This season should never have been greenlit. The Mandalorian S3 finale was just as disappointing and unfulfilling as every other episode has been, proving this show should never have gotten a third season.
This is what happens when unbridled greed, dangerous complacency, and corporate pressure all come down upon a series.
The Mandalorian S3 finale was a perfect amalgamation of what has happened to the show as even though the Season 2 finale provided a fantastic ending, the corporate greed for more money, desire for unprecedented merchandise sales, and the pressure of staying “relevant” in pop-culture ruined what was once the most nuanced project to come out of the Star Wars lore.
Honestly, there really wasn’t anything in this episode that we haven’t already seen before: Moff Gideon was defeated (just like in Season 2), the Mandalorian alliance of Bo-Katan, Mando, the Armorer beat the remnants of the Empire (just like in Season 2), the cloning Imperial cloning facilities were destroyed/beaten (just like in Season 1), incompetent Imperial Guards fighting the heroes (just like in the Sequel Trilogy), Grogu uses force shield to ward off fire (just like in Kanan Jarus in SW: Rebels and Anakin Skywalker in SW: Clone Wars), etc.
It’s honestly baffling that the whole purpose of this season was to send Grogu, Bo-Katan, and Mando on pointless, disjointed, irrelevant, and downright useless side missions that only served as filler to stretch out the season’s episode runtime.
Things that took ENTIRE EPISODES to complete, such as “fixing” IG-88, figuring out the droid problem on Jack Black and Lizzo’s planet, Dr. Pershing getting his brain melted by the female imperial spy who played no meaningful role beyond that episode arc, while arcs that should have been season-stretching, such as Mando’s “redemption” (go back to my other reviews if you want to know why I have it in quotations), learning Mandalore is habitable, and Bo-Katan reuniting the waring, bickering Mandalorian clans, etc., finished within 45 on-screen minutes.
In this episode alone, the entire battle versus Moff Gideon and his forces took all of 35ish minutes to conclude with not a single “heroic” character, other than Paz Visla (who was essentially a nobody), died as the story literally got a “everyone lived happily after all” ending, even though numerous story lines were left unanswered (ex: who was the spy that ratted out the Mandalorians?).
How was this ending approved?
(Disney/Lucasfilm-The Mandalorian-All Episodes Now Streaming Trailer)
Now, the Mandalorian never really was known for its pacing and depth of plot, but this season took “bare bones plot” and “pacing issues” to an entirely new level. This season honestly felt like I was watching a season that only written 6 months prior to its release date, which may actually be pretty accurate as Jon Favreau, the show’s leading executive producer, did say that he had no ending in mind.
I wish I could be a little more positive about this show, but the blatant corporate interface that has sadly killed this show is inexcusable on Disney’s behalf.
There was no other reason besides wanting more subscribers to Disney+, merchandise sales of Grogu, Bo-Katan, and Mando, and the relevancy of having a “Star Wars product” be a cultural “event” (as Kathleen Kennedy desperately wants) and in the public eye as the ending to Season 2 was brilliant.
It gave a perfect send off to Grogu as Luke Skywalker “adopted” him into his new Jedi Order, Mando was able to give Grogu a better, safer life and come to terms with the issues of his own, Bo-Katan got some resolution knowing a Mandalorian owns the Dark Saber (which is now destroyed for…reasons? I don’t even know anymore), fans were given an actual opportunity to see the OG heroes actually be themselves (ex: Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, etc.), and the Imperial remnants under Moff Gideon were destroyed once and for all.
The Mandalorian’s tale was over after Season 2…yet Disney couldn’t accept the natural resolution of a great story.
The Mandalorian Season 3 gets a disappointing 4.0/10 from me, and I hope this is the final season of the show.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (All Episodes Now Streaming | The Mandalorian | Disney+ – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (All Episodes Now Streaming | The Mandalorian | Disney+ – YouTube)
