Droids & Popstars: ‘The Mandalorian’ Recap & Speculation!

This week’s episode of The Mandalorian brought the season’s biggest surprises so far. Let’s break down the episode from those outrageous guest stars to that game-changing ending!

**SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 6**

For the past several weeks, I have been doing weekly Mandalorian breakdowns and predicting what we can expect from the rest of the season, but I never in a million years would have predicted that this week’s episode would have Lizzo formally knighting Grogu. This week proved to be full of surprises in every way, but isn’t that exactly what we want from this show?

First Things First…THOSE Guest Stars

The Mandalorian has always been a show that allowed beloved celebrities to visit the galaxy far far away. The first episode of the series ever included Werner Herzog, Nick Nolte, and Taika Waititi, but “Chapter 22: Guns for Hire” may just take the cake when it comes to the cameo department. We were treated to Sci-Fi veteran and Doc Brown himself, Christopher Llyod, as well as Jack Black and Lizzo. These were pretty shocking appearances, as Disney did not announce these cast additions beforehand like they normally do with roles of this size.

It was an absolute pleasure to see Lloyd, especially since he’s the type of celebrated character actor who thrives in this show.

Jack Black is also having a pretty big week with this and The Super Mario Bros Movie, but the real surprise was with Lizzo as The Dutches. The pop superstar made a splash as she spent the episode hanging out with Grogu, and every moment was just too precious, especially their final moment together when she knighted him.

While seeing these actors was a huge surprise, this episode felt much more in line with previous seasons, as Mando had to help solve a local issue in order to speak to his fellow Mandalorians. These sidequest-type stories had mostly been absent from this season, so episode 6 served as a pleasant detour.

Bryce Dallas Howard and Droid

This episode was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and continues her streak of knocking her Star Wars episodes out of the park. She was responsible for some of the best episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, so seeing her name associated with this galaxy is always exciting. Hopefully, someday she’ll be able to helm a full Star Wars feature.

Most of this episode focuses on Din and Bo solving a mystery for Black’s Captain Bombardier and Lizzo’s Duchess as they try to find out why their droid workforce was acting up. This story had clear nods to the stories of Philip K. Dick (I, Robot, Blade Runner), and it was a refreshing change of pace for the show. Droids have always been a strange question in the Star Wars universe. Are they sentient? Do they have free will? Is it unethical to use them as basically a slave force? This episode didn’t give us any solid answers, but it was interesting for the franchise to finally dip its toes into these harder sci-fi ideas.

This storyline also gave us an excuse to see some prequel-era battle droids, and fans of the prequels will take any excuse they can get.

A New Dark Saber Weilder and What is to Come

The big reveal of the episode came in the final moments, as Din was able to give Bo the Dark Saber on a technicality. Bo has a long and complicated history with this weapon, so the final moments of this episode were huge for fans of The Clone Wars and Rebels.

With Bo in possession of the Dark Saber and the different creeds of Mandalroians teaming up, we are most likely looking at a retaking of Mandalore next week. While everything seems to be shaping up for Din and company, a free Moff Gideon gives me a bad feeling.

We know that Axe Woves had been working as a gun for hire, so maybe he and his team of Mandalroians are responsible for breaking Gideon out of prison, or perhaps Gideon is seeking revenge against Din for putting him behind bars in the first place. Either way, there should be some big action coming in the next two weeks.

Make sure to check out next week’s episode on Disney+ on 4/12!