THE MANDALORIAN Season 3 "The Return" Was a Beautifully Badass Season Finale
The Season 3 finale of The Mandalorian has dropped and we’ve made it through another season of the awesome Star Wars series! The season finale is titled “The Return” and it was a beautifully told story that was completely badass!
This season puts a focus on telling a story about the redemption of the Mandalorian people and their attempt to unite their fractured tribes and reclaim their homeworld of Mandalore. Bo-Katan was at the forefront of this story and we saw the character grow back into a strong leadership position and helped unite the Nite Owls and Children of the Watch.
Once they all came back together, they discovered that Moff Gideon, on behalf of an Imperial Shadow Council, had been using Mandalore as a base of operations to resurrect the Empire through Project Necromancer.
The Season finale sees the Mandalorian warriors continuing to fight in an effort to take back their homeworld. This fight comes on two fronts with Bo-Katan and other surviving Mandalorian squad who escaped Moff Gideon’s ambush attempting to evacuate the Mandalorian fleet before the Imperial Remnant destroy it. Then there’s Din Djarin, Grogu, and R5-D4 trying to break into Moff Gideon’s control center and bring his sinister cloning plans to an end.
You see, Gideon was in the process of cloning a perfect version of himself that would have also wielded the powers of The Force. As you might imagine, cloning Force-sensitive beings is very difficult, and I believe it was the whole point of Project Necromancer, which also involved clone Emperor Palpatine. Djarin put a stop to that, though, and destroyed them! As you might expect, Gideon was pissed off and when the two come face to face, they fight!
Force-sensitive clones figure prominently in the story of Grand Admiral Thrawn and the original Star Wars Legends books starting with Heir to the Empire. That story introduced a crazy Jedi clone named Joruus C'Baoth, which Thawn uses against those that cross his path.
While this is going on, Bo-Katan and the Mandalorian army wait on the planet’s surface until The Armorer arrives with reinforcements. When they do, there’s an awesomely epic battle that sees the Mandalorian rocketing down from the upper atmosphere, Bo-Katan joins and leads the charge, Darksaber in hand, and they clash with Moff Gideon’s Beskar-clad Dark Troopers.
There is some incredibly cool effects-heavy aerial combat in this sequence, but the hand-to-hand combat involving Din Djarin and Grugu is awesome as well! Even before he makes his way to Gideon, he has to fight his way through a group of Dark Troopers. All of the action sequences in this episode are done extremely well and they were a blast to watch!
While Mando takes on Gideon the Praetorian Guards jump in on the fight, and when it looks like they are about to take down Djarin, Grogu distracts them and is chased into another room where he is running and jumping around trying to avoid being killed. As this is happening Axe Woves is steering the crashing Mandalorian cruiser right at the base where they are fighting in.
Bo-Katan ends up jumping in to help Djarin and she then proceeds to fight Gideon with the Darksaber while Djarin goes to help Grogu, and together they take down the Praetorian guards. Grogu gets to show off his Force powers here as he throws them around while Djarin blasts them to death.
The fight between Bo-Katan and Moff Gideon is an intense one and in the process, Gideon destroys the Darksaber, which was a huge unexpected surprise! I did not see that coming! But, she doesn’t need it to lead the Mandalorian people! Djarin and Grogu rush to Bo-Katan’s aid and as the facility they are fighting erupts in fire and explodes Grogu uses his Force powers to save Djarin and Bo-Katan and Moff Gideon is engulfed in flames.
With Mandalore retaken, the Armorer bathes Ragnar (Paz Vizsla’s son) in the Living Waters and he’s officially gone from foundling to apprentice. Djarin wants the same for Grogu, but since he isn’t old enough to talk, though, he can’t speak the Creed, which makes him ineligible unless his parents agree for him to be a proper Mandalorian apprentice.
It’s in this moment that Djarin adopts him and he is named Din Grogu, Mandalorian apprentice. Djarin is then instructed to leave Mandalore to take him on journeys and adventures and to continue to teach him as his apprentice. Before that happens, though, after Grugu is adopted he looks down in the Living Waters, to communicate with the Mythosaur that resides below with The Force, who opens his eyes when he can feel the presence of the Force. It’s an awesome tease of what is coming!
As Bo-Katan takes on the leadership position of Mandalore, she ignites the Great Forge, which is an exciting moment for the story and for Bo-Katan. It was so great to see her back in the position where she belongs. As for the Darksaber, its destruction fits the theme of the season and it ushers in a new way of leading. Bo-Katan is now taking a more pluralistic approach, and as she says, Mandalorians are stronger together. The destruction of the Darksaber will most likely put an end to the infighting and duels for leadership that have plagued Mandalore for generations.
The finale ends with Mando meeting Carson Teva, where he offers to work for the New Republic as an independent contractor on a case-by-case basis. He explains that since Grogu is his apprentice and under his care, he’s going to be more selective in his assignments. All he wants in return is a “small advance”, which is the salvaged head of IG-11.
Mando has IG-11 rebuilt and brings him to Greef Karga on Navarro where will function as the planet’s marshall. Karga ends up giving Mando a cabin where he can lay low between adventures, and the final show features Mando relaxing outside his new cabin while Din Grogu plays with frogs with his Force powers.
For me, this was a satisfying ending to a great season! I was very happy with how this chapter of the story played out and came to an end. I can’t wait to see the story continue!
What do you all think of the Season 3 finale!?