Not every controversial take is a good one.
But some hold water, even on scrutiny, and a recent assertion about Mando and Grogu’s status in the Star Wars universe is just strong enough to deserve consideration. While we’ve happily considered the newly-minted Din family to be the very best father-son offering the franchise has — right on brand for Pedro Pascal — a hot take from one Star Wars fan has us questioning everything. Grogu and Din’s relationship is utterly charming, but can it compete with The Bad Batch‘s own parental pairing?
In the animated Star Wars series, the youthful Omega is essentially adopted by Clone Force 99. The mismatched group of elite troopers serve as mercenaries, in the wake of the Clone Wars, thanks to genetic mutations that allow them to side-step the effects of Order 66. Over the course of two seasons, Omega and Hunter — the group’s leader — have slowly formed a charming father/daughter relationship, but it’s got few qualities in common with Din and Grogu’s.
Reddit user AcanthisittaHot1998 would argue that Omega and Hunter take the cake when it comes to Star Wars “child-guardian” relationships. They assert, over the course of a relatively scathing post, that Din and Grogu’s relationship — while strong in seasons one and two — fell utterly flat in season three. Arguing that there is no conflict between the pair, and clearly incensed that Grogu remains a baby into season three, AcanthisittaHot1998 emphasizes the sometimes quarrelsome relationship between Omega and Hunter. This, along with the original poster’s clear distaste for season three, serves as the meat of their argument.
Season three of Mando started off pretty slow, its true, but the latter half of the season picked up immensely, and contained a delightful Star Wars story. Its true that Grogu and Din’s relationship is more challenging to communicate than that between Hunter and Omega, but some might argue that’s what makes it so compelling. Hunter and Omega will always present an easier-to-digest relationship, if only because Omega can actually speak. Communicating a relationship between one person who can’t speak and another who never shows his face is hard, but somehow The Mandalorian still pulls it off.
That’s not to say that Omega and Hunter don’t share a special bond, by any means, but it feels unfair to compare the two. The Bad Batch, as one commenter pointed out, is centered around the themes of found family. Mando, on the other hand, enjoys a far broader scope, and one that already ties into a number of upcoming spin-off shows.
In the end, these two Star Wars shows are offering up such starkly different storylines, characters, and stakes that they’re impossible to compare. While its fair to think that Din and Grogu’s relationship got a bit stale this season, season three is also the one that saw Grogu nearly say his first words, get officially adopted by Din, and form a much closer bond with Bo-Katan. The little green guy’s family is growing, and season three fixated on a far more diverse cast of characters than the show ever has before.
The Bad Batch, meanwhile, continues to zero in on its disjointed little team. Its easy to find the familial elements in a show about found family, but trying to assert that it is superior to that in Mando seems like it kind of misses the point. Each show offers up something completely different to enjoy, which is what we want. If every guardian/child relationship looked the same, the Star Wars franchise would be getting pretty stale by now.