That Girl At The End of the World

I think there is a general desire among a lot of fan communities to see characters they've become attached to only go through stories that are easy or comforting. Some of this I feel is due to the development of parasocial relationships with characters in media. People come to care about Din and what makes them happy is to see him exist in an easy or domestic lifestyle because to them that would be like checking in on a friend and seeing that they are happy and doing alright. I think this is also a key motivating factor in fan fiction as a whole. It allows you to continue revisiting characters in scenarios that official narratives do not and often times those are very lowstakes and emotionally soothing stories.

Additionally, there's a large amount of people that just turn to media like Star Wars for escapist entertainment. When they go to the theater or open Disney+, they want to see narratives that are exciting and full of spectacle, but don't make them uncomfortable. They want characters who are cool and likable doing cool things that never lead to experiencing genuine pain or becoming less likable. There's a part of me that understands this desire. We live in a very stressful, scary world and many see Star Wars as their way to step away from reality for a little bit of time. It lets them catch up on characters they care about and see some imaginative imagery.

The issue is that this sort of narrative is ultimately sort of empty. Its a fast food burger that dependably tastes the same regardless of where in the world you order it. You get what you wanted going in. But that's not art. That's not story. That's product. There may be artistry involved in creating said product, but the product itself doesn't want to do anything other than sustain its existence and continue providing similar feelings to the people who want it.

The issue is that Star Wars can be and has been more and is stuck in this consistent battle throughout its existence on how it wants to be product and how it wants to be art. You swing too far one way or another and you end up causing a firestorm. The Mandalorian to me seems to be a series that has at least some aspirations on being art or at least telling a story, but all too often feels compelled to return to its roots as a product. Its why you get big character changes for Din that are ultimately undone or seasons that function as guest star conveyor belts.

And I don't know, I don't even think there's something inherently wrong with Star Wars "the product." I love being served a little nostalgia or comfort every now and then, but eventually I start wanting something with a bit more flavor or thought? And sometimes that means making me a little uncomfortable or challenging my expectations.

I think there is a general want for characters to stay in a relatively familiar status quo so they feel familiar and unthreatening. I've sort of come to realize that a lot of fandom views media as a form of escapism or comfort rather than a kind of narrative or art. Keeping Din as a wandering spacedad with his green magic son is something people are emotionally attached to and some just want the show to continue providing those same feelings.

In terms of storytelling, it just makes sense to push Din out of his comfort zone. That's part of what made the early episodes of The Mandalorian so fun. We watched this solitary warrior become attached to a strange young child and eventually become comfortable being his father. Season two was about forcing him out of that comfort zone once again by making him come to terms with having to say goodbye to Grogu.

There is no arc in season three like this for Din. He gets reunited with Grogu undoing his growth from the second season. He makes up with the cult hat excommunicated him and with Bo-Katan with little to no difficulty. He passes off the burden of the Darksaber due to a technicality and abdicates his position of leadership within the community. If anything, the season is a regression, Din gradually passing away all the changes in his life so he can return to his previous status quo. There's maybe even a story there. We could have watched a more complicated story that sees Din actively looking to shirk his newfound responsibilities or changes to return to the version of himself that he finds the most comfortable. It's a fundamentally selfish turn for the characters and it would have made Din much more flawed and less heroic , but I would have gladly watched a story like this because it would have been telling us something about our protagonist.

The key to telling a compelling personal story is by challenging your protagonist on a personal level and then following their emotional journey on how they respond to those challenges. Some characters rise to the occasion and grow as people. Some fail to do so and have to live with the fallout. The Mandalorian takes a third fundamentally broken route: a character that does neither.

I mean, just having an arc at all would have been nice....

Saltiness aside, I think Din was already set up to have a pretty easy to plot and relatively compelling story arc for season three. Without wanting it, Din had inherited a weapon that makes him the defacto leader of an entire culture of people. He has one former ally, Bo-Katan, who is more than a little annoyed with him for having stolen the title from her and he has loyalties to a cult of fundamentalists who have their own separate view of Mandalore's future. It's such a fundamentally drama rich set up that it's frankly shocking to me that it was completely punted this season.

Like, imagine how compelling a season it would have been to push Din out of his comfort zone and place him in the position to be making consequential decisions for his people. It would force him to reckon with his newfound political power and also navigate the wants and desires from multiple different factions and ideologies. You could spin an arc of Din not only coming into confidence as a leader, but also forge a new unified idea of what a Mandalorian could be. All the while, he has to balance this with having to take care of Grogu!

It's all right there! The ending to the show's second season practically hands this set up to future writers on a silver platter. We could have even ended the show in relatively the same place, but Din would feel like a more emotionally and psychologically rich character because of it.