WELP my insomnia appears to be in a committed relationship with me so let’s do another thread of thoughts on #TheMandalorian ep 14

What lies beneath: spoilers obvs & a bunch of meta rambling

LEGGO! 1/

A lot of the theme strands came together this ep with regards to Daddy Din & where he’s at on his inner journey: his identity as a Mandalorian, his subconscious search for his inner feminine to become more balanced/a better man/a good papa, his sense of self as a Lone Ranger. 2/

First scene we get a beautiful indicator of the progress Din’s made when we hear him laugh for the first time (my heart ). It’s a laugh of joy & wonder & ofc it’s caused by Grogu who is the thing that changed everything for Din & set him on his new path of growth. 3/

We’re being shown how far their relationship has come — they talk & interact & understand each other so much more now, Din is taking an active interest in & testing G’s abilities, he’s proud — and the laughing shows us quite simply that parenting/nurturing is bringing him joy. 4/

He’s softening, becoming more human under that Beskar exterior as he opens himself up to & channels his inner divine feminine via caring for Grogu. The hypermasculine mask of his stoic, independent, emotionless Lone Ranger identity is rlly starting to crumble. 5/

This ties in with the many ways in which his sense of self as a Mandalorian is also crumbling. The narrative has repeatedly challenged Din’s ideas around this, and some of the major questions this season is posing is: what is a Mandalorian, what is The Way & is there only one? 6/

From Cobb Vanth (a non-Mando using the armour to protect his community) to Bo-Katan & the Nite Owls (planet-born legacy clan Mandos who take their helmets off), the strict, cultish vibe of Din’s Tribe sect that Din has molded his identity around is being chipped away at. 7/

Cults work by breaking down all sense of individual identity & rebuilding via indoctrination & strict ideology & rules. Here, this is represented by the helmet, the mask Din wears. He has no sense of self other than that of “Mando”, it is hidden from us but also from himself. 8/

Without his parents to guide & shape him, and out of gratitude for having been taken in as a foundling, he has clung to the Tribe’s particular brand of Mando identity. But this season has shown him new, alternative identities under the Mando umbrella. This ep provides another. 9/

Boba acts as a mirror to Din & has the potential to become a mentor to guide Din through working out the Mando identity he wants for himself. Boba is a second-gen foundling, Din is a first. Boba lost his armour, Din has never taken his off. Boba is both relatable & different. 10/

Boba puts the armour back on as a reclamation of his Mando identity & his father. He’s been without it & knows who he is now & so can wear the armour without it wearing him. Din’s journey is the reverse, he has only ever known the armour/one way of being a Mando... 11/

So it needs to come off for him to figure out who he really is, what he wants & what his purpose is.

I’m hoping Boba’s intro builds on the challenge Bo-Katan’s provided & that his own experience & history helps Din find his version of the Middle Way. 12/

The other progress Din has made is slowly abandoning his Lone Ranger lifestyle in favour of his growing sense of family/community/allies he’s been gathering, and learning to rely & call on them for help. In this ep he finds two more in Boba & Fennec. 13/

So we have Grogu (finding the feminine), Boba (what is The Way?) & the gathering of allies (bye bye Lone Ranger).

All three of these core themes come to a head & are symbolically wrapped up in the one-two shock beats of the Razor Crest being destroyed & Grogu being taken. 14/

The Razor Crest is a womb. It’s the external symbol of Din’s missing inner feminine & as a rootless, lone wanderer, it represents both his only semblance of “home” & his sense of self. As all that has been increasingly challenged this season, the RC has been through hell. 15/

The destruction of the RC immediately followed by Grogu being taken shows us that Din & his identity are now indivisible from Grogu. Without G, Din has no purpose or meaning in his life & no sense of home. G is his home & his family now — clan of two, “wherever I go he goes”. 16/

The Empire destroying this powerfully feminine symbol speaks for itself in terms of what the Empire represents in SW.

But the RC needs to be destroyed — Din’s identity has been attacked & patched up & made new but now he has to lose it all in order to rebuild himself. 17/

To get his bby back, he will have to use everything he’s learnt so far to become the person he wants to be & define himself on his own terms. Without the RC he is further forced to rely on others & the power of community to physically move through his new life. 18/

I’m hoping Bo etc come to his aid to take on Moff & all this culminates in Din getting Grogu back & choosing to remove his helmet so that Grogu can truly see him & to show that Din has fully committed to his Daddy identity. I need Grogu to touch his face with his tiny hand 19/

Other things I’ve been thinking about:

The fact that I was right about Boba being the one who found Fennec in the desert last season

Fennec as a combo of droid & the feminine & how that’s a potentially v intriguing person to challenge Din, given his hang ups. 20/

Rlly wish we saw what Grogu experienced when he entered the force nexus/WBW but I understand why we didn’t here & strongly suspect we will at some point in a future ep as the meta plot unfolds.

I’m hoping/thinking he senses Ezra. It makes the most sense at this point. 21/

I think that’s pretty much it for now!

I loved this ep. It had a lot of moving parts & did an excellent job in the writing/structure of tying the major thematic strands together & w the meta plot as we head into the season’s final act. @Rodriguez absolutely killed it 22/22