Topic: The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 8

The Season 3 finale airs April 19th.

Along with a lot of other Fett fans, hoping he'll show up in this one.

This thread is your spot to discuss the episode – spoilers and all.

Rick Famuyiwa is confirmed to direct it.

It's rumored to be 38 minutes long.

Initial pre episode viewing thoughts. Rick Famuyiwa claims his episodes will "resolve" BoBF ending, we can hope this means Boba (who said that the life of a crime boss isn't cut out for him) perhaps he will embrace his Mandalorian heritage (probably not, just would be neat) I think a more plausible outcome for this resolution is Din Djarin along with Grogu learning to properly tame a beast (Even though my hope is for Boba to ride the Mythosaur, they'll probably give more of Boba's character and story to Din...) 38 minutes is ridiculously short, I read the leaked plot points of the finale already it's likely they can fit every leaked detail in those 38 minutes so unfortunately my expectations of Boba are only at about 15% chance he appears in the episode and a 30% for a post-credits (If there is one) Hopefully Brendan Wayne doesn't let our hopes go to nothing.... Maybe Star Wars Hong Kong deleted their post because Boba really wasn't present in Mando season 3. Anyways I'm excited for what comes in 50~ hours from now.
(AFTER EPISODE EDIT)
There was zero resolution to BoBF.
38 minutes was indeed short.
Not every leak came to fruition thankfully .
Brendan Wayne indeed let our hopes go to nothing.
Zero Boba.
Star Wars Hong Kong did indeed make a mistake....

38 minutes with credits, that doesn't leave much space for Boba...
Fingers crossed anyway, I want to believe.

Episode is out.

Boba Fett is not in the episode. :-/

I know Tem is working on other material, but I think this was a HUGE missed opportunity, and such disrespect. We owe ALL of this to Boba Fett. Without him, there are no Mandalorians, and they couldn’t even be bothered to pay him tribute. I’m not a hater, and I enjoyed BOBF, but this really depresses me. I’m willing to bet they are just gonna leave him on Tatooine  for a decade and then deepfake him in when they need hype. They brought him back, gave him a show, and then dropped him. This is a loss for our community and honestly, makes me question their writing.

I can't really understand why they made this season was so underwhelming. We got punked essentially. No Boba, just some background Knock-off looking dudes (yes I know this isn't Boba's show but they've gone on to say that "The Mandalorian" can describe multiple people). Whole season felt disconnected and not thought through, I can only imagine how much the writing will take a dive when the writers guild strike takes place in the near future.  The finale was nothing like described too like what were they trying to hype it up for?? This could easily be the end of The Mandalorian as a series but I doubt they'd do that. Din Djarin has lost like his entire character arc he goes just back to hating droids then liking them then hating them now to liking them again?? and now he does bounties again? jeez what were they thinking. The sad part is we pay for this, and there's people that will complain that people have issues with this show. also did they forget how Mandalorian naming convention works??? Grogu should be called Grogu Djarin not "Din Grogu" stupid name! also Mandalorians go back to having unlimited fuel in their jetpacks, they literally addressed this earlier in the season come on! This episode was NOT GOOD. season as a whole was just nothing special easily the weakest season. I'll rate this pointless episode 6/10 and that's the rating of this season too in my eyes. They really played with the hearts of us Boba fans. Hopefully the rumors and leaks are true that the next project after "Skeleton Crew" will indeed include Boba. People shouldn't blindly defend this because it's content. We the viewer pay for this content with our subscriptions don't fall to the idea that "We should be happy with what we're getting" we should be unhappy because what we got wasn't good!

I always had a feeling that Boba would not appear this season.

I am quite relieved by this ending, sad that Lord Fett wasn't in it, but overall an acceptable ending to the season.

I was hoping for a sneak peek at the end of a new BOBF short, but I guess they have not yet started filming the new chapters.

Sad to see the Darksaber go, but I guess it's time had finally come. Now the position of Mandalore can be earned by deeds instead of just who won a fancy sword.

