The Mandalorian - "The Gunslinger" - Chapter 5 Review
Hey kids it's Mandalorian time once again and we've got another good one for you. This episode was Written and Directed by knowledgeable veteran Star Wars producer, and cowboy hat wearer, Dave Filoni. It's the first in the fledgling series to not be written by John Favreau so now we'll get a glimpse into how others play in this sandbox. Let's get to that galaxy far far away!
Boom! We jump right into the action as The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda are under attack from a new bounty hunter on their tail. Mando pilots The Razorcrest through space as the other bounty hunter blasts away at his ship from behind. Mando tries to evade the other pilot with some fancy space flying but to no avail. Baby Yoda sits close by but is no use, beyond continuing to look adorable, in an outer space ship battle. The other hunter taunts Mando over the radio, demanding The Child for letting them both live. Mando's ship is being more and more damaged until he uses the old Top Gun technique of hitting the brakes and allowing the pursuant to fly right past to get the advantage. Once in his sights Mando makes short work of his assailant, blowing him to bits for stealing his line. Mando tries to stabilize his ship but he's damaged and losing fuel. He heads for the closest planet and I smiled when the Mos Eisley tower control officer tells him he's clear to land. Yaaaayyyyy! Back to the land of the rising suns we go!
Mando lands his ship, stashes the sleeping Baby Yoda, and blasts at the Pit Droids who try to come running up to service the craft. Pit droids, Ha!, they survived from the old Pod Racing days, right on! Good to see the little clambots. The port mechanic comes running out chastising Mando for firing at her droids. This is Peli Motto and she is played by the living chameleon actress Amy Sedaris. Peli gives the Razorcrest the once over and can tell it needs some repairs and that he was in a shootout. Mando gives her a downpayment and promises to get her the rest owed for the repairs. His only stipulation is no droids. He leaves and she calls him a wamprat. Cute reference there.
The Mandalorian exits the hanger and makes his way through the streets of the most wretched hive of scum and villainy. A fantastic score accompanies him as he strolls past dozens of Stormtrooper helmets mounted on spears, evidently no friends of the old Empire around these parts.
Peli is gambling with her pit droids back at the hangar when the game is interrupted by a large and strange noise. She has one of the pit droids get her her blaster rifle but is surprised to see Baby Yoda come shuffling down the ships rear gangplank. Awww. He looked so sad and alone there. He moves to have her pick him up which she does. In a super cute exchange she tells Baby Yoda how she's going to get him something to eat, take care of him, and then charge the Mandalorian extra. Sedaris nails it.
Mando makes his way to a bar we've seen before but this time it is not quite so busy. Some great new aliens sit, chat, eat and drink in the shadows of the legendary spaceport pub. The armored bounty hunter makes his way to a service robot at the bar and asks about work in the area. The bot shuts him down but a young wanna be bounty hunter named Toro Calican pipes up and invites the Mandalorian to join him at his booth. He shows Mando a bounty puck of an assassin that he's picked up. It's the Cavalry herself Ms. Ming-Na Wen. Uh oh these boys are in trouble. The youngster is on his first mission and is trying to get into the guild. He promises Mando all the money if he'll help bring in the dangerous mercenary who ruthlessly killed for the underworld. Mando agrees and tells him to meet him at his hangar.
The Mandalorian creeps back to his ship but inside he freaks out when he sees that there's no Baby Yoda! It's OK though because Peli has him in her hangar office. They were both asleep until disturbed and Peli marches right out to chastise the dangerous gunslinger. She lets him have it in telling him that he can't leave a child like that. He's responsible now for the cute little bugger. He thanks her and then gets his gear together. She follows him outside to see Toro there with some sweet looking speeder bikes. I'll take one of those for Christmas please. Toro gets a good look at Baby Yoda before the two jet off on their speeders. They zoom across a vast desert before stopping. The Mandalorian has spotted some Tusker Raiders and has Toro check them out with his binoculars. A couple of the sand people silently sneak up behind the kid but Mando works it out to get across their land by awesomingly silently bartering with them and giving them the kids binoculars. On their way they go. They jet and zoom some more until Mando once again stops them and takes cover. Over a sand dune they see a dewback with the rider unconscious but still attached to the lumbering beast. The senior bounty hunter heads out to take a look. Mando finds that the rider is another bounty hunter with a tracking fob on him that is still working. Sensing a trap he runs off just as a sniper bolt fires at him! He scrambles back for cover and gets shot one more time before leaping over the dune. Thank goodness he got that Beskar steel and the new armor pieces. They decide to wait for dark to attack so the Mandalorian heads off to get some sleep.
After the twin suns set Toro goes to wake up Mando. He messes around a bit with Mando but doesn't get blasted just yet. They plan on rushing the sniper with speeder bikes and flash grenades. They blast off into the night, rushing the mercenary and her sniper rifle. She focuses in on them as they ride, but is blinded suddenly by the ignition of the light grenade Mando sets off. She fires on them. They continue on, flashing as they go. Mando's speeder is shot and he tumbles off. Toro gets the drop on Fennec but has the tables turned because she's an awesome assassin and he's a rookie. They fight and he's about to get really messed up when Mando shows up and saves his butt. Nice little fight there. They cuff her and realize they're now down one speeder. Mando has to go get the dewback from before so he leave's the bounty with the rookie. The two settle in for the night. As the sun rises Fennec starts to talk to the wanna be bounty hunter. She gets into his head and tempts him with more money and fame. She tells him that if he brings the Mandalorian back to the guild he'll get in for sure and be famous. He thinks it over and then shoots her! Woah, cold dude.
The Mandalorian returns and super cooly poses atop his dewback. He sees Fennec blasted on the ground and knows the fix is in. He makes it back to the hangar and slinks inside. Toro has the mechanic and Baby Yoda at gunpoint. He directs Peli to cuff Mando. She sees that Mando has a flash charge in his hand and gets ready. A bright flash distracts Toro which allows Mando to get the drop on him. He blasts the betrayer but he falls off the side of the gangplank, possibly hurting Baby Yoda! Noooooo!!! Mando and Peli race to him and they find him off to the side safe and sound. Thank the maker. Baby Yoda's OK. Mando pays Peli and she tells the Pit Droids to drag Toro's corpse to Beggar's Canyon. I'm guessing Peli grew up in Luke's neighborhood. Mando steers his ship out of the hangar as Peli looks on. Back out in the desert, Fennec lies on the ground as the Mandalorian approaches. Hmmm. Maybe she's still alive. Or maybe the old cold or warm line is coming back into play.I guess we'll see if he brings her back in or not...
Another great episode delivered by the SW crew. Dave Feloni knows all the points to hit in returning to Tatooine and he brings them. Mos Eisley Cantina, new aliens, dead Stromtroopers, hangar bays with Pit Droids, Tusken Raiders, and Speeder Bikes. The continuing comparison to a sci-fi western continues with The Gunslinger = Mando out in the forefront this time. He picks up a young up and comer who's going to betray him, speeder bikes as horses, Tuskens as Natives, general lawlessness, scoped rifle from up on the ridge, etc.. and I'm all for it. Yippee Kay Yay.
