The Mandalorian 2.8 Review - 6 Ups And 3 Downs From Chapter 16

3. Din Duelling Gideon

Yeah we all knew it was coming, but it definitely lived up to the hype.

Din makes his way to rescue Grogu and who else is there but Moff Gideon? I LOVE the exchange the two share here. Gideon looks like he's going to bargain with Din; he can have Grogu so long as Gideon gets to keep his Darksaber, as in Gideon's own words, he has all he needs from the Child.

It's great to see that Din doesn't care about the Saber at all. He isn't drawn to the power it brings and just wants to rescue his space wizard son.

Of course, Gideon takes the opportunity to double cross Din, leading to the duel with the Beskar spear and the sequence overall is really clever. It's not a duel we're really used to and seeing Gideon wield that thing like a maniac as opposed to a master swordsman exemplifies what makes this confrontation so great: neither Din nor Gideon are used to wielding either of these weapons, which leads to a frantic struggle and not an elegant duel to the death.