Only in Star Wars can a segment of pipe be considered a clever Easter Egg.

But there it is, leaning against a wall in episode three of The Mandalorian, when the guilt-stricken hero played by Pedro Pascal returns to save Baby Yoda from the Imperials who hired him to find the tyke. At the 18:51 minute mark, as Mando is looking at the discarded floating crib, there’s a piece of metal pipe in the background with similar ridges and markings to the bar that Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker tried to use to keep the walls from closing in on them in the trash compactor scene of 1977’s original Star Wars. Only the truly eagle-eyed fans would ever notice, but that’s who these things are for.

Vanity Fair recaps this third chapter of the Disney+ series on the new Still Watching: The Mandalorian podcast, featuring interviews with episode director Deborah Chow, who’s also overseeing the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and Supernatural actress Emily Swallow, who portrays the tribe leader and blacksmith known as The Armorer.

Listen here:

Now let's take a close look at some other hidden details from the episode.

First of all, when Mando and Baby Yoda return to his home base, it looks like a U-Wing fighter from Rogue One lands in front of them—minus the U-wings. What was once a sleek starship is now a kind of junker.

Another retro Easter eggs in this chapter is the “camtono,” the drum-like safe where Werner Herzog’s mysterious Client keeps his stash of beskar steel.

This object was first seen in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, when Cloud City is being evacuated and a background extra runs by carrying the same object.

It has a special place in the hearts of Star Wars fans because the prop that actor was carrying was actually a commercial ice cream maker. Fans dubbed the Empire background character “Willrow Hood,” and claimed he was a brave Mr. Softee trying to keep his frozen treats out of Imperial Hands.

Later, Lucasfilm devised a more fitting backstory — the object contained information about Rebel fuel purchases, and Willrow was keeping that out of Darth Vader’s clutches. Now, thanks to The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau, we now know the object is a galactic safe, suitable for storing all manner of precious things, including space weed. (Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga advises Mando to buy a camtono of narcotic “spice” to assuage his guilt over capturing The Child.)

Speaking of The Child, Baby Yoda continues to endear himself across the space-time continuum. In this episode, he unscrews a knob from one of the Mandalorian’s starship levers and plays with the metal ball like an adorable kitten. It’s this object that causes the rush of regret that sends Mando back into The Client’s safe house on a mission to rescue Baby Yoda, just as Omid Abtahi’s Doctor Pershing is scanning the little creature’s vitals and “extracting the necessary materials.” In a conversation eavesdropped on by Mando, Doctor Pershing tells the client: “He expressly said to bring it back alive.” The “he” in charge of this operation has yet to be revealed.

Baby Yoda’s cuteness is not the only thing motivating The Mandalorian. When The Armorer is forging his newfound cache of beskar steel into a chest plate for him, he is surrounded by fellow Mandalorians who chastise him for working for Imperials. In flashbacks, we again see a young boy and his mother and father, clad in red robes, under assault by battle droids. We can only assume this is Mando, and The Armorer remarks that it’s good there is some steel left over to help some of the young ones. “The Foundlings are the future,” she says.

It’s looking more and more like The Mandalorian was a “foundling,” now determined to protect the same — even if it’s a little green guy.

About those red robes—the family may be wearing them because those dressings are the traditional garb of Life Day, the celebration from the Star Wars Holiday Special (mentioned in passing by one of Mando’s prisoner’s in the first episode.) If that’s what the robes signify, the battle droids attacked that village on the galactic equivalent of Christmas Day.

Another apparent Easter egg arises in the form of a hulking fellow Mandalorian who first menaces the hero, then comes to his rescue in the final act. He’s voiced by series creator Favreau, but performed by Tait Fletcher, the real-life MMA fighter and John Wick villain who played the bearded cantina tough guy in the opening scene of Chapter One.

Favreau previously voiced the Mandalorian warlord known as Pre Vizsla in the animated series The Clone Wars, and the credits reveal that this new character is named Paz Vizla—a slightly different spelling of the last name (perhaps a mistake?) but too close to be coincidence. This has to be someone from the House of Vizsla, and a nod toward Favreau’s earlier character.

There’s also a bit of Iron Man to Paz, who flies alongside the Mandalorian’s starship at the end, using his rocket pack. “I gotta get one of those,” Mando mutters to himself. (Favreau, of course, directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2.)

And finally, there's a dialogue Easter egg that’s pretty easy to catch. When Mando asks Greef Karga why he should trust him, his bounty boss replies with a paraphrase of Princess Leia’s request to help from Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars: “Because I’m your only hope,” Karga says.

Now that The Mandalorian has re-kidnapped Baby Yoda and made a run for it with every bounty hunter in proximity chasing after, hope is going to be in short supply.

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