"The Prisoner" (The Mandalorian, Season 1, Ep 6)(2019)

It's funny -- the first time I watched this episode, it was SO TENSE that I practically hated every second of it and couldn't wait for it to be over already so I could relax.  And the moment it was over, I was like, "That was amazing!  I think that's gonna be a favorite!"  And it totally is.  Now that I know how it ends, I can be okay during it and just enjoy the ride, the writing, the acting, the stellar storycrafting.

As before, I'm not marking any spoilers.

We open with the Razor Crest entering a junked-up hangar on a remote space station.

Mando emerges and talks to an overly smiley man he obviously knows from the past, Ranzar Malk (Mark Boone Jr.).

Malk has offered him a one-time job and promises it'll be just like the old days.  Mando is clearly neither impressed nor inclined to trust Malk.  But he needs money, as we know, so he is here to put up with whatever nonsense Malk tosses his way, if it means getting paid.

Malk introduces him to the other members of the team he'll be working with on this job.  First up is Mayfeld (Bill Burr, who was totally cast as a sort of weird in-joke because he's kind of notorious for stand-up routines where he pokes fun at Star Wars movies).  Mayfeld is cocky and abrasive and has a voice that instantly puts me on edge.

Next up is Burg (Clancy Brown), who looks like he wandered in off the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  He's belligerent and nasty.  Ugh.

Guess how our Mando feels about learning that there's a droid coming along?  Zero (voiced by Richard Ayoade, but acted by Chris Bartlett, who studied how-to-act-like-a-droid under Anthony Daniels, aka the original C-3PO) is a really creepy droid too.  If Han Solo were here, he'd say what we're all thinking about the sorts of feelings we have about this job.

Last member of the crew is Xi'an (Natalia Tena, whom you probably know better as Tonks from the Harry Potter franchise), a Twi'lek who shares a bit of history with our favorite Mandalorian.

Of all these guest characters, Xi'an is the only one I grew a little fond of, and it's because Tena imbues her with this batty, off-kilter, wacky charm.  She's unpredictable, and I really don't do well with unpredictable characters, but she's also funny, playful, and loyal, so I can't totally want to just boot her out into the icy cold of space the way I do the others.

Why has Malk assembled this team of nasties?  To extract a pal who's being held on a prison ship.  He promises it's run entirely by droids, and they'll be able to rescue his associate easily because Zero will hack into the prison's computer system, blah blah blah.

So, basically, this episode is a heist story.  I happen to love heist stories.  Where Eagles Dare (1968), Ocean's 11 (1960), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) -- I love me a good heist story.  And if it involves getting  a motley crew of baddies together, like The Dirty Dozen (1967), then it's even better.  Or, to pull some westerns in here, we could compare this to The War Wagon (1967) and The Professionals (1966), which also feature bands of ne'er-do-wells working together to steal something or extract someone.  NO wonder this became a favorite episode for me!

My dear Mando is NOT having a good time, however.  There is a droid flying his ship.  Oh. Dear.  Not cool.

Also, there are ne'er-do-wells poking around his ship!  DUDE!  Keep your paws off his stuff!  Yeesh.

But it gets worse.  So much worse.  Mayfeld starts to mock Mando for, well, being a Mandalorian, and the others join in.  How come, if the Mandalorians are such great warriors, they're all dead?  Why doesn't he ever take off his mask?

The mask becomes a focal point for their mockery.  Since Xi'an knew him before, and implies that they were amorously involved, Mayfeld wants to know if she's seen him without his mask.  She declines to answer.  Burg decides he's going to force Mando's helmet off, and I go from feeling very defensive of Mando's stuff to wanting to shoot everyone there because how dare they mock and threaten and mess with my Mandalorian hero???

And then it gets even worse.  Mando had hidden Little One in his bunk, but in the scuffling while Burg tries to get at Mando's helmet, Burg hits the door button and reveals Mando's biggest secret.

And cutest secret.

I mean, awww.

And then it gets even worse yet.  Mayfeld picks up Little One.  He jokingly asks if this is Mando and Xi'an's love child, he says he's always wanted a pet and maybe this could be his, and then, just when I'm about ready to turn into Wolverine, jump through my screen, and go on a berserker rage...

