Andor Episode 4 Review: Between Rebellion and Espionage, The Disney Series Opens

Stars: Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Alex Ferns

Directors: Toby Haynes, Benjamin Caron

Streaming Platform: Disney+

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Andor Episode 4 Review: An appetizer, that’s what we got last week (here you can find our review of the first 3 episodes of Andor). A choice by Disney and Lucasfilm is far-sighted, because compared to many other mainstream productions Andor is instead a show that needs space and time to breathe, and it is not necessary to remember how crucial the first impact is. In fact, in retrospect, it is easy to consider the original plan as potential bankruptcy, with the release date set for August 31, however, releasing 2 episodes, alone would have left many more doubts.

In short, Andor’s first “trilogy” is an appetizer that should be enjoyed together to fully understand the effectiveness and extraordinary strength of the new Star Wars series, which is now ready to open once and for all. This is what this fourth episode is: the moment of total openness to a plot that mixes rebellion, espionage and political thriller, without particular simplifications of any kind or useless pompous action. And we can only feel more and more galvanized.

Andor Episode 4 Review: The Story

We quickly find Luthen (Stellan Skarsgard) trying to convince Cassian (Diego Luna) to join his cause, which he still considers a waste of time since defeating the Empire is simply impossible. The mysterious stranger, however, at least manages to hire him, for a hefty fee, for a job, that is to steal the imperial wages of an entire sector to at least destabilize – even if only momentarily – a suffocating dominion. Landed on the planet, Andor immediately realizes the madness of such a plan and at the same time the impossibility of backing out, while we finally discover Luthen’s identity and his relationship with a senator well known to Star Wars fans.

Now, first of all, we reiterate that the pace of the series remains rather slow and staid, disinterested in easy paths and much more determined to calmly build its premises from time to time; in a nutshell, once a macro-narrative arc is finished, another opens, treated in the same and exquisite style, despite some flaws in the timing that we have recognized since our first look of Andor. However, it is again easy to forgive such shortcomings to dive into the immense quantity of aspects that the Disney + proposal brings to the screen practically to perfection, with a complexity and maturity that we did not expect from the Star Wars brand.

Andor Episode 4 Review and Analysis

For example, the fourth episode highlights something that has never been properly explored since 1977 (if not slightly in Rogue One or in the fourth season of Rebels): the brutality of the Empire, especially the daily one. which made his presence unbearable in the far distant galaxy. Brilliantly exploiting the superb ability to create lively and pulsating environments, Andor gives us the first taste of it and now presents us with a people who have stolen everything from imperial rule, from the lands to be cultivated to their dearest habits and holidays. And that now he rightly wants to take revenge, at least as much as possible, no matter the limited availability of resources and men.

Not to mention the political plot that begins to unravel around the figure of Luthen, with almost anxious traits due to the continuous tricks to be concocted and an infinite network of lies to be carried out to evade the omnipresent spies – and here Gilroy’s hand feels all. It also helps and not a little the sensational interpretation of Skarsgard, which like a Superman / Clark Kent in the Star Wars universe radically changes appearance and personality with the help of a single aesthetic object, since it seems to admire two different characters. Andor to conclude, it remains one of the most intriguing and authorial productions in the intricate and varied panorama of commercial productions, certainly one of the most daring with the hope that it will continue like this.

Andor Episode 4 Review: The Last Words

Andor is confirmed as one of the most interesting and authorial series of the complex panorama of commercial productions, capable once again of rejecting simple and unnecessarily spectacular paths to baste its narrative after the conclusion of the first macro-arc. And he does it precisely with his consolidated pace and slow and staid, with his exquisite in-depth look at the characters and their humanity, despite the feeling that a little more speed could be inserted. But they are genuinely minor details compared to how much beauty Andor brings to the screen, this time taking full advantage of his superb ability to create a living, pulsating setting to give a first taste of the Empire’s daily brutality. Just as it turns out to be complex and at times a little anxious the political and spy thriller plot that begins to unravel around Luthen. In short, with this episode, Andor opens completely, and the foundations are potentially amazing.