Grogu has entered his teenage years

We still don’t know what Grogu’s species is or exactly what the developmental markers are for this particularly long-lived creature. But after Chapter 23 of The Mandalorian, I’m going to go ahead and call it: Grogu is officially a teenager.

His dad tells him he’s too young to have a car—I mean, droid—of his own, and what does he do? Throws a hissy fit, shouting—clicking?—“No. No. No.” He commandeers his cool uncle’s remodeled IG-12 and immediately crashes the thing. (Don’t worry: No busts of Greef Karga were actually harmed in the making of this episode.) Dad is not happy, but Cool Uncle Greef is delighted.

What’s he do next? Snacks. Snacks. And more snacks. He doesn’t even get out of his car! Just sits in the driver’s seat nom nom nom. And who’s going to pay for those snacks? This kid’s got no money. He doesn’t even have a job! Just sits around—

Anyway, Din is not pleased with Grogu’s manners.

And Grogu, it would seem, is working hard at figuring out his boundaries, just how far he can push his dad—and which of Mando’s buttons he can push in the process. (Get it? Because he kept pushing buttons. Incessantly. Adorable little pain in the neck…)

“He didn’t learn that from me.”

Din says as much after Grogu stops the fight that breaks out between Axe Woves and Paz Vizsla—a fight he himself was told not to interfere in. The Mandalorians, it would seem, needed to duke it out, according to their code. But Grogu didn’t care—not about the two men fighting to defend their honor, not about the Mandalorian code, not about any of it.

He did what he wanted, what he thought was best. And it worked out. Good thing he had Cool Uncle Greef’s tricked out car—er, droid!

The moment rhymes with one from Chapter 20. “Did you teach him that?” Bo-Katan asks Din after Grogu bests the other foundling using not a small amount of Force jumping.

“Not me,” Din replies.

Grogu may have entered his teenage years with all the boundary-pushing, identity-defining, self-discovery that comes with such a developmental milestone. But he’s not just stealing cars—droids!—and fruit. He’s charting a new path for himself, one that blends his Jedi and Mandalorian upbringings.

It’s cute and funny but it’s also a tad worrying. Because we’ve seen Grogu wield the Force—he’s strong!—and we’ve seen him fall prey to his anger and his pain. Din is more than capable of righting his young charge’s moral compass when it’s a matter of paying a shopkeeper for stolen snacks.

It’s a different matter entirely if Grogu starts throwing some Force lightning.