The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6 is “Chapter 22: Guns for Hire,” a new installment that features Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze visiting the opulent world of Plazir-15 for a new mission. So far, the third season has been the weakest by a mile, and fans like myself have been hoping the final few episodes would pick up the pace. Unfortunately, this episode is a shining example of why this season has failed miserably so far, committing all the problems this season has had while adding a few more into the mix.
The cold open of this episode reintroduces Axe Woves and Koska Reeves, two characters from season 2, sent to track down Captain Shuggoth. The opening scene adds some world-building to the Star Wars galaxy, but having this disjointed storyline about a captain in love with the Viceroy’s son feels strange. The dialogue shared between the two is laughable, and it feels contrived. The most this scene has to offer are the idea of Mandalorians that can trade honor for credits and that the Viceroy’s son is voiced by Harry Holland, brother of Spider-Man actor Tom Holland.
But the cameos don’t stop there. Djarin and Bo-Katan travel to Plazir-15 to meet Captain Bombardier (Jack Black) and the Duchess (Lizzo). This is a jaw-dropping moment, and not in a good way. I never expected Star Wars to be the franchise to drop in A-list celebrity cameos. Having Jack Black and Lizzo appear in Star Wars is like having Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones (imagine if that ever happened). These don’t work because audiences will not see the characters they are supposed to play – all they’ll see is their celebrity personas. This is why the Star Wars sequel trilogy had the right idea by casting mostly unknowns to lead the series.
This piece of stunt casting feels like it is only used to generate publicity and hide how poor the story is. The episode revolves around malfunctioning reprogrammed Imperial droids. Djarin and Bo-Katan need to get to the bottom of this, and if they solve the issue, Mandalore will receive diplomatic recognition. Unfortunately, the stakes in this season have felt so consistently low, and this episode does not steer things in the right direction. It’s not easy to get invested in what feels like a side quest in a story that’s not engaging at all.
We then have another celebrity cameo when our heroes visit Commissioner Helgait, played by Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future. His screen presence has been welcome for decades, but it feels like this episode was made to stack many familiar faces in it. For the rest of the episode, we follow Djarin and Bo-Katan on a mission to explore new territory to uncover a mystery. Unfortunately, this feels like a lower-quality episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which worked great in animation but did not serve The Mandalorian.
After a few chases and fights, Helgait is revealed as the mastermind, a Separatist who idolizes Count Dooku. The episode ends with a battle between Bo-Katan and Woves, which ends with Djarin admitting that Bo-Katan saved him, allowing her to win the Darksaber and rule Mandalore. This is an anticlimactic resolution to a storyline that could have been filled with drama. But that’s what this season has been filled with: action sequences without enough character drama to care for and a passive protagonist being dragged around from mission to mission. Djarin has become the least compelling main character in a TV show in a while, with nothing to make him interesting. Given that this is a filler episode towards the end of an already disappointing season, let’s hope the finale makes it worth it.
SCORE: 4/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 4 equates to “Poor.” The negatives outweigh the positive aspects making it a struggle to get through.
