Star Wars has always been something of a Western in space, and this episode is no exception. The Gunslinger is pretty much a sci-fi version of John Wayne's classic Western The Searchers. I can live with that.
It's not all good news though. This is the most fan-servicey episode of the series yet, as it takes place on— you guessed it— Tatooine. The most familiar planet in the entire Star Wars Universe. Virtually ever iteration of Star Wars (with the exception of the miserable Sequel Trilogy) has featured the planet at one point or another.
And once there, boy do they pile on the fan service— to the point of distraction. I don't mind the occasional reference, but this episode crossed the line— and then some! Virtually every scene featured a callback or homage to something from A New Hope. It's like they had a checklist and were ticking off boxes as they filmed. Less is more, guys.
Enough about the bad though. I continue to be impressed with actor Pedro Pascal, who plays the titular character. He's basically acting with a bucket on his head, so it's amazing how much emotion he can convey with his body language. A simple tilt of his armored head conveys a surprising amount of info!
I also like the fact that he isn't infallible, and actually makes mistakes. He isn't invincible either, as he can actually be hurt. Both characteristics serve to humanize him.
This week we also get a guest appearance by Ming-Na Wen, who's always a welcome presence.
And this week Greef Karga's planet finally gets a name— after five episodes! It's about damn time!
Lastly, The Gunslinger was written and directed by Dave Filoni, who developed The Clone Wars animated series (which I thought was far better than any of the Prequel movies). He wrote many of the episodes, and was the supervising director on the series as well. He does a great job here in his first foray into live action.
SPOILERS!
The Plot:
We open with a good old fashioned space battle, as Manny's ship the Razor Crest is being pursued by a bounty hunter. He fires on Manny's ship, demanding he hand over Baby Yoda. Manny's ship takes several major hits before he manages to blow up the pursuing craft.
There's no time to celebrate though, as the power goes out and the ship floats helplessly in space. Manny activates backup power and looks for a place to land. He spots a nearby planet on the star charts and heads for it. As he enters orbit, he's contacted by Mos Eisley control tower, and given clearance to land in Docking Bay 35. Yep, you guessed it— we're goin' back to Tattooine! The most overused planet in all of sci-fi!
Manny flies past several familiar landmarks before he lands in the bay. He puts the sleeping Baby Yoda in a closet for safe keeping and exits the ship, where he's confronted by a trio of pit droids. Oh boy, Prequel references. He fires a warning shot at them, and a mechanic named Peli yells that if he damages her droids he'll pay for them.
Manny tells Peli his ship needs repairs, but warns her to keep the droids far away from it. She examines the damage and says she can fix it, but it'll cost him. He gives her 500 Republic credits, but she says that'll barely cover the docking fees. He tells her he'll be back with more money.
Manny walks through the familiar streets of Mos Eisley, and heads straight for Chalmun's Cantina— the one featured prominently in A New Hope. What a surprise!
Back at the docking bay, Peli plays sabacc with the droids. Suddenly she hears a noise coming from the Razor Crest, and when she investigates she finds Baby Yoda. She swoops him into her arms and orders the droids to bring some food. She says she plans on charging Manny more for "babysitting."
Meanwhile, Manny enters the Cantina, which is now operated by droids. He tells the EV-unit bartender he's looking for work, but it says the Guild no longer operates on Tatooine.
Just then a human male introduces himself as Toro Calican, which has to be the most Star Wars name possible. He displays a bounty puck for Fennec Shand, a female assassin who's been spotted on Tatooine. Manny's heard of Fennec, and tells Toro good luck with that.
Toro doesn't understand, as he thought Manny was looking for work. Manny says Fennec is a deadly and elite mercenary who worked for the Hutts. He tells Toro if he goes after her, he won't make it past sunrise.
Toro admits this is his first ever bounty, as he's desperately trying to get into the Guild. He says if Manny teams up with him, he can have the entire bounty. Manny thinks a moment and agrees. He tells Toro to give him the tracking fob and meet him at Docking Bay 35 with two speeder bikes. Toro smashes the fob against the wall, claiming he's memorized its info (?). He tells Manny he's stuck with him now. Somehow, Manny restrains himself from killing Toro.
Manny returns to his ship, and panics when he sees Baby Yoda's gone. Peli appears with the baby, and scolds him for leaving it unattended. She says she's started the repairs on his ship, but it's taking longer than expected since she isn't using droids. He thanks her for all her help, which surprises her.
