I read it more like with the DC TV shows; using an already wildly popular show to try and jump-start an incoming one. It's why I ultimately dropped all of the DC TV shows, so hopefully it doesn't become a similar ongoing thing at Disney.
I could buy that if it was the first two episodes of the show, but it was the second-to-last two, and entirely unannounced.
It was known about 10 seconds after being released and once known, it would steer people to the series even if they had not originally planned on watching it. Streaming is a completely different animal to broadcast TV.
How many Mandalorian fans who were looking for their next fix were also entirely uninterested in The Book of Boba Fett in the first place, though? Most people in that category would already have at least checked it out. And the rest, having heard that there were two stray Mandalorian episodes in there, would also have heard that they were basically standalone episodes that could readily be watched without any prior knowledge of the show.
Perhaps, but it would seem that at least here there were more than a few who were disappointed with BoBF and might have otherwise dropped off viewing it.
What @MarkB said. Also, Grogu is an integral part of what makes The Mandalorian a good / popular show. There was no way they were going to get rid of him permanently. And if they had left Grogu with Luke, they would have essentially damned him to being murdered by Kylo Ren ... I'm sure you can picture the uproar that would have caused.
I wouldn't say it was bad. Just not as good as it could have been.
We already know that Sabine will be in Ahsoka. We don't know if she'll appear in Mando season 3 yet, though.
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