The Mandalorian Din Grogu [Baby Yoda] (Spoilers)

Yeah, the frog people definitely are. Mando did not grow up in a good environment to learn a lot of parenting skills considering he was a child soldier. He is getting on the Job training with it.

 

On the egg thing, I'm just going to gather what I've said elsewhere in other threads about why I didn't like the joke as a running gag and felt it was ill-fitted with the episode:

The problem is that the episode stresses how important these eggs are to Frog Lady. Yes, the eggs are unfertilized so it's not like Baby Yoda is eating actual babies but the Frog Lady fully intends for those eggs to become children and so, each egg eaten is a child lost. It's a child she won't have and the episode shows how much she wants to have them as well as her struggle to keep them alive and her fear of them not surviving. The episode also states that if these eggs don't make it, her line goes extinct and that the planet her husband is on, is the only planet hospitable to them. That paints the picture that she'll need as many of her eggs to survive to ensure that her line survives.

The episode basically goes back and forth between "Aww, look at the poor mother-to-be trying to take care of her babies and worrying for their safety and the future of her family." to "Haha, isn't funny that Baby Yoda keeps eating her babies?"

The Frog Lady is also shown to be a peaceful and sweet lady who even saves Baby Yoda from the ice spiders.

To use a TvTrope term, it's comedic sociopathy and that's not going to be everyone's taste and it's not delivered well here because the episode plays her plight completely straight and tries to get the audience to sympathize with her.

The ending shows her wrapping her arms around the container and clutching it to her chest, and it plays it off like Baby Yoda is starting to catch on to the fact that these eggs means something to her. But nope, he just slurps another egg down. Haha, isn't that funny?

The jokes works the first or second time, but it shouldn't have been turned into a running gag and that's coming from someone who really liked Baby Yoda in this episode.

I've also seen people equate the unfertilized eggs with unfertilized chicken eggs, a comparison that doesn't work because the Frog Lady is a sapient being and she fully intends for her eggs to become children, making the situation not the equivalent of a toddler eating unfertilized chicken eggs but the equivalent of a toddler eating a human woman's ovum.

I think it's both, really.

That said, I don't think it was respect, so much as it was him experiencing the distinction between small critter and baby. He can sense that the small critters he eats are alive, but he could connect that the hatchling wasn't food because of how it was treated and how he was encouraged to treat it by its parents. He played with it like a baby and became attached to it.

Toddlers just like sticking things into their mouth and will try to eat basically anything (and I do mean anything) they can fit in their mouths. The Frog Lady and her husband were better at supervising and handling him than Din Djarin because, even if we assume they've never had children, they probably have prepared for raising children.

Also, Din is just not a good parent. Seriously, I think we can count the amount of concussions that Baby Yoda must have had on more than one hand. Din really oughta get him a tiny padded durasteel suit with a helmet.

 

So, will his first words be - "The way, this is." ?

 

I love how The Child keeps growing with environment's he is exposed to and learns from them; just like any toddler/child.

Until the moment he is cared for briefly by the frog people, he is exposed to all of these "not so great for a child" environments which influence reactions from him - I guess with the exception of Chapter 4 last season with the farmers' children in the fishing village.

But now with the frog people, The Child is exposed to a calm and loving family environment and this is reflected in his tenderness with the Tadpole and being upset at being dragged away.

 

Is this aligning with the Jedi rationale for only taking younglings for training?

 

That's an interesting thought.

Maybe it is Favreau's way of briefly exploring that concept. For me, I've noticed many emotions from The Child as the show has progressed; many influenced by what is happening around him in that very moment. The latest Chapter with the frog people was the first moment of real tenderness towards another living creature. Sure, he snuggled up to "Dad" in this last Chapter as they sat down in the damaged Razorcrest to rest, but to me, that was more about The Child's need for feeling safe and protected up against his Dad. But with the Tadpole, this was a new emotion that I had not seen.

So maybe as you mentioned, the Jedi rationale of taking younglings before they can start to express the kinds of emotion The Child is displaying now is to get children into the Jedi system so that the "Masters" can shape how the padawans are supposed to feel and react to a given situation.