And because I did not say it in last weeks post.

May you forever march onwards Paz Vizla.

I don't understand what Rick was talking about in SWC, the ending resolving what? The outer rim stuff? Or it means there's nothing else to be done with TBOBF because everyone live in peace now?
And what on earth hurting Brendan Wayne so much, the darksaber is broken? These hints all nothing.

Yeah they should shut up

It was nice to see that Din Djarin can still kick ass.  Sometimes, his character gets a little overshadowed when he's in a group.  Don't know how Grogu was able to separate himself from the rest of the main group unnoticed and find him, though.  That was one of those weird "ex machina" moments.  The cute nod to Iron Man was pretty funny, with Grogu spraying him the same way Dum-E sprays Tony Stark after he crashes his suit during initial testing.

Another weird element was Axe Woves being able to use his "personal" jetpack to actually blast out of the atmosphere and into space.  I mean, seriously, what the absolute heck?  First off, that thing should've ran out of fuel way before he hit the stratosphere.  Second, that's one of those beefs I've always had with the Clone Wars, Rebels, and this series; they make it seem like these Mandalorian jet packs can go on forever.  In old school canon, they had a way, way, way more limited range than Filoni thinks they do.  I also didn't understand them sending troops down to reinforce the ground, but then getting rid of all the cruisers and frigates in orbit.  Last episode, when they showed the fleet, it looked like they had over five or six wings of Fang Fighters.  You can't tell me an Imperial light cruiser, several Imperial Gozanti Corvettes, over a dozen Kom'rk fighter/ transports, and about 30 Fang Fighters couldn't take out that meager wing of TIE Interceptor's and bombers.  I was really waiting to see an epic space battle, while the ground group did their thing.  Especially, after the accidentally leaked Lego pack from the Mandalorian series that comes out next month, of a Fang Fighter vs. a TIE Interceptor.  I figured that was supposed to be straight from this episode.  So much for that.

For a more in-depth look at what the Mandalorians had in their fleet, check out this video.  Apparently, someone actually went through and counted what was shown on screen.  It came out to 1 Light Cruiser, 5 Gozanti corvette's, 36 Fang Fighters, and 8 Kom'rk Fighter/ Transports.

https://youtu.be/XQJN5ywGB8s

It's always nice to see "Skippy the Jedi Droid" getting some love.  He's come a long way from having a "bad motivator" all those years ago.  I was honestly surprised the clones in the vats were Gideon's own clones.  That's not narcissistic at all.  Glad they shut those things down.  The battle between Bo Katan's forces and the Imperial Supercommandos was really nicely done.  Nice to see those small "anti-personnel" missiles on top of the jet packs getting used.  A few of us were just talking about those the other day and how they compared to the larger "anti-vehicle" rockets like Fett uses in his jetpack.  Once again, always cool to see those knee darts getting used, this time by Koska Reeves.  During the final battle with Moff Gideon, I was so glad to see the Dark Saber get destroyed.  To me, that was honestly the single worst story element they added to the Mandalorians mythology and lore during the Clone Wars, Rebels, and Mandalorian series.  If there was to be some "trinket," as Moff Gideon calls them, that Mandalorians would rally behind, it should have been the mask/ helmet of Mandalore the Indomitable. 

Glad Axe Woves didn't have to "go down with the ship."  However, even with Grogu protecting Djarin, Bo Katan, and himself from the flames, that entire structure should have given way beneath them after the cruiser crashed into the base.  It was one of those neat feel-good "hey, the good guys made it" moments, but definitely another "pull another 'ex machina' out of your shebs" moment.  The ending with them finally finishing Ragnar's oath ceremony was a nice touch.  I was surprised that Bo Katan didn't formally adopt him or take him as an apprentice as a way of honoring Paz Vizsla's sacrifice.  Din Djarin formally adopting Grogu, however, was a surprise and a very welcome one, at that.  Although, his name as Din Grogu makes absolutely no sense, yet again.  This ain't Star Trek, and Mandalorians aren't Bajoran's, with their surnames first.  He should be properly called Grogu Djarin.  Once again, the writers taking a perfectly awesome moment and throwing a WTF in there to completely ruin the impact of the moment.  The ceremony where they re-ignite the Forge definitely made the hairs stand up on my arms.  Very nicely done and so much fun seeing so many Mando's on screen in live action.  It was a nice symmetrical way to end that part of their story; first with a baptism of water, then a baptism of flame.

