The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 2.08 - Chapter 16 (Season Finale!!) - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

It's too bad that pulse rifle perished with the Razor Crest...I'm gonna have to score a third-party Beskar spear for my Hot Toys Beskar Mando that's coming soon for my display.

 

Y'all weren't ready for Cool Hand Luke, now here comes Left-Handed Luke

 

Something I've been working on the last week or so. Enjoy.
Luke Skywalker's shoulders slumped in defeat. The man before him was no Force user, just a clever magician with a flair for the dramatic. Lando's tip had been worth checking out, but it had come up dry. Luke waited until the magician took a break from his stage show to quietly exit the performance hall on Canto Bight. Even in defeat, he was not going to go out of his way to be rude. He left a credit chit outside the theater as was common courtesy for all performers and retrieved R2-D2 from the droid corral just outside. The little astromech blew a loud raspberry as he waited impatiently to be let out of the gate and back into Luke's company. Luke smiled. Artoo was not used to being called property or treated like a machine.


The trip back to the spaceport was uneventful. Even five years after the confrontation at Endor, and a good 18 months since his last formal military action on behalf of the New Republic, Luke had never quite been able to relax in big open areas. He had the Force, of course, to warn him of threats to come, but if he relied on it too much, it quickly became deafening. He had grown so powerful that he could hear individual arguments and threats, even those that had no teeth behind them. In a big city like this, it was like standing next to a waterfall and being able to hear every last drop hit the bottom of the plunge.


As Artoo settled into his socket, Luke went through his datapad to see where his journey to find possible apprentices might take him next. None of them seemed more than wispy threads of possibility. The magician had claimed to audiences that his ability to use the Force made his illusions real. Luke had quickly seen otherwise. He was trying not to get too disappointed when each trip he took turned up dry. In the years since the Empire's defeat, he had committed himself to learning the history of the Jedi - for good and ill - in hopes of building the Order back in such a way that it could avoid the failings of the past. He had started on Coruscant and expanded his search outward. He had travelled to Tython and Dantooine and a dozen other spots that had once hosted Jedi academies. He had delved into Palpatine's heavily-coded stores of Sith artifacts, visited Korriban and its foreboding tombs, and spent two days scouring his own father's massive fortress on Mustafar, the planet where his research told him that Darth Vader had been stopped at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, only to be reborn as the monstrous black visage that Luke had ultimately help redeem.


Obi-Wan ... how Luke longed to hear his voice again, or see his shimmering form appear. The contacts came less frequently now, as did his meditations with Yoda. He felt frustrated that he did not know how to reach them at his leisure, but perhaps that was the point - that they came only when they deemed it necessary, or that they didn't actually have the answers that he sought: How to build an order that could do as the Force willed without letting politics and procedure and governments tint their pure connection.


Moving the Jedi Temple to Coruscant had been the beginning of the end, at least as far as Luke could tell. The Jedi became servants of the Republic, rather than servants of the Force, which had become more of a resource they were all utilizing rather than a power that guided them to the truth. It was difficult to characterize his two masters as failures. Yoda, whom he now knew had led the Jedi Council for centuries through many crises, but failed to detect that his greatest enemy was hiding in plain sight as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. And Obi-Wan, who Luke had loved despite their short time together as master and apprentice. Obi-Wan who had taken on the task of training young Luke knowing full well what had become of his father. Luke didn't have nearly enough information on Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship to know what had happened, although certainly Anakin's secret marriage to he and Leia's mother had driven a wedge between him and the rest of the Jedi Order. But from all of the official records, the team of Skywalker and Kenobi had been unbeatable, inseparable, and as close as brothers. It scared Luke to think how such a bond could have been twisted so utterly to rend them mortal enemies. He had, of course, seen Palpatine's manipulations up close aboard the second Death Star, and nearly fallen victim to them. Had that alone been enough to drive his father from the light into the darkness? Or had Obi-Wan looking the other way over Anakin's unorthodox techniques and his forbidden relationship contributed just as much? Luke was afraid he would never know.


He had a message from Leia waiting on his datapad and his smile was bittersweet as he saw her image appear - full and happy and very pregnant, insisting that he join her on Chandrila for an important ceremony. Perhaps that was the real problem nagging him. He had found the first of the new Jedi students right next to him on Endor when he had revealed the truth of their secret kinship just before leaving to confront Vader. It had taken nearly a full year, but eventually, and largely pushed there by Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar, Leia had agreed to being her training as a Jedi, instructed by her brother.


