The Gunslinger is a proper space Western episode, complete with an opening that has a chase and shoot sequence - IN SPACE!

With the trusted Razor Crest damaged in the space dogfight, our hero and kid have no option but to land and seek repairs on one of the most famous planets (if not the most famous) in the Star Wars universe – Tatooine, with its iconic binary suns.

Now because this is almost a standalone episode (like the previous one as well as the next one), I will eschew spoilers for these episodes. Suffice to say that in keeping with the western theme, there is a vast desert and a to-and-fro ride across it: the to being very fast on speeder bikes and the fro being very slow, on a dewback. There are double-crossings and hostage situations, and another Chekov’s gun.

If you are not much for the whole CGI shebang, this is the episode for you to watch, because apart from some clever cinematography for the desert scenes and the two suns, there is very little visual effects magic from the father of it all, George Lucas‘ Industrial Light and Magic.

If you are a Forcer, Tatooine is obviously where it all began, being the home planet to the protagonist and antagonist of the Star Wars universe: the Skywalker clan. Tusken raiders make an appearance as well, and the Hutts are name-dropped. 

The star cast fans out (pun totally intended) to include Amy Sedaris and Ming-Na Wen (whose Agents of SHIELD is halfway through its final season right about now).

A little trivia: by his own admission, Fat Boy Slim or Normal Cook (his real name) receives zero royalties from this ear worm of a song. The hook of the song is originally by Lord Finesse, the producer of The Message, a tribute to Dr. Dre‘s brother on his seminal album, 2001.

Agents of SHIELD is also one of those series that has had its ups and downs over the years, or shall we say, over the seasons. Featuring many tie-ins to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I feel that it is concluding in a good place and tying up a lot of the loose threads that had been left hanging over the course of its seven season run.

The other major character in The Gunslinger is played by Jack Cannavale, son of Bobby Cannavale (Jim Paxton in MCU’s Ant Man and Ant Man & The Wasp as well as Skinny Razor in Netflix’s The Irishman among a powerhouse cast and directed by Martin Scorsese) and grandson of Sidney Lumet, the luminary director who never won an individual Oscar despite being nominated multiple times. 

The sixth episode, The Prisoner, is quite opposite to the previous episode's expansive setting. The majority of the episode takes place in a space prison’s claustrophobic and clandestine environment. This episode also plays up the double-crossing nature of criminals like the previous one, but we know that our hero will come out on top by using his wits - and what’s more, he will get some well-deserved revenge on those who wronged him too.

The mercenaries with whom Mando teams up for this episode are like a roll-call of celebrities in their own rights.

But before that, let’s start with the directors of the series themselves. Deborah Chow, Dave Filoni, and Rick Famuyiwa play the pilots of the X-Wing spacecrafts that appear in the final scene, thus giving themselves some screen time in a series they helped 'craft'. 

And now, on with the roll-call: the leader of the mercenaries is played by veteran actor Mark Boone Junior. First up in the ragtag bunch of misfits is Bill Burr, from Breaking Bad and F is for Family. He is one of the few celebs doing cameos who are NOT part of the Star Wars fandom. 

Next up is Natalia Tena, famous for her role as Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter films and for her role in Game of Thrones as well as Black Mirror . She is nearly unrecognizable beneath all that alien make up. 

We have another veteran actor, Clancy Brown, as the muscle of the group. His list of supporting roles and awesome movies is too long to reproduce here, but you can check out his filmography at this link. For my purposes however, he is most appreciated as being the one who voices Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok. Check out my fun-and-pun-filled review of Thor: Ragnarok as part of my MCU Re:View series below!

Ismael Enrique Cruz Córdova is the eponymous prisoner, and here’s a spiral I love: he rose to fame playing Mando (not our hero, another character of the same name) on Sesame Street! Also, he’s going to be a part of the Lord of the Rings series coming out on Amazon Prime Video soon, so that’s another thing to look forward to, because I count Lord of the Rings as one of the seminal books of my reading history. Its historical scope and deep descent into fantasy had a profound effect on my imagination as a child. 

The crew of The Prisoner was rounded up by a robot voiced by none other than the one and only Richard Ayoade. As this episode wraps up with the cameos by the directors of the series, we head into the denouement of the season: Reckoning & Redemption.