WARNING: THERE ARE THE MANDALORIAN SEASON 2 SPOILERS AHEAD!
It’s hard to believe there’s an actual controversy surrounding a science fiction Western-style show with a baby alien running amok, but here we are.
In “Chapter 10: The Passenger,” last week’s episode of The Mandalorian, our hero and his partner in crime, Baby Yoda AKA The Child were tasked with transporting a frog-like creature to a planet to find her husband. Along with her were her eggs that needed to be fertilized or her entire species would be extinct.
Baby Yoda takes one look at the canister of eggs and immediately thinks “DINNER,” then spends much of the episode trying — and succeeding at some points — to eat them. It came off to some fans as a very dark running gag that pushed the limits of good taste, so much so that Lucasfilm creative arts manager Phil Szostak addressed it on Twitter:
For the record, Chapter 10 of #TheMandalorian makes it clear that the Frog Lady’s eggs are unfertilized, like the chicken eggs many of us enjoy. But obviously, chickens aren’t sentient beings and the Child eating the eggs is intentionally disturbing, for comedic effect.#StarWars https://t.co/Js51fLpE3C
— Phil Szostak (@PhilSzostak) November 9, 2020
Fans of horror know that disturbing things make some of us laugh and some of us squirm, or both. Your mileage may vary.
— Phil Szostak (@PhilSzostak) November 9, 2020
Yes, it was horrifying as Szostak pointed out in his second tweet. I know I didn’t laugh. The stakes at that moment were as high as they are in any episode of The Mandalorian — Mando needs to give safe passage to the frog and her eggs in order to continue his journey to find other Mandalorians, and Baby Yoda keeps getting in the way of that goal. Every time he ate one, I know I wanted to do exactly what Mando did: “NO!!”
#TheMandalorian // mando spoilers
i just wanna say thank you to pedro pascal for giving this to us pic.twitter.com/u7eXWOjKHq
— din djarin's curls ✿ mando spoilers (@sarahdjarin) November 6, 2020
There’s another point here, too, with Mando acting like the parent he needs to be in this series: Baby Yoda wasn’t doing this maliciously. He’s a child. And children do really terrible things sometimes and don’t even know they’re terrible, whether it’s through their words or actions. So I don’t think the makers of the show meant for this to be poking fun at a very sensitive situation. It’s a reminder that Baby Yoda, while adorable and bringing comic relief most weeks, is actually dangerous in some ways — remember when he nearly choked Cara Dune in Season 1? Or when he eats live frogs?
So let’s put this controversy that isn’t one to rest.
