The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6, or Chapter 22: ‘Guns for Hire’ was focused on Bo-Katan Kryze’s efforts to reunite the Mandalorian forces for their return to the home planet. In the latest installment, we explore an intriguing new planet, which is host to some unexpected characters.
Chapter 21 of The Mandalorian Star Wars series left us with the Armorer instructing Bo-Katan Kryze to remove her helmet and go out in hopes of bridging the gap between the major Mandalorian sects that remained. While this is seen as straying from the original creed, The Children of the Watch have placed faith in her to restore Mandalore to what it once was.
In the latest installment, we see her track down her former fleet, which included the Imperial Freighter she and Din Djarin recovered after they first met. We see that this vast fleet of ships and Mandalorian army is now under the command of Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides), with Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks) still helping alongside.
The Mandalorian Fleet
This new chapter starts with a forbidden Mon Cala love story, similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where a young Mon Cala prince has run away to be with the starship captain. However, it is quickly brought to a halt when an Imperial Cruiser, captained by Axe Woves, intercepts their ship to return the runaway prince to his palatial home.
We learn that Bo-Katan’s former Mandalorian forces have now become mercenaries after her plans dissolved without the Darksaber. While their future remains uncertain, they have set down roots on one of the few democratic planets left standing in the Outer Rim.
Woves’ forces operate mostly out of a planet called “Plazir 15”, this is where Bo-Katan, Din, and Grogu arrive and are instantly diverted from confronting her former ally, instead being brought directly to the planet’s leaders. Here we see some of the better cameos so far in the Star Wars series, with strong performances from Jack Black, Lizzo, and, later on, Christopher Lloyd.
Mystery of the Malfunctioning Droids
Jack Black is a reformed Imperial Officer named “Captain Bombardier” and Lizzo is the planet’s Duchess. The planet appears to have quite an advanced society with efficient transport systems and technology. We learn throughout the episode that reprogrammed battle droids from the Clone Wars are what made it all possible.
However, after some of these battle droids are found to be faulty and dangerous, Bo-Katan and Djarin are tasked with a side quest, of finding out what is happening, before they can approach the Mandalorian group on-planet. Bombardier also adds the incentive of backing Bo-Katan’s claim as the ruler of Mandalore, if they first help the planet with its rogue droid problem.
The whole malfunctioning droid issue set up a sort of “whodunit” episode for this week’s chapter of The Mandalorian. With Bo-Katan Kryze and Din Djarin putting on their best Scooby Doo impression to track down the root of the conflicts with these reprogrammed droids.
After visiting the Head of Security, Commissioner Helgait (Christopher Lloyd), the pair were sent to the lower floors to visit the Ugnaught technicians. After the Ugnaughts, they confronted a faulty Super battle droid and were forced to chase it through the city. The mystery was slowly pieced together and it was eventually revealed that Commissioner Helgait was behind it all.
After tracking it back to the head of security and confronting him, he threatened to unleash havoc by returning all of the droids to their base programming, citing Count Dooku’s separatist beliefs as the reason for his actions. He claimed that the planet had undergone such an immense change since the droids were introduced to streamline all their technology.
Bo-Katan wins Darksaber and fleet
While most of the episode was focused on unraveling the tangential mystery, we did get a more plot-focused ending with Bo-Katan finally getting her chance to prove herself worthy of both the Darksaber and the trust of her former allies, with a direct challenge on the leadership of Axe Woves.
Kryze faced Axe Woves in a challenge of combat. Of course, with her experience in the Clone Wars and her years of training, she outclassed him handily over the course of the fight, demonstrating strong techniques with her jetpack and in hand-to-hand combat that forced him to yield.
After besting Woves, he conceded but explained that she would never truly be seen as a worthy leader while another possesses the Darksaber, the legendary weapon of their culture reserved only for the most formidable Mandalorian warriors.
But after thinking back to their trip to the Mines of Mandalore, Din Djarin stepped forward and announced that he had been beaten in combat and lost the Darksaber to the cyborg-like creature we saw earlier in the season. As well as sharing that it was Bo-Katan Kryze who defeated his captor and had now earned the right to wield the weapon.
The episode ends with Bo-Katan accepting this Darksaber from Din Djarin. With both major groups of the Mandalorians now supporting her claim, it sets up, what should be, their grand return to the planet of Mandalore and the possibility of reclaiming their homeland.
The Mandalorian Chapter 22 verdict
Episode rating: 6.5/10
As far as rating this particular episode, it was one of the lightest of the season. While Bryce Dallas Howard did a fine job of directing each sequence and action scene, the writing did not deliver anything meaningful for the characters or the overall storyline. Other than the resolution of Bo-Katan finally laying claim to the Darksaber she had earned in Chapter 19, we mostly learned about Plazir 15 as a planet and its unique droid problem.
Although it was great to see Jack Black and Lizzo’s cameos, they may have taken up too much of the focus of the Chapter. There was little advancement of the plot in this episode, apart from the last five minutes. And other than Bo-Katan and Din Djarin sharing their knowledge of working with Ugnaughts and droids in the past, there was little character development either.
Had Din Djarin just given Bo-Katan Kryze the Darksaber at the fire pit above the ruined City of Mandalore, there would have been little reason for this Chapter to exist. If this episode was just a bit longer and spent more time on the confrontation between Bo-Katan and Axe Woves it, likely, would have been significantly improved.
Overall, it was fine as a filler episode but after the cliffhanger last week, with bizarre details surrounding the escape of Moff Gideon, not addressing it in this episode seems to have been a mistake. While The Mandalorian is still in a good spot ahead of the final two episodes, it seems to have taken a step back in the momentum it had built in the latest episodes. Now that everything seems set for the retaking of Mandalore, hopefully, we will get two strong episodes to end on a high.