In the Flesh: Andor S1E02: That Would Be Me

I like the anvil-striker guy (Neil Bell), enigmatically referred to in the credits as the “time grappler”, who hammers out the hour on Ferrix. Watching him get set up for his evening routine with no preamble or exposition is the kind of small pleasure that makes a fictional world feel real. As the reverberations of each mallet stroke fade into the cool of dusk, Ferrix prepares for the end of the workday, scrappers and merchants and all manner of sci-fi laborers trudging home or to bars and cantinas through the narrow streets and alleys under hanging wires and dusty lights. It’s a marked contrast to the morning commute of one Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), who arrives on the planet by private spacecraft and slips unnoticed into the bustle and flow of aerial traffic headed to Cassian’s home city. Skarsgård plays Rael with a reserve just short of arrogance, and his facial acting and body language as he first attempts to brush off and then bemusedly allows himself to be talked at by a garrulous fellow commuter are a subtle little masterclass in communicating character. In the space of a conversation we learn not just incidental background about Ferrix, but that Rael, while he might prefer his own company, is not without kindness or a sense of humor. His counterpart, who goes uncredited, is equally adept, taking apparent pleasure in winkling the other man ever so slightly out of his shell.

Maarva (Fiona Shaw), Cassian’s adoptive mother, and her caretaker/assistant B2EMO (Dave Chapman) round out the main cast. The pair make an effective screen presence, slightly decrepit but still full of vital energy and powerful emotions, Maarva at once needy and blustery, the squat droid equal parts doleful and childlike. Kyle Soller remains compelling as Syril Karn, whose attempt to make an end run around his complacent boss finds a willing ally in fireplug sergeant Linus Mosk (Alex Ferns), a jackbooted career soldier with apparent combat experience. The interplay between the two is some of the show’s best comedy so far, especially when Karn attempts to replicate and expand on Mosk’s rousing speech to a strike force they’ve assembled to pursue Cassian only to flounder in corporate speak and empty repetition. “Very inspiring, sir,” Mosk ensures him with a consoling pat on the shoulder. Once again, Andor’s writers prove deftly able to sketch new characters in the space of only a few moments.

‘That Would Be Me’ doesn’t boast much in the way of momentum, but there’s a certain sense of things drawing taut that keeps it animate enough to function as an independent narrative, if only just. Factor in the gorgeous orbital images and the fearsome images of abandoned strip mines on young Cassian’s homeworld and some sort of scale and thematic scope begins to take shape. Taken together with the show’s first installment, it plays far better as an extension of its preceding episode than it does as a standalone piece of television. If the same holds true for the third, the whole trio of opening episodes would have been far better served as a little movie without the hassle of arbitrary breaks for credits. Still, it’s a minor quibble, and if Andor is taking its time moving its pieces into place, there’s no shortage of interesting things to look at and listen to while it does.