Chapter 23: The Spies

What I mean is that this episode at least comes closest to what I expected from this season! I feel like this is what the writters were intending when this season was announced! My problem is.. why did we waste time getting here?

This episode has its cool moments! I liked the beginning of the episode, but lacks the complete element of surprise since it came out after the announcements at Star Wars celebration and therefore we already know some of it!

The rest of the episode is mixed! I enjoyed the action, but I do feel this episode could have been even better if the elements of this episode were added much sooner! Explored the characters and backstories from this episode, in the previous episodes, instead of wasting our time with side quest and cameo fest's!

The important parts of the last 3 episodes could have been combined in one episode! It leaves the season with two moods: dragging or rushed!

The writting is also.. hit or miss!

This was not the worst episode, but it could have been better if there had been a natural build-up instead of suddenly rushing things!

Penultimate episode and they've rammed as much predictable cliches as they can into it.

Gave it a 7 because the last 5 minutes were excellent but even those were cliched nonsense.

Moff Gideon character gets more annoying with every scene he's in too. He's a cut and paste bad guy who just happens to have all the best tools all he's missing is a top hat and a moustache long enough to twirl.

Grogu is being forced into these eps but I love him and have nothing bad to say about him, he's too cute.

All in it's a decent episode but honestly, if this had been spread across the whole season it would have been as good as the first one.

As a viewer I was like the the first 20 mins is actually really good and then in the middle 20 mins was like exposition ( which they could have told through out the whole series ) but whatever it was nice hear the lore but then last few part was good I didn't felt anything truth to be told , it felt like the writers thought let's do this and make the viewer emotional but it wasn't and kind of flat but it does feel like they want to character develop everyone in one episode instead of doing it through out the whole series and it was kind of pirates of Caribbean vibes which I enjoy and there are lots of plot holes in this episode which was like yeah you guys didn't think through .

We Finally Get What Should've Been in Episode 2 or 3, an actual scene of the antagonist of the season apparently, only after 6 episodes out of the 8 have passed without any antagonist or a coherent and clear story and plot.

And obviously, they couldn't have shown the intro scene in episodes 2 or 3 since the story development of Mandalore's plot line wasn't there yet. But you know what I mean. Actually reintroducing your antagonist in the first few episodes of the season is not a bad idea maybe? Is it blasphemy and an outrageous thing to ask for the plot and story and the antagonist to be revealed at the beginning of the season? Is it too much to ask for decent storytelling?

And we have yet another cliché senseless sacrifice we've seen in a hundred other shows and movies. They don't even try to make the situation look dire enough to warrant this sacrifice to make at least make some sense, but nope, amateurish writing we've seen before all the way through. Sure it's a nice way for a character to get out, but make it make sense maybe? Make it look and feel less artificial and contrived and an attempt at emotionally manipulating the audience to feel bad for a semi-random bozo we've seen a few times throughout the season.

And as much action there is in this episode and the whole season, they're not even that good and I've become numb to these action and fight scenes as they keep having them every 5 minutes, and most of them are choreographed poorly and shot so blandly that you just get bored after the nth shootout scene starts.

I'm sure the hardcore Star Wars fanboys creamed their pants when they saw Red Praetorian Guards, and it wasn't even a good fight scene, but I'll give them that it was a nice introduction to them or whatever. But for someone who doesn't gobble up Star Wars theory and stories and animated shows every day, and has only seen these annoying red guards in the Fallen Order games, it's like "Oh, cool, I guess these guys are in this show too". Like the season and the show as a whole feel like a giant fan service with celebrity cameos that ruin the immersion and just references after references to other shows and movies to make the fanboys become the star eyes emoji instead of having its own story.

I guess this has been the case since season one, but we gave them a pass since it was a new thing and it was gonna hopefully find its own story and interesting plotlines after a while. But this is the after of that while and they totally should've canceled this show after season two because it's obvious that they had no idea what to do with the show anymore. But for some reason which we all know why, they didn't hand over the show to writers who are more competent who can actually write actual plots and characters.

It is fascinating how the writers manage to both drag and rush the storytelling of the season at the same time. But I guess that's what happens when you send your supposed "main character" to do fetch quests and side quests for 80% of the season.

The overly high rating of this episode doesn't surprise me a bit since you only need one 5-second cameo from Luke or another Clone Wars show character to please the fanboys and make them forget all the mid and trash previous episodes, and forget that the antagonist should've been introduced way earlier into the season, not in the penultimate episode!

Nearly 90% of the show has passed and not once did we have a decent episode with actual good writing, so I doubt the last episode would be much different. Overall a really uninteresting, boring, and below-mediocre season. Imagine actually paying monthly and waiting each week to get something like this.

It has been a sporadic seasom of Thr Mandalorian, and I was hoping this chapter would being the various story threads together, in this regard, it certainly did not disappoint in some regards, but other threads remain open. Katee Sackhoff's performance as Bo Katan was exceptional, showcasing her talents and delivering a character that was both fierce and vulnerable.

One of the highlights of the episode was the humorous moments with Grogu and his new fancy robot suit. Seeing him waddle around in it was an adorable sight and brought some light-heartedness to the episode. Additionally, the inspirational moments of Mandalore coming back were moving and gave me a sense of hope for them.

Amazing special effects and a great action scene at the end was exciting. Some truly sensational work from the film makers here.

Still haven't quite captured the magic moments of the first 2 seasons, and I'm hoping the finale brings it all together. I think I'm largely disappointed with the season, but I'm along for the ride.