You’re right it was boring. Not a single betrayal or surprise cameo? Not even another post credits tease! I mean these are basics rather than serious good additions and they didn’t use any of them. Weird. Weirder still this feels like the end but they’ve said another two seasons are written already. I’m not playing this weekly game again, wake me when some full shows are ready to binge.
WitchDR put it perfectly. Just going through the motions in the least interesting way possible.
Remember having to write essays in school, and sometimes having to scramble to wrap up the concluding paragraph before time ran out? That’s how this finale felt.
Sometimes it’s better to leave things behind than to dwell on them and project hatred. You’ve seen the body, and you’re ready to move on with your life.
I know it’s difficult to move on from the franchises you used to love, but giving them that power over your personality and your limited time isn’t all that productive.* It applies to sports, and it applies to the devil that is media franchise production.
*Unless you’re making money off of talking about said media online. Then, by all means, go ahead. Just be prepared for when people call you a clown for complaining about bricks and screws.
To be fair, I don’t think moving on is the bigger issue for people here. I think we’re used to that and I myself find that fairly easy.
The bigger issue is that the fans of this beloved franchise ARE moving on, rather than playing along. Now that is where the true worry is, for both fans and creators.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
The Ancient Lore
Kenobi: A Star Wars Story
Harry Potter Revisited
Game of Thrones Film Edits
Titanic Restructured
… and more.
I’m too invested in Star Wars to just move on, but the inner kid in me that wants to watch everything as soon as it comes out is fading. Gone is the time of Star Wars being must watch spoiler-free content opening day for me… I’ll make some popcorn and throw it on eventually at some point.
Meh, the only way I see Star Wars becoming great again is for them to totally ditch the PT, OT and ST eras and make something original-ish. The Old Republic content is a no-brainer to put butts in seats but onward to the unwanted Rey movie we go…
The Star Wars Saga:
I · II · III · IV · V · VI · VII · VIII · IX | Rogue One · Solo
What was first just a dream has become a frightening reality…
beloved franchise
Me, a borderline '77 purist:
The way I see it, the franchise has been coasting off of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back for over 40 years now and almost nothing since has lived up to that standard of quality. Andor, ROTJ, TLJ, and the original Battlefront games are all that come close to me (and they don’t come all that close).
It’s like being a New York Jets fan. You had one amazing moment, and then the next fifty years were filled with mostly garbage. Star Wars is the New York Jets of media franchises.
Yeah I checked out ages ago. Didn’t finish bad batch season 2 and didn’t even bother with Mando season 3. Sounds like I didn’t miss much…
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Wow, that finale was shockingly lackluster, and my expectations were not high at all going in.
I am extremely tired of the trope where the captured protagonist gets casually escorted down a hallway by two careless guards and escapes in 20 seconds. Seriously, Gideon? That does not at all seem like a strategic move he would’ve made as how he has been portrayed as so cautious and forwar thinking. Why did he even send Din away in the first place? Apparently he was going to interrogate him, so he valued something Din knew to such a degree that he didn’t want to kill him on the spot. But then to barely send an escort for knowledge that was so valuable that he wouldn’t kill Din in the midst of battle… I’m just not buying that plot convenience.
Then Din almost immediately escapes by wrecking the two miserable armed guards… Then doesn’t pick up their blasters and is whining in the very next scene that he is unarmed?? What? In the words of Qui-Gon, “Are you brainless?”
What happened to all the TIE fighters and Bombers? So they tear the cruiser to shreds in orbit and then just abandon the battle? These ships don’t have hyperdrives, so where did they all go…? Why did they not completely demolish the Mandalorian drop ships or attempt to shoot down all the Mandos jetpacking down? They by FAR outnumbered the Mando fleet and had incredible air superiority.
