What is the mysterious ex-Imperial really up to in ‘The Mandalorian?’

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season three episode three.

Even with the over-exposure to the adorableness of Baby Yoda and His Amazingness, aka Din Djarin (aka Daddy Pedro), it wasn’t until the third episode of The Mandalorian season three that the story engaged us for real and made us actually wait with bated breath for the future episodes. Nope, we are not talking about Bo-Katan’s admittedly shady attitude — we are pointing at ex-imperial Officer Elia Kane’s head-scratching evil shift in behavior in the episode, all of which confirms (read: screams) that she is busy nursing a nefarious scheme. But what is it and who is it for? The answer might not be as obvious as you think. 

In the last episode, we were re-introduced to Dr. Pershing, the mild-mannered clone scientist who worked for the Empire but is now employed by the New Republic. But while the New Republic was supposed to be an improvement over the Empire, the brief look we get at the new establishment shows why it barely lasted long enough. Apart from dismantling the old Imperial fleet, the New Republic also takes the brainless decision to disarm its military prowess in the name of retaining peace. 

We know how long that lasted and apparently, the credit for the Imperial resurgence that will eventually happen will go to Kane — whose allegiance undoubtedly still lies with the Empire.

After worming her way into Dr. Pershing’s life — via sightseeing and sneaking in Imperial biscuits — and gaining his trust, she did what the music cues in the scenes she appeared in (more on that later) already hinted at — she betrays him by framing him for relapsing to the Imperial programming. And when the New Republic decides to give him some relief by deconditioning him, she manipulates the situation and goes Stranger Things on his mind. 

Yes, yes, we know the upcoming episodes will probably answer the “Why did she do that?!!” But we are here to save you the gnawing wait and solve the complicated mystery for you because while it is evident Kane is still loyal to the Empire, figuring out why she specifically targeted Pershing might have fried some brains. 

What are Elia Kane and the Empire really planning?

If the only agenda was to show how the New Republic is unknowingly at the Empire’s mercy as its moles poke at its shaky foundation from within, Kane betraying any of the ex-Imperial employees would have done the job. So, the fact that The Mandalorian chose to bring Pershing back, that too with a full-blown speech about his cloning research could hint at a bigger power play. 

While we can daydream and come up with a number of plausible scenarios, we have to remember that The Mandalorian is a prequel — the Star Wars’ upcoming future is already set in stone. 

So, that leaves us with two possibilities — Kane is still working for Moff Gideon who did escape the New Republic and wants to continue his cloning research. This would explain the countless TIE fighters that attack Bo-Katan and Mando out of nowhere. That is unless what we otherwise predicted ends up being true. 

But seeing that Pershing was visibly desperate to continue his research, the possibility that the Republic would one day come to its senses and actually see the merits of his work (without needing the blood of an alien child) would always be there. And of course, Gideon doesn’t want that. So he had his obviously still very loyal Kane have the good doctor rendered useless.

While having Giancarlo Esposito back as Gideon would be amazing, Pershing’s whole speech about cloning and well, all the Sithly musical cues in the scenes Kane is in point in one other direction — Palpatine. Truth be told, Gideon doesn’t really strike as a long-term foe, and Pershing unnecessarily getting the chance to rave about the perks of cloning does heavily foreshadow Palpatine’s return as a clone.

Apart from serving a different master, Kane’s motivations and ultimate plans for Pershing remain the same — to ensure that the Republic doesn’t eventually succumb to his pleading to continue his cloning research. In this case, his research may ultimately lead to the creation of Snoke.

There is also the possibility that Kane didn’t silence Pershing by turning him into a vegetable but actually rewrote his brain to restore his allegiance to the Empire, so he can aid whichever master she is serving. The version of the Mind Flayer we see in the episode is somewhat similar to the one that was used to rewrite Crosshair’s mind in Star Wars: The Bad Batch season one. But the chances of this happening are slim, so we will put a pin on it for now.  

Hopefully, the upcoming episodes of The Mandalorian season three on Disney Plus will cough up some solid answers.