Director: Dave Filoni
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Jake Cannavale, Ming-Na Wen, Amy Sedaris
I’ve been really enjoying The Mandalorian, but I’ve had a nagging suspicion that the show was flirting dangerously close to an over-reliance on fan-service, and Episode 5, called The Gunslinger, is proof of that fact.
Episode 5 of The Mandalorian starts off with Pedro Pascal’s character in a dog-fight with another assassin who’s trying to collect the bounty on the Mandalorian’s head.
After managing to blow up this pesky assassin, he manages to land at a repair facility run by Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) in Mos Eisley on the famous Star Wars planet of Tatooine.
The Mandalorian has to find work in order to pay for his ship repairs, so he goes to a local cantina.
Whilst there, he almost immediately bumps into Toro Calican (Jake Cannavale), a young bounty hunter looking to join the guild by capturing Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), a well-trained mercenary.
Despite the Mandalorian not wanting to help capture Fennec, he agrees to help him for the bounty, while the other gains credit for the capture.
The Mandalorian Episode 5 is leaning on too much fan-service
The Mandalorian Episode 5 isn’t great (Credit: Lucasfilm)
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There are an awful lot of issues with this episode of The Mandalorian. First off, there’s no need for the show to revisit old Star Wars planets like Tatooine.
It felt to me like Dave Filoni and showrunner Jon Favreau just wanted to lean even more heavily on fan-service and thought that people would appreciate a return to the planet where we first met Luke Skywalker.
I might be in the minority, but I have no desire to see these new Star Wars properties merely visit old ones and not really add anything to these locations.
The Mandalorian Episode 5 doesn’t tell us anything new about Tatooine, so there’s really no reason for The Mandalorian to land there, and honestly, nothing of any note happens in this episode.
It really is the worst episode of the show so far and it confirms all my misgivings about The Mandalorian. This show is just trying to appease supposedly die-hard fans of Star Wars who were desperate to learn more about Boba Fett.
The Mandalorian could just be replaced with Boba Fett and nothing would change
The Mandalorian Episode 5 is too reliant on fan-service (Credit: Lucasfilm)
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The Mandalorian is basically a conduit for Boba Fett. You could very easily replace one character with another and it wouldn’t change much.
That said, I’m pretty certain that Boba is going to turn up in this series, which would be the pinnacle of it’s fan-service.
This is really disappointing as far as I’m concerned because the show started off with so much promise.
At the moment, it feels like every episode isn’t going anywhere and they could be taken as standalone fan videos you might find on YouTube.
I think that one of the issues is that Lucasfilm and Disney opted to release each episode weekly on Disney Plus, and it’s not really that kind of show.
The Mandalorian might benefit from being watched in a few sittings. It’s not a show I’m desperate to watch less than 30 minutes of every week because there’s simply not enough happening in each episode.
It’s so frustrating because there is a lot to like about the show. Pedro Pascal is great as The Mandalorian despite not having removed his helmet yet, and Baby Yoda honestly is the show’s saving grace at the moment.
The Mandalorian has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment
Is The Mandalorian not a very good show? (Credit: Lucasfilm)
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These two characters and their mysterious backstories are the only reason I’m still watching.
I also do not like the fact that there are no other real meaningful characters to latch on to.
It seems as though each episode consists of the Mandalorian meeting people and they either die or he leaves them behind.
It’s just so strange to me and it feels like there’s very little characters development.
What did you make of The Mandalorian Episode 5? Let us know in the comments below.
The Mandalorian airs on Fridays on Disney Plus.
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