The Mandalorian Season 2 Finale

 Let me start by saying I loved this episode.....just not as much as everyone else

I don’t expect you to agree with me, this is me working through my feelings.

Din vs Bo Katan

I don’t want my boy at odds with my girl Bo Katan, but it does make for great storyline potential tension between the characters. It seems obvious that the future of the show lies on Mandalore and the Dark Saber which I kind of expected just not this soon.

There are interesting parallels to be made with Din’s beliefs being challenged this season, where he bends his rules for Grogu, will Bo Katan be able to do the same? Will she have to consider what she really wants - is it power for herself or is it truly freedom and restoration for Mandalore?

The Problem with Moff Gideon

Moff Gideon has been built up to be a great villain with so much potential played a great actor who is fantastic at what he does, however in this episode he was let down. First he has the Dark Saber, he has connections to the Mandalorian purge and knowledge of their culture, so when he tricks Din Djarin, you can’t tell me he’s dumb enough to hit him in the Beskar armor he knows the Dark Saber won’t pierce. Second back on the bridge he tries to kill Bo Katan then himself? I do not buy that, at all, I totally buy the fact he inspires such devotion in those around him that they will kill themselves or their comrades rather than betray or fail him, but not that he would kill himself. Thankfully he’s still alive and I’m sure he’ll escape custody, especially with Giancarlo Esposito suggesting he has a bigger role in season 3 and you have to think we’ll find out what he’s been doing with Grogu’s blood and who the volunteer is. With Luke having shown up, all bets are off, we could get Palpatine or Snoke, who knows!

Igniting the green.

Luke was always the obvious Jedi to turn up, if one did, but I truly wasn’t expecting them to do it though. When the X-Wing first showed up I thought YES! Carson and the New Republic are here! Then the cloaked silhouette I thought this has to be Ashoka not Luke right? I didn’t truly believe it has Luke until we saw the green. I loved everything with Luke (the echoes of his Father in the corridor in Rogue One), right up until he walked onto the bridge and took down his hood.

What didn’t sit right with me was how Luke was in his interaction with Din & Grogu, I didn’t see the kindness we saw from Luke in Battlefront II towards Del Meeko, he wasn’t mean but kind of cold and just turns up and takes the child, now that may be because of the difficulty in recreating Luke, but it left me flat. Which gives me the feeling of Luke doing the same as the Jedi of old, turning up taking kids without any thought to the family left behind, or the child. I wanted more from Luke, just a line to show some compassion to Din or Grogu to reassure him, that he’d learned from the mistakes of the Jedi’s past. Anyone that thinks this is my Luke, not that one from The Last Jedi, it’s exactly the Luke you get, one that realizes he has repeated the mistakes of the Jedi.

Seeing Din’s tears broke me, previously with the last episode being Grogu-less I thought it showed the show could survive, but Chapter 16 made it obvious that Din & Grogu’s relationship is the heart and soul of the show and I’m not sure if it will survive to the same level with an extended period without them together. But I do have hope this leads to a good story of Din & Grogu reuniting.

Lucasfilm goes Marvel

That post credit scene. Again so unexpected, so fun, but I have my concerns even as a Boba Fett fan since childhood. 

I feel having this announcement at the end of the episode is pulling attention from the Mandalorian, as well as causing confusion about what The Book of Boba Fett is and what The Mandalorian season 3 is. I think it would have been better to have the post credit scene on it’s own (no mention of The Book of Boba Fett or Dec 2021), then make the announcement next week with clarity.

I kind of got all the Boba Fett I needed in this season, I’m ok with a Disney+ series (a one off movie on Disney+ would be better), I’ll watch it of course. We’ve all seen the suggestions that ‘the Book of Boba’ is actually The Mandalorian season 3, if that was the case I’d be out, no thank you, it’s not an anthology series called ‘The Mandalorians’, I don’t see a Mandalorian story to tell with Boba, he’s not even Mandalorian (yes I said it - second blogpost about that coming)

Along with some of these issues I feel the episode was predictable, all the most logical things happened, and I didn’t feel surprised. My feelings with this episode reflect my feelings for the whole 2 seasons of the show, I love it, but not as much as everyone else. Things in this fandom are either the worst thing ever or the best thing ever, when the truth is always in between. 

Jon