She follows Manny out of the docking bay, where Toro's waiting with two old speeder bikes. Toro eyes Peli and the child (PLOT POINT!), and he and Manny ride off for the Dune Sea.
The two speed through the desolate Tatooinian terrain. Suddenly Manny orders Toro to stop. He points out two Banthas up ahead, and says they're about to cross into Tusken Raider territory. Toro dismisses them, saying they should keep their distance. Right on cue he turns and sees two Tuskens standing behind him.
Manny tells Toro to relax, and uses sign language to negotiate passage across the Tuskens' land. They demand Toro's macrobinoculars as payment, and he's forced to reluctantly hand them over. The two bounty hunters continue on their way.
They reach another rise, and Manny spots a Dewback in the distance (man, they are reeeeeally checking every possible reference off the list). They see the rider's being dragged along behind the large creature. Manny cautiously approaches and discovers the rider's a dead bounty hunter— who was presumably also looking for Fennec.
Suddenly a laser blast hits the sand next to Manny, and he runs back to the rise. He's hit in the back, but his Beskar armor protects him. Toro says the shot came from a nearby ridge. Manny assumes Fennec's the sniper, and says she has the advantage of high ground. They'll have to wait till the suns set before attempting to capture her.
After night falls, Manny gives Toro a flash charger, saying they'll use them to temporarily blind Fennec. He tells Toro to ride as fast as he can and they speed off. The two ride toward the ridge, firing the flash chargers ahead of them. Fennec fires on them, but is confounded by the bright light from the chargers.
She manages to get off a lucky shot and hits Manny's speeder bike, sending him tumbling end over end. Before she can finish him off, Toro sneaks up behind her and orders her to drop her weapon. She hurls a throwing knife at him, knocking his blaster from his hand. She instantly attacks, and the two scuffle in the sand for a bit. Just then Manny appears and orders Fennec to surrender.
After she's cuffed, Fennec asks Manny if he was at Nevarro, as she heard things didn't go well there. Obviously she heard the news of a Mandalorian stealing a baby from The Client. Manny orders her to shut it. He sees the wreckage of his speeder bike, and realizes they need alternate transportation to take Fennec back to Mos Eisley.
Manny tells Toro to go find the Dewback they encountered earlier and bring it back. He refuses, fearing Manny will abandon him and claim the bounty for himself. Manny says fine and takes off for the Dewback himself.
While Manny's gone, Fennec does her best to subtly manipulate Toro. She says if he lets her go, she'll pay him double what he's getting from the Guild. He tells her to stop talking, but she keeps egging him on, asking why Manny's getting the whole bounty instead of half. She tells him she suspects Manny is the Mandalorian who shot up Guild members on Navarro. She says if Toro brought him in, the Guild would accept him for sure, and he'd become a legend.
Toro asks how Fennec knows Manny's the Nevarro fugitive. She says word has it he's traveling with some sort of child. Toro thinks back to Peli holding Baby Yoda, and realizes she's right (told you it was a plot point!). He approaches Fennec, seemingly intending to release her. Suddenly he shoots her in the stomach, and says she'd kill him the second he freed her. He thanks her for the tip and roars off on his bike.
Sometime later Manny rides the Dewback back to camp. He sees Fennec's body and realizes what happened. He turns and rides back to Mos Eisley.
Manny returns to the docking bay, where he sees Toro's bike parked outside. He cautiously enters and looks around. Suddenly Toro appears, holding Baby Yoda and Peli hostage. He tells Manny to toss down his gun and put his hands behind his head. He orders Peli to cuff him. As she does so, she sees Manny has a flash charger in his hand. He sets it off, momentarily blinding Toro. Manny dives for his blaster and shoots him.
Manny recovers Baby Yoda. He then takes a bag full of credits from Toro's belt and tosses it to Peli, asking if it's enough to pay for the repairs. Her eyes widen at the amount, and she says it'll jusssssst cover his bill. He thanks her and blasts off in the Razor Crest.
Cut to the Dune Sea, where a shadowy figure with spurs approaches the seemingly body of Fennec.
Thoughts:
• Welp, we might as well get this out of the way now. As I said in the intro, this episode is packed to the rafters with fan service. Some of it's fun, some is eye-rolling, but it's all fan service just the same. There's so much of it and it comes at the viewer so fast it's hard to even list it all.
First though, it might be helpful to clarify the term. To me, fan service is when a callback is unnecessary, oddly specific and doesn't serve the plot in any way.
