Season 3, Episode 8: ‘The Return’
The first two seasons of “The Mandalorian” were a model of narrative efficiency. In Season 1, Din Djarin tried to protect Grogu from the multiple individuals and institutions that wanted to capture the little guy. In Season 2, Djarin tried to reunite Grogu with the Jedi. In both seasons, the stories were mission-based, and those missions were broken down into smaller tasks that fit neatly into tightly plotted, action-packed 30 to 40-minute episodes. That’s what made “The Mandalorian” great.
This week’s Season 3 finale is also tightly plotted and action-packed; and it features some of the most impressive aerial fight scenes in the “Star Wars” franchise’s history. But the episode arrives at the end of a season that never seemed to settle on a single unifying theme or goal that would give its story a shape.
Essentially, three threads wove through this season. The central one involved the larger story of the Mandalorians themselves, who overcame centuries of class conflict and religious squabbles and united in an effort to restore their desolate home planet to its former glory. The other two threads involved obstacles to the Mandalorians’ plan: the overwhelmed and inattentive New Republic bureaucracy and the Imperial remnant forces commanded by the fugitive Moff Gideon.
To its credit, the finale does bring all these threads together. The season culminates in a big battle on Mandalore between Gideon’s stormtrooper army and hundreds of angry Mandalorians — after which the victorious heroes begin resettling their planet, as Djarin and Grogu launch an off-the-books business helping the New Republic bring order to the Outer Rim. All’s well that ends well.
And to be clear, this finale does end Season 3 well. Picking up where last week’s cliffhanger left off, the episode begins with Djarin escaping his stormtrooper captors with the help of some cool spinning kicks and the timely arrival of Grogu — still in his IG-12 attack armor, and still smashing the “No. No. No.” button. The pair then go after Gideon, which requires them to pass through multiple deflector shields, guarded by troopers with increasingly more powerful weaponry. (It’s like they have to beat harder and harder video game levels.)
They get past the shields with the help of R5-D4 in a sequence that comes as close to comic relief as this otherwise intense episode gets. The ever-reluctant droid jets down to the Imperial base — which like all Imperial bases in “Star Wars” consists of narrow walkways perched at life-threatening heights for some reason. Though it physically trembles with nerves, R5-D4 is able to plug into the computers and send Djarin some schematics, all while shooing away pesky little mouse droids.
When Djarin and Grogu reach Gideon — after destroying a chamber full of his clones — the aspiring emperor boasts about his scheme to acquire mastery of the Force through science, and then he commands his Praetorian Guards to attack Djarin. An angry Grogu presses his “No” button repeatedly, but soon the Guards force him awkwardly back through a closing door into another room, while his Mandalorian protector watches helplessly from the ground.
While all of this is going on, the Mandalorians come swarming down in their jetpacks and engage in hand-to-hand combat with flying stormtroopers. This is thrilling stuff, well-handled by the director Rick Famuyiwa and the effects team, who keep the action clear and dynamic while also making it look like a proper melee. The clash resolves when Bo-Katan reaches Djarin and Grogu and lends her Darksaber to the fight against Gideon, right before Axe Woves crashes the privateers’ light cruiser into the base. (Grogu gets all tuckered out protecting his friends with a Force bubble.)
With the Mandalorians and the Imperial remnant at each other’s armored throats from the moment this episode begins, there is not much time for quiet reflection, though the writer (and the show’s creator) Jon Favreau does let the good guys rest for a couple of minutes in a cave. There, the Mandalorians who never left the home world tell Bo-Katan about how they were able to cultivate plants indigenous to Mandalore, which had not grown naturally for centuries because of the planet’s civil wars and overreliance on industrialization. This little factoid counters something Gideon says later while he’s destroying Bo-Katan’s Darksaber, that, “Mandalorians are weak once they lose their trinkets.” Apparently, according to the ones who survived the Purge, even Mandalorians without cutting-edge tech at their disposal can find a Way.
These seeds of hope for Mandalore bear fruit in the episode’s first epilogue, where after Gideon’s defeat the Armorer relights the Great Forge and then recommences the process of anointing foundlings in the Living Waters. Djarin asks for Grogu to go through the ritual, but because the child cannot speak and has no parents to vouch for him, the Armorer hesitates. So Djarin formally adopts his ward, now given the name Din Grogu.
To be honest, what is most exciting about this ending is that it sets up a Season 4 that might bring “The Mandalorian” back to basics. (The episode’s title, “The Return,” could have two meanings.) There is still plenty to like about this series. The action sequences are outstanding and the characters are good company. But compared to the stellar first two seasons, Season 3 often felt slipshod, as though Favreau and company rushed episodes to air without sanding off their rougher edges — perhaps relying too much on “hey this show is supposed to be kind of corny” as an excuse.
There is a lot of promise though in the finale’s second epilogue, which sees the two Dins back on Nevarro, living in a little cabin by a pond, where Grogu can levitate frogs all day while Djarin waits for his next assignment — just like something out of an old TV western. Perhaps this Mandalorian can print up some business cards: “Have Beskar, will travel.”
This is the way
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A nifty detail: Gideon’s voice through his helmet has a bit of a Darth Vader growl.
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Another: During the standoff between Djarin and Gideon, off in the distance we can see the aerial battles raging.
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I wrote earlier this season about how enjoying “The Mandalorian” requires some willingness to ignore the goofy physics of the Grogu puppet, toddling about and flipping through the air. This episode’s highly kinetic fight scenes undoubtedly tested the patience of those who roll their eyes every time Baby Yoda jumps around. It still works for me though, as someone who grew up watching Hong Kong martial arts movies, Japanese monster films and Sid and Marty Krofft’s psychedelic TV shows. To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi: Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
Noel Murray
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