"Sanctuary" (The Mandalorian, Season 1, Ep 4)(2019)

I love this episode!  Every time I watch it, I love it more.  It's one of my two favorite eps from season one, and I suspect it's the one I'll return to oftenest in years to come, when I just need a little Mandalorian pick-me-up.  It makes me happy :-)

(As always, NO spoilers are marked.)

The word "sanctuary" is another powerful one for a title.  If not as gut-punchy like the previous ep's title, still, it has a lot of resonance.  A sanctuary is a consecrated or holy place -- it's what we call the part of our church building where we gather to worship, hear God's word, and receive his sacraments.  Because, back in the Middle Ages, you could hide in a church building and be safe from your pursuers because killing or capturing someone inside a church was forbidden and unlawful and so on, to seek sanctuary somewhere meant to find a safe hiding place where your enemies couldn't touch you, and that is definitely the connotation this show is aiming at.  Right away, you get a sense of what our hero will be doing in this episode.

The adventure begins, not with our favorite Mandalorian, but in a simple village where people are harvesting blue shrimp-like critters.

Peaceful village.  People are happy.

A mother (Julia Jones) smiles at her daughter's antics trying to catch a frog.

Unfortunately, a safe little village filled with happy people isn't the best recipe for storytelling, unless you disrupt it.  So, it gets disrupted.  In fact, it gets attacked by a band of warrior critter who scare and shoot everyone, steal the blue shrimp, and leave again after wrecking a lot of stuff just cuz they can.

These attackers all look like this, and I have to admit that my first thought when I saw this guy was a reference to White Christmas (1954).  I thought, "Oh, look!  It's freckle-faced Haynes, the dog-faced boy!"  Ahem.  Movie quotes just pop into my head that way sometimes.  Anyway, after they leave, the villagers regather and decide that Something Must be Done because they simply Cannot Go On Living This Way.

Annnnnnnnnd that's when I realized why my brother said I was gonna love this episode the first time I watched it.  It's totally a retelling of The Magnificent Seven (1960), which is one of my top ten favorite movies of all time!  And which is, in its turn, a retelling of The Seven Samurai (1954).  So, yeah, they would have had to royally screw up this episode to make it something I didn't love.  And they didn't, so I do.

Moving right along, here we are, back on the Razor Crest.  And Little One is being VERY NAUGHTY.

(Editorial note:  I cannot in good conscience call this little guy Baby Yoda, because he's not Yoda, and it bothers me.  It's bothered me since before I ever even got to watch this show the first time, when people started calling him that.  It's just wrong. And irksome.  I want things and people and small green creatures to be called by their rightful names and not to be called something that confuses their identity with someone else's.  I just can't do it.  It is incorrect.  So I was calling him Baby Not Yoda, but that appears to bother some people too, so instead... I could just call him The Child, since that's what he's officially called so far in the show.  And I have been calling him that off and on in these reviews.  But that bothers me too because it has unpleasant connotations for me -- it reminds me of the little girl named Elizabeth/Eliza/Betty/Beth/Etc. in Anne of Windy Poplars by L. M. Montgomery, who is always called and referred to as The Child by the grandmother who is raising her, as if she hadn't any identity at all.  I hate that.  I've always wanted to slap that grandmother.  So, I'm going to call him Little One now because that is something else he's been referred to by on the show.  I could call him Kid or Ya Little Womp Rat, since those are things the Mandalorian himself has called his ward, but... Little One is cuter, so I'm going with that.)

(I knew you'd want to know.)

Anyway, Little One is being ridiculously naughty by pushing buttons and flipping switches.  He almost causes the whole ship to malfunction.  Ugh, toddlers.

Like human toddlers, he just wants some attention.  Once Mando puts him on his lap, he settles right down.  Much cuteness ensues, including our hero calling him a little womp rat.

This picture is here to show off how Different this planet is from the last couple we've visited.  It is Green and Verdant and Lush.  Or, you know, this part is.  I mean, other planets could be like Earth and have a variety of ecosystems, couldn't they?  Since this is all just pretend anyway?  Whatever.

More cuteness.  I'm not superduper in love with Little One, but I am with Mando, and my besottedness with him really started with this episode.  And how cute and wonderful he is with Little One.

"Mando and his Little One, walkin' through the forest..."  Come on, sing with me!

They arrive in a village.  No one seems to take any real notice of the adorableness in their midst.

One person does eye that shiny Mandalorian armor and the guy in it, though.

I mean, it's hard to miss.  So shiny.  So warriorlike.  Mando spots her too, and asks a waitress about her, but when he looks up again, she's gone.  So he follows her outside, suspecting she'll be lying in wait for him.

Which she is.  And they have a glorious one-on-one fight, very nicely choreographed and performed.  Neither of them pulls any punches, and they both give as good as they get.  This woman is a professional.

Their fight ends in a guns-drawn stalemate.

And then I crack up cuz they both slowly look over and are all guilty like two kids caught tussling.

Busted!  Little One's just like, "Mmhmm, you finished yet?"

