– Spoiler Review –
The Mandalorian visits a very familiar desert planet in “Chapter 5 – The Gunslinger,” and while it offers off some laughs and plenty of call backs to A New Hope, some questionable decisions and an overabundance of references make for the show’s first disappointing Chapter.
One thing I’ve really enjoyed with the designs, costuming, settings, and characters of The Mandalorian so far is how it offers new and different twists on older, familiar aspects of Star Wars, and while that continues here as certain aspects of Tatooine are reimagined to some extent, the fan-service on display, especially the references to older material, strayed from the mixture and went too full-on rehash that the show lost some of its magic. At first I was really enjoying moments like the recreation of the opening shot of ANH, or the shot of Razor Crest flying over the ridge were Luke, Obi-Wan, and the droids looked out at Mos Eisley, and visiting Chalman’s Cantina, but as the references continued to pile up in the short 35 minutes, like with the hanger layout/look, Tusken encounter similarities, and a whole bunch of name drops, the references stopped feeling like nice little callbacks to ANH and full-on, distracting fan-service that muted The Mandalorian‘s own style and exacerbated the show’s lack of forward momentum. The first three Chapters of Mandalorian felt like their own distinct arc, building towards a specific goal, but ever since “Chapter 3 – The Sin,” these following Chapters have been the Mando on adventures trying to protect the Child, but he doesn’t seem to have any plan or purpose, making the show lack any real drive beyond seeing what cuteness Baby Yoda gets into next. By focusing so much on the past in this episode, it highlights how the show still needs to carve out its own distinct path and how having so many callbacks doesn’t help the show but rather hinders it from breaking free and being it’s own thing. Don’t get me wrong, blending pit droids into the hanger bay so reminiscent of where the Falcon was, putting droids as the bartenders in the cantina where they weren’t originally served, or the striking shot of stormtrooper helmets on spikes definitely added some new layers to the universe and felt distinctly Mandalorian, but there wasn’t enough to offset the fan-service aspects.
There were a few new characters this episode, and I’m little all over on the three. Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), the hanger bay owner/mechanic, was a fun new addition and brought some laughs, who I really grew to like by episode’s end; Toro Calican (Jake Cannavale) didn’t leave much of an impression, feeling more like a discount Dash Rendar, already a discount of a different character, and his actions here spark some of the biggest concern with the episode and show as a whole; and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) made quite the impression, from her rap sheet, fighting abilities, and attempts to be persuasive rather than fight, a move unexpected from someone with her reputation. With Peli and Toro, it took me a little getting used to as they both acted a little too…modern, for a lack of a better word, with some of the writing from Dave Filoni sounding more like dialogue from people in a show on Earth and not in a galaxy far, far away, though it came down to the acting more than the writing, specifically with Toro, but maybe that was the point, so we’d not like him. Regardless, it would be really hard to ever like the character when he straight up shoots and kills Fennec (I have my theories she isn’t dead, but I’ll get to that in a moment). The Mandalorian had issues with gender disparity from the very beginning, and while it’s made some headway these last two Chapters, to give an actress like Ming-Na Wen a role only to let her, a person of color no less, be killed off by one of the white males in a show full of men, stings a whole helluva lot. I get the desire of a lot of people to jump in and defend the episode because it was written and directed by Dave Filoni, who trained alongside George Lucas and brought fans The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and more, and while I’ve loved everything he’s brought us too, “Chapter 5 – The Gunslinger” was a far cry from some of the quality content he’s been in charge of over the last decade or so, with the killing of Fennec the most egregious of the errors here that piles onto the show’s previous issues.
I still feel this way despite believing Fennec isn’t actually dead, though if I’m right, then this isn’t as bad as it seems. To begin with, you simply shouldn’t get an actress of Ming-Na Wen’s capabilities and legacy onto the show and have her killed off so quickly, while I don’t believe Dave Filoni would do something with such bad connotations, plus remember how often he’s teased Ahsoka Tano’s fate through the years? That’s not reason enough for me to feel convinced she isn’t dead, so I point towards the Vanity Fair article introducing her character, as it certainly reads like she’s in more than one episode this season. And lastly, that final shot of “Chapter 5,” which shows the feet of an unknown character, definitely not the Mando, approaching Fennec’s body. It felt more like they were waking her up, her having served a purpose in helping to track down the Mando after his actions on Nevarro, taking Baby Yoda. But who could it be? I’m hearing a lot of chatter people think it’s Boba Fett, but interludes in the Aftermath Trilogy seemed to imply he truly was dead, as his armor seemed to get into the hands of a Tatooine sheriff, but the distinctive bone-spur sound of the person approaching Fennec could imply whomever has his armor could be the character here. I have my bets on it being Greef Carga, as I don’t think they’d go the Fett direction, the Mando seemed to spare him on purpose at the end of “Chapter 3,” and he’s already someone we know trying to track down the Mando after what he did, as my belief he and Fennec are in cahoots was due to her so specifically calling out the events on Nevarro. Hopefully we’ll see sooner rather than later, but without any previews for next week’s episode, it’s very easy to feel like Fennec surviving is only a pipe dream and my theories are going to quickly be disproven, which would ultimately be a poor choice for the show to make.
The special effects started off really good this episode, with the opening space battle, but some of the speeder bike section seemed to take a bit of a hit. It’s nothing terrible, but it’s going to take an adjustment to get used to Star Wars running on a TV budget, albeit a considerably large one, as the effects won’t always be as spectacular as we’ve come to expect. In the end, as I said, it wasn’t anything terrible, but it definitely felt off in parts. Otherwise, Baby Yoda didn’t get to the cuteness level of the past few episodes, but he has a few highlights, especially when he peeks out from behind some containers after Toro’s death. Hopefully the little co-star gets to be more of a focus next episode, and Cara Dune returns!
Here are a few other things:
- Make sure you’re tuning into Ludwig Göransson’s score for The Mandalorian on Spotify, as it’s the most consistently excellent thing about the show. His score is a hint on the future of Star Wars scores as the Saga begins to expand beyond films.
- I still really want to know how these tracking fobs work! Right now I’m a little more concerned about Fennec’s fate, but this is never far from my mind.
- The sign language the Mando uses to communicate with the Tuskens? It’s actual sign language and the Tusken he’s speaking to is played by deaf actor Troy Kotsur, so thumbs up for finally bringing deaf representation to the Saga.
The Mandalorian “Chapter 5 – The Gunslinger” gets too fan-servicey for it’s own good, and the death of a certain character, pending any potential reversal in a later episode, leaves a sting in the weakest Chapter of the show.
+ Some of the updates for a familiar location
+ Mando’s plan to get Fennec
– Far too much fan-service for its own good
– The (potential) death of Fennec Shand
– Forward momentum slows as the show looks to the past rather than the future
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE MANDALORIAN REVIEWS
Season One: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 – The Child | Chapter 3 – The Sin | Chapter 4 – The Sanctuary | Chapter 6 – The Prisoner | Chapter 7 – The Reckoning | Chapter 8 – Redemption