The Mandalorian

[Jackalope89]

Moving on from Beq for a moment....

We're all assuming the TIE's that blew up Bo's castle belong to Thrawn, right?

And what do we think about the idea of the Mando era shows eventually doing some big crossover, akin to Netflix's Defenders? I recently learned that was discussed at some point. I can't say I need it, but I wouldn't necessarily turn it down either.

Back to Beq. Okay, so we know this guy got off-world with Grogu. Then what happened? I got a (not serious, just fun) theory. I think Beq goes insane/falls to the dark side. I think Fav/Filloni are going "Darth Jar Jar" with this. I mean, there's a serious metacommentary to using Best/Beq to save Grogu right? Justice for Best's treatment as Jar Jar. A kid's game show where Beq is a Jedi teacher. It'd be keeping with this meta mentality to dip into Darth Jar Jar, and have Beq take a dark turn.

Maybe the fear and stress of the Jedi purge eventually pushes Beq over the limit and his mind breaks?

It'd give Beq a character arc. It'd give Best a chance to get more screen time and opportunity to show his acting range/talent. And it'd be something fairly new. We've seen Jedi hunted during the Purge, but outside of Obi-Wan's show we haven't really explored the mental/emotional fallout or the damage it did to all the Jedi on the run. And Beq becoming a rabid Jedi.....that'd be pretty unique, far as I'm aware.

For the record, I don't actually believe this is how things will play out, but it's a fun theory.

Still wondering who set up an entire company of mercs to keep watch over Grogu. And how they were paid.

[Grunty]

*Looks at the ewoks*
Not a high bar there.

Ah yes, the legacy of getting beaten by tribal teddy bears designed to appeal to the younger target audience of the franchise (which arguably worked).

Though the memetic defeat infamy aside, it's not like clone troopers, battle droids or even sith would have made a better showing if the plot wasn't on their side either.

Which was more or less the point to compare storm trooper armor to Grogu's new chestplate, since beskar has a higher "narrative density" than most armor materials in Star Wars.
Because in fiction all armor is secretly made of "narrativium" as the Discworld books call it, which tends to only function as armor material when the plot is on a wearers side (what ever it's the hero, villain or supporting character), otherwise 5 kilogram of reinforced steel will offer as much protection as a ragged shirt.

In this regard Beskar has the double benefit of being a plot reinforced material and used by a favored group of people and characters, so that little medallion can pretty much withstand a turbo laser shot now.

Maybe Phasma could've used that. Her armor was blaster-proof but couldn't withstand the impact of a Wookie and was very brittle against the riot control weapon (Which she possibly designed?). (The metal in her suit is actually from a Naboo ship).

To be fair, there is likely a noticable in universe difference between only negating the effect of a blaster bolt and doing the same with a blunt object swung by hand.

Also concussive force has always been an issue for armor.

[Jackalope89]

How dare thee make mockery of the space cuddle bears! Just because they most likely ate the bodies of the fallen stormtroopers and nearly did the same to the heroes, is no reason not to revere them for their cuteness!

[Grunty]

Still wondering who set up an entire company of mercs to keep watch over Grogu. And how they were paid.

Considering the pirates seen at the beginning of this season, there is no shortage of disposable heavily armed henchmen in the outer rim who could have been paid with one of the more a accepted currencies in the regions (Hutt credits, etc.).

As for who hired them. It was likely Gideon.

How dare thee make mockery of the space cuddle bears! Just because they most likely ate the bodies of the fallen stormtroopers and nearly did the same to the heroes, is no reason not to revere them for their cuteness!

I've seen the suggestion in the past, that if one would replace the Ewoks with the smaller sized orcs from LOTR (like those in Moria), while keeping their tactics, weapons and numbers the same, the defeat of the imperial forces would look a lot less comical.

[ChrisIII]

Kind of find it amusing that Marvel's cover for the new Ewoks series seems to emphasize their more threatening aspects with fire reflections in it's eyes and an extreme close up.

[Jackalope89]

Considering the pirates seen at the beginning of this season, there is no shortage of disposable heavily armed henchmen in the outer rim who could have been paid with one of the more a accepted currencies in the regions (Hutt credits, etc.).

