Finally, the third season of The Mandalorian has ended explosively. Let’s now discuss some of the goals the show set for itself and how it completed those specific storylines. Retaking Mandalore after the Empire destroyed it and forced the Mandalorians to seek safety elsewhere has been one of the season’s most significant side stories. Moff Gideon played a significant role in it since he persuaded Bo-Katan Kryze to hand over the Darksaber in exchange for an end to the hostilities on her home planet. After obtaining the sought-after weapon, he continued his assault against the Mandalorians, sparking Gideon and Bo-Katan’s animosity. Gideon left, but Bo-Katan continued to look for ways to get the Darksaber back and retake Mandalore. She believed that was the only way she could make amends and improve the image of the Mandalorians. Her dreams were dashed though when Din Djarin won the Darksaber.
Warning: Major Spoilers
Bo-Katan didn’t have the courage to resume her quest until after Din Djarin and Grogu had traveled all the way to Mandalore to take a bath in the sacred city’s springs and Din had been assaulted by a steampunk monster. Mythosaur was visible to her. She merged with Din s covert. She was crucial in Paz Vizsla’s son’s rescue. And as a result of the series of these incidents, the Armorer—a kind of hidden leader—put Bo-Katan in charge of bringing all the Mandalorian tribe’s divisions together. They built a base in Nevarro to make that happen because the planet they were previously residing on was become uninhabitable by the monsters’ frequent attacks. Second, to defeat Axe Woves, who assumed control of Bo-Katan’s squadron when she became reclusive, Din, Grogu, and Bo-Katan had to journey all the way to Plazir-15. She returned the Darksaber to Din there after disposing of the monster that had stolen it. Thirdly, and most crucially, she found her old friends who had been hiding in Mandalore and told them the truth about her capitulation.
After that, it appeared as though everything would proceed smoothly—especially now that Din had vowed his allegiance to Bo-Katan—but it didn’t. Because that’s where Moff Gideon entered the picture. Thus, we were given hints about the rise to popularity of the fascist madman throughout this season of The Mandalorian. But since he had been expressly sentenced to prison by the New Republic, it wasn’t exactly apparent how that was going to take place. After Chapter 19: The Convert, it was clear that the New Republic was just as oppressive and haughty as the Empire, and that they spent much of their time going through the motions. Elia Kane, an Imperial snitch, was able to operate among the New Republic because of this, and she continued to provide Moff Gideon with all the intelligence he required to carry out his schemes. Now, this is when things started to get a bit murky. I still have no idea how Gideon got away or when he established a base in Mandalore with his Imperial troops. Because that basis was quite substantial and useful. Did the rest of his Imperial friends get there for him, and he simply made his getaway and arrived? The tales that the planet is habitable were they spread following the Imperial Siege? It’s hazy.
I’m glad Moff Gideon made his endgame clear in the final two episodes of The Mandalorian because I couldn’t have stood any more ambiguity. He declared that he intended to create an army of Beskar alloy-clad Dark Troopers. That would place them on an equal footing with the Mandalorians or anything else the New Republic could devise, giving them the advantage in any kind of conflict. Furthermore, Moff Gideon revealed that the goal of his Necromancer cloning program was to create, well, clones of him. However, they won’t be regular clones. They would possess the strongest warrior abilities from every tribe in the far-off galaxy. Everything had been perfected by Gideon and his scientists except for the Force. The Imperial base was destroyed by fire as a result of Axe’s semi-kamikaze, so neither the clones nor Moff Gideon survived to see that day. I honestly believed he was going to perform a variation of Holdo’s move from The Last Jedi. Who are we to object when his move was successful? Was it fulfilling or enduring?
The Mandalorian’s third season didn’t get off to a great start. From episode 2 to episode 5, everything was quite stable.The tone of the show was entirely destroyed by Episode 6. And it appears that Rick Famuyiwa, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni have sought to sweep all those errors under the rug in the previous two episodes by stepping up the action. Because of this, it appears chaotic until you take a step back and consider the bigger image that the artists have attempted to present. Yes, I am aware that this season was more about the Mandalorians than The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), with Bo-Katan Kryze receiving most of the attention. Don’t you think the season should have focused more on her getting along with the two squads of Mandalorians that she had abandoned if that had been the intention all along? Between Bo-Katan, Axe Woves, his team, and the survivors in Mandalore, there was a lot of luggage. However, the show almost ever depicted their aftermath or Bo-Katan bearing the price of her acts. Because of this, her ultimate deed seemed weak and undeserved.
Din Djarin and Grogu’s arc didn’t feel as impactful because they had to share the focus with Bo-Katan (which is so blatantly Filoni’s doing). And a lot of that can be attributed to what happened between The Mandalorian’s Seasons 2 and 3. We were supposed to long for Din and Grogu to get back together when they split up, after all. But the people in charge of deciding the course of the franchise didn’t allow them that room. The only thing they did was to reunite them. Why? The third season would have been fantastic if it had simply focused on Din and Bo-Katan. Grogu was merely loitering and uttering a cacophony of noises. At the very least, important discussions regarding the Creed, what the protagonists wish to accomplish after retaking Mandalore, and other topics may have taken place between Din and Bo-Katan. Disney and Lucasfilm, on the other hand, obviously preferred to develop a story that advanced the characters in a significant and memorable way above selling toys. A scene of Grogu interacting with a frog appears towards the conclusion of Season 3 of The Mandalorian. I’m not sure what will be more egregious than that in highlighting the problems with this aspect of the Star Wars series.
