Summary: Gorn makes final preparations for the heist. The group makes it to the garrison and they begin the heist. Vel and Cinta damage comms, while Taramyn's group takes Commandant Jayhold back into the garrison. Upon entering, Taramyn's group turns on Jayhold and take his family hostage. They force the Imperials to cooperate as they do the heist. Gorn joins up with the team as they prepare to escape. However, a group of Imperials arrive at the vault and a firefight breaks out. Jayhold collapses, and Gorn and Taramyn are killed in the chaos. The others manage to hastily escape, but Cinta is left behind. Nemik is injured in the take-off, but still provides Cassian with the coordinates. Cassian takes the ship to a doctor to help Nemik, but he dies. Outside Cassian is given a deal by Skeen: they escape and sell their loot, splitting the earnings between them. Disgusted, Cassian kills Skeen. Cassian tells Vel what happened and uses his payment money to buy a ship off of the doctor, intending to walk away from everything. Luthen hears that the heist was successful and is elated.
The Good: This episode maintained a compelling tone from the first minute as it set up the heist. I really liked Cassian and Nemik's dynamic before the heist was underway. Nemik's nervousness made the whole experience much more intense and immersive, since making the characters feel nervous makes us feel nervous by extension. If the characters are afraid of failure, it makes the whole thing feel so much more suspenseful. The same thing happened again when Vel very clearly hesitated to call in to Taramyn, perhaps scared of what might happen if they fail. Outside of his nerves, Nemik's conversation with Cassian painted a compelling picture of how different people perceive the world and the Empire. I liked how Nemik was well read and educated, but he lacked the experience of someone like Cassian, who is able to provide a very different perspective to Nemik's analysis. I enjoyed the scenes with Gorn once again. It was obvious that he holds a more sympathetic view for the natives than everyone around him, and this likely contributed to his decision to help the rebels. It makes perfect sense for the Empire to look down so sharply on the Dhanis as outsiders that carry a sense of superiority and refuse to take the time to understand their culture. I enjoyed this world-building a lot. The heist was terrific. As mentioned above, having the characters be nervous made this so much more immersive, and it was a frugally intense experience. I kept waiting for something to inevitably go wrong, and the episode teases complications at every turn, making the experience so much more engaging. And when things finally went pear-shaped, the episode did not pull any punches. It was chaotic, it was brutal, there were casualties, and nothing about this robbery was pretty. The Commandant looked to have had a heart attack, Gorn was shot immediately, Taramyn died trying to help Vel, and Nemik suffered a mortal injury as a result of the rushed take-off not allowing everyone time to secure in the ship. This entire sequence was terrific, and while you had a feeling that the heist would be successful, the many deaths gave this episode a sense of loss and sacrifice, with young Nemik's death being the most impactful considering the connection he had developed with Cassian. Cassian is very active throughout the episode as a character, being forced to make difficult decisions. He has lots of great smaller moments early in the episode, but the two stand-outs are late in the episode. We know Cassian is an opportunist and he promises that he will get the job done right when it's his life on the line. Yet Cassian contradicts this by opting to search out a doctor for Nemik, endangering the mission because Cassian is decent enough to recognize the decency in Nemik and wants him to survive. This is immediately followed up with a terrific twist as Skeen reveals that he intends to steal the payroll from Vel and sell it, maximizing his own profit. He offers to cut Cassian into the deal, since Cassian is only here for money, and for a moment you expect that Cassian will take the deal. But Cassian surprises us all and executes Skeen in cold blood, disgusted by his disgraceful actions that spit on the selfless actions of those who died. Cassian may consider himself to be a self-obsessed opportunist, but when it was crunch time, he showed the heart of a rebel, and you get a sense that it's this aspect of his character that will lead to him inevitably joining the cause. Lastly, I'm happy to say that there were no side stories in this episode. This was squarely focused on the heist, and it was far better for it. The Bad: I wish that the Dhanis played more of a role in this episode. They had a good amount of time given to them and I expected them to play a role in this heist. With the way that they were edited into the action, I began to suspect that they might stage a mini rebellion themselves. Ultimately this wasn't the case, and I think that the episode's editing could have been better to temper my expectations. The Unknown: Where is Cassian going now? Will he return to Ferrix? Or is he going to head somewhere new? How will he end up coming back to the rebellion? What's next for Vel? Will she be able to bring back the loot safely? How will Luthen react when he hears what happened to everyone, and that Cassian left? Best Moment: Cassian deciding to murder Skeen on the spot was a fascinating moment, giving Cassian an interesting choice that revealed a lot about who he is. Character of the Episode: Nemik. Conclusion: I enjoyed this a lot. Heist episodes are a blast, and this one was suspenseful, well-written, and perfectly paced, with some interesting character moments on top of that. Score: 69
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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