“The Mandalorian” - Season 3, Episode 3: “The Convert” Review
This week’s episode of “The Mandalorian” brought two important storylines together, but the poor pacing of the episode made it drag on and a little confusing to follow.
This episode starts out after Din and Bo-Katan come out of the living waters, where Din is redeemed and Bo-Katan witnesses it. However, attackers come in and bomb Bo-Katan’s home, so the two must flee.
Then, the episode takes a complete 180 and turns to Dr. Pershing, the doctor from seasons one and two who was working for Moff Gideon. He’s now on Coruscant as part of the New Republic’s Amnesty Program for former imperials. On his first day there, he meets others who worked with Gideon, including a woman named Elia.
Elia and Pershing hit it off quickly, and Elia shows him that there’s more to life on Coruscant than the government. However, Pershing finds himself increasingly resentful that he’s not allowed to finish his cloning research in accordance with the New Republic.
Pershing shows up on Elia’s doorstep and channels his inner Cassian Andor for a full-fledged mission to the junkyard to retrieve cloning equipment, but when they get there, Elia rats him out to the New Republic.
Pershing is placed in a New Republic medical center where traumatic memories of the Empire are going to be wiped from his brain, but Elia stays behind to watch him, and that portion of the episode ends with Elia turning the machine all the way up.
Back to the Mandalorians: Din and Bo-Katan go back to Paz Vizla and the Armorer, who redeems Din by the Mandalorian creed, but Bo-Katan, who has fought against Din’s “cult,” is also redeemed by creed.
This episode wasn’t all bad. There were some fun little Easter eggs; the holiday on Coruscant is called “Benduday,” maybe after the character from “Rebels,” and Pershing says “this is a trap” to a Mon Calamari doctor that looks a lot like Admiral Ackbar.
But fun nods aside, the pacing of this episode was terrible.
The “Star Wars” series has been notorious for doing episodes that don’t really have anything to do with the main character, like the Mandalorian episodes of “The Book of Boba Fett. Pershing’s character development is crucial to the story, especially in relation to Grogu, but there was no reason why 35 minutes of the episode had to be dedicated to Pershing frolicking around Coruscant.
Bo-Katan’s initiation into Din’s subsect was funny and quite ironic, especially since she was one of the last true Mandalorians of her kind. It’s been nice to see Din and Bo-Katan develop a friendship shared by their culture and protection of Grogu.
“The Mandalorian” better connect Pershing and Din’s stories again if they want this episode to stay relevant.
Rating: 3/5
Adrianna Gallucci is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.
