By coincidences of life, this week’s episode of ‘Andor’, the Star Wars series on Disney +, is titled the same as last week’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’. Yes indeed, this “eye” is different from the one in the fantasy series and provides a spectacular setting for the deeds of our thief.
By the way, from here on, spoilers for ‘The Eye’, episode 1×06 of ‘Andor’.
After a couple of prolegomena episodes, in which the script of the Gilroys (this time Dan) began to scratch in the political mechanisms of the Empire and life in general, now comes the moment of truth: the assault on the imperial base of Aldhani.
andor with eye
And they do it taking advantage of a spectacular astronomical phenomenon: an asteroid shower in a greenish sky giving the appearance of being contemplating an eye in the firmament. Something that is the reason for a pilgrimage to a sanctuary at the center of all the action of the episode and whose arrival will serve our rebels to infiltrate the base.
I would also like to dwell on this aspect that is in line with everything that is proposed in this series: to show what life is like under the empire. And this pilgrimage is also a great example, with the commander commenting how over the years have managed to control the flow of pilgrims (they could reach 15,000 and now there are only 60) and the goal is that they end up going directly to the commercial sector instead of to the sanctuary.
Thus, while some celebrate, others go on the assault. Susanna White repeats in the direction and manages to convey that tension of the previous moments… and all the action of what the robbery is. If such a thing goes well, if the leader decides to give the green light, although there are certain doubts… soon we see the band moving forward with just the right setbacks.
However, as always something has to go wrong. The Imperials begin to recover communications and suspect that something is wrong… leading to the inevitable confrontation, both in the treasure hangar and already in the sky, with (also inevitable) casualties.
‘The Eye’ not only shares a title with ‘The Rings of Power’, this one is also visually stunning. It’s hard not to marvel in those skies as this chase between the Imperial fighters and the stolen freighter unfolds. dare I say that rarely have we had a similar show in the entire franchise (not even remotely in the real image series).
Once the action is finished, Cassian (Diego Luna) kills Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) when he proposes to take the ship and escape with all the money. Here I think that our protagonist sins a bit of an easy trigger, but it is also true that he understands that on the one hand, it is time to separate from the rebels and, incidentally, rid them of a traitor.
turn for the empire
We reach the middle of the series and the last minutes of the episode make it clear that things are getting tense. News of the assault on Aldhani has already reached Coruscant, and the Empire vows revenge.. Now we will have to see what future holds for our protagonist and how this decision of the empire will affect him.
In short, I have to admit that the series is winning me episode after episode even though I was not convinced at the beginning. This seemed to me not only the best of fiction of Star Wars, but it easily has nothing to envy to other series in the franchise such as ‘The Mandalorian’.