'Andor' S1 E11 Review: Make Way for the Supporting Players
'Andor' S1 E11 Review: Make Way for the Supporting Players
Diego Luna steps aside, mostly, so other characters can justify their existence.
Now Streaming: Honestly, I never envisioned writing so much about a Star Wars show, but I find Andor and its ups and down to be endlessly fascinating throughout its first season.
Created by Tony Gilroy, the intention is to play out a grand storyline over two seasons and 24 episodes, leading up to the events in Rogue One (2016), which I have never revisited. (Yikes, shoot me now.) Through 11 episodes, Gilroy appears convinced that Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is a character who cried out to be explored in greater detail, yet also realizes that Cassian Andor, alone, cannot justify more than half of those we've seen so far (no slight to Diego Luna, who does his level best to bring his own personal convictions to Cassian, a character who has not yet become the rebel hero we see in Rogue One (if I recall correctly, since it's been six years since I've seen it).
Thus, the parade of supporting players. Last week's episode, which I'll assume you've already seen before reading this far, was buoyed by Andy Serkis, who gave a towering performance that drove the entire episode, ramping it up from his appearance in the two previous episodes. Now comes the aftermath to Episode 10, so we'd expect that it would be quieter, and the episode certainly fulfills those expectations.
Episode 11, which runs about 45 minutes without ads -- Disney Plus with ads will be available December 8, so plan ahead, cheapskates -- moves at a good pace in setting up what will take place in the season finale next week; consequently, it's mostly about piquing interest after the galvanizing events in Episode 10. As such, we follow Cassian as he makes his escape and hears news about his mother.
While Cassian is digesting that news -- no spoilers, I'm a good guy -- supporting characters begin moving around the chess board in anticipation of what will happen, especially Stellen Skarsgard as the calculating good-guy Luthen Rael; Genevieve O'Reailly as the Evil Mon Mothma, striding around and speaking decisively; and Kyle Soller as the wanna-be bad-guy Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), who just wants to be noticed, please please please! (It's like he's screaming, "I want to be bad!" and no one is listening. His greatest punishment is having to do menial office work, which describes my entire life. *sigh*)
We also get glimpses of women who are working in behalf of the rebellion and suffering as a result, notably Cassian's friend Bix (Adria Arjona), who keeps getting tortured for no good reason, in contrast to Cinda Kaz (Varada Sethu), who ignores her girlfriend, Vel Sartha (Faye Marsah), because the Rebellion is just too darn important to slow down and sweet talk her. (Also, Disney Plus now appears to be OK with gay people on its shows, as long as they're not too gay and/or demonstrative of their affections).
Next week, Cassian will play a bigger part in the story, in part because it's the season finale of a show that is named after him, so of course. [Disney Plus]
Now Streaming: Honestly, I never envisioned writing so much about a Star Wars show, but I find Andor and its ups and down to be endlessly fascinating throughout its first season.
Created by Tony Gilroy, the intention is to play out a grand storyline over two seasons and 24 episodes, leading up to the events in Rogue One (2016), which I have never revisited. (Yikes, shoot me now.) Through 11 episodes, Gilroy appears convinced that Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is a character who cried out to be explored in greater detail, yet also realizes that Cassian Andor, alone, cannot justify more than half of those we've seen so far (no slight to Diego Luna, who does his level best to bring his own personal convictions to Cassian, a character who has not yet become the rebel hero we see in Rogue One (if I recall correctly, since it's been six years since I've seen it).
Thus, the parade of supporting players. Last week's episode, which I'll assume you've already seen before reading this far, was buoyed by Andy Serkis, who gave a towering performance that drove the entire episode, ramping it up from his appearance in the two previous episodes. Now comes the aftermath to Episode 10, so we'd expect that it would be quieter, and the episode certainly fulfills those expectations.
Episode 11, which runs about 45 minutes without ads -- Disney Plus with ads will be available December 8, so plan ahead, cheapskates -- moves at a good pace in setting up what will take place in the season finale next week; consequently, it's mostly about piquing interest after the galvanizing events in Episode 10. As such, we follow Cassian as he makes his escape and hears news about his mother.
While Cassian is digesting that news -- no spoilers, I'm a good guy -- supporting characters begin moving around the chess board in anticipation of what will happen, especially Stellen Skarsgard as the calculating good-guy Luthen Rael; Genevieve O'Reailly as the Evil Mon Mothma, striding around and speaking decisively; and Kyle Soller as the wanna-be bad-guy Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), who just wants to be noticed, please please please! (It's like he's screaming, "I want to be bad!" and no one is listening. His greatest punishment is having to do menial office work, which describes my entire life. *sigh*)
We also get glimpses of women who are working in behalf of the rebellion and suffering as a result, notably Cassian's friend Bix (Adria Arjona), who keeps getting tortured for no good reason, in contrast to Cinda Kaz (Varada Sethu), who ignores her girlfriend, Vel Sartha (Faye Marsah), because the Rebellion is just too darn important to slow down and sweet talk her. (Also, Disney Plus now appears to be OK with gay people on its shows, as long as they're not too gay and/or demonstrative of their affections).
Next week, Cassian will play a bigger part in the story, in part because it's the season finale of a show that is named after him, so of course. [Disney Plus]