After the absence of Grogu last week, The child is back in the spotlight with “The Foundling”. The Mandalorian has always been at its best when the father-son duo is at the center. Therefore, The Foundling feels wobbly because they spend most of the episode on separate storylines. After the highs of Mando’s redemption journey to Mandalore, this episode feels like a come-down storywise.
The Foundling finds our trio of Mando, Bo Katan, and Grogu adjusting to life with the Children of the Watch. Since he’s abandoned his Jedi apprenticeship with Luke Skywalker, Grogu is now embracing the Mandalorian life – and train; he must! Din Djarin and Bo Katan are giving off “mom and dad taking son to soccer practice” energy as they watch Grogu practice combat with other foundlings. It’s adorable.
But the fun is cut short when a dragon-like raptor swoops in and kidnaps one of the foundlings (not our baby, mercifully – he’s been kidnapped way too often). The grown-up Mandalorians must assemble a search party before the kid becomes the creature’s dinner. This is where Grogu and Mando’s storylines diverge into two separate paths: one very action heavy, one a revelatory tidbit that – like last week’s detour into Dr. Pershing’s Coruscant shenanigan – we suspect will pave the way for a future plotline.
On the heels of a very high stake episode last week, The Foundling feels bland in comparison. I guess a filler episode is needed once in a while, plus we’ve got tons of Grogu cuteness to lessen the blow. He’s participating in combat training this week and still manages to be super adorable; there’s nothing this good boy can’t do! Still, the episodes’ structure following the Mandalore mission’s success has yet to maintain an upward trajectory in terms of scale and excitement level. It felt exciting when they wrapped up the journey to the Mines of Mandalore arc much faster than expected, but two episodes later and it hasn’t gotten clear what the writers intend to do with the rest of the season. That lack of clarity is becoming more obvious now.
There’s nothing wrong with setup episodes. However, when you already have four episodes out of 8 coming out, the halfway point is supposed to have a point, an essential moment in the overarching narrative. There are interesting seeds for exciting stories. The Coruscant plot is leading somewhere, right? The Mythosaur that Bo witnessed in Episode 2 must be playing an important role sooner or later. Same with the importance placed on the Mandalorian culture this season. Something is coming, and it’s just not cohesive enough what that is exactly. With the show heading into its second half already, they better Force-jumpstart whatever that is. You cannot coast on Grogu playing with yet another tiny creature every episode – though we won’t say to stop doing that either!
