Book of Boba Fett: Ep 5
Return of the Mandalorian

Mando! They aren't fucking around! Within five seconds the Mandalorian appears looking for his bounty, someone owes big money to someone and unfortunately he decides to make the wrong call, which ends badly for thedude. The dog looking aliens were outclassed and decimated by Mando, who was wielding the darksaber! He did get bit and took some damage from his own lightsaber, but he destroyed the dog aliens easily. Holy shit! He stabbed a dog alien and chopped one in half! Din has turned into the god damn Predator, he even took the bountys head that sick bastard! Ok...I'll calm down!
Mando finally finds his way home, to the other Mandalorians that helped him way back in season one, but there was a cost of helping him, there are only three left.
We get some history on the darksaber and get a little flashback of the night of a thousand tears, the time where the Empire struck with looks like thousands of TIE bombers on the Mandalorians. Not only that, it looked like it was pure genocide as the Empire sent robots to destroy them and didn't even bother to use Stormtroopers. It looked like it was Armageddon, almost like a terminator like attack which would make for an awesome short series that I'd love to watch.
Bryce Dallas Howard, quickly becomes one of my favorite directors in this universe, but that whole team they have sitting in the captains chair are absolutely amazing.
The best part of this episode is the fact they go old school with Mando's new ship, which is found by his bestie Peli Motto In Mos Eisley, with parts "found" by jawas, which were obviously stolen. The ship Motto found and repairs together with Din is a Naboo N-1 Starfighter which we last saw in the prequel Phantom Menace during the battle of Naboo. They also pull a fast and the Furious and get overnight parts from Japan to make it faster than fast. It is weird seeing Mando in a small star fighter instead of what he was flying in the 'Razor crest', which makes me believe that maybe his bounty hunter days could be near the end.
Love how Din using a lightsaber is just foreign to him and shows he needs a incredible amount of training to figure it out or he'll just end up injuring himself again. I also loved how honest he is, when asked "Have you ever removed your helmet" by The Armorer he doesn't respond, knowing what he did means to the clan, and knowing full well the consequences of that act. Another small thing I loved was when his clan mate, challenges him for ownership of the darksaber and that he's a former member of clan Vizsla. That battle shows that he's outmatched using the saber against a decent opponent and only wins when he drops the saber and fights differently. Its pretty much the equivalent of how a normal person would use a lightsaber with no training, I liked it. In any event, he is told there is only one way to become Mandalorian once again, and I feel we'll get that adventure in his upcoming series, that and his channeling his inner jedi and figuring out how to wield the saber and possibly reunite Mandalore.
The whole episode is just one big Mandalorian arc which I appreciated and as we could expect, he was offered a job by Fennec to join Boba Fett in his upcoming war against the Pykes. So the muscle that Fennec mentioned to Fett was him and he not only agreed, he's in it for free, most likely to lend a hand to a fellow Mandalorian and former comrade that helped him save Grogu, its a debt that he most likely believes can't be paid back. You can tell throughout this episode that he cares for Grogu to the point that its hard for him to focus, he just wants to see the little guy.
All in all it was a great episode. Not only did it develop Din's character more, but it pushes his potential storyline in multiple directions. What we will get in the Pykes war against Fett, with Din joining the cause is just utter chaotic Star Wars fun, with amazing fight moments from multiple characters. Episode rating wise I'd throw a 4.3 out of 5 for Bryce Dallas Howards exceptional work.
I also loved how they talk about the great purge, the night of a thousand tears, where the Empire just straight murders almost everyone all because the simple fact that the Empire was probably scared of an uprising. Palpatine immediately saw them as a threat, a threat that has been around for thousands of years and saw that they were warriors who did not like being ruled. I kind of wish Pre Vizsla was around during this time to see how he would of handled the Empire, or would he join as long as his planet was left alone? I definitely wouldn't mind a "What if" type of Star wars episode that shows the trajectory of Mandalore if Vizsla defeated Maul in combat, what the planet does during the jedi purge, knowing the galaxy is changing and its either get in line or face war, I'd like to think PV would declare war, or at least go the terrorist route against the Empire. Anyway.....
#Starwars #BookofBobaFett #Mandalorian #BobaFett #Naboo #PhantomMenace #Pykes