Another week another planet, and The Mandalorian isn’t running out of old west stories to tell anytime soon. Nor do I see this gimmick getting old. There’s a reason Westerns enjoyed such a long period of popularity. They’re great adventure stories with plenty of chances for action, drama, emotion and gorgeous scenery. This week’s episode has no shortage of that as it takes us back to where we began our first Star Wars adventure. After escaping one bounty hunter at the end of last week’s episode, this one opens on The Mandalorian in a space dogfight with another. Given how good the series has been so far, I didn’t even notice we’d gone this long without a Star Wars space battle.
It is a good one, too. It has all the visual hallmarks of Luke’s Death Star run to get us feeling nice and nostalgic and then gives us some exciting ship choreography. The Mandalorian’s ship gets shot up real bad. The bounty hunter manages to take out one of his engines. Worse than that, he made the baby cry! What a monster. The Mandalorian dodges out of the way with a flip maneuver because ships going upside down always look cool. He then reverses back into the pursuing ship’s path, sustaining a minor collision and ending up behind it. One quick blast later, the bounty hunter burns to death in an exploding ship in the vacuum of space. For kids!
(via Lucasfilm/Disney)
The Mandalorian’s ship is pretty banged up, though. It sputters to the nearest planet where The Mandalorian can get it repaired. Hey, we’re on Tatooine! Ah, just take it all in. The sand, the dual suns, the… sand! Feels like coming home. OK, how long until we can get out of here? The Mandalorian leaves his ship with a mechanic and insists that no droids work on it. He only has enough money to cover one of the repairs he needs, so it’s off to Mos Eisley Spaceport to look for work. The band isn’t playing tonight, so we have to hum the cantina theme to ourselves in this scene. On the bright side, The Mandalorian doesn’t have to cut anyone’s arm off before finding someone looking to help him. Also droids are allowed inside now. That’s progress.
The Mandalorian meets Toro Calican, a young bounty hunter sitting at the corner table trying very hard (and failing very hard) to look as cool as Han Solo. He has a job he needs help with. He even offers to let The Mandalorian keep all the money, as long as he gets the credit. This job will be what gets him into the guild. They have to track down Fennec Shand, a deadly assassin who’s had trouble finding work since the fall of the Empire. The Mandalorian refuses at first since it’s a super dangerous job, but Toro’s begging convinces him. He sends Toro away for a couple of speeder bikes and goes to check on the kid. The mechanic has found The Child and plans to babysit him to extort a little extra money for the repairs. She’s surprised when The Mandalorian genuinely thankful to her for watching him.
Jake Cannavale, Amy Sedaris, Pedro Pascal (via Lucasfilm/Disney)
Also, The Mandalorian is being oddly cavalier about who he allows to see The Child. Like, he lets the mechanic follow him outside to meet with Toro. The man trying to join the guild currently hunting him and the child. Not only is this uncharacteristically dumb, it spoils Toro’s inevitable heel turn. Yeah, we knew they weren’t going to be best friends or anything, but this is such an obvious and out-of-character lapse in judgement that it can only be happening for the sake of the plot. It doesn’t ruin the episode or anything, so it’s still just a minor annoyance. It just stands out because the writing has typically been better than this.
I like the Mandalorian and Toro’s relationship, though. He’s clearly a spoiled rich kid who just wants the status that comes with being a bounty hunter. The Mandalorian does not have time for any of that, and the dynamic is so much fun to watch. I also loved the brief scene with the Tusken Raiders. The Mandalorian points out that it’s unhelpful to look at them as scum. From they’re perspective, they’re the real locals. The cities are full of invading colonizers. The Mandalorian treats them with respect, giving them Toro’s expensive new binoculars in exchange for passage.
Ming-Na Wen (via Lucasfilm/Disney)
They find a dead bounty hunter and soon find themselves on the business end of Fennec’s blaster rifle. Yes, this episode plays with the long range sand dune version of an old west shootout. The kind where each side lays down behind a hill taking potshots when they can. It allows for some tense silent moments amid gorgeous shots of the desert. The Mandalorian waits until nightfall, then tells Toro his plan. They race their speeder bikes straight at Fennec using flash rounds to blind her scope and throw off her aim. Toro fights her up close and The Mandalorian uses the distraction to sneak up behind and hold her at blaster-point. They’ve captured their bounty and now the Mandalorian can get his money, right? Right?
Yeah, just as we all saw coming, it’s time for the heel turn. They need that bantha they found to carry Fennec back. Toro doesn’t trust The Mandalorian enough to leave him with the target, so he sends The Mandalorian to get it. Once alone, Fennec tries to get Toro to let her go. She tells him The Mandalorian betrayed the guild by making off with a target. That he has a bigger price on his head than she does. She tells him the target is probably a child of some sort and Toro puts everything together. Yes it took him this long, no one ever said he was smart. Instead of letting Fennec go though, he shoots her. He’s pretty sure if he did let her out of those cuffs, she’d kill him.
Amy Sedaris (via Lucasfilm/Disney)
The Mandalorian returns to find Toro gone and Fennec seemingly dead. He’s pretty sure he knows what happened. He returns to the mechanic only to find that Toro has taken her and The Child hostage. Of course. He puts his hands behind his back, and in a fantastic moment of setup and payoff, keeps a flash gun behind his head. As The Mechanic pretends to cuff him, he shoots the flasher on the floor, blinding Toro. Within seconds, The Mandalorian is at Toro’s side. He shoots him, careful not to hit the baby. The Mandalorian and the mechanic are both worried the baby might have been hurt in the fall, but he somehow escaped and is just fine. It’s no secret at this point that the kid is powerful. I just hope we get to see it next time he uses his powers.
The Mandalorian pays the mechanic with the money he finds in Toro’s pocket. Toro had a lot of it. I like this moment a lot. It’s one of those moments where everything about the story just clicks into place. The show lets you put it all together and it feels super satisfying. Of course Toro was loaded. He didn’t care about the money, he just wanted to be a bounty hunter. He whined about losing his expensive binoculars. He had really nice-looking armor despite only being on his first ever bounty. He was a spoiled rich kid from the beginning. Now his money is in the hands of someone who deserves it.
The Mandalorian delivered another fantastic episode this week. It knows exactly what we’ve all wanted to see from a Star Wars TV show and every week, it just gives us more of it. I also loved the character of Fennec Shand. She was clever, manipulative and made for some great fight scenes. I wished her scenes lasted longer just so we could learn more about her, and I was genuinely shocked when Toro shot her. Hopefully she’s not completely gone yet. The episode ended with a mysterious pair of feet walking over to her body. I can only hope that person will nurse her back to health. I doubt we’ll have to wait too long to find out. There are only a few episodes left in this season.
The Mandalorian streams Fridays on Disney Plus
Previously on The Mandalorian:
- The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 4 recap
- The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 3 recap
- The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 2 recap
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