Andor Season 1 Episode 5 felt a bit different than the previous four episodes as it mostly served as setup for Episode 6, but for fans of the series and a more adult-take on Star Wars, it still offered some solid scenes and character building.
You can check out our full review below, and don’t forget about our Easter Egg breakdown.
Script
Unlike the previous four episodes of Andor, Episode 5 finally felt like the main narratives were settling into their grooves, which ultimately meant this episode would be a bit devoid of Star Wars fan water cooler moments to allow the threads to breathe and further develop the characters and world.
Some may call it a filler episode, but that would be an incorrect assessment. Important moments took place, specifically on Aldhani with Cassian and the team’s trust in him being worked out, which exposed more of his character to us, as well as Vel’s team. We also learned about Lt. Gorn’s motivation to become a rebel spy, how disconnected Mon is from her family, Syril’s continued obsession with his greatest failure, and of course, Luthen’s anxiety, which came as a surprise considering how ice cold he’s been so far.
While the episode was full of character and world building, it did suffer from a true lack of tension, which had been strong coming out of the first four episodes. There were no real moments where you felt like any of the characters or their plans were in peril. Every scene was more focused on getting to the root of what makes the characters tick versus actually moving their narratives forward with any sort of pace.
Some fans will appreciate this type of episode thanks to its slower more deliberate character focused delivery, but others will probably label it as the most basic of the series so far and filler.
If anything, this episode showed us that while Andor’s 3-episode arcs can pack a helluva punch when viewed all at once, having a weekly release for them can setup the middle episode to feel like nothing of note will happen as it sets up the inevitable flair for the final episode of the three part arc. It’s an issue any trilogy based story can face, but one I think Tony’s team handled fine this week, because it did drive us towards what has to be an action and tension filled Episode 6 next week, which will undoubtedly pay off on the character and world building that slowed things a bit in Episode 5.
How about some top Moments?
First up is the Mothma family breakfast, which perfectly showcased how much of an outsider Mon is in her own household. Her husband could care less about her work and being a partner in raising their daughter, while the daughter is even more disrespectful to Mon than Perrin. I never would’ve thought Mon’s family life was this big of a mess considering what she eventually achieves with the Rebel Alliance.
While Meero didn’t get a ton of screen time, I’m glad this episode reminded us all that she is onto something with the random rebel activity that she’s been tracking across the galaxy. While her superiors could never dream of a coordinated rebellion, it was revealed to us that Meero knows exactly what’s going on because it’s how she’d carry out a rebellion, so it will be interesting to see if she can convince anyone else that her theory has merit. ‘
It was brief but impactful, but hearing Vel cheers to the Rebellion was a pretty cool fan moment considering that they’re about to try to pull off the biggest job of any rebel cell to date, and one that could finally get the Empire to take the threat of a rebellion seriously.
Skeen calling out Andor was huge, mostly because it showed again how capable Andor is already. He brings a level of confidence against the Empire that no other member of Vel’s crew has. He’s afraid but not frantic, he knows what they’re about to embark on, while the others seem more like dreamers and freedom fighters. It also sets up a potential screw job by Skeen, who will more than likely screw things up due to his obsession with Cassian’s background.
Finally, I really appreciated the final scene and how it showed us that Luthen may be more nervous about this mission than anyone on the ground. This is probably due to the fact that this job is the biggest he’s tried to pull off to date, and knows that if it works the empire will no longer be able to ignore rebel activity. But also because he seems to be conflicted over his Cassian gambit. He made it sound like he may have compromised one of his value systems to hire Cassian in the first place, which is leading him to not feel as confident as he may have in the past while pulling off a job with one of the cells he’s worked with.
Make sure to tune into the next episode of the Star Wars Time Show in which myself and my co-host Nick will fully breakdown Andor Episode 5 and give our thoughts on it as a whole.
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