Maxance Vincent
Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for episodes ten to twelve of Andor – Season 2.
Another great show has ended quicker than we would’ve hoped, but the final episodes of Andor – Season 2 have solidified it as the best Star Wars title since The Last Jedi. It didn’t beat it, but it came pretty damn close. It also repurposes the beginning of Rogue One in ways I didn’t expect. Whether or not it will ultimately make the film better, I’ll let you discover that on your own, as I think that movie is a story of two creative minds that are so far apart from one another that, once they eventually clash, it becomes nothing but a jumbled, often uninteresting blockbuster.
Still, this week’s Andor director, Alonso Ruizpalacios, and writer Tom Bissell at least make us think about Rogue One in a much different way than Tony Gilroy and Gareth Edwards did in 2016. That’s to their credit, especially the final episode, which is far more meditative than I would’ve thought. Though it makes sense, it’s the calm before the storm. Seeing Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay), and Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) ruminate on what they have to do to stop the Empire fills us with so much dread, not only in how heavy-handed each line of dialogue spoken by the characters feel (notice how Sartha is unable to say Cinta’s name as she toasts to the fallen with Cassian), but in how all of us know what will happen at the end of Rogue One. Cassian won’t make it back, and many stationed in Yavin will also meet the same fate.
What they don’t know is that they will ultimately succeed, and their sacrifices will pave the way for the rebellion to ultimately thwart the Empire. It will take time, but they will win. Meditating with these characters as they make their final choices was such an unexpected choice for the finale that I have to respect Gilroy, Ruizpalacios, and Bissell for going this route. They could’ve absolutely chosen to have a massive action setpiece like in the final episode of season one. There is one nifty, thrilling gunfight that opens the series finale, but it’s far more intimate and subdued than the riot in the first season. Choosing Ruizpalacios as the director is also the most inspired choice Star Wars has made in ages, because he has a touch that few have in the game right now, especially when capturing their characters at their most intimate and vulnerable.
Consider the tenth episode, which tackles Luthen Rael’s (Stellan Skarsgård) death. Andor is nowhere to be found. The episode entirely focuses on Luthen, who, after Lonni Jung (Robert Emms) tells him of Orson Krennic’s (Ben Mendelsohn) plans for the construction of the Death Star, using Emperor Palpatine’s “Energy Project” as a front to fund and build a superweapon, kills his Imperial plant and tells Kleya everything. At his art shop, he is visited by none other than Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), who has finally caught “Axis” red-handed and is about to arrest him, until she realizes that Luthen has burned all of the evidence down and attempts to kill himself. On life support, Kleya must make a decision that will have massive repercussions for her and for the future of the rebellion.
Luthen and Kleya are, right now, the only ones who know about the Death Star. Luthen is in the Empire’s hands. If he wakes up, Meero’s methods will ensure he will tell everything. She has no choice but to make the difficult decision of killing him, and this is where Ruizpalacios cuts to the past, where we see fragments of Luthen’s life as a corporal, as he meets Kleya and mentors her into being part of the rebellion, as a resistance fighter. We don’t get to see much of her past, but we do sit with her as she remembers the most important parts of her time with Luthen, making the decision of cutting him off life support all the more difficult and heartbreaking. The final shot, a lingering frame of Luthen’s corpse as the episode slowly fades to black, is a potent visual of a soul’s last moment on this planet before it drifts away. Star Wars has never been this spiritual, but Ruizpalacios adds a surprising poetic dimension that gives it way more dramatic power than if he hadn’t chosen to end it this way.
The eleventh episode deals with the aftermath of Luthen’s failed arrest, with Krennic interrogating Meero and jailing her for having gone against the Empire’s orders. Mendelsohn is in top form as one of Palpatine’s right-hand men and finally gives us the Krennic we know and love from Rogue One after holding it back all season. It’s a great final moment for a character that has always been one of the high points of the 2016 film, alongside K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), finally making his debut in helping Cassian and Melshi (Duncan Pow) rescue Kleya before the Empire finds her. When he directly answers “No” to an Imperial soldier asking him, “Are you with us?” it’s exactly the K-2SO we knew from that movie, despite his limited screentime. It’s a rudimentary episode that leads to the season’s staggering finale, but the moments where Kleya is alone, contemplating her past and future, are filled with so much intense power that we can’t help but sympathize with a character who has, before Luthen’s death, shown very little emotion, and encouraged others to do so.
Where Andor – Season 2 solidifies its place as one of the best-ever Star Wars titles occurs in the final episode, as Cassian discusses what he has discovered with Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt), Davits Draven (Alistair Petrie), and Nower Jebel (Sharon Duncan-Brewster). At first, they don’t believe in the Death Star’s existence, but Mothma has an inkling that Cassian may very well be telling the truth, which gets confirmed after she has a heart-to-heart with Vel. We then see the characters move into their respective places in a montage, with Cassian and K2 traveling to Jedha, where Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) has been holding, as Krennic looks at the finished Death Star, Partagaz (Anton Lesser) commits suicide, and Dedra is imprisoned.
However, the biggest emotional gut-punch comes during its final scene, where Ruizpalacios reveals Bix Caleen’s (Adria Arjona) fate. Not only is she safe and alive, but she is also carrying her child. The child she conceived with Cassian, whom he doesn’t know – and will never know – of his existence. When that realization occurs, Ruizpalacios cuts to black. Nothing more needs to be said. Cassian will die as a hero, and his legacy will live on. The Empire will be defeated. And the Force will be with the ones who resist, always.
All episodes of Andor – Season 2 are now available to stream on Disney+.
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