The Mandalorians Get a New Home & New Messiah In Pivotal Season 3 Episode

The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5 is being applauded by Star Wars fans as the most action-packed episode of the season (so far), and in addition to a thrilling battle for the planet Nevarro, we also go some significant development and progression in the story of the Mandalorian people. 

(SPOILERS FOLLOW!) 

The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5 Review: Fight For A New Home

In The Mandalorian Chapter 21: The Pirate, Pirate King Gorian Shard comes looking for payback against Greef Karga and Nevarro over the defeat they suffered in the Season 3 premiere. Nevarro quickly finds itself under siege and its populace running for the hills (literally). As High Magistrate, Greef Karga puts out a call to the New Republic via Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), who tries (and fails) to run it up the flag pole of the New Republic, only to have Colonel Tuttle (SNL vet Tim Meadows) refuse to intervene in the "independent" matters of the Outer Rim territory. After a quick heart-to-heart with Star Wars Rebels hero Zeb, Carson Teva heads off to recruit a different fighting force: The Mandalorians. 

Thanks to R5-D4 still being in Mando's company, Carson Teva is able to track Mando to where The Tribe is hiding out. It's a tense meeting, but Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) still owes Teva, and Greef is his friend, so he petitions The Tribe to fight. Paz Visla unexpectedly backs Din, and with Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) helping to lead the way, The Tribe goes to Nevarro to fight. 

The Battle of Nevarro against the pirates gets fierce, but the Mandalorians pull together into one unstoppable fighting force, with some assistance from Greef Karga and the people of Nevarro. With Shard and his forces dead and defeated, and Nevarro liberated, Greef Karga rewards The Tribe with a gift: not only can they return to Nevarro and be welcomed with open arms, Karga gifts them with lands where they can settle and build a whole new settlement for their people. All in all, it's a big win for The Tribe and The Mandalorian people's image. 

The New Messiah

After Nevarro is liberated, The Tribe returns home to their den on Nevarro from Season 1. The Armorer calls Bo-Katan in for a meeting, making the point that her simple forge on Nevarro and the grand forge on Mandalore were two versions of the same thing – just iike she and Bo-Katan, in their different views on Mandalorian creed. However, the symmetry the Armorer sees in their nature – plus the prophetic revelation that Bo-Katan saw a Mythosaur in the Mines of Mandalore makes The Armorer change the entire nature of her belief. She anoints Bo-Katan as a sort of new messiah who will go out and gather the scattered people of Mandalore back together, to retake their homeworld. Bo-Katan's special status gets cemented when the Armorer has her remove her helmet in front of the group, upending the most sacred tradition of The Tribe. Bo-Katan gets unanomous support, and accepts her new mission. 

Dark Forces Unleashed

The end of The Mandalorian Chapter 21 sees Carson Teva track down the prison transport vessel that was supposed to deliver Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) into captivity. It turns out that Gideon set free – with a chunk of Beskar implying (whether accurate or not) that Mandalorians were responsible for the attack.

The Mandalorian Season 3 is streaming on Disney+.