'The Mandalorian' Episode 4 Review: Cara Dune makes quite an impact and the Mandalorian comes very close to a happy ending
'The Mandalorian' continues down its not-so-subtle checklist of fantasy tropes with a 'Star Wars' flavoring as this episode sees Mando teach a small village to fight back against the raiders attacking it.
Joining him is Gina Carano as Cara Dune, who shows us not even Beskar Steel can protect a Mandalorian against a strong-armed scrapper who knows how to lay a warrior flat out on their back.
With all his bounty hunter bridges burned behind him, the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) is on the run, his long-eared green charge in tow.
Now that the Mandalorian has accepted "the child" as more than just a bounty, he's turned into a real chatty Cathy — his identifying of the perfect planet to land on, and asking the child what he thinks of that feels like the most he's spoken in three episodes combined.
Down on Sorgan, the Mandalorian immediately identifies another warrior — not something one wants to find when hiding out on a backwater planet. It's none other than Cara Dune, the lady we've all been waiting for, who is similarly worried that the Mandalorian is a bounty hunter who's been sent after her.
Gina Carano brings all her MMA fighting experience to the fore and does surprisingly well against an opponent with a flamethrower on his wrist and a body covered in the best armour in the galaxy. Where's HER show?
Her cliff notes backstory is unfortunately sped through, which is a shame because Cara Dune is quite an interesting character. She livens up the show, bringing a charm and a sense of fun to it that would be great to see more of.
She's badass enough to be able to take that for granted — the Mandalorian certainly does so, immediately counting her in as an ally and equal, and enlisting her help in keeping the village of krill farmers safe.
The Empire's reach was far, and it it turns out that a band of raiders has gotten control of a lethal AT-ST walker, a long limbed tank that could devastate the village.
The villagers refuse to leave, however, and having gotten a little backstory on the Mandalorian, you can almost see the wheels turning in his helmet as he decides to teach the villagers how to fight. The Mandalorian culture he was raised with prizes fighting back, after all. This is the way.
The episode is a more light-hearted one, closer in tone to Chapter 2. Baby Yoda fans get as much cuteness from him as the episode can pack in, and this being the longest episode yet, that's a lot of cuteness.
There's more room for gags, smiles, and glimpses of happier endings. The village of krill farmers is an idyllic place, a world of peace that’s inviting the Mandalorian to stay. He’s tempted, but a happy ending is not in the cards yet for him or his charge.
Bounty hunters are still able to track them down (though it's not quite explained how the trackers work — does Baby Yoda have a chip inside of him?) wherever they may hide. The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda aren't going to be able to rest until Mando deals with the bounty hunters once and for all.
The episode sees the Mandalorian on the closest thing he has to a vacation since the whole adventure began. We learn a little bit about what makes him tick.
There's a while before he reaches the end of the story, and can take off his helmet permanently, because as we've learned this episode, once the helmet is publically off, there's no going back.