The Mandalorian, S3E3: The Convert
Mar. 27th, 2023 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerOh, man. Just after season 3 of The Mandalorian escaped the MST3K parody-ready juvenile writing of S3E1 and seemed to set up an epic story progression in S3E2, along comes S3E3 and throws it all away. 🙄 Chapter 19, "The Convert", reverts to amateur writing with loose ends and unearned plot points. It also commits the grave mistake The Book of Boba Fett and Andor did when they split their stories with side plots that involved different main characters. With TBoBF, at least, that other main character was interesting— it was The Mandalorian! See Boba Fett S1E5: No Boba Fett and The Book of Boba Fett S1E6: Boba Fett Writes a Book About Somebody Else. Alas this series is already about Mando, so switching viewpoint to someone else is a step down.
The alternate main character is Penn Pershing, an ethics-challenged but timid scientist whom we saw working for Moff Gideon in season 1. His specialty is cloning organs. Basically he was hired by Gideon to figure out how to clone Grogu's ability to use The Force into something that would empower Gideon (or selected others) to use The Force. Gideon and his ship were captured at the end of season 2. In this episode Dr. Pershing is in a rehabilitation program on planet Coruscant. His official name is now Amnesty Scientist L52.
Pershing lives in a semi-quarantine area with other people captured from the Empire. Among them is Elia, officially "Amnesty Officer G68", whom Pershing recognizes as a communications officer from Gideon's command. She manipulates him into wanting to continue his cloning research, even though it's against New Republic law, and encourages him to join her in stealing lab equipment from Gideon's captured star cruiser. Ultimately the two of them are captured exiting the impounded ship with stolen goods— but Elia goes free! It's revealed that she's working for the rehab program. She entrapped him.
The last scene in this side plot has Pershing strapped to a table with a "mind flayer" machine. A Mon Calamari technician explains it's a low power device to deprogram his conditioning from the Empire. Really, electro-shock therapy? An enlightened New Republic that bans all cloning research still believes in electro-shock therapy?
After insisting, "No, this is not a trap" — damn, I wish the Mon Calamari had said that instead of merely words to the same effect— the rehab officers all leave the room except for Elia. She turns the power control knob from, like, 2 to 10 (max) as Pershing starts to scream in pain.
...Okay, so is that side story now over? If so, what was the point of it? What was Elia's goal? Is she now the main character of the side story? Is she evil for good's sake or evil for evil's sake? These are bad questions to have to be asking at this point in the story.
Oh, and the title, "The Convert"? That refers to the plot with the actual main character, Din Djarin, who's only given a few minutes of screen time in this episode. He and Bo-Katan go back to the Mandalorian covert in exile. Din Djarin is redeemed, and Bo-Katan, having also bathed in the sacred waters, is forgiven for her helmet-taking-off ways. ...Nevermind that she was part of the ruling family in political feuds that probably caused the destruction of their whole planet, she's now absolved of going helmetless in public. This is The Way.
This short sequence with the Mandalorian covert also surfaces numerous unearned plot points. A few of them:
Again, this story feels like an roleplaying adventure written by a 12 year old... with an army of set dressers and special effects people to make it look like a million bucks.
The alternate main character is Penn Pershing, an ethics-challenged but timid scientist whom we saw working for Moff Gideon in season 1. His specialty is cloning organs. Basically he was hired by Gideon to figure out how to clone Grogu's ability to use The Force into something that would empower Gideon (or selected others) to use The Force. Gideon and his ship were captured at the end of season 2. In this episode Dr. Pershing is in a rehabilitation program on planet Coruscant. His official name is now Amnesty Scientist L52.
Pershing lives in a semi-quarantine area with other people captured from the Empire. Among them is Elia, officially "Amnesty Officer G68", whom Pershing recognizes as a communications officer from Gideon's command. She manipulates him into wanting to continue his cloning research, even though it's against New Republic law, and encourages him to join her in stealing lab equipment from Gideon's captured star cruiser. Ultimately the two of them are captured exiting the impounded ship with stolen goods— but Elia goes free! It's revealed that she's working for the rehab program. She entrapped him.
The last scene in this side plot has Pershing strapped to a table with a "mind flayer" machine. A Mon Calamari technician explains it's a low power device to deprogram his conditioning from the Empire. Really, electro-shock therapy? An enlightened New Republic that bans all cloning research still believes in electro-shock therapy?After insisting, "No, this is not a trap" — damn, I wish the Mon Calamari had said that instead of merely words to the same effect— the rehab officers all leave the room except for Elia. She turns the power control knob from, like, 2 to 10 (max) as Pershing starts to scream in pain.
...Okay, so is that side story now over? If so, what was the point of it? What was Elia's goal? Is she now the main character of the side story? Is she evil for good's sake or evil for evil's sake? These are bad questions to have to be asking at this point in the story.
Oh, and the title, "The Convert"? That refers to the plot with the actual main character, Din Djarin, who's only given a few minutes of screen time in this episode. He and Bo-Katan go back to the Mandalorian covert in exile. Din Djarin is redeemed, and Bo-Katan, having also bathed in the sacred waters, is forgiven for her helmet-taking-off ways. ...Nevermind that she was part of the ruling family in political feuds that probably caused the destruction of their whole planet, she's now absolved of going helmetless in public. This is The Way.
This short sequence with the Mandalorian covert also surfaces numerous unearned plot points. A few of them:
- How do they eat? There's no food. They're on a deserted desert planet and have no space ship.
- How did they even get there? They have no space ship and there's no space port.
- How do they get technology— and fuel— for the Armorer to build things with her forge? They're on a deserted desert planet with no food, no supplies, and no transportation.
Again, this story feels like an roleplaying adventure written by a 12 year old... with an army of set dressers and special effects people to make it look like a million bucks.
