We’re back with more rebel difficulties (and they’re just getting rougher)…
Recap
Luthen Rael is bringing Cassian Andor to a world called Aldhani, where he’s asking him for help on a mission to steal an entire sector’s payroll from the Empire. He offers to pay him to do it, and gives him a kyber crystal for safe-keeping as insurance, but he wants it back. Rael meets with the head of the mission Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay), and tells her that she has to take Cassian on because they need another person for the mission—she protests as it’s days away, but is given no choice. Rael departs and Cassian and Vel make the day’s walk to her camp.
Buy the Book
Nona the Ninth
The Imperial Security Bureau gets wind of what’s happened on Ferrix and sends Lieutenant Supervisor Blevin (Ben Bailey Smith) to dispatch the Pre-Mor company entirely. Karn goes home to see his mother, Eedy (Kathryn Hunter). ISB agent Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) notices that the Imperials have retrieved the unit Cassian was trying to sell to Rael and tries to muscle Blevin into handing over the data on it since it falls within her sector. Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) winds up telling her to back off Blevin and stay in her lane—noting that she has a different background from her cohort and that he’s pleased with her career trajectory thus far.
Cassian is brought to the camp where he meets the rest of Vel’s team: Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther), Arvel Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu), Taramyn Barcona (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr), and their Imperial inside man, Lieutenant Gorn (Sule Rimi). Everyone is very upset about someone being brought in three days before their mission, but Vel tells everyone they have to deal with it and that she’ll vouch for “Clem” (the name Cassian gave her). They give him the rundown of their plan to get the payroll snuck out during a natural event that occurs every three years; the locals think of it as a meteor shower, but Karis explains the science behind it to Cassian.
Rael lands back on Coruscant and dons a wig and much nicer clothes. Turns out that his cover day job is running a gallery where he sells expensive historical artifacts to rich folks. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) comes in to get her husband a birthday gift, and Rael shows her around. She arrives with her new driver, which Rael sends his assistant Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) to distract, and the two head to the back to discuss their real business—Rael needs more money from her to fund rebellion activities, but she’s being watched more carefully now and it’s hard to move the money around. She tells Rael that she wants to bring another person into their operation to make things easier, and he protests, but is eventually forced to relent. Mon Mothma heads home to find that her husband, Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie) is prepping to host a dinner party that he browbeat her into agreeing to, and that he’s invited some of her enemies in the Senate because he thinks they’re “fun.”
Cassian is eating with the Aldhani team around the fire and is given a tablet with information on the mission to read up on—he needs to have all the info memorized by morning. He looks about and asks if he’s allowed to finish his dinner first.
Commentary
We’ve got a clear issue going forward, and one that I was worried about at the outset: The series seems to be divided into four(?) mini-films with a single middle chapter, going by the division of both screenwriters and directors. This wasn’t much of an issue in the first week, when you could watch the first set of episodes in one go, but this week… the episode just ends, and in an extremely awkward spot, too. And there’s no new episode right on its heels to detract from the awkwardness, so it winds up drawing attention to this odd carving method. They might as well have just grouped the episodes by arc and released them that way if they’re not going to bother having a true episodic structure.
We’re missing a bit of the design that made the first episodes so exciting, although they’ve managed to show some of it in the Coruscant scenes with Rael’s storefront and Mon Mothma’s apartments. Aldhani is yet another landscape planet, this time with a bit more of a Scotland vibe? I mean, any time it’s real green and you’ve got “highlands”… So many space sheeps.
There’s also Karn’s trip home to see his mom, which clearly doesn’t bode anything good. But again, we get very little on that front. It’s frustrating because they’re clearly trying to experiment with form a bit lately on television, but TV already knew how to handle multi-character arcs better than this? And so do books, by the way.
There’s little else to glean from the Aldhani section aside from the usual “we don’t trust the new guy” heist antics, cranked up to eleven on account of how high the stakes are. They haven’t given us much information by way of the endgame on this plan either; are they all going to escape the planet after-the-fact? Is Gorn going to defect or stay behind and try to cover their tracks? Also, when they say “payroll” are we talking about data or money? Am I being obtuse, because payroll does have more than one meaning, and that changes the parameters of their mission significantly… but if it’s data, what do they want it for, and if it’s money, why is it being kept here?
Of course they’re sneaking something out from inside a dam complex. If I had a nickel for every time dams were the site of shitty imperialist actions… I mean it’s realistic, but also pretty funny how often it pops up. (Sorry, I literally just rewatched the pilot of Due South the other day, and it’s in another relevant series that airs this week, so it feels like I’m being surrounded by dams. Dams on all sides.)
