– Spoiler Review –
On Aldhani, the calm before the storm is full of tension and nerves for Vel’s little rebel group, but they can delay no longer and must head into the fire. Action-packed, tense, and surprising, Andor’s “Episode 6 – The Eye” is a fitting payoff for the last two episodes and proves the continued quality is not a fluke.
After building up the team and the stakes, Andor “Episode 6 – The Eye” is all about the mission of raiding the Aldhani facility and its stacked vault of Imperial payroll. The mist of the Aldhani morning, obscuring our view of the planet’s natural wonder and encasing our team in their fears and concerns, is just the start of the expertly paced building of tension throughout the episode. Heck, tension even rises despite being introduced to Commandant Jayhold Beehaz (Stanley Townsend), who currently runs the facility, and his family, as well as Colonel Petigar (Richard Katz), who’s coming in to expand the airfields, as their chuckling demeanor on the Dhanis’ ways and how they’ve messed with them is both sickening and illuminating. It’s not hard to already side with the rebels and their mission, even if it’s just for credits right now and not actually helping the locals, but this reminds us of the cruelty of the Empire’s fascism and only makes us want the team to succeed more, once again adding to the tension as the mission methodically begins. Even in the slow, purposeful walk of the Dhanis to their sacred site, Cassian, Nemik, Skeen, and Taramyn awaiting their arrival to start acting like reinforcements, the deliberate pacing makes even us viewers itchy for things to get going, as it’s clear the team wants as well, especially when Vel, who snuck onto the dam from the other side with Cinta, falters and her tough exterior cracks for just a moment. Even the visual of the “Eye” beginning, the asteroids or whatever science Nemik told us two episodes ago, slowly flying over the scene, more and more as time goes on, building into a crescendo in the team’s flight from the base, is a quick visual to show us time is running out for the path ahead. Much like Episode 3, Episode 6 is another masterclass in pacing, though where it didn’t go how Syril Karn and his men thought it would a few episodes ago, the heroes coming out on top, it doesn’t always quite go as Vel and team hoped (but Cassian suspected) it would here.
When we meet Commandant Beehaz, Lt. Gorn forced to act like he agrees with him and believes in the Empire, I was surprised to learn he had a family as well. We meet his wife and child and it’s clear they’d probably join with Vel’s team if they knew the option was available, not wanting this thankless life and assignment. This added more depth than I thought they could to Beehaz, helping to mitigate, but not totally address the issues with the fatphobia present in his storyline. The line from Episode 3, prominent in many trailers playing over a scene from this episode of the Commandant taking a swig alongside Petigar, about the Empire being “so fat, so satisfied,” brought condemnation from fans regarding frequent usage of fatness equating with villainous characters, laziness, and less than heroic behaviors. Star Wars has an issue with this (Jabba the Hutt, anyone) as do most franchises and media, with a protagonist in The High Republic novels getting to turn some of those problems around but an appearance by Dex in the past highlighting the need to work on it still (and they are), so it’s not a surprise this is the well they went down here: Beehaz can’t put on his belt at one point, his wife pointing out the truth he doesn’t see, and later he dies of a heart attack after being put to work hustling the credits onto the escape ship. The introduction of the family, of how he wants off this rock in the middle of nowhere as much as them, attempts to mitigate the fatphobia, as he’s willing to do the work with the credits if it means he and his family live, so there’s some nuance behind his character, but it’s still something I hope they don’t so easily revisit in the future of the franchise and the show. There are many ways to show the Empire’s complacency and thankfully the rest of the episode highlights those options, from the guards playing cards in the vault room, the fact Gorn was a surprise to the Imperials as they seemingly couldn’t expect his treachery (even though he barely hid it), and Petigar’s overconfidence he could prevent the attack.
Most of the heist goes as planned, even if they are off schedule a tad due to Vel’s last minute panic attack, the team quickly capturing the small selection of soldiers throughout the base, their jamming equipment stumping the comms Corporal. The men playing the card game don’t put up much of a fight, though one thinks he can stop them by coming after Cassian as he preps the ship during the shootout later, but Nemik comes in clutch to save him. Most of the Imperials they encounter are quick to surrender, unwilling to fight for the Empire, until the jammer isn’t as effective as they all believed, the comms Corporal able to tap into the communications and bringing men down with him to the vault to investigate what’s going on. Gorn’s almost able to convince them, but Beehaz has his aforementioned heart attack and that’s when all hell breaks loose. The firefight from Episode 3 is overshadowed by the one here and plenty of characters start dropping like flies, though the camera doesn’t linger on them much, fueling the action and restless pace. The big sequence of Cassian piloting the ship, Nemik shouting a clear path through thanks to his astral chart machine, was an absolutely stunning and beautiful moment thanks to the Eye phenomenon, making this really feel like a big budget Star Wars production. I was on the edge of my seat from the moment they first gained access to the facility, my heart racing even more when a ginormous thunderclap and blinding lightning took my power out for a few seconds at home, the big flight from the dam the icing on the cake.