She had been a natural. Her fearsome mental reserves, the same that had kept her alive and aware during her imprisonment aboard the first Death Star, were on full display again in their training sessions as she pursued perfection. Where Luke's gifts shifted toward telekinesis, Leia's swung toward visions, of the past, the future, things happening at the exact same moment she was having them. She had woke him up one night and wrapped him in a powerful embrace. He had told her the details of his final confrontation with Palpatine and Vader, of course, and of the unmasking that had brought him one stolen moment with Anakin Skywalker, but that night she had seen it all for herself in a vision. She had come to hold her brother tight and share those emotions that he had carried for years alone - of regret and love and grief for the true father neither of them had ever known.


But Leia's visions had also brought about the end of her training. She had ended her training as easily as someone might push back from a meal when they found they were stuffed, no matter how tasty it had been. She had told him of her vision; that she had seen the death of her unborn son, and wanted to stop that from happening by walking away. It pained Luke to stay silent about trying to change your destiny by changing your path. He didn't know if it was possible, and he didn't want to seem like he was trying to change her mind. He took her saber when she offered it and had given her nothing but unconditional love ever since.


He had just broken the atmosphere and was helping Artoo plug in Chandrila's coordinates to the navcomputer when he suddenly felt a rush of emotions cascading over him. He had never felt such a surge through the Force, not even when he had called out to his sister over great distances. Somewhere, someone was using the Force like a fountain to send a call out to the rest of the galaxy. Luke reached out with his own feelings, trying not to be too eager of what this could mean, wary as always for a trap from the Dark Side.


There were no words, at least none Luke could understand. There were pictures and feelings, images and movement. Memories of the past and a clearer image of the present. The being was on Tython, Luke recognized the confluence of stones immediately from his own time there, but it was not born of Tython. It sent images of itself in a starship with a man in a suit of Mandalorian combat armor. Luke wondered if the creature was some sort of bounty target, but the being rebuffed this idea - it showed images of the Mandalorian protecting him, feeding him, holding him - a most unlikely father figure, but who was Luke to judge? When he finally saw the being reflected in his protector's helmet, his heart caught in his throat. It was far younger of course, but the broad ears, the curious, kind eyes, the green skin ... Luke could almost smell Yoda's root leaf stew and taste the humid Dagobah air again. But, of course it couldn't be. Yoda was dead these past five years and this creature was smaller, younger, and far more innocent.


The being was only a child, but he was still older than Luke. As they shared memories and thoughts with each other, Luke's pulse picked up as he saw Coruscant in its memories, a shining beacon of the Old Republic and the Jedi Temple, gleaming in the sun. He dove inside its walls with the Child - through what seemed like a nursery full of other tiny creatures and into a classroom with large windows gleaming full of sunlight and warmth and positively pulsing with the Force. There were perhaps a dozen students there. Humans for the most part, but a Bith here and a Twilek there as well. They were following instructions from a powerfully-built Kel Dor male wearing a breathing apparatus that muffled his deep voice as he spoke to them on the ways of the Force.


Not wanting to only take, Luke pressed his own images forth of Obi-Wan Kenobi showing him the basics of lightsaber training onboard the Millennium Falcon all those years ago. The child reacted with pleasure at seeing a younger Luke training with remotes and a lightsaber, then Luke felt a surge of familiarity. The child shared another memory and Luke felt his eyes cloud with tears as he saw a far younger Yoda walking back and forth in front of a few students in a variety of shapes, sizes, and species. One covered in scales looked taller than Chewbacca, the child was barely up to its ankle. Another had a neck longer than Luke's leg. Listening through the child's ears, Luke heard Yoda teaching on the subject of looks being deceiving when another Jedi walked into the room and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt Master Yoda, you summoned me?"


That voice ... that clipped accent. Luke's mouth fell slightly open across the galaxy as he found himself looking at Obi-Wan Kenobi, perhaps 20 years old, greeting Yoda's students and kneeling to speak to the Master himself. Luke strained to hear their conversation, but the child had not only been close enough to hear any but the last brief exchange.


"Assistance, the Chancellor has requested from someone he trusts. When returned to the Temple your master does, go with him you will on this important negotiation."
"Yes, Master, I'm sure it won't take much time to convince them. Master Qui-Gon is an expert in such things. We'll be back before you know it."
"Perhaps, Padawan, but careful you must be. Great change is approaching you, I sense. Fulfill your mission, but be mindful of the future."
"Yes, Master Yoda. Of course."


Luke was charmed and touched to see his two masters interacting, and could not stop himself from sending one of his most powerful memories, that of the ghosts of his father, Obi-Wan, and Yoda when they had appeared to him on Endor following the fall of the Empire. Through their connection, he felt the child's warmth as it saw Yoda again, then its feelings turned cold and it seemed to pull back from the connection. Luke puzzled on this, then realized he was feeling the child's icy sense of fear, and knew who that fear was directed at.


