The Axe Forgets

This show carries its pace for a reason. There's a great story being told here, and they intend you to savor it. I can't say enough good things about this show.

The tone and feel are what they should be. The Empire is too complacent and uncaring, and people aim to make them pay. It's truly the beginning of a cause, and you can feel it in the characters. Nobody is doing anything on a whim.

Character development takes center stage, but also an important build for what's coming. I want to see the main mission carried out successfully, but also don't want to miss the wonder of what's going to be happening at the same time. So far, the show promises that great things are coming, and the quality of every scene makes you believe that they'll deliver.

I had initially gone in to this short summary feeling a decent 7, but having watched the episode following this one, it's at least an 8, meaning I "liked it".

It is a pretty important episode. I had thought this and Ep.4 perhaps could have just been a single episode leading up to the next one, but I'm not so sure now. The conversations and set-up in this episode earned all of the screen time. Don't skip this one!

I do really appreciate seeing the different perspectives of it just the Empire, but the rebels as well. Not all of the rebels are against the empire for the same reasons, and not everyone in the empire is a total sleaze-bag.

It's also really well acted and paced. Every episode has ended much sooner than I expected, so I must be really in to it.

Good episode. Not one of the best in this series, but important nonetheless.

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!

I already know so many people are gonna call this episode a filler and a waste of time or an unnecessary one, but this is what I love about this show, it takes its sweet time to establish characters and build up to the main event.

They are doing a great job of characterizing at least half of the group and establishing their characters as more than just a "guy/gal number #4 wanting revenge", they all have their backstories and you can feel they are actual characters.

This show is more about showing the details of the plan and the process of the planning than the plan itself. It might be boring to some who just want to see blaster shootings and lightsaber fights, but I think it's a great change of pace from the usual Disney Star Wars stuff.

It is especially refreshing after watching so many MCU and SW Disney Plus shows only having 6 episodes where half of the time nothing of importance happens and then they rush everything in the last episode.

The way they approach the planning rather than just jumping to action without build-up reminds me of Better Call Saul and how they also cared about building up and showing the details and practices of the planning which is one of the reasons that the show was a masterpiece. Of course, this show isn't comparable to masterpieces like Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad, but the slow-burn approach to storytelling is similar to that.

Like I said, this episode might not seem necessary to some, but it gives us a more great characterization of the group and is slowly making us care about them and the dynamics of the group changes rapidly as we go on. It's been only 2 episodes and these characters feel more real than any new character we saw (or even the old ones we knew) in Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett.

The cinematography and the visuals of this show continue to impress and everything feels professional and high production and the direction is great too.

All in all, I really enjoyed this episode and I don't care if it's a slow burn or it doesn't have explosions every 5 minutes, because I actually enjoy these characters and this way of storytelling because the characters actually feel real, whereas give me 2 hours of action and lightsaber fighting in Kenobi and I'd be bored out of my mind because I don't care about any character or the writing.