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Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Episode 6 Review

Remember how I said that The Mandalorian had a bit of Samurai Jack in its veins? After this week’s episode, I’m convinced that’s what they plan on doing the rest of the season. The standalone adventures are fun, but the show needs to move the plot forward. Instead, we get an entire episode devoted to the art of fanservice.

Not that kind of fanservice.

The Job

Mando’s in need of some money, so he turns to an old friend named Ran for a quick job. However, the job in question involves freeing an associate of his from a New Republic transport ship. Worse, it also involves working with a team of scoundrels, one of which is his ex, Xi’an.

It’s here where we get our first bit of fanservice. One of the criminals, a Devaronian called Burg, is played by none other than Clancy Brown. I love Clancy Brown; his deep and menacing voice is so much fun to listen to. Fans of DC and Nickelodeon know him as the voice of Lex Luthor in the DCAU, Mr. Krabs on Spongebob, and one of my favorite villains, Long Feng from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In Star Wars, he’s provided the voice for Savage Oppress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Ryder Azadi in Star Wars: Rebels. He’s a Star Wars veteran, and it’s great to see him at work again.

After meeting the rest of the team, the group takes the Razor’s Crest and infiltrates the prison ship. All throughout the trip, though, the others get on Mando’s nerves. They try to get him to take off his helmet, one of them tries playing with Baby Yoda, and they’re basically jerks.

The Betrayal

In the end, the group makes short work of the droids guarding the prison before making it to the only person actually working there. This is where we get our next big piece of fanservice. The guard in question, Davan, is played by Matt Lanter. Fans will know him as the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I credit that show with helping to make Anakin a likeable character, and Matt’s portrayal played a big part in that. Sadly, Matt’s time in the franchise gets cut short as Davan’s killed by Qi’Ran. However, he does set off a distress beacon alerting the New Republic. As a result, the team scrambles to get the prisoner out, who turns out to be Qi’Ran’s brother. The group then thanks Mando by locking him in the cell. Big mistake.

It doesn’t take too long for Mando to get out and take control of the ship, which he then rigs to separate his traitorous team. The episode then shifts into slasher flick meets Alien as the Mandalorian hunts down each member. It’s a good way to showcase his skills and see him pay back a couple of jerks. The moral of the story is: don’t mess with the Mandalorian.

Fanservice 3: the Final Act

So in the end, Mando gets the job done and brings the prisoner back to Ran, though he leaves the rest of the team to rot. Ran then tries to kill Mando, but Mando saw it coming so he left them a surprise. He took the tracking beacon from the ship with him and placed it on Ran’s station, thus siccing three New Republic X-Wings on them.

We now get our final major bit of fanservice, as each of the X-Wing pilots is played by directors for different episodes of the show. We have Dave Filoni himself living his dream of being in Star Wars playing Trapper Wolf, which is a badass name. There’s Rick Famuyiwa, the director of this very episode playing Jib Dogger. Finally, there’s Deborah Chow, who made the best episode of the show, playing Sash Ketter. They make short work of the station while Mando gets away.

Better than Last Week’s

There are only two episodes left in The Mandalorian this season, and in one week, The Rise of Skywalker comes out. In other words, now’s the time for the franchise to double down on quality content, because Star Wars fever’s high. I’ve even neglected to watch a Christmas special a day so I could prepare for Rise of Skywalker!

This episode wasn’t the best the show’s given us so far, but I think it’s still an improvement over the Tatooine episode. That marks a low in the show. That said, I may be giving “The Prisoner” some leeway because of the fanservice it gave us. Relying on fanservice too much, though, isn’t a good idea, as it detracts from the show’s plot.

Speaking of plot, I hope the final two episodes will actually continue the story of Baby Yoda and the people hunting him. These standalone episodes are fun, but they need to move the plot along.

I Give “Chapter 6: The Prisoner” a 3/5.

