[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, "The Rescue."]

Let's be perfectly clear right up front: The sight of a young Luke Skywalker tearing through a squadron of  Darktroopers is something that whips ass on every observable level. My dude showed up in an X-wing with the same damn haircut he's had for a decade and crushed an evil robot with his mind like a Tab can. Incredible. The Mandalorian is built on moments like this, moments where iconic Star Wars figures briefly emerge from their place in The Lore to give the audience the type of pure adrenaline boost that can only come from 43 years of devoted fandom. But, like I've been saying all of Season 2, that's a shaky foundation to rest a story on. After the truly wild climax that was "The Rescue," it's clearer than ever that The Mandalorian is at its best in the rare moments the show prioritizes genuine emotion over spinoff-worthy cameos.

Almost all of those moments come from our main Mando, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), the first Star Wars character who truly could not care less about Star Wars.

That's not to say that I could not care less about Star Wars. Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) leaping into live-action is thrilling, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) climbing his ass out of the Sarlacc Pit is a life-long dream for many a fan, and it's completely understandable why even something like a simple Grand Admiral Thrawn name-drop could elevate an episode in some viewers' eyes. But these things don't add up to a story; references should be the spices that add zest to a meal, not every dang course. The Mandalorian Season 2 lost track whenever the blinding WOW factor of its familiar faces obscured the fact it does actually have a strong emotional core: the relationship between Din Djarin and his adopted Force-sensitive son, Grogu.

The best moment of The Mandalorian Season 2 is in the Ahsoka Tano episode and has nothing to do with lightsabers or Beskar steel. It's Din, having just learned Grogu's real name and tragic backstory, asking the little green guy to take a metal ball from his hand using the Force. It's a quiet character beat that proves The Mandalorian can create memorable moments without relying on spectacle. Yeah, it's cool to see Grogu zap the ball out of Din's hand, but the part that sticks with you is the idea this vulnerable little child can only do it in the first place because he trusts Din not to hurt him for it. Pascal nails the delivery. His "great job, kid" has all the layers of a stubbornly stoic character who just can't help himself.

I was originally frustrated with how passive Din Djarin was throughout a good portion of The Mandalorian, but then I realized how relatable it is to have a main character who doesn't understand — or care, really — what all this fuss is about. It makes Star Wars feel both bigger and more personal at the same time. You've got these epic quests happening across the galaxy, Bo-Katan seeking to reclaim the throne of Mandalore, Ahsoka Tano hellbent on revenge, the Empire itself trying to crawl its way back to power, and in the center of it all is a single guy who just wants to get his tiny son into a nice preschool. Din reacted to the epic arrivals of both Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano with the type of sigh that comes when you realize you'll have to DVR the game because work is definitely going late. The best line of "The Rescue" is when Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) relates the complex bequeathal process of the Darksaber and Din is basically like "okay I concede, that honestly sounds dumb, to me."

This is what makes the final moments of the Season 2 finale so special. We thought for so long that the question was "which Jedi is gonna' show up?" that we didn't realize how much Luke's appearance would pale in comparison to Din and Grogu's farewell. That's the power of an emotional payoff, an elegant storytelling weapon that this show so often tosses aside for the blunter option. The small, subtle beauty of a Mandalorian removing his helmet to say a silent goodbye to the tiny creature he built a bond with from planet to planet, that's the brand of gut-punch that elevated Star Wars above its sci-fi trope roots. That is the reason the franchise endures, and the reason Luke Skywalker showing up more than 40 years late still holds the visceral power it does.

This is also what makes the finale's post-credits sequence so...troubling. In case you missed it: Boba Fett and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) strolled into Jabba the Hutt's old pleasure palace on Tatooine—now being presided over by crony Bib Fortuna—and proceeded to murder everyone in the room. Boba plops himself down on the throne, then crash to black, followed by: "The Book of Boba Fett. Coming December 2021." As of this writing, there's been no confirmation about what, uh, the hell that means, but the recently announced release date for The Mandalorian season 3  is also December 2021, suggesting that the series might just shift focus from Din Djarin to Boba Fett. Again, super cool! A Boba Fett show! But it'd be a massive bummer to pivot away from Din Djarin's journey just as it gains an emotional hook you don't need a Wikipedia page to understand.

The Mandalorian is streaming now on Disney+.