Chapter 5: The Gunslinger takes our Mandalorian to a familiar planet and introduces some fun guest star characters and a little mystery. Equally exciting is that it opens with an actual star war! Pew pew!
Let’s get right to the recap. Here’s your spoiler warning for episode five of The Mandalorian.
“I’ll hit the brakes. He’ll fly right by.”
The Mandalorian, Disney+
The Gunslinger opens with a bounty hunter dogfight that ends with our Mandalorian pulling a Maverick and killing his would-be captor. Not terribly original, but hey, the sound design of Star Wars space battles is always a nostalgically good time. Our Mandalorian decides to take his damaged Razor Crest down to…wait for it…Tatooine for repairs.
Two glorious things happen right off the bat: first of all, the Yoda Baby giggled — swoon — and second of all, we get Amy Sedaris in Star Wars canon.
Cosplay alert.
The Mandalorian, Disney+
Our Mandalorian shuts the Yoda Baby up in a little closet (presumably for safe-keeping…but…no) and pays mechanic Peli Motto (played by the delightful Amy Sedaris) to work on that leaky fuel pump. But for heaven’s sake! No droids!
Why? Why no droids? I thought it was because he didn’t want anyone finding out about the Yoda Baby but about two seconds later the baby toddles out of the ship. I guess he can open mechanical doors.
You are a wanted man, Yoda Baby. Hide your damn self???
“Last one there is a womp rat because we use ‘womp rat’ every chance we get I guess.”
The Mandalorian, Disney+
Our Mandalorian searches for work in the Mos Eisley Cantina where he runs into Toro Calican (played by Nurse Jackie’s Jake Cannavale), a kid who just wants to be a bounty hunter. “I don’t care about the money!” he insists. Many times.
At first I was like, “Ooooo is he sexy?” and then I was like, “Oh dear. No. No he’s a bit obnoxious,” and then I was like, “Ugh he needs to die.” Calican makes an offer to our Mandalorian: help him capture a Hutt-protected bounty and Mando can keep the money while Calican can get in the Bounty Hunter Guild.
That bounty is revealed to be Fennec Shand, played by Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), who never disappoints.
Shand is hiding out across the sands of Tatooine, lands in the territory of Tusken Raiders. Luckily, our Mandalorian knows Tusken Raider Sign Language and is able to barter Calican’s “binocs” (aka binoculars) for passage across.
The Mandalorian, Disney+
The pair wait for the cover of nightfall to attack Shand, who holds the higher ground. In a fun though short-lived attack, they manage to capture her but lose a speeder, forcing our Mandalorian to go round up a blurrg to ride back on. While gone, Shand takes a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” approach and tries to convince Calican to free her so they can both take down Mando and return him — and the Yoda Baby — to the Guild.
Calican thinks this is a pretty good idea except for the whole teaming up part. He shoots Shand and leaves her in his dust as he heads back to the hangar. (Once more I have to ask: why did Mando even let another bounty hunter see the baby??
When our Mandalorian returns to find Shand’s dead body, he rushes back to the hangar, shoots Calican while he’s holding the baby, pays Amy Sedaris, and heads off on his merry way.
Meanwhile, a pair of mysterious boots walk up to Shand’s (maybe not dead??) body. Entertainment Weekly has a fan theory that the boots belong to Boba Fett. Leave a comment and weigh in on that one, will ya?
The Mandalorian, Disney+
All in all, I’m enjoying The Mandalorian but I am not riveted by it. Our hero keeps making goofy mistakes that land him in preventable pickles that he easily overcomes and we’re not unraveling any major Star Wars mysteries. The show, while beautifully produced, doesn’t carry much weight to it.
While I find myself very invested in the fate of the Yoda Baby, it’s just too simple for someone else to take the baby — I want to know who he is, where he came from, and why he’s so important. I actually want to know those things about our Mandalorian as well. There haven’t been many major emotional revelations since the twist at the end of the first episode, but I’m still holding out that we’ll get some.
Working hard on my “The Mandalorian” spec script…pic.twitter.com/IggrqjhkxK
Tweet of the Week
He’s…not wrong…