Every time an episode of Star Wars: Andor lands, Fantha Tracks will be giving their responses, and here are our initial gut feelings, deep dives and thoughts on episode six of season one, ‘The Eye’. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.
Daniel Lo
When I was in third grade, I once played the part of Tiresias in a school production of Oedipus. As an ethnically Chinese kid, I certainly did not look the part of a Greek prophet from the city of Thebes. However, with the pool of potential “actors” limited to one particular classroom of third graders in a quiet suburb of Chicago, our unintentionally diverse cast was of course a non-issue. There were no complaints, nor was I made to feel out of place.
Perhaps ironically, that is what I find mildly distracting about the Dhani pilgrims in the latest episode of Andor, the production of which has access to a far larger talent pool. The Dhani are an indigenous tribe of people, yet are ethnically diverse at the same time. There is nothing inherently wrong with (or necessarily impossible about) that but the visual dissonance, given the overall context, did pull me out of the story on a few brief occasions. By contrast, a galaxy-wide government like the Empire is far more likely to have a wide spectrum of ethnicities (and species!) within its ranks, making similar levels of diversity in that particular context far less conspicuous. A relatively minor detail that ultimately doesn’t rob me of any enjoyment, but one I feel deserves a quick mention before I continue gushing over the show.
And boy, does Andor continue to impress. Up to this point, the show has portrayed relatively few events with even fewer action scenes. This week, the scales tip further but in opposite directions. If we oversimplify the plot, this episode can be summarized as just one single event: The rebels raid the vault. On the other hand, we see considerably more action than the entire show combined so far, giving this episode a very different feel. This also involves a dramatic increase in familiar Star Wars visuals, with the TIE hangar scenes being a huge highlight for me, while at the same time against a decidedly unfamiliar backdrop courtesy of The Eye. Ever since its first mention, I had wondered what the phenomenon would look like and it does not disappoint. It’s also great to see TIE fighters in full on attack mode again in a spectacular chase sequence. The greatness is in the details: the pilots scrambling down the ladder and entering the cockpit, the start-up sequence shown at a level of detail normally reserved for the Millennium Falcon, iconic TIE fighter silhouettes against The Eye, and using sound effects to convey trouble locking onto a target. Top notch stuff.
To back up a bit, I’m trying to work out whether or not Cassian was crucial to the mission. The short answer is a total cop-out: It’s difficult to tell. The reason I say that is because it isn’t clear who the original pilot(s) was/were supposed to be. The previous two episodes each portrayed a meeting around the diorama. The first time, Cassian is simply asked if he knows how to fly the freighter. An episode later, Cassian declares that he will be flying the freighter while Vel objects, making it all but clear that there is at least one other pilot in the group. Since we never get clarification on who that is, we don’t know whether or not they were killed in the shootout.
Maybe I am easily fooled, but for me Skeen is the biggest surprise of the episode. Armed with the benefit of hindsight, he has consistently been the most antagonistic rebel of the group. He also correctly observes that Cassian is not a team player. It takes one to know one. Also, who comes up with such an elaborate backstory about non-existent family members to justify membership in a group? What isn’t as straightforward is if betrayal was part of his original intention, or a misguided spur of the moment decision. At the very least, there is no way he could have predicted nor influenced exactly how the heist plays out. Had everyone survived and gotten away on the freighter, stabbing everyone in the back wouldn’t be a realistic option in which case he’d likely just accept his fair share. Regardless, he has by the end already proven himself to be untrustworthy, and Cassian didn’t need K-2SO’s calculations to understand the insanely high risks of NOT shooting him right there and then. Tangentially, I do want to take a moment to appreciate just how much 80 million credits is. I recently re-watched A New Hope and was reminded that just a few years later, a mere 17,000 credits would be more than enough for Han to clear his debts with Jabba.
A few thoughts about the Imperials in this episode. Jayhold is the only one dimensional villain of the episode, from openly mocking his opponents to being a jerk to his family. He also serves as a brief exception to the “show, don’t tell” rule by narrating the schemes against the Dhani. In short, he has no redeeming moments. Everyone else is much more complex, in particular Colonel Petigar. Yes, he smirks as Jayhold explains how the Dhani are systematically marginalized, but he also risks (and ultimately pays for with) his life in an effort to save Jayhold’s son. This strikes me as something that “the good guys” would normally do and it is in fact one of our heroes, Cinta, who kills him in cold blood. This brief but striking role reversal adds a nice layer of complexity to the characters and is yet another testament to the caliber of writing boasted by the series.