Mandalorians, side by side, igniting the spark that will light the fire, that will shine across the galaxy for all to see.  Mandalorians are stronger together.

I did like how they brought it all back full circle for Din Djarin.  Setting him up to go back to his roots as a bounty hunter, where we first found him when his series began.  Only, this time, working for the opposite faction for a change; again, the symmetry.  It was also nice seeing him now having a "home away from home" back on Nevarro.  It had a very western feel to it.  You could almost picture "The Duke" himself living there (or maybe even his grandson ;) ).  Even IG-11 got properly fixed and a new paint job to top it all off.  Not too shabby, but it felt kind of rushed and just thrown in there.

Overall, kind of a half-and-half of a season.  This one did feel like it had a lot more "filler" episodes than the previous two seasons.  I think the Mythosaur was my biggest disappointment of the entire season.  When the Imperial Cruiser crashed into the base, I was kind of waiting for that to wake the Mythosaur and cause it to rise to the surface for the rest of the Mandalorians to see.  When that didn't happen, and you could see Grogu sense its presence, I was once again waiting for it to finally make an appearance, to no avail.  We got a quick glimpse and teased that it's back, but they never have it show up as a sign of reaffirmation for the Mandalorians re-taking and re-building their planet.  To me, that's a completely missed and wasted opportunity.  Because of that and what seemed like an over-reliance of "ex machina," I'm going to have to give this episode a 4/5 stars.

Too short. SWC bait and switch tactics.
Was not impressed by this finale. Weakest finale of the series so far.

I think there's some part of the scenes are being replaced, some of them doesn't even make sense, they are forcing this plot.

Well, the result is good, everyone alive except the villain, but I don't think it's the original plot from last year shot.

And for addition, why are they showing Fennec's helmet at the intro anyway? I'm so upset.

Anticlimatic and disappointing to say the least. Favreau and Filoni are hack writers and frankly I hope Boba doesn't show up ever again in any of their projects. Just 8 episodes of bewildering decisions and mind numbing writing.

As for Boba's inclusion, I fully expected Fav and Filoni not to include him even in this pivotal moment for Mandalorian history. They clearly don't care for his character as demonstrated by the The Book of Cameos. Brendan Wayne is an awesome actor but he's always overhyping things - he did say the BoBF was "all killer no filler" after all

Every time Jon Favreau presents an admittedly interesting setup or direction for the story to go, he immediately undoes it. No payoffs, no stakes, and nothing is earned. Din and Grogu on separate paths? Reunited immediately. Din being a reluctant leader to Mandalore/training with the Darksaber/possible conflict with Bo Katan? Nah they're besties and Din just hands Bo the saber - third time's the charm! Din's acceptance for droids? Din's notions of the Mandalorian identity being challenged by Mayfeld, Boba, and Bo? Learning and shedding his cult ways behind? Nope he's a droid hating cult zealot again. Oh and he's doing bounty hunting again, and IG 11 is back.
And then there's the smaller things like Mando immediately saving himself 2 minutes after being captured. Or Boba and The Hutt cousins vying for control of Mos Espa but jk they're gone now. IMAGINE if Tony Gilroy had Andor arrested in episode 7, but instead of the spectacular prison arc he just escapes the prisoner transport lmao. I could go on and on and on. Maybe these problems would've been more tolerable if the visuals and soundtrack didn't fall off a cliff this season either

I thought this episode was a fair if hasty conclusion to a bumpy season.

