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Mandalorian 1x15
I really enjoyed this episode. I feel like this whole season has been an exploration of what it means to Din Djarin to wear the armor. First you have Timothy Oliphant’s character, where Din Djarin’s first reaction is to kill someone who wears the armor but has not taken the creed. Then you get Boka Tan, and Din Djarin learns that what he thought was *Mandalorian* is only a splinter sect. Then you have Boba Fett, and Din Djarin’s reluctant acceptance of his right to wear the armor, even though he is not Mandalorian and doesn’t follow the Way.
In the first season, because we had the Armorer, who served as a sort of priest to him, we are hearing (and Din Djarin is hearing) over and over the importance of the Way, and the importance of never removing his helmet or allowing it to be taken from him. But at the end of that series he lost his enclave and he lost that priest, losing the constant community enforcement of those beliefs. And this season he has been challenged over and over again about whether the Way is really what he thought it was, and whether it is the only way he can be.
Then you get this episode and the fantastic character development given to Migs Mayfield, who I never expected to come back. When Din Djarin offered to dress as an Imperial trooper, I had the same thought Migs did—is it that he can’t show his face or that he can’t remove the helmet? Cause they’ve been very explicit that it’s that he can’t remove the helmet. Then you have Migs’ whole speech about how everyone has lines they won’t cross until they cross them.
The moment that made it for me, though, was that after that speech, and Migs’ cynicism about people, when it comes down to the only way forward is for Din Djarin to show his face, Migs does not for a *second* believe that that’s an option. He has absolute faith in Din Djarin’s faith. (I love that the episode is called “The Believer”, because arguably the Believer is either Din Djarin, who must cross a line forbidden by his faith, or it’s Migs, who seems to only have faith in Din Djarin.)
All of this made it so incredibly meaningful when Din Djarin removed his mask. (We’ll set aside that it makes no sense that that thing scans your face but isn’t matching you to a database or anything—that seems a pointless security system, what, are you only trying to keep droids from using it?—because it works so well thematically I’ll suffer a plot hole.) To me, that is the moment when Grogu became Din Djarin’s son. When it stopped being about the Way, and fostering a foundling, and following the Armorer’s direction, and became entirely about Din Djarin accepting that he is a father.
And THEN you have Migs deciding that he’s going to shoot his way out--so that everyone who saw Din Djarin’s face is killed. Initially, I read the scene as him taking his short-sighted revenge on his former commanding officer at the cost of the mission. But then when he tells Din Djarin that he never removed his mask, it becomes again about Migs’ respect for Din Djarin’s beliefs. He understands how important that is to him, and he makes sure to protect him. It’s also critical that this comes from an antagonist character—it would mean something different from Cara Dune.
I was thinking while watching, though—Migs clearly believes that he’s erased the taboo crossing and Din Djarin can go back to the Way, no harm, no foul. But I really hope we see what Din Djarin thinks about this—he’s not allowed to put the helmet back on if he’s taken it off, and he took it off. Even if no one ever knows he did that, he knows. And I would like to see some repercussions.
I was reminded of a time at work a few years ago. I had a coworker who was an Orthodox Jew. One day, because of chaos at home (he had four kids), he had not been able to pack a lunch. We worked in a place where the nearest kosher restaurant was an hour away (which is a whole separate conversation—I’ve lived most of my life in places where a kosher deli is always around the corner, the absolute desert of options was shocking to me). The only food available to him that he could eat were the Gushers we had in the snack cabinet.
Early afternoon, I (his manager) started pushing for him to go home and log back on there so he could eat something. My boss (and I can’t really make excuses for this, it was really shitty) asked him, “Well, what would happen if you ate something not kosher?” He, to his credit, answered, “What do you mean what would happen? It’s taboo.” (He then went home so he could eat—I won that battle.)
This show obviously is posing a fictional faith for Din Djarin, but I was thinking about that. I feel like characters like Cara Dune, if they were with him in this situation, would ask him, but what would happen? It’s the fact that it’s with a character that completely understands and respects that it’s a taboo that the scene works.
Anyway.
