT/3 am ET.