Chatting In The Camp
In the fifth episode of Andor, Syril returns home to his mother. She nags him constantly, pointing out how he’s a disappointment and that he has no prospects for the future. ..
As the assault begins, Cassian and his team are ready. One of the men, Skeen, is there for revenge, with tattoos on his body that speak volumes about his past. Gorn is apparently the toughest one among them, while this plan rests squarely on Lieutenant Gorn following through as their informant. Can they trust him though? As we mull this over, the downtime allows us to meet a number of the different players and where their values lie – and why they’re doing this.
The problem with the plan is that the group has no idea how to get the ship off the rail and had every intention of just winging it before Cassian himself arrived. Apparently, Andor knows these ships so he decides to take control and fly the ship out of there himself. ..
The plan is to sneak Cassian into the Imperial military as an Imperial Private. They will use several other men to help them in this, and Orson will provide some words of wisdom. They will want the formation switched around so that their preferred shooting hand is in the lead. There are walks and schematic studying involved in this, as well as a vigilant watchful eye on the incoming TIE fighters.
However, Skeen’s plan backfires when he realizes that Andor is not who he says he is. He takes the necklace from him and shows it off to the group, revealing that it’s actually Sky Kyber - a valuable mineral worth 30,000 credits. Skeen demands to know who Andor is and what his real beliefs are. ..
Eventually, he points out that he’s being paid to be there and is only there for the money. And on the eve of them about to make this big play against the Empire, it’s not a good look. They do eventually head up to the hills, overlooking the Imperial settlement. They signal to Gorn and head back to camp. ..
The Episode Review
Andor continues to move at a slow pace, with little characterization for the group. The story is moving at a glacial pace and as I’ve said before, Andor is screaming out for more episodes at a time. The opening three episodes worked well together and now that we’re onto the meat of the story, this show needs several episodes dropping at a time to keep the momentum going. ..
The Mon scenes aren’t in this recap because they don’t really add very much to the story right now. I’m sure they will in the future, but this week’s focus is on Cassian and his group.
It’s great to finally find a competent Star Wars TV show and the gritty feel of this one is certainly welcome. While I’m not calling for big battles and action every week, an extra episode or two would do this one wonders to beef up the pace a bit. It’ll be interesting to see how many people stick with this one though – and how much patience Andor expects its audience to have.
