‘The Mandalorian’, Episode 6: ‘The Prisoner’



It’s Monday and that doesn’t just mean that we’re all back at work again (although I’m pretty pleased that I’ve gone a whole day without wearing my dressing gown…) I must obey the whims of alliteration which can only mean that it’s time for another ‘Mandalorian Monday’!
I’ve really enjoyed watching ‘The Mandalorian’ and it has pretty much made me fall in love with Star Wars all over again, it’s that good. If you were around for last week’s episode though, you would have seen me struggle slightly with ‘The Gunslinger’, an episode that wasn’t bad but did feel kind of like it was made of filler; like it was biding it’s time before the main story took over again.
I was interested to see then whether  Episode 6 would give us more of the same or if things were going to pick up again. As it happened, things picked up again but not for the reasons that I was hoping for…

The Mandalorian finds work, through an old friend, as part of a team of mercenaries put together to spring an old comrade from a New Republic prison ship. Old grudges die hard though and the Mandalorian must fight his way back to his own ship while now looking to make good on a grudge of his own…

If you’re going to make a Western, you need to either have a train being robbed or a ally being sprung from jail; both if you can manage it. ‘The Prisoner’ goes for both (well kind of, I’m counting the New Republic prison ship as more of a train than a stage coach…) and completely hits the target, more on that in a bit. ‘The Prisoner’ is also ‘The episode where all the well known actors turn up’. Okay, I might be the only one who recognised the detective from ‘Chappelle’s Show’ (just because I love that sketch) but there’s also someone from the ‘Harry Potter’ movies, someone from ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and even someone from ‘The IT Crowd’. I just kept doing little double takes and saying to myself, ‘I know that person…’ It was like having all the Easter Eggs at once, I loved it.

But going back to the actual story… ‘The Prisoner’ is another tightly told tale of double crossing and watching the Mandalorian just being awesome at what he does. This episode is another that has no real connection to the main narrative and after last week, that did concern me to start off with. What saved ‘The Prisoner’ is how it gives us a little look into the past of the Mandalorian; a little idea of he was and how much he has changed. It’s not much of a peek (there’s a measure of revenge to be had) but it adds a little more to the mystique around the Mandalorian and leaves you hoping to find out more.
You don’t see an awful lot of the Asset either (seriously, you all know what it is and I’m still trying to go for no spoilers…?) and that’s another way of making this episode all about our new favourite Mandalorian. He’s being hyped up so much now that you can’t help but wonder what he will face next and I think that’s the whole point of this approach. We’re on Episode 6 and there are only two episodes left in this season. Something pretty big is going to happen next week, isn’t it? You’re going to watch it anyway but I’ll let you know what I thought around this time next week.

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