Emmy Catch-Up: The Mandalorian

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m watching the entire season of every series nominated in the top category.

The Mandalorian: Season 1, Episode 4 “Chapter 4: Sanctuary” (B)

This episode at least had a bit more action than the one before it, expanding on a Mandalorian rescue party to instead find not one but two bounty hunters more concerned with helping defenseless people than making their marks. I first encountered mixed martial artist-turned-actress Gina Carano in “Fast and Furious 6” and recognized her right away here as Cara, who made quite an impression on the Mandalorian when she bested him in hand-to-hand combat and even put a literal damper on his signature fire-wrist move. Fortunately, unlike the enemy she killed towards the end of the episode that helped them both realize that this wasn’t a safe place for Baby Yoda, she was a friend, and she may well prove to be an ally for him down the road when he undoubtedly encounters trouble again. The mention of an AT-ST was familiar, though I always think much more about the AT-AT from “The Empire Strikes Back” (the difference is apparently scout rather than armored). The raiders that were behind it were definitely villainous enough on their own, and weren’t interested in leaving any survivors to tell tales of their brutality. It’s interesting to learn that the Mandalorian is never permitted to take his armor off because that means he can never put it back on again – something tells me that, even though he’s committed to his own code, this particular Mandolarian is going to end up making choices that definitely make him an outlier even among his own people.