The Mandalorian Recap: Did Any of Those Fan Theories Pan Out? — Grade the Finale and All of Season 3
As it turned out, The Mandalorian — more than either prior season — ended Season 3 with a true two-part finale, given that this Thursday’s “The Return” was extremely continuous with “The Spies.”
Literally, the action picked up with Bo & Co. giving chase after the hogtied, kidnapped Din.
Er, the kidnapped Djarin, I mean.
Heading into the finale, fan theories were of course abound. Would The Armorer and/or Axe be revealed as a spy for the Imperial remnants? (Nope, though the latter was looking sus for a hot second as he claimed sole control of the light cruiser. Also, The Imperial Remnants is a great band name.)
Would Grand Admiral Thrawn make his live-action debut at the end, even in a post-credits scene, to declare, “Frak Moff Gideon, I’M the true Big Bad of this TV universe”? Hardly.
Would there be a loss that “hurt too much”? Fool us once, Brendan Wayne….
I honestly don’t know how to feel about this finale, soon after viewing it. The fan theories were provocative (as fan theories always are), but instead we got a series of events that, if I asked you last week to sketch out the scenes of the finale, you’d have been 90% correct in foreseeing them. Djarin got free and faced off against Moff Gideon, only to get owned again… so Bo stepped in, Darksaber and all, only to see her mighty, coveted and iconic weapon get crushed like a cosplay prop during a Hall H stampede. The merged Mandalorian tribes engaged in mid-air battle with scores of troopers, but save for the Armorer braining one bogey good, it wasn’t a very decipherable set piece.
My heart did skip a beat when the door closed behind IG-Grogu being surrounded by three Praetorian guards — I thought we’d be left to fret at least a beat longer how that turned out. It was a nice callback to see R5 deliver a clutch, R2-like data retrieval moment. And to be sure, the image of Grogu protecting Djarin and Bo from the fiery cruiser explosion with a Force bubble was instantly-iconic.
Lastly, no one could not “Awwww” when Djarin told the Armorer that he would formally adopt Grogu so that the Child could be his official Mandalorian apprentice. And the closing scene of Dad and son (Sir Din Grogu?) kicking back at their Nevarro cabin, with Djarin now unofficially on the New Republic’s payroll, was a cozy end to a pretty mid season.
But all in all the finale felt rushed, to the detriment of built-up/hyped-up plot points. Gideon’s grand and absolutely harrowing experiment — Force-wielding, beskar-clad clones of himself! — was snuffed in a matter of seconds by Djarin randomly slapping at levers and knobs on a control panel? (As sister site Rolling Stone‘s Alan Sepinwall noted in our Wednesday-morning DM exchange, we spent a whole episode with Dr. Pershing… for what?) The Darksaber of lore is simply no more? Grogu’s rondel and mail never once came into play? (How much more dramatic a moment if the shot Gideon fired-off at the kid had bounced off/christened the armor?) Gideon is probably (but not assuredly) dead..?
And while this was by no means mandatory, surely some of us suspected that each season would give us at least one moment of Helmetless Mando.
Season 3 had its bright spots. We got more Bo-Katan/Katee Sackhoff than I imagined, and her arc nicely fleshed out what the animated series had started. Grogu became more verbal. Mandalore is habitable. But all told, I now look forward to Season 4 and its assumed return to the show’s early template.
What did you think of finale and Season 3 as a whole? And are you looking forward to Season 4 (presumably) returning to the Mission of the Week format, with Djarin working as an “independent contractor” for the New Republic?
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I imagine at least one force-wielding Gideon clone is still out there.
This season has been lackluster. The finale was certainly filled with action and twists, but without the proper buildup in previous episodes, my investment in the show is at its lowest. The MVP of the season was without doubt Katee Sackhoff though!
The finale definitely lacked big moments. I was hoping IG-Grogu vs. the Praetorian Guard would be a fight, but Djarin stepped in to save him. Mando vs. the Praetorians was kind of cool, but I wished it was more. Have Djarin grab one of their staffs and use that, or something.
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The Mandos vs. Imperials battle was too busy. Having 20 things going on at once is something productions need to move away from.
