Since Mando Ep 2 is going to be moderately restructured due to Mando Season 3, I figure I’d give my piece here as it’s most relevant on this thread.
I do agree that while giving Grogu away is an ending rather than a beginning, it still feels like the right move to bump that to Mando Ep 4. As someone who didn’t either Luke coming to save the day in Mando Season 2 (which honestly made me stop Mando Ep 2 at Grogu’s capture because I knew what came next) or the reversal of giving up Grogu, moving both of those moment into one packaged narrative lets me pretend that separating Din & Grogu only for their coming back together to help save the day in Mando Ep 3TBoBF.
As for ending Mando Ep 2 with Grogu’s capture, it’s still a tad TESB-esque, even if it doesn’t have the same weight to it. Empire works because Luke thinks he’s going to get trained & have everything he needs to fight Vader, only to be curb-stomped & have Vader drop that bombshell on him. The closest thing to that moment would be Boba revealing to Din that he & his father Jango were indeed Mandolorians, so there’s a type of brotherhood between Boba & Din that promises they’ll indeed rescue Grogu. That scene & ending with Gideon with the Darksaber is a decent enough ending for Ep 2, and then rescuing Grogu in Ep 3 is your raid on Jabba’s palace
Thanks Darth.
It then also allows Episode 3 to be all about Grogu and Din’s relationship, with Boba very much a supporting character.
I’m just going to embrace the fact that, no matter what backtracking Favreau and Filoni make, Grogu was clearly with Luke for a pretty short time. And he returns to Din without any evidence that he’s more able to use the force.
I know a lot of editors are trying to arrange things to extend the period that Grogu is with Luke, but I’m not sure that really fits with the story now that we’ve seen how it plays out.