The Latest Episode Of The Mandalorian Is Packed With Star Wars Easter Eggs
The following post contains spoilers for "The Mandalorian" season 3, episode 3, "The Convert."
The first two episodes of "The Mandalorian" season 3 focused heavily on Din Djarin's (Pedro Pascal) quest to redeem himself in the living waters of the Mines of Mandalore and the cuteness of Grogu. In episode 3, "The Convert," we take a detour. Din and Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) bookend this episode, though the balance of it takes place on Coruscant, the governmental base of the New Republic as it was for the Empire. We rejoin Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi), who has been given amnesty after his capture, and meet a new character named Elia Kane (Katy M. O'Brian, who you might remember as Jentorra from "Ant-Man and The Wasp."
Between the return to Coruscant, the switch in focus to Dr. Pershing, and Bo-Katan's entrance into the Mandalorian covert, there is a lot to unpack in this episode in terms of Easter eggs. Let's dive in.
This the way ... for Bo-Katan?
The Din and Bo show wasn't long, but there are a few things that stuck out. Last week, Din jumped into the water in the mines on Mandalore and returned with a vial of the stuff as proof of his redemption. It feels like the dove bringing back water to Noah's ark to show that the land was livable again. Bo stood as a witness (which reminded me of the "witness me" line from "Mad Max: Fury Road"), which is something someone often does for important moments in people's lives.
Din is a pretty formal guy, while Bo is more ... I don't want to say "casual," but she is certainly more physically relaxed, as we saw last week in her posture when she drapes herself over her throne. Since the moment when Din honors her father's sacrifice for Mandalore with the traditional words, "This is the Way," she seems to have turned a mental corner. Things seem to be reminding her of her past, which brings me to the Easter eggs.
We know that Bo-Katan is part of a different sect of Mandalorians and has been part of the Death Watch, which was a terrorist group of Mandalorians that opposed her sister Satine's rule of peace. She was also a member of the Nite Owls (as the Armorer says when meeting her), which was a largely female unit. Later, Bo became part of a resistance to Darth Maul's rule over Mandalore and took the Nite Owls (the ones who felt as she did) with her.
She notices the mythosaur skull on the wall in the foundry and may be shifting to the side of the Armorer's ways. Is she the convert from the title? She did see a mythosaur in the waters, while Din didn't.
Snacking on Coruscant
We haven't seen Coruscant for a while in this time period, and it once again reminds us of "Blade Runner," with the seedier levels below and the shiny tech covering the entire surface. (They call this an Ecumenopolis, which is based on the Greek term for a city that takes over an entire planet, as /Film's own Drew Tinnin points out in his recent article.)
Elia mentions that she wants to take Dr. Pershing out for a Photon Fizzle, which is a drink that is common on Coruscant. It's a sort of fizzy boba-style drink with small, fruit-flavored balls in it. Between that and the glowing ice pops they eat as they walk through Monument Plaza, we've got some awfully fancy snack food. (The Photon Fizzle isn't exactly the fanciest drink on Coruscant, but it's not tap water either.)
That stands in contrast to when Dr. Pershing says he misses the simple yellow travel biscuits that he used to be given by the Empire. In fact, the entire group reminisces about their favorite version of themselves. We also see Elia eating one of those biscuits (which she procured for him in the first place). It's a nod to how they really feel about the Empire — at least in my head. They miss the structure and simplicity of it, all while pretending that they really love these frilly things.
Revisiting important locations
If the giant stadium where Dr. Pershing is giving his TED Talk looks familiar to you, there's a good reason for it. He's speaking inside the Opera House where we once saw Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) having a deep discussion with Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) about the Jedi Council distrusting him. It's here where Palpatine tells the story of Darth Plagueis, a Sith Lord who was so powerful that he could manipulate midichlorians and stop the people he loved from dying. It's the thing that intrigues Anakin and sends him further down the path to the dark side.
It's interesting that this takes place here because it shows — as it did with Anakin — that good intentions, like keeping his wife Padmé (Natalie Portman) safe, can take you to dark places. It may well be that Dr. Pershing really does have the best intentions as he tries to continue his cloning research, but we know this isn't going to end well for anyone. He also mentions the Kaminoans, who were the beings that executed the cloning program in the prequels.
Elia mentions going to the Royal Imperial Academy, which was on Coruscant. It has a sort of parallel in the West Point Academy as the top school for the military. If you've read "Lost Stars" by Claudia Gray (and you really should), you'll recognize it as the place where the two leads studied. Other notable alumni include Grand Admiral Thrawn (mentioned by Ahsoka Tano in "The Book of Boba Fett") and Agent Kallus from "Star Wars Rebels").
Parallels to WWII
The fall of an evil regime and the rebuilding that takes place afterward is very much a theme of this episode. It parallels the rebuilding and Denazification of Germany and Austria that took place after World War II, as /Film's own Sandy Schaefer breaks down in their article about it.
They mention some of the concentration camps that were decommissioned and turned into places to hold Nazis after the war in the article. Though it doesn't appear quite as harsh here, former Imperial officers are put into Amnesty Housing and not allowed to leave their zone. They're supposedly being rehabilitated and are required to have counseling from a droid.
Pershing spoke about cloning in his speech and how they can improve things by working on the "good" genes and taking out the "bad." If that made you shudder and feel sick to your stomach, consider that the Nazis wanted such things as part of their eugenics program. Another little moment had someone discussing how Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) must have escaped on his way to a tribunal, something they did with Nazi officers after the war.
It's a trap!
The best Easter egg of the episode is when Dr. Pershing says, "It's a trap" to the Mon Calamari technician about to mess with his mind. This is a reference to when Admiral Ackbar (Erik Bauersfeld) says that about being ambushed by enemy ships in "Return of the Jedi." I don't know about you, but I laughed out loud when this happened, despite the fact that this is a horrifying scene.
A few other moments stuck out to me:
- The bing-bong noise as the train doors close behind Elia and Dr. Pershing is remarkably similar to the one on the New York City subway. Plus, the coupling between the cars appears to be similar to the ones on the pod racers in the first prequel.
- Elia says, "Taungsdays, am I right?" to a being on the train. Taungsday is the third day of the week in the Galactic calendar, and it references the Taungs, which were beings that were native to Coruscant.
- This episode had a very "Andor" feel to it, with galactic politics front and center. The cubicle that Dr. Pershing is forced to work in as part of his rehabilitation, which is clearly meant to imply busy work and being put somewhere out of the way, is reminiscent of the one Karn (Kyle Soller) is sent to after he screws up at his Imperial position in "Andor."
- In Monument Plaza, we hear the diegetic version (playing so the characters can hear it) of John Williams' March of the Resistance playing in the background.
"The Mandalorian" is streaming on Disney+.