I have to agree with other comments here, I enjoyed the first three episodes but this one was pretty bland.
The Seven Samurai plot but with The Mandalorian and a rogue soldier. A bit of love interest side-plot. Baby Yoda is still cute. Doesn't progress the story, expands the world a little bit. Nothing to really write home about except for the battle. It's nothing new under the sun.
Still feels like a videogame. But it's fun to watch.
That Baby Yoda is too damn cute!! OMG I laughed so hard when he pressed the button after being told not to touch anything.
Baby Yoda is fun and all, but this episode's premise is so overused it's painful to watch. Plus all the other plotholes:
- why does the Mandalorian seem to forget that the kid is being tracked (clearly there's no way for him to remove whatever they're using to track him or he would have done it already…) so why does he think he can find sanctuary by being in the middle of nowhere? (one reasonable theory is that the fobs are short range, so you would need to know what planet the target is on in order to track it with the fob)
- why does he leave his ship unattended again, given that in a previous episode it was ripped apart by scavengers? His plan was to go to this farm for a few months and just leave his ship alone in the middle of a forest that whole time? (maybe he got some upgrades? Or Jawas are more resourceful than the locals on this new planet?)
- I want to lay low so I'll just keep wearing my highly conspicuous armor, and engage in combat with some raiders that clearly have connections without making sure to wipe them out completely?
- (and what's stopping the raiders from returning?)
- "I can never remove my helmet in front of people and haven't shown my face since I was a little kid." then immediately removes his helmet while standing in front of an open window while facing a crowd of people (also I really want to see him eat in public — is there a flap that can flip up? Does he use a straw? The world needs to know.)
- Instead of doing a bad job of sneaking into the raiders' camp, almost getting yourself blown up by your explosive, and running back to get the farmers' village destroyed, why not just look around a bit and find the AT-ST and destroy it first, or better yet commandeer it and use it to kill all the raiders? Oh right, Disney. Slaughtering raiders is a no go? (or maybe the writers were ignorant and thought the AT-ST was a droid instead of a transport?)
- Their plan centers around the AT-ST walking in the mud, which is clearly a bad plan because of the range of its guns. Oh but now someone is shooting at them from the pond so of course it's time to go walking into the trap. Oh but she managed to get a shot through the eye hole so the plan wasn't really necessary after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- The Mandalorian's initial refusal to help, followed by his acquiescence was way too easy, and then they say they can't do it because they have a tank, but are again easily convinced to help. Quick montage showing almost nothing, and bam next day they're ready to take on an army.
This is some extremely lazy writing.
Plus the first female character who shows her face in the show turns out to be pretty much a nothing character with zero personality and is probably not going to show up again.
All of the acting was terrible.
I've enjoyed most of the show so far, but this one was a real dip for me.
[6.0/10] This was a real step down from prior episodes. So much of The Mandalorian has been remixing classic Western tropes, and “Sanctuary” is no exception. The idea of the mercenary/ronin coming to a tucked away village, defending it from some aggressors, and finding themself unexpectedly attached, is a well-established one. (see also: Shane, Yojimbo, a middling episode of Star Trek: Enterprise).
But whereas the prior episodes of this show have taken those familiar stories, melded them with the Star Wars universe, and elevated them with a less is more approach, “Sanctuary” comes off like an episode of any old Saturday afternoon adventure serial. The villagers that Mando saves barely have personalities. He and his local crush have insta-love for reasons that go entirely unexplained. And the show awkwardly makes it seem like Mando wants to settle down here, without really doing the work to establish why.
