The Short Take:
Chapter 20 of The Mandalorian is packed with new information and a few big surprises. It also turns a classic literary trope on its head.
Image Credit: Star Wars News Net
[SPOILER WARNING: There are some heavy infantry spoilers rocketing at you right from the start of this review.]
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The Long Take:
JAR JAR BINKS SAVED GROGU!
Sort of.
This episode was full of many surprises, but the most shocking and heartwarming for more obsessive — I mean dedicated — Star Wars fans was the appearance Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks in the Prequel Trilogy. Other actors from those films — most recently Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, on their press tour for Obi-Wan Kenobi — have discussed how the initially poor reception of the prequel films weighed on them. But Best arguably took the brunt of that criticism. Regardless of how any given person feels about Jar Jar — whether he’s lovable comic relief, a grating nuisance, or a deeply problematic racial stereotype — it was never fair to blame or harass the actor cast as Jar Jar for those feelings. So to see him get a chance to play not only a new but pivotal role in Star Wars canon felt like a warm Star Wars fandom hug. I pointed at my screen and grinned.
Best’s pivotal new role is one we’ve been waiting on for a while now. Ever since fans realized that Grogu was originally part of the Jedi Order, they have speculated and anticipated who might have saved him from the death knell of Order 66. While Grogu’s flashback in this episode shows that several unnamed Jedi came to his defense, it was Best’s Kelleran Beq who ultimately facilitated his escape from the Temple and Coruscant. Once I got over my initial shock and glee, I immediately wanted to know more about Beq — what his role in the Jedi Order was and what he’d been doing during The Clone Wars. And what possible connection he may have to Naboo, as the ship he ultimately escapes in and the security guards who assist him have the same design as those from Padme Amidala and Jar Jar Binks’ home planet. I initially recognized the glossy silver style of ship and burgundy uniforms, but, as I was looking up articles about Ahmed Best, I stumbled across a Forbes piece identifying the ship in this episode as an exact match to one Jar Jar had during The Clone Wars. Does this imply that Beq may actually know Representative Binks? What a delightfully meta ouroboros that would be.
The brief lightsaber action we got here was thrilling, especially when Beq picks up the blue lightsaber from a fallen Jedi to supplement his own green one. It reminded me of when Anakin duels Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones with one blue and one green lightsaber. I also thought back to the final season of The Clone Wars, in which Ahsoka uses two lightsabers to fend off hoards of Clone Troopers, miraculously surviving Order 66 like Beq and Grogu.
Image Credit: IndieWire
Grogu’s trauma, unearthed by the Mandalorian Forge and delivered to us in the form of this prequel era flashback, is the centerpiece of the episode. But not because of Ahmed Best’s unexpected cameo. Rather, it is foundational to Grogu’s induction into Mandalorian society.
The flashback is not a random cut, but rather a memory triggered by the churning of the Forge, which echoes the slamming of the Jedi temple doors. This transition is similar to the use of the bacta tank in The Book of Boba Fett, or, as fans and critics lovingly called it, the “flash-bacta.” (Would this be called a “Forge-back,” then?) While some found the flash-bacta scenes in TBoBF to be too contrived, just an excuse to shade in what happened to Boba Fett right after he fell into the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi, I find the use of the same technique with Grogu in the Forge better integrated into the present timeline.
This is primarily due to The Armorer’s exposition about the role The Forge plays in Mandalorian culture. She says, “Just as we shape The Mandalorian steel, we shape ourselves. We all begin as raw ore. We refine ourselves through trials and adversity. The Forge can reveal weaknesses.” The ensuing flashback to Order 66 clearly has shaped who Grogu is — that’s why he is initially hesitant to use his Force abilities in the foundling challenge. He waits until Din tells him it’s okay not because he lacks confidence; it’s because Order 66 taught him to conceal his powers to survive. The question before Grogu now is will his past trauma be a weakness that The Forge has revealed? Or will it instead be a source of strength?
Either way, I hope that we get a continuation of the flashback storyline. If this is it and we’re done, I’ll be okay with that; but I would love to see what happens next, bit by bit, until we get to Din finding Grogu at the start of the series. I’m sure there’s a lot more that has forged Grogu. Perhaps each time we gradually add a new piece of armor to his outfit, we can get in tandem another piece of the Grogu puzzle. Any excuse to repeat the pairing of The Armorer’s cryptic wisdom and Grogu’s telling facial expressions; it was pretty fun to see them together without Din.
Image Credit: Screen Rant
While Grogu is the best candidate for the episode’s title, “The Foundling,” there is clearly another foundling featured, as we learn that Paz Vizsla has a son (surprise!) named Ragnar, the very child who goes through the Creed ceremony in the season premiere. Considering how the plot centers around a rescue mission to save Ragnar from space pterodactyls, and considering he is the one who faces off with Grogu in the challenge, the story is clearly about him too. The way in which so many jump to save him illustrates how important the idea of community is to The Children of the Watch. Even Din and Paz, who have been at odds with one another, can put their differences aside for the sake of a foundling. Din saves Ragnar and Paz says, “This is the Way” to him in a way that conveys utmost respect.
I’m into the parallel storytelling trend we’ve seen so far this season. Last week we had two candidates for “The Convert”: Bo-Katan and Doctor Pershing. Here we have two foundlings: Grogu and Ragnar. Why do this? What value do the parallelisms add to the story? The most obvious answer is that it creates a thematic subtext, which in turn cultivates a unity or connective tissue that can hold the different plots together. In this episode specifically, however, I think it may do more: it may be making a statement about Mandalorian ideology through the very notion of a foundling.