As for the rebels, most of them go through an interesting shift. I’ve already talked about Skeen. Vel appears to get cold feet just before the mission kicks off, a stark difference to how we are used to seeing her. We learn that Taramyn is a former stormtrooper. His comment about Cassian having brass earlier in the show is now even higher praise in hindsight. While Nemick is clearly the least experienced and it shows on multiple occasions, he is surprisingly handy with a blaster when it counts. Cinta is exactly who she’s advertised to be: stone cold and fearless. At no point in the mission does she ever crack or lose focus. What isn’t entirely clear is whether or not the original plan involves her getting stranded on Aldhani. Vel’s farewell to her in the control room suggests a significant parting of ways, but to what degree isn’t clear. Cinta’s decision to shut off the power without uttering a word is her version of “boring conversation anyway“. I was a little surprised by how abruptly Gorn gets killed off. We don’t even get as much as a brief final camera shot; one moment he is barking orders, and the next he is dead and already forgotten.
Speaking of which, the final shootout feels particularly dangerous and realistic. We are immersed in a chaotic and unpredictable situation where any given character in the scene is liable to be killed at any moment, with the obvious exception of Cassian. It might be my imagination, but even the individual laser blasts sound more lethal than normal. The events that lead up to it are a bit confusing to me, though. I wasn’t clear on the intended interference caused by the device that Vel plants earlier on. It appears to intentionally allow communications through from Alkenzi, the exact location where chasing TIE fighters would be deploying from. Why that is a specific element of the plan is unclear to me, and I assume it’s an unplanned malfunction of the same device that ultimately prompts additional Imperial forces to check on the vault.
Just like the end of the third episode, we are once again staring into the unknown. What happens next? I have no idea, and I find that exciting. We do know that Vel and Cinta are still alive, and the show trailer indicates we will see at least one of them again (more on that in a later review). The ending of course does suggest that Coruscant will get more screen time next time out. How cool was it to see the senate chamber again?! And is Karn about to shift back into the picture? In terms of advancing the plot, he has already sat out of the latest cluster of episodes so perhaps it’s time for him to clock back in. Let’s see how much pull Uncle Harlo has. I can’t imagine the handing over of Nemik’s manifesto to be a throwaway scene, so surely it’s a matter of time before it influences Cassian. Next week’s writer and director combination looks to be a one-off as well, so we could be setting up for a particularly intriguing episode.
Brad Boutilier
Andor episode 6 is in the books, and with it comes the halfway point in the series. I hope everyone was wanting action were happy with what was delivered. There was less action then I was expecting, but I felt it was the best, most natural feeling action we’ve had in a live action series thus far.
I want to talk about Nemik. His scenes early this episode with Cassian were really interesting to me. How he remarked on writing about Cassian, and his needing to reconcile his mercenary nature with what he viewed as an entirely ideologically driven endeavour and larger movement. Last week I mentioned that Nemik reminded me of Gale Beotticher from Breaking Bad. He still does, but the aforementioned scenes evolved his character for me. He now reminds me more of an early socialist from the late 19th/early 20th century. Someone who spends all their time thinking deeply about the constructs of society, the meaning of life, positing the foundations of a revolution, trying to solve the worlds problem one page at a time in his notebook. Unsurprisingly, he was killed off in this episode, but we haven’t heard the last of him in this show, as I’m sure his manifesto is going to play a major role moving forward.
I wasn’t a huge fan of how Jayhold Beehaz, the commanding officer on Aldhani, was written. In a gritty, grounded show such as this, where every character feels real, genuine, and relatable, Jayhold felt decidedly cartoon-y and over the top. The desire of the writers to portray him and the leadership of the Empire as evil and supremacist, while legitimate, led to a very heavy-handed and on-the-nose final product. Where a scalpel was required, they instead opted for a blunt dagger. I have no problem with wanting to illustrate the less desirable aspects of Imperials, but in relation to the other characters and how real they feel, this guy stuck out to me and kind of broke my immersion in the episode because of it.