...we come out of hyperspace super-awkwardly, everyone gets thrown around, and Little One falls to the ground.  Mando goes into Instant Protect Mode and crouches over him to shield him, making me think of my beloved Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow) in one of my favorite Combat! episodes, "One More for the Road," when he uses his body to shield a baby from artillery shells.

Just a nice shot of the Razor Crest getting ready to dock with the prison ship.

Now we're on the prison ship, and the heisting can begin.

But first we must walk through the hallways in a stealthy, occasionally sexy way.

Of course, some guard droids show up.  And threaten us.  And everyone's like, "Okay, time for the Mandalorian to show us what's so special about him."  Except he's disappeared.

And then he reappears.  Behind the droids.  Cuz he's amazing.

He then proceeds to embark on an elaborate ballet of violence, taking down a LOT of droids.  He even gets to use his flamethrower to good effect.

Well, that was fun.  Now what?

Now we discover the first of Malk's lies.  There ARE living guards on this ship.  Or, one, at least.

Yeah, this isn't gonna go super well.

But he's got a beeper thing!  If he presses the button, it will summon X-wings to rain fire down upon them all.

Quick thing -- the characterizations of all these guest characters is superb, and very quickly established.  By the time the team walks onto Mando's ship, we have a perfect sense of what they're like and what kinds of problems they'll create.  And this random guard?  Has only a couple minutes of screen time, but I grow incredibly fond of him and worry about him in that short time!

So, the real point of this episode is to show us how much Mando has grown and changed.  Back when he worked with Malk and Xi'an before, he killed people for fun, for target practice.  Xi'an says he liked it.  That's not the Mando we know now.  All the other characters are crass, rude, and vulgar.  They cuss.  Mando doesn't.  He has left the sort of life he used to lead, grown and changed, put that bad behavior behind him.  You can see him, throughout this episode, being disgusted by their behavior, and disgusted with the memory of what he used to be himself.  It's beautiful, and that's another HUGE part of why I love this episode so much.  It shows us how far Mando has come, both before this show started, and since he met Little One.

We get to see that all so clearly in this scene, when he talks kindly to the guard and promises they won't hurt him, that they can get through this.

And then next thing you know, we're all pointing guns at each other again because Mayfeld is a creep and can't stand the idea that they'll leave this guy alive.

Xi'an is bored now.

Here we have our traditional screencap that is only here because I like it.

Alas, the poor guard dies.  But not before he activates his alarm beacon.  Wrath is heading our way!  Twenty minutes left to get our prize and get out!

We finally find the person we're supposed to extract, Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordova).  Who is also someone from Mando's past, as it turns out -- in fact, Mando left him behind on a job, which is how he got captured and thrown in prison.  And now Mando sees exactly why they contacted him for this job -- it's all about revenge.

One punch from Burg, and Mando is thrown on his butt in Qin's cell.

And those jerkmobiles laugh about it.  GRRRRR.

Down comes the door, and he's locked in.

This other Twi'lek, Qin, is Xi'an's brother, and I do like the genuine affection they display for each other.  They're like weird, hyper bad guys from a '90s teen movie or something, I dunno.  They have a vibe.

But anyway.  Mando lurks in his cell, waiting for an opportune moment.

Even caged, he's more than a match for these droids.

I almost feel bad for this droid -- it dies spurting oil and sparks.  If the death of a droid could be called graphic, that's what I'd call this one.

Of course, having obtained a droid hand, it's not hard for Mando to escape.

All too easy, really.

And now, the real game begins.  It's cat and mouse time.

These four think he's still safely locked in his cell.  But they're running back to the ship as fast as they can because they know that blinking beacon has summoned some ships to stop them.

Then Zero contacts Mayfeld with distressing news.  Mayfeld makes everyone stop running so he can take this call.  It's like how, if I'm trying to find someplace while I'm driving, I have to turn down the radio and tell my kids to be quiet.

Zero alerts them that their little plans have gone awry.  And then he hears a noise behind him.

Don't ask me how Little One knows it's important to distract Zero, but distract him he does.  If Zero had still been there, plugged into the ship, he might have been able to thwart Mando, unjam his comms, and so on.  But, as it is, he gets distracted, and Mando can hunt on unhindered.

He drops bulkhead doors, separating the four mice.