As for who hired them. It was likely Gideon.



I've seen the suggestion in the past, that if one would replace the Ewoks with the smaller sized orcs from LOTR (like those in Moria), while keeping their tactics, weapons and numbers the same, the defeat of the imperial forces would look a lot less comical.

Gideon hired the mercs to guard against the bounty hunters he hired to get the child that he already had access to that he needed for those experiments?

[Grunty]

Gideon hired the mercs to guard against the bounty hunters he hired to get the child that he already had access to that he needed for those experiments?

Perhaps more like:
Hire mercs to abduct Grogu from where he is hidden and potentialy kill his caretaker and anyone else who knows of him there. -> Tell the mercs to bring the kid to a remote place somewhere in the outer rim and guard him until their payment arrives. -> Hire bounty hunters to kill the mercs in order to tie up lose ends and deliver the "package" to a disposable agent.

So if anyone of the New Republic would even bother to investigate, they would only find out that a bunch of pirates raided some innocent people's place and then got offed by bounty hunters. "Typical outer rim business."

[thwhtGuardian]

Perhaps more like:
Hire mercs to abduct Grogu from where he is hidden and potentialy kill his caretaker and anyone else who knows of him there. -> Tell the mercs to bring the kid to a remote place somewhere in the outer rim and guard him until their payment arrives. -> Hire bounty hunters to kill the mercs in order to tie up lose ends and deliver the "package" to a disposable agent.

So if anyone of the New Republic would even bother to investigate, they would only find out that a bunch of pirates raided some innocent people's place and then got offed by bounty hunters. "Typical outer rim business."

That seems a little convoluted to me. I don't know who the pirates were or why they were guarding Grogu but them working for Gideon just seems like one connection too many making it all feel too small.

[Grunty]

That seems a little convoluted to me. I don't know who the pirates were or why they were guarding Grogu but them working for Gideon just seems like one connection too many making it all feel too small.

Good points.

Though i remembered the James Bond movie "Diamonds are Forever" and how the villain used a chain of criminals to get the diamonds he wanted delivered to him, while having each one killed the moment they did their part in the delivery, which felt like something a villain like Gideon might do too.

However it's also possible the writers were only developing the plot as they went along, so they didn't thought too much about who the mercs were and why they had Grogu.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, Gideon pretty much threw the Client under the bus in a similar fashion...and possibly Pershing as well.

[Ascended]

However it's also possible the writers were only developing the plot as they went along, so they didn't thought too much about who the mercs were and why they had Grogu.

There we go. That's what it really is, and we all know it.

The idea that Gideon hired the mercs, then had a bounty hunter recover Grogu to further hide his own tracks....I wouldn't rule it out completely, gods know the franchise has spun more convoluted yarns. But I don't see it. For one thing, if that was the goal, why use an Imperial remnant as your agent? If you want to keep your nose clean, use someone who doesn't work directly under you. For another thing, Gideon already had Grogu and the experiments had already been under way. That's the impression I get anyway, so why "lose" Grogu to mercenaries? For a final thing, if Gideon arranged for a battle between a merc company and bounty hunters, that's obviously gonna result in a firefight with the Child right there, and the odds of him getting killed in the crossfire seems like a gamble Gideon wouldn't make. Especially if these experiments are connected to Palpatine's cloning research like we suspect. Gideon, or at least his agent, was willing to accept the Child dead or alive, but "alive" was very much the preference. Seems a hell of a risk for something you already had. Especially when the Republic, by all accounts, had no idea Gideon was even alive, much less what he was doing. One thing to lay a little low and avoid Republic notice, quite another to create such a convoluted plot just to get the thing you already had, that nobody else knows about, when nobody is paying attention to what you're doing anyway.

And quite frankly, I don't see Gideon being quite that clever or trying to hide his tracks that much. Dude is smart and he's a manipulator yes, but he doesn't strike me as that kind of schemer.