In other news, I believe some of the other major series that Andor has been competing with have wrapped this week and more will wrap soon. I hope this means more media will turn their attention to Andor. A lot of the YouTube channels I normally check in on for reviews, etc, have skipped over Andor because of these other series, and I can’t help but feel Disney made a mistake trying to compete with them. I barely consume any media, but even I have noticed a distinct lack of coverage of Andor. It’s the first Star Wars series that has never once showed up in the trending section on my Twitter, and the only Star Wars series where any of the YouTube channels I follow have skipped coverage. This show is great and deserves the coverage. You’d think with the money Disney has invested in this series, the talent they’ve brought in to create it, and the fact it’s based on and named after the least well known character to ever head up a Star Wars project they’d be going out of their way to give it every chance to succeed.
Jen Sopchockchai Bankard
The climax of The Eye, creates so much tension. Scenes cut back and forth — sometimes in quick succession — between the Dhanis singing and chanting, our Rebels enacting their plan, the Imperial officers who may at any time catch on to them, and the aurora borealis-colored shooting stars blasting through sky. The genius of the writing and the editing here is that Vel’s crew devised their plan around a massive celestial event that a.) happens once every three years and b.) holds cultural significance to the indigenous population of the planet. So built into story is this boiling point, this culmination for multiple stakeholders. A heist alone probably would have been fine enough, but I think the convergence of the heist with the Aldhani ritual in response to The Eye in the sky elevates the story to a whole other level. There’s a visceral urgency and a momentum that only cinematic storytelling can create.
The Dhanis are representatives of peoples and planets all over the galaxy who have been colonized by the Empire. One of my favorite aspects of Andor so far, in fact, has been its efforts to establish the Galactic Empire as colonizers and view the franchise’s titular wars through a more real-world political lens. In Episode 6, we primarily experience this through the relationship between the Aldhanis or Dhanis and their Imperial oppressor, Commandant Jayhold Beehaz.
“They breed a sad combination of traits that make them particularly vulnerable to manipulation. On a practical level, they have great difficulty holding multiple ideas simultaneously. We’ve found the best way to steer them as we’d like is to offer alternatives. You put a number of options on the table, and they’re so wrapped up in choosing, they fail to notice you’ve given them nothing they thought they wanted at the start.”
In our own world history, the British Empire used a similarly condescending attitude to justify their global occupation. Beehaz also mentions that he’s placed “Comfort Units” with “cheap local beverages” along the route to distract the Dhanis from their pilgrimage to see the Eye; this reminded me of how many historians and public health scholars believe that U.S. frontiersmen and soldiers often used alcohol to subdue Native Americans. Beehaz’s “Comfort Units” may be marketed as aid, but his speech here reveals a much more sinister ulterior motive.
The Dhanis haven’t “choked down” what he’s offered in the past 12 years. When the Dhani leader first encounters Lieutenant Gorn, he says, “May The Eye stay open long enough to find some good within you.” This implies that it may be difficult for The Eye to find good within Gorn and the Empire he represents. By operating his shop for Coruscant’s wealthiest residents, one could argue that Luthen is participating in the Empire’s slow erasure of other cultures because he’s enabling the redistribution of artifacts, but being part of the system also makes him less suspicious. Or perhaps he’s able to use the Empire’s colonizing tastes against them while, hopefully, preserving a little bit of the history and culture where he can. Political philosopher Nemik eloquently articulates how this erasure extends to everyone else in the Galaxy as well. As he shows Andor some older tech that they plan to use, he says, “We’ve grown reliant on imperial tech, and we’ve made ourselves vulnerable. There’s a growing list of things we’ve known and forgotten. Things they’ve pushed us to forget. Things like freedom.”
