Created by Tony Gilroy
1.05 “The Axe Forgets”
Written by Dan Gilroy
Directed by Susana White
Starring Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Kyle Soller, Genevieve O'Reilly, Faye Marsay
New episodes Wednesdays on Disney+

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring

An early scene in this episode features Syril (Kyle Soller), now ex-Pre-Mor security, sitting across from his mother, Eedy (Kathryn Hunter) eating cereal. I want to pause for a moment just to celebrate the fact that cereal is canon in Star Wars. Okay, good. Syril holds a small puffed grain orb between his fingers, the piece of cereal resembling a planet, as he contemplates his entire world. Befitting its place in the middle of this three episode arc, that’s the central theme of “The Axe Forgets.” All of the storylines from the previous episode are advanced along, but this entry is focused on character motivation and worldview. 

On Aldhani, Cassian continues to learn more about the heist and the team he’s been inserted into. Karis (Alex Lawther) is a true believer in an ideological sense. He bemoans the dramatic shift of the Republic to the Empire, and is reportedly writing a manifesto to attract others to the cause. Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is the most skeptical of Cassian (Diego Luna), leading to even more tension among the team. While Cassian chastises him about having pre-mission jitters, it leads to both men sharing their truth. Cassian reveals he’s a mercenary, while Skeen shares the tragedy of his brother’s suicide. “The axe forgets, but the tree remembers,” says Skeen. Tyranny kills secondhandedly, just as much as it does acting out violence directly, and sows the seeds of the rebellions to come, either way. Meanwhile, occasional TIE fighter patrols reinforce the omnipresent threat to our crew, as well as give yet another great example of this show using all of the tools at their disposal from location shooting to sound design. Andor feels like it is raising the bar for sound and visual quality in small screen Star Wars. 

Meanwhile on Ferrix, Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) Supervisor Blevin (Ben Bailey Smith) installs Imperial control. Syril’s failure has only opened the eye of the Empire onto the previously quiet planet, and they are quickly establishing a base of operations there. One of the other threads we see across the Empire is morale. Supervisor Jung asks to have the title prefect, despite the fact that it doesn’t actually mean everything, and on Aldhani, the men stationed there value the celestial event—the same one the Rebels want to use as cover for their heist—as one of the only upsides to being stationed on the lightly populated planet. As the Empire’s tentacles reach out to control the galaxy, morale begins to be a potential weak point.

The rest of our characters are on Coruscant, joining our Aldhani and Ferrix friends in contemplating their place in all of this. Syril and his mother try to figure out his next move. While she admonishes him that, “any civilized being knows an open invitation is no invitation at all,” I was reminded about the way we include people in our lives. Yet again, it points to how solitary Syril’s life was while with Pre-Mor. What does he really have to lose? This episode also gives us an even better view into Mon Mothma’s (Genevieve O'Reilly) home life. There’s a distance between her and her family, especially her husband, Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie). Riding in their car, they are both wedged on opposite sides of the bench seat, a physical manifestation of that distance. I am looking forward to finding out how much Perrin and Leida, their daughter, know about Mon’s rebellious activities. Also on Coruscant, ISB Supervisor Dedra (Denise Gough) starts to piece together a pattern that is so random it points to a deliberateness, and Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) waits to hear from the team on Aldhani. 

While there are no major plot moves in this episode, I love how Andor is fleshing out its world and especially the characters within. Star Wars is often thought of as a binary, with everything being black and white. Andor is actively working in the space in between, while still filling in the pieces in the larger story of the Galactic Civil War.