Andor: Episode 8 Review – Bring Your “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free” Card

The Empire is finally being portrayed in a gritty, realistic manner in the script of Andor. Though many Star Wars fans have already exited, Andor is worth a return.

Note: As with previous episodes, this one can’t be effectively discussed without spoilers. You’ve been warned!

For me, Andor continues to get better. This episode in particular hearkens back to some of George Lucas’ earlier work, and brings to light the true terror of the Empire. For too long, the Empire has been shown to be full of buffoonish villains who are little more than cartoonish bullies, with scarcely any intelligence. Andor shows the true cruelty of the Empire – and how it leverages that cruelty to create a mechanized grind to further subjugate the galaxy to its will.

The episode begins where last week left off, with Cassian and other convicts being loaded aboard a prisoner transport. The scene is intercut with a prison of another kind, as we revisit Syril Karn at his “cubicle”. Imperial officers approach with his supervisor. Back on the transport, prisoners shoes are ordered off and their arms are automatically cuffed to their acceleration couches as the prison transport takes off. As they battle their own nerves, Syril Karns foot taps with the jitters, before Lt. Deedra Meero arrives to question him. He questions where Blevin, the former overseer of this sector is. When Lt. Meero asks him to fill in gaps that were in Blevins’ report, Syril informs her that he never got to see the report. She responds that he signed it, and he tells her that he wasn’t given a choice. It seems that in a very short period of time, Syril has forwarded 6 separate requests to the ISB regarding Cassian – all falsified requistion or minor offense issues, hoping to track down his quarry. This has caught the attention of the ISB, and annoyed Lt. Meero, but when she realizes that Blevin deliberately omitted information from the report, she provides it to Syril for review.

This raises additional questions – savvy trailer watchers have already spotted one rebel mole in the ISB – could Blevin be another one? Or is he simply attempting to protect his own domain?

The prisoner transport approaches the Imperial Labor Factory on Narkina-5 – this is a beautiful shot. The prison is a water world, with several floating pod factories. (Think a version of The Raft prison from the Marvel movies). The prison transport docks with a side port. Back at ISB headquarters, Lt. Meero provides a report for Colonel Yularen, outlining the pieces she has put together, and the tie to Luthen, whom she is calling “Axis.” Colonel Yularen seems uninterested (which feels out of character), but the list of stolen equipment and their uses begins to change his mind. Deedra nearly overplays her hand, until Major Partigaz steps in – suggesting that drilling down on Ferrix could lead to the one rebel coordinator who they know is a problem.

Back on Narkina-5, prisoner orientation occurs. The entry tunnel recalls the detention level of the Death Star, but in white – the guards wear unusual boots, and carry riot batons. The officer in charge is chilling, as he describes the conditions of their prison. Clean – sanitary. He draws attention to the fact that they are relatively unarmed – why is that, he asks? He provides a demonstration – with a click of a button, the floor is electrified, and the prisoners are writhing in agony. When he turns the field off, he informs the prisoners that this was level 1 of 3.

Lt. Meero returns to Syril, who attempts to make his case for why the ISB could use him. When Deedra presses him for more information on Axis, he chokes. He has nothing to offer – she attempts to let him off the hook, offering to tell his new corporate masters that he provided a service to the Empire, but this isn’t good enough for Syril. He tries to tell her that he was a good intelligence officer and that he wants to serve, but as she did not long ago, he presses too hard. She orders him to forget this happened. He won’t.

Back at the prison, we see Cassian prepped for the factory floor. The parallels to THX-1138 are uncanny – the environment is white, and soulless. He is surrounded by guards, and there is an acute sense of alienation – all around him orders are given and commands barked and they are unfamiliar. The sense is that stepping a toe out of line will leads to very unpleasant consequences. On the factory floor, all work stops as he is transferred. The floor boss, Kino, is played by Andy Serkis. This was a welcome surprise, and he plays it to the hilt. He explains how the factory floor works, and it is diabolical. There are 7 floors, each of which has 7 rooms, with 7 tables, with 7 workers. Each table competes against every other table on that floor for their 12-hour shift. The most productive table in that room for the day “wins”. The least productive table for the day loses. The losing table gets another taste of the electric shock.

Kino is an inmate himself – he has only 249 days left in his sentence, and wants nothing to mess it up. He is given wide latitude to run the floor the way he sees fit. Because the table Andor will be assigned to was down one worker, they’re already in last place – and they won’t speed up because he’ll have to be brought up to speed on what to do. As he approaches his table, we see the inmates he will be working with. There are a couple of familiar faces that are rebels in Rogue One – pay particular attention to Melshi and Taga. As they all begin to work, it becomes obvious that they’ve fallen too far behind – a “sprint segment” is called, where their work will be sped up over the last 39 minutes of their shift. The team can only hope they can catch up and overtake the slowest table before the end of shift. On Coruscant, Mon Mothma is holding another gathering to try and round up votes against the PORD (Public Order Resentencing Directive) passed in the previous episode. The snark war between Perrin and Mon continues – it seems that Perrin was once in idealist, but those days are long gone. The sense continues to be that both Perrin and Leida are secretly spying on her. Tay arrives, and Mon tries to discuss more of her banking concerns. Tay is under intense scrutiny as even more Imperial watchers flood the banks. He infers that they will no longer be able to hide the money transfers that have taken place, only try to create excuses for the moves. When Mon informs him that the last transfer was 400,000 credits, he is visibly alarmed.

