Dr. Pershing takes center stage, while Din and Bo-Katan face new obstacles.
Episode 3 of The Mandalorian’s third season breaks free of the story styling that has been established across three seasons, shifting the focus away from Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne/Lateef Crowder) in unexpected ways. With the aptly titled episode, “The Convert,” the series brings new blood to not only the director’s chair but the writer’s room too, and this shift is felt across the board. Noah Kloor joins Jon Favreau to pen this episode, which features a compelling story that is filled with open, honest and sometimes deceitful communication, which is something that has been lacking in previous seasons.
Paired with the award-winning direction of Lee Isaac Chung and a much longer runtime, Episode 3 is a refreshing deviation from DIn’s search for redemption.The episode opens mere moments after the end of “The Mines of Mandalore” with Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) waiting for Din to wake up after his unexpectedly dangerous soak in the Living Waters. Even with her helmet on, it’s clear that she’s ruminating over what she saw beneath the water. When Din awakes, she is quick to assuage his concerns and confirms that she witnessed him bathe in the Living Waters, which means he is once again a true Mandalorian.
She also questions him about what he saw or didn’t see beneath the waters, and she seems quite satisfied that Din didn’t see the legendary Mythosaur as he plummeted to the bottom of the chasm.During their return to Kalevala to retrieve Din’s ship, they run into a squadron of TIE fighters looking for a fight: so Bo-Katan gives them one. They engage in a little combat, but even with Din on the guns, they are vastly outnumbered, so they concoct a plan to get Din to where his ship is parked. This plan includes Din pulling his best Tom Cruise impression by essentially free-falling out of Bo-Katan’s ship onto the platform where his starfighter is located. It all works out right up until the moment it doesn’t.
After an impressive display of tactical skills, the duo manages to dispatch the first wave of TIE fighters, but as anyone who has ever played Battlefront knows there’s always more. As they celebrate their modest victory, Din notices more TIE fighters incoming, but these are focused on Bo-Katan’s cliff-side castle, which they bomb to the ground. Homeless, once again, an irate Bo-Katan seems raring to take on the next wave of TIE fighters, until it’s revealed that there are dozens of them. Completely outgunned, Din convinces Bo-Katan to abandon Kalevala for now.
He has somewhere safe they can head where they won’t be found. While the “where” might be obvious, the episode waits until the final five moments to make the reveal.Shifting gears to Coruscant, The Mandalorian reintroduces its audience to the familiar face of Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi), who was last seen aiding and abetting Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) cloning experiments beneath the remnants of the Empire. Though, it was always clear that he wasn’t there for the Empire: he was there for science. In the time since Moff Gideon’s capture, it would seem that Dr. Pershing found himself as a prime candidate for the New Republic’s amnesty program, which takes former Imperial officers and helps them reintegrate into society with a little deprogramming. At what seems to be Coruscant’s answer for TEDTalks, Pershing discusses the cloning research he conducted for the Empire, and he reveals that the reason he pursued cloning, to begin with, was out of a genuine desire to improve medical treatments with cloned organs.
While he speaks, another familiar face from Moff Gideon’s ship can be spotted in the audience: Katy O’Brian.After his talk, the hoi polloi of Coruscant, all of whom wish to commend him on his efforts and his talk, swarms Pershing, which leaves him seeming very uncomfortable. He retreats for the evening to his new amnesty program housing facility, where he crosses paths with Elia Kane (O’Brian) who he recognizes from Moff Gideon’s ship. Despite the initial alarm of seeing a familiar face, Elia and the other members of the program welcome him with open arms. They spend the evening commiserating about their time under the Empire and reflecting on the little things they miss.
After a little prodding, Pershing admits that he misses the yellow travel biscuits, which Elia gifts him with a box of, later that evening.In contrast with Andor’s sterile imperial office scape, The Mandalorian crafts its own with the office that Dr. Pershing finds himself working in, processing files and sending old imperial equipment off to be destroyed. It’s monotonous and menial, and a mockery when you consider the vast knowledge that Pershing possesses. The amnesty program, which is backed by the New Republic the good guys feels sinister at times, especially considering the fact that they have stripped them of a degree of personhood. Everyone in the program has been assigned a number and that is how everyone refers to them.
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