Tag: TV Reviews

Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars streaming series, Andor, has been routinely described as a “slow burn”; to date, no episode has served as a better exemplar than Episode 8. The 12-episode first season has been neatly broken up into 3-episode arcs and, so far, the second episode of those arcs has seemed to work as the table setter for the high-energy third episode of each arc. That seems to be the case again with “Narkina 5,” though setting the table doesn’t make the episode any less critical.

Episode 8 takes the time to make the characters and the audience feel the extent of the Empire’s response to the Aldhani heist. Ironically, as three different factions search for Cassian for different reasons, he’s already found himself caught in the tightening grip of the Emprie. As Luthen Rael had hoped, the Empire’s response was swift and fierce and Cassian experiences it first-hand in the prison work camp on the planet of Narkina 5. By the end of the episode, a month has passed and while there’s no telling just how long Cassian will be in prison (we know it won’t be his entire six-year sentence), it’s worthwhile to wonder how his time there will shape him into the who we know he becomes. Director Toby Haynes makes the audience feel the mundane nature of Cassian’s time in prison, putting them through the same automated paces the prisoners experience, while also illustrating the hopelessness of the situation through the suicide of a fellow prisoner.

Meanwhile, it’s the wrong time to be a Rebel. As the episode showcases the precision of the Imperial machine (indeed the series’ lead finds himself a cog in the very machine he hoped to take down), it does so in contrast to the fractured nature of the Rebellion. Rael’s visit with extremist leader Saw Gerrera on Segra Milo illustrates just how slipshod the fledgling Rebel Alliance is, if it’s really an alliance at all. Rael and Gerrera lie and posture and argue only to ultimately find themselves no more likely to achieve their “shared” purpose than they were before their meeting, in fact, in light of the enlightening conversation they share, they seem to be parsecs apart.

A slow burn to be sure, but “Narkina 5,” which is another in a line of beautifully shot episodes in this series, brings the tension down a notch from previous weeks but does so simply to lay the groundwork for the next “event.” Though he tried to walk away, Cassian’s mission on Aldhani has led the ISB to Ferrix where they have begun to wrangle up any and everyone associated with him. Episode 8 begun to weave together many of the series’ ongoing, individual threads, causing the rough-and in some cases unexpected-intersection of their arcs. Karn and Meero’s meeting went about as smoothly as Rael and Gerrera’s, which certainly isn’t the way most fans had it playing out. How long does someone with Karn’s ambition stay sidelined? How will he respond to being dismissed by the Empire? These are fair questions which we didn’t even know needed answering. And that’s emblematic of what Andor has provided fans of Star Wars so far. For a series about a dead character, it’s certainly proven to be one of the most thought-provoking streaming series Lucasfilm has made to date.

“Wouldn’t you rather give it all at once to something real?”

At the time they were spoken to Cassian Andor by Luthen Rael, those words seemed to be a foreshadowing of the known end of Andor’s story: his death on Scarif in service of the Rebellion as seen in Rogue One. In a story like Andor where the ultimate fate of the main character is a known quantity, an easy argument can be made that there are no stakes for that character and that everything that happens to them is irrelevant. Episode 7 of Andor goes a long way in disproving this argument as it strips Cassian of everything the series has made important to him so far, providing stakes that are a payoff of the emotional investment made through the first six episodes.

Predictably, the heist on Aldhani has caught the attention of the Empire and their response, detailed by Colonel Wullf Yularen in a brilliant cameo, is crushing and ultimately speaks to the ruthlessness of the Empire. As terrifying as the Empire’s response sounds for the rest of the galaxy, Cassian believes himself to be relatively safe from them. However, over the course of the episode, Cassian is faced with the consequences of his choices. Returning home to Ferrix, Cassian is sequentially dismissed by Bix and Maarva while the audience learns that Luthen Rael intends to tie up the loose end Cassian created when he killed one of his crew and bailed. Now on his own, Cassian ends up on the resort planet of Niamos where he ultimately finds himself detained by an Imperial Security Droid and given a six-year prison sentence. Choices have consequences and Cassian experienced them all in rapid succession. By the end of the episode, it would appear he has given it all even though we know there’s more in store for the character.

The strength of this episode, then, isn’t in the cliffhanger ending of Cassian’s sentence. True tension is absent given the known outcome of the character. Rather the strength lies in Diego Luna’s performance as Cassian struggles to accept that he’s created his own hell. Even in the episode’s closing moments, Cassian can’t help but try to dig himself out of a hole when it’s clear he’s only making it deeper. Luna’s performance has been strong across the board, but his understanding and care for the character are on full display in this episode.

