Narkina 5

I don't think I've been this invested in a piece of Star Wars since Episode III. In my opinion, even Mandalorian can't compete with this level of near-perfectness this show has reached.

We're only 8 episodes in and Andor has become not only the best original show on D+, but one of the most engaging and well-written shows I've personally seen, and it's shaping up to be one of my favorite shows ever.

After the spectacular and total failure and disappointment Obi-Wan Kenobi was and just about everything from MCU's D+ being mediocre or just completely unwatchable, I kinda lost my hope and interest in the future of Star Wars at the hands of Disney, but this show made me excited about and interested in this universe again.

Just about everything in this episode and the show as a whole is perfect, the acting and the great writing and dialogues just complement each other in the best way possible. The production value and the set designs, the great writing and the acting and everything just work so well together and make this show feel so real and believable and makes every character in this show, even the side characters, and smaller ones feel like real characters that have a life outside of this part of the story we're seeing.

One thing that took me by surprise in this episode was the prison Andor went into. I totally expected a little cell like the one in Rogue One and him getting free this episode easily... but oh my god what a great new subplot or should I say the development in the primary plot of Cassian Andor's galaxy adventures. The prison design is just simply amazing. They spared no expenses, the sets are just too perfect and make this show even better. They're showing the inner workings of the empire we haven't seen before and it's just all really great.

We're getting more from each plotline in this episode and every major character gets to shine, but even though there are like 4 or 5 plotlines happening it's not incoherent and hard to follow, so the pacing and the editing are great here too.

Dedra Meero is slowly shaping up to be one of the most terrifying and well-written Star Wars villains in the whole franchise and the actress is doing a really good job at playing her.

Tony Gilroy was right when he said he was making a show for adults.

There is just something about this show that makes it so interesting and engaging to watch and makes you actually care about the story and these characters:

• There is actual tension and stakes
• The writing is actually great
• The characters feel real and act like normal people who are actually living in this world,
• The characters don't act like buffoons or children throwing quips and jokes every two lines of dialogue so they can keep the children watching the show entertained
• The characters act like actual mature adults and their decisions make sense
• The design of the sets really sells the believability of these places
• The show doesn't rely on nostalgia, cameos, and in-your-face easter eggs to delude us into thinking we're watching something good, they do that with the writing
• They don't rely on rehashing the same story Lucas told 40 years ago and selling it to us as a "new and original" story

Show this show to anyone who thinks adult, mature, and dark means R-rated blood and guts flying everywhere and fk word being thrown in every sentence. This is what a real dark and mature show look like; complex characters and storylines.

All in all, this episode ranks next to episode 6 "The Eye" as the best episode of this show in my 'eye' and I might have even enjoyed this one more than episode 6. I seriously can't think of any complaints about this episode in particular, I might've had some nitpicks with the first two episodes because I thought they were just perfectly mediocre and nothing amazing, but this show really picked up the pace and it just keep getting better and better. Here's hoping the quality stays the same or gets better and they don't fumble the ending of this season and the whole of season 2.

For the first time in a Star wars movie or series we get to see the diabolical mechanisms of the empire in such detail....this episode in particular felt like orwell's 1984 in some parts of it...the empire is the ultimate regime and this is reflected perfect here...the character building is fantastic and the climax at the end of the season i imagine will be spectacular.,.........i believe that this series is the best star wars series ever.. and i know we have The mandalorian which is spectacular show also ..but this series has a special heart like nothing before..we are gone see for the first time how the revolution begins.

Damn this show keeps impressing me! I like it more and more with each episode! This episode offers some great character development! Despite the slow progress we get some great monologues that leaves you thinking and makes this show feel so real!

The actors are ALL doing an amazing job! Something that we dont usually expect from Star Wars! Some shows or movie usually have a performance or characters that are not convincing or believable! But here.. every character feels natural and you connect with all of them!