The child's next vision radiated with fear and pain and death. Death on a scale Luke had never known in the Force. He saw the Temple again, but it was dark and loud and ... burning. The child was hiding with others of its size in what looked like a small hangar bay. He could hear lightsabers - dozens by the sound of it - humming through the air, but they were drowned out by blaster fire that sounded like peals of thunder crashing again and again. Through the child's eyes, he saw a young Twilek girl blocking laser bolts with her saber until she was overwhelmed. She fell to the ground on top of a Sullustan who didn't look much older than herself.
Children, Luke thought in horror. They were slaughtering the children of the Temple. Suddenly, strong hands lifted the child up and a strong, firm female voice said, "Grogu, come with me, we've got to get you out of here."


Luke never saw the Jedi's face, and Grogu was tucked inside some sort of traveling case, blind but still able to hear the older Jedi's breathing as she took quick, determined steps. From the sounds, he knew she had boarded some kind of ship - hatches hissed, engines begin to power up. As the repulsors engaged, a commanding voice roared from behind them, echoing off the hangar walls.
"STOP THAT SHIP! CONCENTRATE FIRE ON ITS ENGINES!"


The resulting laser blasts shook Grogu's case and bounced it onto the deck of the ship. The Jedi must have been a skilled pilot because she had the ship off the ground in an instant - Luke could feel it rising - but as it started to race forward it lurched to a stop. Caught in an invisible grip that Luke understood all too well. He reached out with the Force into Grogu's deep-seeded memories and recoiled mentally. He knew that darkness. He could feel the turmoil within, the clashing feelings of hatred, pain, and fear. Anakin Skywalker ... no, the change had already happened. Darth Vader was standing in the hangar holding the ship in place with the power of the Dark Side. Luke felt Grogu's heart pounding as the ship was dragged slowly back despite it whining engines. Suddenly, he felt a rush of relief as Vader's attention shifted suddenly. The Jedi pilot had used the gun turret on the escape ship's dorsal fin to open fire on Vader and the attacking clones. He had to focus on the incoming laser fire and in doing so lost his grip on the ship. It rocketed out the hangar, and Luke could feel the fury tearing through his father as he raged in the Dark Side.


In the present, Grogu let the memory fade and was quiet, questioning. Luke could feel the other's trust in him already waning so he reached deep within himself and called up memories that he had never shared with anyone save Leia. Of Vader's shocking revelation of their kinship on Bespin. Of feeling his father's conflict on Endor. Of Anakin's return to the light to save his son from death at the hands of the Sith. He poured his feelings of love and hope into those memories and Grogu responded in kind. He pushed forth his location on Tython again, a clear invitation that he wanted Luke to find him, train him, teach him. Luke sent back that he would leave immediately and the connection began to fade as he felt Grogu's fatigue from the effort of it all.


For a moment, Luke sat in silence, only vaguely aware that the connection had lasted far longer than he had thought. Fatigued from the emotions he had sent and received, Luke tried to steady his breathing but the images of his father at the Jedi Temple had unsettled him. He had been so eager to find new students to teach, but should he? Obi-Wan had trained Anakin, and Anakin had fallen. He had come back to the light, but only after helping Palpatine slaughter millions. Luke had come so dangerously close to turning to the Dark Side himself, he had tasted it on Tatooine in Jabba the Hutt's palace and again when overpowering his father under Palpatine's warped guidance on the Death Star. Leia had been easy to train because he knew her so well, and she shared his scars. Grogu, with the potential to be as powerful as Master Yoda, who was already older than Luke and would live centuries more; was it right to train such a being when his own knowledge was so insignificant?


Fear began welling up in Luke and he gasped aloud when he realized it was not of his own making. His connection to Grogu had not faded entirely and he felt the child's panic. Reaching out across the light-years he saw scattered images through Grogu's eyes of giant menacing blackness resembling stormtroopers converge and capture him. The child was overwhelmed with terror as the monstrosities flew off Tython with him up to an awaiting cruiser, a cruiser that ... bore the oppressive symbol of Luke's nightmares. The Empire.

Now more memories flowed through the Force into Luke's mind. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, slaughtered like animals by Imperial stormtroopers and burned like garbage outside their home. Leia, forced to watch Grand Moff Tarkin destroy her entire world as an object lesson in terrorism. Biggs, his best friend and the older brother he always wanted, reduced to atoms in the Death Star trench. That was what the Empire did. It took, it destroyed, it murdered. He hated it. He felt his fists clinching at the thought of the child in Imperial hands for who knows what purpose. He wouldn't let it happen. He would hunt them down, rip their ship apart and destroy them all. The power started to swell up inside of him and he shivered at what he was doing.


