It’s technically both. And Din Djarin specifically was a foundling that was rescued by Mandalorians and adopted into that culture. He seems to have some memory of his previous life, so my assumption is Din is his family name. I brought up the similarity to East Asian cultures earlier in the thread. He’s the only Mando we know of with that naming convention, but I’m going to chalk it up to it being from his birth parents/culture.
The finale was pretty good. A ton of very fun action. The Praetorian Guard fight was visually great (something about that design and those weapons just looks awesome) and the jetpack fight had the potential to look really dumb, but it was just cool as hell. Famuyiwa continues to be the top director for this show. I'm still disappointed with how this season went down though. I was looking forward to the Mandalore focus, there was a ton of potential for conflict between different factions vying to retake Mandalore and shape it in their own image, but all of that potential was brushed to the side. It also seems like that Rangers of the New Republic show is just going to become Mando season four. I'm sure it'll be fun. The adventure of the week format works well for this show, but I can't help but feel the natural trajectory of this show was cast aside so they could build to the Thrawn crossover movie.
Oh, I kind of like that they had the guts to destroy the Dark Saber though. I'll hand it to this show, for as much as it is playing with action figures they are fine with destroying some of the cooler toys like the saber or the razorcrest.
My ideal trajectory when they first announced all of the other shows, and that they'd all culminate in a crossover, was: The Mandalorian would build up the regrouping of Mandalorians with the goal of retaking Mandalore, Rangers of the New Republic (rip) would build up the reemergence of splinters of Imperials, and Ahsoka would build up finding Thrawn (and Ezra). Then the culmination would be a limited series (or film, I suppose), that had Thrawn leading the Imperial remnants trying to hold Mandalore, while the Rangers, Mandalorians, and the Rebels crew fought to take it back. But alas...
So the final two episodes were worth the meandering of the other 8. Except for the extended looks at dr Pershing’s life which seems like a legit waste of time at this point. Even if it’s explored in another show. However, despite that fact they took some risks and a lot happened in the last episode. I kinda hate that they ignored what felt like obvious undertones that the armorer was shady and working against the Mandalorians. For her to just pop up again and do battle is annoying. Was the audience just wrong in reading the subtexts that way? Could have at least made her a double agent or something. That would have felt like an interesting choice. Oh well.
Yea, this was my worry when they announced it would all crossover. It would be a case of no one show really getting a chance to focus on a singular story that makes sense for it. I just watched SWE's review of the episode and I agree with his criticisms of how Din's story went down. He had a major development at the end of last season when he removed his helmet to save and then say goodbye to Grogu. It seemed like he was on a path to reconsidering the strict code he followed, but they pretty much said no to that right away this season with the living waters thing. I'm not really sure where they're taking his character now.
Not much that hasn't been said already that I want to add. I'm very lukewarm on this season as a whole. Finale felt extremely rushed. If they cut out some of the filler bullshit this season they could've really fleshed out the retaking of mandalore or the mandos rebuilding at the end much more which I would have appreciated. The space battle in the concept art looked really fun for instance but that got cut. Weird they didn't really tease anything for future shows/seasons at the end either.
I’m not sure I’m sold on the execution of the dark sabers destruction. BUT I do like the symbolism throughout the season if it. There was so much focus on its power and relevance last season and before, but with the progress of the Mandalorians this season, some of those things have been pulled back with a focus on the people and the group. How Din just handed back the dark saber earlier in the season continued to show how his reverence was so low for it, and yes the rest of the Mandalorians followed it. But it was a step in that direction of moving passed the trinkets into meaningful relationships and society. Then with it being destroyed all together, it pulls away that trinket and gives true power from the people to their leader. I wish Bo had been the one to destroy it, so the decision was more conscious, though.
I can see why people expected a heel turn for the armorer but personally I didn’t feel that way. But I thought Axe Woves was for sure up to some shit.
ain't no way a dude named Axe Woves isn't up to a colossal amount of shady shit. also I still only see that actor as his Agents of SHIELD character, he plays a snake so well what I'm saying is just leave Gideon dead this time and give us a new villain for the love of god
I for sure thought it was going to be revealed that he was a double agent when he cleared everyone off the flagship.
Agreed, I was really hoping this was leading towards Mando casting aside all of the strict rules and codes and living by his own morals but I guess that might be too anti-religion for Star Wars lol