Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3 episode 5.
The latest episode of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 21: The Pirate,” might take a while to get going, but it becomes a high-octane thrill-ride when it does. “The Pirate” marks the reappearance of the Pirate King Gorian Shard (a.k.a. Captain Mossbeard) and his band of troublemakers, first introduced in the premiere episode. Greef Karga’s town is invaded by these pirates and he reaches out to the New Republic for backup. When they turn out to be useless, thanks to the bureaucratic red tape established in “The Convert,” the responsibility falls on Din Djarin and his Mandalorian comrades to save Karga’s people and liberate his town.
The episode was written by series creator Jon Favreau, with his usual blend of action beats, character beats, and just the right amount of fan service, and directed by Peter Ramsey, one of the three credited directors of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Ramsey brings the same sense of camaraderie and teamwork to the Mandalorians on the battlefield that he brought to Miles Morales and the other Spider-Men in his Oscar-winning masterpiece. Unlike the pirates, who are only looking out for themselves, the Mandalorians have each other’s backs – and that’s why they win the battle (although their bulletproof beskar armor helps, too).
In its opening scenes, “The Pirate” gives Kim’s Convenience star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee his biggest role yet as Captain Carson Teva. Teva’s scenes in this episode were likely written as a tie-in to the Rangers of the New Republic series that was called off when Gina Carano was fired from the franchise. Lee plays the part with real integrity as a watchful hero and a man of his word. The episode also has a fun guest turn from Saturday Night Live’s Tim Meadows as an unsympathetic New Republic bureaucrat. He’s more interested in picking which communities in need he can ignore from the backlog than actually going through that backlog and providing aid to the people who need it. Meadows’ character could have a really interesting arc if he becomes a recurring character and comes to realize that the New Republic is becoming just like the Empire – a cold, uncaring, monolithic political entity.
“The Pirate” takes a while to get going, with a lot of talky scenes about New Republic politics and administrative procedure before the Mandalorian is recruited to help Karga. The early scenes might have some fans worrying they’re in for another Mando-free Coruscant episode. But once the episode takes off, it really takes off. The second half of this installment is a relentless battle between the Mandalorians and the pirate crew. The battle set-piece could’ve done with going on a little longer; the build-up seems to take longer than the payoff.
It was a nice surprise to see Zeb in live-action. His cameo is one of several subtle nods of fan service peppered throughout the episode: Karga says a dead pirate “shot first,” Mando cracks wise about “the odds,” and Nevarro’s holographic distress signal looks an awful lot like Leia’s “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” message from the original Star Wars movie. Clearly, Ramsey is having a lot of fun in the Star Wars sandbox.
It’s great to see the Armorer in action. She ironically uses her weapon-forging tools as weapons themselves, beating pirates to death with a hammer and wrench combo. Paz Vizsla is quickly on his way to achieving redemption in the eyes of Star Wars fans as he’s finally becoming a more sympathetic and compassionate figure. He initially gave Mando a hard time and put him down every chance he got. But after Mando saved his son from a giant bird last week, Vizsla is warming up to him. The rousing speech he gave to convince the other Mandalorians to help Karga was instantly endearing (especially because it started out sounding like a dissenting rant and ended up being a heartfelt pep talk).
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of Grogu this week. After featuring in some of his own action sequences throughout season 3, like his escape from the mines of Mandalore and his combat training as a foundling, he barely has a cameo in “The Pirate.” When he does appear on-screen, that’s all he does: appear on-screen. It would’ve been cool to see him show off some of his newfound powers – he could’ve Force-shoved a pirate or back-flipped out of the way of a blast. Not only would that have been awesome to see; it would’ve contributed to Grogu’s ongoing arc as he becomes ingratiated into a weapons-based religious cult.
“The Pirate” has a doozy of a cliffhanger heading into the endgame of season 3. Bo-Katan is sent off to find other Mandalorian refugees in the hope of reclaiming Mandalore with strength in numbers. On one of Captain Teva’s routine inspections of the galaxy, he comes across an ex-Imperial shuttle that had been repurposed as a New Republic prison transport before being destroyed. In a chilling sequence, his R7 droid sends in a probe that determines that Moff Gideon was broken out of New Republic custody by Mandalorians before he could stand trial.
This could be leading to another civil war between the Mandalorians, with one side led by Mando and another led by Gideon. It’s possible that the Moff was saved by the Imperial Remnants using beskar steel they plundered from the mines of Mandalore, in which case the upcoming war would be between the Mandalorians and what remains of the Empire, fighting on a level playing field since they both have the same lucrative, indestructible material in their armor. Either way, season 3 is shaping up to go out on a high note with mega-scale action and sky-high stakes. So far, this season seems much more interested in Bo-Katan’s arc than Mando’s, but that’s not much of a complaint, because Mando is still there and Bo-Katan is a fascinating character going through a transformative adaptation to a new way of life.