In Review: STAR WARS: ANDOR (S1 – EP4) Aldhani

Synopsis: Having escaped their pursuers on Ferix. Cassian and Luthen Rael make their way to the planet Aldhani to hook up with some resistance fighters. 

The Story

Picking up from where last week left off. Cassian and Luthen have set a course for the planet Aldhani where Cassian will join up with a group of resistance fighters who are led by Vel Sartha. Their mission, which they are training for is to infiltrate an imperial garrison on Aldhani and blow up a dam. Luthen has to put the hard word on Vel in order to convince her that she needs Cassian as a means of backup on her mission. 

Having dropped Cassian off on Aldhani. Luthen heads for Coruscant where he has a meeting with Mon Mothma. It is here that we learn that Mothma has connections to the banking sector and has been using her contacts to bankroll the Rebel resistance. However, her contacts are getting cold feet as it’s getting harder for her to find funds. Mothma’s meeting with Luthen is done under the pretense of her buying a gift for her husband. 

Meanwhile, The Imperial Forces have taken an interest in the imperial technology that was stolen and are looking to investigate.

Acting

Diego Luna continues to be sullen and moody as Cassian Andor and has very little to do in this episode than be somewhat of a fly in the ointment. Most of the heavy lifting in this episode is done by Stellan Skarsgård and Faye Marsay. Skarsgård gets a fair bit to do having scenes with Cassian, Vel, and Mon Mothma that add more layers to the overall story arc. I really liked the scene where we see Luthen changing his appearance a little bit as he prepares to return to Coruscant. Marsay who plays resistance leader Vel Sartha gets a really strong establishing scene where she is initially objecting to Luthen dropping Cassian on her. But it becomes apparent pretty quickly that Vel is a no-nonsense kind of leader who doesn’t take kindly to having her authority questioned.

Overall

This episode does a great job of building on the story that began last week. I found the scenes between Mon Mothma and Luthen really interesting to watch and found it interesting that both resistance leaders were still able to operate from Coruscant, which is something that I think will likely change as we get deeper into the story. It will be interesting to see what happens at Mon Mothma’s party in next week’s episode. Especially given that she will be surrounded by people that are not members of her fan club.

Overall. A quite strong dramatic episode, which looks to set a few things up for next week, which I think will give us more action.