The Mandalorian Review: Chapter 4: Sanctuary (Season 1 Episode 4)
The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 4, “Chapter 4: Sanctuary,” finds Mando teaming up with a mercenary to help defend a village.
“Chapter 4: Sanctuary” is the kind of episode that doesn’t really get made anymore. While the episode does also draw heavily from Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai — and there are very blatant homages to that film throughout this episode — it harkens back to a simpler time for television.
It’s the kind of episode one might recognize from something like The Incredible Hulk or the original MacGyver. The hero is just passing through and decides to help some people out before moving on again. Even removed from the Kurosawa element of the episode, that throwback kind of approach to the episode makes it a nice experience.
While it hasn’t been totally clear what the thrust of this series ultimately is, it’s rather refreshing to find that this is a show that is in no particular rush to get anywhere specific. It has a kind of patience that is lacking in a lot of other shows, that it can simply take a breath and have an episode that is just a fun action romp.
One of the most welcome additions in this episode can be found in Cara Dune (Gina Carano), who is the kind of female character that we’ve hardly seen within the Star Wars universe before.
She isn’t a politician, leader, or Jedi but rather a soldier. Even down to her physicality, she looks unlike most of the other women that have appeared in the films and cartoons. All of the other female characters that we’ve seen in this universe, aside from Captain Phasma from the new movies, have a distinctive kind of body type.
Almost without exception, they’re slimmer with a kind of feminity that is meant to be non-threatening, and Cara Dune is simply not that at all. She is the kind of character that could be sent in alone somewhere and easily come out unscathed. It’s a very different kind of character than what we’ve gotten before.
Cara Dune has this imposing presence, and you know for a fact that she could very easily kill anyone she comes across with a brutality. Gina Carano’s performance as Dune helps to add to this a lot. She brings a lot of weight to the role, making you really feel the kind of disenchantment she feels with the New Republic and the aimlessness she now has.
Cara is, first and foremost, a soldier. She is someone who needs a mission and something worthwhile to do. She’s the kind of person who is in many ways a walking weapon and needs to be utilized as such.
This episode dives into a bit why Mando can’t just take his helmet off, which does feel a bit flimsy but ultimately works with who this character is. His rule that he can’t take his helmet off in front of anyone seems like a particularly weak one that other Mandalorians had to follow, but it also makes us think that the helmet is hiding something from us.
It’s possible that it a reveal of his face is coming that was disfigured in some way and that’s why he doesn’t take it off. For now, this is working as well as can be expected for a character whose face we never truly see and we’ll wait to see if that remains the case.
What did you think of this episode of The Mandalorian? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Mandalorian airs Fridays on Disney+.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.