Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2.
Grogu’s time with Luke Skywalker is proving to have been very productive in The Mandalorian season 3, including with a new, Yoda-like Force move. After reuniting with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) in The Book of Boba Fett following his decision not to continue with the Jedi training, Grogu is now back facing the dangers of the Star Wars galaxy. It's not clear how long he spent training with Luke Skywalker on Ossus, but his powers have clearly developed, and he's more confident than ever in the ways of the Force.
Grogu's newfound confidence was on display in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2, in which he was forced to seek Bo-Katan's help rescuing Din Djarin from a monstrous enemy. Grogu is clearly much more powerful after his training, but oddly his most impressive feat in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 - "The Mines of Mandalore" - came earlier. It was a spontaneous moment of joy when he saw a familiar face.
Grogu Is Flipping Like Yoda In The Prequels
When exiting Mando’s Naboo N-1 starship to reunite with his friend Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), Grogu flipped just like Yoda in the Star Wars prequels. Though this could have to do with Grogu growing older and stronger, it is most likely a result of Grogu’s training with Luke Skywalker between The Mandalorian season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett. One of Luke’s lessons to Grogu shown during Boba Fett was precisely how to jump like a Jedi, which can be even more effective for Grogu and Yoda’s species. Grogu spent more than a year training with Luke in Skywalker’s new Jedi Temple, as confirmed by series creator Jon Favreau, so he had plenty of time to learn.
Master Yoda only received a signature fighting style during the third act of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, as neither the original trilogy nor Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace showed Yoda fighting. There was a level of expectation regarding how would Yoda fight to go into the prequels, with some wondering whether he even used a lightsaber at all, or whether he simply fought using the Force. Could Yoda perhaps fight only using the Force? While Episode II’s Yoda vs. Dooku fight was not as creative as some decade-old Star Wars theories, it showed Yoda was indeed a “great warrior” capable of moving and jumping really fast. Now, Grogu continues Yoda’s tradition in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2.
Can All Yoda's Species Flip Like Yoda?
Yoda’s species is one of Star Wars' biggest unanswered mysteries, and neither the old Expanded Universe nor Disney canon has ever explored his past in any real detail - partly in respect to George Lucas himself. So far, the only three members of Yoda’s species known to the Star Wars canon are Yoda himself, Jedi Master Yaddle, and Grogu. All three characters were shown to be Force-sensitive, with Yaddle sitting at the Jedi Council until her death at the hands of Dooku. Yaddle briefly flipped like Yoda when fighting Dooku, which, added to Grogu’s latest jump, suggests the entire species can indeed flip like that.
Yoda, Yaddle, and Grogu’s quick jumps can be attributed to their bodies, but it also must have something to do with their Force-sensitive abilities. Jedi in general can perform some impressive flips – it only took Luke Skywalker a relatively brief training with Yoda to be able to jump very high. That said, it all comes down to the mystery of whether all of Yoda’s species are Force-sensitive, as, so far, all three examples were. If Yoda’s species does have a higher percentage of Force-sensitive members, then Yoda’s flips might be more common than viewers previously thought. Regardless, The Mandalorian’s Grogu’s just picked up an important fighting skill.
New episodes of The Mandalorian release Wednesdays on Disney+.