Old and New on the sands of Tatooine
Written and by Dave Filoni
Release date: December 6th, 2019
After a run in with one of the bounty hunters on his trail, the Mandalorian is forced to land on Tatooine, near the Mos Eisley spaceport, in order to make repairs. In order to pay for the repairs, he assists a rookie bounty hunter in tracking down a dangerous assassin named Fennec Shand.
Tropes:
- Action Prologue: In the Cold Open, the Razor Crest is being shot at by a bounty hunter in a fighter. The Mandalorian barely manages to turn the tables on him.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted with the Tusken Raiders. They aren't immediately violent when they encounter the Mandalorian and Toro, merely yelling what are presumably threats. The Mandalorian is able to barter passage through their territory by giving them Toro's brand new binoculars. This demonstrates that they're more than just vicious raiders, assuming people are willing to understand their point of view. As the Mandalorian points out, the Tusken's perspective is that Tatooine is their planet, and everyone else is trespassing.
- Armor Is Useless: Played with. The Mandalorian's beskar plate successfully withstands multiple shots from Fennec's high-powered sniper rifle, but only because the blaster bolts attenuate over distance — he makes it clear that the bolts would penetrate were he to get too close. When he's shot as they approach on speeders, the blast hits hard enough to knock him out for a moment and his armor is smoking from the heat when he wakes up.
- Bait-and-Switch: It looks like the naïve Young Gun with a Han Solo vibe will release Fennec, only he turns out to be far more ruthless and shoots her instead.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: A sound version when Peli and the droids are startled by a loud noise from inside the Razor Crest, only for the Child to come wandering down the ramp.
- Blinded by the Light: The Mandalorian has flash charges which launch blinding white flares, designed to disorient snipers. It also comes in handy in close quarters, as Toro fatally discovers.
- The Cameo: The droid tending bar in the Mos Eisley cantina is voiced by Mark Hamill.
- Chekhov's Gun: The flash charges that Toro and the Mandalorian use to blind Fennec are later used for the Mandalorian to blind Toro and get in a position to shoot him.
- Continuity Nod: We're back on Tatooine, to start with:
- The Razor Crest's arrival on Tatooine looks like the original establishing shot from A New Hope before the ships show up.
- Mando goes to Chalmun's Cantina (first seen in A New Hope), and meets Toro Calican there (in the same booth Han Solo once sat, no less). The bartender is a droid from the line of EV-9D9, the sadistic overseer of Jabba the Hutt's droid pool in Return of the Jedi, if it's not her outright.
- Fennec mentions Mos Espa, the town where Anakin Skywalker lived in his childhood in The Phantom Menace. The town also reappeared in Attack of the Clones.
- Peli mentions Beggar's Canyon, where the Boonta Eve pod race happened in The Phantom Menace, and calls Mando a "womp rat". In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker talked of shooting womp rats (in Beggar's Canyon, no less) in his T-16.
- The Mandalorian warns Toro "She's no good to us dead," almost word-for-word what a certain other Mandalorian-armored bounty hunter said in The Empire Strikes Back.
- Contract on the Hitman: Toro takes a bounty assignment to bring in Fennec Shand, a notorious assassin.
- Dark Action Girl: Fennec Shand, an infamous assassin whose reputation is such that most bounty hunters refuse to go after her. Even the seasoned Mando initially refuses to go after her and is reluctant.
- Decapitation Presentation: The Mandalorian walks past a number of Imperial Stormtrooper helmets impaled on spikes; several of them have nasty scratches on them and some are still marked by brownish stains.
- Disposing of a Body: Peli gets her droids to dump Toro's body in Beggar's Canyon, where it will presumably be eaten by womp rats.
- Dodge by Braking: The Mandalorian beats the bounty hunter chasing him by doing a hard reverse thrust just as the bounty hunter locks on, causing him to overshoot and allowing the Mandalorian to scrap his vessel with a well-placed shot.
- The Dreaded: Upon hearing the bounty is Fennec, the Mandalorian simply says "Good luck with that" and tries to leave. The Mandalorian only agrees when Toro offers the entire reward as compensation, as Toro cares more about getting credit for her capture so he can get into the guild.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Mando communicates with the Tusken Raiders in sign language, without either party making a sound. In Season 2 premiere Chapter 9: "The Marshal", Mando and the Raiders communicates with both their signs and their grunts.
- The End... Or Is It?: The final scene has someone whose face we don't see walking up to Fennec's body.
- Facial Dialogue: Toro studies Peli holding the Child for a moment before shaking his head, indicating that he doesn't want to know who they are and how Mando knows them.