How did the Darksaber break? It’s made of pure beskar, Din had marveled about it being the most impressive beskar-created weapon he’d ever seen, yet it shatters from a slight squeeze from Gideon’s augmented suit? Yes, I understand that new Phase of Darktrooper armor provided extreme strength enhancements and could likely snap a bone in half, but snap beskar in half…? No. Din’s beskar spear survived an orbital bombardment that blew a starship to scraps and the spear didn’t even have a dent or a scuff. Yet Gideon can casually crush it in his palm? Plus, Bo’s hand was still gripping the saber when he does this move, and she treats it like a bruise or maybe a small broken bone when even if he could generate the strength to crush beskar, her hand should be turned into pulp.
I could go on about the pacing, terrible slew of fast wipe transitions, incomplete VFX etc, but we can all see this episode and season just didn’t get the TLC it deserved. This is a real shame and I am feeling pretty dejected about the state of Star Wars right now. I do have faith in the Ahsoka show, but if that doesn’t generate hype we are headed for some dark times my friends.
(The Mandalorian+BoBF) The Way of Mandalore | A Legends Movie Saga
(The Force Awakens) Heirs of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit
(The Last Jedi) Fate of the Jedi | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit
(The Rise of Skywalker) Legacy of the Force | A Star Wars Legends Re-edit
God I forgot about the way the space battle which just… vanished off camera. Where was the fleet again? How are the cannons being operating without gun crews? How does a TIE pilot enter the Interceptor like that? I’d love to see more detail on things like how these ships work, what goes on inside a TIE Bomber exactly, or some new detail. But there was nothing new here.
Being part of this forum in particular probably implies two things about most of the people here: 1) we like Star Wars, but also 2) we think that parts of it can be better.
So yes, the quality of the more recent films and shows is iffy, but at the end of the day, we’re in the right place to see that sludge refined into something we actually do want to watch or even share with our families/kids alongside the best official parts of this universe.
I’m gonna give Ashoka a chance because of Rebels, but it’s the last chance Disney is getting out of me.
I think everybody here wants to see Star Wars doing amazing. But until Lucasfilm cleans house, I doubt it will ever be something special again.
So it sounds like I can pass on this season?
I liked seasons 1-2 well enough, but I can’t say they left me enamored with the series. (Especially since I don’t care much for Mandalorians in the first place.) I didn’t watch either seasons until they were already fully out for a month or so. I don’t want to critique something I’ve never seen, so I won’t, but after hearing how season 3 has gone down I don’t feel I’m missing much. I’m sure it has its finer moments, there’s a lot of stuff that sounds good, but I have no desire to watch it anytime soon. 😕
Move along, move along.
Honestly, season 2 ending works great as a finale to the series too. If you have some other higher quality shows on your watchlist I’d say go check them out instead of this.
Honestly, season 2 ending works great as a finale to the series too. If you have some other higher quality shows on your watchlist I’d say go check them out instead of this.
Absolutely this. And I honestly loved the two BOBF episodes with solo Mando and Luke with Grogu…but they aren’t necessary really. That’s certainly the point that the quality of the show was halted for good.
I liked the finale well enough I guess. Wonder if Pascal was on set a single day. Doesn’t look like it, lol.
slightly raises hand I liked the finale.
The season over all was a mess, yes. But it was a good follow up to the previous episode. Short of seeing the Mythosaur beyond it’s eye I’m not sure what was expected.
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My Star Wars Fan-Edits
Yeah , I liked this episode too , despite some confounding logic like the T.I.E.'s disappearing after shooting down the cruiser and the destruction of the Darksaber . I did get a big smile seeing the aerial battle between the Mandalorians and the Beskar troopers though . As for Gideon , I’m not completely convinced he is dead , as we never saw the body …and this has happened with villains in Star Wars a lot . I kinda wonder how much the creators of the show look at fan comments on this site and others and use it for feedback . I kind of agree with the sentiment someone else expressed , that the ending of thee season finale felt rushed like a final exam essay that ran out of time . It did feel tacked on ,but the new assignment that the Armorer gave Din Jarin in regards to Grogu ,seems like an opportunity to reset the series back to the Lone Wolf And Cub vibe of season one . Maybe as a result of fan criticism ,they tacked on that ending for that purpose ? Also makes me wonder if we will see Filoni’s movie before or after season 4 of Mando . I still get the feeling they have been holding things back for that event .
slightly raises hand I liked the finale.