In Andor, the Empire doesn’t just manifest in very visible threats like the Death Star, Stormtroopers, or even those terrifying TIE Fighters that apparently fly much lower to the ground than I originally thought. It’s also in these less obvious systems of oppression. Star Wars is a war fought with soft power as much as it is with military coercion. In The Axe Forgets, Nemik explains that it’s really the less obvious mechanisms that make the Empire so powerful. In one of the most poignant lines of dialogue the series has had to date, he says, “So much going wrong, so much to say, and all of it happening so quickly. The pace of oppression outstrips our ability to understand it. And that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine. It’s easier to hide behind 40 atrocities rather than a single incident.” The Empire setting up a viewing event for the Aldhanis in a spot they prefer so they can take away their sacred valley from them may not get the attention of the rest of the galaxy, but these relatively smaller atrocities are happening all over.
Senator Mon Mothma notices, though. The news of the Aldhani robbery breaks while Mothma is mid-argument in the Senate. The bill she proposes is in defense of the Ghormans, who have suffered “coarse and blatant domination” when all they’ve done is “request their basic rights.” Those who have seen the animated series Rebels may recognize the Ghormans from the Ghorman Massacre, the more visible atrocity that will ultimately prompt Mothma to leave the Senate and officially join the Rebel Alliance. Also, a survivor of the Ghorman Massacre joins Saw Guerrera’s Partisans and appears in Rogue One (Magva Yarro), so there’s a remote chance that this reference to them leads us to Saw. Could we see early connections between Mon Mothma, the more extremist freedom fighter, and the roles both of them will play in the formation of the Rebel Alliance?
That brings us to the most important question coming out of this Aldhani heist arc: what will Cassian Andor do now? In Episode 4, he lists several factions to Luthen, saying, “Alliance, Sep, Guerilla, Partisan Front. One of them,” as if they were all functionally the same. He calls them useless. Does he feel any differently now? Will he join any of them? I can’t say with any certainty how Cassian might be feeling or what his next move is. The fact that he shoots Skeen so quickly once he hears his double-cross offer makes me think that he’s started to care about the cause more; that he is repulsed by the idea that Skeen would want to take advantage of Vel and make all the deaths of Gorn, Taramyn, Nemik, and maybe Cinta (if she didn’t escape and hide away successfully) in vain. But then his panicked request for just his cut and his return of Luthen’s sky kyber back to Vel says that he doesn’t want anything to do with this. He seems spooked, like this got too messy and he just wants out. Perhaps he gets frightened by his own selfless moral decision making and wants to flee before it gets any “worse”? Then again, he agrees to take Nemik’s manifesto with him.
Even if it’s ambiguous right now, this seems like a pivotal moment that will set Andor on a different path. I assume that no matter where he ends up next episode, he’s going to crack open that book and finally allow Nemik’s message to “sink in.”
(This is condensed and edited – with permission – from Jen’s The Long Take review, which you can subscribe to here)
Ross Hollebon
“CLIMB!” I’m especially partial to this command in Star Wars seeing as I have it tattooed in Aurebesh, along with K-2SO, across my right forearm. The one-syllable direction was as literal and symbolic for Cassian Andor in Rogue One as it was in The Eye, episode 6 of the Andor series, when an injured and dying Nemick belted it out to navigate through The Eye of Aldhani during their escape.
The payoff of this three-episode arc is thrilling, beautiful, tense, and mystical. Only three members of the group remain standing, yet not together, at the end of the episode—Cassian, Vel, and Cinta. There were reminders that no one can be trusted, the Empire is ruthless and cold, and that merely a spark can start a rebellion. Nemik, before and after he passes, provides the flicker that is likely to activate Cassian and get him thinking about the big picture of the rebellion—exactly what Luthen was hoping for.
But the insurgent attack reaching the HoloNews has also rattled the hive of the ISB and it is buzzing with activity. During this episode, we learn the ISB is ready to take swift retribution and it likely means a bigger role for Dedra. From the rebel side, we see the true colors of the team through the lens of a dangerous mission. Cassian is as advertised in a high-pressure situation. Vel, at times, suffers from nerves at the moment. Cinta is as focused and cunning as Skeen advised. And Skeen does his job but is not to be trusted and pays for it with his life.
