Bo-Katan's Teased Villain Turn In The Mandalorian Season 3 May Be A Bit Of A Red Herring After All

Contains spoilers for "The Mandalorian" Season 3 Episode 2, "The Mines of Mandalore"

"The Mandalorian" Season 3 premiere made clear that Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) isn't happy. She's lost all her supporters. Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) has the Darksaber, and she can only get it back by killing him in combat. She spends all her time in a giant, supervillain-y fortress, practicing ominous power poses in an imposing throne room and snapping at Din, who just might be the last ally she has left. Even her official character poster is a tiny little bit too steely and smug to pass for a classic "Star Wars" hero. This isn't a franchise that relies on subtlety when it comes to antagonists, so when "The Mandalorian" Season 3 started pulling these kinds of visual stunts on one of "Star Wars'" most notorious morally grey characters, it's reasonable to assume that the show knows what it's doing. 

And yet. Everything about Season 3 Bo-Katan so far has teased a collision course with Din, be it over the Darksaber or simply because she's more or less backed in a corner at this point. Despite this, when Din Djarin gets in trouble with the giant droid in the mines and asks Grogu to seek out Bo-Katan, and "The Mines of Mandalore" hands her all the possible cards for a good, old-fashioned villain turn, she throws them all in the wind and shows what she's really all about.

When Bo-Katan sees Mando's ship yet again, she grabs her helmet and storms out of her fortress, ready to make extremely clear that she's not in the mood for company. This is perfectly in line with the assumption that she's antagonistic against the hero. However, when she realizes that Grogu has returned alone, she ... immediately drops her solo sulking ways, and sets out on a daring rescue mission to Mandalore, where she proceeds to save Din's life at great risk to her own. She also takes a liking to Grogu during their time alone, and even confides to him a little. She essentially volunteers as Din's partner for the rest of the mission, and when he once again manages to almost die, she doesn't hesitate one second, and dives in deep water to rescue him. 

Sure, it's entirely possible that Bo-Katan is playing some sort of long game to acquire the Darksaber, but if so, she's doing a pretty bad job. Over the course of the episode, she has umpteen chances to either challenge and kill Din, or leave him to die and retrieve the blade — yet invariably chooses to do the right thing. As such, "The Mandalorian" Season 3 Episode 2 is a massive defense of Bo-Katan Kryze as a heroic figure.