That’s the main thrust of the episode. Mando is just looking for someplace to hide. He reluctantly takes a job in exchange for shelter. It turns out to be more difficult than he thought, and he has to teach the local how to fight, but at the end of it, he finds himself attached, in more ways than one. That’s not a bad blueprint for an episode of a quasi-ronin show, particularly when it’s punctuated with the reveal that him settling down like that is a pipe dream so long as he’s protecting Baby Yoda. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
For instance, one of the strengths of the show so far has been its shorter runtimes, not stretching the story out to fill time. But here, everything felt so rushed, particularly Mando’s friendship with Cara Dune and his affections for the steely single mom he finds in the village. Given that the emotional impact of this episode rests on him feeling a connection to this place, the fact that the show either just assumes a chemistry and connection that doesn't really exist on the screen, and haphazardly yadda yaddas Mando getting used to this kind of life (a montage might have been life), really weakens the overall goal of “The Sanctuary”.
It’s also the weakest episode we’ve had acting-wise. Pedro Pascal still does great work here, but his village paramour is a forgettable nothing. Cara Dune is a more interesting character, particularly with the idea that she’s a former Rebellion soldier lying low after peacekeeper life didn’t agree with her, leaving her on the run for her own reasons. But MMA star-turned-actor Gina Carano is hit or miss in the role in her first episode. A lot of the Star Wars dialogue about aliens and whatnot can sound hokey, and a lot of the rah-rah action liner stuff is tricky to pull off, and Carano’s shaky at both in the early going.
So what’s good here? Well, the visuals here still manage to impress. The production design on the remote village is superb, marrying the cinematic iconography of Vietnam movies, with the otherworldly blue fish and circular designs that characterize the Star Wars franchise. By the same token, the Imperial Walker’s red eyes peeking through the trees in the forest is an eye-catching image. Plus, Baby Yoda continues to be the most adorable thing on television, with his village kid friendships and mischievous ship-side button-pressing each being utterly delightful.
That said, a lot of this episode is centered on hand-to-hand combat, whether it’s the semi-meetcute between Mando and Dune, or the locals fighting the raiders with big sticks, and the fight choreography and shot selection leaves both feeling somewhat flat. (Though the fight at the raiders’ camp fared a little better) The unfortunate truth is that both the uptempo action-y sequences in this film, and the quieter, supposed-to-be heartening scenes both felt off, with flat framing and moves in the former, and bad dialogue and performances in the latter.
Overall, this is the first miss for The Mandalorian, which is almost inevitable for a show still finding its voice, but which seems that much more glaring given how good the show’s been up to this point.
a little meh. 4th episode and almost a romance brewing. Saved face second half of episode.
Single dad and his son go on holiday and meet some troublemakers along the way.
Someone watched a bad STAR TREK: TNG movie and then wrote some battle scenes that made both sides seem like morons. This was the first disappointing (overall) outing for me, saved only by the ever-cool Mandalorian, a lovely widow, and a child who doesn't always listen to his foster father.
I thought the daughter did a nice job showing emotion and just being overall cute. The scene where she says goodbye to baby yoda was very believable. It wasn't the greatest episode but I still enjoyed myself and the action was very good again.
"Sanctuary" is, ostensibly, the first Mandalorian episode resembling filler, and it's a fair critique to lobby at the show after closing its first major arc in the capture/rescue of The Child; most shows would receive a knockdown rating for this isolated episode's storyline, which isn't great overall, but the continued filling of the universe, and building towards the narrative at large, make this a rather good episode of The Mandalorian, even if it is a step down from the previous serving in most categories.
This is a pretty typical "train the farmers" type of episode, coupled with giving our titular "hero" (who the show liked to remind is us neither all good, nor all bad) a brief companion to contextualize what a life of running will look like. It's a solid affair, although the first time the effects really start to dwindle a bit (what the Hell is wrong the AT-ST?). It continues to place itself well within the Star Wars universe, although I wish it had given more about the fall of The Empire. The villains in this one are self-contained and wrapped up without much fuss.
This episode also continues to note that the show rests of the cuteness laurels of one Baby Yoda; his interactions with others are great, and he seemingly turns a filler development episode into something more meaningful. There's still the lingering question of "Why him?" that the show has not accounted for yet midway through the season, and this episode moves us little closer to most answers, but a dedicated shootout isn't the worst way to spend our time.
