History Recap / AndorS1E8Narkina5

* ChekhovsGun: Maarva had been trying to pry open the floodgates that leads to the tunnels under the hotel, so that rebels could sneak in. It's dismissed by Bix and Brasso as her [[ScatterbrainedSenior starting to become senile]], but will prove important later.

* ChekhovsGun:
** Maarva had been trying to pry open the floodgates that leads to the tunnels under the hotel, so that rebels could sneak in. It's dismissed by Bix and Brasso as her [[ScatterbrainedSenior starting to become senile]], but will prove important later.
** The heavy components that the prisoners at Narkina 5 have been making are shown in the final stinger in the season finale. [[spoiler: They are anchor segments that will hold parts together that will make up the superlaser dish on the Death Star.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Maarva had been trying to pry open the floodgates that leads to the tunnels under the hotel, so that rebels could sneak in. It's dismissed by Bix and Brasso as her [[ScatterbrainedSenior starting to become senile]], but will prove important later.

* CrypticBackgroundReference: Saw lists a host of Rebel groups and condemns them all as "lost". These begin with recognizable or understandable names such as Separatists, neo-Republicans, and the Ghorman Front, and continue on to the Partisan Alliance, sectorists, human cultists, and galaxy partitionists -- all names of unknown significance, other than that they're organizations or ideologies that see reason to oppose the Empire.

* BaitAndSwitch: Kino is introduced as if he's going to be a BadBoss and leading impediment to Cassian in his time on Narkina 5. Instead he turns out to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who is determined to serve his time and get out with a minimum of trouble and discomfort.

%%* BreadAndCircuses: Downplayed as the food is explicitly not rationed to prevent hunger.%%Poor context example.

* NondescriptNastyNutritious: Each cell of the prison has a slot where some sort of paste comes out to feed the prisoners. It's said they can have as much as they want, and you get used to the taste.

* PragmaticVillainy: On Narkina 5, despite the incredibly harsh conditions, prisoners can eat as much of the nutrient sludge as they'd like, since even the Empire knows there's no point in starving your labour force.

* ThousandYardStare: Cassian sports a perpetual empty stare the whole time he's in prison that bears shades of anxiety, fear, and total dissociation as he tries to ignore what's happening to him.

* BreadAndCircuses: Downplayed as the food is explicitly not rationed to prevent hunger.

* ChekhovsGun: Maarva had been trying to pry open the floodgates that leads to the tunnels under the hotel, so that rebels could sneak in. It's dismissed by Bix and Brasso as her [[ScatterbrainedSenior starting to become senile]] [[spoiler: but Cassian uses those exact tunnels to rescue Bix in [[Recap/AndorS1E12RixRoad the finale]]]].

* DeadlyEnvironmentPrison: Narkina 5 has this twofold- the prison buildings themselves are artificial islands suspended in {{Sea Sinkhole}}s that would likely result in anyone who jumps overboard getting sucked underwater and through the hydroelectric dams, and all of the floors in the prison are electrified, with prisoners kept barefoot while guards wear thick-soled boots. The prisoners' cells also don't even have doors on them, because the electrified corridor floor will kill anyone who touches it.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The giant decontamination chamber Cassian and 49 other men are shoved into strongly resembles a futuristic version of a gas chamber at a Nazi concentration camp. Another concentration camp parallel is the fact that Narkina 5 appoints certain prisoners as managers who oversee and have a bit of power over their fellow inmates, very similar to the Nazis' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo Kapos]].

** The Empire loading up prisoners on their Prisoner Transports is what its successor state, [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance the First Order would later do with loading up prisoners from the Colossus on their AAL-1971/9.1 Troop Transports]].

* CallForward: One of Cassian's work-mates at his table is Ruescott Melshi, a future Rebel comrade and co-commander of the ''Film/RogueOne'' squadron.

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: One night, a man in Cassian's cellblock commits suicide after lights-out by stepping onto the electrified floor. The other prisoners have become so complacent with their situations that they mostly complain about having to smell his corpse for the rest of the night, and one even comments that he has no sympathy for anyone who commits suicide in the sleeping quarters.