The presence of Tatooine, droids, speeder bikes and the like in this episode is not fan service. This is the Star Wars Universe, so it's only natural to see familiar places, robots and vehicles from time to time. They're just background elements that establish the setting and don't interfere with the plot.
But when Manny goes to Tatooine and flies past an exact location seen in one of the movies, runs into a specific droid we've seen before or rides the precise model of speeder bike used by Anakin Skywalker— THAT'S when it becomes fan service.
There was absolutely no reason for these elements to show up in the episode, as they did nothing to further the plot and only served to call attention to themselves. They're there for nostalgia purposes only, as a way for the producers to say, "Eh? Remember this? Eh? EH???"
I never know how I'm supposed to react to such fan service. Am I supposed to clap? Point at the screen and shout, "LOOK, IT'S STAR WARS! I KNOW THAT! I RECOGNIZE A THING!"
For me, fan service is disruptive and a huge distraction, as it takes me right out of the story every time. To me these nods and callbacks aren't fun, as all they do is make me want to turn off The Mandalorian and go watch A New Hope again instead.
Anyway, let's get busy listing all the instances, or we'll be here all day.
First though, it might be helpful to clarify the term. To me, fan service is when a callback is unnecessary, oddly specific and doesn't serve the plot in any way.
The presence of Tatooine, droids, speeder bikes and the like in this episode is not fan service. This is the Star Wars Universe, so it's only natural to see familiar places, robots and vehicles from time to time. They're just background elements that establish the setting and don't interfere with the plot.
But when Manny goes to Tatooine and flies past an exact location seen in one of the movies, runs into a specific droid we've seen before or rides the precise model of speeder bike used by Anakin Skywalker— THAT'S when it becomes fan service.
I never know how I'm supposed to react to such fan service. Am I supposed to clap? Point at the screen and shout, "LOOK, IT'S STAR WARS! I KNOW THAT! I RECOGNIZE A THING!"
For me, fan service is disruptive and a huge distraction, as it takes me right out of the story every time. To me these nods and callbacks aren't fun, as all they do is make me want to turn off The Mandalorian and go watch A New Hope again instead.
Anyway, let's get busy listing all the instances, or we'll be here all day.
TOP: The targeting scanner used by TIE Fighters in A New Hope.
BOTTOM: The targeting scanner used by the Bounty Hunter who's pursuing Manny's ship. The instrumentation is different, but the readouts are exactly the same.
VERDICT: Fan service. There were a thousand other ways to depict targeting scanner graphics— they chose this way solely to remind us of the Death Star attack.
VERDICT: Fan service. There were a thousand other ways to depict targeting scanner graphics— they chose this way solely to remind us of the Death Star attack.
BOTTOM: The Razor Crest approaches Tatooine at the exact same angle. The goddamned moons are even in the exact same position, for frak's sake! They could have used any number of camera angles here, but they chose the precise one from the beginning A New Hope, in an effort to nudge us in the side and say, "Eh? Remember this scene? Get it?"
VERDICT: Absof*ckinglutely fan service.
BOTTOM: Manny passes the exact same goddamned ridge on his approach to Mos Eisley. Note that the mountaintop and terrain are IDENTICAL to the original scene.
There's no way in hell they traveled all the way to Tunisia just to film this one shot, and even if they did, there's no way they'd be able to place the camera in the same EXACT location.
I'm assuming they took a still frame from the movie, Photoshopped the actors out of it, turned it into a background plate and added Manny's ship to it.
VERDICT: Definitely fan service.
BOTTOM: Manny flies toward the same hive. Once again, the landscape is precisely identical to the original scene, meaning they took another frame from A New Hope and added the ship to it.
VERDICT: Definitely fan service.
BOTTOM: Manny exits Docking Bay 35. Note the number on the wall, in the same disjointed font. Now that's a deep cut!
VERDICT: You could argue that it's just a reference, but the way the new shot's framed, it's patently obvious they want the audience to notice it. Fan service!
BOTTOM: Manny heads into the exact same Cantina, natch. It appears the same junk is still piled up outside it!
I can't tell if this is another FX shot like the landscapes, or if they actually built the facade of the Cantina on the Disney backlot. It'd be a lot of trouble and expense for a three second scene, so I'm voting FX.
VERDICT: Fan service. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Manny walks into the same one we've seen before.
