The Rebels Are a Hot Mess in ‘Star Wars: Andor’

Know our beloved Rebels who can take on the Empire and come out on the other end successful? Well, they’re not quite there yet in Star Wars: Andor. Throughout the Rogue One prequel series thus far, we’ve watched as the Rebellion is just beginning. There are whispers of those who want to fight back against the Empire, Mon Mothma is doing what she can to fund it without being caught, and we got to see Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) playing all sides of the coin.

But in episode 5, titled “The Axe Forgets,” we really got to see how the Rebels are doing, and well, they have a little bit of work to do before they’re posing a threat to the Empire. Right now, what is on their side is that the Empire is too in its own head to recognize what is happening. We have characters like Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), trying to call out what is happening around the galaxy but no one wants to listen to her.

Other than that, though, the Rebellion is operating mostly in separate sectors and in the shadows. So seeing how this “Rebel base” on Aldhani is operating is our only look (currently) into the Rebellion and how it is working, and well, let’s just say: At least Cassian was there to try to help.

At least Cassian knows

I love this rag-tag team so much. No one trusts one another, they’re all ready to fight, and yet they don’t even seem to have the basics down. Clem (which is the name Cassian is going by) joins their team because Luthen tells Vel (Faye Marsay) that he’s there to help, and Cassian is there because Luthen said he’d pay him (but also because he has no where else to go after fleeing).

But this is the first time that we’re really seeing what Cassian has to offer the Rebellion versus what the Rebellion has to offer him. Back in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we got the now iconic line from Cassian saying that he’s been in this fight since he was six years old. But we also saw him interacting with a Rebellion that, for the most part, knew what they were doing and the stakes that they had.

This team? Well, they’re all a bit mismatched. We have characters like Nemik (Alex Lawther) who seem to love working on things to make their jobs easier and he’s so excited to talk about them, but then there is Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who trusts no one and even goes behind the back of someone like “Clem” despite knowing that Cassian had to flee and knowing more about him than anyone else (with the exception of Vel). Vel doesn’t even tell Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu), who seems to be her right hand, about Clem.

There are some who have an idea of what needs to be done, like Taramyn (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr), but even he gets questioned by Cassian on his plan.

Cassian and Taramyn

One of the first clues that Taramyn and Vel might not know exactly what to do is when Clem is called into a meeting with them and they begin asking him questions. Cassian, knowing when he’s being tricked, realizes quickly that their “test” is actually them asking him for advice despite neither or them saying as much. They don’t have a plan that gets them flying out of the Empire base they’re targeting. They don’t know how to do it.

Cassian, for his part, makes it clear that he’ll fly it out and that if he’s putting himself in this danger, he’s going to be in control of it, and they seem to reluctantly agree. But then later in the episode, Cassian again begins to question the team in a polite way: by pointing out that they’re all in the wrong formation as “soldiers” walking.

He asks if they should switch sides and everyone begins to question him on why they would, and he starts to point out who is left handed and right handed or who favors shooting with what hand. It’s a simple observation but the kind that they need to be aware of when trying to pretend to be part of the Imperial army.

That’s the stuff that would get them caught, and it’s here that we already see how in-tune Cassian is with the Rebellion even before it becomes the Rebellion we know and love. He knows how to work the system to their favor, and while we’re going to have to wait until next week to see how the mission goes, I think that Cassian’s ability to note how the Empire would view them might come in handy. I just hope that my lovely little team all comes out alive, or I will be sad.

(featured image: Lucasfilm)