Elliot Kessler

“Andor” has been a thrilling show thus far with fantastic characters, tense action scenes, and an intriguing plot that seems nearly unpredictable. It’s been a fun journey, and I cannot wait to see where it leads.

Except, I have to.

This episode was very filler. There were some great moments in here, sure. But this episode contributed very little to the overall narrative of the show. We see people waiting patiently for opportunities and outside events from other subplots in the story. We get a lot of talking and a lot of setups. But nothing happens in the episode. It doesn’t have anything to say.

Episode Breakdown

We see Cassian as the Imperials transport him to a factory on Narkina 5, where he will serve his six years. We meet some other prisoners there, one of which is played by Andy Serkis, as he returns to “Star Wars” in a character that is, so far, better than his previous character, Snoke. Another one of the prisoners is Ruescott Melshi, who was a Sergeant in “Rogue One.” Melshi was in the battle on Scarif where he met his untimely end fighting for the Rebellion as they stole the schematics for the Death Star from the Scarif Citadel.

In the factory, Cassian is placed in a workgroup, and Andy Serkis’s character, Kino Loy, is in charge of the workgroup. The group does their shift in a kind of game where the winning gets flavoring for their food, and the losing team either gets bad-tasting food or gets shocked. Cassian gets familiar with his environment, we have a month time-jump, and he keeps building things.

Syril Karn is working in a cubicle among a sea of identical workspaces when Dedra Meero comes looking for him. She brings him back to the ISB building and questions him. The Empire questions Syril, which leads them to hunt for Cassian, as they believe that Cassian will bring them closer to Luthen, who they have been trying to catch for a long time. Syril seems happy with this as it gives him connections within the ISB, and he seems to be looking for a job similar to his old one so he can get out of his cubicle and get back into action. He believes in the Empire and wants to work for them, so any theories that he would fight for the Rebellion are likely now irrelevant.

Maarva Andor is ill after having a bad fall, but she is still clearly a rebel and wants to be a part of the Rebellion and get the revolution started on Ferrix.

Dedra goes to Ferrix, and the Empire captures Bix. They interrogate Bix, trying to find Cassian. Not much came from it. We had an interesting scene with her getting captured and interrogated, and that was it. It might come into play later, but I’m not sure.

Luthen goes to Saw Gerrera, and they have an interesting conversation about the Rebellion and their ideologies. Saw doesn’t think that he should unite with Luthen, and that they should remain allies. Luthen doesn’t agree and thinks Saw’s anarchist ideals aren’t going to do the Rebellion any good. It was interesting, and I hope we get to see more of Saw in the future of this show.

Saw Gerrera

For those that don’t know, Saw Gerrera lived on Onderon, where he helped lead a rebellion against the Separatists when they occupied Onderon during the Clone Wars. The Republic unofficially sent aid, and Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Captain Rex trained their small group in military tactics, teaching them how to fight the Separatists. After the Clone Wars, Saw began rebelling against the Empire when they became the oppressors. We see the beginnings of his rebellion in “The Bad Batch.” He pops up again in the video game “Jedi: Fallen Order” and “Rebels” before he dies in “Rogue One.” He’s a very fun, exciting character, and I’m glad we get to see him again here.

Thoughts

This episode was pure filler. It didn’t contribute much to the larger story, and what was contributed was dull. There wasn’t much character development, and there weren’t any interesting conflicts going on. It was all set up. This is a problem writers can run into when making a serialized story. When writing “Liar’s Legacy” and short stories without any previous experience, I found the characters waiting for things to happen, unable to take action. There were times when the plot had to move without the characters. It was boring and dull, and all it boiled down to was a lazy way to stretch out a short narrative. This episode didn’t need to be an hour long. I like the slow-burn of “Andor,” but maybe they should have considered leaving some of the episodes on the cutting room floor or combining episodes to keep the plot moving.

After the incredible masterpiece of “Tales of The Jedi,” this was disappointing. I wasn’t expecting it to be on the same level as “Tales,” but I expected more than this. Those shorts had bigger stories with 15 minutes than this episode had with 60. I’ve enjoyed “Andor” so far, but I hope we don’t get any more filler episodes like this one.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.