BOTTOM: Manny enters the Cantina. Note the absence of the droid detector now. Apparently the citizens of Mos Eisley have softened on their anti-droid stance.
VERDICT: Based on the identical framing of the two shots, and the fact that Manny pauses at the top of the steps, I'm calling this one fan service.
BOTTOM: The identical interior, now with 200% more droid bartenders. And far fewer clientele.
I'm betting this interior was actually a set, painstakingly reconstructed from original blueprints and screen grabs.
VERDICT: Fan service.
VERDICT: Extra credit fan service.
BOTTOM: A cocky bounty hunter sits in the same exact corner booth with his boots on the table. Of course it had to be the same booth. God forbid he sit on the other side of the bar or something.
VERDICT: Oh, for frak's sake! Of course this is fan service! The same booth, the same attitude, the same pose. There was no reason for any of that, other than to remind us of Han Solo.
TOP: Anakin Skywalker rides a chopper-style speeder bike across the Tatooine desert.
BOTTOM: Manny and Toro sit atop nearly identical chopper bikes as they ride across the Tatooine desert.
VERDICT: One could dispute whether this is fan service or just a reference. There've got to be different models of speeder bikes in this world, so there's no reason why Toro had to come up with two that look like Anakin's. So I'm calling fan service here.
BOTTOM: Luke peers through a nearly identical set of macrobinoculars and sees a couple of Sandpeople next to their Banthas.
VERDICT: Definite fan service. The producers went out of their way to duplicate the original scene!
• In addition to all the visual callbacks, there's a lot of audio fan service as well— most of which is uttered by Peli.
Peli: (examining Manny's ship) "Ugh, you got a lot of carbon scorin' building up top."
Luke mentioned carbon scoring when he was cleaning up R2 in A New Hope.
Manny: "Just remember..."
Peli: "Yeah, no droids! I heard ya. You don't have to say it twice. Jeez. Womp rat."
In A New Hope, Luke boasted about bullseyeing womp rats in his T-16 back home.
Manny: (referring to Fennec, who's shooting at them) "She's got the high ground. She'll wait for us to make the first move."
In Revenge Of The Sith, Obi-Wan warned Anakin not to attack him, as he had the high ground.
In The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett was worried that Han Solo might not his torture at the hands of Darth Vader, saying, "He's no good to me dead."
Peli: (seeing Toro's dead body) "All right, Pit Droids! Let's drag this outta here!"
Pit Droid: (electronic chattering)
Peli: "I don't know, drag it to Beggar's Canyon."
In A New Hope, Luke prepares to fly his X-Wing in to the Death Star trench, saying, "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home."
By the way, Manny's hatred of droids is in full display in this scene, as he fires his blaster at them the second they approach his ship. At least now we know why he hates 'em so much— his parents were killed by Super Battle Droids!
Peli's played by comedian Amy Sedaris (of Strangers With Candy fame), and she does a pretty good job here. As I said in Chapter One, I'm not a fan of these comedian cameos as they always take me right out of the story. Luckily that didn't happen here, as I honestly didn't recognize Sedaris, so her presence didn't distract me from the episode.
Many fans are claiming that Peli's ultra-permed do is a nod to Ripley's coif in ALIEN. Eh, I guess it's possible/. But in an episode already filled with several dozen Star Wars shoutouts, why start referencing another franchise?
The game was seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story, in which Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando. It's also been seen or mentioned in The Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens and Star Wars Rebels.
By the way, note that the two droids in the foreground are cheating, as one's passing a card to the other under the table!
• There're some brand new alien patrons in the Cantina in this episode, including a lizard-like chap and a cool insect gentleman. It's always a welcome treat when we get non-humanoid aliens in Star Wars. So many of the so-called "aliens" in this Universe just look like people with weird heads, so it's nice when they shake things up a bit.
Think about all the time, effort and money that went into creating these two characters, who have two full seconds of screen time. They must be spending a fortune on this show!
• When Manny first meets Toro, he's fingering a coin stamped with the Rebellion symbol. The way the scene's shot, it's obvious they want us to notice the coin. Seeds like this are sown for a reason, folks. I'm betting Toro likely has a father who was a high-ranking member of the Rebellion. And he probably won't be happy when he hears that Manny offed his son. Look for him to appear before the season's through.
• After Manny agrees to work with Toro, he tells him to hand over Fennec's tracking fob. Fennec, fearing Manny will stiff him, smashes it against the wall. He says, "Don't worry, got it all memorized."