The season over all was a mess, yes. But it was a good follow up to the previous episode. Short of seeing the Mythosaur beyond it’s eye I’m not sure what was expected.
Yep, that’s pretty much how I’m feeling too. This season did not live up to the hype at all, but it wasn’t so offensively bad that I need to write hundreds of angry rants about how Disney has “RUINED STAR WARS FOREVER”. The absolute meltdown that some people on this site have been having is really overblown.
Overall, there wasn’t really much to write home about here, but some of the series and movies coming up (Acolyte, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, Dawn of the Jedi, even Rey) seem much more promising. If Lucasfilm can continue to deliver highs like Andor in the midst of the generic lows, I’ll be mostly satisfied with the franchise going forward.
My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX
I have hope for season 4.
Also I really liked seeing Din officially adopt Grogu. That was a touching scene. The final shot with the house was also really cute.
The “Disney has ruined Star Wars forever” crowd weirds me out because like, most ya’ll agree Lucas wasn’t doing the greatest with it either, with the special editions and the prequels.
Star Wars, Paleontology, Superhero, Godzilla fan. Darth Vader stan. 22. ADHD. College Student majoring in English Education.
My Star Wars Fan-Edits
The absolute meltdown that some people on this site have been having is really overblown.
My post was more or less telling those posters to quit wasting their time with the franchise if they’re just going to get angry about it. Then I injected my occasional “‘77 purist” stance because I had an analogy cooked up for it.
I’m still disappointed that nobody picked up on my “bricks and screws” reference. Ah well, I thought it was funny.
The “Disney has ruined Star Wars forever” crowd weirds me out because like, most ya’ll agree Lucas wasn’t doing the greatest with it either, with the special editions and the prequels.
Exactly. Hell, TCW did a fine job trampling all over some very good Legends material. I miss Karen Traviss’ Mandalorians. One-dimensional, but still fun.
Exactly. Hell, TCW did a fine job trampling all over some very good Legends material. I miss Karen Traviss’ Mandalorians. One-dimensional, but still fun.
Karen Traviss was horrible to the fans and did more than her share of trampling on previously established lore. So when she had her meltdown it was one of the best instances of schadenfreude I’ve ever experienced. Still brings a smile to my face.
The way I see it, the franchise has been coasting off of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back for over 40 years now and almost nothing since has lived up to that standard of quality. Andor, ROTJ, TLJ, and the original Battlefront games are all that come close to me (and they don’t come all that close).
Correct. (I disagree about TLJ and I never played Battlefront, but agree with the general sentiment you express)
I’m still disappointed that nobody picked up on my “bricks and screws” reference. Ah well, I thought it was funny.
I’ve adopted an uncompromising pro-brick stance. Star Wars should include more bricks or brick-related masonry materials in the future.
Anyway, this episode was… adequate, I guess. If you watched Season 3 episodes 1 through 7, and then somebody came along and said to you “I’ll pay you $10,000 if you can write a full script for Episode 8 in 30 minutes”, this is basically what you would come up with. You’d resolve as many plot threads as efficiently as possible. You’d of course brush aside some open threads that are too annoying to deal with in a satisfactory way. You throw in a nice showdown with the main bad guy, etc. Bang. Done.
Then you’re like, shit, I forgot about the mythosaur. And I also forgot to add in a pay-off for those baby pterodactyls from that one episode. And a pay-off for that Order-66 flashback where we learned stuff about stuff. And a pay-off for that one time we had to sit through Dr. Pershing’s entire day. Whatever. If people want to see a Mandalorian riding a giant dinosaur, they can just watch the Holiday Special.