He opened his eyes and focused once more on the black glove he wore. Such a simple thing, but the best reminder he had of how close the Dark Side always was. He slowed his breathing and tried to relax, but fear and self-doubt kept pushing on his state of calm. Could he train Grogu in the ways of the Force or would he fail? Reaching out to the Force again he called to Yoda. Hoping fervently that this time his pleas were answered, not knowing how to sweep past the veil that separated the place he and Obi-Wan had gone from where Luke existed now.


Please, Master. What must I do? What path is the right one?


Silence. He had feared as much. Sometimes he wondered if defeating Palpatine and Vader had been the easy part, and what lie beyond the true burden. He had just about given up when a whisper passed to him through the Force. Whether it was from Yoda in the great beyond or merely a stray memory resurfacing didn't matter. He heard it as if his old Master had been standing in front of him.


Pass on what you have learned.


Luke set his jaw and his resolve. Yes, that was the path. To teach. To show them the way to be servants of the Force. His hands moved to the navcomputer as he kept a close lock on Grogu's presence in the Force. It didn't matter where the Imperials took him. With the Force as his ally, he would find them.


R2 had been oblivious to all of Luke's consternation in the Force, but seeing his master change their flight plan had him on alert and full of questions.


Luke smiled, an old memory surfacing as he powered up the hyperdrive.
"No R2, we're not going to Chandrila after all, we're headed to the outer rim," he reassured the droid. "I have a promise to keep to an old friend."

 

Since the picture got messed up, it's Harrison Ford as circa 1950/60s Indiana Jones from an episode of Young Indy made sometime in the 90s in anyone is wondering; he seemed to young in the Jack Ryan pictures I could find and my next best bet was him with a beard in The Fugative, but for some reason that reminded me to much of Thraken Sal-Solo, rather then Han.

Well, I googled it and now I understand.

So I'm going to assume we finally found out who left the coffee cup on the table in Winterfell and was driving the car in the background of Braveheart?

I think the EU novelization covers really missed the boat (overall, at least) with showing the ST heroes age; they only started looking come the NJO books, with most of the novels before those just using film stills or drawn copies of film shots.

Myself I always imagined Jedi Leia (or at least Jedi Leia when Anakin was that young) looking more like the below, just perhaps with her hair as it was on Bespin or the Ewok village as it's seems a little strange for her to want to duplicate her hairstyle from her time as a slave (even though IMO it is one of her better looking hairstyles).

That's really, really, really good, and fits well into what we know of canon; I myself have tried on occasion to make some sort of story set in the interim between the trilogies, but between my issue with opening chapters and my mind immedatly going to the big places I was never able to get around to it.

 

I heard on the radio yesterday that TM has become the most pirated TV show on the web, beating out GoT.

 

Are Disney/LFL missing out with no syndication or BluRay release of TM? CBS/Paramount have already have Discovery and Picard on other channels.and released on BluRay...

 

No. Make them sign up or stay signed up to Disney Plus.

 

Yeap. Which part did you notice on your tenth rewatch?
I noticed Din Djarin agreeing to join Bo Katan when all of this would be over on my first viewing, and I remember thinking that this is cool, it's setting up Liberating Mandalore already. As one would expect. Now that he's got the Darksaber, maybe it's Bo Katan that joins his faction? You know, since he is the rightful ruler of Mandalore?

Why? Do you have shares?
I am sharing one account with 3 more people, a gift from one of them.
I will never pay for Disney+

 

Yes.

But the truth is that I will pay for Disney Plus because I want them to keep making Star Wars TV shows. That’s my code. If I value something, I will contribute to it.

Are you OK with stealing from Dave Filoni?

 

I am sure there will be many complications before we get there. The 3rd season has the potential to be the darkest season. There is no way things will be simple, and somehow I am sure we will see a 4th season too, so plenty of stuff needs to happen. I am also confident that F and F know where this is going already, and they have mapped out everything.

I am not stealing from anyone, you can share a Disney+ account legally with a few people, each having their own profile.
Disney will be making Star Wars TV shows long after you and I perish, unless a meteorite crashes on the Earth first.
I contribute with money to indie artists, both when it comes to movies and music. Directly through bandcamp and official websites.
No spotify either, the artists get breadcrumbs from that. I also support with merchandise. That's my code.
Blockbusters and multinational colossal companies like Disney will survive without my support, I am sure of it.

 

I was joking.

 

I know
I still think it's an interesting discussion!