Wait, what? What info is he committing to memory? Her location? But she's on the run! How do you memorize the whereabouts of someone who's constantly in motion? I don't get it.
• As I mentioned above, the idea of an experienced older bounty hunter like Manny teaming up with a fresh-faced kid is pulled straight from dozens of Western movies— in particular John Ford's The Searchers. In that film, grizzled cowboy John Wayne partners with young greenhorn Jeffrey Hunter to search for a woman captured by Indians. Not quite the same plot, but the tone's similar.
By the way, Jeffrey Hunter has a sci-fi connection of his own. He played Captain Pike in the first pilot episode of the original Star Trek!
The episode is at its most Western-like here, as the Tuskens are very obviously meant to be Native American analogues. Manny even says "Tuskens think they're the locals. Everyone else is just trespassing."
• There's some nice attention to detail when Manny & Toro attempt to capture Fennec. At one point Manny rides his speeder bike up a small dune. It sails high into the air, then bottoms out as it hits the sand far below. Cool! Just like a flying motorcycle would actually do in real life!
As usual, she does an excellent job, turning what amounts to a walk-on part into a fully-fleshed out character.
She still kicks ass too, as seen in her fight scenes with Toro and Manny. Hard to believe she's 56! No, that's not a typo— she's actually pushing 60!
• Ever since the series began it's been oddly stingy when it comes to identifying the various planets Manny visits. They finally did drop the name of Sorgan last week, where Manny met up with Cara Dune.
Unfortunately the name of the planet housing Greef Karga, The Client and the Mandalorian Covert was a complete mystery. Until now!
When Fennec's trying to manipulate Toro, she mentions a Mandalorian who "shot up the Guild on Navarro, took some high value target and went rogue." Obviously she's talking about the evens of The Sin here. Which means Greef Karga's planet was just retroactively named Navarro!
See, writers? Giving planets actual names isn't that hard now, is it?
A lot of fans are pissed that Fennec was killed off so quickly after her intro. Eh, I wouldn't get too bent out of shape over it. I would be very surprised indeed if she's actually dead. You don't hire someone like Ming-Na Wen if you're only gonna use them for five minutes.
Naturally the identity of the Mystery Man has caused much wild speculation among fans. As usual, theories range from the plausible to the downright unlikely. Here are a few of the possibilities:
Bill Burr: LIkewise, we know comedian Bill Burr (oy, another funnyman) has been cast as a bounty hunter. Given the fact there are only three episodes left, I feel like he's the most likely to be the Mystery Man.
Moff Gideon: We know from the trailers that actor Giancarlo Esposito is scheduled to appear as Gideon. He's a former Imperial Officer who commands a unit of leftover Stormtroopers (which sound very similar to The Client).
I suppose it could be him, although I don't see him as the spur-wearin' type. And I'm not sure why he'd care if Fennec was dead or not.
Cobb Vanth: A character from the Star Wars novels, who started out as a slave on Tatooine and eventually became a sheriff. Hmm... Sheriffs wear spur in Westerns, so this rumor actually makes a certain amount of sense! That said, odds are pretty low that it's him.
Cad Bane: A blue-skinned alien bounty hunter from The Clone Wars animated series. This one is most definitely a long shot, but I actually hope he's the Mystery Man. I like the look of the character, and I want to see him in live action!
Boba Fett: Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him, Please don't be him.
A lot of fans out there are convinced the Mystery Man is Boba Fett, who somehow escaped from the Sarlacc Pit and is alive and well in the Star Wars Universe. Gods, I hope not.
I've been a big Boba Fett fan ever since he appeared in Empire. I don't know why though, as he never actually did much of anything in the Original Trilogy. He just sort of stood around in Empire and made a very poor showing for himself in Jedi. I think I just liked his cool-looking armor and his mysterious background (until George Lucas screwed it up).
All that said, I reeeeeeeeally hope it's not Boba. As much as I've always liked him, it would be incredibly cheesy to bring him back in some improbable way at this point. Plus with this new series, Manny has become THE definitive Mandalorian. Bringing back Boba would only diminish Manny and overshadow him on his own show! Plus it'd be a huge slap in the face to Pedro Pascal.
Honestly, if the Mystery Man does turn out to be Boba Fett, I'm going to have to think twice about watching this series anymore, as that would be the last straw for me. I hope it doesn't happen, but this is Disney we're talking about here, and they don't have the best track record when it comes to Star Wars.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.