Spoilers below for The Mandalorian’s Season 3 finale, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched the Moff-a-licious ep!
Ever since its start, The Mandalorian has had one foot firmly in this ever-expanding corner of the Star Wars universe, with its other foot constantly tapping around other established canonical elements. Season 3 has earned its fair share of criticism for basically feeling like The Bo-Katan Show (which isn’t at all a bad thing unto itself), but the finale seemingly capped off that chapter with “The Return,” bringing victory to Mandalore’s warrior elite and lethally concluding Bo and Din’s feud with Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon. But let’s not kid ourselves here: the biggest takeaway from the episode is that Grogu has entered his toddler phase, instantly bringing to mind Yoda’s fight with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones.
While Grogu hasn’t exactly been immobile across the three seasons of The Mandalorian (and a couple of Book of Boba Fett episodes), the Force-emboldened cutie had largely been relegated to his hover-carriage and, most recently, the torso of an IG exoskeleton. But “The Return” destroyed the latter form of travel, forcing Grogu into a figurative corner, from which he emerged fully acrobatic, able to run slower than a speeding bullet, with the ability to leap to the height of pretty small buildings in a single bound (and not just once an episode). But was it actually…you know…cool? Honestly, I can’t say whether I totally loved it or absolutely hated it.
Why I Kinda Loved Grogu In Flying Toddler Mode
To be clear, I probably would have taken an entire season of Grogu inside of an IG suit, serving as The Mandalorian’s hero version of the Ninja Turtles’ Krang. (How awesomely awful would it be if they both had the same voice, too?) But three seasons in, it was high time for Grogu to leave behind artificial locomotion for something more natural, if not necessarily natural-looking. So I’m fully into a more active Grogu going forward from a story-based perspective.
In a similar vein, I fully embrace the idea of Grogu being more independent going forward, without Mando having to feel like the universe’s greatest protector. I long for the time when we can watch them conquering enemies in tandem as a duo, rather than Din taking charge all the time, even when he’s clearly ill-equipped. He can still play Daddy or whatever, but as more of a teacher than purely a nurturer.
And then far more simply, it’s just fun to watch a li’l puppet creative flying around and causing chaos for all manner of Empire-loyal goons. I cannot wait until we’re at the point where Grogu can jump on Stormtroopers’ shoulders, grab them by the heads, and then slam them into walls and the ground, Hulk-style. Baby steps, I know, but to get to that point, we have to first see him learning the ropes. Which, yes, means that a fourth season should kick off with a training montage, possibly with Sylvester Stallone playing his trainer.
Why I Kinda Hated Grogu In Flying Toddler Mode
Grogu arguably should have already entered a fully mobile state long before now, possibly even as early as the Season 1 finale. I guess I get why it made sense to hold off, but taking this long to bring out Badass Grogu ran the risk of turning fans against the character. And even if it was fun to watch in the moment, it's frustrating that we now have to wait an untold amount of time to see it happen again. At the very least, they could have shifted this element up in the season so that fans could get two or three episodes where Grogu could use his skills not just for beating up baddies, but also to change some light bulbs, to dust ceiling corners, and other menial tasks. (Okay, that's probably a terrible idea, but still.)
It might be a completely moot point if Grogu actually did look badass running around dodging blasts and jumping about. But in a not-so-positive way, those moments brought to mind the polarizing prequel Attack of the Clones, and while Frank Oz has defended CGI Yoda’s big fight, it remains a weird cinematic sore spot for the franchise. But while Grogu’s puppet-heavy actions should have felt like a great fix, it actually kind of fell into the same trap of looking too much like what it was. In that Grogu flipped around in the same way a doll or action figure does when a child is playing with it, and not like an actual living and breathing entity does.
The biggest (and weirdly disturbing) example of that was the way Grogu’s arms remained static at his side as he ran and jumped around. Which, admittedly, is a thing that kids do pretty regularly, particularly when running off angrily. But I dunno if I need things to get that specific by way of the green guy’s evolution. I feel like the Star Wars fandom at large is capable of witnessing and understanding a puppet jumping around that can also spread his arms out.
Really, at no point while Grogu was bumbling about did he feel like a fully weighted-down being, especially when he fell down amidst those pipes. It’s like if you squinted hard enough, you’d be able to see the puppeteers placing him down super-carefully. I suppose that soft approach can be explained by his Force powers working to keep him safe, but there’s probably a less awkward way to convey it.
Perhaps I’m overreacting here, but considering we’re now almost definitely destined for a new wave of “Jumping Hot Shit Grogu” toys, T-Shirts, LEGO sets and the like, it kinda sucks to not be 100% all in on it, even though it definitely tapped into some guilty pleasure zones.
The Mandalorian is now wrapped on Season 3, with presumably more adventures to come from Din and Grogu, whether it happens in a fourth season, on the upcoming Ahsoka spinoff, the new Acolyte series, or in any of the upcoming Star Wars movies. While waiting to see what happens next, all three seasons are available to stream in full with a Disney+ subscription.
The Mandalorian is now wrapped on Season 3, with presumably more adventures to come from Din and Grogu, whether it happens in a fourth season, on the upcoming Ahsoka spinoff, the new Acolyte series, or in any of the upcoming Star Wars movies. While waiting to see what happens next, all three seasons are available to stream in full with a Disney+ subscription.