The episode also continues to provide a fascinating look inside the burgeoning Rebellion by focusing on the stark contrast between two of its key figures. As Mon Mothma makes a surprise appearance at Luthen Rael’s storefront, a scene plays out where Rael’s ruthlessness is shown to equal that of the Empire. Rael’s blunt words to Mothma, spoken while he displays the blunt-force Utapauan monk cudgel, serve to symbolize that there’s dirty work to do for the fledgling Rebellion, no matter the cost to those who may not even be aware it’s happening. There’s work to be done and Rael will see it through, no matter the consequences, including ordering the death of Cassian, who he seemed to hold value in so recently. Despite her horror at what Rael’s plan has wrought, Mothma continues to do her part in finding a way to financially back the Rebellion. Genevieve O’Reilly shines during Mothma’s dinner party where she demonstrates how invisible her character is to those in power by setting up plans to fund the Rebellion at her own dinner party. Seen as an “annoyance” to those in power, Mothma continues to keep up appearances (“Smile.” “Smile.”) while putting herself in a position similar to Cassian’s where she may well lose everything.

Fascinatingly enough, even as Mothma advances her plan, Andor finds a way to make us root for the character that might ultimately prove her greatest foe: Deedra Meero. Slighted so far at every turn, Meero cleverly takes advantage of the Empire’s response to find the information she’s needed to help prove her theory of a connected Rebellion forming. Challenged at an ISB meeting, Meero boldly makes her claim about the Rebels, finally catching the attention of Major Partagaz in a positive way. Like Mothma, Meero has been seen as an “annoyance” until now. It appears Meero will become a major player in Andor’s game, and one whose investigative brilliance may find her on the opposite side of the board from Mothma.

Though it takes its foot off the gas pedal again, Episode 7 provides a much-needed reset following the last 3 episode arc that culminated in the Aldhani heist. Perhaps in hindsight, the Aldhani heist will almost certainly prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of the Rebellion. They’ve announced their presence to the Empire and the Empire’s response, as Yularen says is to determine how tightly they will close their fist in response. Those words are almost certainly meant to cause fans to remember Princess Leia’s warning to Governor Tarkin in A New Hope: “the more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” So perhaps, in hindsight, the Empire’s response to the Aldhani heist, as seemingly predicted by Rael, will also prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of the Rebellion. Episode 7 allows for think time about the repercussions of the choices made in the first six episodes, both on an individual and galactic scale. The Empire has announced its response. How will the galaxy respond in kind?

The idea that the collective nose of the Empire is so upturned that they can’t see what’s going on right beneath it has been a central theme through the first five episodes of Andor. Key members of the fledgling Rebellion, including Cassian, understand this perception and it’s become a crack in the Imperial armor that they’ve learned to exploit. Episode 6, “The Eye”, opens with a reminder of just how much disdain the Empire has for those they see as beneath them and ends with the Empire feeling for the first time just how dangerous these people they’ve regarded as inferiors can be. However, as the season progresses into its second half, the galaxy just became a much more dangerous place for those who wish to take down the Empire.

“The Eye” was many things and chief among them was that it was the first time that Andor really leaned into being a Star Wars series while also continuing its expansion of what a Star Wars series can be. Seeing and hearing the Tie Fighters roar into action rang the Star Wars bell, but setting the familiar chase scene amidst the beauty and rarity of the natural phenomenon occurring on Aldhani continues the hot streak for this creative team. They continue to world-build in a world that’s been accused of being too small in a galaxy so large. Why does everything happen on Tattooine? Why is everyone a Skywalker or know one? Why does Luke have to be in everything? It would have been low-hanging fruit to have Palpatine cameo in the brief Senate scene. They chose to keep the focus on Mon Mothma, who will become central to the series and the growing rebellion. Andor continues to trend away from these issues and cameos, content to exist and be judged on its own merits rather than connect itself to familiar faces and places.

Episode 6 works incredibly well as a conclusion not only to the first half of Season 1 but also to the four-episode arc that introduced Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael and to the three-episode arc that saw Rael’s scheme unfold and, ultimately be successfully completed. It works so well as a conclusion that if Episode 6 had been the end of Season 1 of Andor, it would be hard to argue that it had been anything other than a triumph. The mission is complete; Cassian did Cassian things; the Empire is now aware that there’s a stick in their eye. The closing shot of Rael, who feared he may have overreached in his efforts to attack the Empire, finally releasing the tension he expressed in the closing shot of Episode 5. So many of the storylines put into play were tied up neatly by the events of Episode 6 and that’s no easy thing to ensure. The team of director Susanna White, writer Dan Gilroy and creator Tony Gilroy could be commended for putting the finishing touches on what’s arguably the best streaming series Star Wars has released on Disney Plus. But the brilliance of the series lies in the fact that Episode 6 serves both as the end of one arc and the beginning of another.

For all its brilliance so far, Andor is just getting off the ground. By tying up the intersecting storylines with the completion of the mission on Aldhani, the series activated other storylines that had been weaved into the first six episodes. Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, who had warned her superior that a threat was growing, is now on the precipice of becoming a central part of the second half of the season. With Cassian now back on his own, it’s time for Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn to get off the bench and get into the action. The investment in introducing and developing so many characters made by Tony Gilroy is about to pay dividends. Cassian, Mon Mothma and Luten Rael have had their moment. It certainly feels like the Empire is about to strike back.