‘Andor’ Episode 3 Recap: A Visually Stunning Firefight & Cassian Joins the Rebellion
Spoiler Alert
[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Andor Season 1, Episode 3.]
Andor’s primary storylines converge in its third episode as Karn (Kyle Soller) and his Pre-Mor team track down Cassian (Diego Luna) on Ferrix.
The purpose of the episode is twofold; to show how (and with whom) Cassian got his start in the Rebellion, and to highlight a nail-biting chase sequence. As Pre-Mor lands and starts searching for Cassian, the man himself waits for the buyer for his Imperial Starpath unit. Eventually, last episode’s mysterious man appears. (His name is Luthen Rael, and he’s played by Stellan Skarsgard.)
Cassian asks Luthen if he has the money. Luthen asks if the unit is good, to which Cassian responds it’s never been used because plugging it in would lower the value (there’s a joke about Star Wars collectibles in there somewhere). But Luthen also implies he’s there for more than just the part. He’s in the Rebellion, and once he discovers how Cassian got his hands on the unit, he wants him to join the fight.
While the negotiations were taking place, part of the Pre-Mor team tracked Cassian to the facility. (Cassian made the mistake of trying to send a message to his droid while he was there, and said droid was at Maarva’s [Fiona Shaw], where Pre-Mor also was. Bad move, Cassian.) The baddies lock down the entrances, and it looks like they’re stuck. Or are they? Luthen uses explosive charges to blow the doors off, telling Cassian, “Build your exit on your way in.”
Heavy machine parts start falling and swinging from the ceiling, where they were suspended with chains; in all the chaos, the Starpath unit falls and slides across the floor. The resulting sequence is both visually stunning and intense, as Cassian tries to make his way to it without being crushed by the anvils dropping from the ceiling or shot by the Pre-Mor soldiers’ bright-red blasters.
The building collapses before he’s able to retrieve it, so he and Luthen are forced to flee through a grate. As they do, there’s a bit of drama with Bix (Adria Arjona). Pre-Mor captures her and demands she tell them about Cassian, but Timm (James McArdle) interrupts. He doesn’t stop when the soldiers tell him to stop, and they shoot him in the chest. Sad? Maybe, but we’ve only really known Timm for two episodes, and in one he betrayed Cassian, so… meh. Bix is pretty broken up about it, though, and Pre-Mor eventually lets her go.
(Credit: Disney+/Lucasfilm)
Cassian and Luthen are able to sneak onto a speeder bike and escape through the power well-known in the Star Wars world: a decoy. They rig a speeder to drive past the Pre-Mor employees, who all assume it’s them, attempting an escape. They blow up the speeder, and in the aftermath, they get out and head to Luther’s ship. There, they’re able to get off of Ferrix.
We also get a few more glimpses of Cassian’s past in this episode. When Cassian turned around to glare at the Imperial ship at the end of last episode, he wasn’t going with the rest of his friends. Instead, he was deciding whether or not to go inside. He did, and that’s where he meets Maarva, a companion of hers, and her droid. Knowing the Empire will soon return and wipe out everyone on the planet for what happened to the ship, she — against her friend’s advice — takes Cassian with them. So, that’s how Cassian met Maarva.
Fiona Shaw gets some cool moments in the present-day story, too. After the Pre-Mor soldiers raid her home in an attempt to find Cassian, she’s stuck with a couple of them guarding her while the rest go to fight. The rest of the city starts banging metal parts together and making noise in what Karn calls “an intimidation tactic.” Maarva tells the men guarding her something else: “That’s what a reckoning sounds like.” And with Cassian now having somewhat officially joined the Rebellion, a reckoning is coming.
Rating: 4.5/5. I continue to be impressed by how different Andor feels as compared to everything else in the Star Wars TV universe. Ferrix had the atmosphere of being lived-in and gritty, Cassian’s home the Star Wars equivalent of a mining town. The escape sequence in the collapsing building was really cool, and Stellan Skarsgard’s character is interesting. I wish we knew more about what Pre-Mor actually does, though; they have Imperial connections, but are they really Imperial? Why is Karn so loyal to them? I’m guessing those questions will be answered in later episodes.
Andor Season 1, Wednesdays, Disney+
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