The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5 Review

Credit to: Disney and Lucasfilm

Well this was a fun little adventure, huh?

Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re taking a look at episode 5 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 3! This one was pretty fun to watch, huh? Kind of a lot going on, but still pretty fun! We even got a nice little cliffhanger at the end, so hey, can’t complain too much... or can I? But you know what? I don’t have a whole lot else to say, so I’m thinking I should just dive in. So, without any further ado, let’s just jump right into it.

Episode 5: The Pirate

Pros

Gotta say, I’m always happy to get some more Greef Karga. He’s developed so much as a character, starting off as a job dealer for the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, to the magistrate of Nevarro. Luck’s been on this character’s side ever since he managed to survive a shot from Mando, but it almost ran out here. If you couldn’t tell from the title, we’ve got a pirate problem again. Greef and Mando thought they scared off the pirates from Nevarro, but this time, the pirate king, Captain Gorian Shard is in full revenge mode and is ready to decimate Greef Karga’s city. That dilemma alone is actually another pro for me, because they actually used the character and made him a pretty interesting threat, a threat that winds up involving Din, Bo, and the other Mandalorians, so I think this character was used as a good tool to drive the plot. But back to Greef, I love how we see him fully tackling his role of leadership. He genuinely cares about his people, and he accepts and outwardly acknowledges his wrongdoings against Din and the rest of the tribe. However, he isn’t a pushover. His new, kinder heart doesn’t make him a coward. In fact, he’s a lot more willing to tackle an issue head on if it’s a threat to his people. If that isn’t some good character development, I don’t know what is. I had a great time with him. Not only him, but I really enjoyed seeing the return of the New Republic Ranger, Carson Teva from the last season. We get to see more of how he operates as an officer, and we see that he has a genuine care for the galaxy. Maybe he comes across as a bit superstitious to his allies, but when he feels it in his gut, he knows something is wrong. He’s had doubts about the capture of Moff Gideon, and feels that the threat of Pirate King Gorian Shard might be a potential indication of danger. Maybe he’s wrong, but maybe he’s right? Who knows? If you watch the episode, maybe you’ll find out for yourself, hm?

One thing I really wanted to mention as an absolute pro has to be the action. I’ve loved every single scene of Mando dogfighting in his Razor Crest, and to see that same work done here in his squeaky clean, brand new N-1 starfighter made me appreciate his new ride a lot more. Would still love to see another Crest, but I will admit that this guy is killing it in this ship. The maneuvers he pulled off, the return of an instantly classic, badass line from season 1, the way he flawlessly executes a plan he and Bo-Katan developed to rescue Nevarro, just everything about Din in action was great. The way Bo-Katan flies in with her Mandalorian starship to deploy fellow Mandos down to the surface? Fire. Absolutely fire. Seeing the Mandalorians on the ground, working as individual squads, using military tactics and their high tech weaponry to retake the city was just, mwuah, chef’s kiss. Overall, I’d say I had a fantastic time with this episode.

Cons

Here’s the part where I need to reel myself in and catch myself. I loved the episode, but I will admit that it was kind of a mess. There’s like 3 different plots here. We have Carson Teva and his concerns about the Empire, which is great. We have the pirate issue on Nevarro, also great. We then suddenly have the Mandalorians and their plan to retake Mandalore while picking someone to lead them. I’m not gonna lie, it was a lot. It did. I loved it all, I think those are all very interesting things to watch, but they don’t exactly mix well. It feels like you jump from plot to plot here, and it was a little bothersome. Something that really bothered me was the fact that the Armorer seems to have completely switched up her views. She banished Din for taking off his helmet, because she constantly hammers the idea (get it, hammers) into the tribe’s heads that they can’t take their helmets off, but here, she’s suddenly okay with it? More than that, she just takes Bo-Katan’s word that she saw the Mythosaur. Did it happen? Of course it did, but the point is that the Armorer is the same character who was kinda talking smack about Bo to Din when he brought her up for the first time in the last season. Now she seems to have placed her full trust into her to lead the Mandalorians and unite the clans. It’s just a little jarring, I won’t lie. I loved the episode, but these things poked out a bit too much for me not to knock the score down some.

Final Thoughts

We have a great episode on our hands, but there’s a whole lot to process. It’s understandable why the runtime was over 40 minutes, because there really was a whole lot going on. Something like this could’ve really used an hour to smooth things over in my opinion. The segue from plot A, to plot B, to plot C was just a little too bumpy. Very enjoyable, very much so enjoyable, but given a little more time, they could’ve translated a lot better. But I did enjoy the episode, I just do kinda worry that there might be too many plots conflicting from here on out. But what did you all think? Let us know on our Instagram, and make sure you follow us over there to stay up to date on the latest and greatest entertainment news and reviews. But that’s all from me, this has been The Wolf Den!

3.5 out of 5.