The Cinematogrophy and direction is also amazing! It looks a lot better than Kenobi and you can feel how much work they put into this!

This is Star Wars doing something new and different and i LOVE it!

No spoilers.....This is a very character driven episode, as we find out more about Andor's path to his eventual place in the rebellion, but it is rich with character development in that more than a few that we've already been introduced to in Rogue One show up, as well as some new additions that look to be driving this series in interesting directions. Action packed this series so far hasn't been. Revealing of the main and supporting characters as those with more than one dimension? Highly successful. It is rich with characterisation. Perhaps overly so (has that ever been said about anything Star Wars?!), but it seems to this reviewer that Gilroy and company are building a layered foundation that they are going to hopefully deploy as skillfully as they've built it in having them execute for a common purpose, and for those who've stuck with this series, this detail has built trust. A kid's show it is not, but good. Let those of us who were kids in the original trilogy nerd out for once and the rest can feast on Obi-Wan Kenobi and the prequels.

The protagonists are great so far and especially Luna, Skarsgård, and O'Reilly as Andor, Luthen, and Mon Mothma. The imperial characters, almost as good, but they are revealing that even in the middle ranks of the Empire, they are devious, cunning, and up to no damn good, and I suspect we have definitely not seen all of them yet.

A deeply rewarding detailed show so far.

We now come to a key moment in Cassian Andor's life, which is extremely effective in showing us what it takes to radicalize a man into a rebel. That process of radicalization is adorned with frighteningly convincing performances and subtle details, all of which are cautiously presented to us.

Between radicalization, back door politics, and subtle clues to family strife, it is clear that Andor is again building a massive tower of cards, and preparing us for its climatic and eventual toppling. Yet even as it builds this tower, it manages to demonstrate predicaments in the literal and figurative prisons of the show's characters. Deedra is imprisoned by her ambitions. Syril is imprisoned by the monotony of a corporate job and a need for vengeance. Vel and Cinta, are imprisoned by their rebellion, unable to pursue their love for each other. Luthen is imprisoned by his anxiety, counting the number of days he has left. Yet all of them are tied to the ultimate prison, the Empire. And all of their fates are tied to Cassian Andor.

It is Cassian who is the ultimate prisoner, as we are introduced to a brutal new way of life. This new way of life clearly borrows from several inspirations both real and fictional, but most notably the Shawshank Redemption. There is something sadistically fascinating about watching someone such as Cassian navigate this new way of life, as hopeless, blasé, and vicious as it is. We are jarringly introduced to it by Paul McEwan's playing of an Intake Warden, whose glaring eyes and smile is about as good as Satan's. And then, I could not help but geek-out at Andy Serkis appearing as a brutally efficient manager of his fellow inmates. He incentivizes with a gleaming smile, then goes from 60 to 0 in a split second and turns it into the glare of the grim reaper of an insane asylum. After dealing with Serkis, we meet other characters and soon suspect that Andor and many others may simply have been forced into slavery. This place we see is definitely not fun and games, no matter what galaxy you're from.

As is the case with all the previous episodes, the show continues to follow the detailed interpersonal story of several characters, which is what allows us to recognize the subtle suspicions of Mon Mothma's family, or the cold, precise, brutal efficiency behind the persons of the ISB. It is perhaps this incredible detail that tends to detract from the usual things that we obsess about with Star Wars. Other than a quick shot of shore troopers at the beginning of the episode, the quirky droids that spout funky noises, the strange locales, strange aliens, the unusual Star Wars vernacular. All of it takes far less stage. But whether this episode could have achieved what it did with or without those things is a matter of debate, with some advantage to the persons who constructed this episode and series.

Regardless, Narkina 5 is an excellent investment of your time if you have followed the show up to this point. And it seems to be setting up its audience for a future episode of toppling its intricately constructed fortress of cards. I have a hope and feeling that it's going to be pretty breathtaking to behold. 9 out of 10 stars.