Disney Plus’ The Mandalorian chapter six recap: The Prisoner

The Mandalorian takes a new job to pay the bills, and encounters old friends, foes, and flames, as he tries to keep Baby Yoda safe.

The Mandalorian continues to be on the run with the Child, but he needs money to keep himself afloat. In ‘The Prisoner’, Mando reconnects with some old acquaintances to free a prisoner. Of course, the job isn’t as easy as it first appears. Ranzar Malk (Mark Boone Junior) insists the rescue team take Mando’s ship, the Razor Crest, on the job as it’s the only one that can successfully get close to the prison ship. Unbeknownst to the mercenaries, Mando is hiding very precious cargo aboard.

The Job

Malk introduces Mando to his team – former Imperial sharpshooter Mayfeld (Bill Burr), a Devaronian called Burg (Clancy Brown), droid pilot Zero (Richard Ayoade), and Twi’lek Xi’an (Natalia Tena), who has a history with Mando.

The ‘rescue’ is more of a prison break, as Mando finds out. They’re tasked with breaking into a New Republic prison ship to free a fellow mercenary; despite Mando’s unease with the job and the team, he goes along with it—there is money at stake here.

Zero takes over the controls of the Crest, and accidentally stumbles upon a message from Greef Karga (Carl Weathers). It’s garbled but he persists in attempting to retrieve the message. Meanwhile, in Mando’s cramped ship, it becomes evident that Mayfeld is a trouble-maker who loves needling people. Burg has anger management issues and Xi’an is the quintessential female character whose sole purpose is to make Mando uncomfortable about having a romantic past.

Mando is on edge and it’s not long before the team’s teasing of his Mandalorian ways ends in a fight. During the scuffle, Burg unlocks the chamber where Baby Yoda is hiding. While this ends the fight, the Child being discovered puts them all in danger. Just at that point, the ship drops out of hyperspeed. Zero is a terrible pilot – he hardly gives the team a moment to brace for impact, meaning all of them, including the Child, end up on the ship’s floor.

The Rescue

Zero stays behind as the getaway driver while the others sneak on board the prison ship. It’s manned only by droids but they are the deadly kind. When they attack the rescue party, it’s Mando’s nifty moves and clever thinking that saves the team’s hides. Not that he gets any thanks for it.

They wind their way to the control room and find it being manned by a sole human. These guys are either rusty or bad at their jobs because their intel was completely incorrect. Davan (played by Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Anakin Skywalker, Matt Lanter), was obviously not expecting any confrontation and he is petrified when Burg and Mayfield point their blasters at him!

Understandably so. The scene is prolonged to pay fan-service to Lanter’s beloved connection with the Star Wars franchise. It helps that he’s impeccable as the frightened Davan. Davan’s grip on his blaster is unsure, but he’s quick to turn it on whoever he believes is the greatest threat. Unlike his trigger-happy colleagues, Mando has a code and he doesn’t kill innocents.

The Mandalorian attempts to talk Davan down, but Mayfeld intervenes, threatening to kill Davan and Mando. The standoff is ended by Xi’an throwing one of her knives at Davan, killing him instantly. If anyone had doubts about how despicable these mercenaries were, seeing them blatantly kill an innocent officer doing his job drives home the point.

The Betrayal

Mando is devastated but has to complete his mission. The mercenaries locate the prisoner, who happens to be Xi’an’s brother and another former colleague of Mando’s. Apparently, Mando’s the reason Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordova) is stuck in this prison. The rescue is payback for being locked up. The moment Qin’s out of his cell, Xi’an pushes Mando in and locks him in.

As the crew return to the ship, Mando mounts his own rescue. He’s an endlessly resourceful character and he uses his gadgets and wits to capture a droid, yank off its mechanical arm and unlock his cell. Now that he’s mad, Mando does everything in his power to prevent the crew’s escape, while ensuring that he himself can return to his ship and to the Child.

Mando makes his way to the command center and starts blocking off all the escape routes on the ship. Qin and Xi’an get separated, but he is least bothered. Qin promises Mayfeld triple the rescue money (which he probably doesn’t have, but Qin is a good salesperson) if Mayfeld can get Qin off the prison ship. Mayfeld is stupid enough to believe him.

Burg and Xi’an split up and Burg locates Mando in the command center. The Devaronian is nigh-invincible and none of Mando’s arsenal is able to stop him. Even a giant door collapsing on Burg doesn’t stop him. Will a second door smashing into him end Burg?

Mando also fights Xi’an and seems to overwhelm her. He then creeps up on Mayfeld and the former sharpshooter is no match for Mando. Qin is the only one left and he plays the money card yet again. What will Mando do?

The Victory

Back on the Razor Crest, Zero successfully deciphers Karga’s message in time to find the Child wandering around the ship. He decides to go after the Child and finds him in his little cubby hole. Zero’s plan seems to be to shoot the Child. What will this helpless creature do? He closes his eyes and lifts his hand in an attempt to use the Force. Suddenly Zero begins to spark and drops dead. Did Baby Yoda do that? Of course not! It’s the Mandalorian, standing proud behind his blaster.

He returns to Malk with Qin, and gets his payment because he completed his mission, even if that meant losing the rest of his team. As Mando flies away, we see that he locked up his colleagues on the prison ship and left a tracker on Qin. The tracker attracts a nearby New Republic base and three X-Wings fly in and fire at the station believing it to be an enemy base. Well, they’re not wrong. Triumphant, Mando flies away, blaming the Child for choosing this job. Mando has taken to being a dad brilliantly, and he gives the Child the gear top to play with as he flies away.

Directorially, this episode was fun, but the characters were uninteresting. Tena was hamming it throughout and Burg was the boring cliché of a dumb brute. Mayfeld lacked charisma; though Zero and Qin were arresting characters, they both had limited screen time. Optically, The Mandalorian doesn’t look as diverse as it does on paper. Most of the unmasked characters have been played by white actors, while Pedro Pascal remains hidden under a helmet. While we don’t necessarily need the Mandalorian to unmask, there has to be a balance in representation.

It’s also surprising that the show has gone down the episodic route with the Child being the only connecting factor. Where does the story go from here? We’re not moving forward, but rather running in place. Our knowledge of Mando hasn’t grown much since the premiere, so how much are the showrunners planning to pack into the final two episodes?