The Mandalorian seeks Sanctuary… and better direction

Disney+

The Mandalorian’s fourth episode ‘Sanctuary’ almost immediately struck me as feeling different from the previous three. The main thing that stuck out was the whole episode had the feel of a syndicated series from the eighties or nineties. From the cliché story to the cast of generic background players whose acting abilities ranged from forgettable to bad.

Starting with a quiet fishing village I initially thought this was another flashback to Mando’s past. Luckily it was actually the setup that a band of marauders are torturing a small village on the planet Mando lil Yoda sought refuge on. The marauders were an alien design I don’t recall seeing in the franchise before and I lovingly call the dogmen.

The big recurring theme with this series is any moments with Mando and baby as the focus tend to be the most adorable and entertaining. The early shot with baby Yoda messing with the ship’s buttons, much to Mando’s frustration are just endearing for both characters. Other moments with the village people and especially the tease of romance with the one woman in the village rang as forced and we all know nothing is going to come of it.

We also meet a fellow traveler and badass in Cara Dune, played by Gina Carano. Miss Carano is known to many as that lady who kicked Deadpool’s ass in his first film. She has done several projects over the years with her acting ranging from fine to painful; she repeats that pattern here. Action scenes with her were great, even a few bits of dialogue were passable. Then some lines delivered and especially a painfully awkward battle cry felt like I was watching a sub par Xena Warrior Princess. Her character is a former rebel dropship pilot and, being disillusioned following the Empire’s fall, is hiding out.

I did like hearing that the Rebellion experienced growing pains following Return of the Jedi. It gives the universe some texture and depth. Following their introduction, Mando gets approached to help the villagers and he in turn pulls her in. In a very Seven Samurai, or for my generation a very Three Amigos setup, the villagers are trained and set up to help protect their own lands.

Disney+

The training sequence we see is just about the most hokey cliché version you could design. Shooting at targets, everyone is bad … except the single mom?!? Say Wha?! Then a spear training exercise, oh boy that one guy was using the wrong end, it’s the one with the point my man!

The raid itself and inclusion of an Imperial ATST Walker were fun, but man the Ewoks took out like three of those things with little trouble. Mando needs to step up his training if it took them all to take down one.

Part of this general awkwardness I’m going to credit to the direction. Seeing as Bryce Dallas Howard (yes that one) was in the director’s chair, and her credits in that field are few and focused on documentaries for the most part, and it showed. Again the whole affair, while still entertaining, came across as so much simpler, so much more syndicated TV than filmlike in its execution. Even the moment where Mando plans to leave the child on that planet never rang true and the inevitable attack by a hunter and moving on by the two of them could be seen coming a mile away.

While there were some cute moments and fun action, this definitely felt like a lesser version of what we’ve seen before.

What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!