This article contains spoilers for Andor episode six.
Andor episode six — “The Eye” — is here, and its quality underlines that anyone who even remotely considers themselves a Star Wars fan should be watching this show. After two episodes of building up the characters and establishing the stakes, we finally saw the long-awaited heist on the Imperial base and it lived up to every single expectation we had.
Up until this episode, we were reticent to put Andor up there with the absolute best of Star Wars, but this episode was a home run in every regard and deserves to be ranked among the finest things in the franchise. Naturally, fans are loving it, though developments late in the episode provided some seriously heartwrenching moments.
Spoilers for Andor episode six follow.
Andor fans mourn the show’s most loveable Rebel
Prior to “The Eye,” many predicted that members of the Aldhani Rebel cell wouldn’t make it to the credits. That proved sadly accurate, with Lieutenant Gorn and Taramyn Barcona both dying from blaster fire and Arvel Skeen proving a duplicitous snake and being promptly dispatched by Cassian Andor.
But it’s Alex Lawther’s Karis Nemik that really hurts. Karis was the youngest and most idealistic member of the team and was assembling a manifesto against Imperial rule. He was so likable many viewers saw the sword dangling over him in previous episodes, though for a moment it looked like he’d made it out of the heist unscathed. Sadly, the sudden acceleration of the transport craft crushed him between two heavy crates of loot and, after providing crucial directions to escape the interstellar bombardment, he died on a surgeon’s table.
Fans are distraught, we’ll really miss the guy, and we just hope his manifesto reaches the right people. Still, if we’re currently enjoying a show about a character we know dies in Rogue One, why not a prequel show about Karis? Stranger things have happened!
Jar Jar Binks actor promises the real BTS story of The Phantom Menace
Jar Jar Binks is despised by the fandom, it’s no secret. Even so, that doesn’t mean anyone should take this out on actor Ahmed Best, who was only doing what George Lucas’ directed him to do.
Best has previously revealed that he’s suffered so much abuse from fans that he once considered suicide, claiming he received no support from Lucasfilm or anyone involved in the movies. Now he’s saying that “it’s time for my version of how it all went down“, which it seems will be delivered as a one-man live show. We’re always interested to learn any juicy BTS Star Wars secrets, though we draw the line at rehabilitating the most excruciatingly awful character in the franchise.
The Andor rebels just stole a truly ridiculous amount of money
The last three episodes of Andor have all been about stealing the 80 million in Imperial credits secured deep in the Aldhani base. Now that it’s in Rebel hands, fans have been wondering just how much this is really worth, with theories ranging from around $115 million to a colossal $1 billion. One figure we do know is that an X-Wing costs 150k credits (as per the Star Wars: X-Wing Deluxe Book), meaning the Andor crew just swiped enough cash to buy 533 shiny new fighters.
If accurate, that means this one operation will be able to fund the Rebellion for years and underlines how important it is in bringing down the Empire. However, it’s also been pointed out that Star Wars economics is rarely consistent across media, so perhaps we should just think of this haul as “a huge amount of money”.
A devastating callback to a Rogue One sacrifice
A tiny moment in this week’s Andor has fans with great memories, linking it to a sad scene in Rogue One. As detailed above, fan-favorite Rebel Karis suffers a fatal injury while escaping the Imperial base. But, even when mortally wounded, Karis continues to provide directions to Cassian, telling him to “climb! climb!” to escape the crystals falling through the atmosphere.
This is a direct reference to Cassian’s future robot companion K-2SO sacrificing his life in Rogue One to save Cassian and Jyn Erso. As K-2SO operates a control panel he’s shot to pieces by Stormtroopers and with his final words he tells the pair to “climb! climb!”.
Rogue One and Andor are both written by Tony Gilroy, so this connection can’t be a coincidence. Whatever its eventual significance, it’s a nice touch in linking the two halves of Cassian Andor’s Star Wars saga.
A urinary Star Wars first
Last, but by no means least, fans quickly identified Andor‘s new episode as breaking new ground in depicting on-screen bodily functions by showing someone peeing. This came early in the episode, in which a passing Imperial showed how little he thought of Aldhani by taking a leak in public, just avoiding the Rebels hiding nearby.
Other fans have pointed out that we’ve seen various creatures pee in the animated shows and video games, but we think this is the first instance of a humanoid character doing it in live-action. None of this is exactly headline news, but at least it makes the Star Wars universe feel more fleshed out and lived in.
That’s all for today, though with such a rich episode we’re sure as more fans check it out they’ll spot new Easter Eggs tucked away in the corners.
