- Title: The Mandalorian – Chapter 21: The Pirate
- wiki: link
“The Pirate” pulls a couple of threads together when Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) rallies the Mandalorians together to save Nevarro from the pirates he dealt with earlier in the season. The trouble alone, and the promise of a land for the Mandalorians on the planet, would have been more than enough to get the soldiers to Nevarro. And, since the pirates are little more than canon fodder for the Mandalorians, neither the characters nor the events needed to be set up in an earlier episode.
“The Pirate” also reiterates the incompetence of the New Republic in noticing and dealing with threats in the Outer Rim. We get the return of Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) who delivers news of the trouble on Nevarro, and, coincidentally, also stumbles on the wreckage of a prison transport confirming the tease the show has given us that the character the show could never convince me was a big bad is still out there with new plans likely tied to the Imperial Remnant and/or the rising First Order. Sorry, I still can’t buy this guy as a major threat to the galaxy.
Removing the pirates from Nevarro provides the most sustained action of the season so far, and delivers a new home base for the Mandalorians, a base that The Armorer (Emily Swallow) tasks Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) with recruiting more Mandalorians to grow their ranks. Bo-Katan leaving without her helmet makes sense for Sackhoff, and for helping Bo-Katan’s recruiting mission, but The Armor being the one to suggest it certainly contradicts the edicts of the cult with a whiplash-inducing change of direction felt by both the audience and the other Mandalorians.
More than anything else, however, the episode is likely to be remembered for the (completely superfluous) cameo of a GCI-rendered Garazeb Orrelios who becomes the first Star Wars Rebels character to make a live-action appearance with others to follow in the upcoming Ahsoka TV-series. As a fan of the show, I’m really looking forward to seeing the adventures of the characters of Star Wars Rebels continue, but that doesn’t blind me to the blatant fan service. The Lasat looks good here, even if his appearance is really only for a fan pop as he doesn’t factor into the plot of the episode in any way.