Bryce Dallas Howard (the Hell?) brings a solid, though unremarkable entry, into The Mandalorian's canno. This was an enjoyable place to spend our time on, but in the larger narrative, probably will be forgotten - just as the Mandalorian himself would have liked to have been.
It's a bland Star Wars version of The Magnificent Seven with few characters and no character or story development.
So far the most convincing part of this series are Baby Yoda, "This is the way" and 50% of the combat scenes. The remaining combats are pretty dull though, as in this episode.
This fond homage to Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is a welcome surprise. I'm so pleased with the path the show is following, taking its time to introduce characters and set the plot, despite the short running time of each episode.
i would die for baby yoda. he's too damn cute.
This episode was pathetic compared to the first three, I was getting really high hopes for this series but it seems it'll start going down the drain from here on.
This show just went from a pretty great effort to... Poor acting and seen it scenes. Pls get better again.
I must say I liked this show Immediately. And I just like it better and better. I really liked this episode. This is what we needed after that Last Jedi circus. Good work, and keep it up!
My favorite ep alongside the pilot, because it feels truly of expanding the world (and thanks in no small part to having Baby Yoda doing THINGS more than usual), although the biggest (and pleasant) surprise is seeing Bryce Dallas Howard in the end credit as director.
This will be my favorite episode in The Mandalorian for sure. I was almost dying cause of the cuteness of Baby Yoda :'(
The art design and end credits music is very good.
Can you say "The Magnificent Seven "
The Magnificent Two....not very original...
WOW.... very nice episode.... and... Star Wars Crush <3
After the greatness of the first two episodes and the sheer glory of the last one, this episode was.... a fun enough divergent. Mando's characterization seemed a bit lighter than the first three eps, less stoic. I still had a very good time with the episode. It just felt off somehow
Is this episode written by 16 years old?
This episode wanted to be Seven Samurai but ended up as that terrible The Walking Dead episode where everyone gets slaughtered (they're not though in Mandalorian, since this is a Disney series).
There is no development and no build up at all in this episode. Like the previous episode, everything is self-contained. All are introduced and resolved in this same episode. A lot of things happened in this episode but nothing actually contributes to the plot - except for exposition dump.
The bandit raid is a terribly weak, villain of the week setup. They just show up as some evil nuisances - no motives, no goals at all. The Mando teams up with an ex-rebel, which debunks a tired cliche, but at this point this feels like a try-hard attempt to make The Mando as a morally righteous hero. There is a half-assed attempts at romance here, but it feels forced as it happens so sudden. Despite being self-contained (or maybe because it is) the episode lacks closure by the end, and the nifty little scene regarding one stray bounty hunter seems like something that appears just because they still have several episodes to go.
The dialogues are terrible: it's a tonne of exposition dumps. I don't have any idea why the writers think it makes sense for the characters to suddenly ask a stranger, "when was your last time you open your helmet?" and, in return, open up a heart-to-heart "hey I got a tragic story" past to a stranger. The banters with Gina Carano's character is okay, but it feels like they have to slip backstory every now and then. As if they're not having a real, human conversation. Every dialogue feels so forced and hurried as if they have to make it fit into this episode.
Also, it seems like they have no idea what an AT-ST is. It's a vehicle, not a droid.
New faces and new scenery and still Baby Yoda continues to steal the show. A good balance of action and storytelling but I'd be happier if the episodes were longer. The AT-ST Raider was a nice surprise too. It's cool to see the concept art at the end of each episode.
I am just more and more underwhelmed by what we're seeing with this series. It's not bad, but it's certainly not very meaty either. What, exactly, are the themes? The overarching struggle that I'm supposed to attach my empathy to? Baby Yoda is incredibly cute, but one off episodes of The Mandalorian thwarting unconnected threats feels like it's just going to get more and more stale. These episodes have been entertaining (this one least of all), but I want something to chew on.
I have to laugh though. The Star Wars fanbase is incredibly fickle and hypocritical. The idea that we hear so much hate for the sequel trilogy and then this series is being lauded by those same fans is hilarious. What are some of the major complaints they have for the sequels? Rey is a Mary-Sue and Star Wars is being Disney-fied?
