'The Mandalorian' Has Shades of 'Andor' with Latest Episode 'The Convert'

by Darian Scalamoni

    Andor created a refreshing look at the world of Star Wars which leaned more into politics, espionage and a look at the "everyday people" that inhabited the millions of planets in the lore of a galaxy far, far away. While The Mandalorian has always felt more "Star Wars-y" with exploration, call backs to the original trilogy and some familiar faces sprinkled in, the latest episode in the third season of The Mandalorian titled "The Convert" gave us a dose of both where crowd favorites Din Djarin, Bo-Katan Kryze and Grogu were featured but another character from our past eventually took center stage.

    What this week's episode did was steer clear of familiar story structure that The Mandalorian leans on following Din (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne/Lateef Crowder) and Grogu.  First, Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) questions whether or not Din saw "anything down there" in regard to the living waters as she questions whether her sight of the legendary Mythosaur was real or not. Following that, the three of them head back to Kalevala to retrieve Din's ship where they are intercepted by a group of TIE fighters that destroy Bo-Katan's home. It leads to an intense, impressive and tactical aerial combat scene that has beautiful visuals leading to a tragic moment for Bo-Katan. Din, indebted to her for saving his life on two occasions last episode, says he knows a place where they can go and as they set their coordinates to jump to hyperspace, we shift gears to Coruscant. 

    It is here where we are reintroduced to Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi); who we met within the very first episode of The Mandalorian whilst working for The Client (Werner Herzog) as he tried to clone Grogu's blood for the midichlorians within. Since then, he also aided the villainous Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) working on additional cloning experiments, however, you could always tell Dr. Pershing was not an evil man, just one that cared about science. He thought he was doing good, however, now, he'd had the opportunity to do just that with the New Republic's Amnesty Program. This program takes former Imperial officers and reintegrates them into society with a little deprogramming. Our first view of Pershing within this season, has him in the spotlight on the stage of a theater that should look quite familiar to Star Wars fans, giving a speech on his research that he supervised for the Empire, revealing that the reason he pursued this sort of technology in the first place was an authentic inclination to improve the medical field with cloned organs. 

    As Pershing is speaking, we scan across the audience to see another familiar face that has been present on Moff Gideon's ship in the past: Elia Kane (Katy O'Brian). After Pershin's speech, he is greeted by all the lavish patrons admiring his great speech, commending him on being so vulnerable, however, one can suspect that Dr. Pershing feels overwhelmed by all the attention. As he escapes the swarm of the masses, he heads back to his amnesty housing facility, where he crosses paths with Kane and three other former Empire employees. Dr. Pershing is hesitant to join them all for a drink at first and engage in conversation, until he finally lets his guard down as they begin to talk about the little things they miss. Pershing admits to missing the yellow travel biscuits that were given out, which we later discover that Elia gifts him with a box of his own later that night.

    This signals an upcoming bond that is formed between Dr. Pershing and Elia Kane, which is played out and emphasized later in the episode in conversation. Before that though, we see within this episode of The Mandalorian, that the New Republic's offices are mundane, monotonous and seemingly scoffed at by Pershing considering what he used to have at his disposal when working under the Empire. It feels that almost everyone that is within this program has been stripped away of truly what makes them a "person" being stripped of their name and instead given a code to which they are referred.

    As the friendship between Dr. Pershing and Elia Kane grows over the episode, he begins to put more trust in her which saves him from the tedious task of archiving his research for the New Republic. Elia goads him into an offer to go and break into the Imperial junkyard and find him a mobile lab so he can continue his research. At first, Pershing refuses but then as he begins to hone in on the the New Repbulic wasting his equipment, he loses it and agrees to venture with her to the scrap heap. 

    Though all seems to be going according to plan, even in a moment of solace where the two of them re-introduce themselves by their actual names, there's a point where everything shifts. After Dr. Pershing grabs all his materials, he's let his guard down too far through Elia's abilities to get him to open up through kind communication and a common bond. Dr. Pershing is then put under arrest for stealing the materials, a plan that was set up by Elia Kane all along leaving the doctor dumbfounded. It seems that as Kane has transitioned to work alongside the New Republic, her new job is to seek out foible members of their program such as Dr. Pershing, to wipe their minds clean of past experiences through the mind flayer.

    As the episode nears a close, we get a follow-up in the beginning of Chapter 19, where Mando, Bo-Katan and Grogu head back to the Armorer with proof that they both bathed within the living waters of Mandalore. Once that is proven, both Din and Bo-Katan (to her surprise) are welcomed back into the Mandalorian community. It's a scene that's filled with biblical references and religious parallels which further exemplifies the solidarity and commitment to what truly being a Mandalorian means.

Overall Rating: 8.9