The Client-

More than the uniform and the big medal, what struck me as soon as I saw it is that cord that connects the two flaps of his collar. It made me immediately think to the Sith chain, like Dooku and Vader had:

 

I have a feeling that The Client had some sort of hand in this Purge that the Mandalorians are always talking about in the show. The way he’s talked about Mandalorians so far shows that he’s at the very least knowledgable about what happened to them. Also, he had to get all the Beskar from somewhere.

As for what he wants with Baby Yoda? I honestly have no idea. He doesn’t seem to care if he’s brought in dead or alive, so that further stumps me. I agree that they must want to clone it for whatever reason and I think Dr. Pershing wants it alive, because:

a) he’s not heartless and it’s a baby
and
b) it’s just easier to test, study, etc with it alive.

Maybe the Imperials want it for reasons connected to Operation Cinder or Palpatine’s return in TROS, but this Client seems more like a Warlord and his stormtroopers are little more than thugs. I doubt he was prominent within the Empire and he doesn’t strike me as an army/navy/science type, so like @Mcbee said, he was probably a governor or something like that.

Hopefully our answers will be revealed by the end of this season!

 

He's doing all this on a backwater planet, not where there are big fancy scientific medical tools to really do what the doctor wants. Perhaps he has an agenda of his own, nothing to do with the Empire, but his own little slide around the sides of Imperial laws. And how did the doctor talk him into it. I think both are in deep doo doo when Palp finds out. Not all Imperialist work with the Empire although they make a good show. They use the Empire to further their own aims.

 

It can also simply be Favreau's will to visually tie the serie in the "SW overall aesthetic".

 

I did some (light) digging trying to come up with a match for The Client's emblem, but I got no closer match than the Imperial Crest. I guess it could technically be a Republic Roundel, but the way the spokes flare at the edges makes it resemble the Imperial Crest more.

What's more, the pendant definitely looks like a medal of some sort, so perhaps he won/was awarded a medal by the Empire for something in the past? He wears his medallion proudly, and it is akin to Han Solo walking around with the Yavin Medal around his neck; vulgar and tacky. Furthermore, the medal doesn't look particularly flashy or nice; it was described as "gold" above, but I see more of a bronze color, with no wings or wreaths or other decorations, and the dull blue ribbon with dull gray stripes don't exactly scream style and flash either.

To me it looks kinda like The Client is some pro-Empire criminal who was given an Imperial medal once which he lashes onto with all his pride. He certainly glorifies the Empire, compared to the lawless state he finds his corner of the galaxy under the New Republic democracy, and we know (that Greef Karga thinks) he has deep pockets, and that he has some sort of arrangement with Dr. Pershing and whatever he's up to. The Client comes of as a little pathetic to me, the king of the dung heap sort of thing, and it would not surprise me the least if it turns out he's secretly serving someone else, someone with a clear Imperial identity/connection; say... Thrawn? Another ex-Moff warlord? An escaped Imperial Advisor? Snoke?

Edit: He's a great character, by the way, with a strong performance by Herzog; a powerful presence in the room

 

In Ep. 3, when the Mando listens in on the Client and Dr. Pershing's conversation with his magic tuning fork, the conversation goes like this (according to the subtitles):

The Client: I don't care. I order you to extract the necessary material and be done with it.

(static)

Dr. Pershing: He has explicitly ordered us to bring it back alive.

The Client: Finish your business quickly as I no longer can guarantee your safety.​

Kinda makes you wonder who the mysterious "he" is, doesn't it?

 

Absolutely, and I'm certain we will either learn who he is in the last (or penultimate) episode, or at least get a strong cliff-hanger hint.

I think it is just a matter of time before we see a live action Thrawn, but this mysterious boss could be anyone and anything, of course.

 

My guess is it's

Spoiler: guess based on announced cast

Giancarlo Esposito's character.

Yeah, I do wonder what The Client's role in all this will be, though I kinda wonder- are we done with him? Seems like he really just wanted the Child for some quickly ex-tractable resource at the behest of the above referenced character, and the Scientist was far more interested in it other than that.

Speaking of which- any chance The Client got what he needed while the Child was plugged in? Seems like a long shot, but the directions made it seem like the extraction wouldn't kill it, so it's possible I guess.

 

I guess if all they needed was DNA (or midichlorIans) that would be relatively quick and “painless” to take out. If there was time to strap the baby to the table there was time to extract that.

But I can’t shake the image of that torture droid in the room with my precious little green baby....

 

That was the worst.

Probably didn't help Mando's disposition toward droids, either.

 

WÔT ?
THIS boy is MINE. Okay ?

 

Oh my gosh, I bought that album in vinyl, like every other preteen girl at the time.

That said, MUH BABY BOY.

 

So now do we think Moff Gideon is THE Client or is there still someone he's answering to?

I think Moff Gideon/whoever's behind him wants the Yodling for cloning in order to consolidate power and rebuild the empire. This theory appears to be partially supported by the presence of the scientist from the Kamino cloning facility. I would really love to see Thrawn being the mastermind behind all that; that's probably unlikely though. Or if Moff Gideon turns out to be the main villain, maybe he seeks a force-being in order to somehow find the way to get force powers for himself?

I also have another wild theory but it's related to the new movie so I won't post anything in order not to spoil anything haha...

 

In the third episode, when Mando goes back to get the kid, he uses his rifle as a listening device. The Client tells Dr. Pershing to "extract the necessary material and be done with it." Then the dialogue is garbled before we hear Dr. Pershing reply, "we were instructed to bring the subject back alive." So it's not their plan. They are following orders.

After seeing the last episode, it's just my opinion, but the way Gideon shoots everyone up, including The Client, I don't think they were getting their orders from him. The impression I got was Gideon has his own plan. He was supposed to have been executed for war crimes. I think he is functioning outside of whatever structure the former Imperials are organized into. We will see.

"Extracting material" sounds like midichlorians. Maybe they want to enhance Force abilities of someone or possibly a squadron. Their own version of the Super Soldier serum from Marvel. The Child's healing abilities could also be part of restoring Palpatine.

Gideon says it means more to him than they could possibly imagine. Can't wait to find out what he has in mind.

Someone please give the kid a name already.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 28, 2019, Original Post Date: Dec 28, 2019 ---

I thought there was an announcement that the entire Mandalorian section was an open spoiler zone? I will spoiler tag future posts if this isn't the case.

ATTENTION: THE MANDALORIAN FORUM IS AN OPEN SPOILER ZONE!!
https://thecantina.starwarsnewsnet....dalorian-forum-is-an-open-spoiler-zone.56919/

 

You are correct. I'll remove the spoiler code.

 

The client, one of.my favorites character of this show.

 

If the Empire and all its multiple bad guys have the one source (that we know of) of massive Force and Jedi Potential all tied up, maybe they think there is no one else with those abilities. The Client said, "THEY are 50 years old", in the first chapter, Episode 1. They is a plural of at least two. What if there were two baby Yoda's, and the Imperials have one captured and tucked away? A female. Yoda species has two sexes, therefore it takes two to tango. A chance to control and avoid the possibility of another YODA, the number one pain in the Imperial posterior.

I need to go back to Chapter 1, hear the Client again.