Have they actually watched this show then? Or are they just enamored by the cuteness of Baby Yoda? The Mandalorian is arguably a bigger Mary-Sue than Rey (who honestly isn't a Mary-Sue, but if she is then so was Luke Skywalker in the originals lol). And this series is far more Disney-fied than either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi.
:person_shrugging::male_sign:
This one's more of a filler. A bit too convenient and predictable. I mean, you know what was going to happen. I really like that they adressed things like Mando eating. But is there a story with Omera? She's too good a shot to have been a farmer her whole life. Maybe she came there for sanctuary, too ? I wonder if that will be adressed later. Still, great production value and the battle at the end was really good.
classic samurai story, a band of bandits torments a village, asking for help from an errant ronin
Didn't like this episode. It's not because of Cara Dune - I think she's brave for posting her own opinion on Twitter and I think she doesn't deserve the hate she's getting right now. However, this round was literally just Seven Samurai in space. We already have an anime adaption of that. It's called Samurai Seven. This episode was ultimately useless and the raiders had some of the worst strategies. The plot armor was thick, no doubt.
I think the AT-ST was stupid and I think the red lights at the top looked dumb, although I know they need to have light inside of it at night. It just looked like such a stereotypically evil color and I thought it was funny how blatant it was that the creators were trying to make it look like glowing eyes in the forest.
I actually think this is a better episode then most give it credit for - outside of Gina Carano of course, though that's less due to her acting and more due to the fact she's a transphobe (her acting is fine to good here). Other then that annoyance, "Sanctuary"'s strength as an episode lies with it's humanization of Mando as a character. A lot is done here with very little, and Bryce Dallas Howard directs the crap out of it with stellar cinematography and a keen eye for character moments. This is her directorial debut and she does a great job, and clearly has some kind of future behind the camera.
The Seven Samurai style setting isn't new to Star Wars (The Clone Wars had an episode eerily similar to this) but it fits with the constant western and Kurosawa influence the series has had, and it tells the story well in 42 minutes to where you get all of the major beats. Plus everything with the AT-ST? Genuinely inspired stuff.
who are these people lol
Ahh there we go!! All is right in the world. Baby yoda just chillin looking all cute. Haha
So cute how mando talks to the little guy!! Lol baby yoda like nah I’m coming with bruh!! haha
Bout time been waiting for this chic to appear!!! Damn she going toe to toe with Mando!! Oh my gosh baby yoda sipping on a dranky drank is the cutest thing ever!!
I knew I’d see these two again. Was surprised to see them at the beginning of episode. They usually do comedies. Damn I miss wrecked!!! That show shouldn’t of been canceled!!
Lol at being in the middle of no where changing Mando’s mind. Haaaa @ give me those credit. ha
Don’t think this is going to be the cake walk you expect Mando!!
The sounds of the kids playing and laughing is nice!! Ahh to simpler times!!
This lady got it bad for Mando. He ain’t even do anything. haaaa it’s the kid!! Instant chick magnet. haha jk
Omg I can’t take it. She be giving him the looks hard. Hahaha too funny :joy:
She looks like she wants to say there has to be a better way after he says this is the way!! Hahaha
Wait I’m confused how can he take the helmet off there? Wouldn’t they be able to see him from that distance!! All they had to do was look up.
BAD NEWS YOU GOTS TO GO!!! hahaha
I’m so ready to buy me a mando baby yoda shirt!!! lol
Damn ol girl can shoot!!! lol at all this sexual tension!!!
Love how Mando doesn’t mind getting help from people he meets on his journey.
Come on Cara make it happen!! Mando all encouraging. Nice!
Oh gross!!! Ewwww baby yoda put a froggy in his mouth. lol
Nooooooo you can’t leave baby yoda there. Nah ain’t no way!!! Nope nope nope :thumbsdown:
Who is this with a fob??? don’t you dare ask her if you can leave him there.
