The Mandalorian's S3 Finale Is Thrilling, But The Battle Just Doesn't Make Sense
There have been many major battles across "The Mandalorian" and its multiple seasons, but few of them can match the scale and intensity of the battle of Mandalore in the Season 3 finale episode. As Din Djarin and Grogu have their climactic confrontation with Moff Gideon, so too do Din's fellow Mandalorians engage in their own big fight to retake their home planet once and for all. It all makes for another epic "Star Wars" battle, aside from one tiny problem — one part of the on-screen skirmish doesn't really make sense.
Throughout the battle, audiences see various characters — particularly Axe Wolves and his fellow Mandalorian fighters — using jetpacks for traversal. This isn't anything new for the show, as a previous episode of "The Mandalorian" also saw characters employing jetpacks. However, the exact manner in which this piece of gear is used in the finale conflicts with an important bit of information that was established in the series just a few episodes prior.
The finale jetpacks have way too much juice
During the Season 3 finale of "The Mandalorian," Axe Wolves uses a jetpack to manually fly into space and, later, propel himself back to Mandalore's surface. Considering the show's sci-fi trappings, there's not much of an issue with that plot point — or, at least, there wouldn't be if it didn't violate the in-universe rules that "The Mandalorian" had set for itself earlier in the very same season.
Back in Season 3, Episode 4 of "The Mandalorian" (the one with the nonsensical pterosaur plot), it's established that jetpacks in the "Star Wars" universe can only be used to carry their users a relatively short distance. It makes sense to add such a limitation to what would otherwise be a pretty overpowered piece of gear, especially as the story required a reason that the group couldn't simply pursue the pterosaur with jetpacks. The problem is that this clearly-defined limitation is tossed out the window in the Season 3 finale. Axe Wolves shouldn't be able to take himself all the way up into space with a "Star Wars" jetpack, let alone make a round-trip back to the surface.
All in all, it's a fairly minor continuity error that doesn't really affect the overall quality of the battle or the episode — but it's a continuity error nonetheless.
There's a fan theory to explain the jetpack discrepancy
Some diehard fans of "The Mandalorian" also took notice of the apparent discrepancy in the use of jetpacks during the Season 3 finale. As u/Weirling put it in their list of issues with the episode: "The jetpacks limitation was a pretty big issue in a previous foundling episode, but now someone can just hit low orbit with no problem."
Nonetheless, one fan has pushed back on the critique by offering a theory that could possibly explain why the jetpacks in the Season 3 finale are so much more powerful compared to the ones featured in Season 3, Episode 4. As u/gbejrlsu suggested, there might be a difference in build quality between the weaker jetpacks used by the Children of the Watch and the stronger ones used by Axe Wolves and his fellow Mandalorians. "I'm thinking the Children of the Watch group were making do with whatever they could find, building their equipment in a cave with a box of scraps," the user explained. By contrast, the Mandalorian resistance had access to regular society and would naturally be able to take advantage of better tools and equipment.
This theory hasn't been explicitly confirmed, but it's probably the closest that fans will get regarding an in-universe explanation for why the jetpacks in the Season 3 finale of "The Mandalorian" are so strong.