I’ve been a little worried about how fast this show has been expanding its horizons and name dropping things (though it now seems that’s all going to play out across two additional live action series). So I’m glad to find it can still hit me RIGHT in the feels, even in an episode with no baby Yoda at all.
In the first season, because we had the Armorer, who served as a sort of priest to him, we are hearing (and Din Djarin is hearing) over and over the importance of the Way, and the importance of never removing his helmet or allowing it to be taken from him. But at the end of that series he lost his enclave and he lost that priest, losing the constant community enforcement of those beliefs. And this season he has been challenged over and over again about whether the Way is really what he thought it was, and whether it is the only way he can be.
Then you get this episode and the fantastic character development given to Migs Mayfield, who I never expected to come back. When Din Djarin offered to dress as an Imperial trooper, I had the same thought Migs did—is it that he can’t show his face or that he can’t remove the helmet? Cause they’ve been very explicit that it’s that he can’t remove the helmet. Then you have Migs’ whole speech about how everyone has lines they won’t cross until they cross them.
The moment that made it for me, though, was that after that speech, and Migs’ cynicism about people, when it comes down to the only way forward is for Din Djarin to show his face, Migs does not for a *second* believe that that’s an option. He has absolute faith in Din Djarin’s faith. (I love that the episode is called “The Believer”, because arguably the Believer is either Din Djarin, who must cross a line forbidden by his faith, or it’s Migs, who seems to only have faith in Din Djarin.)
All of this made it so incredibly meaningful when Din Djarin removed his mask. (We’ll set aside that it makes no sense that that thing scans your face but isn’t matching you to a database or anything—that seems a pointless security system, what, are you only trying to keep droids from using it?—because it works so well thematically I’ll suffer a plot hole.) To me, that is the moment when Grogu became Din Djarin’s son. When it stopped being about the Way, and fostering a foundling, and following the Armorer’s direction, and became entirely about Din Djarin accepting that he is a father.
And THEN you have Migs deciding that he’s going to shoot his way out--so that everyone who saw Din Djarin’s face is killed. Initially, I read the scene as him taking his short-sighted revenge on his former commanding officer at the cost of the mission. But then when he tells Din Djarin that he never removed his mask, it becomes again about Migs’ respect for Din Djarin’s beliefs. He understands how important that is to him, and he makes sure to protect him. It’s also critical that this comes from an antagonist character—it would mean something different from Cara Dune.
I was thinking while watching, though—Migs clearly believes that he’s erased the taboo crossing and Din Djarin can go back to the Way, no harm, no foul. But I really hope we see what Din Djarin thinks about this—he’s not allowed to put the helmet back on if he’s taken it off, and he took it off. Even if no one ever knows he did that, he knows. And I would like to see some repercussions.
I was reminded of a time at work a few years ago. I had a coworker who was an Orthodox Jew. One day, because of chaos at home (he had four kids), he had not been able to pack a lunch. We worked in a place where the nearest kosher restaurant was an hour away (which is a whole separate conversation—I’ve lived most of my life in places where a kosher deli is always around the corner, the absolute desert of options was shocking to me). The only food available to him that he could eat were the Gushers we had in the snack cabinet.
Early afternoon, I (his manager) started pushing for him to go home and log back on there so he could eat something. My boss (and I can’t really make excuses for this, it was really shitty) asked him, “Well, what would happen if you ate something not kosher?” He, to his credit, answered, “What do you mean what would happen? It’s taboo.” (He then went home so he could eat—I won that battle.)
This show obviously is posing a fictional faith for Din Djarin, but I was thinking about that. I feel like characters like Cara Dune, if they were with him in this situation, would ask him, but what would happen? It’s the fact that it’s with a character that completely understands and respects that it’s a taboo that the scene works.
Anyway.
I’ve been a little worried about how fast this show has been expanding its horizons and name dropping things (though it now seems that’s all going to play out across two additional live action series). So I’m glad to find it can still hit me RIGHT in the feels, even in an episode with no baby Yoda at all.
no subject
That's amazing.
I was putting it down to his hatred of the Empire, but it could be both.
But thank you so much for that additional insight into his motivation.
no subject