Recap and Review of Andor: Episode 3

Let’s recap and review Andor Episode 3. With his culpability in the death of two Corporation/Empire soldiers confirmed, Cassian finds himself preparing to get off of Ferrix.

• Will Bix’s seller come through when he needs it?
• Can he beat the incoming Corporation search party and get off the planet in time?
• And what about those that Cassian may have to leave behind?

Recap of Andor Episode 3

In the opening, we see young Cassian again, as he bravely enters the crashed ship. As he maneuvers around the dead crew and the examines the rest of the ship, it is clear that some kind of gas likely poisoned them. But Cassian pauses when he sees his own face in a shiny control panel, before his anger erupts and he begins to smash stuff.

On Ferrix, modern Cassian is working to say his goodbyes. He stops by the work yard to say goodbye to Brasso, asking him to take care of Maarva and that the money he owes him is coming.

The buyer makes it off the shuttle with the talkative man that Luthen (as IMDB calls him) meets. Bix then gives him the location where Cassian is coming to meet up with him.

But the shuttles with the dozen plus security team arrive on-site and the locals take notice, remarking that they haven’t seen their like in years. Syril seems to be suddenly very aware that he is very much outside his element. But Sgt. Kostek takes charge as they begin their hunt.

The next flashback we see younger version of Maarva, B2EMO, and her partner, as they show up on the same crashed ship, stumbling into the young Cassian, who is smashing things. Though her partner has doubts, Maarva decides that they are taking more than just the salvage they came for, because when people come looking for the crew, she has no doubt that young Cassian will be killed in retaliation for the dead crew members outside the ship. So she hits him with a stunner and they take Cassian with them.

The security team arrives at Maarva’s house and she offers little help. So they begin to smash the home apart. When they discover B2EMO, they threaten him, while silencing Maarva. But unfortunately, Cassian uses his communicator with B2EMO and they are able to track him.

But a crowd has gathered outside of Maarva’s house. While the security team may have been able to get their initial information, the people of Ferrix will take care of their own, especially when Bix realizes that someone has ratted Cassian out, namely her romantic interest, Timm. The town works together using a system where they start to bang on metal, making sounds and as new people hear it, they join in.

Luthen and Cassian meet and have some negotiations, with Luthen being strangely more interested in learning about Cassian than the device he has. We learn that Cassian got the device by sneaking into the Empire itself; he walked in and out. Luthen then points out that they are essentially the same: men who hate the Empire. And Luthen has done his homework, knowing that the Empire hung Cassian’s father in the city square. Yes, he wants the device, but more so, he wants to recruit Cassian.

The sounds reach Cassian, serving as his warning, while also being used to intimidate the security force. Bix is racing to get to Cassian, but she gets snagged by security. And while they are holding her, Timm shows up, unfortunately becoming the first victim of the search for Cassian on Ferrix, shot by a trigger happy soldier. After killing Timm, that soldier is sent back to get the shuttle in the air.

Back in the warehouse, Cassian and Luthen work to make an escape, with Luthen coaching Cassian as they go. He blows the doors and they are attempting to escape from the warehouse, which has giant metal parts strung up, making for a dramatic exit as they fall and Cassian races to get the piece that he was trying to sell.

The security team then tries to set a trap, dividing up and taking positions to pick off what they now know is a duo. Syril nearly shoots a couple of alien children and takes up his position as the people’s clanging sounds.

Maarva, under siege in her home, warns the security team that they need to be worried not about the noise but about when the noise stops. And she proves to be wise, as the security team very much freaks out when the silence comes.

In the midst of that silence, Syril is caught off-guard by Cassian and Luthen. After gathering intel, they tie him up.

But the people of Ferrix fight on: When the shuttle that brought the soldiers in attempts to launch, it turns out enormous pieces of metal have been attached to it. The shuttle explodes when it crashes into a metal structure when its unexpected anchor is caught.

Cassian and Luthen then rig a speeder with explosives to draw all the attention before they load up on a speeder themselves and head out. Syril realizes to some degree the magnitude of his mistake, as he watches soldier caught up in the explosion.

And the closing scene is a really nice piece of parallel storytelling as we get the mix of the flashback of Maarva and her partner carrying young Cassian to their ship and him awakening to realize he is leaving all he knows, including his sister, on Kenari, as we see the impact of Cassian’s escape from Ferrix, leaving behind those he knows and loves, and see them realize that Cassian is likely gone from their world, and their lives.

Thoughts on Andor: Episode 3

For the third part of the opening trilogy, this episode really does well to bring the Ferrix part of Cassian’s story to a close. I suspect that we also have seen the end of the flashbacks, at least the flashbacks of Cassian’s earliest life on Kenari.

Watching the people of Ferrix rebel in their own way helps you better understand Cassian and his own feelings about the Empire. The clanging noise was really effective, answering the question of how a somewhat primitive people could widely communicate. And when the silence did come, it was spectacularly eerie.

Likewise, the anchoring of the ship was the kind of act of sabotage that people like Brasso could manage, a sort of guerrilla urban space warfare against a much stronger more powerful foe. It weirdly gave me echoes of the Ewoks and their fighting spirit in Return of the Jedi.

From here, it will be curious to see what happens. Luthen seems to be Cassian’s new mentor and I would suspect that it means that Cassian will be sent undercover into the Corporation if possible, knowing what we do about where he ends up in Rogue One.

All in all, the first trilogy of Andor is a great start, widening and deepening the Star Wars universe in ways that some of the recent works have struggled to do so. Even knowing the end, this should be a fun journey for the audience to go on with this show.