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MANDO SPOILERSIt's time for this week's Meta Mando thread for #TheMandalorian
Chapter 15. This is possibly my fave ep this season with @RickFamuyiwa exploring complex psychology, morality & emotion & an exquisitely detailed performance from @PedroPascal1.LEGGO!
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For me (& @MarieCGould) a major theme of this ep is the journey from dehumanisation to the restoration & redefining of one's soul/identity/humanity.
Mayfeld acts as a mirror to Din's overall series arc, reflecting & highlighting the questions Din has been grappling with. 2/
Mayfeld acts as a mirror to Din's overall series arc, reflecting & highlighting the questions Din has been grappling with. 2/
So let’s start, as the ep does, with Mayfeld. The first shot of him we see is him drilling into a TIE fighter — foreshadowing of his eventual turn against the empire but also symbolic of how his past Imperial identity is going to be interrogated. 3/
He’s referred to over & over only by his inmate number — he’s been dehumanised. Oppressive systems work to strip away people’s identity & humanity, turning them into numbers, mere cogs in a machine like we see in this shot — the inner mechanisms of the ship moving around them: 4/
My deep dive into numerology last week (see below) has me *looking* at his inmate number: 34667
3 = mysticism
4 = practicality
66 = a nod to order 66 & Mayfeld’s imperial past
7 = completion, intuition, balance (3+4 = 7)
This number could point to Mayfeld’s internal journey. 5/ https://twitter.com/laura_k_a/status/1335784122824994817
3 = mysticism
4 = practicality
66 = a nod to order 66 & Mayfeld’s imperial past
7 = completion, intuition, balance (3+4 = 7)
This number could point to Mayfeld’s internal journey. 5/ https://twitter.com/laura_k_a/status/1335784122824994817
On Morak, we get Din’s first temptation to remove his helmet from Mayfeld, as well as a reminder of what’s at stake: Grogu.
In ‘The Prisoner’, Mayfeld was particularly curious about what was under Din’s helmet — he’s been brought back to play the role of tempter for Din here. 6/
In ‘The Prisoner’, Mayfeld was particularly curious about what was under Din’s helmet — he’s been brought back to play the role of tempter for Din here. 6/
But Din isn’t quite ready/out of options. As Ahsoka did in ‘The Jedi’, he finds a compromise — a baby step towards dismantling what he’s built his identity around his whole life — swapping one set of armour for another, Imperial, and here we have another major theme: morality. 7/
The big question @RickFamuyiwa asks this ep is:
What are you willing to give up for what you believe in?
Hence, ‘The Believer’.
This question leads our characters (Din & Mayfeld) into a moral grey area in which their identities & belief systems are challenged & compromised. 8/
What are you willing to give up for what you believe in?
Hence, ‘The Believer’.
This question leads our characters (Din & Mayfeld) into a moral grey area in which their identities & belief systems are challenged & compromised. 8/
Din’s first compromise is to forsake his Mando armour & don the armour of the Empire, who waged the Great Purge against his people, resulting in the seizure of Beskar & the near-total genocide of the Mandalorian people. Din puts on the armour & 3 things happen as a result. 9/
1. In the juggernaut, Mayfeld again challenges Din’s refusal to remove his helmet, framing it as a question of moral ambiguity.
At the start of this convo, Din is furiously silent & clearly WILDLY uncomfortable with having to wear Imperial armour, ignoring Mayfeld’s goading. 10/
At the start of this convo, Din is furiously silent & clearly WILDLY uncomfortable with having to wear Imperial armour, ignoring Mayfeld’s goading. 10/
Mayfeld then goes on to give the defining thematic speech of the episode, as they drive through a village of indigenous people & Din looks at a boy who looks vaguely like his younger self.
He first touches on colonisation & the question of perspective:
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He first touches on colonisation & the question of perspective:
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Then he brings it back to Din’s identity as a Mandalorian, playing Devil’s advocate & questioning the morality of both sides of those waging war. Again, Din’s blind commitment to his Mando identity is being challenged as it has been all season. 12/
Din sees himself as different from & better than Mayfeld, partly due to the shame he has surrounding the kind of things he used to get up to with the ‘Prisoner’ gang in the past, and partly because his creed has given him a (largely false) sense of moral superiority. 13/
Mayfeld again brings it back to the helmet question. What are the rules exactly? What are the grey areas? What is he willing to bend & break those rules for?
Din is being asked: Who are you? What do you believe? What’s important to you? Questions he’s been facing all season. 14/
Din is being asked: Who are you? What do you believe? What’s important to you? Questions he’s been facing all season. 14/
He’s also adding to the stakes Din faces in his later decision to remove his helmet. He both removes his Mando helmet (replacing it with an Imperial one) AND shows his face. *identity crisis intensifies*
Mayfeld then sets up the question: what lines will they both cross? 15/
Mayfeld then sets up the question: what lines will they both cross? 15/
2. This question, and the points made in his speech re: moral ambiguity, are immediately illustrated via action when Din kills a bunch of “pirates”.
Except they’re not pirates, they want to destroy the rhydonium, not steal it. They’re therefore more like guerrillas/rebels. 16/
Except they’re not pirates, they want to destroy the rhydonium, not steal it. They’re therefore more like guerrillas/rebels. 16/
They want to stop the Empire using the rhydonium to wreak further death & destruction. They’re dressed in similar colours/garb to the people we saw in the village which implies they are native to the planet & also remind me of Omera’s people in ‘Sanctuary’ — who Din HELPED. 17/
Usually ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ applies but here Din finds himself in a situation where the exact kind of people he’s helped in the past are interfering with HIS plans/needs/wants — staying alive & getting the coordinates for Grogu. And so they become his enemy. 18/
Not only has Din had to don Imperial armour, he’s now essentially aligning with the Empire & doing their dirty work for them.
As @MarieCGould pointed out to me, this whole sequence is like a mini (literal) Road of Trials. Din is challenged spiritually, morally & physically. 19/
As @MarieCGould pointed out to me, this whole sequence is like a mini (literal) Road of Trials. Din is challenged spiritually, morally & physically. 19/
His blaster runs out, they can’t go too fast, and the rebels just keep on coming (indicating their moral upper hand in this situation). Finally he’s left with only his fists, just as they’re about to cross a bridge (a threshold), symbolising fully crossing over into darkness. 20/
Because what happens here? The Empire swoops in to save them, highlighting how Din & Mayfeld are essentially on the side of the Empire in this moment & are being claimed & protected as such. The Empire has saved their lives. What a moral headfuck! 
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This is further emphasised when we see Din & Mayfeld joyously welcomed back by their “fellow” stormtroopers in what looks like the many scenes we’ve seen before of rebel heroes returning to base & being celebrated. We are being forced to see both sides like never before. 22/
3. We see Din decide what line he’s willing to cross out of desperation, to fight for what he wants & what he believes in — Grogu — and remove his helmet.
We’re again reminded of what’s driven Din to bend rules, cross this desert of moral aridity & descend towards darkness. 23/
We’re again reminded of what’s driven Din to bend rules, cross this desert of moral aridity & descend towards darkness. 23/
