“Andor” is so remarkable because here Disney shows us something that was missing in “Star Wars” so far

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George Lucas made it clear how bad the empire is. After all, his original “Star Wars” trilogy was also highly political and clearly anti-fascist. While “Andor” is now as far removed from the “Star Wars” as Lucas always envisioned on many levels, like no other canon content before (large parts of the story can also be set in a completely different world, from fun for the whole family is hardly felt in the dark, adult story.)…

» “Andor” on Disney+*

But “Andor” is still as distinctly anti-fascist as “Star Wars” was in its best days – and even does one thing for the first time on such breadth and as emphatically as no other title in the saga: to show us the lonely suffering under the thumb of the empire. Especially the latest episode “Narkina 5”, the eighth episode of the first season of “Andor”, is a masterpiece in that regard.

In “Narkina 5” all characters get a space

For the first time in the series, all the main characters appear in one episode. And while a central part of the plot is the arrival of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and the first month in the prison of the same name “Narkina 5”, a lot of time is also spent on the many characters next to it. And it’s not just about continuing the immediate story and spreading little hints for the future. Above all, the focus is on portraying their lives, their very, very lonely lives.

Of course, Star Wars has always shown us the evil power of the Empire. But there wasn’t enough time in the movies to dwell on the in-depth exploration of individual destinies. Especially in “Star Wars Rebels” we often got to see the suffering of the people, but it was mainly the group experiences, the classic oppression and pinching of the population, which was also seen in an episode of “Star Wars: Tales of the jedi”. illustrated by a rural community. “Andor” takes a very different approach here.

Fighting the Empire is Lonely

In “Andor: Narkina 5” a different person is now gradually brought into the picture: Old Maarva (Fiona Shaw), who has stubbornly started her private mini-battle against the Empire. Bix (Adria Arjona), who lost both men in her life in different ways.

But this is strongest in the scenes between Cinta (Varada Sethu) and Vel (Faye Marsay), thanks in part to the high-quality dialogue from Beau Willimon (the creator of House Of Cards and the Oscar-nominated author of Ides Of March wrote this episode ). ). There’s so much to the conversation between the Rebel aficionados – and not just because the hint to Vel’s rich background fuels fan theories that she’s the daughter of Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård).

You can really feel the loneliness here. Vel, who has left her entire family and seems to have only Cinta in her life, wishes only a brief moment of togetherness. That is unthinkable for Cinta, and neither is the Empire. In the struggle for a free life she gave up her own freedom. That’s bitter.

Director Toby Haynes also illustrates this in a striking way with a crossfade. On our TV screen, Vel and Cinta look straight at each other for a moment, but physically they are far apart in this scene. One looks out the window to keep looking for Andor, the other is on public transport, away from her love, maybe even from this planet (after all, it’s the same transport Luthen took when he arrived in Ferrix).

Even in the crowd people are lonely

The loneliness theme runs throughout the episode, even in crowded scenes. There’s Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) at a party, but she’s all alone among the revelers after the departure of her only confidant, Tay Kolma (Ben Miles). And to underline this, shortly after we get the news that she and her husband Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie) got married at the age of 15. When we used to think he was once a love, the two just became estranged, now we know that she too was always lonely in her struggle for a better world.

This includes the aforementioned Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård), who, in his attempt to bring all the different rebel groups together and stage attacks on the empire across the galaxy, always feels powerless because he is alone.

How the Empire squeezes the last life out of the people

In prison, the episode “Andor” again explicitly shows how the Empire squeezes every spark of life out of people. It is certainly no coincidence that this episode, which is also named after the prison, places so much importance on the fate of the individual charactersbecause somehow everyone is in their own personal prison.

So not only must Andor escape the literal prison, but everyone must break out of their own prison, so that at some point the well-known rebellion can really arise and the glimmer of hope for change can glow.

Storytelling Mastery in Andor: Narkina 5

The way those responsible for the series not only tell this in “Narkina 5”, but also repeatedly link it to the progress of the big story, is great cinema. In doing so, they forego the explanations and formulations that have become so prevalent in modern narrative cinema, but understand, as Rian Johnson once did in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, that it is often much better to just leave the information behind. leave for us.

When a prisoner commits suicide, it says above all how cruel it is in prison, how coldly everyone accepts the suicide. But it also gives us and especially Andor the information that after such a death the glowing ground is switched off for a while. The creators simply throw in the main character’s many observations – without telling us in detail whether and how the problems in the organization of the guards or the communication through sign language between inmates at different levels play a role in the outbreak, which is known to be guaranteed. follow.

The next episode of “Andoro‘ will be available on Disney+ on November 2, 2022.