The Mandalorian’s second episode of the season sets the stage for a lot of plot to come—which is well and good and something we should definitely talk more about. But that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here for the Baby Yoda updates.
This week, Grogu gets to walk on his own two feet, flip through the air, and even pilot a plane. But most importantly, he gets to enjoy some nice big hugs from his bestie, Peli (Amy Sedaris). The episode kicks off with Daddy Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Baby making a pit stop on Tatooine to visit their favorite mechanic. And by “their,” I really do mean Grogu’s; Peli and Grogu have a mutual affection for each other that rivals only his relationship with Daddy.
Not only does Grogu poke his little head out of the cockpit to say hello once they’ve landed, but he immediately does the cutest thing I’ve probably ever seen him do at this point: use the force to flip through the air and land right in Peli’s arms. And by “flip,” I really mean “FLIP”—this is some unparalleled gymnastics action. I love the idea that what is really happening here is that some puppeteer is finagling a Baby Yoda puppet through the air to do a gigantic forward flip. Peli’s excited reaction to the acrobatics is the most relatable Mandalorian has ever been.
Peli gives Mando a crappy-looking droid to take with him on the duo’s trip to Mandalore, where they’ll deploy it to scope out how livable the planet even is. Word on the street is that Mandalore is dangerous, after all; let’s risk a droid’s safety to find out! But when the droid ends up getting trapped in a cave, Mando has to go in looking for it. This is very upsetting to Grogu, who sits up on Daddy’s lap to, per the captions, “babble” in fear. He wants Daddy to go save their droid friend, but he also doesn’t want Daddy to get hurt or lost!
Thankfully, Mando quickly recovers the droid, who managed to gain the necessary intel: Mandalore has a breathable atmosphere. It’s time for Mando and Grogu to get out of the ship and go see what’s in that big cave for themselves. The answer: some horribly scary raiding creature, who captures Mando and leaves Baby on his own to go find his papa. As always, Baby Yoda is a stand-in for the viewer; we have no clue what’s going on, and we’re left to watch from a safe vantage point in the shadows to figure out what the creature plans to do to Daddy.
Once the coast is clear, Baby does something painfully adorable: He gets out of his little floating stroller and straight-up walks up to the cage that Daddy has been sequestered in. He’s walking! He’s walking, guys! He almost never walks! And not only does he walk, but once the creature sees that he’s up against the cage, he starts to run. Just imagine those little legs underneath Grogu’s coat, moving as fast as they can! I wanted to cry from the cuteness, and also because I was extremely afraid.
This is a great episode for anyone who wants to know what Grogu is really capable of, beyond just being adorable. We know he’s a Jedi, and a very powerful one. But what does that power really look like for this tiny guy, especially since he’s really still a padawan? Here’s what we’ve learned: Grogu is able to use the Force to toss aside a giant monster that suddenly apprehends him as he races out of the cave. He also does a very cool, very swift flip out of his carrier and back into the cockpit after that, where he manages to give directions to the droid—they have to go find Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and bring her back to Mandalore to help them rescue Mando.
Once Bo-Katan is involved, Baby takes a backseat on the action front. It’s well-deserved! But we do get one more very cute moment before the episode ends. We all know Baby loves his soup; his first cup of it provided one of the most adorable moments from Season 1. When Bo-Katan makes the group some soup to refuel them before they keep up their search, Baby reaches his little hands out to grab for his cup. Grogu still has a lot to learn on the whole “patience” front.
With that, I’m itching for what’s to come next week, including all the plot developments I didn’t bother telling you about. Hopefully we’ll see Grogu do some backflips next time! Maybe he’ll find a pommel horse, even!
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