We return to the prison where the inmates are posting up in queues at the end of the day. Visibly exhausted and shaky, the line stretches on through tubes. Cassian takes note of surreptitious communication taking place between floors, with some inmates “speaking” through sign-language. Returning to the party, Mon tries to get a head-count on supporters of her pushback against the PORD, and is disappointed. Many of the senators support Palpatine’s actions, and it seems that her legislation will likely fail. Back at the prison, the workers are finally led to their “cells”. They’re small racks, without a door. On the wall is a receptable that provides a hose that provides flavorless food and drink, utensils, and a shaver. There is a flip-down toilet as well.

The winners of each daily competition get flavor with their food. It is revealed that they did not make up their time on the competition for the day, so Cassians table was shocked at the end of the shift. There is a readout on the wall of the cell that keeps a tally of expenses incurred by the workers. Until the tab is paid, the prisoners can’t get out. Every prisoners tab doubled with the passage of the PORD act. Melshi snaps and tries to give Cassian a reality check – their sentences are a lie. They are indentured servants who will never get out. Kino hears the commotion and breaks it up. There are floor lights outside every “cell”. When they’re white, the floor is cold. When they’re flashing white, you have seven seconds to return to your cell. When they’re red – the floor is hot, with a lethal charge. Kino hopes that Cassian doesn’t sleepwalk.

On Coruscant, we return to the party – Mon approaches Perrin who is schmoozing with others, and wonders if he knows where Tay went. Perrin informs her that he’s already left – I suspect this is an ominous sign. The timeline jumps ahead 30 days, and we see that Cassian has adapted to life on the Factory Floor. We see him prepping for the day, a group shower with other inmates, and a beginning to a productive day. For the first time in awhile, the venue goes back to Ferrix, where we catch up to Brasso and Bix checking in on Maarva. She had fallen in street the night before, and Bix believes she should see a doctor. When Brasso and Bix are alone later, Bix tells him that she was trying to pry open a flood gate around the hotel where the Imperials have set up their headquarters. When Brasso asks why, Bix tells him that she wanted to see if the tunnels beneath the hotel were still open – she hopes to lead rebels to storm the building and overthrow the imperial presence. They both believe Maarva should leave the planet, but believe only Cassian could convince her. Vel and Cinta surveil the conversation – there is tension between the two. Vel believes this is a hopeless effort, and Cinta believes that it’s the only lead they have. She suggests Vel should leave, as having the two of them there would draw too much attention. Vel is hurt, but Cinta is cold – for her, the mission is paramount, and Vel knows that. There is subtle confirmation that Vel is Luthens daughter. When Brasso tells Bix that he doesn’t know where Cassian went, she makes an unwise decision.

She returns to Paak’s shop to use the hidden radio to get in touch with Luthen, hoping he will provide a lead. Kleya hears the signal – when Luthen finds her listening, Kleya tells him that Bix is looking for Andor because her mother is sick. Luthen wants to talk to her, but Kleya feels the ISB could be using the radio. Kleya wants to shut down that branch. She convinces him to do so. The Fondor haulcraft is a potentially identifying characteristic that could lead directly back to him. Vel leaves Ferrix, while Cinta keeps watch. Luthen leaves Coruscant to make contact with Saw Gerrera.

Back at the prison, one of the prisoners who works at a different table steps onto the floor to end it all. On Ferrix, Bix hears clanging….troops have arrested Pak. An officer spots her and recognizes her from surveillance footage going into Paks – Brasso tries to give her cover, and urges her to run. At Saws hidden base, there is verbal wordplay between Luthen and Saw about the hit on the garrison at Aldhani. Luthen wants Saw to work with others, but Saw is suspicious of everyone. Luthen wants to supply him with equipment, but only if he’ll agree to a meet. Saw rattles off several other future rebel factions, disparaging them all. Saw believes he has the only true vision. His paranoia is strong, even suspecting Luthen. No sale to Saw – not today at least. The fractured elements of what will eventually make up the rebellion are only united during the events of Rogue One. Bix is caught and arrested. Lt Deedra is set to interrogate, after allowing her to see the result of Paak’s interrogation.

The final scene is another day on the factory floor. This episode provides a grim setup. While there are variations of horrific prisons throughout the world, most of those revolve around physical torture and deprivation. While torture is a factor in the factory setup, the mental torture is just as agonizing. Imagine the horror of a cell with no doors, with electrification feet away – with your corporate debt keeping you enslaved, but the punishments and challenges forcing you to work against your fellow prisoners, always increasing production. The only exit is the floor – and each item you produce only increases the strength and power of the Empire. The great irony is that this brings back to the forefront the humanist streak in George’s work – men who act like machines to produce more machines at the expenses of human flesh and humanity itself.

THIS is the Empire that is terrifying and competent. Restoring this threat to Star Wars is a step in the right direction.

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