This review contains full spoilers for Episode 5 of The Mandalorian Season 3, which is now available on Disney+.
Episode 5 of Season 3 of The Mandalorian finally wraps up the threads that connect the pirates of Nevarro, the dysfunction of the New Republic, and the dream of retaking Mandalore. Much of The Pirate’s plot is pretty predictable, with Jon Favreau’s lines being a bit repetitive, but there are also some big surprises that suggest good things are about to happen.
The episode begins with a city planning meeting in Grief Karga interrupted by the inevitable return of Captain Gorian Shard. It’s understandable that Greef didn’t want to rely on far-flung bureaucracy, but the pirate and bounty hunter guild leader, a man who worked for the remnants of the Empire, had more than begged for the New Republic. It’s a shame he didn’t have plans for a major threat. Sending a droid with a Princess Leia-style message asking for help. You can’t dodge the ship. The new trains sound great, but given how dangerous life in the Outer Rim is, resources should be spent protecting them first. There’s a reason you can’t have good things out there unless you’re part of a huge crime syndicate or some other power bloc that people don’t want to mess with.
Grief’s distress message is delivered to Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sang-Hyung Lee). Teva makes her live-action debut with Star Wars Rebels’ Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum) on a New Republic base. Crusty Lestat looks great, and it’s great to have a very talented voice actor reprise the role. It’s a shame he can’t head to Nevarro any time soon with the other former rebels he can muster. I request
This works as expected given the bureaucratic mess the New Republic has become. “Captain, this is no longer a mutiny,” Colonel Tuttle (Tim Meadows) tells Teva. Good good people may have won the war with the Galactic Empire, but they are losing peace. Further evidence that the Mandalorians are following the First Order’s origin story from Dave Filoni’s Star Wars Resistance. Yes, he’s trying to make his point to the unconcerned bureaucrats, but Favreau went a little too far to prepare the viewer for what seemed like a fairly obvious plot. I feel that you are working hard.
“
To make matters worse for Teva, Tuttle is advised by Elia Kane (Katie M. O’Brien) to avoid interference by reminding him that Nevarro has not signed the charter to make the planet new. I have to give him an easy way to do it. Responsibility of the Republic. Meadows does a great job of bringing a touch of humor to his anger towards Teva. That means Teva will have to seek help elsewhere.
Peri Motto introduced R5-D4’s experience in the Rebellion as a selling point for Din Djarin, but it seems a bit to blame, as the droid was willing to abandon its current location no matter how secret it was. The suspense as to whether the Mandalorian will intervene is an exaggeration from Paz Vizsla (Jon Favreau), who apparently intended to help Din after rescuing Paz’s son in the last episode and earning an enormous amount of goodwill. Filled with slapped tweets and grandstands, it feels forced.
These pirates are considered to be a major threat, but when Shard looks like Swamp Thing and the crew’s commotion on Nevarro looks like it’s been cut straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean, take them seriously. It’s hard to accept. Stay in the city. When Din says he likes his 10-to-1 odds, his swagger is a given. Civilians being bombed should be terrifying, but instead the scenario is played out for laughs.
It takes the suspense out of the great battle that follows, in which the Mandalorians dominate the pirate armies on land and in the air. The Pirate lacks the intense, overwhelming pressure of such a small group fending off seemingly endless numbers of stormtroopers.
Shard continues to fight even when allies like Mr. Smee point out how bad things are, that he’s working for someone else and his failures face a fate worse than being blown up. Having him steer the ship using a console that resembles the rudder of a pirate ship is a pretty interesting touch. The ship’s fall is beautifully animated, and the percussion from Joseph Shirley’s score blends perfectly into the explosion. It makes particularly good use of this episode with its Bokatan scene, haunting and building with subtle chimes that resemble Hammer’s Ghost.
This is a victory lap for the Mandalorians, showing off that even the Armorers use smithing tools as weapons. It’s a little strange that she seems to take the princess’ claim seriously after the armorer expresses suspicion that Bocatan saw a Mythosaurus. Evidence of being a devastated leader comes from her tactics that once again gave the Mandalorians great victories and earned them the reward of a new home far less monster-infested.
However, Bokatan’s quest to reunite the Mandalorians will be in big trouble given the reveal at the end of “Pirates” about what happened to Moff Gideon. Was he taken by the Mandalorians who wanted him to answer for the Great Purge, or by those who followed him because he wielded the Darksaber? Although it would undermine the claim, the presence of significant Imperial remnants around Mandalore suggests that Gideon’s forces and groups of Mandalorians are now working together and have their own goals for the planet. It may indicate