The showrunners promised that we’d get to see much more of Mon Mothma’s character, that there were dark things in her past that we didn’t know about yet, and that we might wind up forming a different opinion of her through this series—which sounded pretty try-hard to me, so I was skeptical coming in. So far what we’re learning is… her marriage is shit. And her husband—who is also a member of the Senate, apparently—doesn’t care much about the work she tries to do. This means that she’s clearly keeping her Rebellion activities from him, so that’s bound to get real ugly somewhere down the line. If the man is this flippant about what she does in the public sector, I can’t imagine he’ll be into her activities bankrolling the fledging Rebel Alliance.
Her scene with Rael is one of the best things in the episode, as is Rael’s landing on Coruscant when he dons his wig and fancy clothes and jewelry. We get the sense that his position on Coruscant truly is a role he’s playing, a primary persona that genuinely means nothing to him. He has to work to “get into character,” has to remind himself of how to be that person. He tells Cassian that he knows he’s the sort of man who will eventually die for this cause, which is certainly because he’s accepted the same fate for himself. But it also happens to be a mean bit for foreshadowing on his part, since we do know how this ends.
The side-plot we’re getting at the Imperial Security Bureau—or ISB as they’re colloquially known—is also interesting. The ISB is best known in Star Wars for being the department where both Director Krennic and Agent Alexsandr Kallus came from. Krennic was obviously one of the main antagonists of Rogue One and Kallus appeared on Rebels, a figure who was eventually turned to the Rebellion via his relationship with Ghost crew member Garazeb Orrelios. Getting a better idea of their inner workings and how they view their job within the Empire is a point of interest, particularly through the eyes of Dedra Meero, who seems to have a different background than many of her fellow officers. We’ll certainly be seeing more of her.
Bits and Asides:
- Again, I have so many questions about Cassian’s family—Clem was Maarva’s spouse and was supposed to be Cassian’s dad in that “adoptive” unit… but he’s clearly not around anymore. Which does mean that Cassian is basically taking on his surrogate dad’s name for this mission.
- That is a kyber crystal that Rael gives Cassian for safe-keeping. Which begs the question of how he got his hands on one, as they’ve only ever been used in lightsabers and also to power WMDs like the Death Star. (Which is a retcon I’ll never really be over, honestly—it’s both nonsensical and cheapening.) He mentions that it’s meant to celebrate the “uprising against the Rakatan invaders.” The Rakatan Empire (also known as the Infinite Empire) was a species from the Unknown Regions that invaded and ruled the galaxy for a time, tens of thousands of years ago, which was defeated and then replaced by the Galactic Republic. They were first introduced in the Knights of the Old Republic video game and then shown in the Dawn of the Jedi comics. Rael also calls the crystal a Kuati Signet, which is likely a reference to Kuat, a planet housing Kuat Drive Yards where many of the galaxy’s ships are constructed. Which might mean that Luthan Rael comes from Kuat? And how long has his family been overthrowing evil empires, because that signet seems to indicate maybe forever.
- It’s mentioned that the Empire is sending a lot of construction materials to Scarif, which is that planet where they are holding the Death Star plans (along with every other piece of data in the Empire, on what amount to basically VHS cassette tapes) in Rogue One.
- I really like Karis, who seems like the group’s own little Q, but that makes me worried that he’s gonna die.
- It’s been mentioned in current canon before, but Mon Mothma’s home planet of Chandrila was developed in the Expanded Universe (now called “Legends”). It’s a core world, and a pretty fancy place, which makes her side comment about Rael being “kind” about her homeworld a pointed sort of comment…
Next week, friends!
I agree that the slow pace of the story isn’t as effective when you only get one piece at a time. Though that’s partly because I’m eager to see that meteor shower-ish display they plan to use as their cover for the heist. The design work on this show has been so impressive that I’m expecting good things when we finally get to see it.
And yes, the designs are still fantastic. Coruscant has never looked better, because it’s never looked more like a real, lived-in place. I was just as impressed by Karn’s mother’s building as by Rael’s shop facade or Mothma’s home, because it looked like an ordinary British council flat block with concrete walls, but with a distinctive Star Wars-y twist to the design, this towering place with lots of skywalks and diagonal edges and things.
It struck me that there are no non-humans in the ISB, although that’s pretty standard for the Empire. I don’t think we saw a single non-human character in this entire episode, unless you count the A.I. on Rael’s ship. As for Dedra Meero, I got the impression that Partagaz was saying she had to work harder to prove herself because she was a woman. Fascism and misogyny do go hand in hand, as a rule.
I thought Rael said the crystal was only partly made of kyber, like it’s an impure form. And what’s “nonsensical” about kyber crystals powering the Death Star weapon? It makes perfect sense that the power source for the amazing unbeatable super-swords could be scaled up to power an unbeatable super-gun.
