A Review of The Mandalorian: Chapter 5 – The Gunslinger
We are now past the half-way point of the first season of The Mandalorian. So far we have encountered a snarky and witty IG unit, a child of an unknown species, Bounty Hunters, former Imperial soldiers, former Rebel fighters, and finally Pit Droids!
Chapter 5 has finally taken us to a familiar setting. A place that us fans have all been clamoring to see in the Disney era of Star Wars films. The episode is titled The Gunslinger but a more appropriate name would have been Chapter 5 – Fan Service.
Recap
On the Run
The episode opens up immediately to the Mando on the run from a Bounty hunter. A dog fight is already in action between the two and it seems like the hero (yes Mando is a hero at this point. Did you watch the last episode?) is all but out of time. That is until he makes a slick move and destroying the opposing ship and Bounty Hunter on board.
As the fight ends The Razor Crest is most apparently damaged and the Mandalorian makes his way to the desert planet of Tattooine. (YES IT IS ACTUALLY TATTOOINE THIS TIME!)
Money for Repairs
Upon landing at the Mos Eisley spaceport a dock worker names Pelli Motto is there t greet the Mando. Yelling at him for shooting at the feet of her Pit Droids who are there to help fix any damage ships.
The credits he has are just enough to pay for the dock. She is willing to repair his ship but he will have to get more credits for payment.
Cantina 😮
That’s right folks. After a stroll down memory lane (the streets of Mos Eisley) the Mandalorian walks into a familiar bar. One that is no longer a prejudice of droids it seems.
Mando walks up to the bar and asks the droid if there is any work to be had. The droid answers that the Bounty Guild is not on Tattooine so work will be hard to come by.
Overhearing the conversation with the droid an aspiring Bounty Hunter by the name of Toro Calican offers up a job that he needs some assistance with. He is trying to capture Fennec Shand (Play by Ming-na Wen). She is a hghly skilled assassin in which capturing her is going to be relatively difficult.
Because of the difficulty The Mandalorian says no to the offer but Toro pleads his case as this is his first bounty and he is just looking for a way to build his reputation. Once again the Mando’s heart gets the better of him and requests he meets him in 30 minutes with swoop bikes.
Before he heads out on his mission the Mando comes back to the Razor Crest to see Pelli has found the child and is entertaining it. While her intentions were to use her babysitting as a means to make additional credits off of the Mando she is surprised that he is so quick to allow it to happen as he prepares for his journey.
The Mission
Toro and Mando get on their Swoop bikes and head into the vast sandy landscape of Tattooine. They come across some Tusken Raiders who they payoff with binocs.
They finally come up on a Duback with its rider laying dead next to it. It quickly becomes apparent that the assassin is who killed the rider. The Mandalorian comes up with a plan to wait until it is dark to attack Fennec and capture her.
After an interesting fight the two Bounty Hunters are successful and capture Fennec. Unfortunately one of the Swoop bikes was destroyed in the scuffle and the Mando must go find the Duback to use as a ride back to Mos Eisley.
Betrayal
Fennec realizes who The Mando is and explains to Toro that he could get a much larger reward and notoriety if he captured and handed over the Mandalorian as opposed to her.
He dwells on this for a moment walks over to Fennec. She believes she has convinced him to let her go when all of a sudden he shoots her in the gut. She falls to the ground dying. Toro explains that he knew if he let her go she would just kill him. He didn’t want to take any chances. He heads off towards the spaceport to grab the child and use it as bait to bring the Mando to him.
Get off my Plane
The Mando returns to where they captured Fennec to see she has been killed. With Toro not around he becomes suspicious and heads back to the Razor Crest.
It’s here he finds Toro the child in hand wanting to capture Mando and turn him in for the reward and accolades. However, the Mandalorian has other plans and quickly eliminates the young Bounty hunter.
With the repairs completed the Mandalorian pays Pelli in credits he has looted and goes on his way to keep the child safe.
MYSTERY!
At the end of the episode we someone find and walk over to Fennec. Is this person going to revive her? Who is this person? All that and more on the next exciting episode of THE MANDALORIAN!
Review
I’m sorta shocked hearing all the negative reviews of this episode. This is exactly what I expected this series to be like. Not only that but this chapter gave us the most amount of fan service we have seen…. maybe ever in anything Star Wars.
Finally we see Tattooine
Mos Eisley
We see the Cantina
Swoop Bikes… Who doesn’t LOVE swoop bikes?
Bloodied Stormtrooper helmets on pikes!
Tusken Raiders
Banthas
A Duback
Pit Droids
The Cantina table that was made famous by Han shooting Greedo first
I’m sure there are things I even missed. But overall, from a fan perspective this episode was a blast just picking out all the cool Easter Eggs and nods.
The story itself was simple but necessary. We are seeing no matter where the Mando goes the child and his life will be in danger. It introduced us to the assassin Fennec, who I don’t believe is actually dead. She will be back.
Not every episode is going to be like Chapter 3 was. While this wasn’t the most action packed it was definitely enjoyable and one I will watch a third and fourth time just to make sure I find all the little fan service moments they stuck in there.
Maybe people are just unhappy about the lack of Memeable content they got from Baby Yoda. No fear, we have at least 3 more episodes for more Baby Yoda Meme content.
Make sure you check out our Star Wars Podcast Shootin’ the Sith for more content in a Galaxy Far Far Away.