Chapter 19: The Convert
A lot of the talk that came when "Andor" was released was about the political elements of "Star Wars" and how good it could be when it actually worked. Personally, I loved what that show brought to the current slate, but I was also okay with the other shows doing what they do best. For this, it's the character development through the adventure aspect that always got me hooked. However, this episode takes a bit of a left turn and focuses on the political landscape. And it was a very nice detour, although it felt like it was a bit misplaced in everything going on.
A majority of this episode is spent with Omid Abtahi's Dr. Pershing, a character who has been featured in previous episodes but never got much more than a scene in. However, with this episode, the show tries to juggle around some of the incomplete storylines from previous seasons, and for the episode that it was in, it worked very well. This hour was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, one of the great modern filmmakers, and his abilities are put to good use, although clearly limited by the medium that he's working in. But he manages to deliver a visually interesting episode that really captures the visual landscape of Coruscant and the rebranding that it's going through on the heels of the Empire's fall. It's also interesting to see where Dr. Pershing fits into it all, and it's clear that the work he did in previous seasons is the stepping stones that they're putting into place so that we'll get to where the sequel films went in later eras. All of that is very interesting, but it does feel like they're doing a bit of cleanup after everything that went down and the unnatural nature that went through those films in terms of connectivity and plot threads that were created out of nothing, and damage control is not necessarily what is needed from this show. However, the philosophical discussions and commentary that were to be found in this episode were very well-executed and hopefully, we'll return to Coruscant at some point so this episode isn't alone.
"Chapter 19: The Convert" is a fascinating hour of "Star Wars," although it does feel like it was dropped into the middle of something else. However, it definitely works for what it is and it's a great return to a beloved planet and a fascinating deep-dive into the psyche of a so-far pretty uninteresting character.
A majority of this episode is spent with Omid Abtahi's Dr. Pershing, a character who has been featured in previous episodes but never got much more than a scene in. However, with this episode, the show tries to juggle around some of the incomplete storylines from previous seasons, and for the episode that it was in, it worked very well. This hour was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, one of the great modern filmmakers, and his abilities are put to good use, although clearly limited by the medium that he's working in. But he manages to deliver a visually interesting episode that really captures the visual landscape of Coruscant and the rebranding that it's going through on the heels of the Empire's fall. It's also interesting to see where Dr. Pershing fits into it all, and it's clear that the work he did in previous seasons is the stepping stones that they're putting into place so that we'll get to where the sequel films went in later eras. All of that is very interesting, but it does feel like they're doing a bit of cleanup after everything that went down and the unnatural nature that went through those films in terms of connectivity and plot threads that were created out of nothing, and damage control is not necessarily what is needed from this show. However, the philosophical discussions and commentary that were to be found in this episode were very well-executed and hopefully, we'll return to Coruscant at some point so this episode isn't alone.
"Chapter 19: The Convert" is a fascinating hour of "Star Wars," although it does feel like it was dropped into the middle of something else. However, it definitely works for what it is and it's a great return to a beloved planet and a fascinating deep-dive into the psyche of a so-far pretty uninteresting character.
- lassegalsgaard
- Mar 29, 2023