Episode 6 dropped and love is literally in the air... so let's dive in...
We start the episode with an interesting story of a Romeo and Juliette trope. Specifically, a Captain and a Calamari Prince fell in love and run away together, causing danger of war between their species by doing so.
You may think it has nothing to do with either Din or Bo, but if you read my previous post you already know everything is intentional.
They could put here anything, absolutely anything. A pirate, bounty hunter, escaped prisoner... But they put two lovers who with their actions could bring harm to others. It's not truly a happy story, as the woman said before her love confession:
You see, after rewatching previous seasons I noticed that The Mandoverse likes to foreshadow what will happen in one way or another. Mythosaur discovery was foreshadowed by The Armorer in The Book of Boba Fett, for example.
So this story here could be a potential warning, or hint at what may happen to Bo and Din.
A Princess with a fleet, and a man who isn't considered a true Mandalorian because of his origin (Axe's words).
After this episode, I'm pretty sure that Din and Bo are already in love. However, they didn't take any on-screen action to solidify the things we see between the lines. I do believe their relationship will progress further, and...
They may reach the point where things get complicated just because of who they are. You see the lovers from this episode can foreshadow Bo's or Din's dilemma about what they should do for the greater good. They may fall apart if the cause of their interest won't align, or be on the way.
HOWEVER, it may also be used as a future contrast that despite these odds and differences, they would not give up on what they feel for each other. Which I think would go together with true Mandalorian nature. This season is all about what it means to be a true Mandalorian, which is not just a fight for power. It's about caring for one another, especially a family. Mandalorians are stronger together, after all.
More under the cut!
Can we take a moment to talk about how Din IS JUST THERE?
We were making theories if he will go with Bo or not when the show... literally treats them as one already. Whenever she goes, he goes, and vice versa. Without empty promises, they just do it.
And they "moved" to Bo's ship!
To dig into it further, this episode they were constantly walking side by side, to the point of going thru the doors together too if the space allowed it. You can check out this post >here< with more scenes
Glances.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, this form is a subtle tool for storytelling, yet it can hide a whole ton of meaning or can be truly innocent. This episode is full of glances, specifically put in interesting places and I will touch on those later.
Like this one is innocent, just saying "Where the hell we are?" without words.
I mention in the title of this post that "love is in the air" and here's another indication of it, a bizarre one to be sure as ex imperialist and a democrat fell in love despite their differences.
But... Grogu may be the biggest giveaway here:
We don't see Bo's or Din's reaction here at all, only the enthusiastic cooing of Grogu. I asked myself why? Because he matters too, as Din's son.
Grogu could be excited about the couple and how happy they are together. He knows both Din and Bo struggle a lot, and they have dark, rather gloomy lives. What if his father was blessed with a love that would make him happy?
In this episode, we also have the first instance of someone recognizing Bo as a Mandalorian Royalty, despite the fact, there's technically nothing to rule for her. No planet, no people.
An indicator that for the outsiders she is still a rightful ruler, despite her own people not believing in her anymore.
Glances.
She is not going to make this decision alone, looking for assurance in Din.
An then, at the mention of her ruling Mandalore again she responds with:
Bo doesn't want to rule Mandalore anymore. A theme that goes on since the beginning of the season. But I think just this episode we got a glimpse of the true reason why those plans truly changed.
We got a great sequence with Good Cop - Bad Cop trope. Bo and Din gave us some Detective AU right here, make it black and white and we get a whole Noir setup ready to launch...
But back to the topic. This was yet another example of how they complement each other. Bo's more soft and rational approach would lead to nowhere or would take way longer if not Din's aggressive and hostile take on the matter, and vice versa.
They aren't only a great team, they need each other.
Glances.
Bo for the first time saw the darker side of Din. We knew he had one, but she's pretty taken aback by his hatred of droids. Nonetheless, it doesn't make her fearful of him.
Quite the opposite in fact
as she becomes his voice of reason to hold his horses. She's not scared he would get back at her with this attitude at all.
They had a brief conversation about his hostility, and I'm glad they allowed Bo-Katan to remove her helmet because what Katee is doing with expressing her emotions is phenomenal.
This innocent sentence awakens a lot if you know where to look. And if not I will just show you.
Glances.
After the droid, a machine that can outlast probably generations if maintained properly puts importance on human life, and how short it truly is Bo and Din look at each other, accompanied by a romantic melody.
Devil is in the details, as Bo took a deep breath before breaking contact with Din.
What does it mean? As per usual it can mean nothing, or it can mean a thing, and you know me already, I will talk about the thing.
You never know when someone's words might hit you, and I think that droid hit Bo and Din pretty strongly. In this lifestyle, they both share, life is even more dangerous than the citizens of that planet. It's a constant battle for survival. Wars, monsters, your own kind... Everything can kill you if you are Mandalorian.
So they might think that there's no time to waste. An indicator that the actions may be taken soon. A way of saying "Life is short so we can as well live together".
The investigation is a success, DinBo detectives can be proud of themselves for solving the issue, and as they came back to the Duchess with the results, we are once again struck with something.
The motives of a man responsible for malfunction have their core in his hatred for the ex-imperial husband of the Duchess. So Duchess Lizzo blesses us with this line:
You see, both Din and Bo have past. And those who know TCW know that Bo's past is terrible. She made huge mistakes when she was younger, and she pays for them to this day.
I don't have a gif here, but at this moment you can see how Bo is moved by the exchange of these words, and you can see it all over her face, as her gaze is running away somewhere else.
Lizzo then recognizes the efforts, Bo and Din made, which put a smile on Bo's face. A rare sign, but it only gets better.
You see, I think Bo-Katan is genuinely happy here because she did something good, and her efforts are recognized.
