As the consensus seems to be, excellent finale. I lost my mind when Luke showed up, especially because while I thought it would be cool I did not think they would actually do it (or at the very least not in this episode)! Though I will say, a lot of the episode was somewhat predictable up until the point Mando beats Gideon with the spear. It was the ending bits that elevated it. And I am extremely interested to see what they do with Boba next. There are things with him this season I am mixed on and things I quite like, but I think giving him his own show or chapters in the position of a crime boss could make for some very compelling story.
How would you guys rank the episodes of this season? I don't think there was a single bad one but some I have more issue with some than others. I don't know if it's just because it was the first one or not but my favourite might still be the season opener. It was longer, had some great new characters, progressed the overall story but also had a nice contained gunslinger adventure within the episode and just the right amount of teases and fan service. My least favorite was probably episode 6 where Fett suits up for the first time. Seeing Fett kick *** was fantastic but everything else was meh in that one... more sloppy writing, not a whole lot actually happens, lowest budget looking episode of the series, etc.
I think my ranking would be as follows but it is hard to sort the mid-tier episodes:
1. Episode 1 with the dragon
2. Episode 5 with Ahsoka
3. Episode 3 with Bo-Katan introduction
4. Episode 8 with our favorite Skywalker
5. Episode 2 with Frog lady
6. Episode 4 with the secret Imperial base infiltration
7. Episode 7 with Bill Burr back
8. Episode 6 with Boba Fett suit up
Edit: Already changing my list lol