- Failed a Spot Check: Toro fails to notice two Tusken Raiders walking to within a few meters of him. All the more embarrassing because the Mandalorian did see them coming.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Mando goes looking for a bounty so he has money for the repairs to the Razor Crest, damaged in the opening shoot-out. Thanks to Toro's treachery that doesn't work out. But, fortunately, there's enough money on his corpse.
- Foreshadowing:
- In the cantina, we glimpse one of the same species of frog creatures who feature in Episode 10, The Passenger.
- The Stinger shows an unknown figure approaching Fennec Shand as she lays in the desert. The identity of whom is hinted at with the sound of their footsteps; footsteps that have a distinct spur sound associated with another Mandalorian bounty hunter.
- Fragile Speedster: The bounty hunter chasing the Razor Crest in the Action Prologue has a much faster ship than the Mandalorian, but while the Razor Crest is able to withstand repeated blaster fire, it only takes the Mandalorian one volley to destroy the light fighter the hunter is piloting.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Mando pulls his Dodge by Braking maneuver, the opposing bounty hunter's fighter actually clips the Razor Crest's starboard engine on the way past, with a shower of sparks.
- Funny Background Event:
- While Toro is busy watching the distant banthas through his binocs, the Mandalorian is visible in the background briefly turning to look offscreen toward the approaching Tuskens. Mando saw the Tuskens coming and let them close in on Toro without alerting him.
- More of a Funny Foreground Event: when Peli and her Pit Droids are playing cards the two closest to the camera are cheating by passing a card beneath the table where Peli can't see it.
- Glory Seeker: Toro offers the entire bounty for Fennec's capture to the Mandalorian, as he only cares about the credit he'll get with the Bounty Hunters' Guild for bringing in such a dangerous target. It's the same reason he later decides to kill Fennec and go after Mando instead. His focus on glory seeking doesn't end well.Toro: Bringing you in won't just make me a member of the Guild. It'll make me legendary.
- Gun Twirling: As per usual for The Gunfighter Wannabe, Toro does this after picking up his blaster from the sand.
- Hand Signals: The Mandalorian signs with the Tuskens to negotiate for permission to cross Tusken land.
- Hey, That's My Line!: The bounty hunter shooting at the Mandalorian in the Action Prologue uses his Badass Boast ("I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.") against him. Right before blasting him into space dust, the Mandalorian quips "That's my line." as a Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Mos Eisley Spaceport is a shadow of its former self. No longer the bustling Wretched Hive it once was, its streets are almost empty, Chalmun's Cantina barely has any customers and no live music, and the Bounty Hunter's Guild doesn't even bother to operate on the planet any more. They've also allowed droids not only to come into the establishment, but even man the bar.
- Implied Death Threat: After panicking when finding the Child missing from the ship and then seeing Peli holding the baby, Mando growls for her to hand him over while his right hand hovers by his blaster. However, she's completely unperturbed by this and instead begins scolding him for his subpar parenting skills.
- I Surrender, Suckers: The Mandalorian puts his hands behind his head so he can be cuffed, only he's holding a flare in his hand that blinds Toro long enough to be shot.
- Irony: During the events of A New Hope, droids were banned from even setting foot inside Chalmun's Cantina. Fast forward nine years to this episode, and droids are running the place.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Being a rookie hunter, Toro is ignorant of Fennec's reputation, and the Mandalorian's for that matter. Both end up filling him in on the other's deeds.
- Missing Child: The Mandalorian returns to the Razor Crest, thinking that the Child is still sleeping, only to find the bed empty and the Child missing. He completely panics and runs out yelling, demanding to know where the kid is at.
- Mythology Gag: The episode happens on Tatooine, of all places, so meta-references to the films that happened there are predictable.
- The first shot of Tatooine is framed identically to the same shot from A New Hope, including the positioning of the two other moons, and the tilt down to show the limb of the planet below.
- Toro and the Mandalorian have their first meeting in the very same booth where Han blasted Greedo. Toro is seated on Han's side of the table and lounging in the same manner, and the shots are deliberately framed to emulate the scene.
- Busy observing some Tusken Raiders through his binoculars, Toro fails to notice two others sneaking up very close to him. The exact same thing happened to Luke in A New Hope, though Toro avoids getting the stuffing knocked out of him.
- During their standoff, the Mandalorian mentions how Fennec has the high ground.
- The speeder bike Mando borrows from Peli is based on one of Ralph McQuarrie's early designs from Return of the Jedi.
