The Empire catches up to Cassian, but are as yet unaware of his identity and past.The Empire catches up to Cassian, but are as yet unaware of his identity and past.The Empire catches up to Cassian, but are as yet unaware of his identity and past.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe prison world pays homage to the dystopian reality of George Lucas' USC student film THX 1138 (1971). Prisoners dressed in white, living a sterile existence, where their work gives them purpose.
- GoofsWhen the prison transport is approaching Narkina 5, the ship rolls to one side and the prisoners are seen reacting to this, yet the shoes they were forced to kick off earlier remain lying in the same place.
- Quotes
Colonel Wulff Yularen: This is quite the wishlist. Full planetary comnet, full Garrison tech package, Series Nine Spectrum surveillance, local agent funding, Code Droid.
Dedra Meero: All ready to go, sir. If someone there is talking, we need to be listening.
Colonel Wulff Yularen: It's a large investment.
Dedra Meero: It's a fraction of the price of lost technology.
Colonel Wulff Yularen: So drill down on Ferrix, find this thief, and then what?
Dedra Meero: Identify Axis. They escaped together. It's the first best lead we've had.
Major Partagaz: Supervisor Meero has convinced me that this Axis has been nimble in spreading his activities across the galaxy. And, no, we don't know who he is, nor do we know the scope of our problem. The little we are aware of is already troubling.
Dedra Meero: Ferrix was a mistake. It's the first one he's made. Drill down is exactly what I want to do, sir. Drill down, find Andor, and get a hunt started.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Star Wars Explained: Andor Episode 8 Review - Narkina 5 (2022)
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.
- xztqbawi
- Oct 28, 2022
Details
- Runtime53 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1