1x04 Aldhani

[7.6/10] I again appreciate the slow burn here. The first three episodes felt like part of the same volume of the story. This feels like the first chapter of the next one. Seeing how Andor integrates into another team, the broader pursuit of the Imperial Security detail, the dealings of Stellan Skarsgard on Coruscant, and even an appearance from Mon Mothma plays like table-setting for what’s to come rather than anything frothing to a boil here and now. But all the material is good, so I’m on board.

I think my favorite part was the business on Coruscant. I have to tell you, I love how easily Skarsgard slips between his public face as the gregarious antiques dealer and his true face as a grizzled rebel facilitator. Seeing the workaday concerns of the Rebellion -- having to raise money and wonder whether different people can be trusted enough to join the circle -- makes it feel more real and dangerous. The frank conversation between Skarsgard and Mothma about spies and funding hits home.

Plus, I love the awkwardness of Mothma’s home life. For a brief moment, you forget you’re watching a Star Wars show and mistake this for a British parlor drama. The coldness of the marriage is palpable but not showy, and it’s a nice setup for the question of whether Mothma’s husband can be trusted or if he might expose her during all this skulking around.

I’m also intrigued by the business at the Imperial security center. Watching social-climbing Imperials jockey for position based on who has jurisdiction and who is meeting the Empire’s standards for arrests and oppression is fascinating. I don’t think we’ve had this close a look at the bad guy bureaucracy since A New Hope. The ways the big guns are now circling around Andor and his new allies is intriguing.

If that weren’t enough, holy hell, the head of the Security department (who played Qyburn on Game of Thrones) is outstanding. His speech about their job being to root out sickness, and his gentle but firm dressing down of Meero for her ingenious efforts to put her finger in the Ferrix pie hits the right tone of mild scolding but stiff encouragement perfectly. This small glimpse into the inner workings of the Empire, the way in which they seem like people within a system and not just mindless cannon fodder, is superb.

It’s also interesting to see the power plays happening here. The Empire taking over for the private corporate security guys who botched the Ferrix operation is some intriguing big-timing by the Imps. The scene succeeds as a sign of how the hierarchy of the Empire works, where even the little bad guys get rubbed out when things go wrong. You almost feel for Deputy Inspector Karn, whose misguided crusade resulted in all this ruin for everyone.

Candidly, I’m the least compelled by the parts of the episode focused on Andor himself. Skarsgard’s speech to Cassian about giving your life all at once for something real rather than a little bit at a time over nothing is stirring. But once he passes Cassian “Clem” Andor off to Vel, everything feels a little more generic and a little more like the precursor to something exciting rather than the exciting thing itself.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of Andor being a reluctant mercenary recruit to a Rebel column that doesn’t actually want him. And there’s something worthwhile about Vel having to sell “Clem” to her team when she herself thinks it’s bogus to add him to their operation just three days before it’s set to go off.

But so far at least, this is the usual motley crew of rebel operatives without much to distinguish them. There’s a nerdy one, a mentor-y one, a medic, a double-agent, the leader, etc. They all feel like real people in the scenes, but they don’t get a ton of shading or details to distinguish them, which makes me think most of them will die in the “suicide mission” op at the Imperial garrison on the titular planet.

Despite my misgivings about the squad, I’m excited to see the operation itself, and hesitant newbie Andor having to play nice with a squad of Rebel guerrillas is a cool dynamic to explore. So even if I don’t love where we are on this plot, I like where we’re going.

Overall, there’s more setup than payoff here, but I’m on board with some gradual pacing and firm establishment of the different corners of this world before Andor begins to weave everything together.