I don’t know what chaos was going on behind the scenes, but the overall strangeness that was Season 3 goes way beyond the usual type of problems that plague streaming shows. Most modern streaming shows become stale, repetitive or absurd around Season 3. But Mandalorian Season 3 was bad in particularly unique and fascinating ways. They erased all the dramatic and emotional consequences of everything that happened in Seasons 1 and 2, in an episode that aired as part of a spin-off show. That’s amazing.
Well, there’s no open plot threads left to wrap up. Not really the best way to generate interest in Season 4 (if Season 4 ever exists). So it turns out Gideon’s stupid clone project wasn’t some proto-Snoke experiment after all. He was just making more Moff Gideons. Maybe he published an article in a peer-reviewed Imperial science journal explaining how to genetically engineer force-sensitive beings. I hope Din at least got a really good deal on those moisture vaporators. Hopefully he breaks even after the next harvest. Man, Season 1 feels like a distant memory. Remember when Kuiil the Ugnaught retrained IG-11? Did that even really happen?
Season 3 was pointless in so many unique and interesting ways. This show would have gone out on a relatively high note if they just ended it with Season 2.
While I think some of the criticisms are a bit much I can understand why people seem to be way harsher on this season than in seasons one and 2 and I think it’s because this season is the weakest one by far, the tone has shifted, and Andor has come out and raised everyone’s standards again. About the tone, it went from a somewhat dark and gritty western with a really dry sense of humor to a more lighthearted series, that still has dark and gritty moments but is less focused on Din and Grogu against the world, and more focused on Din and Bo joining the Mandalorians to take back Mandalore. Personally, I think this is actually a natural shift and tone for the character and the series, but I can totally understand being disappointed that the reason why you enjoyed the show in the first place got stripped away as it went on. The reason why this season doesn’t completely work is that this season other than Din and Bo, all of the other characters aren’t all that complex, aren’t that well developed, and are pretty much stereotypes with little to no depth. OK maybe not completely Paz Visla does develop some and his death is handled really well, but I think the point still stands. This would be fine if it was episodic and we only saw these characters once or twice this season but they spend a lot of the season together. Now that the series is over, the episode with the Dr. Pershing stuff, the episode with the monsters stealing children, and the Jack Black episode don’t really feel like plot episodes but episodic ones. Also, the Pershing episode is pretty good even if it doesn’t lead to anything. So that’s still 6 out of 8 episodes that are pretty good if you’re ok with the tone change that the series has gone through. Most of the episodes this season were pretty good, even if none of them were able to reach the heights that episodes in the first 2 seasons did. I think the real disconnect isn’t that this season is a step down from the first 2, most everyone agrees with that, but the extent to which it is worse than the other 2. Other than episodes 4 and 6, I’m not seeing this huge drop in quality that others are seeing. It’s got more problems with stuff not being properly set up, and some setups getting abandoned in the final episode, the fleet, and the dark saber are the big ones. But I think the episode is still pretty good and does a decent job of wrapping up the story. If I was to compare this season to the previous ones. Season’s 1 and 2 would probably get an A, and this season would probably get a B.
OK maybe not completely Paz Visla does develop some and his death is handled really well, but I think the point still stands.
I don’t think it was handled very well. What do we really know about Paz after these eight episodes other than he is a Mandalorian, a father, and he’s big with an even bigger gun? His death would have real impact, if the show spent any time developing his character, learning more about his history etc, etc. Paz was a cool looking cardboard cut-out like most of the characters in this season.
So that’s still 6 out of 8 episodes that are pretty good if you’re ok with the tone change that the series has gone through. Most of the episodes this season were pretty good, even if none of them were able to reach the heights that episodes in the first 2 seasons did. I think the real disconnect isn’t that this season is a step down from the first 2, most everyone agrees with that, but the extent to which it is worse than the other 2. Other than episodes 4 and 6, I’m not seeing this huge drop in quality that others are seeing. It’s got more problems with stuff not being properly set up, and some setups getting abandoned in the final episode, the fleet, and the dark saber are the big ones. But I think the episode is still pretty good and does a decent job of wrapping up the story. If I was to compare this season to the previous ones. Season’s 1 and 2 would probably get an A, and this season would probably get a B.
