Summary: Cassian and Kino reveal the truth to the other prisoners and they prepare a plan to escape the next day. When the new man is brought in, the revolt starts. The guards are killed, the floors are deactivated, and the prisoners escape. Cassian and Kino take over the central hub and KIno announces the revolt to everyone, encouraging everyone to escape. The prisoners all manage to get out and dive into the ocean to swim to freedom. Cassian goes, and before he jumps Kino reveals he can't swim. Mon meets with Davo who offers to help her in exchange for a meeting between his son and her daughter. Mon vehemently refuses. Luthen meets with Lonni who is his contact in the ISB. Lonni has become a father and wants out, but Luthen gives a speech about sacrifice, telling Lonni that he has no choice but to keep working.
The Good: I've had my problems with the structure and of this show, as well as its difficulty with providing context. However, I've always maintained that this show has superb writing, acting, themes, and narrative. What this means is that when the first two problems are dealt with, this show is capable of producing the best "Star Wars" television that I have seen. This episode was focused on the prison escape sequence with few cuts to extraneous storylines, avoiding the usual structural issues, and time was spent resolving and developing existing storylines, avoiding the context issues which primarily pop up when this show is creating new storylines. Because of what it was, this episode played to the strengths of "Andor" and provided the best that we have seen so far in this show. The escape was compelling television. This show did a tremendous job of portraying the emotions of the people who are making this big decision to leave. The reveal that nobody is getting out created a sensible uproar, but when push comes to shove, it's so much harder for everyone to risk their lives to revolt even though they have good reason to. The episode explores this idea beautifully with multiple characters. Some of the side characters whose names I have forgotten can be remembered by their fear of rebelling, their willingness to toss their lives aside for the cause, and other memorable feats which highlight the themes of rebellion that this show does so well at exploring. Though the side characters offer some good exploration of the theme, the best example of good thematic exploration is the arc of Kino. Andy Serkis has been brilliant in his few episodes, but he hits a higher level here. Kino has decided to rebel, but he is still left with second thoughts even though he knows that he's doing the only thing that he can do. Kino is a natural leader, having supervised 5-2-D for so long, but when it comes to leading a rebellion, just being a leader is not good enough. Impostor syndrome kicks in, nervousness kicks in, you begin to question if you really should be influencing all of these people with your words. In his moments on the microphone announcing orders to the entire prison, Kino has to truly find his strength to make this escape happen, and when he does, it's a brilliant emotional moment for the character, one that we are cheering because his entire arc has been building up to this. Cassian is also connected to this arc in a surprising way. Though Cassian insists that he is no rebel and is not fighting for the cause, he is remarkable because unlike Kino, he is able to commit to doing this thing with ease, and his role in this arc is to convince Kino to join him in the fight for freedom. It's similar to the role he played in the Aldhani heist, ensuring that everything goes smoothly. Cassian may not know it, but he's a rebel at heart, and these recent episodes have done a magnificent job of illustrating this. The ending of the escape also features quite a savage twist. After all they've been through organizing this escape, we assume that its success would see Cassian and Kino go free, with both of them showcasing the traits needed to join the rebellion. But we are hit with a brutal reveal as Kino admits that he can't swim, meaning that he will not be surviving this escape. He helped everyone else find their way out, but not himself. I love the decision to not give Cassian and Kino a final goodbye. It preserves the realism that this series boasts compared to most "Star Wars" properties to not include a "movie moment" like an emotional goodbye which realistically would not happen in this scenario. Instead of being able to say farewell to his friend, Cassian is knocked off the edge, likely never to see Kino again. The episode picks an intriguing ending point with a fantastic scene between Lonni and Luthen. The reveal that Lonni is an inside agent was a surprise to me, and it made sense that Luthen would want to have his men infiltrating whatever major corporation he can. This scene brilliantly provided the context for Lonni's relationship with Luthen. We understand why Lonni is helping him, we understand why there is conflict between them, and we learn more about both of them as characters, especially Luthen. Luthen's speech about his sacrifice is an incredible moment. Not only does it fit in with the themes of the show, but it paints a significant dark side to Luthen's character, again highlighting his understanding of the bad that needs to be done to accomplish what he wants to accomplish, while also highlighting the tragedy behind his role. It would be easy to dismiss Luthen as a simple villainous character, but the show is demonstrating to us that he is doing what he does for the greater good, and that it has cost him his own humanity and life to play this role. This is a character who will not bat an eye at doing evil deeds, but he is not someone who is beyond sympathy since he is somebody so committed to his cause that he has thrown aside any other human quality that he has to ensure his success. The Bad: Nothing outright bad, just minor nitpicks. Mon's story is still significantly weaker than everything else going on in the show, and her meeting with Davo wasn't particularly interesting to me. He's after her daughter, which is typical of the swindler character that he is playing, and of course Mon refuses, but has second thoughts. This is fine enough storytelling, but completely uninspired and unoriginal. The prison escape was great to watch, but it loses some of its tension because it's been clear from the minute Cassian entered the prison that he would help to stage a prison escape. Predictability is not a bad thing, but it reduces the tension. The Unknown: Will Mon go along with Davo's deal? Will Lonni ever get found out by the ISB? Will he remain loyal to Luthen? How many prisoners escaped? Where are they going to go? How will they get off the planet? Did Kino die in the escape? Is there any chance that he stayed back in the prison and survived? Best Moment: Luthen's speech. A fantastic moment that captivated me more than anything else on this show. The line "I burn my life to make a sunrise I will never see" is especially powerful and moving, making you realize the extent of what Luthen has put on the line for this rebellion. It also beautifully parallels Kino's story as Kino also gave his life for the cause of the prison escape, an escape that he will never experience himself. Beautiful storytelling. Character of the Episode: Kino. Conclusion: This episode was easily the best one so far. Lots of emotion, suspense, and thematic storytelling as we get one of the biggest setpieces of the season in the prison escape. Overall, a fantastic experience that is a perfect indicator of how good this show can be when it is able to overcome its flaws. Score: 71
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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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