WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Chapter 6, "The Prisoner," now streaming on Disney+.
Most of the episodes of The Mandalorian have garnered high praise as a space Western, with Pedro Pascal's mysterious bounty hunter devoting himself to protecting the Child, better known as Baby Yoda. In the sixth episode of the Disney+ drama, "The Prisoner," that mandate changes as Mando reconnects with old acquaintances to help free a prisoner.
But while we assumed his motley crew would consist of conniving minds the likes of which could rival Boba Fett, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, this group of seedy criminals turns out to be the dumbest in the Star Wars universe.
Mando responds to a call by Ranzar (Mark Boone Junior), with whom he worked back in the day. His squad consists of former Imperial sharpshooter Mayfeld (Bill Burr); a Devaronian named Burg (Clancy Brown); the droid Q9-0, or "Zero" (voiced by Richard Ayoade); and the Harley Quinn-esque Xi'an (Natalia Tena), a Twi'lek who has a history with Mando. Their task is to free a colleague of Ranzar from prison, but as red flags pop up, Mando goes on high alert.
It turns out the prison is a New Republic transport, and by the time they free Xi'an's brother Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordova), the crew double-crosses Mando. They leave him in the cell but, luckily for the bounty hunter, they're too stupid to formulate a proper plan to keep Mando in check. That, of course, begs to question: why not kill the Mandalorian? Xi'an is certainly aware of Mando's resourcefulness, even if the others aren't. If they were smart, they would have shot Mando as soon as they had fought their way through the transport's droid security. Instead, they throw him into Qin's cell -- with all of his gear intact.
They should have stripped him down and made sure he had no weapons, as he ended up using his grappling hook to grab a droid and free himself. Seriously, his reputation precedes him, and this is like leaving Batman in an Arkham cell with his utility belt. And it's such a fitting comparison, because Mando goes on to stalk his attackers like the Dark Knight, picking them off one by one. What's even more confusing is when the giant Burg takes on Mando minutes later, his main aim is to unmask him. One would think he'd kill the bounty hunter when he has the advantage, but Burg, after proving himself impervious to flames or and other weapon Mando has, simply engages in his unmasking fetish.
What makes this so silly is Burg had no interest in unmasking Mando when they had him outnumbered, but here, to complicate their one-on-one fight, he tries to rip the helmet off. This leads to Mando squashing Burg with a door and you can't help but feel he deserves it for a lack of genius. As for Xi'an, she didn't even use her history (implied to be romantic or sexual in nature) with Mando to play on his mind, while Zero opted to not leave the ship to join the hunt.
Zero instead remains aboard Mando's ship, the Razor Crest, to find a hiding Baby Yoda. And although the droid had access to the main panel and all the compartment information, Baby Yoda nevertheless outsmarts him. What makes this droid an idiot is he doesn't even hear Mando opening the hatch to come aboard, which leads to a blast through the chest. Mando exits with the kid, leaving the other buffoons imprisoned and not dead in what should have been an easy job given the numbers. We know Mando's smart but honestly, this win is down to his hunters having a low IQ and no sense of tactics or strategy, leaving us wondering how they got this far in the first place.
The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Mark Boone Junior, Bill Burr, Clancy Brown, Natalia Tena, Richard Ayoade, and Carl Weathers. A new episode arrives each Friday on Disney+.