Andor Season 1
Episode Number 5 Preview and Review
Episode 5 of Andor begins with Cyril returning home with his mother. He constantly hurts her, shows her what a disappointment she is and has no prospects for the future.
Meanwhile, Cassian Andor wakes up and prepares to attack. One of the men, Skeen, is out for revenge, with tattoos on his body that speak volumes about his past. Cinta is probably the most difficult of them all, and the plan hinges on Lt. Gorn, who passes as their informant. But can they trust him? While we’re at it, downtime allows us to get to know a number of different players and where their values lie and why they do what they do.
Unfortunately, there’s a big problem with the plan. The group has no idea how to derail the ship, and Cassian had every intention of winging the ship before she arrived; they understand as they go. Knowing these ships, Andor decides to take control and fly the ship out of there himself.
In order to carry out this plan, they intend to induct Cassian, along with several other men, as Imperial soldiers. Andor offers some words of wisdom, pointing out that the formation needs to be changed to favor their preferred fire hands. There’s Imperial walkthroughs, schematic study, and a constant watchful eye for incoming TIE fighters.
However, everything falls apart when Skeen realizes that Andor is not who he says he is. He takes the necklace from her and reveals to the group that it is a Sky Kyber, apparently a precious mineral worth 30,000 credits. He demands to know who Andor is and what he really believes.
Finally, he reveals that he was paid to be there and is only there for the money. On the eve of making this big game against the Empire, it doesn’t look good. Finally, they climb the hills overlooking the Imperial City. Horn signals and they return to camp.
Episode Review
So another episode of Andor comes and goes with good characterization for the group…and not much else. The story moves at a glacial pace, and as I said before, Andor screams for more than one episode at a time. The opening three episodes worked well in tandem and now we get to the meat of the story, this is the kind of show that needs to release multiple episodes at once to keep the momentum going.
The mon scenes aren’t in this recap because they honestly don’t add much to the story right now. I’m sure there will be in the future, but this week the focus is on Cassian and his group.
It’s great to finally find an authorized Star Wars TV show, and the gritty feel of this show is certainly nice. While I’m not calling for big fights and action every week, an extra episode or two would do wonders to speed it up a bit. It will be interesting to see how many people stick with it and how patient Andor’s followers are.