The season three finale of The Mandalorian succeeds with action sequences and provides Din Djarin room to shine. In The Return, breakneck pacing and a shortish runtime don’t allow scenes to breathe.
Rick Famuyiwa returns as director following his stellar work in chapter 23. Famuyiwa has a terrific eye for Star Wars action. The Return features some of the best action sequences in the series to date. Action setpieces take place on multiple fronts. There are intense hallway skirmishes, lightsaber duels and awesome aerial combat via jetpack-clad Mandalorians.
After spending most of the season in the backseat, Djarin is the main focus in the season finale. Watching Djarin slowly take apart Moff Gideon’s forces without weapons to aid him was a great reminder of his skill. Djarin’s quest also gives Grogu purpose. The Pseudo father and son duo work together to weed through Gideon’s troops.
Giancarlo Esposito was underutilized throughout the season as Gideon. Unfortunately, the season finale didn’t buck the trend. The fight between Gideon and Djarin as well as Gideon’s battle with Bo-Katan are well done.
Cloning is introduced in a mixed-bag fashion. Gideon’s decision to create clones of himself is brilliant, selfish ambition personified. However, Djarin’s destruction of the clones is quickly brushed over. There’s no moral dilemma or anything below the surface. The clones are simply a visual gag for Djarin to destroy, which is disappointing
The growing bond between Bo-Katan and Djarin is the best aspect of season three. However, the season finale doesn’t slow down long enough for Djarin to give a proper goodbye to Bo-Katan. Djarin leaves to establish a home on Nevarro with Grogu, while Bo-Katan leads united Mandalorians on Mandalore.
The season three finale does a good job of establishing where the next chapter for Djarin and Grogu will go next. Season 4 seems poised to return to form with Djarin accepting bounties on behalf of The New Republic.
Overall, The Return is an effective season finale, but not nearly as memorable as prior finales.
With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into Chapter 24: The Return. There may be some minor spoilers. The Mandalorian is streaming on Disney Plus.
The Return to the spotlight
Chapter 24 begins right where the last chapter left off. Djarin is being escorted in shackles to Gideon. He surprises and overwhelms the stormtroopers while in handcuffs with some help from Grogu.
While Djarin and Grogu can escape, they choose to take the fight to Gideon. Djarin delivers his plan to Bo-Katan. Then, he reaches out to his R-5 droid. There’s a hallway with laser shields. He orders the droid to lower the shields one by one on his command. Djarin’s strategy allows him to face off against a bevy of troopers without being overwhelmed.
After defeating the troops, he reaches the clone room, then comes face-to-face with Gideon. Moff, armed with a powerful suit, overwhelms Djarin. Gideon sends the Praetorian guards to finish the job. However, Grogu steps in and draws the guards to him with Djarin pleading for him to stop. Suddenly, Bo-Katan swoops in. She tells Djarin to save his kid while she handles Gideon.
Djarin is able to defeat the three guards in an impressive fashion.
Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder are fantastic in the fight scenes as Djarin. Since coming on board in the 1st season, Famuyiwa excels at showcasing Djarin as a savvy fighter and the season three finale is another showcase of Djarin’s skill.
Mandalorians unite!
While Djarin and Grogu on hunting down Gideon, Bo-Katan and the rest of The Mandalorians are facing Gideon’s troops.
There’s not a whole lot of story in this part of The Return. The main thrust is Bo-Katan ordering Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides) to take control of a large vessel. Woves purpose is to take on enemy fire until reinforcements arrive. The reinforcement scene is similar to Episode 9, but is more logical than Rise of Skywalker. Nevarro is close to Mandalore. Woves holding out for a little while makes sense.
Once the reinforcements arrive with The Armorer leading the charge, the Mandalorians are able to turn the tide. The equal numbers allow Bo-Katan to aid Djarin and Grogu in their fight with Gideon.
Bo-Katan faces off with Gideon. The fight is more even than the one with Gideon and Djarin. Eventually, Gideon overpowers Bo-Katan and destroys the dark saber. I didn’t like how easily Gideon destroyed the dark saber. Like most of the episode, the moment was brushed over. I’m fine with the saber’s destruction. Bo-Katan choosing to destroy the saber could be a more powerful way of destroying the past. A subject the new trilogy touched on to mixed results.
Eventually, Djarin unleashes s a barrage of blaster fire at Gideon. Similar to Captain Phasma, he falls into a fire and is burned to death. While Gideon had to die at some point, his supposed death doesn’t have the emotional heft it should. I also think the impending politics of the remnants of the Empire would be much stronger with Gideon around.
A political squabble between Thrawn and Gideon would be terrific, but I guess I’ll have to wait for Andor season two for Star Wars political drama.
Clones
The subject of cloning has worked far better and is far more bizarre in the Timothy Zahn novels than in any of the films. Specifically, Luke’s dilemma over destroying clones who haven’t caused harm was a great character-building moment.
I love how Gideon chose to create clones of himself rather than clones of Palpatine. Gideon’s interest in clones also dovetails with his hunt for Grogu in season one. He wants to find a way to pass on the force to his clones. He believed Grogu was key to doing so.
Where the story falters is when Djarin enters Gideon’s clone room. In theory, this would be a great scene to slow down and process the ramification of what Gideon is doing. However, Djarin pretty hastily decides to kill all of the clones. The only thing these scenes accomplish is showing the Empire is making headway with cloning.
The Rescue final thoughts
The season finale shines when it comes to action. However, it never slows down long enough to allow the consequences of the action sequences to land in a way that adds to the character.
One of the best examples of action sequences propelling a character forward is in the hallway fight in season one of Daredevil. In the sequence, Matt Murdock as Daredevil gets progressively tired as the sequence goes along and can barely stand once the fight is over due to exhaustion. In The Rescue, Djarin does get tired, but then in the next fight sequence, he’s ready to go again.
The whole finale is a breathless sprint. The race is fun to watch, but the aftermath feels a bit hollow, which pretty much sums a season 3 as a whole. Fun in part, but not actually satisfying in full.
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The Review
Chapter 24: The Return
PROS
- Rick Famuyiwa has an unparalleled eye for Star Wars action sequences.
- Djarin returns to the limelight in violent fashion.
- Moff Gideon's clone reveal.
- The Armorer playing jumppack bumper cars with stormtroopers ruled.
- Season 4's possibilities.
CONS
- Scenes aren't given time to breathe.
- Gideon is largley wasted and the final confrontation with Bo-Katan doesn't pack much emotional weight.
- Destruction of dark saber is brushed over.
