It's been 2 years since the most controversial episode of The Mandalorian to date premiered, and after sitting with it for this long, I've finally gained a proper appreciation for it. On the whole, The Mandalorian season 3 was fairly controversial; it was far from the spaghetti Western in Star Wars that it had once been. It was ultimately met with mixed reviews, though some episodes were certainly treated much worse than others.

One such example is episode 3 "Chapter 19: The Convert," the longest episode of The Mandalorian to date, which only follows its titular character for upwards of 10 minutes. The heart of the episode lies with Doctor Penn Pershing and Elia Kane, two of Moff Gideon's former underlings who become a part of the New Republic Amnesty Program to find new purpose and redemption. This story was met with heightened resistance due to its divergence from the Mandalore story, but I've found new respect for it as of late.

"The Convert" Is An Absolutely Riveting Star Wars Story

This Political Thriller Is Worth The Watch

While "The Convert" may stand apart in a jarring sense from every other episode in The Mandalorian season 3, it still ought not to be seen as a bad episode or story. The events of this episode are absolutely vital to the future of Star Wars, which makes it easier for me to see why they wanted to force it into something like The Mandalorian season 3 so badly.

The events of this episode are absolutely vital to the future of Star Wars.

This story gives us so much context about the New Republic Amnesty Program, which I imagine will be key in future Star Wars projects such as The Mandalorian and Grogu movie. It's also just downright entertaining, emulating a political thriller that's nearly comparable with Andor. Katy M. O'Brian and Omid Abtahi both have a chance to shine, too, proving that they're more than capable of being so much more than the secondary characters Pershing and Elia Kane were in The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2.

Unfortunately, It Still Doesn't Fit In To The Mandalorian Season 3 At All

It Had No Effect On The Mandalore Storyline

Ultimately, though, "The Convert" will never be fairly judged as an episode of Star Wars, because in reality, it's an episode of The Mandalorian first and foremost - and it simply doesn't fit in. In a season that, unfortunately, was already struggling with pacing issues in its storytelling, taking a major step away from the Mandalore arc with "The Convert" greatly worsened the problem. It's also hard to make sense of how Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze's adventures in the opening and closing sequences fit with the rest of the episode.

In fact, the only ties this story even has to the rest of The Mandalorian season 3 are Pershing and Kane's connection to Moff Gideon, who appears later and merely references something about Pershing's research being lost "for now," and the New Republic Amnesty Program reappearing with Captain Bombardier in "Chapter 22: Guns For Hire." Otherwise, there's no real connective tissue between "The Convert" and the rest of the season whatsoever. It's a great shame to everyone involved, and it could have been avoided.

Did Star Wars Make A Mistake Canceling Their Other Mandoverse Spin-Off?

How Many Other High Caliber Episodes Were Lost?

"The Convert" is the most extreme example of The Mandalorian season 3 compensating for the TV show's canceled spin-off series, Rangers of the New Republic, but it's far from the only one. The TV show was ultimately scrapped when its intended star, Gina Carano as Cara Dune, was dropped by Lucasfilm, and thus its key storylines were woven into other shows - most notably The Mandalorian season 3. That showed in the moments that followed Carson Teva and, of course, the majority of this particular episode.

While details about what Rangers of the New Republic was meant to be are still limited, it's become more and more clear that the TV show intended to establish more about the New Republic in a way that would become essential to other The Mandalorian-era stories. Ahsoka season 1 did some of the work in proving this, too, by showing us more of the New Republic in action - even key of its senate.

In retrospect, seeing excellent stories like "The Convert" fit into the wrong places makes me wonder if Star Wars made a mistake canceling this show. At the end of the day, what's done is done, and it cannot be changed, but if even just one episode of Rangers of the New Republic would have looked like what we got with "The Convert" in The Mandalorian season 3, then I can't help but mourn what else we may have lost by never getting to see more of this story fleshed out in a proper way.