– Spoiler Review –
With “Episode 5 – The Axe Forgets,” Andor reiterates it’s willing to commit to the slow-burn to build up its conflicts and its characters, resulting in a richer world to latch onto as we move into the show’s big heist.
A lot of what fans enjoy about Rogue One, like myself, are its characters and the heart they bring to the fight against the big, oppressive Empire while just being foot soldiers in the larger galactic conflict and not big time heroes like Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. Whereas the whole movie builds up to Cassian, Jyn, and the rest of the team, Andor drops Cassian in the middle of Rogue One essentially, with Vel’s team a proto-rebellion going after an important installation, though at a much, much smaller scale than the mission in the movie. The stakes are still large, essentially this heist will fund the rebellion and help push it forward at the same time, hence why the episode ends with a Luthen on edge, barely able to sleep, hoping to hear word of the team’s success despite it being a whole day early. But instead of dropping us into the middle of Rogue One and skipping right to the Scarif sequence with Vel’s team, Andor doesn’t disrespect these early members of the movement, allowing them some spotlight in “The Axe Forgets” before the big heist goes down. In doing so, we not only learn more about them, their goals, the heart needed even in these early days, and find attachment to them brewing, but it also forces Cassian to consider his own reasonings for being there and whether he believes them or not.
While everyone gets a chance to shine, Arvel Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is the spotlight of “The Axe Forgets.” It all begins when Cassian awakes in the camp to find his stuff gone, finding Skeen digging through it to appease his suspicions about the late entry to their group. They have a tense encounter to some degree, Cassian angry Skeen’s rifling through his stuff, but they sort of commiserate over shared history of being stuck in what seems like Imperial prisons or youth centers once Skeen sees Cassian recognize where he got his tattoos, with the latter admitting he was in one too. Cassian challenges him then, is he really only here for revenge, and while he agrees it’s enough for now, Cassian’s answers to the same question still don’t appease Skeen’s concerns. They fight later, Skeen touching Cassian’s stuff again but claiming he was only doing it to move it, but it’s not until the team’s moving to their final staging place before the mission that Skeen’s concerns erupt. He holds Cassian at knifepoint, stealing his kyber necklace from Luthen and holding it up to the group, as some sort of proof of his concerns and why they shouldn’t trust him: why come with nothing and an expensive jewel? Though when this happens, the group isn’t quite on the same page as Skeen.
Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther), whom Skeen describes as a true believer, wastes no time in proving he is, sitting down with Cassian while holding an old navigational tool, non-Imperial tech which can’t be jammed, and Cassian’s appreciation of it leads Nemik to begin spouting his ideas on what has happened and how they got here, how the Imperial thought machine works. It’s a short conversation, but absolutely loaded, not with just how the Empire could so easily take over and keep its citizens oppressed, but also prescient words about our world as well. Politics is an intrinsic part of the Star Wars franchise and it’s never felt more pointed than in the script by Dan Gilroy here. Nemik says, “The pace of repression outstrips our ability to understand it.” In the case of the galaxy far, far away, Nemik continues, essentially saying they can hide behind 40 atrocities much easier than one big one, as all the tragedy is hard to keep up with and fight if the fight keeps moving. In our world, both are salient points, whether its here in the United States or elsewhere, oppressor’s fight to take away our freedoms is obscured by them constantly forcing us to face new problems and new areas to fight. Take the recent development in Florida, which is taking the disgusting and authoritarian step of forcing its female athletes to report their menstrual cycles in an effort to prevent trans athletes form competing in their gender’s sport, though this purpose obscures the fact they’ll use this data to keep track of a woman’s pregnancy so they can watch if they’re attempting to get an abortion, the rights of which were taken away by the Supreme Court in the devastating reversal of Roe v. Wade; one atrocity after another to keep you from being able to fight for your rights as they slowly chip away at them. Skeen is on hand in this conversation to once against ask about Cassian’s thoughts, and while his answer is non-committal, as he doesn’t want to give away anything to the group as he gets in and gets his money, Nemik isn’t as disappointed because he thinks this means Cassian is just the person to read his manifesto. So when Skeen brings his issues and ‘evidence’ to the group later, Nemik isn’t even concerned, but does look disappointed by Cassian’s response.
Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Taramyn Barcona (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) continue to test him too, by trying to make it seem like they know what to do next and testing his knowledge of the plan, of what he can bring to the table, only for him to realize they don’t know every step forward either. His knowledge helps earn him some begrudging trust, while his ideas on a better marching order to support Skeen being left-handed further gives the whole group more to grasp on when hoping he’ll be everything promised by Vel. Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) is the hardest to crack, as she doesn’t give much away, but Skeen says she’s the toughest anyways, despite being their healer, while her relationship with Vel at least shows what she cares about most in the fight. It’s not a glowing example of LGBTQIA+ representation, as it’s as passing as the kiss in The Rise of Skywalker, but it’s enough to get myself and even Star Wars Queers Watch hopeful the lesbian relationship will be more prominent going forward.
While Lieutenant Gorn (Sule Rimi) is strictly at the Imperial base this episode, he’s the one Cassian is most concerned about. Vel opens up to Cassian about Gorn’s past, where he lost his love for the Empire after he lost a local woman on Aldhani he loved. While that still might not be enough for Cassian, throughout the episode we see he’s committed from how he interacts with a Corporal he catches smoking while enjoying the gorgeous view to getting his men to be the ones who come up with the idea to have as sparse a posting on base as possible the following night. In his chat with the Corporal, who’s distasteful regarding the locals they drove out to make way for a larger base, he tells the officer he could imagine more of them out in the valley they are supposed to destroy next. I thought this was simply because he’s against the Empire, but when we learn his past from Vel, it adds an extra layer to the conversation.
It’s clear at Skeen’s confrontation everyone is curious to learn the truth about Cassian but aren’t as concerned as they where when he arrived, while Vel’s watching to see how much he gives away. She thinks it’s the right thing to hide Luthen, and it is, but when Cassian has had it with the scrutiny and offers the honest truth, he’s as scared as them though only really here for the money at the moment, even despite everything they’ve said to him regarding all their hearts being in this for a rebellion. While it’s the truth, it feels like he’s saying it more to keep them quiet and stop the questions, because he’s already beginning to question if he’s really in it just for the money anyways. They all believe him, and Vel is a little more honest about the arraignment and her misleading them, but it feels like the tension rippling through the group abates to some degree. There’s still plenty of tension left, as when Cassian confirms Taramyn is the mission lead, considering Vel and Cinta are off on their own part of the heist no one seems to know about, Taramyn still seems salty from his suggestion early on their marching positions. But the bad blood between Skeen and Cassian is at least seemingly resolved, as his apology to “Clem” is a story of how the Empire’s actions killed his brother, a fantastic ending to their tiff throughout the episode. Regardless of how everyone feels, the mission is happening the following day (or next episode for us!), so I was happy some of this has been aired out beforehand, while getting to know these characters raises the stakes a tad.
