Television
Lucasfilm
ByDebopriyaa Dutta/
This post contains spoilers for the season 3 finale of "The Mandalorian," "The Return."
"Never underestimate a droid," says Leia Organa in "The Rise of Skywalker." This is true, as droids have always emerged as the real MVPs in the "Star Wars" universe, although they come in different shapes and sizes (and not all droids side with the good guys!). Be it the endearing, stuttering B2EMO in "Andor" or the robotic-dog-esque BD-1 in "Jedi: Fallen Order," droids are mostly loyal to those they like and often end up being instrumental in saving the day.
However, when the timid R5-D4 is first paired up with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) in season 3 of "The Mandalorian," the droid is a total mess, and he is too scared to carry out little tasks on Mandalore. However, in the show's latest episode, R5-D4 battles his chronic anxiety and helps save the day, while also taking out a bunch of tiny police droids.
Look, not every droid can be as street-smart or resourceful as R2-D2, who is easily the GOAT in "Star Wars," as he single-handedly saved many heroes from tricky, high-risk situations. R5 does not really need a redemption arc, as he has not done anything wrong, per se, but it is lovely to see him hold his own in a situation where his input was crucial to Din defeating a row of Dark Troopers. Moreover, R5 has had a pretty rough history, and his journey has been marked by many traumatic events, which makes his hesitance to dive straight into danger completely understandable.
Here's a reminder of R5's journey so far, and why his heroic feat on Mandalore is worth celebrating.
R5 has already had his fair share of adventures
R5-D4 is the same astromech droid that purposefully malfunctioned when he was being sold to Luke's uncle, Lars, which allowed R2-D2 to be purchased instead. Before ending up with the Jawas on Tatooine, R5 served someone in Mos Espa and later, during the rebellion, he was actively involved in missions against the Empire. Unfortunately, his memory got wiped soon after, which explains why he had no recollection of any rebellion-adjacent missions during his conversations with R2.
Although he did not truly understand the gravity of R2's plan, he decided to help anyway, after the term "rebellion" possibly sparked some form of fragmented memory. In order for R2 to succeed, R5 sacrificed his own motivator and allowed things to progress according to plan.
This incident might seem insignificant in the context of everything else, but R5's actions allowed R2 to replay Leia's message to Luke, which triggered the storyline of "Episode VI." After the Sandcrawler was attacked by Imperial stormtroopers, R5 played dead and traveled alone in search of a new master. It's also important to remember that R5 served in the Rebellion, and later he was acquired by none other than Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), who ends up selling him to Din later in season 3. While the little droid did fumble on Mandalore, he assisted Grogu after Din was captured by the cyborg dude in the mines of Sundari. Hey, a little help goes a long way.
Not today, anxiety
Lucasfilm
In the final episode of "The Mandalorian" season 3,all hell breaks loose in the Imperial base on Mandalore. The Mandalorians are under the threat of aerial bombing, Din is captured by Moff Gideon's men, and Paz Viszla sacrifices himself valiantly to buy precious time for his people.
After Din and Grogu reunite and go after Gideon alone, it is instrumental for R5 to open blast doors and dismantle the many laser gates that stood between Din and Gideon's control room. Although scared of heights (Imperial bases are notorious for placing control/access points in high places without guard rails), R5 understands that he has to push through his fear and aid the mission.
And he does. R5 not only opens the laser gates on time but also wards off the mouse droid police by shocking them and sending them flying. Although the mouse droids never posed a major threat, R5 was able to jam the gate function on the scene, which allowed Din to get the upper hand while fighting the dark troopers. Moreover, Din was able to reach the area where Gideon's clone tanks were kept and he was able to destroy them before it was too late.
We have R5 to thank for that, folks. Not all (tiny) heroes wear capes.
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