No, I think someone took Grogu from Gideon and paid the mercenaries to keep him hidden, so Gideon hired bounty hunters to take the Child back. I dunno who that might have been, but right now I'm actually kinda leaning towards Pershing. I mean, who else? It'd have to be someone with access to Grogu, the resources to pay a whole merc company, and the empathy to want to help, but not the ability to do it personally. Pershing has tried to protect the Child since his first appearance and, as we learned in his half-episode, isn't an Imperial loyalist. As the apparent leading expert on cloning tech in the galaxy, Pershing is likely very well paid and could afford the mercs. I'm thinking he believed he had enough blood samples for his experiments, and kept Grogu "relatively" close in the outer rim so he could sneak off and acquire more if he needed to while keeping the kid out of Gideon's hands. If I'm right, that also explains why Pershing got as much screen time as he did a couple weeks ago. Rather than half an episode wasted on a secondary character who's barely played a role in the story, they're foreshadowing Pershing's upcoming importance and putting in the character work so we'll care about him. And if he's the guy who got Grogu away from Gideon originally and set off the whole chain of events, then that'll be motivation enough for Din to get involved when the two plotlines connect.

Assuming Pershing's not dead already, anyway.

Alternatively, building on my "Darth Jar Jar by way of Beq" theory, maybe Beq is still alive and kicking, crazy as hell, and at some point Grogu either got lost or escaped him, and he hired the mercs to recover the kid. And all this time, he's been following behind trying to catch up with Din.

[90'sCartoonMan]

I feel like this is the most scared we've seen Grogu. He was super expressive watching the Armorer.

Those Mandalorians sure take the concept of Foundlings seriously. So are we going to have kids and Grogu and bird things all shooting paintballs at each other in training?

BTW I think it's very likely the Pershing/Kane plotline was planned for the cancelled Rangers/Dune/Gina spinoff. They did say that the dropped storylines would be incorporated into Mandalorian instead.


https://web.archive.org/web/20211128...n-kennedy.html

Perhaps Kane could've been an interesting foil for Cara given the actresses' similar builds and athletics (Politics aside). Maybe she'll still get a fight scene with Bo-Katan.

That makes a lot of sense. I thought the Pershing plot was fine but I kept wanting to get back to Din.

One thing the articles I read didn't mention; Best played the character meant to have a lot of kid appeal, and as much as we adults hated Jar Jar, kids did like him. And now Best gets to save Grogu, the character with a lot of kid appeal. That feels fitting to me.

Very fitting. I had no idea Best's Jedi could be such a badass.

And what do we think about the idea of the Mando era shows eventually doing some big crossover, akin to Netflix's Defenders? I recently learned that was discussed at some point. I can't say I need it, but I wouldn't necessarily turn it down either.

What would that include? Mandalorian, Boba Fett, and Ahsoka? I guess Rosario Dawson would be no stranger to that idea.

[ChrisIII]

I'm kind of reminded of Vanity Fair's May 2022 cover. Of course, two of the characters on that (Obi-Wan and Andor) are dead by Din's time.

[ChrisIII]

There we go. That's what it really is, and we all know it.

The idea that Gideon hired the mercs, then had a bounty hunter recover Grogu to further hide his own tracks....I wouldn't rule it out completely, gods know the franchise has spun more convoluted yarns. But I don't see it. For one thing, if that was the goal, why use an Imperial remnant as your agent? If you want to keep your nose clean, use someone who doesn't work directly under you. For another thing, Gideon already had Grogu and the experiments had already been under way. That's the impression I get anyway, so why "lose" Grogu to mercenaries? For a final thing, if Gideon arranged for a battle between a merc company and bounty hunters, that's obviously gonna result in a firefight with the Child right there, and the odds of him getting killed in the crossfire seems like a gamble Gideon wouldn't make. Especially if these experiments are connected to Palpatine's cloning research like we suspect. Gideon, or at least his agent, was willing to accept the Child dead or alive, but "alive" was very much the preference. Seems a hell of a risk for something you already had. Especially when the Republic, by all accounts, had no idea Gideon was even alive, much less what he was doing. One thing to lay a little low and avoid Republic notice, quite another to create such a convoluted plot just to get the thing you already had, that nobody else knows about, when nobody is paying attention to what you're doing anyway.