I think we all had some expectations on who would make it out alive, I know I did, but I’m glad to see I was wrong. Nemik seemed like a no-brainer, and while he does die, that he’s able to help chart them a path out of the storm, but their black-market doctor can’t save him, was a bittersweet surprise. In his last moments, or so Vel tells Cassian, he wants Cassian to have his manifesto. The two opened the episode with a conversation where Nemik essentially expresses his disappointment in Cassian’s motives and admits his worries about the mission ahead, Cassian assuaging Nemik a tad on both his motives and the mission ahead. Those answers and Nemik’s gut about Cassian are why he wants the mercenary to have the manifesto, as having someone with so much anger, so much drive, and so much guile would be a boon for the rebellion, and it’s clear Cassian isn’t ready to be a believer yet, especially still at the end of the episode.
It was an awesome surprise the only members of the team to survive (besides Cassian of course) are the female characters, Vel and Cinta, a seeming anomaly at times. Gorn and Taramyn bite it in the battle in the vault, Nemik later as I mentioned, and Skeen after they are free too. Knowing the actor from some previous roles, I’m not terribly surprised Skeen turned out to be the thing he was making a big deal about Cassian being, a liar and a cheat with his own skin solely in mind, his memorable apology last episode all a ruse. He wants to split the take with Cassian, leaving Vel behind and live their lives away from the big fight, but Cassian doesn’t entertain the idea for long, killing Skeen. And while he doesn’t want to stick around for the fight still, not convinced yet of the cause, he’s no Skeen, willing to take his own cut, leave Luthen’s kyber, and go his own way, much to Vel’s disappointment, especially after they lost so much. Where will Cassian go? I imagine he’ll come back to Ferrix and events there will lead him back to the larger rebellion, but I can’t wait to find out because I’m so curious how we’ll get him committed by the end of the season.
But more interesting to me in the short term is Cinta’s fate, as they left her behind on the planet, wearing an Imperial uniform, all part of the mission. By the end of the episode, I’m not too concerned for her, because as Skeen said, she’s the toughest of the group, taking out Pitgar, shaking Vel of her nerves, and by her confidence when Vel leaves her, knowing they’ll separate. The show gives another small glimpse of her and Vel’s relationship, so for it not to kill either of them so far is a great change of pace and great avoidance of any insidious tropes.
We get some quick scenes with the other cast after the mission is over and the team splits. With Mon Mothma, we see her in the Imperial Senate, though in stark contrast to the Prequel Trilogy’s Senate, many of the seats are empty and instead of people shouting, clapping, or cheering over what’s happening, there’s silence, and when they don’t like what they hear, they only leave instead. Mothma, talking once again about the Ghorman’s, an important moment later in the timeline which will spark her finally leaving the Senate behind, is trying to take a vote and people are leaving, not even listening, and she feels as alone here as she does at home with her family. Is no one else willing to fight for the good the galaxy anymore besides Luthen and various rebel groups in the galaxy? She halts her speech to see what everyone’s talking about, learning about the Aldhani heist, most likely, as it’s not totally clear. Part of me read the scene as her seeing everyone voting to dismiss the fact-finding mission she wants to begin, but the more I think about it’s likely about what happened on Aldhani she sees on her datapad. I suspect she’ll have some words for Luthen.
The shorter scenes are with Luthen and Dedra. At the ISB, Major Partagaz calls everyone to tell them they won’t be leaving, instead going over emergency plans for situations just like this one, and I’m looking forward to Dedra’s feelings on how the Aldhani heist feeds into her suspicions. As for Luthen, he’s trying to woo his latest customers when one asks about him having Aldhani artifacts, noting the news of a heist, and he sneaks to the back, laughing in delight, not knowing the cost his people suffered but enjoying the win regardless. I also want to learn how he’ll feel when he learns about everyone basically dying and Cassian leaving…will he go after him again, knowing what an asset he can be? Will Vel and Cinta still want to work for Luthen? Lots of interesting character potential in the next “arc” of the show!
Andor’s “Episode 6 – The Eye” is as dazzling as its special phenomenon, a pulse-pounding, tense episode where truths come to light and fates are decided as the big Aldhani mission takes flight.
+ Building, palpable tension
+ Expected yet not so expected fates
+ The Eye is gorgeous to behold
– Need to work on representation
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” | Ep. 5 “The Axe Forgets”