My hot takes are:
1. It ends describing precisely the kind of premise it should have been following all along--a series about a bounty hunter.
2. Is anyone else a little weirded out by the ease with which people kill defenseless clones in vats? How do we even know these clones were bad guys? (In Star Wars, we've seen plenty of clones of villains who turned out to be okay if not heroic people...)
3. This episode proves Paz Viszla did not make a tactically-sound choice. If the team had stuck together, they would have made short work of the Praetorian guards and Gideon.
4. Grogu was able to speak with Ahsoka, but not say the creed? (I don't want him to say the creed, to be frank...but it still seems inconsistent.)
5. The Dark Saber is just like a vortex of anticlimax.
6. Maybe the closing shot with the circle crop was a little too corny?

But I still thought, overall, it was entertaining to watch. It didn't feel as monumental as Season 2's finale...and R5-D4 might have turned out to be the best thing about this season, the cowardly-brave little astromech.

Overall, I liked this finale. I like how Grogu is officially adopted as Din's "son" now, even though I would think "Grogu Djarin" would make more sense for his name than "Din Grogu," but oh well. The action was a lot of fun and it's nice to see Mandalorians reclaiming their homeworld at long last.

Of course, I'm still pretty disappointed that Boba didn't appear in any capacity whatsoever. The name drop we got from Peli was literally it. As others have said, it would have been great if Din requested Boba to come along with them. I feel it would make sense for him to bring a trusted, reliable ally with him who he's built a brothers-in-arms type of bond with. Let alone from a real world perspective, having the OG Mandalorian who started it all along for the ride would have been a treat to see.

On that note, they said this finale was supposed to "tie up storylines from Mandalorian and Book of Boba." This... had no Boba show related content or plot lines included at all. Just Mandalorian. Not sure what they meant there.
At any rate, if rumors are anything to go by, Slave 1 props are/were being built and Boba will likely appear in the next project after that Skeleton Crew show, whether it's Mando S4 or a second season of BoBF. I guess only time will tell, but it's apparently gonna be a lengthy road before we see our boy again. If nothing else, I imagine he's on the list to show up for the big finale movie Filoni is cooking up. You can't just bring one of the most iconic Star Wars characters back and not use him!

For the Clones in the vats, they were all clones of Gideon.  Safe to say they're all no good, if he's the one who had them created.  They're not like clones of Jango, who were already up and moving around and obviously not a threat (at least, not yet--they "did their job well") when Kenobi initially inspected them on Kamino.  Best to kill all the Gideon Clones now.

Grogu speaking with Ashoka was through the Force and not verbally.  When Djarin asks her if she can understand him, she's speaks of it being more of a connection.  I don't think he'd be able to make that kind of connection to non-Force users in order to say the Creed.  But that does beg the question, even though the species ages slowly, how long does it really take them to make verbal speech?  He obviously understands them all and even knows how to hit the verbal controls for IG-12, to make his point across.  They don't have a Star Wars equivalent of a Speak-and-Spell he can use?  Hahaha.  That would be a perfect addition for whenever he gets Mandalorian gauntlets for his tiny arms.  Incorporate a Speak-and-Spell.  :)

I don't remember the source for that prop maker leak but how long will that be? I would guess skeleton crew releases in December at earliest. So perhaps 2024 at earliest for Boba involvement and adding to skeleton crew iirc the first official still from the show featured some gatekeeper droids maybe for some unknown reason Jude Law visits Boba's palace? Wouldn't make much sense but this writing doesn't make much sense nowadays. I wouldn't mind if it's contrived writing I just wanna see Boba again.