And quite frankly, I don't see Gideon being quite that clever or trying to hide his tracks that much. Dude is smart and he's a manipulator yes, but he doesn't strike me as that kind of schemer.

No, I think someone took Grogu from Gideon and paid the mercenaries to keep him hidden, so Gideon hired bounty hunters to take the Child back. I dunno who that might have been, but right now I'm actually kinda leaning towards Pershing. I mean, who else? It'd have to be someone with access to Grogu, the resources to pay a whole merc company, and the empathy to want to help, but not the ability to do it personally. Pershing has tried to protect the Child since his first appearance and, as we learned in his half-episode, isn't an Imperial loyalist. As the apparent leading expert on cloning tech in the galaxy, Pershing is likely very well paid and could afford the mercs. I'm thinking he believed he had enough blood samples for his experiments, and kept Grogu "relatively" close in the outer rim so he could sneak off and acquire more if he needed to while keeping the kid out of Gideon's hands. If I'm right, that also explains why Pershing got as much screen time as he did a couple weeks ago. Rather than half an episode wasted on a secondary character who's barely played a role in the story, they're foreshadowing Pershing's upcoming importance and putting in the character work so we'll care about him. And if he's the guy who got Grogu away from Gideon originally and set off the whole chain of events, then that'll be motivation enough for Din to get involved when the two plotlines connect.

Assuming Pershing's not dead already, anyway.

Alternatively, building on my "Darth Jar Jar by way of Beq" theory, maybe Beq is still alive and kicking, crazy as hell, and at some point Grogu either got lost or escaped him, and he hired the mercs to recover the kid. And all this time, he's been following behind trying to catch up with Din.

I suppose they could rework Beq into the guardian of Mount Tantiss ala Zahn's C'baoth? Although it's possible Ezra might serve that function too.

[Ascended]

Those Mandalorians sure take the concept of Foundlings seriously.

When your culture is on the verge of extinction, I expect every new member is a serious issue.

Very fitting. I had no idea Best's Jedi could be such a badass.

I'd never heard of the character before at all. But I'm very glad Best got a chance to show off here, and be cool and badass. I disliked Jar Jar Binks as much as anyone else but I never knew the actor himself got so much friction and hate from the fans over it, and that shit isn't cool.

What would that include? Mandalorian, Boba Fett, and Ahsoka? I guess Rosario Dawson would be no stranger to that idea.

I think Skeleton Crew is set during the same time period, so maybe those characters as well?

Luke Skywalker would probably be involved to some degree, I'd think.

Along with the various supporting casts from Mando, Fett, and Ashoka of course. Fennic, Greef, Vizla, Black Krystanzin or however you spell that wookie's name. X-Wing pilot Blue. Maybe Ezra, Sabine, and/or Hera, depending on how Ashoka spins things out. Not all of them of course, that'd be a cast of dozens and would be way too big, but a couple characters from each show? That's a full ensemble ready to go.

Hell, there's still characters from the original trilogy we haven't seen in this era yet who could hypothetically show up. Wedge Antilles, or Akbar. Hell maybe Rex is still alive and kicking. Might even see a few "new" faces from old canon; didn't Mara Jade first show up roughly five years after Endor? That puts her debut right around the Mando era, maybe a "team up" miniseries would introduce her.

I suppose they could rework Beq into the guardian of Mount Tantiss ala Zahn's C'baoth? Although it's possible Ezra might serve that function too.

Quite possible yeah. C'Baoth is the kind of "crazy Jedi" I'm envisioning Beq becoming. Not a Sith or anything, just unhinged. Maybe part of Thrawn's designs, maybe just a rabid wolf running loose, who knows? I'd prefer rabid wolf myself. We've seen Jedi twisted to the dark side by manipulation and treachery, but never, to my knowledge, one who fell just due to emotional/mental breakdown, and being on the run from the Empire with Grogu seems like something that could make you a bit insane.

Ezra might fit the bill, at this point he's been missing for many years and who knows what's happened to him? And he already came close to succumbing to the dark side once, wouldn't be much of a stretch to believe he fell again after being stuck with Thrawn for ages and ages.

Again, I don't actually buy into my own "Darth Beq" theory. It's just a silly idea.