The Mandalorian Chapter 24 Review: Should Do Better

The Mandalorian Chapter 24 (Season 3 Episode 8) was released earlier today, and we have some thoughts about it. Now, before I get into what will be a review of the season’s finale, I have to warn you that there will be SPOILERS in this article.

I hope you’re OK with that. I will try and keep the spoilers to a minimum, but there are plot points in the episode that I will have to talk about, because a lot of my review of this episode has to do with the theories that came before it.

So, this episode picks up where Chapter 23 ended. Mando has been captured and is being taken away somewhere. Bo Katan and most of the other Mandalorians are retreating from Moff Gideon’s forces. Then we have Axe Woves going up to the fleet to warn them about Gideon’s plan and the incoming TIE fighters.

There’s also the Armorer, who in the previous episode was taking the injured to ‘safety’. Now, this is where my first slight issue with this finale and the way it was all set up comes into play. Myself, and many other fans of the show, were convinced that there was a spy in the Mandalorians’ midst.

The Mandalorian Chapter 24 needed some twists and turns

Credit: Disney Plus

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Many people thought it was either going to be Axe Woves or The Armorer and to be honest, the way this season was shaping up, it would have made a lot of sense. The Armorer, in my eyes and many other people’s, had been too quick to accept Bo Katan into their clan, and she was egging her on to get all the Mandalorians back in one place.

It just felt like she had an ulterior motive, and many people believed that she had made a deal with Moff Gideon. Then there’s Axe Woves, who has a lot of history with Bo Katan and wants to lead the Mandalorians himself. It would have made sense if he had ended up doublecrossing Bo and the other ‘heretic’ Mandalorians.

However, rather than go down that route, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the two masterminds of this Star Wars series, decided to just have the final episode be one big battle between the Mandalorians and Moff Gideon and his army of flying stormtroopers.

I do get it. It made for an interesting spectacle and a kickass fight between Din Djarin, Bo Katan, Grogu, Moff Gideon and his Praetorian Guards. I especially loved seeing Din Djarin go full John Wick in this episode.

However, I can’t help but think that it was a missed opportunity. Moff Gideon has been a step ahead of Din and co throughout this whole series, and then his final act in the show is that he just has superpowered Mandalorian armour.

Yes, it looks very cool, and the final battle is a very good one, but I kept on getting echoes of Captain Phasma from the sequel Star Wars trilogy. The people behind these latest Star Wars movies and TV shows come up with some brilliant villains, only to then dispose of them far too quickly, and they are never really given the space to develop into something more interesting.

Moff Gideon deserved better

Credit: Disney Plus

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Moff Gideon was a good Star Wars villain. Perhaps one of the best. But his final stand was, ultimately, a little bit disappointing. There was no master plan. There was no flourish, no final twist. He has literally nothing up his sleeve. I couldn’t help but think that it was a missed opportunity.

I do wonder whether Filoni and Favreau wanted to make way for Lars Mikkelsen’s Grand Admiral Thrawn. He was teased in the previous episode, and I also think that many Star Wars fans will be upset not to have seen him in The Mandalorian Season 3’s finale.

I also have to say that the whole Moff Gideon clones reveal was very, very underwhelming. We knew that he was up to something with those clones, and it turned out he was trying to make a clone of himself that could use the force. Well, if that were the case, then wouldn’t Gideon have way more security guarding his precious clones?

Din and Grogu just wander into Gideon’s room full of clones, and Din presses a button and kills them all. I was very surprised that this was the way that Favreau and Filoni chose to wrap up that particular story arc.

That said, I did appreciate the moment Moff Gideon destroyed the Dark Sabre. That was a pretty impressive and impactful moment in the episode. However, it wasn’t enough to redeem the episode’s rather lacklustre writing.

The Mandalorian Chapter 24 suffered from some lazy writing

Credit: Disney Plus

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I did enjoy the episode. I thought it was fun and well-made. However, I think that it suffered from some very lazy writing. It’s almost as if the people behind this series just wanted this season to end so that they could start work on the next shiny thing in the Star Wars universe, and that’s the upcoming Ahsoka series and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars movie.

This is a shame in my eyes because I think that if they had taken some more time to really think about the plot and focus on some proper character development, then we would have got a much more interesting and popular third season of The Mandalorian.

Instead, we were left with something that had moments of brilliance, but the end result was a bit underwhelming. There were some really low moments in this season also, something which we didn’t really get in the show’s previous seasons. I’m thinking primarily of the Jack Black and Lizzo cameos.

Credit: Disney Plus

As I said before, this finale was fine, but I was expecting so much more. I wanted some twists and turns. I wanted to see some deception and some real moments of treachery. Moff Gideon should have been given the chance to display his tactical and planning abilities.

Maybe that was always part of the plan for this character. Maybe the idea on Filoni and Favreau’s behalf was that Moff Gideon was going to be brought down by his own hubris and over-confidence. Ultimately, that’s what happened. However, after having followed the character for three seasons now, I got the impression that he was better and cleverer than that.

I also think it’s a bit of a waste of Giancarlo Esposito’s talents as an actor.

What do you make of this review? Do you feel the same way about The Mandalorian Chapter 24? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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