I can see why the show released these three episodes all at once. They definitely function as a unit, taking their time to establish the state of affairs on Ferrix, the major inciting incident of Cassian’s past, and the jumping-off point for how we’re going to move forward.
Cassian prepares to meet with Luthen Rael, the buyer who can hopefully give him the means to get off the planet and lay low until the heat dies down. But Karn and his Pre-Mor men are closing in fast—the city is bristling on the edge, and Cassian gets more than he bargained for in dealing with Luthen.
I just love how Ferrix is characterized here. From what I can tell, the people in this city aren’t capital-R Rebels, but that doesn’t mean they meekly accept their lot under the Empire’s thumb via Pre-Mor. They fight back in what ways they can, major and minor, and while some are specifically trying to help Cassian avoid capture, others are in it simply to prove that the Empire doesn’t own them. It reminds me a little of the scenes on Jedha in Rogue One. Both do a nice job of showing what it’d be like actually living under the Empire’s rule, away from the epic battles and structured resistance. There’s more to the galaxy than just the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, and this episode in particular gives us a strong feel of what it’s like to be neither. This is the prelude to what’s coming, the growing anger of a people that have been pushed around too long. “Gets to you, doesn’t it?” Maarva asks a Pre-Mor officer. “That’s what a reckoning sounds like. You want it to stop, but it just keeps coming.”
So far, the flashbacks have largely made me curious for what they haven’t yet revealed, but this time around, I really like how the flashbacks are woven into the episode as a whole. We slip in and out of them at resonant moments, highlighting parallels and heightening present-day emotions as we learn how Cassian and Maarva came into one another’s lives. There’s some complex stuff going on here, and while the flashbacks here give a sense of wrapping up Cassian’s Kenari backstory, I feel like there’s more still to come.
Today’s featured character is Bix, played by Adria Arjona (Anathema Device from Good Omens.) A salvage yard worker, Bix is a close friend of Cassian’s. They’ve done some light black-market work together, and Bix is the one who arranges the meeting between Cassian and Luthen. Like a lot of people in Cassian’s life, she recognizes how much harder he can make things for himself and urges him to keep his nose clean, but when he’s in trouble, she comes through to help him. Bix is a very down-to-earth character—she feels genuine, and I buy the history between her and Cassian after just a handful of scenes.
Diego Luna is so damn good in this episode. We get the “it’s easy to steal from the Empire” speech from the trailer, which is so incisive in context. Cassian is filled with a lot of anger and pain, and while he rightfully places much of that at the feat of the Empire, he’s not actively fighting back, not yet. Rather, he’s willing to do what he needs in order to survive, and if he has to scrounge and steal to stay alive, who better to rob than his oppressors? You can feel his contempt as he tells Luthen the Empire is “so fat and satisfied” that they could never conceive “that someone like [Cassian] would ever get inside their house. Walk their floors, spit in their food, take their gear.”
In his dealings with Luthen, we see his wariness and distrust, the way he seems almost coiled, as if he’s preparing to bolt the second he needs to. Despite the many people on Ferrix who care about him, and the many ways he calls on them when he’s in a bind, he’s cultivated this attitude that he’s ultimately the only one he can depend on. He’s immature and inexperienced, making rookie mistakes because he’s hardwired in survival mode and isn’t thinking clearly. But for all of that, there’s a steeliness and a savviness to him too, and that helps him keep going just long enough to scrape by another day.
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