'The Mandalorian', Episode 5: 'The Gunslinger'

It's Monday and that means, at least for another few weeks, alliteration demands that I do another post on 'The Mandalorian'. It's also that time of the week where I've got to ask, you guys know what the 'Asset' is by now, don't you...? I'm doing my best to avoid spoilers, this is possibly the last place on the internet where there will be no 'Mandalorian' spoilers, but surely everyone knows by now? And if everyone does know, am I wasting my time assuming that there's at least one person reading this who doesn't want to know just yet? Sorry, rant over! I'll carry on as normal... ;o)

The Mandalorian defeats a pursuing bounty hunter in a dogfight, but his ship is damaged and he lands at a repair facility on Tatooine. While seeking work to pay for the repairs in a local cantina, he meets a young bounty hunter looking to join the guild by capturing Fennec Shand, a well-trained mercenary. Despite having misgivings, the Mandalorian agrees to help him for the bounty.

If you were in any doubt that this was a 'space western', the title of this episode really gives the game away. Not only that but we're back in Mos Eisley spaceport, another little nod to the nostalgia hunters, especially when the Mandalorian walks into a certain bar... Talking of which, I loved the way it's being run by a droid now :o)

There's a lot to love about 'The Gunslinger', we know by now that the Mandalorian is not to be trifled with at all and half the fun is seeing him come back, from whatever is thrown at him, to dispense some Mandalorian justice. And he does just that here, he really does. The twists aren't really twists by now, once you get your head into the whole 'western' thing then you'll see them coming, but it's still fun to see the story unfold and see the Mandalorian be absolutely awesome while getting shit done.

It feels a bit weird to say this then but 'The Gunslinger' feels like a filler episode in some ways. The first four episodes set things up and the mysterious figure, at the end of this episode, hints at something that will more than likely play out over the last three episodes This leaves our episode 5 stuck in the middle, neither one thing nor the other. A bridging episode then? Well, maybe... There's just a feeling that 'The Gunslinger', as good as it is, is ever so slightly disjointed from the rest of the series and that's just really odd given how tight the storytelling has been up until now.

The mysterious appearance, at the end of the episode, is the ideal springboard to keep going with the rest of the season and leave 'The Gunslinger' behind as a transitional episode that almost but doesn't quite work. Well, not for me anyway. Luckily, there's still plenty to enjoy in the meantime and the potential for the last few episodes is more than enough to keep me watching.