* DeadlyEnvironmentPrison: Narkina 5 has this twofold- the prison buildings themselves are artificial islands suspended in {{Sea Sinkhole}}s that would most likely result in anyone who jumps overboard getting sucked under the water, and all of the floors in the prison are electrified, with prisoners kept barefoot while guards wear thick-soled boots. The prisoners' cells also don't even have doors on them, because the electrified corridor floor will kill anyone who touches it.

* NoOSHACompliance: The Narkina 5 prison is a forced labor facility where prisoners handle power tools and manipulate large, heavy equipment and machine parts for twelve hours a day, machine parts that are big enough to need several men to lift, and yet they're required to do so by hand. The men are not permitted nor offered any kind of protective gear, they're kept barefoot at all times, and the prison's focus on maximum productivity strongly implies they're punished for or not permitted to take bathroom breaks.

* DarkestHour: This is the bleakest episode of the show seen by far. The Imperials start cracking down on Ferrix and arrest Bix, Cassian is sent to a labor prison where with a sentence of at lest six years, Luthen unsuccessfully tries to get separate Rebel factions to work with one another, and Vel and Cinta deal with separation from each other while on their missions.

* DarkestHour: So far, this is the bleakest episode of the show seen by far. The Imperials start cracking down on Ferrix and arrest Bix, Cassian is sent to a labor prison where with a sentence of at lest six years, Luthen unsuccessfully tries to get separate Rebel factions to work with one another, and Vel and Cinta deal with separation from each other while on their missions.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Prisoners on Narkina 5 are forced to go barefoot while guards wear thick insulated shoes. The entire floor is conductive and can be used to electrify prisoners who get out of line.
* TheAlcatraz: The factory prison complex on Narkina 5 that Cassian is sent to. Prisoners are worked to the bone and pitted against each other to stay on top of the productivity food chain, and conductive floors are used to keep the population in line. It's set on a floating complex in the middle of a large lake or inland sea, with several others like this also nearby.
* ArrangedMarriage: Mon Mothma and Perrin were married to each other when they were 15 years old in an arranged marriage, which is apparently customary among Chandrilans of their social class. This goes a long way to explain why the marriage seems so dysfunctional.
* AsceticAesthetic: The plants of Narkina 5 are stark white without a speck of dirt, highlighting the efficiency and order. Even the prisoners' sleeping and eating areas are cleaned daily. When one of the prisoners commits suicide, it's implied that his body will be quickly removed and the place cleaned up without a second thought.
* BarefootCaptives: The prisoners are ordered to remove their shoes aboard the prison transport, and they remain barefoot in the Narkina 5 plant. The guards electrocute them via the conductive floor to keep them in line.

* FoodAsBribe: The workers are fed a flavorless sludge from hoses in their cells that they are nonetheless permitted to eat as much of as they'd like, so they're fed for work. The best workers are rewarded with flavor.

* PenalColony: Cassian is sent to the title moon, which holds many prisons built on artificial islands where prisoners are forced to labor in factories. Another destination mentioned when he's sent off is Belsavis, likely another example ([[MythologyGag as it was]] in [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends the old EU]]).

* PrisonersWork: Cassian and the other prisoners are put to work assembling some kind of part.

* RuleOfSeven: Everything in the Narkina 5 prison is in sevens- prisoners work in teams of seven, there are seven teams to a room, seven rooms to a floor, seven floors to a section, and when Cassian is first arriving, the audience can see seven heptagon-shaped (seven-sided) prison-islands.
* SeaSinkhole: The Narkina 5 prison complexes are a technological version, with an obvious rim constructed around the pit that the ocean drains into.

* ShoutOut: Narkina 5's oppressive white colors, prison jumpsuits, shock rods, guards, forced labor, and the way the electrified floors induce muscle spasms all reference Creator/GeorgeLucas's feature film debut, ''Film/THX1138''.