"The Sin" (The Mandalorian, Season 1, Ep 3)(2019)

Here I am again with another lengthy, screencap-heavy delving into the next episode of The Mandalorian.  As before, I will not be marking spoilers, and there are definitely major spoilers in this one.  Proceed at your own risk.

This one has such a striking title!  "The Sin." Wow.  We don't like to talk a lot about sin in our society anymore, on a whole, so using that particular word here is definitely meant to get us to sit up and take notice.  This is THE pivotal episode.  And it's an amazingly strong, meaty one.  I've got lots to say about this one, so buckle up.

Again, we pick up where the previous ep left off.  The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and The Child are heading back to Nevarro.  So Mando can deliver his prisoner to The Client.

Only thing is, Baby Not Yoda doesn't know he's a prisoner.  He's just being a toddler, wanting to play with shiny things.  He unscrews the ball top from a stick shift widget thing without Mando noticing.

But then Mando does notice.  He curtly says that's not a toy, takes it away from The Child, and sticks him back in his bassinet-pod.  Then he has a quick conversation with Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), telling him he's got the asset and will be landing soon.  Karga is happy for him.  Mando is obviously not.  He asks if Karga knows what The Client is going to do with it.  Karga says he didn't ask, as that's against the Bounty Hunter Guild Code.  He makes a joke about maybe The Client wants to eat it or mount it on a wall.  Mando's shoulders stiffen.  He's not amused.  But he lets it go.

But he glances over his shoulder at The Child.

The Child smiles, in its way.  Oh, this is going to be hard to do, Mando.  Very, very hard.

Mando's used to doing hard things.  His whole life has been hard.  He'll just have to do this too.

(Random note: I think this is Brendan Wayne in this scene.  I base my tentative identifications on one detail I've noticed, if you're curious.  Wayne's got a more tapered waist than Pascal.  Pascal's torso kind goes straight down from armpits to hips, but Wayne's got a more defined waist.  And he has a little more pronounced swagger, I think.)(But I think most of the flat-out running scenes are Lateef Crowder, as he moves differently then, less with his shoulders.)

ANYWAY.  Cool overview shot of this literal hole-in-the-wall of a town.  Mando takes The Child through the streets, back to that creepy compound where he first met The Client.

And again he's met by the icky, rusty, nasty stormtrooper wannabes.  

Baby Not Yoda looks appropriately scared.  You know what I love?  That they used an animatronic puppet for him.  Not just CGI.  I've read interviews with cast members who said working with the puppet was like working with an animal costar, they totally started thinking of it as alive, it was so realistic.  That REALLY sells this character in ways a total CGI rendering never would.  I love it.

Back to The Client (Werner Herzog) and his creepy scientist pal, Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi).  Mando stands stoically by while they peer at his captive.

Check out this fantastic shot!  That red light makes them look positively demonic.

Here's the Beskar steel Mando was promised.  I think there are 20 pieces, not 30, but I totally get Judas-betraying-Jesus-for-30-pieces-of-silver vibes from this.

Mando wants that Beskar.  But he knows he's betraying innocent blood.  Still, he gave his word to deliver this asset.  He's got the fee, more even than he was expecting.  Time to walk away.

Dr. Pershing escorts Baby Not Yoda out of the room.  Baby Not Yoda doesn't exactly look scared yet, but he definitely squeaks questioningly at Mando, like, "Why are they taking me away from you?"

Mando takes his reward.  But he stops and asks what they'll do with The Child.  The Client kinda flips out on him, in a quietly menacing way, reminding him it's against The Guild Code to ask questions about their jobs, or even think about them once they're finished.  Mando leaves, and we get some more incredible physical acting, as he exudes reluctance and discomfort.

Mando takes the Beskar back to the underground bunker where the other Mandalorians live in hiding.

He tells The Armorer (Emily Swallow) he needs new armor.  His has been damaged by that mudhorn he fought in the last episode.  She says certainly a new cuirass is in order, at the very least.  She warns him that this much Beskar in a suit of armor could attract a lot of attention -- possibly the wrong kind.

But she agrees to make it for him.  She says the since he defeated a mudhorn, it would be an appropriate clan signet for him.  Because he's a foundling and wasn't adopted by any specific clan, but simply raised by the Mandalorians as a whole, he has no clan of his own yet.  But now she offers to create one for him.  You can see he's tempted by the idea of finally having a clan to belong to, even if he's the only one in it.

But he declines.  Why?  He says, "It wasn't a noble kill."  He explains, haltingly, that he was aided by an enemy.  She wants to know why an enemy would help him that way.  Well, because it didn't know it was his enemy.  He's so uncomfortable here, shifting around, talking in little snatches -- it's such a beautiful, understated exploration of guilt.  He knows taking The Child to The Client was wrong.  He knew it, and he did it anyway.

But he goes ahead with using that Beskar to forge himself a new suit of armor.

There's even enough left over to make him some Whistling Birds.  Which they talk about just enough to let us know those will be important later.  And, as always, he donates some to support the Foundlings, since he was a Foundling himself once.  This is the way.

