The Eye of Aldhani
Episode 4 of Andor starts with Cassian scrambling for a med-pack. They’re set for Aldhani, but the reason why is shrouded in secrecy. Luthen encourages him to join and have “everything he wants”, including putting a stick in the Empire - and getting paid to do so. ..
Luthen, a bounty hunter, has come for Andor, specifically. He promises to give him 200,000 credits if Andor delivers a target - only the quarterly payroll for an entire Imperial sector. ..
In a top-secret meeting of the Imperial Security Bureau, Partagaz, the head of the council, tells his agents that they are “healthcare providers,” treating the sick and making sure germs don’t spread. Rebel alliances have caused a problem with Cassian, and so Partagaz decides to take action. ..
The Deputy Inspector, Sergeant and Chief Hyne are reprimanded by the Empire after what happened with Andor. It’s a massive security catastrophe and as of now, the entire Morlana System is under Imperial control.
Meanwhile, Luthen reveals that he is not the one leading this mission. That falls to a woman called Vel, who walks toward their landed ship. Andor assumes a new identity for himself, going by the name of Clem.
Vel listens to Luthen and points out that Andor is being paid to be part of this rebellion. It’s not much of a choice to be honest. They either take him in… or the whole operation is called off.
Luthen leaves and heads off the planet, assuming a new identity, getting dressed up as he prepares to touch down on Coruscant. Senator Mon Mothma is there to greet him, where a flamboyant Luthen portrays a very different character to the one we met earlier. ..
Both senators are conspiring together to take down the Empire. Their cryptic chatter is revealing their plans. ..
Mothra is frustrated when she doesn’t have time to meet with her counsellors later that evening.
Andor and Vel walk together to the armory at the Aldhani Garrison. They tell Vel that they are robbing it and need to get as far away from the Imperial Garrison as possible. There is an Imperial airfield nearby so this is the safest route.
Vel takes charge of the situation and is clearly not happy with Lieutenant Gorn’s arrival. He’s the liaison between the garrison and their camp, and he doesn’t take kindly to Clem’s presence.
The team of four infiltrates the Imperial garrison undetected and makes their way to the top floor, where they plan to steal sensitive documents. However, they are quickly met with resistance from TIE fighters and only have a limited number of men with them, which means that there is a high risk of them being killed. Despite this, they make their way to the top floor and successfully steal the documents before fleeing the scene. ..
The Aldhanis are planning to escape in three days’ time. They believe that during the event, a window will open and they will be able to leave. The Aldhanis have a nickname for this event - Mak-ani bray Dhani.
This is an event where the sky lights up with 50 meteor showers all at once. While it’s beautiful on the surface, in the air it’s absolute chaos. They have an escape trajectory to leave the planet just before the Eye closes. If they can beat the clock then they’ll be in the clear. If they can’t? Well, they’ll all die. No pressure!
The Episode Review
Episode 4 of Andor came and went, leaving us with a sign of things to come in the future. It’s clear that Andor’s team won’t have everything go their own way, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a few deaths from this group along the way. ..
The antagonists in this piece are Andor, who decides Karn is not good enough to be the villain and instead, we get a higher authority from the Empire. Whether this actually works in the show’s favour is anyone’s guess but it may pay off. Could we see a redemption arc from this soldier who turns over to the rebel’s side? We’ll have to wait and see.
For now, Andor is still in its set-up stage and this is the sort of show that really needs more than one episode released a week. Last week’s triple bill helped the show tremendously but now that we’re down to one a week, I’m concerned that the plot could slam to a crawl.
Andor’s story is just okay. It’s a slow-paced adventure that’s more thematically allegorical than action-packed. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but it would be nice if the episodes ahead picked up the pace a bit.
