The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5 Redeems The Worst Thing In The Previous Episode
Contains spoilers for "The Mandalorian" Season 3, Episode 5
What a difference a week can make. In a world of binge-watching, a show that opts for weekly episode drops can easily provide moments that seem to make no sense, only to provide a huge payoff later down the line. "The Mandalorian" Season 3 Episode 5 is a perfect example of this.
The rescue plot in "The Mandalorian" Season 3 Episode 4 was cool enough, but seemed to make very little sense for a number of reasons, from the doomed jetpack chase when the flying monster grabs Ragnar (Wesley Kimmel) to the Tribe's strange logic for not rescuing him, and their mind-boggling decision to calmly wait until the next day before rescuing the boy from the creature's clutches.
Fortunately, Episode 5 reveals that full of strange choices as the rescue mission may have been, it actually served an important purpose: Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) is finally in antagonistic Tribe member Paz Vizsla's (Tait Fletcher, voiced by Jon Favreau) good graces. Vizsla's newfound fire-forged respect plays an extremely important part in Episode 5, and the simple fact that he decides to stand by Din's side ends up saving an entire planet.
Paz Vizsla's hammer speech convinces the Tribe to help Nevarro
When Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) asks Din Djarin to save Nevarro from Gorian Shard's (Nonso Anozie) pirate forces, the other Children of the Watch have their reservations about the mission — which is not exactly shocking, considering the request would involve helping Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), who they have plenty of beef with. The Tribe chooses to see what's what by setting up a communal meeting where, amazingly, the Armorer's (Emily Swallow) hefty hammer acts as a talking stick of sorts. Din gives a measured speech about the benefits of helping Navarro, though the reception seems to be largely lukewarm. Then, at the last second, Paz Vizsla rises up and grabs the hammer.
Vizsla starts by dismantling Din's request, listing the various ways they owe Nevarro absolutely nothing, and even scoring some villain points by painting Grogu as a runt who's more trouble than he's worth. However, just when it seems that the hulking Mandalorian is once again opposing Din, he changes direction, and gives an impassioned speech about the Tribe's duty as hardcore Mandalorians to show the pirates what's what. His words are what ultimately wins the group on Din's side, and the Mandalorian fighting force ends up winning the day for the good guys.
The thing is, all of this can be traced back to that goofy pterosaur rescue mission in Episode 4, because Vizsla almost certainly wouldn't have liked Din enough to take his side in the debate if it wasn't for those events. After all, animosity or not, it's kind of hard to hate a guy who climbed a mountain and fought a huge flying monster to save your child.