TL;DR – A fun return to form, with two adventures romping across the galaxy.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this show.

The Mandalorian Review –

The Mandalorian has come from a long line of inspirations encompassing grand space operas, the gun-slinging westerns, and the samurai dramas of Japan. When the show taps into these elements, it always shines. This is good because that is the episode we get today.

So to set the scene, Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) has been busy as Magistrate of Navarro building the planet up as an independent trade location outside of the New Republic and Imperial Remnant control. He was nearly getting it self-sufficient when the pirate Gorian Shard (Nonso Anozie) descended in his corvette and rained fire on the town. With nowhere else to turn, Greef calls out to Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) for help, but maybe the New Republic is too tied up with its own problems at the moment. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

I wondered where we were going in the first part of the show when we got responsibility hot potato before we got to the Mandalorians. I honestly don’t care about what Elia Kane (Katy O’Brian) is doing, and this sudden concern with why the New Republic was caught flat-footed in The Force Awakens feels out of place with the rest of the vibe of the show. Look, it is clear that we will get a fight with Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), the rest of it just falling flat.

However, once we get to the meat of the episode, ah, that is where it all comes together. After spending their time hiding away, it was nice to see the Mandalorians get to cut loose as we see them dismantle the pirates in the air and on the ground. The nice thing about how the episode is structured is that everyone we follow gets to have a moment of badassery where they come to the fore. My favourite was watching the Armourer (Emily Swallow) come out of nowhere and dismantle a whole platoon with their tools. Oh, and the little dudes cheering them on and the other little dudes warning of a trap.

One thing I did find interesting about this episode is that it cemented a feeling that had been brewing for a while. At the start of the season, when Katee Sackhoff was promoted to staring, I thought, ‘o, that is interesting; it is the first time the show has done that’. But as the season has progressed, I have had a building theory that the show is starting a transition to who the titular ‘The Mandalorian’ is. Of course, there are rumblings as to just how much of the physical performance of Din Djarin is Pedro Pascal? But given how prominent the rule of ‘you can’t take your helmet off’ only for Bo-Katan Kryze to get an odd hand-wavy reason why she does not have to wear hers now is telling. It is just one of the irregular shifts that are happening in the show that you can’t help but notice.

In the end, do we recommend, The Mandalorian: Chapter 21 (The Pirate)? Yes, we do. Now there was some apparent awkwardness in the bookends of the episode. However, when it got to the core of what it wanted to do, well, that was a bunch of fun.   

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen The Mandalorian yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Mandalorian
Directed by – Peter Ramsey
Written by – Jon Favreau
Created by – Jon Favreau
Based On – Star Wars by George Lucas
Production/Distribution Companies – Lucasfilm, Golem Creations & Disney+
Starring – Pedro Pascal & Katee Sackhoff with Carl Weathers, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Katy M. O’Brian, Tim Meadows, Emily Swallow, Brendan Wayne & Lateef Crowder and Nonso Anozie, Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Deborah Chow, Steve Blum, Tait Fletcher, Marti Matulis & Max Lloyd-Jones