‘Andor’ Episode 5: Recap And Ending, Explained – How Does Cassian Prove That He Is Essential To The Mission?

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“Andor” is currently the best thing to have come out of the “Star Wars” franchise since “The Last Jedi.” And it’s turning out to be one of the best sci-fi shows so far, which looks and sounds so good that it would have benefited from a weekly theatrical release. I said what I said. Let’s talk about what happened in last week’s episode. First and foremost, Luthen Rael (Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd) handed Cassian (Diego Luna) over to Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and her team of rebels. Secondly, Luthen revealed that the person who is funding their whole mission against the Empire is none other than Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly). Thirdly, the details of the mission itself were revealed, which involved using a celestial event as a distraction after extracting the crates of payroll out of the Garrison. Then, we saw some of the aftermaths of Cassian’s actions, with Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) finding himself back at his home with his mother Eedy (Kathryn Hunter) and Supervisor Dedra (Denise Gough) failing to wrestle the Ferrix case out of Lt. Supervisor Blevin’s (Ben Bailey Smith) hands.

Spoilers Ahead


Cassian Understands How Integral He Is To The Mission

Episode 5 of “Andor” opens with a breakfast scene between Syril and Eedy that screams “toxic.” It’s evident that Eedy is guilty of being an overbearing “helicopter parent” who wants Syril to excel in everything. So, when Syril fails, like he has with the Ferrix incident, she turns it into a big issue instead of empathizing with her son. She says that she’s going to call Uncle Harlo to help Syril with his unemployment. The scene then shifts to Aldhani, where Cassian wakes up and notices that someone has been around his hammock and all his stuff is missing. He checks if his Kyber crystal is still with him and then rushes outside to see that someone is Arvel Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Skeen says that it’s actually Vel who asked him to look through Cassian’s stuff. But we all know that that’s not true because Vel knows who he is. Hence, it’s obvious that Skeen did this by himself. Why, though? Because he’s clearly suspicious of Cassian, and he wants to make sure that he’s not leading the Rebels into a trap.

In Coruscant, we see that both Mon Mothma’s husband, Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie), and their daughter Leida (Bronte Carmichael), are very antagonistic towards her because they think she’s too self-centered. Mon Mothma expresses how hurt she is by this behavior and leaves the two to do whatever the hell that’s on their schedule. Coming back to the Rebels, Nemik (Alex Lawther) sits down with Cassian to talk about how the Empire has forced everyone to rely on devices and tools made by them, thereby making it easier for them to track down those who aren’t parroting the regime’s thoughts. Skeen jokingly points out that Nemik is writing a manifesto. Nemik gets a little more serious and says that there’s so much going wrong so quickly that the galaxy’s thoughts and feelings about it are getting muddled. He says that “the pace of repression outstrips our ability to understand it,” and that the Empire is overwhelming the general populace by committing one atrocity after another. But Nemik believes that it’s going to take a lot to rob everyone of their love for their fundamental rights.

If it isn’t clear yet, yes, Nemik is essentially writing the “Star Wars” version of the Communist Manifesto. Or, as he puts it, he is mapping the trail of political consciousness. But before Cassian can learn more about it, he is called away by Taramyn (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) to talk about maneuvering the freighter out of the Garrison. Both Taramyn and Vel ask Cassian to explain how one can calibrate the weight of the vehicle. Cassian thinks that it’s a test to see his technical acumen. But he soon understands that Taramyn and Vel actually do not know how to read the weight of the freighter. He spells it out that there is a display panel next to a lever that does the job. When Taramyn innocently asks him why that information isn’t in the manual, Cassian answers that it’s too irrelevant to put it in there. At the same time, he announces that he is the one who is going to pilot the freighter out of the Garrison because the Rebels are clearly out of their depth. And since Cassian wants to make it out of there alive, he wants to make sure that he has every essential thing under his control.


Cassian Learns Why Gorn Is Helping The Rebels

Taramyn gives Cassian a rundown of the geography of the Aldhian Garrison and how the Rebels are going to enter it, and how they are going to disguise themselves as Imperial soldiers. Their training montage is disrupted by a passing Tie Fighter as it does an aggressive flyby to scare the Rebels while assuming that they are Aldhanis. At least that seems to be the reason why the pilot doesn’t fire at them because if they did see Vel and the rest trotting around with guns, they would’ve been attacked. We see Lt. Gorn (Sule Rimi) walking around the perimeter of the actual Aldhian Garrison and ensuring that the place is all ready for the engineer that’s going to visit it. A conversation between Gorn and Corporal Kimzi (Nick Blood) gives us a hint of the fascist mindset that pulsates through every sector of the Imperial regime. We also see that Blevin is turning Ferrix into an Imperial Headquarter of sorts and assigning someone called Captain Tigo (Wilf Scolding) to look over that place.

