Max Nocerino 
(L-R): Ham (Clemens Schick), Kino Loy (Andy Serkis), Jemboc (Brian Bovell) and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Is Star Wars: Andor setting up one of the biggest prison breaks in Star Wars history? I am on the edge of my seat waiting for Episode 10.
It’s time to return to Narkina 5 for this week’s episode of Star Wars: Andor. But did this week’s installment build upon the foundations of last week’s outing? Let’s find out.
A friend and colleague brought up an excellent point about this wonderful show. It flows much like a novel, and I believe that’s why I like it so much. It also may be why some fans can’t connect with it. Star Wars fans have been indulged in action spectacles. Blasters pew-pewing and lightsaber zing-zinging. However, that is not the only facet that should be explored. And regardless of whether fans get the action, the saga still proves to be divisive.
NOBODY’S WATCHING
Episode nine fades in and out but juggles 5 stories so effortlessly that I am constantly reminded how brilliant a storyteller Tony Gilroy is. The most “exciting” plotline is Cassian Andor still locked away in a sterile and Orwellian Imperial prison. He spends his days doing mindless labor with the fragile hope of someday putting in enough shifts and ending his sentence. He is scrappy and eager to try and break out of this place but his superior (played by Andy Serkis) will have nothing of it.
Meanwhile, we have Dedra at the ISB torturing Bix with some odd recorded audio frequencies of some dying alien to pry open her mind and find out about Luthen and Cassian Andor. Syril plays fast and loose by “stalking” Dedra as he is so obsessed with bringing Cassian to justice that he would forsake his new promotion AND his freedom with a sense of insanity that seems to foreshadow something grim.
MON MOTHMA
Mon is also in deep trouble because the money she is laundering from the Rebellion might be exposed. We also get a fun surprise as to who her relative is and it may surprise fans. It certainly surprised me. I love all the threads that Gilroy is weaving but my eyes widen with excitement when the scenes shift to the prison. Something horrific happened on Level 2 of the prison. Cassian is on Level 4 and finds out that all of 2 were killed. Why? The grim realization is that once you get out. You are put back in. And if another level finds out this information. Its curtains.
The episode ends sadly with the death of an older inmate and I can’t help but feel he was sacrificed (not because they couldn’t help him medicinally) but because he’s better off dead and “free” when more horrible things are bound to happen. Cassian keeps asking how many guards are on each level. After this odious revelation, Serkis’ Kino Loy finally answers. We will soon see possibly one of the greatest prison breaks in Star Wars history. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for Episode 10.
Terrific as always but even better. This episode gets 9.5 out of 10 Death Stars from me.
Star Wars: Andor is streaming exclusively on Disney Plus now.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
