Five Thoughts on Andor‘s “The Eye”

Andor wraps up its second arc with one of the most exciting and visually impressive episodes of Star Wars television yet. There’s no time to waste, we don’t want to miss the Eye.

1. Imperial bourgeoisie

While Andor has been adept at showing various pieces of the Empire, “The Eye” really focuses its attention on the banality and slow march of Imperial evil. The Imperials stationed on Aldhani are dismissive of the native population, and are taking the steps to, eventually, remove their culture entirely from the planet. You can see that the Imps are going through the motions for the Eye simply to keep the locals pacified and ‘tricked’ into thinking that the Empire care at all, but the charade is hollow. Everyone involved knows that this is all performative; both sides feel like they can/will outlast the other in this war of attrition.

Commandant Beehaz joins the august ranks of Imperial blowhards, and “The Eye” does a good job of pulling him apart, piece by piece. He can’t charm the visiting Imp, he is a miserable husband and father, he’s growing fatter (to be fair, this is relatable), and he’s nasty for no good reason to just about everyone he encounters. In a different performance, he may be considered a sympathetic character, hwoever, Stanley Townsend plays him as such a miserable douchebag that everything bad that happens to him feels justified, even if we’re rooted for – and continue to root for – people who do far worse things personally.

He is the perfect embodiment of the speech that Cassian gives Luthen in “Reckoning.” They can’t imagine that anyone would want to hurt them, because that would involve thinking of anyone else at all.

2. The Eye

There’s some obvious beauty to the meteor shower meets Aurora Borealis that is the Eye, and I always enjoy whenever Star Wars gives us a little glimpse into the lives of other cultures outside of the generic space bureaucrats. The Aldhani people are proud of their heritage, and are willing to suffer the encroachment of the Empire in the name of keeping their culture alive and sensing that all is not as perfect as it may look for the Empire. We get a little native music, some ceremonial activities, and a little sense for the tenor of their culture.

Ultimately, their role here is, I think, to act as the counterweight to the Imperial machine. Yes, the Empire is expanding rapidly, but cultures like the Aldhani don’t just go away easily. This is echoed later by Luthen trying to sell a piece of jewelry inscribed in a dead language; he says that you can decide what it means for yourself. And while it is true that the language may be gone, that relic is still around. The culture survives, even if its relevance may be gone. The Empire thinks that the Aldhani aren’t important anymore now that they’ve shown up. The primary language may now be Basic, but the relic of the Aldhani culture isn’t so easily forgotten.

3. Body Count (Not Ice-T’s band)

While it was always clear that the whole gang wasn’t going to survive this heist, I’m a little surprised at how only 3 of the 7 are still alive, and one is still stuck on Aldhani. There are questions about Skeen and Nemik that will each get their own discussion, but I want to specifically talk about the deaths of Taramyn and Gorn. Gorn seemed like he was always going to die, as this was about revenge for what happened to his wife, and his life was ‘complete’ once she was avenged. Taramyn’s history as a soldier makes his death seem like it was foretold, too. Those that live by the sword, yada yada.

But the death that shocked me the most was actually Beehaz’s. He didn’t die in a firefight or a ship crash; bro had a heart attack because he’s a fat piece of shit (again, relatable content). This is symbolic to the Rebellion’s effect on the Empire; it isn’t just dogfights and molotov cocktails that will take down the Empire. There will be situations that cause so much distress that the Empire will suffer without a shot fired.

The one person that I truly hope is ok is Beehaz’s son, who is basically insulted by his dad because he’s a sickly kid. That kid deserves to dance on his father’s fat grave. This is also a nice reminder that Star Wars is second to none at creating sympathetic characters in a blink of an eye. I would kill for this kid, and he’s probably going to grow up to be a space Nazi like his pop.

4. Is Andor undoing Cassian’s arc in Rogue One?

After Nemik is injured, there is a debate about whether or not to take him to see a doctor or go directly to the rendezvous point. Vel wants to complete the mission ASAP and, as mission leader, that’s an understandable position. Skeen wants to take him to a doctor and save him because, ‘this kid is the reason that we are here.’ Cassian is the tiebreaker, and he goes with Skeen. This feels a little out of line with what we know about Cassian from the start of Rogue One. He’s willing to kill a rebel spy rather than jeopardize the mission he’s on, and that guy just had a limp. Here, Nemik is clearly dying, and he’s not willing to sacrifice him. Now, this may be argued that he will harden as he gets deeper into the Rebellion, and while I can buy that to a certain degree, it seems like the show is trying to have its cake and eat it, too. It wants Cassian to be a sympathetic lead for the show, instead of staying true to what his character is really about.

Nemik bequeathing Clem/Cassian his manifesto felt a little on the nose, but he and Clem had an interesting relationship that was built on personal feelings, not ideology. Nemik is the avatar of the truest, purest form of rebellion. Clem was the mercenary who claims he has no real mission beyond saving his own skin. In some ways, they are the least similar of anyone on the crew, but there was a connection between them that was palpable when they’d converse. Nemik believed in Clem, even if doing so somewhat went against his idea of what the Rebellion could be. This is the beginning of the Rebel Alliance, where people who may have different viewpoints are forced to work together for the bigger goal, even if their methods don’t line up.

All of that said, I still think that this is a little too compassionate for who Cassian is supposed to be at this point. I’ve no doubt that he felt for Nemik in some way, but he’s too much of a pragmatist for this. And there were lots of easy fixes to this; if Skeen really pushed the issue, or threatened violence, I buy this 100% more. But it was too neat and clean – and moral – for this point in the story.

5. Was did Skeen actually mean?

I’ve now watched the scene between Skeen and Cassian thrice, trying to get as deep into the writing as I could. There appear to be three different scenarios here: 1) Skeen is actually suggesting that they steal the money. 2) Skeen is testing Cassian and is going to ‘report’ him to Vel or kill him himself, or 3) He’s hoping that Cassian talks him out of it. If you watch the scene carefully, there are hints of each of those in Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s performance.

If I’m leaning towards one interpretation, just based on the performance and what we know about Skeen, it is leaning towards #1, though I think #2 is plausible, too. If he sees Clem as his getaway driver, he needed to get him alone to convince him on this, and needed to do it in a way where Clem wouldn’t overreact – oops. But it seems like Nemik had a real effect on him, and maybe with Nemik dying, it realigned his priorities. And maybe the brother story is bullshit, but it seems like a pretty long con to tell Vel and the rest of the crew that story as a backstory, and then actually risked your life. It just seems a bit sudden.

But what if he was just testing Clem? What if he’s trying to suss out whether Clem is trustworthy or not. He’s laying out a perfectly reasonable scenario. They’d get away without killing anyone, 40 million credits richer, and still have stuck a thumb in the eye of the Empire. Clem might’ve very well bought it; but he doesn’t. And he’s killed before he can explain it was just a test.

Like I said, I think it is actually a legit proposal, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was a ruse.

All told, this second ‘arc’ of Andor was head and shoulders above the first. Let’s hope this is a trend that continues, and the resetting of the action doesn’t slow it down too much.