I agree entirely about the lack of proper episode structure. I’d much rather they release a series of TV movies (like the longer episodes of BBC Sherlock), or at least drop the episodes in batches like they did with the first 3. Its going be awkward every week if the episodes just end.
That said, I don’t really have any other complaints about the show. I’m enjoying the slower story build up and the new visual design elements we’ve gotten so far. Visually, I think the show is stunning, and the performances thus far are fantastic.
I watched the first episode, and I guess I knew I was in for a slog when I kept seeing people go on about the “worldbuilding.” But dear lord, does it get any better? Why am I supposed to care about any of these people? Has that robot from the movie turned up yet at least? Some personality would be welcome.
On that note, it’s the tone I’m really struggling with. To see a Star Wars this glum and adult is like seeing a clown in a park put away his fun balloons and tell children about the perils of alimony and tax audits. Or Imperial payroll, I guess. Meh.
Yeah, it just ends. I was taken by surprise, too. It made the episode feel rather unsubstantial, even though some important setup happened. Also, Diego Luna should not have shaved. Now he looks even less like he’s 5 years younger than he was in 2016. I mean, no offense intended, he’s still a good looking man, but he’s a good looking 40 year old man.
I agree a bit about the pacing of the episodes and how sometimes, when it comes to streaming TV, episodes don’t really have a meaning. (She-Hulk is an example that I think does a really good job with self contained episodes).
All that said, I still don’t find myself bothered all that much – I’m enjoying every minute of it.
I remember they were saying they weren’t going to include ‘fan service’ in the show (which is good – I’m not complaining) BUT there have been a ton of really interesting tidbits. Aside from some cool artifacts in Luthen’s shop (a kalikori! A Mortis mural!) I found the conversation in the ISB really interesting. Diversions of funding to Scarif? Problems in the Arvala sector (that’s where Kuill is from).
The thought of Cassian at Mimban and how they were ‘fighting each other’ is interesting too. Technically he might have been there when Han “it’s their planet, we’re the hostiles” Solo was there. But I appreciate that these things aren’t done in a huge ‘wink, wink’ way. There’s a lot of stuff going on, and the ripples can be seen but it’s not obvious unless you know.
I’m really wondering what is going on with Karn – is he going to double down on Imperial fervor to please his mom (if that is in fact what she wants)? Is he going to go full on Javert and go rogue? Is he going to decide to turn simply because of the Empire screwing him over?
The scene with Mon Mothma is great and I’m SO excited they brought her back. Not sure if it’s Bail she wants to bring deeper into her circle, or maybe some reference to another of the pre-Rebellion Senators, somebody we eventually meet in Rebels or Rogue One, or somebody totally different. One of Vel’s little group does mention Saw’s Partisans, so they are also already a thing, and this show runs about concurrent with the beginning of Rebels (which is before the Alliance was unified and Mon Mothma publicly renounced the Senate).
I had no idea she was married, but man, her husband sucks! I have a feeling “Why does everything always have to be SAD and BORING” is going to become a joke in our house! Something about the way that line was delivered just cracked me up and also made me want to punch him. While I don’t want to hold out hope, I REALLY want to see this awkward dinner party, AND I want to see Sly Moore again! But Perrin (nowhere near as cool as some OTHER Perrins I know of) is kind of a good example of the smarmy nobles we see on Alderaan as well who are totally cool with the Empire making them more profitable.
I assumed the payroll was money since they were talking about having issues with funding in Mon Mothma’s scene but I guess I could see how it might also be data about expenditures, etc. But they said ‘crates’ so I assumed it was some kind of hard currency. Then again, we know they love their data tapes! (Either way, you’d think it would be digital, but Star Wars has always had a bit of an analog feel in its aethestic.)
I’m with CLB/@1 – I thought the crystal was just a partial kyber crystal and maybe something similar to Jyn’s necklace and not a pure enough specimen that it could power a lightsaber. (And I also like the symmetry/mirror of crystals powering lightsabers AND the Death Star and it even makes a kind of sinister sense personality wise that for Palpatine, it would probably be also some kind of Force/dark side related symbolism.)
I’m kind of intrigued by the ISB plot and it’s definitely falling into the ‘oft evil will shall evil mar’ trope that these officers are all way too petty and ambitious to effectively work together. I think Dedra’s superior has some sympathy for her (and I definitely did get the impression that in addition to commenting on her background, he was making a point of her having to battle a glass ceiling) and at least tries to encourage her, but sometimes even “healthcare providers” have to run on a hunch/gut instinct. Ironically, her plot has some parallels with Karn’s (she has a hunch she wants to follow, is being told to forget about it by her superiors, is ambitious/wants to serve the greater cause), but I have a feeling she is a bit more competent.
