A prisoner himself, Kino is the leader of their work group and while Cassian and all the other tables compete against one another for top place in efficiency (the reward being different layers of taste to their food), he’s competing against other floors, a simple yet effective system that’s turned Kino against the others and each table largely against one another, turning everyone against everyone else so they can’t unify and rebel. But it’s not that simple, as Andy Serkis (!!!), I mean Kino Loy describes to Cassian when he first joins the work floor. Then we find out he’s to be working through his sentence, joining a table of workers building the same part over and over again, set up in such a way there is something for each person at the table to be doing at all times. Shipped off to Narkina 5, the weird request for him and a few other new inmates to take off their shoes comes shockingly clear, as the floor of his new home is able to deliver an increasingly excruciating shock. As I mentioned earlier, the camera is close to Cassian through most of this, as if we see it through his eyes, but also see his defiance slowly slipping away, replaced by fear and compliance. The slow build on Cassian’s situation allows it to settle in for us and for him how terrible and oppressive it really is. Mon and others in the small group respond in quick and precise counters, from comments about how does saying what he means lead to actual legislation or being worried about what the other person’s definition of “wrong.” The team behind Andor is biting and pointed in their critiques and it’s only gotten better as the season’s gone on. And then in Mon Mothma’s latest soiree, we hear political dialogue not dissimilar to comments from supporters of Trump, but this time it’s about Palpatine, saying stuff like “he says what he means,” while the mindset of the current Republic Party is mirrored in comments regarding order, saying you shouldn’t have anything to worry about if you’re not doing anything wrong. His prison isn’t at the same level as Cassian’s, but it’s another side to the fascist coin, his individuality the casualty, the higher ups taking credit for their work, keeping them docile by making them feel important to have something but they are barely noticed by the larger galaxy. On the flip side, there’s Syril Karn, already another forgotten number among hundreds, individuality lost, fighting for his chance to be someone again when he senses an opportunity as Supervisor Dedra Meera questions him about the Ferrix incident, looking for more information on who came for Cassian Andor. The closing shot of the episode stuck with me a long time after the credits, as instead of the camera being close up on Cassian as it had all episode, it pulls away from him, working with his little group in the prison, until we can’t distinguish him from the rest, another number lost to the system as its methods seem to have worked on him for now. As Cassian’s situation grows clearer, it offers a haunting example of oppressive tactics, not only giving us something to fear, but also ways to fear one another, pitting us against one another so we don’t rise up and fight back, leaving the real enemy, the real problem, untouched. The first scene of “Narkina 5” is a Black man in prison, followed by many other people of color, including Cassian, a very unsubtle but important image to highlight, as people of color disproportionally make up prison populations here in our real world, and the Empire being a stand-in for the modern way of ours and many other countries policies. “Episode 8 – Narkina 5” is often haunting and almost too close for comfort, while some of the comparisons risk painting their targets in too fantastical a light, but I believe the episode balances it well enough.
In print media, there’s already been great commentary on the last few divisive years in US politics and across the world, but this feels like the first real attempt at it on screen.
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The full weight of the Empire’s oppression is felt in Andor “Episode 8 – Narkina 5,” where the juxtaposing journeys of Syril and Cassian paint different yet similar stories, while the many sides of the coming battle prepare for what comes next.įrom the beginning, as I discussed a bit more in detail in the review for “ Episode 7 – Announcement,” Andor hasn’t shied away from being comparable to modern politics and systems of government, a franchise hallmark.
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