They make plans for getting back to the ship after finding and dispatching Mando.  Such planners, these guys.

Mando, in between dropping bulkhead doors and setting off alarms and changing the prison's lights from normal to dark and red, finds that still-blinking beacon and eyes it thoughtfully.  And then he gets company.

This is a split-second shot I just stumbled upon while screencapping, and I love him here, caught just as he attacks.  He's so menacing.

Burg gives Mando a pretty bad time for a while there.  When it comes to brute strength, Mando's no match for him.  But he's also smart and wily, and I don't worry too much about him.

Once Burg is out of the way, Mando goes hunting.

First, he finds Xi'an.  She throws a lot of knives at him, but he outfights her in the end.

And then comes my favorite part.   As the lights flash from red to white to red again, we see Mando getting closer to Mayfeld.

Mayfeld's getting worried.

Mando is closer every time we see him.  It's chillingly awesome -- a sort of reverse on what I assume is a horror movie trope of watching the evil killer sneak up on the innocent victim.  Except this time, it's the victim that's the evil killer.  Man, this scene is my favorite part of the whole episode.

Suddenly, Mayfeld knows who is behind him.

Qin really thinks he's going to make it out of here.  He races toward the ladder that leads up into the Razor Crest.

But just as he starts to climb, he stops.

Look who's here, and clearly not in a gaming mood.

Qin reminds Mando that if he gets Qin back to Malk, he can have the whole reward, no questions asked.

Meanwhile, Zero has been hunting Little One all this time.  And, at least, he finds him, right in Mando's bunk.

Little One raises his hand.

Zero raises a blaster rifle.

Little One remains serenely confident.

Zero kind of explodes.

And Little One has a genuine Steve Urkel "Did I do that?" moment.

No, silly, that was your guardian, guarding you.

And guess what?  Mando didn't kill Qin.  He brought him back to Malk, as promised.  Man of honor and all that.

He reminds Malk the deal was there would be no questions asked.  Malk doesn't quibble, he just gives Mando the promised payment and says see you later.

Mando prepares to depart.

Malk prepares to doublecross Mando by ordering a gunship to shoot him down.

And then Qin notices a funny noise.  He pulls out what we recognize as the still-blinking alarm beacon, but which he hadn't seen before.  And I began to clap and cheer because oh yes, my Mando has been extra-smart in this episode, he really has.  I love it.

What's that we see, blinking in out of hyperspace?  Qin and Malk are so confused.

Why, that would be three X-wings, piloted by three very nice-looking pilots.  In fact, do you know who these pilots are played by?  They are played by three of the people who directed eps of this show!!!  This one is Dave Filoni, who directed eps 1 and 5, and wrote ep 5.

This one is Rick Famuyiwa, who wrote and directed this episode, plus directed ep 2.

And this is Deborah Chow, who directed eps 3 and 7.  I LOVE IT!  So fun.

The X-wings brush past the Razor Crest, not interested in it at all, just homing in on that beacon.  They see the gunship Malk had ordered to go kill Mando and assume it's headed for them.  So they attack.  The gunship blows, and they fire on the station a few more times.  We don't get to see Qin or Malk die, but while Malk could have escaped in a pod or something, I feel pretty confident Qin went up in smoke and sparks with that gunship.

Meanwhile, Mando makes the jump to hyperspace.  I always like the way that looks, so I captured it.

He looks over to Little One, and he says something odd.

He hands Little One his favorite shiny knob from that little gearshift thing, and he says, "Told you that was a bad idea."  I'm assuming he meant that getting mixed up with his past associates?  I guess?  Like maybe he said to Little One, "Well, here's a job opportunity, but I think it's a bad idea.  But what choice do I have?" or something?  I don't know.  It's not a perfectly logical line, to me.

And then, one last surprise.  Know how I talked about the whole point of this ep being to showcase how much Mando has changed and grown?  He didn't kill those other three.  He locked them up.  On the prison ship.  The man who used to kill for fun now avoided killing people that he might have seemed pretty justified in taking out.  Wow.  That's such cool character development.

Still loving the concept art during the credits.  This is one of my favorites.

And, there you have it, my extensive and rambling thoughts on another favorite ep.  I suspect I will be posting the last two back-to-back, sometime next week.  Here's hoping!