It's safe to say that back at Kalevala, she was severely depressed. Thinking of herself as a failure that caused the doom of her planet and everyone she loved. Everyone left her, no one cared for her, and she was all alone. Then Din needed her help, and from then she was on a streak of doing good. I'm pretty sure that if not for the helmet we would see her smiling similar way after rescuing Rengar.
Here, she not only helped people but also secured an alliance with another planet, simply by doing good, with no corruption or violence needed.
Look how proud she is when Grogu becomes a knight!
@ladyzirkonia Already noticed in her post >here< that Bo is happier than ever. And It's absolutely true! We haven't seen her as happy ever before. Not when she was getting a new addition to her fleet back in Season 2, or not even when the Armorer announced she is the one to unite them all.
This leads us adress to the bantha in the room...
Where something important happens.
You see, there were many theories that what Bo's doing with Din is just a long play to challenge him when he least expects it, but this disproved it. And later it gets even more interesting.
You see... Axe is accusing Bo of intentionally refusing to challenge Din. Which would mean her people demanded it from her at some point.
Her refusal could be what lead them to leave, claiming she's weak, not only as a leader but also as a warrior, probably thinking she's afraid of challenging him.
However, Bo's motive may be rooted somewhere else.
Bo-Katan had no problem challenging Axe for her fleet, so why would she struggle so much to challenge Din? It was as necessary as getting the fleet back, so what was stopping her?
But she really didn't have to kill him to claim the blade. We saw it as Din and Paz fought for the Darksaber, and Vizsla is still alive.
(gifs by @itberice)
Do you remember what I said about love in the air? Now, look back at the Captain and the Prince from the beginning, and Duchess Lizzo and her ex-imperial husband. Do you notice the similarity?
Bo-Katan stands up in front of so-called Mandalorians, that are ready to outcast someone like Din, just because his blood is not Mandalorian enough. Just like Lizzo stood up against Commissioner in defense of her ex-imperial partner.
Again @ladyzirkonia made a great post >here< saying what I'm gonna mention.
This is a great sign of what kind of leader Bo is going to be. She walks both ways, she took her time to understand Din's perspective, and because of everything that happened, he is the one who showed her The Way. The right one.
He let her understand what it means to be Mandalorian, and it's not the blood, but the heart and faith of a warrior.
Din Djarin, with all his adventures, made Bo-Katan the person she is now. And she is really fond of him, to the point of standing in his defense, even if before she was among the people who laughed at him.
I know everyone has mixed feelings about the Darksaber, and I fully myself don't sit right with it either, BUT it happened, and I'm here to make surgery on the symbolism here.
I know a lot of people think if Din gave the Darksaber like that, make it look pointless...
But I beg to differ.
You see, the Darksaber for Din and Bo actually lost its value. For him, it was a burden, and for Bo-Katan a symbol of everything she lost. But for everyone else? It still was a symbol of power.
I may sound here like I'm trying to defend the outcome, but I rather like to think I'm just taking a different perspective on it.
Hear me out, the point of Din getting the Darksaber maybe never was to show him as a potential leader, but rather put him on his path with someone who will make his life... better.
The Darksaber is something that put Din and Bo-Katan on the same way. A catalyst for everything we saw this season. Nothing of it wouldn't happened if Din didn't have the Darksaber. Just think about it, if in season 2 Bo got the Darksaber from Gideon, she would have her fleet, and wouldn't rot in her sadness on Kalevala, so there would be no one to save Din on his way to redeem himself. Giving this one sample to just show how big of a butterfly effect we are dealing here with.
So as much as I don't like the way the Darksaber was claimed, I truly don't think it makes everything pointless. For me, quite the opposite really. It's the reason why everything we see is happening.
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I think we don't talk about this scene enough, so let's dive in:
Earlier episode 5 establishes that Din and Bo had grown closer to each other, while staying at the Covert:
There's plenty of space so there's no need to sit so close to each other unless they've grown closer.
Now back to this scene where the Armorer asks Bo to remove her helmet.
She was hesitant, and we rarely see Bo being hesitant about anything.
Now ask yourself why? Why was she so hesitant here?
Why wouldn't she want to get rid of her helmet? Not so long ago, she called Din's tribe a cult because of keeping their helmets on.
So what changed?
She lost her home. Din offered shelter. Then she *accidentally* joined his cult.
It's not indicated anywhere how much time passes between episode 3 and 5, but I would say at least a few weeks, if not a couple of months.
So why wouldn't she be relieved to receive the chance of removing her helmet?
You could say, well because she would become an apostate in the other's eyes, and therefore would be thrown out of the Tribe.
But, the Armorer refutes that by explaining "Bo Katan is walking both worlds."
But she is not concerned with the others, at least not at first. Her whole attention is hanging on Din's reaction.
She's afraid of losing his respect, and his friendship they had forged during their time together in the Covert up until this point.
She seems to want to say something in her own defence, but can't, because there's nothing. Instead, she's pleading with her eyes. (Katee's acting here is phenomenal)
This moment is about whether or not Din will reject her for taking off the helmet, like her Nite Owls rejected her for not getting the Dark saber.
And we know, that he not only doesn't reject her, (like he did in the past at their first meeting), but he joins to help her seek out her fleet.
From this point on, Bo is looking for his approval, and support.
Continuously!
It's so intriguing to watch how much she comes to rely on Din.
Then the pledge scene:
She's completely taken off guard.
She didn't expect him to support her after revealing how she surrendered, which inevitably led to the Night of a Thousand Tears.
This time Din goes beyond the simple nod of support by pledging his undying loyalty.
This marks another turning point in their relationship.
*Don't even try to tell me this isn't romantic as hell!!!*
It's clear where their relationship is heading.
She even says it:
Gif credit to: @enidsinclair
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