Back in the restaurant/bar, Mando and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) get acquainted just a smidge.  She's an ex-shock trooper looking for a quiet place to retire, basically.  She thought Mando must have been sent by someone to get her since Mandalorians are renowned for their tracking and bounty hunting and such.  Just like he was worried she'd been sent to get him or Little One, though he doesn't say as much here.  Anyway, she says she got here first, and there's not enough room in this town (planet) for the two of us, so move on, buddy.

And how does Mando respond to this?  He accepts it.  He'll move on.  Very patient and accepting of life sometimes, our hero.

Ahhhh, but we can't actually let him leave.  There are people in trouble!  Two villagers have come to town seeking a hero, and they think they've found one, so they follow him out to the Razor Crest and offer him all the money their village has if he'll come guard them.  (And I cannot help but hear one of my favorite Magnificent Seven lines here, every time.  "I've been offered a lot for my work before, but never everything."  Oh, I get goosebumps remembering that line.)

Well, Mando's not so much interested in their money as he is in having a very hidden, remote place to hide out with Little One, so he uses their money to hire Cara Dune to come along, and off they go.

This tiny scene with the Mandalorian and Cara Dune just chilling in what is basically the back of a pickup truck is one of my favorite moments in the whole show.  They have such a natural camaraderie, a mutual respect for each others' warrior skills, plus both being upright people of their word -- oh, how I love this show!

Know what else I love?  There is zero sexual tension between these two.  Never even an issue.  Nothing.  Nichts.  Nada.  Thank you, Jon Favreau.

Okay, so Little One gets an enthusiastic welcome from the village children.  As is only just and proper.

Just admiring the scenery.

So, they don't have an extra house for Mando and Little One to stay in, they only have a barn.  Such a cowboy show thing!  Put the random stranger in the barn, keep some safe distance from him.  Also, most houses in cowboy movies are small and lack spare rooms, so the barn was often the only place they had for a hired hand of any sort to sleep.  Anyway, I dig this.  Also, there's a moment here where little Winta (Isla Farris), daughter of beautiful widow Omera (Julia Jones) startles Mando.  He wheels around in a crouch, hand on his sidearm, exactly the way Alan Ladd's character overreacts to a little boy startling him at the beginning of Shane (1953).  You can't tell me that's not deliberate.  Gah, I love it.

(I mean, it might not be a deliberate nod to Shane, but you Can't Tell Me That, okay?)

Dig this aerial view of the village!  It's got such a unique layout, with the houses in the center and then the blue shrimp ponds beyond.  Like a mosaic.  So neat.  (I know they say what the blue shrimp are, in the show, but I can't ever remember what they call them.  Sorry.)

They may house Mando and Little One in a barn, but at least they scare up a proper cradle for a bed.

Mando takes Little One out of the crib to play with Winta, and they run outside, which worries him, but Omera promises him they'll be fine.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd now we hit one of the scenes where I started to shift from "he's cool" to "mine, all mine" mode regarding the Mandalorian.  There may be no romantical vibes between him and Cara Dune, but there is definite sparkage between him and Omera.  And she asks him some very important questions, like how long has it been since he took off his helmet?

"Yesterday," he says.  Argh, I love that one-word line and the way he says it.  Kind of husky and I-don't-want-to-go-here-must-we-discuss-this-please-don't.

She quietly says no, she meant when was the last time he showed his face to another person.  And he says he was about her daughter's age.  The Mandalorians took him in, gave him shelter and safety, and he was grateful and proud to become one of them.  This is the way.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd yeah, I melt.

And then, after she leaves, the showmakers tease us viewers by having him take off his helmet to eat alone... but we don't even get to glimpse so much as the back of his head.  I mean, sure, we can look Pedro Pascal up on the internet or watch him in other things (I saw him in The Great Wall a few years ago), but still, teasing!

Though, actually, it's not Pedro Pascal inside the suit at all in this episode.  It's stuntman Brendan Wayne, whom I've mentioned before -- grandson of John Wayne and all.  It bothered me at first when I learned there are significant portions of this series where it's not Pascal in the suit, because he had other contractual obligations to fulfill.  I felt like that was cheating, somehow, to use one of his doubles for more than just stunts.  Like, it's not actually him all the time.  But then I realized that it doesn't bug me that someone else plays him as a child in flashbacks.  And that I know full well that it's not Pascal doing the stunts.  I love actiony, stunt-heavy movies, and if I'm fine with someone else doing the dangerous stunts and don't sit around muttering that "that's not really Thor" or whatever, I didn't need to be bugged by it in this show either.

Moving right along... Mando and Cara Dune go out scouting and discover something very ominous indeed.

Yup, that's the track of an AT-ST, an Imperial Scout Walker.  (My brother and I used to call them Chicken Walkers.)  Oh, this is not good.

So they assemble the villagers, and Mando announces, "Bad news -- you can't live here anymore."  SNORT.  Dude, seriously?

Cara Dune steps forward and explains the situation more fully.  And then, while casually leaning against the wall, Brendan Wayne does something that I could not love more if I tried.  And I haven't seen anyone else mention this ANYWHERE, dunno why.  It's so cool.

