This is a spoiler review for The Mandalorian Chapter 22: “Guns for Hire”. To read the review for Chapter 21, click HERE.
The Mandalorian takes a detour in “Gun for Hire,” where we step foot into what is definitively a Star Wars prequel love fest. Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, this episode hearkens back to the simple missions of The Clone Wars. Sprinkled in with the high society flair of Coruscant, without the mess of political warfare of Coruscant. But, that is not to say this episode is without politics! No, we get a little peek into a Separatist’s point of view on Plazir-15. We also resolve one of the biggest issues Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne/Lateef Crowder) had, the darksaber.
After last week’s The Mandalorian episode, “The Pirate”, Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackoff) and Din take off to go find Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides) and Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks). Woves has taken charge of Bo-Katan’s group of Mandalorians after she failed to retrieve the darksaber. They’re now privateers, hired by Plazir-15 because they are not allowed a military. This is due to one of their ruler’s (the rulers being played by Lizzo and Jack Black) history as a member of the Empire. He was a success out of the Amnesty program! But still has to follow the rules associated with being a former member of the Empire.
The rulers are having a problem in their utopian society. They employ droids to do all the dirty work, and therefore get to spend time on the things that matter to them, the arts, and government. So they’re stuck, when some of the droids start acting up. They begin reverting to their original programming of being Separatist battle droids. When Bo-Katan and Din show up, Plazir-15’s rulers are given an opportunity. Based on the charter, not even their constables can hold weapons. So Bo-Katan and Din start hunting down the source of the rogue droids, which leads a merry chase through the undertown of the city. They’re able to track the source, the Constable (Christopher LLoyd) who is a former member of the Separatists.
In tracking the source down, Din and Bo-Katan are given permission to visit the privateers. Bo-Katan gets a fight with Woves to command the group of Mandalorians, and she wins. But Woves forces her hand on not having the darksaber. But Din Djarin brings the logic of duels to play. Because Bo-Katan rescued him in “The Mines of Mandalore”, and defeated his captor, she would therefore – technically – have defeated him in combat. Thereby, she won the darksaber for herself.
This episode of The Mandalorian doesn’t have anything groundbreaking within. Instead, it takes quite frankly the most off-plot episode of this season, and fills it with callbacks to other parts of Star Wars. It’s the simplest episode Howard has had to direct in Star Wars so far, and yet also the most complex. She tells us how the relationship between Din and Bo-Katan is going, and being built. They’ve come a long way from “The Heiress” in season 2, where they were polar opposites, and now they’re partners. It’s a lot of showing, and coaxing that out of the actors, instead of having it said out loud.
There are some things that feel a little more drawn out than needed, like chasing one of the droids through the city. And some of the action doesn’t look as clean as in previous episodes. But the city looks picture-perfect, and seeing how many droids, and aliens are involved in this episode really just envelops you in the Star Wars universe. Black and Lizzo can just make you laugh any time they’re on-screen. Granted, it’s not just themselves, but also how absurd the scenes are. I’ve had my complaints with other episodes like this in past seasons, but this one was just plain fun. And what’s Star Wars without having fun? – Katie Rentschler
Rating: 8/10
The Mandalorian season 3 is airing new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday.
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