Is it just me, or did that feel like a fitting conclusion to the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu – not to mention the Mandalorians as a whole – until such time as other stories in the Star Wars universe require them to come out of retirement to help friends take down the latest foes in the galaxy? I mean, sure, we could have a fourth season of the series that sees Din and Grogu go on episodic adventures in their new roles as independent contractors for the New Republic (which, I suspect, would help refocus the series into what made it fun in its first two years before the sprawling and often disappointing quest for Mandalore took over and turned the series from a proto-Western into a very different series meant to help set-up other shows rather than tell its own story*), but are we entering the point of diminishing returns when it comes to continuing to follow Din and Grogu? We’ve seen the Mandalorians regain their home on Mandalore. We’ve seen the evil Moff Gideon vanquished through the combined powers of Grogu, Din, and Bo-Katan. We’ve seen that the much discussed Darksaber ended up being a Macguffin of sorts in the end (which was pretty disappointing). And we know just what Moff Gideon was planning on cloning (that would be himself, with the Force gene, which, again . . . pretty disappointing). What else is there to see or do for our central duo? And while this finale tied up all the necessary loose ends, it felt pretty anti-climactic when all was said and done. The battle happened. The bad guy was dispensed with. But it all felt rather meh and not a celebration of the characters and story arc.
*That’s not to say that I didn’t find elements of Bo-Katan’s journey to finally take her place as the leader of the Mandalorians interesting. I certainly did. Katee Sackoff is excellent, even when given some pretty awful dialogue to get through, and I would love to see what she could do teaming up with someone like Asohka in live action. But as The Mandalorian became bogged down in the story of Bo-Katan and moved away from the story of Din and Grogu, it turned into a series of competing narratives that it couldn’t sustain.
I think we all know that Disney would love to squeeze every last drop of money out of Grogu and his adventures. And who can blame them? Imagine when Grogu actually learns to talk! But if this season showed us anything it’s that there’s a shelf-life for every story in this universe and it certainly feels like we’ve hit the date for this one. What I would love would be a nice long break in seeing Din and Grogu. Perhaps we hear tales of their adventures in Ahsoka – she’s certainly going to need to hear what happened to Moff Gideon in her quest for Thrawn, after all. Maybe a one-off guest spot where they help Ahsoka in her quest before heading back into retirement until the recently announced Dave Filoni-directed film that will pull all our characters together for one final fight? I wouldn’t mind that. But the thought of another season, watching the pair go through the motions again – even with cool new sets, interesting missions, and further hints at the beginnings of the First Order – well, I don’t know if that’s a trip I want to take again.
With how uneven this season was, and with how choppy the writing has been (it’s never a good sign when fans can come up with cooler ideas for where the story might be heading than the writers themselves), I find that I’m hoping this is our last series outing with these characters. Perhaps it’s also the influence of Andor – a series that is superior on nearly every metric, save for having a cute puppet to drive up viewership – which is a series where there was a two-season order that allows Tony Gilroy to know the path of the tale and how to dole it out over that time frame. If there’s been one key Achilles heel for all Star Wars thus far it’s not having a clear and concise story to tell. When this universe is approached without that type of pinpoint focus, things fall apart. Was there such a plan for The Mandalorian? Perhaps. But what was once a simple story of a man and his ward traveling the galaxy in search of a home has now reached a point where the pair have all that they could have hoped for. They have friends, they are a family, and they have more than one place they can call home. And while we know they will continue to have adventures on their own, it might be time for us to walk away from their story for a bit and focus on some other stories that should be told. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all, and maybe we will find that we do miss Din and little Grogu after all.
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