The Mandalorian S3E8: The Return

"The Return" is the stunning finale of a great season, allowing the beauty of this show to shine throughout.

Season 3 of "The Mandalorian" concluded with "The Return," a finale that fired on all cylinders and crushed it in every way. Fans have been vocal about feeling this season has been subpar compared with the previous two seasons, but it was a perfect continuation of the story of Din Djarin and his foundling Grogu.

The biggest complaint this season revolves around Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) taking center stage to the point where fans were wondering if the title of the series referred to her instead of Djarin (Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder). That's right, Djarin. Why not Din, you asked? We'll get to that in due time, but for now, let's focus on who is "The" Mandalorian.

After watching "The Return," it's obviously referencing Djarin – maybe. All signs point to this, including the closed captions, but a small scene at the end of the episode calls things into question. Earlier this season, one of our characters interacted face-to-face with the great Mythosaur. In "The Return," another of our characters forges a connection with the beast, which I hope turns into something more than a fleeting moment.

"The Return" opens right where the previous episode, "The Spies," left off, with Djarin captured by Moff Gideon's (Giancarlo Esposito) forces and Bo-Katan and the rest of the Mandos fleeing in hopes of regrouping. Din's able to free himself with some help from Grogu. My favorite shot of this entire sequence is Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides) making his way through the Mandalore atmosphere to reach the Mando command ship. It's a stunning shot I absolutely loved.

After defeating the Stormtroopers, Djarin tells Grogu the time for running is over, and the two must find and take out Moff Gideon. They encounter the corridor of Stormtroopers separated by energy barriers, and in their time of need, they must turn to the skittish droid R5-D4 to help lead them, and it's wonderful. Despite his electronic beeps of reservation, the R5 takes up the quest, finds a terminal, and disables each barrier one at a time for Djarin to dispatch the troopers. We also get a great scene of mouse droids attempting to apprehend R5, and it's hilarious.

In the air, Axe has reached the ship, commanded the others to get to the ground for battle, and stayed on board to lure the Tie Interceptors and Bombers away from the others. It's very cool to see his character get some much-deserved time on the screen where he can be a badass all by himself.

And with all the talk of clones since the series began, we get to see what Moff Gideon's pet project has been. While most thought Dr. Pershing's (Omid Abtahi) work was just a stepping stone to get us to Snoke and Palpatine in the sequel trilogy, we find Moff Gideon had other plans. Djarin and Grogu find a room full of Gideon clones, and we learn that Moff's ultimate goal is to create an army of clones in his image but with force and ability derived from Grogu's blood.

This is where all hell breaks loose in terms of action, and this episode is filled with it.

The Armorer (Emily Swallow) returns to help Bo-Katan retake Mandalore, and it's epic. As a mass of Mandalorians descends from the sky, Bo-Katan is out front leading the charge with the Darksaber ignited, slicing her way through Stormtroopers like butter.

Djarin faces off with Moff Gideon, with the baddie getting the upper hand when he calls in the Praetorian Guard. But when they start zapping Djarin, Grogu enters, slamming his "No" button in the IG-12 suit with the meanest face I think we've seen from him. The guard isolates Grogu from Djarin, and the little one must use his skills to evade the elite guard.

The epic final battle comes down to Djarin, Bo-Katan, and Grogu facing off against Moff Gideon with a Mandalorian fight raging around and above them. Barbs and blows are traded, but when Axe rides the disabled command ship to the surface and into the heart of the base, the flames consume Gideon, and it's Grogu's force ability that saves our heroes as he forms a shield around them to keep the fire from overtaking them. Grogu uses the force multiple times in this episode, and not a single time does he use it against his enemy, but only for defense. His time with Master Luke Skywalker seems to have served him well.

Following the battle, the Mandos gather at the Living Waters to finish Ragnar Vizsla's (Wesley Kimmel) ceremony from earlier in the season. Then Djarin asks that Grogu takes the Creed, which the Armorer refuses since he's too young to speak the Creed. Djarin ultimately adopts Grogu as his apprentice and son, making Grogu's new name Din Grogu.

See, I told you I'd get the Din/Djarin thing sooner rather than later. In a very cool twist, we find that Din is his surname, which I didn't expect or even think about. Mirroring, kinda, Rey taking on the Skywalker name in "The Rise of Skywalker," I thought it was a nice touch and honestly challenged my dislike of Rey taking on the monitor, which I never thought would happen.

Djarin and Grogu find their way back to the Adelphi base to offer their services to Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) to hunt down Imperial remnants in the Outer Rim as an independent contractor for the New Republic. In a nice cameo, we also see Trapper Wolf (Dave Filoni) in the background wearing his signature cowboy hat and appropriately talking about Plo Koon. If you don't know the connection, take a trip over to Google and find out why that's significant.

As the episode nears its close, the two regift IG-11 back to Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), who will now serve as Marshal of Nevarro, and Greef gives them a tiny cabin with a small pond stocked with frogs. The episode ends with a beautiful shot of Daddy Djarin kicked back in a chair, watching his young one force-lifting a frog from the pond. It's a shot I hope is repeated when the series calls it quits because it's literally that beautiful of an image.

My only question is why they chose to use a Looney Tunes-type zoom to close out the episode. I think this could be the opening shot of the "Ashoka" series since it appears that Grogu begins to look at something when he drops the frog back into the pond. I'm assuming that Ahsoka just off-screen breaks the young apprentice's concentration and would account for the weird choice for Zoom.

I love the family drama "The Mandalorian" has morphed into, and I can't get enough. The season 3 finale, "The Return," is an excellent example of giving fans what they want and, more importantly, what they need. It's OK not to have a cameo everyone will talk about or tear to pieces. Show us that our heroes can take care of themselves and give them a momentary pause so they can enjoy the moment as much as we are. They've earned it.

The episode clocks in at less than 40 minutes, and it's a quick 40 minutes. Series creator and writer Jon Favreau and director Rick Famuyiwa give us a great finale to a season that delivered in many ways. The duo created a story that gave our heroes moments to shine and gave us time to appreciate them. I love the confidence this team has, making a show that’s something special, taking their time and not deviating from their chosen course.

I also love that it looks like we'll go back to weekly episodic adventures for Djarin and Grogu and that's when this show is at its best. It will be nice to have that aspect of the show back and I believe season four of "The Mandalorian" will be its strongest yet.

"The Return" is the stunning finale of a great season, allowing the beauty of this show to shine throughout.