'The Mandalorian' Chapter 5 explores familiar territory on Tatooine
Spoiler alert! This article contains spoilers for Chapter 5 of The Mandalorian.
Chapter 5 of The Mandalorian, titled "The Gunslinger," is all about the fan service.
In Friday's episode of Disney+'s The Mandalorian, our helmeted hero and his baby companion are still on the run from bounty hunters, and after last week's battle and an opening dog fight, the duo takes a trip down memory lane for Star Wars fans, touching down on the desert planet of Tatooine.
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So many callbacks
The Mandalorian lands his ship in a hangar in Mos Eisley, and it isn't long before he finds himself in the infamous cantina from A New Hope and The Phantom Menace. This is several years after Episode IV and things have changed quite a bit, most notably that people in Mos Eisley appear to have killed Storm Troopers and put their heads on spikes. But even so, there's a roguish guy hanging out in a booth in the cantina — the same booth that Han Solo was sitting in when he had a run-in with Greedo.
But this new rogue, Toro Calican, isn't a smuggler, he's a bounty hunter looking to make it into the guild. He has a job for Mando to take on a notorious assassin out in the desert, and Mando needs money to repair his ship where he left Baby Yoda in the care of the hangar's owner, Peli Motto, played by comedian Amy Sedaris.
Peli became immediately attached to the adorable, abandoned Baby Yoda, and when Mando comes back for a moment with Toro, he wakes up the snoring child and Peli becomes very protective of the poor baby. Who wouldn't?
Luckily for Mando (and Baby Yoda), the wannabe bounty hunter Toro isn't aware that the Mandalorian became a big target after breaking a contract and sneaking off with Baby Yoda, so they head off on speeders (pulled right out of Episode VI) to take on the assassin.
Throughout the episode, there's references to familiar places like Beggar's Canyon, names like the Hutts, and I'm pretty sure Toro has the same blaster as Han Solo. On paper it seems like all of this could be a bit much, but at no point in "The Gunslinger" did the show feel bogged down by callbacks.
The assassin
The Mandalorian and Toro manage to sniff out the assassin Fennec Shand, played by Ming Na-Wen, which leads to a very exciting 1 v. 2 capture mission as the assassin tries to pick the two off from high ground and the bounty hunter pair use their wits to close the gap.
After Fennec is captured, Mando heads out to grab a dewback they saw earlier for easier transport, leaving Toro the noob alone with Fennec. Fennec tries to convince him to let her go, and this plants a seed of betrayal in Toro's heart.
The twist at the end of the episode was a great development, even though you could tell something was brewing. I mean, come on, Toro is clearly not a stand-up guy. But to hold Baby Yoda hostage? That's just rude.
In an episode full of callbacks, Mando does his own little callback to when the two were going after the assassin and blinds Toro unexpectedly with a flash grenade-like device, saving Baby Yoda and the day yet again and capping off another great episode of adventure in The Mandalorian.