I disagree.
Episode 1: Pretty much a recap for what happened in between seasons, except they don’t show Mando’s and Grogu’s reunion for some inexplicable reason. Overall the episode was pretty pointless and repetitive, if you saw TBOBF. The fight against the crocodile-turtle lacked any sense of logic, making the Mandalorians seem pretty inept, and is ultimately just there for Din to come to the rescue. The first step in bringing back IG-11 is taken, another sign, that this show no longer has stakes. Pretty dispappointing for a season opener. Grade: C.
Episode 2: Pretty decent episode, although the way the plot thread regarding IG-11 is dropped in favour of some member berries is weird. The episode had a good cliff-hanger with the Mythosaur, that ultimately led to nothing. Grade: B-.
Episode 3: Longest episode spent on a character we don’t see again, and isn’t a main character. The episode was oke, if not for the fact, that the episode ultimately doesn’t really lead to anything other than to show the Imperial remnants have spies in the New Republic. The good doctor’s research isn’t mentioned again until the 7th episode leading to a huge anti-climax in the 8th episode. Grade: C.
Episode 4: Bad episode with too many plot conveniences and lapses in logic, that doesn’t move the show’s plot forward. Second monster fight in three episodes is repetitive. The mandalorians are again pretty inept this time to get Bo to shine. They leave the kid with the monster over night, and expect him not to be eaten in the mean time. I guess the kid spent a whole night in the monster’s beak, and didn’t suffer any injuries or even got dirty. Grade: D.
Episode 5: Pretty good episode. The only criticism is that the planet of Navarro seems to consist of 30 people. Another good cliffhanger, that we should have got in the first three episodes. Grade: B.
Episode 6: Pointless filler episode with bad cameos. A decent fight at the end, but Din handing over the Dark Sabre was predictable, and a huge anti-climax given the foreshadowing in the finale of season 2. Oh, and why didn’t Din just do this before the fight? Grade D.
Episode 7: Best episode of the season with some interesting world building, but why reintroduce the main villain in the penultimate episode? Why are two dozen Mandalorians such a threat to the Empire? What was the point of the praetorian guard, other than they look cool? What does Gideon want with Din? Paz Visla’s death was a good way to end the episode. Too bad they did not develop the character. Grade B+.
Episode 8: Disappointing by the numbers finale. Some good moments of action. A lot of flash, but no substance. Too bad Gideon is reduced to being a moustache twirling villain. Weird that those jetpacks run out of fuel following a flying monster for a few miles, but carry sufficient fuel to get into deep space and back. Grade C+.
Judging by the individual episodes this averages to a C+ for me, but that’s not the whole story, because the season as a whole is a disjointed mess without a proper villain until the penultimate episode. The show apparently is about retaking Mandalore, except the show again doesn’t introduce any significant obstacale until the penultimate episode. Up until that moment it seemed the Mandalorians could just walk in and take over. The curse had been resolved in the second episode, and observant viewers knew Bo technically had already won the dark sabre by then, so the ending of episode 6 was predictable on top of being anti-climactic. So, I think the season as a whole deserves a C-, about on par with TBOBF, if I’m generous. To be fair, I think the first two seasons are somewhat overrated. I would give season 1 a B and season 2 a B+.
Based on Din’s conversation with the Republic pilot near the end, I think that the next season will probably take a lot of the story concepts from the cancelled Rangers of the New Republic show and transfer them over to Mando.
All in all, a pretty mediocre, rushed-feeling finale. I’m glad that Din and Grogu left Mandalore and are back to being front-and-center at the end, and I’m glad that the whole Moff Gideon story seems to be over. But a pretty weak episode, regardless.