The Axe Forgets

Another slow burn episode. Lots of character development, but not much plot development. And for me, I am still really enjoying it. I am absolutely loving the interpersonal conversations. This show has been such a breath of fresh air for Star Wars.

You can argue that the story is too slow and it could have been told in 3 episodes up to this point, but I'm really invested. I will say though that I was expecting the dinner party and the job to be shown in this episode, but now I have to wait another week. But alas. They should have released the episodes on a daily basis, or all at once.

Overall, I'm excited for more. And we got space Captain Crunch!

8.5/10.

The writers of Andor continue their winning streak of delving deeper into dynamics at play amongst the band of rebels.

While shows like the Mando or BoBF would have filled this episode with some kind of wacky side quest distraction, Andor takes the time to build suspense and flesh out characters for the mid season climax to come.

Episode 5 may not be the flashiest or most intense episode yet but its interesting enough to keep the momentum. With the reveal Star Wars universe has cereal with blue milk, Andor is shaping up into a series that will be fondly remembered by fans of Star Wars and breakfast alike.

This episode is a perfect calm before the storm. We watch as Cassian gets implemented into the rebel group, and everyone in the group is characterized so well.

Nemik is a stand-out character. Despite his young age, his firm belief that the empire has brainwashed and oppressed everyone shows his knowledge and awareness of his surroundings. He's extremely admirable, though I have a strong feeling he will die in the next episode.

I like how Gorn is an imperial who learned to respect the people of Aldhani, as well as how snarky and mysterious Skeen is. His background is really dark and tragic.

The only character I think isn't characterized super well is Cinta. Her performance comes off a bit lifeless, but I'm sure there will be an opportunity for that to change as the series goes on.

I like how Cassian struggles to trust this group and the group struggles to trust him. It makes Cassian the perfect vessel for the audience to be introduced to this hodge-podge of a group. The hostility between them comes off naturally and showcases the stress they're all under.

We also catch up more with Syril here, who seems to be starting his own personal rebellion out of anger over his defeat on Ferrix. It's nice to see the parallels between both him and Cassian adapting to new environments.

Once again, this is a great episode. No surprise at this point!

The Catalyst book then Rogue One have been my favourite Starwars stories. This show taps into that same sense of character driven insight that is behind the larger events of the universe. It's so refreshing to have something with a more depth to it than boba or mando (I love those too just in a different way). Can't wait to see where it all leads.

This episode while still a slow burn really builds the anticipation for the coming events. The characters are all solid and well directed. All decent actors too.

The visual of the Tie Fighter swooping down was awesome too. Really get a feeling of the power the contain.

Cassian and the crew have some trust issues in the build up to the mission.

This is a solid episode that creates some decent tension and build up to what hopefully will be some intriguing drama.

The plot doesn't move very far but the scenes are quite engaging as characters are fleshed out. Some may find it boring, but I think it is effective world-building and nothing to me feels like needless time filling. The next episode needs to be eventful and develop the plot significantly though, unless the writers have any worthwhile deviations up their sleeves.

All actors do a fine job once again with strong dialogue and the production values are top drawer. I particularly liked the music, which is very 'Bladerunner' and maximises the tension.

On my second watch of the first season (with episodes back to back) I enjoyed it much more knowing what is to come. I felt the tension in certain scenes much more. I also noticed some great visuals such as the seamless transitions between soldiers marching and discussions of soldiering.