- Naïve Newcomer: Toro, who wants to join the Bounty Hunter Guild, has no clue about either Fennec or the Mandalorian's reputations, and doesn't realize he's in way over his head trying to hunt either of them. He's at least smart enough to know he needs backup for the former.
- Not So Above It All: When Toro drives his speeder bike slightly ahead of the Mandalorian's, Mando responds by taking the lead. This happens several times during their trek in the desert.
- Not So Stoic: The Mandalorian completely loses his cool when he thinks the Child has gone missing. He initially doesn't take well to seeing Peli holding the Child either, only calming down when seeing she wasn't a threat and meant well for the infant.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Downplayed. When the Mandalorian blasts Toro while he's holding the Child, the Child manages to hide behind some barrels in the few seconds it takes for the Mandalorian to check on him.
- Properly Paranoid: Despite being a Naïve Newcomer, Toro is wary of letting the Mandalorian have the tracking fob or the bounty without him there as well, to ensure he won't be cheated. When it looks like he's falling for Fennec's ploy to get released, he shoots her instead, suspecting (no doubt accurately) that she would just kill him if released.
- Rage Helm: The fighter pilot has this painted on his oxygen mask, so it is all we see of his face before Mando blows him up.
- Right Behind Me: Toro, watching out for Sand People, voices a general threat that they'd better keep their distance. Mando sardonically replies: "Why don't you tell them yourself?" Toro turns to see a pair of annoyed Tuskens standing less than fifteen feet from him.
- Rule of Drama: Since they need Fennec Shand alive in order to collect the bounty on her head, Mando leaves his rifle behind. This means he and Toro have to get up close to Fennec to use their blasters, instead of trying to counter-sniper her from a distance.
- Scarred Equipment: Mando picks up his first scar on his shiny new armor, when it stops a chest shot from Fennec's rifle.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: The Mandalorian attempts to do this when Toro tells him that the one he's after is Fennec. He only agrees to help because Toro offers him the entire reward, which Mando desperately needs to get his badly damaged ship repaired.
- Shoot the Hostage Taker: Toro holds the Child and Peli hostage to force the Mandalorian's cooperation. The Mandalorian waits until he's sent Peli over to cuff him, then sets off a flash charge and blasts Toro while he's distracted.
- Shout-Out: Peli's clothing and hairstyle make her a dead ringer for Ellen Ripley.
- Smarter Than You Look: Peli whispers this comment to the Mandalorian when she notices the flash charge he's concealing from Toro.
- Sound In Space: Right up to the fighter pilot's dying scream.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Two Tuskan Raiders silently come up right behind Toro as he's spying on their distant comrades. The Mandalorian, who can see them, says nothing.
- Talking Your Way Out: Subverted. Fennec attempts to entice Toro into letting her go by offering to double the bounty, but he refuses because it's the reputation for catching her he wants as an in to the Guild. She then convinces him that the Mandalorian would bring him even more reputation and offers to help catch him, but Toro just shoots her because he's convinced she'd simply kill him and escape.
- Too Clever by Half: Toro (probably correctly) surmised that Fennec's offer to help him bag Mando in exchange for her freedom was a ploy to get her restraints removed so she could kill him and flee. Toro shoots her rather than fall for it. Unfortunately, while she may have been insincere in offering her help, she was absolutely right that he needed it.
- Too Dumb to Live: Toro, who has no experience as a bounty hunter whatsoever, decides to go in solo to try and bring in the Mandalorian, despite Mando being much more heavily armed, armored, and far more experienced. Unsurprisingly, Mando easily outsmarts and outguns him in their confrontation.
- We Need a Distraction: Mando standing up to get shot by Fennec gives Toro a chance to get behind her. Fennec takes him down in hand-to-hand, only to surrender when Mando turns up and thanks Toro for providing a distraction so he can sneak up on them.
- What a Piece of Junk: As you'd expect from an episode set on Tatooine. The Razor Crest isn't in good shape according to Peli, and Mando isn't impressed with the speeders that Toro comes up with, but everything works as it should when required.
- Wrench Wench: Peli, though she's older than usual for this trope.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Fennec leaves a dead bounty hunter strapped to a dewback as bait for other hunters, then tries to snipe them when they close in to investigate.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Toro shoots Fennec in the stomach once she convinces him that the Mandalorian would be a greater prize, as he doesn't trust her not to kill him were he to release her. The final scene implies she may have survived, however.
- Young Gun: Toro has never captured a bounty before. As per this trope he attaches himself to the more experienced Gunslinger, but makes the mistake of trying to steal his crown far too early.