My first exposure to foundlings came by way English literature. It was not uncommon in 18th and, to a lesser extent, 19th century novels, for a major character, and in some cases a protagonist, to be a foundling. The literary trope was so common during this period because a lack of contraception combined with social norms stigmatizing children out of wedlock made it so that illegitimate children or bastards were numerous. And for a novelist, they instantly generate conflict and drama. In Henry Fielding’s 1749 novel, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, the titular character spends most of the story looked down upon by others — a second class citizen and a rogue. The secret of his birth, however, is revealed in the end, and, because he is the child of a wealthy nobleman, Squire Allworthy, he suddenly enjoys an elevated status; he can marry the woman he wants and inherits a vast fortune from his now known father. Tom Jones gives us the thrill and suspense of secret parentage and then ends happily with social mobility and narrative harmony. More broadly, a story in English literature often features a foundling so that the writer can dramatically reveal who they really are and show how they benefit from that revelation.
I explain all this to say that historically the foundling as a trope has been used to promote a narrative of exceptionalism. That a hero can be an aristocratic and therefore special person hiding in plain sight. This exceptionalist narrative, on the one hand, reinforces a social order, because only illegitimate children who are of noble birth can have happy endings; on the other hand, it wrestles with anxiety about illegitimacy and aristocracy, of bloodlines, social transgression, marital law, and class. There are really sticky gendered double standards that complicate this. I started reading Lisa Zunshine’s Bastards and Foundings: Illegitimacy in 18th Century England today and found myself totally engrossed because her discussion of this trope is so nuanced and complex. Then I remembered I had to finish this review. For our purposes, I will simplify the significance of the classic literary trope and place it in stark contrast to how The Mandalorian invokes the notion of the foundling.
Foundlings in Mandalorian culture, according to this series, are not fringe members of society who may, with the right parentage revealed, enter back in. Their foundling status, in fact, intrinsically, automatically makes them a candidate for social acceptance. It doesn’t matter who your parents might have been or where you came from before; if any foundling walks the Way of the Mandalore, they’re in. And they’re equal. In a Galaxy notorious for discriminating against non-human life forms and droids, it’s actually quite astounding that The Armorer welcomes someone like Grogu into the fold without flinching.
Image Credit: Looper
Yes, the Creed is very rigid — unyielding and unforgiving. But by clinging so closely to a certain way as the criteria for community membership, as opposed to a criteria based on who someone is and where they come from, their orthodoxy allows them to be a more inclusive and egalitarian society. Many other groups may have considered Bo-Katan an ineligible outsider because she was not born into The Children of the Watch. According to The Armorer, as long as she follows the Creed, she’s as Mandalorian as they are.
This episode reinforces this idea because each foundling has as much value to the entire community. And the series wants to think of Grogu as no more or less important; or, at least, they want us to know that The Children of the Watch view him as equal to the other foundlings. His ability to use The Force, will make this difficult, and I may be eating my words later. Yet, half of this episode’s story focuses on Grogu, and the other half focuses on Ragnar and the rescue mission. Let me know what you think in the comments — will The Children of the Watch come to view Grogu as special? Or will he be treated like any other Mandalorian? Is this a paradox of some kind?
As I researched foundlings, I got frustrated by writers who would lump foundlings in with orphans. I may be biased by The Mandalorian, but to me there is a very important difference between the definition of an orphan and a foundling. Foundlings have the distinction of being abandoned and/or lost, only to be found again and taken in by someone else. Din’s parents hide him so Separatist battle droids on their home planet of Aq Vetina don’t kill him. Then The Children of the Watch find him. Grogu flees Order 66 and Din finds him. I know this may seem obvious, but it needs be said: they’re called foundlings because they were once lost, but now have been found. Considering this, I might go so far to say that, according to Mandalorian tradition, even Bo-Katan is a foundling. She has been abandoned by her followers, her home destroyed by The Empire, and, in a wayward moment, Din, Grogu, and rest of The Children of the Watch find her.
Sure, you could say that this episode doesn’t further or even shed light on the overarching plot for this season. But I very much enjoyed taking a beat to see The Children of the Watch go about their everyday business and to see how Din, Grogu, and Bo-Katan would interact and interface with the larger group.
And plenty happened, contained within this down time. I found Grogu’s victory over Ragnar to be pure joy. The way Din doesn’t want to baby him and wants him to start his training right away was adorable. There’s some model parenting to gawk at here; I was jealous of Din’s ability to find the balance between pushing his child out of their comfort zone and being encouraging or supportive. I nearly lost it when Bo said, “My dad was the same way. He’s just proud of you.” And this is as she is FASTENING A TINY WHISTLING BIRD TO HIS TINY WRIST. My heart.
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While most of this gave me the warm and fuzzies, I’m still not entirely sure what’s going to become of Bo-Katan. The Armorer’s reaction to her confession that she had seen a Mythosaur was very ambiguous; and I don’t mean cryptic in the “oh how wise, this gave me chills” kind of way. When she says “This is the Way” repeatedly to Bo-Katan, I have no idea what she’s actually thinking or feeling about it. She doesn’t seem to care, and she doesn’t ask any questions. How is that possible? Is she just keeping everything close to the vest? Or is this more of a Rafiki/Yoda moment where she’s purposefully being obtuse to teach Bo, leaving it up to her to derive meaning for herself?
If I think about everything I’ve just said about the democratization of the foundling trope and the inclusivity (from a certain point of view) of Mandalorian culture, then maybe The Armorer really is just happy for Bo-Katan, congratulating her on having this spiritual awakening? She does, after all, say that “The Mythosaur is for all Mandalorians.” What can be more egalitarian than that?