Elsewhere in the episode, we catch up with Mon Mothma’s (Genevieve O’Reilly, who had an interview with This Week! In Star Wars) home life, where it’s not just her husband Perrin who has issues with how she conducts herself around the home: their daughter Leida (Bronte Carnichael) has problems too! That’s right, not only does Mon have a husband, but a daughter (which I guess, including her name, was already a thing from Legends)! Considering we see neither of them by the time she’s declaring rebellion with the Ghost crew (in two years aka Andor season two), I’m super intrigued what all goes down now! Much like her husband feels forgotten, her daughter feels like Mon always makes things about her, taking Leida to school is a stunt or any deviation from a schedule is hurting Mon’s life not anyone else’s, and Perrin certainly doesn’t stop Leida from saying these concerns to his wife. Keeping the secret of her actual goals, of the rebellion she’s working on, has obviously impacted her family, and while she has good reasons and good intentions with her real work, they have a point. In feeling like she’s the only one in the room who’s willing to do what’s right, she does seem to talk down to them, like her life is more important since they aren’t doing anything, but that’s her fault to some degree, not trusting them or bringing them in. She’s only partially at blame for creating this problem for herself, as Perrin’s attitude and frivolous nature are more to blame in the end, but is Mon willing to break the circle of secrecy to repair the family or is she willing to let them go if it means they are safe and alive as she fights for their freedom from the Empire? Later in the episode, after a dinner party, Mon gets back at Perrin for his silence earlier, as she’s quick to retort it must’ve been embarrassing not to know about a new foundation she’s setting up, and when he asks why she didn’t tell him, she’s quick again by saying she didn’t think he was charitable enough to know about it. That he asks their driver, whose name he still doesn’t know, to take the expressway further proves her point but also shows how she’s driving a wedge as well, the look on her face implying she sort of regrets how sharp she was. As much as I’ve wanted to see her in the Senate and fighting policies, this family drama might be even more intriguing and a better way to show the cost of the fight she’s in.
Lt. Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) passes a returning from Ferrix Blevin in the ISB hallways, the encounter enough to keep her fueled in the assertion these small incidents are actually signs of an organized Rebellion. While Blevin’s out delegating, placing some Imperial in charge of getting Ferrix under control and following Imperial ways, rather than doing the hard work himself, Dedra is staying up late with her adjutant, sifting through reports to see what else could fit her expected pattern of rebellious efforts. Of the incidents she points out, one is on Kessel, and while it could reference something in the past, my mind immediately went to the Star Wars Rebels series premiere where they free the Wookiees there, so I hope that’s what she was referring to! Either way, I’m sure the Aldhani mission will spark her investigations even further and I’ll be interested to see how she becomes a thorn in this early rebellion’s side.
Lastly, but certainly not least, especially since besides Mon Mothma’s sections it has some of the best acting of the episode, is Syril Karn’s (Kyle Soller) stay with his mom. Last we left him, it was the memorable introduction of his mother Eedy Karn (Kathryn Hunter), who slapped him and then cried and hugged him. Needless to say, it only gets better, as the tension and shared disappointment in one another is thicker than the group Cassian is with, and far bitter. The only non-passive-aggressive thing she does is pour him cereal and blue milk (which the official site has a recipe for Syril’s cereal bars!) The disdain in the room, her for his failures despite how well she claims to have raised him, him for how she’s beating down on him even now, is such a fascinating relationship, it’s already outpacing many of the father-daughter pairings Star Wars typically preferred. But unlike Dedra or Mon, Syril has no compunction, nor does his mother, about telling it straight, not hiding or holding anything back. I certainly don’t feel bad for him, despite how his mother acts, but this certainly showed he’s a product of her influence and trying to meet her expectations, for better or worse. There’s no hints how his story will connect back to the larger one unfolding, but I’ll be curious to see how it’ll happen, I just wish there’d been little more a hint on what it could be.
Here are a few other things:
- Mon’s look in the cab after the party? Phenomenal. So here for all the great looks they’ll give her this show!
- The moment we saw the big collection behind Luthen in his back office, I was immediately trying to see what Easter Eggs were hiding within. Besides a holocron, I think the biggest is a really fun one for fans of another Lucasfilm franchise…one could say the stones on his shelf belong in a museum! The Sankara stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom are amongst Luthen’s trinkets!
- And are those clone trooper figures on Syril’s desk in his room?!?
“Episode 5 – The Axe Forgets” is another fine example of a show confident in its characters, actors, and story, propelling Andor to something deeper than just another fun adventure.
+ Great little character moments with talented actors
+ Muddying Mon Mothma’s personal life and making it compelling
+ Syril and his mother’s mutual disdain
+ Liking the slower, deliberate pace…
– …but sometimes would be nice for hints on where certain characters are going next
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
ANDOR SERIES REVIEWS:
Season One Premiere “Episodes 1-3” | Ep. 4 “Aldhani”