The Mandalorians' New Home Is Overdue A Visit From Child Protective Services
This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4, "The Foundling."
In season 3 episode 3 of "The Mandalorian," Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) found a way to evade a horde of TIE fighters by traveling through hyperspace to the home planet of The Children of the Watch. "I'm bringing you to a Mandalorian covert. This is how we survived in exile," Din tells Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), as the duo (along with Grogu and R4-D5) disembark on the dusty planet. Season 3 already offered us a glimpse into this rather dangerous secret location — the opening scene of the season premiere features a Children of the Watch oath-taking ritual near the waters, from which a giant space alligator emerges and munches on a few Mandos. With literal foundlings present at the scene, the odds were not in favor of the Mandalorians, who struggled to tame the beast. Thanks to Din's timely rescue, no children were chomped alive, and the alligator (crocodile?) was killed, and most probably eaten.
The latest episode of the show, titled "The Foundling," presents a troubling issue with the location of the Mandalorian covert: It is no place for a child to grow up in. When not being hounded by monstrous space alligators, foundlings are unceremoniously swooped up by huge raptors and taken to the beast's nest, miles away from the covert. The latest child victim is Ragnar, Paz Vizsla's (Tait Fletcher, voiced by Jon Favreau) son, who gets swiped by said raptor after he loses to Grogu in a dart challenge. Poor kid would've been dead if not for Bo-Katan's timely efforts to tail the beast to its nest on her ship.
As Grogu is currently stranded with Din on this hellscape, I wonder what fresh horrors await this kid, along with the other ones.
It's time to call Child Protective Services
The Way of The Watch is already a thorny path to embark on, with dogmatic rules in place to never take off one's helmet once a foundling is baptized and being a part of a separatist religious cult that might or might not have nefarious origins. The kid in the season premiere narrowly escaped being eaten alive by the sea beast, and Ragnar had no choice but to flail around helplessly after the raptor flies away with him. The danger of the situation is enhanced by the goofiness of the Children of the Watch, who run out of jet fuel mid-chase and land rather awkwardly in resignation, while Bo-Katan takes the proactive route and charts out a solid escape plan. The Armorer is not much help either, as she simply watches on as the Mandos panic after losing sight of the raptor.
After reaching the beast's nest, Vizsla does not bother scouting the location and jumps into the heart of danger. Three raptor younglings peck at him, while the mother raptor comically throws Ragnar up to feed its hungry children, but Bo and the other Mandos intervene. Imagine being bested by a small, green child who is too young to don a Mandalorian helmet, and then immediately swooped up by a beast who swallows you alive only to feed you to its children later. Even after he's spat out, Ragnar is thrust around by the raptor mid-air but is thankfully saved by Din from sure shot death and guided back to safety. Ragnar's safe return is truly a miracle, and the other foundling kids clanging their armor in celebration is a hilarious, bitter irony. Run away while you can, kids.
New episodes of "The Mandalorian" season 3 air every Wednesday on Disney+.