Yeah, I can't remember where that propmaker source came from either. It's something I've seen in a few places making rounds, so like any rumor I'm just being cautiously optimistic but taking it with a grain of salt. I know Skeleton Crew is at least slated for this year, so like you said, I could see it coming in December or something since Ahsoka will be in August. So... maybe we won't have to wait too long to see Boba again, but it's gonna be a painful wait regardless before we see Lord Fett in the flesh. Even though I actually like Book of Boba, if we do get second season, I hope they don't detract from Boba's story again like season 1 did by derailing into another character's story. Even if BoBF was techincally "season 2.5" of Mando, it still irks me that the title character got his show hijacked by another guy's story. Don't get me wrong, I really like Din, and if you wanna have him appear as a supporting character, that's fine, but don't make it into his show when Boba Fett's name is literally the title of the show!
...Nope, I wasn't bothered by that at all. Definitely. lol

Some bad news I read today from Temuera Morrison seems to suggest Boba was planned for Season 3 but cutbacks changed plans. It's possible those reports of props being made were true but then nothing came of it.

This is what Tem Morrison said during his Q&A panel at SUPANOVA Comic Con & Gaming convention in Melbourne, Australia:

“I was supposed to be in The Mandalorian season 3 but nobody rang me. I was waiting for the phone call in New Zealand, waiting and wanting to give up.”

“Well that Mando guy stole a few chapters of my book. It was painful watching him turn up with some black new lethal sword. And the way he turned up in my Book of Boba, he just destroyed everybody. I’m sure this guy is… ah… ruining my show. But I couldn’t say anything. I’m not the writer, so I have to bear it I guess”

“I think there is a few changes going on. We also come under the big umbrella known as “Disney” now too. So it’s one of the last few conversations we had in L.A . The conversation started like, “Oh look we’re having a few changes. We’re having a few cutbacks.” And when you hear that at the other end of the line, it’s no good trying to negotiate any more money that’s for sure. So we’ll see what happens.”

source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/boba-fett-actor-temuera-morrison-never-received-a-call-for-the-mandalorian-season-3/ar-AA1aeQAJ

This news really sucks. It makes it sound unlikely we will see Tem as Boba Fett again as it sounds like he feels disrespected, by both with what happened with BOBF's 2nd half, and his absence from Season 3 of Mandalorian (apart from voicing Clone Troopers), and it appears that Favreau & Disney do not have Boba in their future plans, or not any time soon I am guessing. Very disappointing how Tem has been treated. He deserves better, and so do Boba Fett fans.

I'm super sad that Tem feels the same way as us, he clearly loves Boba and playing Boba and he has been undermined because of piss poor writing when we all know how great of an actor he is with good writing. This Mando season Tem was relegated to a few voice lines and an off hand mention when he should have been a supporting character from the start of the season, I really hope this isn't the last we see of Boba. As time goes on and on I keep growing in my resent towards Dave Filoni, he's a  very frustrating writer and he keeps and adding his own characters into every single project. Like there was absolutely ZERO reason for Ahsoka to appear in BoBF. The disaster of including Din Djarin and excluding Boba for two ENTIRE episodes in his own show just frustrates me so much like first Din steals Boba's character traits and then his own show??? and then there's the people who are like "oh those are the best BoBF episodes" and hate on all the other episodes like we didn't get some of the greatest Star Wars content of all time (Episode 2 of BoBF was peak SW) The only reason I was interested in the Ahsoka series was the prospect of Tem appearing as a live action Captain Rex but this interview leads me to believe that Star Wars may have abandoned Tem asides from minor VA roles and off hand mentions.

This just makes me mad. Like, Temuera is a fantastic human being who deserves to be treated with more respect. I know there's a lot of crap that goes on behind the scenes on these projects, and it's upsetting that he's been on the receiving end of it too. On top of this, they took one of the most iconic SW characters, the original Mandalorian, and did him dirty. Honestly, it feels like they're bent on giving legacy characters the shaft lately (e.g. Luke) to further push "look at how great our new characters are!" Like, it's fine to bring spotlight to new characters and have them grow into beloved icons themselves, but it shouldn't come at the expense of what came before.
I feel really bad for Tem, and I hope this doesn't mean we aren't going to see him anymore. Even if he was making these comments in jest, I wouldn't doubt that there's truth to them.

I couldnt agree more, Temuera is indeed one of my fav characters but they treated him badly.