Back at the Rebel base, Cassian seems to be flirting with Cinta (Varada Sethu) as she teaches her Aldhian terms and checks his wounds. But that’s interrupted by Skeen, who triggers Cassian by touching his stuff. Vel breaks them up by sending Skeen to check the comms and ordering Cassian to get dressed for the mission. Before heading out, Cassian puts the Kyber crystal back around his neck for better safekeeping. Then, the episode shifts its focus to Dedra and Attendant Heert (Jacob James Beswick) sifting through the various places from which military components have gone missing. Names like Hosnian Prime (the planet on which Starkiller Base is constructed in “The Force Awakens”), Kessel (famous for Han Solo’s escape), Fondor, Jakku (another planet featured in “The Force Awakens”), Base Cay, and the Steergard Starpath are dropped. Dedra starts to doubt herself and admits that Blevin might be right that there’s no pattern to the acts of theft. Heert says that it’s not possible that Dedra believes that. Dedra says that she thinks that the attacks are purposefully random and that they need to keep searching for the Imperial sector from which the Rebels stole the Starpath unit.

The Rebels burn the miniature of the Garrison and start hiking towards the real one. We get another brief breakfast scene between Syril and Eedy as the latter explains how eager Uncle Harlo is to help Syril. I am assuming that these are all breakfast scenes because of the cereal. But it’s possible that that’s all Syril eats (yes, the Syril and cereal joke isn’t lost on me). Anyway, back to the Rebels. Cassian asks Vel about the reason why Gorn is going against the Empire. Vel says that Gorn apparently fell in love with a local woman and lost a promotion. Subsequently, he lost the woman. And then he lost his taste for the Empire. We see Gorn ordering Kimzi and another Corporal (Dan Li) to hurry up their cleaning process. The Corporals request Gorn to not give them that assignment because they want to see the opening of the Eye. Gorn obliges because he wants the soldiers in the Garrison to be busy watching the Eye, thereby giving the Rebels all the freedom to steal the payroll.


‘Andor’ Episode 5: Ending Explained: Cassian Learns Why Skeen Doesn’t Trust Him

While taking a break, Skeen attacks Cassian and snatches his Kyber crystal necklace. Things get heated up as Cassian prepares to pull out his gun. Taramyn requests him to not do so, while pointing his gun at Cassian. Skeen is unbothered by all this antagonism as he wants to know Cassian’s truth. Vel tells all of them to table this discussion for now because they have more pressing matters to attend to. But since Cassian is clearly rattled by Skeen’s behavior, he blurts out that he’s being paid to do the job. He doesn’t say that Rael is the one paying him. However, he makes it very clear to everyone that he is in it for the money. He isn’t there for the “cause.” He wants to do the job, get his credits, and walk away. And he says that if anyone thinks that that’s not enough, he is willing to walk away. Skeen tells Vel that if she knew about this, she should’ve told them. Cassian says that Skeen or someone else from the team would’ve found another reason to pile on him because they’ve got the pre-mission jitters.

Mon Mothma and Perrin have a conversation that indicates that the latter is inclined to do something that’s actually charitable. I don’t think he’s having a real change of heart. He just wants to cool Mon Mothma down. On a side note, the fact that Perrin and Leida are so rude towards Mon Mothma and the fact that we don’t see them with her when she appears in “Return of the Jedi,” “Revenge of the Sith,” and “Rogue One,” I won’t be surprised if she ditches both of them by the end of “Andor.” On Aldhani, the Rebels finally reach the Garrison, and Cassian commends Nemik for making such an accurate replica of it. Taramyn sends a sign to Gorn that they’ve reached the Garrison’s outskirts and are ready for the next stage of the mission. We briefly see Syril looking at the hologram of Cassian. That can only mean one thing. He’s going to bail out of his house and go after Cassian himself. But it seems like it’s going to be difficult for him because Cassian is making allies out of the Rebels, as is evident from Skeen’s “apology,” where he admits he’s rebelling against the Empire for his brother.

During the closing minutes of Episode 5 of “Andor,” we see Luthen Rael tinkering with a radio-like device in the hopes of catching any news about the Rebels. Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau) tells him to turn it off because it’s pointless. She says that the Rebels are either going to pull off the mission or they are going to fail. If they succeed, then there’s no issue. But if they fail, the Empire will probably trace Vel back to Rael and treat him like a traitor. Rael says that Andor can be traced back to him too because he hasn’t been very careful with him. Kleya assures Rael that he has done the best he can under the circumstances, and it’ll all be over by the following morning. Rael says that, alternatively, a new chapter in the rebellion against the Empire will begin.


See More: ‘Andor’ Episode 6: Recap And Ending, Explained – Did The Rebels Conduct The Mission Successfully?


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Pramit Chatterjee
Pramit Chatterjee
Pramit loves to write about movies, television shows, short films, and basically anything that emerges from the world of entertainment. He occasionally talks to people, and judges them on the basis of their love for Edgar Wright, Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, and the best television series ever made, Dark.

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