While The Armorer forges his new armor, Mando once again remembers the day his parents died.  Remembers them running in terror through war-torn streets.  Remembers them saying goodbye and hiding him, which we saw in the first episode.

But now we see more.  We see him getting found by a battle droid.  And we start to understand why he insists on having as little to do with droids as possible.

And look at this new armor!  It's not just a new cuirass, it's another new pauldron, new gauntlets, new greaves and one new... whatever the thigh armor is called.  It is very, very shiny.

And it definitely attracts attention.  Everyone in the cantina checks him out when he turns up to get his next mission.

Mando just wants someone new to chase so he can move on and forget what he's done.  But Greef Karga wants to congratulate him and gloat about how rich both Mando and he have gotten with this deal.

Even Karga got paid handsomely on the side with a couple plaques of Beskar of his own, which he briefly pulls out to show off.

Mando's all business.  Just shut up and give me my next target.  Don't remind me anymore.

He stalks away to his ship, moving fast and stiff, looking like he's agitated and trying to hide it.

And then we get another of the wordless scenes that I adore.  He turns his ship on, flipping switches and adjusting things so he can take off.  Then he reaches for that metal shifter, and the ball is still unscrewed from the top.  He pauses.  Not another fresh reminder of what he's done!

He finds the ball cap, screws it slowly back on, finishes preparing for takeoff... and then stops.  He can't go on.  He can't carry this forever.  It was wrong, and he knew it.  He's got to try to undo things, atone for his sin.  He powers the ship down again and hurries away.

Love this shot of him doing a bit of sneaky recon.

He investigates the rear of The Client's building.  Finds a trash bin.  Finds something in the trash bin.

It's the bassinet-pod.  Discarded.  Tossed in the garbage.

That's all he needed to stiffen his resolve.  I love how fierce he looks right here.  How can he look so fierce when it's just the same armor and mask we've always had to look at?  Wow.

A little more recon.

Then, he starts carrying out his attack.  Which begins with snapping off that bossy little microphone thing.  This is weirdly satisfying to me.  Those things always sound so rude.  I want to break them too.

This shot is just here because it's pretty.  Mando starts blowing stuff up. All those sparks, the reflectyness of his new armor -- just pretty.

He sneaks in.  Lots of thrilling heroics ensue.  But it's really hard to screencap fight scenes, especially ones shot in near-dark like this, so you'll just have to watch the show to see him taking out baddie after baddie.  He's so efficient.  Love it.

Finally, he reaches the chamber where they're keeping The Child.

They've got the baby strapped down in some kind of medical machine, and look what they're about to use on him -- one of those floating probe torture things that Darth Vader used on Princess Leia.  Whatever they're about to do to The Child, we know it is VERY WRONG.

Our hero shoots the floating probe torture thing.

Dr. Pershing is there, and he misunderstands Mando's attack, or acts like he does.  He pleads, "Please don't hurt it!  It's just a child!"  Okay, but dude, what were YOU going to do to it?  Those floaty torture probes aren't meant for kicks and giggles.

Sorry this is dark, but poor Baby Not Yoda.  Sedated and being tested for who knows what.

Okay, so, I have a tangent to go on.  I want to talk about how very pro-life this episode is.  You can even view it as anti-abortion.  Yes, The Child has already been born, but he spent most of his time up to now in that floating bassinet-pod, which is very womb-like.  Mando brings him to this place in that pod, and he lets people take this baby away from him just like a woman walks into an abortionist's office and has them take away her baby.  They throw The Child's artificial womb-pod away in the trash like aborted babies are thrown away.  They tell Mando not to think about it anymore, just forget all about it, like they tell a woman to forget the child she's had them kill.

And then these people do medical experiments on Baby Not Yoda, or are about to, just like we've learned that aborted babies are sometimes illegally used for experimentation.  Sure, Mando's not The Child's biological parent, but the parallels are so clear.  Just like a mother who has an abortion often suffers guilt and remorse after the fact, he can't stop himself from thinking about what he's done.  Only, Mando actually gets a chance to undo what he's done.  He can get his baby back.

Before you think I'm reading a little too much into this, just know that I'm not the only person who sees this comparison.  When Cowboy went to the March for Life in Washington, DC a couple of months ago, there was a marcher there with a poster showing Mando holding Baby Not Yoda with the words "Protect The Child -- This is the Way."  So I'm not the only person who sees this parallel.

I'm not sure the show's creators wanted to send this message, but I see it loud and clear anyway: life is precious.  A baby's life is precious.  Even if many people don't see that baby as a person, only as an object.  The Child is worth fighting for.  Worth protecting.

Anyway.  Mando rescues The Child, but has to do a lot of fighting to get out.

Again, the fight scenes are beautifully done.  And too fast-paced for me to capture, except this one shot.

But we end up with another Mexican Standoff, like in the first episode.  Only this time, Mando doesn't make any smart remarks about liking the odds of four to one.  This time, it's not only his life at stake.

Nope, he surrenders.  Puts down his gun and The Child.

Okay, he was only pretending to surrender.  He uses his precious Whistling Birds to take out all four of them, and then he flees.

Back in the cantina, tracker fobs light up and start beeping.

