To be fair, “The Mines of Mandalore” isn’t R5’s first onscreen appearance since the original “Star Wars.” He’s popped up in Peli’s yard in previous seasons and “The Book of Boba Fett,” in addition to a cameo on Tatooine in “Attack of the Clones.” But in all those other appearances, R5 is simply set dressing; a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to the original trilogy. In “The Mandalorian” Season 3, he’s a full-on character again. And it’s… weird.
There’s just no reason for this. What are the odds that R5 would be in the exact shipyard that Din likes to visit? And more importantly, why does he abandon his droid racism (a troubling topic for another time) for this random astromech he’s never met before? Din goes to great lengths to rebuild IG-11 in the season opener, only to abandon that mission immediately when Peli offers R5. And for what? For a cameo? To nudge all us viewers in the ribs and say, “Hey, remember? From ‘Star Wars?'”
Cameos like this shrink the “Star Wars” galaxy. They remind us that every movie and show is scripted to evoke nostalgia, thus breaking the illusion of being transported into another world. Din bumping into the droid Luke Skywalker called “Red” one time doesn’t serve the story at all. It’s just a Pointing Rick Dalton meme in a galaxy far, far away.
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