The edge-of-your-seat action of this episode is matched only by its visuals–crisp lake water, fog in the mountains, fire and sparks during the Aldhani pilgrims’ rituals, and the “recurrent band of crystallized noctilucent micro densities” that is the northern lights celestial integration with a meteor shower. These make every aspect of the action more memorable—especially seeing the TIE-Fighter pilots descend into their ships with the accompanying metallic green background of a living sky.
As the halfway point of the first season of Andor has passed, the showrunners have finished one hand of Sabaac and are now reshuffling the deck to deal for an even more intense and high-stakes round. Deal me in!
Eric Onkenhout
The Eye (no, not of Palpatine) was a masterclass in tension and special effects. It’s just that simple. The episode begins with Nemik and Cassian discussing the forthcoming infiltration of the Imperial garrison. Nemik is so pure in his vision; it’s clear. His purpose for being there and taking part in his rebellion is, without question, however, he is anxious. There is a sense that Nemik is not experienced in battle. He’s a thinker, tinkerer, philosopher, and writer. He is not a hardened man like Skeen or Taramyn. Cassian ensures Nemik he will be fine, but the look on Cassian’s face tells a different story. Cassian knows no better than anyone else how this will go.
Contrarily, the next scene shows Imperial officers Jayhold Beehaz and Colonel Petigar arrogantly conversing about the native Aldahni and how their time is coming to an end. These two scenes alone are a microcosm of Andor; One side is fighting for something, and the other is satisfied with looking down on everyone else as they take what they want.
The first 15 minutes of the 50-minute episode are about the chess pieces getting into position. The Aldahni march to watch a meteor shower for the local festival while Taramyn, Cassian, Skeen, and Nemik, disguised as Imperial officers, make their way into the garrison with Gorn’s help. Meanwhile, Vel and Cinta sneak in by water and climb the garrison’s wall. There are heavy nods to The Magnificent Seven, Goldeneye, and Oceans 11. The tension at this point is near boiling point.
As Vel and Cinta are in position on top of the wall, it was interesting to see the hard-nosed Vel show signs of cracking while the quiet determination of Cinta acted as her rock. It was Cinta who shot and killed Petigar. It was also curious how among all of this, Cassian Andor blended in while the other characters took the front stage. As the rebel task force takes control of the vault, the Aldahni festival begins with a gloriously colorful meteor shower that lights up the night sky. ILM is one of the stars in The Eye. They did an absolutely brilliant job with the effects in this one.
As Tony Gilroy said in this week’s episode of This Week In Star Wars about using elements of espionage in Star Wars, “You got people who have been fighting it (the Empire), from the beginning.” When Vel says, “One Path. One Choice.” it brings back Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and her mantra, “One world. One people”.
The tension takes hold when the team reaches the vault and forces the guards to load their ship with the credits. During the battle, Gorn and Taramyn are both killed by blaster shots. So now both leading black characters are dead. Not a great look, to be honest. As the transport shoots through the sky, Nemik instructs Cassian to climb, which sounds eerily similar to how K2 said “climb” in Rogue One. Meanwhile, Cinta is left, which is a strange decision. Cinta is the glue that keeps everyone together.
In arguably the saddest part of The Eye, Nemik suffers a fatal injury when a cart of credits slams into him, pinning him against the wall and causing paralysis below the waste. When the team reaches a nearby moon, they find a four-armed doctor called Dr. Quadpaw, who tries to save him but ultimately fails. On top of that, Skeen reveals his plan to split the money with Cassian and leave. At this moment, Skeen comes off as another Han Solo-type, in it for himself and no one else. Take the money and run. Cassian nips that in the bud and kills Skeen on the spot. Alex Lawther as Nemik will be sorely missed. After only three episodes, he was a gem.
The Eye received immediate praise as some of the best Star Wars ever produced. Overall, Andor has been on another level regarding story, acting, and effects. In a different part of the galaxy, Mon Mothma speaks to an empty Senate. Those present when she begins speaking soon leave, possibly fearing showing support just for listening. Then Luthen hears of the success on Aldahni and laughs in relief. The ISB is on alert now. The first half of Andor is complete; this is where the fun begins.
Mark Newbold and Mark Mulcaster discuss episode 6 on Making Tracks Reaction Chats.
Brian Cameron and Paul Naylor discuss episode 6 on Good Morning Tatooine.
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