“The Rescue” is an entertaining, emotional, and very flawed finale

So the finale for The Mandalorian season two is out and everybody is completely loving the hell out of it. Naturally, I went in with exceedingly high expectations and came out severely disappointed. The end reveal, which I won’t spoil, legitimately angered me, and I do not think this is an episode worth doing a full review on. Grievances aside, however, this is still a very fun episode with a usual terrific action sequences and fantastic musical score. Bo-Katan is back with her crew and she kicks ass, Boba Fett has some nice moments (especially in that after-credits scene), and all the character development leading up to this one, 47 minute event does ultimately pay off. The gist of Chapter 16 was Mando, Fett and Fennec going to Katan and her crew to attempt to rescue Baby Yoda from Moff Gideon’s literal prison of a ship. After they reluctantly agree to help, the group is on yet another heist to rescue the cutest alien in the galaxy. No, this is not as unsatisfying as The Rise of Skywalker, but literally ret-conning the entire sequel trilogy? That isn’t cool guys, NOT COOL. Half of the fan base does actually enjoy the new trilogy of Star Wars movies, and it certainly alienated me. The worst part is that the reveal at the end doesn’t even look cool. The CGI is terribly mediocre, and the acting feels as stale as Leia in Rogue One. In fact, the whole thing reminded me of a cheap version of the Darth Vader reveal. They tried to re-create that magic with almost total failure. It feels ham-fisted and almost like director Peyton Reed resorted to pandering to fans with yet another empty cameo. Hopefully we’ll see more of it in the next season. If this wasn’t a finale, I would be more lenient, but I was truly hoping season two would stick the landing completely after so many good episodes. Don’t worry, I will still be watching out for The Mandalorian season three, and this wasn’t necessarily bad, but the last ten minutes leave something to be desired.

The final opinion is: The Mandalorian’s “The Rescue” has all the entertaining action and brilliant musical cues as its best episodes, but besides enjoyment factor, the finale ultimately disappoints with its out-of-left-field reveal. I would say…BROWSE IT