The Eye of Aldhani
Episode 4 of Andor starts with Cassian scrambling for a med-pack. They’re set for Aldhani, but the reason why is shrouded in secrecy. Luthen encourages him to join and have “everything he wants”, including putting a stick in the Empire – and getting paid to do so. Luthen came for him specifically, not the Starpath unit. He wants five days with him, and promises that if Andor delivers, he’ll be 200,000 credits richer. Their target? Only the quarterly payroll for an entire Imperial sector. Over in Coruscant, we cut to the Imperial Security Bureau where a top security council join and discuss their job. For the audience’s benefit of course. They’re basically covert security ops but Partagaz, the old man leading this council, tells them all that they’re “healthcare providers”, treating the sick and make sure germs don’t spread. Germs like rebel alliances. They catch wind of what’s happened with Cassian, and decide to play damage control and clear up the mess this has caused. After what’s happened with Andor, the Deputy Inspector, Sergeant and Chief Hyne are reprimanded by the Empire. It’s a massive security catastrophe and as of now, the entire Morlana System is under Imperial control. Meanwhile, Luthen reveals that he’s not actually the one leading this mission. That falls to a woman called Vel, who walks toward their landed ship. Andor assumes a new identity for himself, going by the name of Clem. Luthen speaks his piece to Vel, pointing out that Andor’s being paid to be part of this rebellion. It’s not much of a choice to be honest. They either take him in… or the whole operation is called off. Luthen leaves and heads off the planet, assuming a new identity, getting dressed up as he prepares to touch down in Coruscant. Senator Mon Mothma is there to greet him, where a flamboyant Luthen portrays a very different character to the one we met earlier. However, both senators are putting on a front when in reality, they’re actually conspiring together to take down the Empire. (Cue a gif of The Emperor uttering “It’s treason then.”) Anyway, they’re operating in strict secrecy but their cryptic chatter is certainly revealing. Mothra forgets about a scheduled meeting with counsellors later that evening and ends up flustered as a result when Perrin tells her. Andor (now going by the alias of Clem) walks with Vel. She informs him that they’re robbing the armory at the Aldhani Garrison. There’s an imperial airfield nearby so this is the safest route. They’re going through an entire Imperial Garrison with only a handful of people. Those in the camp are understandably weary of this last minute surprise but Vel takes charge of the situation. They’re obviously not happy, especially with Lieutenant Gorn showing up. He’s the liaison between the garrison and their camp, and he doesn’t take kindly to Clem’s arrival. They get briefed up quickly, with a little miniature model helping Vel to show the route they need to take to get inside and steal the imperial documents. They’re taking crates of payroll, loading it into a freighter and then escaping out the runway tunnel. The TIE fighters will be on them in 9 minutes when they attack, and as it’s a suicide run they only keep 40 men inside the garrison, which is far less than one may expect. But what’s the cover story? How are they going to get away? Well, it turns out they have a window open in 3 days’ time. Once every 3 years the Aldhanis gather in the valley for a celestial event. It’s called Mak-ani bray Dhani. “The Eye of Aldhani”, as it’s colloquially known as. This is a special celestial event where the sky lights up with what seems to be like 50 meteor showers all at once. While it’s beautiful on the surface, in the air it’s absolute chaos. They have an escape trajectory to leave the planet just before the Eye closes. If they can beat the clock then they’ll be in the clear. If they can’t? Well, they’ll all die. No pressure!
The Episode Review
So episode 4 of Andor comes and goes, bowing our this chapter with a sign of things to come in the future. It’s clear that Andor’s team is not going to have everything go their own way, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a few deaths from this group along the way. As for the antagonists of this piece, Andor switches things up and decides Karn’s not good enough to be the villain and instead, we get a higher authority from the Empire interject. Whether this actually works in the show’s favour is anyone’s guess but it may pay off. Could we see a redemption arc from this soldier who turns over to the rebel’s side? We’ll have to wait and see. For now though, Andor is still in its set-up stage and this is the sort of show that really needs more than one episode released a week. Last week’s triple bill helped the show tremendously but now that we’re down to one a week, I’m concerned that the plot could slam to a crawl. Aside from the visuals and practical effects, Andor’s story is simply… okay. It’s a pedestrian, slow-paced romp that’s very grounded and more thematically allegorical than a show-stopping action piece. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but let’s hope the episodes ahead pick up the pace a bit.
