Ricky Church reviews the season 3 finale of The Mandalorian….
Season three of The Mandalorian has now ended with an action-packed episode as the combined Mandalorian forces fought against Moff Gideon and his new Dark Troopers for control of Mandalore. It was a suspenseful finale with plenty of moments to wow the audience during the numerous fight sequences, though ‘The Return’ lacked some of the emotion and character moments the show has been known for and rushed through its final few minutes before story beats or plotlines could be fully tied up.
No time was wasted at the start of the episode as it picked up right where it left off with Bo-Katan and her group of Mandalorians attempting to escape Gideon’s facility while Din Djarin was being led away. Din’s fight against his Dark Trooper captors was well choreographed, providing yet another example of how skilled he is in combat even without a weapon. The timely arrival of Grogu was nice though it is unclear how he managed to break away from Bo-Katan’s group without her or anyone else mentioning it, causing his appearance to be a little jarring and leaving one to question how he tracked Din and the Dark Troopers.
The same can be said for how Gideon was somehow tracking Din and Grogu through his facility so precisely with the pair even appearing as their own distinct dots on the monitor. It’s the sort of plot convenience that is merely handwaved away, yet begs the question of how Gideon could have been surprised by Din destroying his cloning tanks if he could follow him so effortlessly to begin with? It shows that Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau and director Rick Famuyiwa were more concerned with delivering action spectacle than a completely coherent plot.
That said, the action was pretty spectacular throughout the finale. There was a traditional Star Wars element in this where the climax was made up of several different battles happening concurrently and converging in meaningful ways, much like in Return of the Jedi or The Phantom Menace. From the aerial battle, Axel trying to take down TIE Fighters with their ship and Din’s fight through the complex, each part of the battle for Mandalore was well done and timed to the growing pressure the characters faced. The aerial battle between the Mandalorians and Dark Troopers was particularly impressive with its choreography and action. Bo-Katan and the Armorer slicing through troopers with their respective melee weapons, rockets being fired into troopers or Koska utilizing her knee rockets and jetpack in a combo move were some of the highlights of their battle.
That’s without mentioning the ground fight as Din fought through the ray shielded bridge or Gideon and his Praetorian guards in well choreographed sequences, some of which were rather graphic for Star Wars as Din stabbed his enemies in their throats or shot them point blank in the heads (all bloodless of course since this is still Star Wars). From an action and technical standpoint, ‘The Return’ more than delivered on that front.
However, for all the action present there was a clear lack of character moments. This is even more noticeable when compared with the previous episode as Bo-Katan relayed the story of Mandalore’s defeat or Din swearing his allegiance to her. The quietest part which allowed the characters to momentarily breathe and collect themselves was Bo-Katan’s discovery plant life has been slowly returning to Mandalore, but rather than sit there in that scene have her reflect on life’s persistence or examine her resolve more deeply, her reinforcements quickly arrived and they were immediately off again charging into battle. Even the end sequences rushed through some of the character moments as there was no reflection for Bo-Katan on freeing Mandalore or even a crowning ceremony for her or what the loss of the Darksaber means for Bo-Katan and Mandalore’s culture.
There wasn’t even a memorial of any kind for Paz Viszla after his sacrifice last week, even when his son was properly initiated into the Children of the Watch. The closing minutes breezed by their victory very quickly just to set up Din and Grogu together on Nevarro and an off-the-books job to hunt down Imperials for the New Republic – a fact that seems rather counterintuitive to Din’s claim he is going to be more selective with his bounties now that Grogu is formally his adopted son since hunting Imperials seems more dangerous than typical criminals.
Even the few character moments we did get were good though thanks to the performances from the cast. Katee Sackhoff delivered a great performance which displayed Bo’s ferocious fury and determination in her fight with Gideon while Giancarlo Esposito again showcased Gideon’s menace and arrogance. Pedro Pascal’s line delivery as Din conveyed the emotional connection to Grogu and how much Din considered the two of them a team as he didn’t fight back against Grogu’s desire to help during some of the fights. A few longstanding question were answered as well, such as what exactly Gideon was working on with Grogu’s blood and cloning, revealing himself to be so arrogant that he believed clones of himself infused with the Force would be the Empire’s greatest soldier.
However, other plot threads were either left wide open or not satisfyingly wrapped up, such as the aforementioned future of Mandalore or, surprisingly, the coming return of Grand Admiral Thrawn in Ahsoka, though it is actually nice to have the finale focused more on the Mandalorians than planting further seeds for a whole other series. Not to mention if this truly is the end of Gideon since he could have more clones of himself waiting in the wings.
‘The Return’ delivered a lot of great action with Famuyiwa giving each sequence its own distinctive feel alongside excellent choreography, but the lack of character moments was very felt throughout the finale. Pascal, Sackhoff and Esposito all shined in their performances, but they weren’t enough to make up for how little actual emotion or development there was as the few quieter scenes were rushed through to make way for the action and a fine, if untidy, wrap up.
Rating: 7/10
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