Look like he’s actually thinking of staying. What a tease that was. Well I didn’t want him to take it off
Omg omg arggg playing with my emotions like that!! Thought something was going to happen to the little guy. Whelp back to our regularly scheduled program. On the road again!! lol
Wait where is his ship!! Must of missed something.
Awww @ the ending!!!
Always love the art work and music!!
It’s inconceivable that after being told that ALL the tracking fobs were out, the Mandalorian wouldn’t REMEMBER that fact. Are we to believe that he’s that stupid, to just leave baby Yoda there?
7 Samurai. But there's only 2. And they're not Samurai.
7.5/10
So Good
A nice grounded episode
before we head back out
into the naughtiness
and excitement
of space.
Baby Grogu-aka Baby Yoda
is awesome and amazing
as always and I was dying
for Baby Yoda to get a
Look what was hoping
around on that planet lol.
Mando was fantastic and
I really feel his emotions
and expressions through
that helmet.
and this episode is a
special treat for me because
I get the amazing
Gina Corano in it
who makes a perfect
alli for Mando.
Cara Dune brings such
charisma and energy
and strength to the role
I can't wait till we cross
again.
Mando Rewatch
I always love the episode/stories of the Hero helping the Village. I'm a sucker for it. I know not everyone likes this episode, but I'm in the minority. Grogu has some of his best moments here. Him drinking bone broth was my computer wallpaper for months.
In this episode we move to what looks like an archetypal fantasy village, with little technology in it (there was one droid or so) which gets attacked by orcs, probably teleported from Isengard. It is here where the Mandalorian decides to lie low to escape the bounty hunters, but eventually it turns out that he plays Witcher and hunts monsters in a team with a warrior woman, who becomes friends with him even though they started with a fight (it took the baby to stop them from fighting). He and the warrior woman teach the inhabitants of the village how to fight as they do not want to leave their village but rather defend it from orcs, even when it turns out that the said orcs have a walking killing machine (I wonder where the orcs got it from). At first defending the village seems like a stupid idea since the fight is very hard but in the end of course our heroes prevail. The woman in whose hut Mandalorian is staying seems to develop an affection for him, but it is an unrequited one; her daughter loves the baby though, just like other kids from the village. Mandalorian considers leaving the baby in the village for his safety when it almost gets killed by a bounty hunter, and then they both need to leave the fantasy-like village. I wonder what would happen to it next since some orcs escaped during the battle, they may not have the machine but may return if they find out Mandalorian has left.
The curious thing in the episode is that Mandalorian can follow tracks exactly how Geralt does it in the game "Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt" with the red highlights and all. He is also very Geralt-like in his caring for the baby and not being very talkative.
Another curiosity about the episode is when the widow asks Mandalorian how long he has had the helmet on, he tells her how the Mandalorians saved his life when he was a kid which sounds a bit as if he wasn't a Mandalorian himself, only adopted their way of life to show gratitude? Also, on the flashbacks from his past in previous episodes, neither he nor his parents are wearing helmets, so maybe there is something in this.
My fave so far! I feel like now we are getting some direction as to where the show is going and we are seeing a more humane side of Mando!
We pick up with Mandalorian as he goes to the planet Sorgan and meets up with Cara dune and helps the locals there take down the Bandits and their AT-ST mech and it was quite fun!
Great episode bit a little step down from the previous one. The Child makes up for it though.
Lone Wolf and Cub with blasters
Love the casting choice for Cara Dune. Love the concept art at the end. Kind of a cheesy/cliche episode though. But I'm still digging the show
4th episode kinda sucked tbh
Was mildly concerned that they had yet to borrow heavily from The Seven Samurai. I can breathe a great big sigh of relief.
Great action and the super cute baby Yoda. Makes you forgive it for the cliche Magnificent Seven like plot.
This show has so much heart. :heart:
Ehhhhhhh! Why is Rhonda Rousey in so much, she is awful!!!!!
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2019-12-03T11:16:02Z
This 4th chapter was weak sauce.
Hope it was necessary for setup for future story.