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Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Episode 3 Review

If there’s one thing newcomers to Star Wars need to know about the Mandalorians, it’s that they’re a warrior people. They’re some of the few people who could fight a Jedi and win! As a result of their warrior nature, they’re very loyal to each other; it’s the Mando Way. In this episode, we see the Mando Way on full display as the Mandalorian makes a fateful decision.

The Mandalorian’s Past

So far, the show’s only revealed the titular character’s past in bits and pieces. However, I think I’ve seen enough to guess what happened to him. From the looks of things, his home was attacked by the Separatists during the Clone Wars. His parents hid him in a cellar to protect him, but the clankers got to them, and would have killed Mando as well.

Say what you will about the prequels, but the battle droids were some of my favorite things about them. They’re both scary and hilarious at the same time. Mostly, though, they’re hilarious, so seeing them again was a fun treat. I also took it as a sign that Disney’s taking its job of creating a more cohesive canon seriously.

As for the Mandalorian, we know he survived the droid’s attack. I’m going under the assumption that he either escaped or the Mandalorians found him. They’ve adopted orphans before to increase their ranks; it’s the Mando Way.

The Mando Way

Regarding the Mando Way, this episode reveals that this group of Mandalorian’s is a little different from what we saw in The Clone Wars and Rebels. In this episode, they speak of an event known as the Great Purge brought about by the Empire. Now they live in hiding, only going out one at a time. In other words, something big may have happened to Mandalore. One that led them to adopt this new “Mando Way” to survive

If you saw the events in Star Wars: Rebels, then you know that the Mandalorians fully rebelled against the Empire. They’re the best warriors in the galaxy, but they can’t fight off the Empire forever. Maybe the Empire tried to wipe the Mandalorians out for good between the events of Rebels and Return of the Jedi. I think that explains why the Mandalorian’s are in hiding years after the Empire collapsed.

Regardless, the big takeaway about the Mando Way is that they stick together no matter what. That ends up saving the Mandalorian at the climax of this episode.

A Heart Under That Armor

Even though the show portays him as a grim Clint Eastwood type of figure, I already found out that the protagonist has a heart. We saw him shoot the IG-11 droid to protect the Baby Yoda. It was for his payment, but that’s besides the point. In addition, he remained very patient with the child when it wanted to play with its surroundings. He grew to care for the baby like a son.

Ultimately, when push comes to shove, the Mandalorian goes full-on papa wolf for the baby. As a result, we got not one, but two amazing firefights in the climax of the story. Seeing the Mandalorian become a Star Wars fusion of John Wick and Clint Eastwood was as entertaining as shootouts get. The pacing was a bit slow at times, but the show writers made up for it by playing up the suspense.

Good intentions aside, the Mandalorian made himself the most wanted man in the sector. For emphasis, every tracker fob at the Bounty Hunter Guild lights up the minute Mando leaves with the Baby Yoda. However, the Mando way means the Mandalorians stick together.

Undoubtedly, the sight of the Mandalorian tribe coming to the rescue was the highlight of the episode for me. It emphasized two things: firstly, that the Mandalorian’s stick together. Secondly, much like a wolf hunts in packs, the Mandalorians do so as well. As a result, they’re nigh unstoppable.

Mando vs. the Imps

Whatever Imperial warlord wanted the Baby Yoda will now be after the Mandalorian. Which means the next few episodes are going to be a lot of fighting and running from the bad guys. In other words, we just got a Jason Bourne story alongside John Wick and Clint Eastwood.

I don’t know what will happen next episode, but after seeing what the show’s had to offer, I know it will be good. The Skywalker Saga may be coming to an end (for now), but The Mandalorian feels like a bright light for the future of the franchise. As a bonus, this episode introduced me to the woman who will be helming the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, Deborah Chow. I think Kenobi’s in good hands.

I Give “Chapter 3: The Sin” A 4.5/5. As Perfect as We can Get

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Click here to learn all there is about Star Wars with Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.