 

Again, you’re supposed to be a little upset by it. It’s a bit disturbing. Baby Yoda is doing something wrong and he knows it. That’s part of his development. He’s not just a cute prop. He’s a character.

 

This is something that I am quickly realizing about The Child. After the first Chapter of this season, I'm like "get The Child to Ahsoka for training so that Din's character development can progress further".

And whilst I have always seen and appreciated The Child's affect on Din and what its done for his character development and progression (and helped change who he is as well), I've never truly appreciated The Child's own character growth enough and what its potential is to the greater story. But after reading people's thoughts in here and seeing his progression on screen over the last couple of Chapters, I feel at this stage that The Child offers more to the audience and fan in being partnered with Din than being given to Ahsoka. Now, like Luke did with Rey, I hope she refuses to train him for now.

Because as @DannyD mentioned aboved, are these emotions that we are now seeing from The Child influenced the Jedi rationale for taking those with Force potential at a real young age. In the ST (particularly in The Last Jedi), we got the message that the doctrine and the mantra of the Jedi Order was what gave rise to Palpatine; that their dogmatic approach and the suppression of being able to display emotion is what allowed Palpatine to undermine them.

But now with The Mandalorian and particularly with The Child, it almost appears that Favreau is coming to the defense of the Jedi Order in a way. Favreau is literally showing a child develop before our eyes and having a wide range of emotions; from being excited by axe-fighting and riding on speeder bikes, to being loving and tender towards a new-born. On the surface it may all seem trivial, but as The Child becomes more emotionally intelligent, those emotions won't just stop at excitement and love. Darker emotions will come into play. And maybe Favreau is trying to show that the Jedi were right in taking a child before it does become too emotionally intelligent because if you want a Jedi to be able to control their emotions in a given situation, you will need to have started training that child before it knew any different in respect to displaying emotion.

If this is truly Favreau's intent with The Child and not just my head-canon, then The Child's importance to the greater Star Wars story lies in him remaining with Din for a number of seasons so that he is the template for knowledge and contrast in how someone Force sensitive develops emotionally when not part of a Jedi Order. Because we've already seen in Anakin when a child is taken into the Jedi Order at an age where they are reasonably emotionally intelligent - and how that ultimately played out. So I would actually like The Child to remain with Din so that we can combine this with what we saw in Anakin and then be able to say that the Jedi were right in taking youngsters in before they were too emotionally aware.

I feel that The Child in that regard offers a significant contribution to the greater story rather than just being some cute mascot.

 

Calling it now, the Child's name will be... Sooka! ...or Sooga? Suka? However you spell the Jawa word for "egg" from Chapter 2. After all, that mudhorn egg hunt was one of his first formative experiences after "hatching" from his own "egg." I wouldn't be surprised if that's his first word upon seeing another delicious egg, and Din makes that his name.

 

I like it.

Suka! Suka! Suka!

 

Nah we need the child's name to start with a Y to continue with Yaddle and Yoda

 

Yado.

 

Yoddle.

 

I say break away from the tyranny of the Y-names and backwards speech!

 

What about "BOB"

Baby Yoda could say it backward, we can say it frontward and it will remain the same name regardless.

 

Not related to the show, but worth throwing in here.

Actual footage of Baby Yoda coming aboard a space station:

 

What do you think about the theory that part of the "big change" mid-season is the idea that Baby Yoda will go with Ashoka, then carry on with her in a spin-off series. Any thoughts?

 

Interesting idea. I reckon Baby Yoda is too big an asset to let go of so early. Plus Gideon is still after him and that needs to resolve.

Where are the reports of a change mid-season? I must have missed them.

Anyway, something like what you've described could happen in future in my view...

 

Would be interesting, but I think it's too soon. Baby Yoda is too much of an asset, just as you said.

 

Interestingly the starfish/squid creatures ended up being more similar to Alien facehugger zenomorphs.

 

Rey and baby yoda, future master and apprentice.

 

Baby Yoda is just as much of a main character as Din Djarin. So he’s not going anywhere.