Ryan Shoots First: The Mandalorian (S1 Ep6) “Chapter 6: The Prisoner”
It is episode 6 of The Mandalorian and with next week’s episode releasing on Wednesday to tie into the release of The Rise of Skywalker we can expect things to be picking up this week. Last week served as a calming center to the series as none of the greater stories at play were moved forward but could have been the calm before the storm. So let’s dive right in and see what baby Yoda memes will be born this week.
This week starts with the Razor Crest docking on a larger freighter ship. He meets an old friend who he reached out to named Ranzar played by Mark Boone Junior, you know the guy who had a rat under a hot bucket chew his stomach in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Anyway, He is surprised Mando reached out to him and is aware of his issues with the guild. He has a job to spring a guy from prison and needs the Razor Crest as a get-away-car. He meets the rest of the team including a former flame. He finds out the man their boosting is on a New Republic prison ship and he is not about all that attention. The deal keeps changing and Mando is not crazy about a droid piloting his ship. They have some small talk along the way and swap some old war stories. In a little scuffle, the crew stumbles upon Baby Yoda right as the ship docks with the prison ship.
The team breaches the ship among a cast of characters. They get pinned down before Mando sneaks off and wipes out the entire droid battalion. They fight their way to the command deck where the pilot threatens to alert the Republic. Mando tries to solve the problem without violence but Mayfield has other ideas and Xi’an takes him out. But not before he is able to call for help giving the team minutes to finish the job. The team gets to the target’s cell and free him, he is Xi’an’s brother and also has a history with Mando. At this point, the team shoves Mando into the cell and closes the door telling him “he deserves this”. Mando promptly escapes and begins sealing off the team on the ship. Back at the Razor Crest Zero loses comms but discovers Baby Yoda and begins trying to capture him. Back on the prison ship, Mando begins picking off his former teammates one by one including a rather brutal finish with some automatic doors. He encounters Xi’an in a hallway then has one of the coolest scenes in the show as he takes out Mayfield by sneaking up on him between strobes in the lights of the hallway. He finally gets to Quinn as he is escaping back to the Razor Crest. He questions his honor and the next shot is Zero finding Baby Yoda who reaches out with the force and Zero explodes but we learn it was actually Mando.
Mando returns back to Ranzar with Quinn so he can get paid once his ship has cleared the dock Ranzar commands them to take out Mando but before they can Quinn discovers the New Republic tracer is on him. Just then X-Wings drop out of hyperspace and take out the dock along with Quinn and Ranzar. Mando heads into HyperSpace but not before returning Yoda’s favorite shift knob to him. Before the credits, we see a cell back on the ship with his former team locked up and safe.
A really great episode with some Mando backstory but also a look into where he is at mentally. His penchant for helping others and not killing but also the stories of his past and how ruthless he was. That all of this is done without flashbacks or even text is a cool feat. All done through dialogue and character interactions. We also got maybe the most Mando fighting we have in the whole series with him taking out droids, his team and Quinn in some really cool fight scenes the likes of which we usually don’t see in Star Wars. One thing we again did not get was too much movement on the greater story and what Baby Yoda is but with the big Rise of Skywalker tie-in coming next week perhaps we will then. Be sure to stay tuned and set your notifications early as next week’s episode goes live on Wednesday. We will see you then you scruffy-looking nerf herders!
Observations
- Mando taking shots at Stormtrooper’s aim was nice.
- Expected Mando to say “this deal is getting worse all the time”.
- Maybe first time we’ve seen the legit New Republic Fleet on screen.
- Probably so many Easter Eggs on that prison ship. Figures for all of them coming soon…
- Good to see the New Republic kept all the Mouse droids around.
- Oh yeah… Mando hallway fight scene.
- New Republic Daleks?
- Watching with my son and when they betrayed him he said: “The Mandolarian never dies.” I love him.
- Hell hath no fury like a Mando scorned.
- Mando’s house of horrors.
- Mando sneaking up on Mayfield was as bad ass as it gets.
- Ha, Filoni cameo!!
- So many cameos from obvious actors like Bill Burr but the Republic captain was Clone Wars Anakin voice actor Matt Lanter. The other X-wing pilots in addition to Filoni were played by Rick Famuyiwa, and Deborah Chow, all directors of The Mandalorian. Xi’an was played by Harry Potter alum Natalia Tena. So many others.
Predictions
- This isn’t a new outlook for Mando, he has always been kind-hearted but was just raised in the Mando culture and largely the image and reputation do the work.
- Not much else to predict at this point as very little new information was given regarding the larger plot points of the season.
