(Warning: The Mandalorian spoilers will obviously be found below.)
Episode two of The Mandalorian, “The Child,” opens up a ton of possibilities for where the show might go, and how it could connect to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Did Space Werner Herzog and Dr. Pershing send the Mandalorian after Baby Yoda, henceforth known as Yodaling, because they want to clone him? And if so, considering their allegiance with the Galactic Empire, is Yodaling the key to Emperor Palpatine (and his laugh) being resurrected for Episode IX? Is that why George Lucas brought up Midi-chlorians, which Yodaling must be loaded with, during his discussion with J.J. Abrams? To mix nerd property references, one does not simply get thrown into the Death Star’s reactor shaft and come back without some science-fiction assistance. But, although tempting, let’s save the Rise of Skywalker speculation — besides all the speculation that I just wrote about (and how The Mandalorian season one finale is mere days after Skywalker comes out in theaters)… my bad — until we have more concrete answers.
For now, let’s focus on what we know for sure, like how Jawas are mischievous bastards who love cracking open Hairy Cadbury Creme Eggs and feasting on the yellow goo inside; blurrgs (which, amusingly, made their debut in the 1985’s Ewoks: The Battle for Endor) are a good source of transportation; and “Mud Horn” is a “so… Poochie?” name for a horned beast that lives in the mud. Oh yeah, and Yodaling used THE FORCE.
https://twitter.com/vloneman/status/1195335564616249344
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised — if there’s anything we know about Yoda’s species, it’s that they’re very good at lifting things. But I didn’t think we’d see Yodaling’s Force sensitivity show up so quickly, and so strongly. It could have happened even earlier, too, if the Mandalorian (or Dyn Jarren, because no one on this show has an actual name) had let the 50-year-old baby heal his wounds. Instead, Yodaling waited until he could wreck that Mud Horn, which sounds like a hurtful “Sand People”-esque derogatory term.
“The Child” ends with the Mandalorian and Yodaling leaving Arvala-7, with some help from the Nick Nolte ugnaught and a welding montage, to, presumably, return to Space Werner Herzog and Dr. Pershing. Of course, it might not be that simple if he learns what they plan to do with the “asset.” But that’s for next week’s episode, which premieres on November 22. Let’s marinate on an episode that sounds like it was crafted by seven-year-old me: “So, a bounty hunter and a baby Yoda and an ugnaught hitch a ride from a bunch of Jawas, and the baby Yoda eats a weird lizard, and…” This is not a complaint.
Congrats on the second canonical burp joke in Star Wars, too.
