Prisons of Metal and Mind

Andor continues to impress me. Last night was the first in another three episode arc, this one written by Beau Willimon. So this one is primarily setup, introducing new characters and situations. In the process, the show once again feels like the first true expansion of the Star Wars universe in years.

There were two big guest stars this week, both having appeared in Star Wars movies before; Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.

Whitaker reprises his role of Saw Gerrara from Rogue One. The conversation he has with Luthen Rael was another fascinating development on the character of the Rebellion. First I liked the two of them dancing around who's responsible for Aldhani. It shows just how cautious Rael is with Saw, and with good reason. The second thing I liked about their dialogue is how vehemently Saw refuses to work with a Separatist. Of course, the character was introduced on The Clone Wars in which his sister died fighting the Separatists. But the dialogue also calls back to some of the great political episodes of The Clone Wars in which Padme reaches out to old friends among the Separatists, showing this conflict really is more complicated than good guys versus bad guys. Rael correctly points out that a Rebel effort can't be sustained with Saw's puritanism.

Serkis, meanwhile, plays Cassian's supervisor and fellow prisoner, Kino Loy, a far cry from Serkis' previous Star Wars character, Snoke. Unless he ends up being Snoke somehow, which would be kind of funny. But in the span of this episode, with all the security details and the dialogue among the prisoners, Willimon really makes this feel like a prison with a culture among its inmates and guards. I suspect it'll be the fact that Cassian keeps his mouth shut about Aldhani while in prison that convinces Rael not to have him killed.

I figure Vel and Cinta will have something to do with his escape. The brief dialogue the two have in this episode is really sweet and it occurred to me theirs is the first lesbian relationship between main characters in Star Wars. It's nice it doesn't just feel like a token inclusion, they really feel like they have something together that's really going to be tested by the war.

Andor is available on Disney+.