1x06 The Eye

[9.5/10] This is some top tier Star Wars. Here’s the thing that makes “The Eye” so impressive. You pretty much know that this has to work. You know, given Rogue One, that Cassian makes it out alive. You know from the nature of Star Wars, even this more grounded, grittier version of Star Wars, that the rebel mission almost certainly succeeds. And yet, this is still as exciting, tense, and full of meaning as you could hope for given the degree of setup we’ve had to this point.

That is an achievement. It speaks to the level of craft on display. Heist stories lend themselves to these qualities, but you have to believe the stakes of the mission, care about the characters, and feel the risks even if you intellectually know they’ll be overcome.

We buy the stakes of the mission not just because of the gold in the vault, but because of the devotion of those on the ground, and the anxieties of Luthen and Mon Mothma. We care about the characters because we had two episodes to learn their backstories, understand why they’re in this fight in the first place, and watch them bounce off of one another. And we feel the risks at play because of the superb production and texture at play, with crisp choices in editing and riveting score that play up the peril in any given moment.

Even now, the show isn’t done. We’re introduced to the Commandant of the Aldhani outpost, who is another functionary in an unhappy marriage, with just enough texture to his family to show us he cares but is a bad guy. We see the way both he and the colonel look down upon the locals. We witness how the indigenous people of this place are marginalized, condescended to, treated like uninvited guests in their own land. The atmosphere of why this fight wafts like incense through the entire episode.

And like all great heist stories, things go wrong. The timing is off, to where people are late and they can’t ship out all the payroll they wanted. Vel is hesitant, continuing her unease at being the leader despite appearances to the contrary, before finally deciding to pull the trigger on the operation. One enterprising corporal realizes something is off when the comms go down, and he brings a squadron of soldiers down to the vault to investigate. Enough goes right to where we can buy our heroes’ success, but enough goes wrong to where they earn it.

That includes the loss of life here. When it comes to storytelling, meaningful victories come with a cost. Who knows what happens to Lt. Gorn and to Cinta, who are left behind and seem likely to suffer the consequences of their hand in this robbery. Taramyn dies fairly quickly, which, candidly, is no great loss considering how little shading he got. If anything, we find out his interesting backstory -- that he’s a former stormtrooper who chose to join the Rebellion -- just in time for him to perish.

You feel it for Nemik though. He’s the young idealist. He absolves Andor, saying that mercenaries are a necessary part of their revolution, no matter what he believes. He almost makes it out, surviving the assault from the corporal, but having his insides crushed in the great escape, a bitter irony. His chances for survival are compromised when Vel using the sci-fi equivalent of a jolt of adrenaline to keep him alive just long enough to provide Cassian the coordinates to pilot his way out of there, possibly compromising his chances to recover. And he dies on the operating table, despite the valiant efforts of a sympathetic doctor (who looks like a cross between Maz Kanata and Dexter Jettster), bequeathing his manifesto to Cassian.

Here is idealism crushed under the bootheel of necessity. Here is innocence ground up under the wheels and treads of a rebellion that must roll through the muck. Here is a symbol for what’s inspiring about the alliance to restore the republic -- someone who is green but genuinely believes in freedom and justice and a better world for all -- sacrificed in the name of ensuring others have the lucre necessary to carry on that dream. His is a loss that’s felt, but feeling that loss helps turn the heart of our protagonist.

I like that Andor isn’t suddenly a true believer. (Presumably that’ll take half a dozen more episodes at least.) He doesn’t want the manifesto. He never wanted to be a part of this in the first place. But it’s hard to see such genuine idealism, paid for with the price of one’s life, and not be at least a little moved. The operation on Aldhani has been an exercise in Andor comprehending the sort of cause that good men and women would devote themselves to, and it’s a first step toward believing in the same.

That ties into the echo of arguably his most memorable scene in Rogue One. Skeen seemed like a kindred spirit, a true believer who’d nonetheless been through the shit as much as Andor has. And indeed he has. But he came out that much more cynical and craven, thinking he’s found a fellow fox in the henhouse, ready to climb over their comrades if it gets them comfortable and unencumbered. He wants to steal the winnings and split them 50/50.

So Andor shoots him. It mirrors the way he shoots the informant at the beginning of Rogue One, defining his characteristic as someone willing to take the most direct route between her and his goals, no matter how bloody. But here the goal is a noble one, to stop someone from thwarting the purpose of this mission, from betraying those who gave their lives to liberate those funds for a better cause. He may claim that he simply wants to win and walk away, but you can appreciate his good-for-nothing decency here. He wants his cut and to get out, but he won’t let these people down in the process.

The little glimpses we get of the reaction to this event are just enough to whet our appetites for more. Watching the ISB scramble while Major Partagaz instructs the lot they won’t be going home tonight signifies how big a deal this is. Seeing the Senate (I guess they repaired it after Palpy tossed it around) murmur in shock while Mon Mothma is mid-speech communicates how this event resonates through the halls of government as well. And there may be no moment more cathartic in the episode than Luthen laughing with relief and letting out one big exhale, a sign that the mission he staked so much on went off.

Along the way, the creative team delivers its thrills and then some. The suspense as the rebel crew await the signal to go is supreme. The juxtaposition of their duress-filled operation inside and the celebration of the native Aldhanis on the outside helps put this individual mission in a broader context, giving it an almost spiritual dimension and reminding us of those hurt by the Empire’s actions. And the simple starfighter chase between the freighter and the tie-fighters through a sci-fi aurora borealis is magnificent, showing how Cassian and Namik earn their stripes and this desperate mission just barely succeeds.

It is a tour de force, if you’ll pardon the expression. Even if you’d watched no other episodes of Andor, could appreciate this heist story for the pure craft alone, with how it sets up what’s at stake on the mission, the bumps in the road, and the catharsis of success. Yet, it also pays off so much character building and setup along the way, to where it rightly feels like the culmination of this three-episode arc, and much more. And in the broader scope of the franchise, it helps you understand the character journey of the title character, and the wider cause of the rebellion, in riveting terms. What more can you ask for?