All in all, I thought that was a solid enough ending for the series. There’s the obvious issue that we should ideally have gotten some more build-up in the last two episodes than we did, but all things considered I’m reasonably satisfied with how it turned out. Not great, but perfectly fine.
All in all I think the entire show can be summed up that way too, it’s good-ish despite being somewhat underwhelming and oddly paced at times. I wouldn’t call it a failure like some do, but it is a noticeable step-down from the high quality of The Mandalorian. Hopefully this is only a fluke, possible due to some rushing trying to get a filler series finished between seasons 2 & 3 of The Mandalorian, or maybe they had to merge some ideas due to the cancellation of Rangers of the New Republic. Hopefully they’ll learn/recover from this, but even if the future Favreau shows are at their worst like this show then I can’t really complain all that much.
I might change my opinion of this down the line but at the moment I’d give the show as a whole a 7/10.
Random thoughts and observations:
Cad Bane was a lot more fun in this episode. Obviously in the last episode he was simply meant to be introduced as a threat and to look tough and intimidating, but it was fun seeing some of his more familiar mannerisms from TCW.
Cad’s scene with the Pyke leader and the mayor was pretty fun, seeing as there wasn’t any humans in the scene. It was essentially just two guys covered in foam rubber talking to a puppet and it seemed completely natural.
Odd choice to leave Krrsantan in the Thrandoshan district, though maybe they felt they’d stay out of his way after he ripped a guys arm off. Still, seemed like an invitation to trouble.
I was a bit surprised to see the majordomo stick around for so long, but he actually got to have some genuinely funny moments in this episode.
The Rancor going all King Kong on Mos Espa was a lot of fun.
This may seem like an odd gripe, but Sophie Thatcher’s character (Drash) really bugs me. First of all her acting is very wooden, and she delivers her lines like she’s in a LOTR film, not SW. And one writing decision that I am genuinely disappointed by is the line about her character having grown up in Mos Espa. That just doesn’t make any sense with her accent and was a dumb choice. I suppose maybe this can be explained away the same way Jyn Erso’s accent was seeing as she ended up with Saw’s rebels at the age of seven or eight, so she too technically “grew up” up in a setting not compatible with her accent.
I do like Skad though. I’d have replaced some of Drash’s scenes with him instead as he think the actors could have carried these moments far better.
[SPOILER:]
I was a bit surprised that Fett killed Cad seeing as he was just introduced to live-action, but from the casual fan perspective it makes sense narrative-wise, and even from a TCW/EU perspective it does add up character arc wise. I do like that Fett used his Gaffi stick to defeat him. That seemed very appropriate.
Has it been confirmed that this will get a 2nd season or are those just speculations? I suppose the mid-credit scene doesn’t technically have to imply a 2nd season seeing as he could show up again in another show.