Summary: In the past, Maarva finds Cassian raging in the ship. She takes him with her. In the present, Luthen arrives in Ferrix and goes to an abandoned warehouse where Cassian is camped out. The Empire's forces arrive in Ferrix and investigate Maarva's place. They get scorned by the community. Cassian contacts Maarva and Mosk tracks him. Cassian tries to sell the box to Luthen, but Luthen wants more from Cassian: he wants him to join his group to fight the Empire. They are interrupted when Mosk's men surround the warehouse. The two manage to kill the forces and escape. Bix realizes Timm sold out Cassian and goes to find him. She gets caught by some officers. Timm tries to save her but is shot and killed. Cassian and Luthen escape the city, killing many officers on the way. Karn is shocked by all of the loss. Luthen and Cassian leave Ferrix on a ship.
The Good: This was a much more eventful episode than the first two, and that corrected many of my criticisms. There was momentum throughout this episode as the Empire closed in on Cassian right when he was meeting with Bix's contact Luthen, and there was some suspense created through the editing. This was much more engaging than watching several random conversations on Ferrix, which is what we got in previous episodes. The episode built up nicely to a meeting between Luthen and Cassian. That scene delivered on what it needed to: an interesting, well-acted scene that serves as a hook for this show. Luthen is smart, he's resourceful, and he's a veteran. And you can tell that he's taken an interest in Cassian, who at this point is only looking to make this deal. But Luthen wants more, and it appears that he's working on founding the rebels to fight back against the Empire. Cassian of course doesn't know this, so it's engaging to see how he responds to Luthen when he starts giving an offer. Of course the negotiations are short lived and this quickly becomes an action sequence. But I am not complaining about that because this action sequence was terrific. The community of Ferrix and its disdain for the Empire created a surprisingly tense environment for the imperial officers, especially with the constant banging which suggested that there was about to be some sort of uprising on this planet, ratcheting up the suspense. While that didn't quite happen, the episode still ended with an excellent climax as Cassian and Luthen escapes in dramatic fashion, killing several officers on their way out. What I really liked about this is that these nameless officers dying in battle was treated as a big deal. "Star Wars" has so often glossed over the lives lost in war, and I was pleased to see that they did not do that here. Mosk and Karn came here to do justice, and they look devastated to have failed and lost lives in their attempts to save Cassian. Mosk in particular is fantastic as he is evidently pained any time his men are killed. I like that these antagonists are being humanized by showing us that they care about their men and do not wish to see them killed in the line of duty. This is much more interesting moral territory than the stereotypical antagonist who cares so little about his men (Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Moff Gideon, etc.). It's nice to see "Star Wars" breaking out of its shell to find new thematic points to explore. The flashbacks worked much better in this episode. I think it would have been better to get the flashback story in just a single episode since breaking it up only made the story more tedious and less interesting. This episode sees Maarva take Cassian to save him, and there was an excellent parallel at the end of the episode where Maarva taking young Cassian out of Kenari was juxtaposed with Luthen taking adult Cassian out of Ferrix. Maarva's action completely changed the course of Cassian's life, changing him from a tribe member to a crook. Now it looks like Luthen is going to do the same, changing Cassian from a crook to a rebel. The Bad: Cassian is struggling a little bit as a main character. He was interesting in the previous episode since there was not much else going on, and that made Cassian look good by comparison. But in this episode he struggles. Cassian doesn't have quite enough charm and charisma to work as a loveable rogue, and it's hard to see what this character can do that will be interesting enough to build this show around him. Han Solo has already done the story of a rogue transformed into a rebel, and I'm not particularly interested to see this story play out again. The Unknown: How did Cassian get the Starpath? Was it really as easy as he said? Or was that story a lie? Will Cassian choose to join the rebellion now that he has escaped with Luthen without any recourse? Will he ever return to Ferrix? What happened to Cassian after Maarva took him as a child? How did he learn to communicate? What will Karn and Mosk do after their failure? Best Moment: The final montage of everyone left in the devastation of the battle was surprisingly effective. These moments are so good because they show us the characters reacting to the horrors they just witnessed, making the events mean so much more because we see how they affect the characters. Bix having to watch Timm die became horrifying because the episode showed that she had to remain handcuffed looking at his dead body with nobody around. Karn's rage at the end of the episode is made more palpable because we see how the deaths of all of his men are affecting him. These moments are only made effective because the episode took the time to show us how these big plot events affected the characters. Character of the Episode: Luthen. Conclusion: This was a much stronger episode. There was some quality suspense and action, plus the story finally got moving in an interesting way. A solid effort from "Andor". Score: 65
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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