It's the best action buffet yet in The Mandalorian Chapter 6, which also fills in just a touch
more of Mando's mysterious backstory.
After the events of Chapter 5 on Tatooine, Mando is still desperate for cash, and in
that desperation bites off almost more than he can chew on a prison break mission.
He is definitely the honorable man Qin suggests he is, but that doesn't mean he can't engage
in a touch of double-crossing to keep himself alive.
In the episode's final moments, we realize that Mando took the Republic distress signal
from the prison ship — after turning it off to give himself all the time in the world
to lock up his would-be mercenary teammates and escape — and secreted it into Qin's
belt to draw Republic fighters back to the mercenary base and destroy the rest of the
lot.
He's playing to win, because if he loses, it's his life and the Child's that will be
lost.
His clever escape has put him in the best position he's been at since the start of the
series.
His ship is working, Baby Yoda is safe, he has money, and with all that comes a lot more
options for him to stay on the run and effectively hidden.
We are entering the endgame of this first season, however, so rather than feeling encouraged,
we're more inclined to worry about how far and fast the fall will be before the climax
of the finale.
For now, let's drill into the illuminating bits of Chapter 6: juicy details about Mando's
youth.
This episode fills in some of the wide blank space that previously existed in Mando's background.
Before Chapter 6, we knew he was an orphan, and that in the present era he was a card-carrying
Bounty Hunters' Guild member.
Until he snagged Baby Yoda out from under his client, we had no reason to believe he
was anything other than the honor-bound but morally-grey gunslinger we first saw him as.
Any orphan will have had a rough childhood — and maybe even a rebellious phase of their
youth — but it seems young Mando was quite the violent outlier.
It's difficult to reconcile the sad single dad we've come to know with the Mandalorian
this assortment of reckless murderers once knew.
In Chapter 4, when Mando is asked why he adheres so strictly to the Mandalorian way of life
and never removes his helmet, he says he wants to honor the people who have given him a life
to live.
We've been presented with a whole new side of that life in Chapter 6, and it seems there
was a time when Mando did not respect those gifts at all, and used them for his own ego
and vanity.
Mercenary commander Ranzar "Ran" Malk recounts Mando's general attitude in their previous
partnership, when the young Mandalorian apparently referred to the grittiest and most illegal
mercenary work as "target practice."
Xi'an also suggests Mando is growing soft when she learns of Baby Yoda's presence on
the ship and Mando tries to play him off as a pet.
"Didn't take you for the type."
When released from his prison cell, Qin comments that the man "who left [him] behind" has suddenly
reappeared as his savior.
Just what "type" did Mando used to be?
It makes sense: An orphan is recruited from a very young age into a warrior society, trained
in various methods of lethal martial arts, and graduates out into the galaxy with no
personal attachments.
We know Mando hates droids as a result of whatever part of the Clone Wars he lost his
family to, and any young man orphaned by violence could understandably grow up very angry, and
when given the ability to show off as a badass, pounce upon it to fill that void in his life.
The deeper question yet to be answered, however, is what exactly happened to change Mando's
outlook and reorient himself correctly within the Mandalorian warrior ideal as a controlled,
merciful, and honorable man?
When did he stop using his gifts for murder, get out from under an illegal mercenary squad,
and join a guild?
Whatever it was and whenever it happened, it stuck, because Mando spends this entire
episode trying to work around his teammates' bloodthirsty impulses.
By the end of the episode, Mando frankly has every reason in the galaxy to kill each one
of them for the sake of his own safety, and the safety of Baby Yoda, not to mention how
completely they have betrayed his minuscule amount of trust.
He chooses not to off them because he's a better, gentler, and more emotionally-centered
man than he used to be.
We can't shake the feeling that this seems more and more to be the very thing that will
undermine him as his past continues to catch up with him in this vicious backwater corner
of the galaxy.
The point of this series is not to tell us how cool Mandalorians are — the point of
this series is to tell us how kind and good this Mandalorian tries to be, despite the
world he lives in.
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