After last week’s uneven and a little silly episode, I was a bit worried about this week’s episode of The Mandalorian. Well, I needn’t have bothered. This episode was, perhaps, the best yet.
1. The cast
This show has cast a lot of comedians thus far in small roles, but Bill Burr is essentially the star of this episode. If that phrase doesn’t juggle your grey matter, I don’t know what will. That said, Burr does well! He’s essentially playing himself, instead of lobbing borderline problematic takes on race and gender, he’s shooting guns, and has a gun that shoots itself.
While most everyone in the crew of mercenaries were actors you’d recognize from somehwere, there were three less obvious guest stars, with smaller roles, but were super fun as well. The trio of X-wing pilots at the end were none other than series directors Dave Filoni (episodes 1 and 5), Rick Famuyiwa (episodes 2 and 6), and Deborah Chow (episodes 3 and 7).
Taking it another level deeper, there was one more unknown face in the episode, but a voice that many fans should have instantly recognized. Matt Lanter, who played the solo human aboard the hijacked prisoner transport, was the voice of Anakin Skywalker in The Clone Wars. I absolutely love The Mandalorian honoring an incredibly important piece of Star Wars history by bringing Lanter into the show.
Also, a quick shout out to Pedro Pascal, who does more ‘acting my slightly moving his head or leaning to one side’ in this episode than in any others, and it is truly a marvel how much he’s able to emote under that giant helmet.
2. Most Star Wars Yet
The whole crew of mercenaries that the Mando joins are cast to fill certain tropes: the sexed up one, the gruff leader, the hothead, the grunting muscle, the sassy droid. But because this is Star Wars, that means that one of them is a Twi’lek, one looks like Hellboy, and the droid looks like something out of a 50s scifi comic. Plus, behind the various cell doors, we see lots of familiar species (including an Ardennian, the species which series producer Jon Favreau voiced a member of in Solo: A Star Wars Story).
In fact, this episode, due in part to all the various species, had the most Star Wars per minute of any episode thus far. Part of that, no doubt, is due to the familiar feel of the prison ship, the presence of mouse droids and egg-head uniforms, and the ‘let’s break someone out of captivity’ plot that happens an awful lot in Star Wars media.
3. From heist to horror
This episode definitely had the least ‘Western’ vibe of the series thus far. The first half of it felt like a classic heist film which, being one of my favorite genres, was a welcome change. That’s not meant to disparage westerns, but the change of pace was definitely appreciated this week. But then, half way through the episode, it stopped being a heist, and turned into a straight up horror film. With the Mandalorian hunting the team, it felt suspiciously like a conversation that my friend and fellow Star Wars enthusiast Alice W. Castle had once. We were discussing how to make a Boba Fett film, and we talked about using Boba like Jason in Friday the 13th: you don’t see a lot of him, but when you do, you’re dead. That’s essentially how the Mando was shot in the second half, especially in the scene where Burr was standing in the hallway with the lights flickering. It was straight up slasher film, and I loved it.
4. Dope soundtrack
Ludwig Göransson has been doing such incredible work on this series, but this episode took that to a new level. His John Carpenter inspired soundtrack to the prison ship sequence was especially amazing and evocative. While I absolutely adore John Williams and all that he brought to Star Wars, it is especially interesting to hear what a fresh voice can do, and because of the episodic nature of the show, he can mix genres and approaches at will. I really hope the soundtrack will get a wide release on vinyl.
5. Yodel stress
Look, I know intellectually that they aren’t going to kill Yodel. He is the MacGuffin, but he’s also the heart of the series at this point. They aren’t going to let Bill Burr take him to the Space Comedy Cellar. But fuck man, every episode my heart is in my throat when he’s in danger. This is like when a dog is in an action film; it becomes all I can focus on. Let him be ok!
