![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bobafettfanclub.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-mandalorian-s03e08-flamethrower.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHere\u2019s a summary of what happened in Chapter 24, interspersed with some thoughts throughout:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Bo-Katan and her ground forces escape Gideon\u2019s base, telling Axe Woves to use their stolen Imperial capital ship as a decoy so the rest of the Mandalorians could join them as reinforcements on the ground.<\/li>\n
- Din Djarin, who keeps getting captured this season for some reason, escapes Gideon\u2019s Imperial commandos because someone let Mecha-Grogu, a literal baby wearing the skin of an assassin droid, go off on his own to find him.<\/li>\n
- On their way to find Moff Gideon, Din and Mecha-Grogu are confronted by the most dangerous weapon in all of Star Wars: ray shields. They fight more commandos two-by-two as R5 raises each shield, which I will admit was an incredible fight scene.<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bobafettfanclub.com\/tn\/640x640\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-mandalorian-s03e08-clones.jpg\")
<\/a>\nDin and Mecha-Grogu find a bunch of naked Gideon clones in pods, which Din summarily kills because if there\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve learned from Star Wars, it\u2019s that clones aren\u2019t *real* people. (Sarcasm)<\/li>\n
- The survivor Mandalorians take Bo-Katan and the rest of the crew to their lush underground farms, saying, \u201cLife persists,\u201d and, \u201cAll they need is room to grow.\u201d<\/li>\n
- The music swells as the Armorer tells Bo-Katan her reinforcements have arrived and Bo responds, \u201cLet\u2019s take back our planet.\u201d<\/li>\n
- We see Bo lead her army into battle, wielding with the Dark Saber, side-by-side with the Mandalorians she had not-so-long-ago referred to as zealots.<\/li>\n
- Gideon does the classic Bad Guy monologue in which he tells Din he was building a Force-sensitive clone army of himself. He\u2019s really mad that Din killed them all, and, you know what, fair.<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bobafettfanclub.com\/tn\/640x640\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-mandalorian-s03e08-moff.jpg\")
<\/a>\nDin goes to battle with Dark Trooper Gideon and his Praetorian Guards and is almost defeated when Mecha-Grogu leads the three red boys to another room.<\/li>\n
- The Praetorian Guards kill IG, de-mechaing Grogu, who has to use the Force to jump high and avoid their weapons.<\/li>\n
- It looks like everything\u2019s not going to be okay, but Bo-Katan flies in to get Gideon off of Din and tells him to save his kid.<\/li>\n
- We get a beautiful duel between Bo and Gideon with the Dark Saber while Din and Grogu lay waste to the Praetorian Guards, Grogu using the Force strategically. Luke\u2019s training paid off! Yay Grogu!<\/li>\n
- Gideon has Bo-Katan on her knees as he smashes the Dark Saber with one hand, saying Mandalorians are weak when they lose their trinkets. Bo replies, \u201cMandalorians are stronger together,\u201d as Din waltzes in, firing at Gideon.<\/li>\n
- Axe Woves comes in hot in the disabled capital ship and hits the base at just the right time, \u201ckilling\u201d Gideon (or was it one of his clones??) and our heroic Clan of Three is protected by Grogu using the Force to shield them from the fire.<\/li>\n
- The Mandalorians retook their home planet and relit the Great Forge.<\/li>\n
- Din wants Grogu to become an apprentice. Unfortunately, the Armorer disagrees, saying he is too young to speak the Creed. Din then says he wants to adopt Grogu as his own (Didn\u2019t he basically already do that when he took him as a foundlinh?). Now apparently Grogu is Din Grogu, Mandalorian apprentice. But what is with that name? Shouldn\u2019t he be Grogu Djarin? I don\u2019t get that at all.<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bobafettfanclub.com\/tn\/640x640\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-mandalorian-s03e08-mythosaur.jpg\")
<\/a>\nWhile we saw the Mythosaur again for a few seconds, Boba Fett, the first Mandalorian ever, was nowhere to be found this season.<\/li>\n
- Din and Din Grogu (I really hate this name) chat with Carson Teva about becoming an off-the-books New Republic bounty hunter that will hunt down Imperial remnants. Grogu is fascinated by a disembodied IG head at the bar, which Mando takes as his advance payment.<\/li>\n
- The disembodied head becomes the new IG-11, the Marshall of Nevarro, which is kind of out of character for the assassin droid, but I digress.<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bobafettfanclub.com\/tn\/640x640\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-mandalorian-s03e08-din.jpg\")
<\/a>\nThe season ends with Din Djarin and Din Grogu relaxing on their new plot of land on Nevarro. A happy ending??<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Honestly, I really disliked the episode. It felt rushed and there wasn\u2019t much emotional payoff for me. A villain we thought was done-for a few episodes prior came back to be the Big Bad, then (probably) died again. The Mandalorians banded together and retook Mandalore, but it seemed like it didn\u2019t take much struggle (even though Paz Viszla did sacrifice himself when he, arguably, didn\u2019t have to.).<\/p>\n
Unsatisfied, I went back and rewatched the whole season again to see if I missed anything that would make the finale more compelling. And I will say that watching the episodes all at once made the season feel less disjointed overall. The seemingly \u201crandom\u201d episodes with Dr. Pershing and Plazir-15 actually did serve to move the plot along, although by adding stopping blocks that weren\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n
Those plot pit stops did<\/em> do a lot if you view the whole season as a criticism of various forms of government. We see that the New Republic, while better than the fascistic Empire in many ways, is still failing its people. And while the direct democracy of Plazir-15 was great for the human citizens of the planet, but relied upon the subjugation of droids. Mandalore fell because it was a fragile monarchy that was undermined by constantly warring factions and given a death blow by the Empire, but rose again because the heiress of that monarchy brought those factions back together to fight a fractured Imperial Remnant. But was that really what writer Jon Favreau wanted us to take away from the season? I\u2019m guessing not and that I am just way too into politics.<\/p>\n
Overall, season three of \u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d fails for the exact same reason \u201cThe Book of Boba Fett\u201d failed: it became solely a bridge to set up the next Disney+ Star Wars show. But where \u201cThe Book of Boba Fett\u201d had an overarching narrative goal that we understood from episode one (Boba Fett is struggling as the Daimyo of Mos Espa), we didn\u2019t really know that the goal of \u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d season three was to retake Mandalore until almost the end of the season entirely. And like \u201cThe Book of Boba Fett,\u201d the titular protagonist also took a backseat to another character in his own show, experiencing very little character growth.<\/p>\n