LOTS of them.  Everyone there has one, it seems.  The Client really had given one to every single bounty hunter.  And he's just reactivated them.  No words needed -- we all know what those little beeping, blinking gadgets mean.

Mando heads for his ship.  And slowly, other bounty hunters start trailing him.  Flanking him.

Surrounding him.

Finally, Greef Karga steps out into his path, blocking him from reaching the Razor Crest.  He pushes back his coat to free his blaster pistol, just like a gunfighter in the wild west.

Mando drops his hand to his own blaster, but doesn't pull it.

Karga says this can still end well.  Just hand over The Child and go your way.  You've broken all kinds of rules in the Bounty Hunter Guild's Code (I keep wanting to say they're more like guidelines, actually), but they can overlook that if he'll just give back Baby Not Yoda.

Because this episode's title has a double meaning.  Everyone is agreeing that Mando has sinned, has transgressed.  But most of the Guild members believe he's sinned by disobeying their code.  Mando knows, however, that his actual sin was delivering The Child to The Client.  Good writing going on here, so much good writing.

Mando looks down at the bundle in his arms.  He's hopelessly outnumbered.  And it doesn't matter.  He's ready, willing, and able to put his life on the line to protect this baby again, like he did facing the mudhorn.

A glorious battle ensues.  The other hunters are good, but Mando is better.  He more than holds his own for a long time.

He even gets to use his flamethrower to good effect.  For a while.  Until it runs out of fuel and sputters out.

He can't hold them all off forever.  But Baby Not Yoda wakes up and smiles and coos at him.

Mando hunches over The Child, ready to die protecting it.  Behind him, something blazes across the sky.

It's the cavalry!  Well, it's all the other Mandalorians, come to protect him and let him get away.  But it's basically the cavalry.  

Gotta be honest -- the cavalry riding in to the rescue at the last second is one of my absolute favorite western movie tropes.  I adore it.  That cavalry shows up and I will cheer and whoop and holler.  Love it.  And this cavalry can fly!

The Mandalorians beat back the bounty hunters, letting Mando escape.  They'll have to find somewhere new to live and hide now, but they are willing to blow their cover to protect one of their own.  This is the way.

Mando hurries to his ship.  Time to make a clean getaway.

Well, not so clean.  Foxy old Greef Karga got there first and confronts him.

But Mando has plenty of tricks up his sleeves  Literally and figuratively.  And he shoots Karga, who falls off his ship, letting him escape.

Mando takes off while the other Mandalorians continue the fight below.

Love this aerial shot.  So cool.

And here lies Greef Karga.  Is he dead?  My first time watching this, I really hoped he wasn't because I'd been enjoying Carl Weathers' performance so much.

He's totally not dead.  Mando gambled on him still having that Beskar tucked into his tunic and shot him right there, where it would knock him off the ship but not kill him.  Have I mentioned I love Mando???

Some of the other Mandalorians give him a brief escort, and Mando muses, "I gotta get one of those."

While he flies away, a little hand reaches up toward the control panel, just like it did in the ep's opener.

This time, though, Mando unscrews the knob and drops it into The Child's waiting hand.  No more reluctance, no more "That's not a toy." It can be a toy.  He can fly the ship without it.

Time to talk about one more thing that's been on my mind for over a year now.  You know how people sometimes get all loud and crabby about how not enough women and minorities get Hollywood jobs of power and importance?  I'm not saying this isn't a problem -- clearly, women and minorities should not be passed over for jobs they are suited for just because of their gender or race.  Obviously.  However, it sometimes bugs me the way production companies or publicity teams will make a HUGE DEAL out of a woman or a minority "getting to" direct or produce or write or star in something.  Like they're so super-special because they "allowed" this to happen.

But you know what I've noticed about Disney lately, especially their Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars franchises?  They've got women and minorities ALL OVER the place.  Directing.  Producing.  Starring.  Writing.  Everything.  And they're not touting this fact to the skies.  They're simply... doing it.  For real.  Consistently.  Finding the best person for the job and hiring them.

I mean, 3 of the 8 episodes in season one of The Mandalorian were directed by women, two by Deborah Chow and one by Bryce Dallas Howard.  Deborah Chow is Chinese-Canadian, by the way, so she's also in the minority camp.  And Rick Famuyiwa directed two episodes -- he's Nigerian-American.  He also co-wrote one of the episodes.

But they're also not afraid to let white men lead things.  After all, just because you're white and male doesn't mean you're bad or should be punished.  Again, letting the most suitable person do the job, regardless of color or gender.

Oh, and this show just happens to star a Chilean-American, in case you were worried all the minority representation was going on behind the camera.  And the other most-featured human character is played by African-American Carl Weathers.  AND NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT.  No one on the production team, as far as I can tell from the things I've obsessively read online, is going all ga-ga over themselves about this and praising themselves.

They're not talking about it, they're DOING IT.  And I think this is FREAKING AWESOME.  Actions speak louder than words, y'all.

Sorry for all the caps.  I just feel kinda strongly about this.

Anyway, that's all for today, kiddos.  Tune in again in a week or so for episode 4 :-)