Here’s my random theory – is the guy who fell asleep on watch potentially Force sensitive? Not enough to be a Jedi or anything like that, but he talks about how he just ‘knows’ Andor is faithful to the cause, which a)seems like a weird thing to say and b)the rest of the group don’t really seem to comment on how that is a weird thing to say. So I wonder if his character has some type of extra intuition/ability to read people that may or may not be related to a very low level/latent sensitivity (since we know Andor DOES hate the Empire). I get that the obvious explanation is basically just that this kid is young, dumb and naive but I wondered if it was a red herring.
Just in case this is niggling at anybody else: The actress who plays Vel is the Waif in GoT. (We’ve got Qyburn and Royce in here too!) And Karn’s mom is Arabella Figg – as soon as she spoke I knew I’d seen her somewhere.
@5/Lisamarie: The bit about the guy saying he “knew” Andor was faithful to the cause was meant as dramatic irony, to underline the fact that Andor isn’t faithful — he’s just a mercenary in it for the money, and he’s been falsely presented to the group as a genuine Rebel. So the guy wasn’t Force-sensitive at all, since his assumption is the exact opposite of the truth. He’s just naive. He’s putting trust in Andor that Andor might end up betraying, or at least be tempted to betray.
As far as Easter eggs go, I read about a very deep cut. Luthen said that the crystal was in commemoration of the battle against the Rakatan invaders, which is a reference to the Knights of the Old Republic video game from 2003: https://gizmodo.com/andor-rakata-easter-egg-explained-star-wars-kotor-1849592236
If we’re talking about actors we recognize, for me it was Anton Lesser, who played the ISB major. I didn’t remember where I’d seen him, but I figured out it was Primeval, where he had a recurring role in one season. Plus a few other one-shot roles here and there.
Anton Lesser was one of the few actors I immediately recognized. But for me it was because I’ve been seeing him in his recurring role as Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright in Endeavour for the past 10 years. Where he also, btw, spent quite a bit of time in S4 encouraging young WPC Shirly Trewlove, played by Dakota Blue Richards.
We’re reportedly gonna be seeing Director Krennic again at some point on this show (either this season or next season), and it’ll be interesting to see how they wrap the series around James Luceno’s excellent Rogue One prequel-novel Catalyst:
https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-rogue-one-ben-mendelsohn-cassian-andor-disney-plus-exclusive
@6 – yeah, but deep down we know Andor DOES hate the Empire, so I was wondering if it was meant to be some kind of clue that the guy is picking up on something underneath the fact that he’s acting as a mercenary right now. There’s several layers of deception going on. He’s being presented to the group as a Rebel Vel recruited, but as far as Vel knows he’s a mercenary hired by Luthen, but Luthen knows he really IS trying to attack the Empire (just in a very non-organized way).
All that said I could see it just being a hint that he’s naive (and also maybe some dramatic irony for the eventual foreshadowing of Andor’s death at which point he WILL be faithful to the cause).
I squealed a little when they mentioned the Rakatans, haha. Funny thing is, I actually know them more from books as I didn’t play any of the games. My husband did play some of the older games and got really excited that Andor’s blaster in the previous episodes is apparently the same model as Kyle Katarn’s (a character I also only know because I read the comics he was in). The games are just a whole world of SW story that I have never had the time or inclination to delve into but I know some people are very invested in them.
I remember recognizing Anton Lesser from the trailer – he was Qyburn. But my big moment was in the first episode where I KNEW I recognized Karn’s boss – specifically his VOICE – and it took me several minutes until I recognized him as Royce (one of the knights at the Eyrie who was not a fan of Littlefinger). He’s not even that huge of a character in GoT but something about his voice was really distinctive to me. The funny thing is, even looking at him, I don’t think I would have recognized him. It was all on the voice.
I liked Karis. As a science nerd myself I wanted to hear more about this orbital phenomenon (in a level of detail that nobody really needed).
I also loved that little museum front on Coruscant, and would’ve needed to be dragged out (14,000 years ago? That would have been during the Kymoodon Era, when the Republic was rapidly expanding. Do they have any early Hutt Empire artifacts?)
After 4 episodes, part of me is wishing the series was called Rael instead. He’s a much more interesting character.
I just need to say: I really love the smattering of various accents used to speak Basic in this series.
Also, as one who has rather limited free time to watch video these days…even if the story arc isn’t finished, it’s nice to have an official stopping point in these episodes to make me not keep going and end up late to a meeting or behind on a deadline!