Back to the finale though. Now that the episode has sunk in, I feel that this season was so well planned out.

That finale must be one of the best season finales I have ever watched, across all shows I have watched.

And not just because of Luke. The whole episode was phenomenal, from the very first second.

 

A dedication to Jeremy Bulloch has finally been added to the credits in the final episode:

 

That’s cool.

 

Trapped inside becuase of snow and covid

The Darksaber does'nt in and off itself grant leadership - it's just a simbol of the claim like Blackfyre; and in the words of King Maekar, "the sword is not the kingdom."

Now, I'm not saying Din won't end up as Mandalore, but given that he clearly has no interest in doing so and no issue with Bo-Katan, him claiming leadership likely involves her death in battle or even her suddently doing a heal-face and becoming a villain (though that seems unlikely).

It will probobly be over most of the season; especially since it's doubtful they'll even get to Mandalore until a few episodes in.

I pay for Disney plus becuase I live in a house with a roomate and it's way easier to combine funds to pay the relatively small amount of money each month so we all get access to varius shows and movies we could'nt watch otherwise - especially since my roommate as a nine-year old daughter who loves (most) Disney movies.

 

Well, having won the Darksaber in battle does give him the right to rule Mandalore though. That's the tradition.
Also, I don't know who King Maekar is, I presume he's from a different franchise, but in Star Wars that's how things work with Mandalore

So you combine funds with your 9 year old daughter to pay? I see... child labor is illegal!

 

Any one can hold the darksaber, it does not make it theirs. For Djarin it just makes him a greater target. As other power hungry Mandos will want to sword for their own reasons including Bo-Katan. But they'd all be pretenders.

 

If that was the tradition then Pre Viszla would'nt have been the leader of a radical fringe group and both Din and Sabine would have automaticly been reconized as Mandalores leader.

It's a symbol of office that gives you the right to claim leadership (and a strong claim at that, apparently) but it seemingly does'nt automaticly make you the leader; if it did then Sabine could have/would have just ordered her mother to aid the rebels and this last episode would have ended with Bo and Koska kneeling to Din.

A Song of Ice and Fire (technically The Hedge Knight). It's the best analogy I could think of, but other then that maybe I could say it's like how having Narsil/Andúril did'nt automaticly make Aragorn the King of Gondor; different franchises, I know, but that's kinda the point of an "analogy," lol.

I combine money with her mother.

But I can see what I did there; it's "my roommate has a nine-year old daughter" not "my roommate as a nine-year old daughter."

 

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days and wanted to know what everyone else thinks.

Luke should’ve shown up after Mando had saved the day. As much as it was fantastic to see him at his prime slicing and dicing I think it took a little away from our actual hero.

They could’ve worked in a resolution where Mando resolved the Dark Trooper’s return with his team and then had Luke show up.

I think the writers were more interested in having a grand entrance for Luke swooping in to save the day, than having our actual hero think on his feet and save the day/make a getaway. They could’ve done something like override the central core of the ship and taken an escape pod or something.

I don’t know specifically what but I think the finale could’ve served Din better by having him be the star of the final act. You could still have the emotional farewell and the reveal of Luke.

After rewatching a bunch of times I’ve dropped my grade from a 9.5 to 8. It’s still a great episode I just think Luke’s entrance wasn’t necessary and falls into the exact trap that the writers of TFA were concerned with. I know the emotional core is still Din and Grogu’s farewell but yeah.

Thoughts? Unpopular opinion?

 

I think the Jedi are a very essential component of Star Wars. And Star Wars needs the Jedi to inspire and amaze us.

We have spent 2 seasons seeing Din Djarin able to overcome a hundred obstacles. He didn't need to prove his worth again.

This was a moment where the deep themes of Star Wars come into play. It needs its heroic figures. Luke is one of them.

One of the best of them,, if not the best. For me the last 15 minutes of that episode are non negotiable.

Mando has saved the day on multiple occasions, he didn't need to save the day again. For me, that would have been bad storytelling.

TFA did wrong in avoiding this. I don't see it as a trap. I see it as essential.

 

I can see your point Andrew, but I think the point that the showmakers were going for was to A) give Luke a suitably big enterance, B) show off the difference between in skill ability between Force users/non-Force users and C) to highlight that Din, relative to some other SW heros, is very much a "everyman."

Given how used to Jedi heroes we are it's easy to forgot that a lot of what they do that looks easy would be difficult, if not impossible, for most other peaple; it's kinda like how in Legends this was a super battle droid to a clone commando.

(a big, tough armored juggernaught that needs focused fire from four peaple to take down effectively and quickly)
while this was the same thing en mass to a Jedi.

(fodder you can more or less solo)