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Was expecting more from the mythosaur.
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One interesting theory I’ve seen is that the Gideon who appeared this season was a clone. The idea being, the “real” Gideon has a moustache.
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All in all, I’d give this season an average. It was really cool seeing Bo-Katan in so much, and Katee Sackhoff was fantastic, but the season lacked “Wow” moments.
The mythosaur should have been tamed by Bo and ridden it in to eat Gideon and thrash the base.
There should have been a shot of Bo grabbing the remains of the Darksaber, and of R5 jetting out of the base with the other mandos. Or at least toddling up at the cabin at the end.
Episode 10?
Typographical error.
I know a lot are already complaining today, however, I thought the finale was great, I wish it was a little longer, because it felt like it flew by, but other than that, I loved it.
The season, I didn’t enjoy as much, a little too Bo Katan, Mandalorian heavy with Din on the back burner, for my taste, however I still enjoyed though.
I think setting up Din Djarin and Din Grogu to go on weekly adventures like season 1 for season 4 is amazing if they do go that route. They’re always gonna have their usual enemies (Gideon, clones, the empire, etc.) anyway. Jmo
Completely agree, I liked the finale and thought the season as a whole was just, meh. And still upset I sat through almost an entire episode about the doctor and Coruscant with the terrible acting, that literally led to nowhere at all for the season.
Enjoyable episode but all feels a bit too neatly wrapped up. I’m pretty sure we’ll find that there is at least one Gideon/Gideon clone still around, unless Elia Kane’s planting with the New Republic is another red herring.
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They did troll us a good bit with the “Spies” and the comments about the finale, but looks like S4 is going back to basics with Mando and Grogu bringing people in. Warm or cold.
Coming out of the episode before the finale I was fairly confident that Grogu would further their new mech operating skills by taking control of the spider mech from earlier in the season to save the day.
I also had thought that when Gideon disarmed Bo-Katan of the Dark Saber that Grogu would use the force the claim the weapon and win the fight to become the leader of the Mandalorians. Guess they need to save something for the movie.
But that tease of a force communication between Grogu and the mythosaur seems to be a seed planted for something that is yet to come.
It is also interesting to see Din Grogu very much being written as an intentional pacifist. Going to be interesting to see how that angles plays out as he is supposed to be a bounty hunter apprentice whenever we see him next.
I think Gideon himself is dead, but the clone that opened his eyes survived. Djarin ended the clones gestation early, he didnt directly kill them from what I saw (though that would’ve been the result for any that couldnt survive independently)
The main question I had is how did they rebuild IG-11 when the majority of him was surely destroyed in the explosion? Sure they got the new parts they needed before but how did the rest of his body survive the huge explosion in the base?
I really enjoyed it.
I agree the final did seemed a little rushed.
Never get court up in hype from the social media so from that point of view I was not disappointed as never really expected Thrawn to show up. Not even a little end credit scene.
Very much looking forward to season 4.
Hope Ashoka is as good.
Din Djarin is going to need a new ship. How else can he transport his bounties? Maybe he will get a gauntlet ship from Bo Katan, just saying.
RIP Darksaber. You were the best lightsaber ever. I assume that is what Filoni was referring to when he said it would “hurt too much”. 😆
This seemed like a series finally. I wonder if the tie in movie will be it for Mando and Grogu.
Finale
I enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy the entire season, but this episode had a lot of Mando and Grogu moments that I appreciated. Also I liked the idea that they may be returning to weekly adventures next season.
Some of you had some wild expectations. Grogu becoming leader of Mandalore?
Grogu wasn’t going to fight the Praetorians. This season has been about working with each other. Not fighting alone.
Well, it wasn’t as bad as Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan. So I guess it’s got that going for it, if damning with faint praise.
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But it really could have been a one hour one episode season. Nothing but the last two episodes mattered, and they felt rushed. But we had “time” for episode 3 sidetracking nonsense, and Lizzo and Jack Black. Ugh.
The finale really felt like a series finale to me.
The “loss that hurt too much” was Paz Vizsla, that one stung!