What does he do?  He reaches up with his left hand and grasps his right arm with it, and just hangs out there like that.  Which does not sound like a big deal, right?  Casual gesture -- what's so special about it?

THIS is what's so special about it:

That little gesture right there was clearly a deliberate nod by Brendan Wayne to his grandfather, John Wayne.  Because at the end of The Searchers (1956), John Wayne makes that exact same gesture in this very famous shot, and he does it very deliberately himself.  John Wayne does it as a nod to his mentor Harry Carey, who had died before that film was made.  That was a favorite move of Carey's, and John Wayne mimicked it in homage to his friend.  And here, Brendan Wayne obviously must be doing it as an homage to his grandfather.  Oh man, oh man, so amazing.

Yeah, the rest of the ep plays out just the way it ought to.  The villagers insist they want to fight for their homes.

Cara Dune and Mando teach them to fight.

Some of them are better at this than others.

Um, this is just here cuz it's yummy.

Omera expresses her worries about their chances at defending themselves against the Dog-Faced Boys and their pet AT-ST.  Mando reassures her.  They maintain a semblance of proper social distancing and, thanks to his helmet, they can't even gaze lovingly into each others' eyes... in fact, he behaves in a very courtly, gentlemanly way toward her at all times.  Again reminiscent of Shane in many ways, except that Omera is a widow.

So, Cara Dune and Mando sneak up on the enemy camp and cause a ruckus.

Said ruckus awakens a Beast.

Said Beast is, of course, an AT-ST.  A very creepy one with red eyes that chases them through the forest like this is a horror movie.

The villagers are ready and waiting, a big fight ensues, and so on.

Very nice fight with many pretty explosions.

Such a pretty show, even when it's doing a fight shot in mostly dark.

Cara Dune gets to use Mando's Amban rifle, and that's pretty much the end of that.

Happiness and peace has returned to the village!  Little One catches another frog and swallows it.

The kids are all grossed out.  Which makes me laugh.  Why do kids like being grossed out so much?  I can't remember, aside from it being a way to get a reaction from parents.

Cara Dune and Mando relax outside his barn, watching the kids play.  Mando reveals that he plans to leave Little One here.  It's safe, it's remote, Little One will be better off without him.  Bounty hunting is no life for a kid, etc.  They've been here for a couple of weeks and nothing else bad has happened, so clearly all is well and their job here is done.

Omera comes over to bring them snacks.

Cara Dune cracks up.  She advises Mando to take off his helmet, marry Omera, settle down and raise his kid.

Meanwhile, somewhere nearby, OH NO!  Someone has a tracker fob!  Oh help and bother!

Mando asks to speak to Omera.  She's probably kind of hopeful about what he might have to say.

But he's not admitting to any feelings he might have for her or anything like that.  He asks her to take care of Little One.

Omera is skeptical.  She thinks he should stay.  In fact, the whole village would like him to stay.

And she starts to take off his helmet.  And I started to freak out just a little the first time I watched this cuz I really didn't want her to see his face because then something bad was probably going to happen to her in short order, like she tragically dies off in his arms, and I kinda like her.

So I was all relieved that he stopped her.  Also, this is the first time we've seen him physically touch her, which is pretty special.

But forget any romantical moments they might be having, because someone has a sniper rifle trained on Little One!  Danger, Will Robinson!

It's very handy to have Cara Dune around.  I like her.  I want to keep her.

Yeah, not actually so safe here after all.  Those darned fobs can find Little One anywhere, I guess.

So we leave.

Mando and Cara Dune say farewell "until our paths cross."  I want to say that all the time from now on.

Winta hugs Little One.

Omera does not hug Mando.  He does give her a Nod, though, so that's pretty special.

And the whole village turns out to bid them farewell.

This shot cracks me up cuz Mando's sitting there with his legs dangling over the back of the pod thing like he's, once again, riding in the back of a pickup truck.  Fun times.

Like the previous episode, this was directed by a woman, Bryce Dallas Howard.  Who happens to be Ron Howard's daughter, in case you didn't know that.

Really starting to love Jon Favreau as a writer.

Got to take a minute to mention how much I dig Gina Carano as Cara Dune.  She's so believable as a tough warrior who can take the Mandalorian on as a credible opponent.  She's not skinny or athletic-slim, she's solid and real and awesome.  She doesn't go around flashing cleavage or using Feminine Wiles like some "strong female characters," but at the same time, she's not mannish or unfeminine either.  She's just... a woman who is strong and fierce and skilled.  And I LOVE HER A LOT, okay?

I feel a little sad that even though Brendan Wayne did all the physical acting in this episode, he still only gets a tiny credit.  I mean, I know this stuff is negotiated and set in stone and whatever, but it still feels a little unfair.  I'm glad he at least gets to talk about it in interviews and stuff.  I'm kind of guessing he maybe didn't know if he'd be able to talk about it or not, and maybe he even threw in that arm-grab thing as a signal to his family/friends/fans that it's him in the suit here, in case he wasn't supposed to actually discuss it.

Anyway, there.  My thoughts on one of my two favorite episodes.  See you next time!