'Andor' Season Two Review (Part 3): The Galaxy Is Watching
"Messenger," "Who Are You?," and "Welcome To The Rebellion" tell one of the most harrowing stories in Star Wars history...
Andor has never been shy about challenging its audience to reflect on how what we see on screen mirrors what’s happening in our world.
Like George Lucas before him, Tony Gilroy has crafted a story that is not a one-to-one parallel to any one event but is inspired by a mix of history and the present. That mix ensures that it has a timeless quality, while remaining sharp in its critique of the present. The Emperor is not Trump, and Ghorman is not Gaza; the show doesn’t trivialize these issues by simply transplanting them into a galaxy far, far away. But it still gives the audience the room to ask if we find ourselves being moved by what we see on the show, shouldn’t we be equally moved by what is happening in our world? (Yes, the answer to that question is yes.)
Take Mon’s speech to the senate, naming Palpatine as responsible for the Ghorman massacre. “The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss,” she proclaims. “Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monsters scream the loudest.”
The idea of leaders creating a false reality to take, maintain, and grow their power did not begin with Donald Trump. It has been with us long before the current president, and it will be with us long after him. In this way, Mon’s words are timeless, universal. They can be true to almost any period of history in our world or Star Wars. But there’s no denying they feel even more pertinent now. They carry more of a bite.
When Padme says, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause,” in Revenge of the Sith, it feels heavier now than it even did in 2005. Like Mon’s speech, it is a timeless observation that democracies are given away rather than taken away. In 2005, it was a hypothetical; Lucas was warning us of what would happen if we weren’t careful. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it feels disturbingly relevant to our times.
Mon’s speech doesn’t need hindsight, we’re living through exactly the sort of thing she is talking about. It’s not a one-to-one, but it’s damn close. But that closeness comes not from the fact that the show is creating an allegory for today, but rather that the issues we face are universal.
The response to objective reality dying a slow death is not to roll over and let it happen. We condemn the Senators who speak out in support of Imperial martyrs and turn a blind eye to the arrest of the Ghorman Senator, within the Senate building, no less! If we watch Andor and are disturbed by what we see on screen, then we should follow the lead of the characters going through it. Mon takes action. She speaks out for what she believes, as frightening as that may be.
Andor has done an incredible job over a season and a half of showing us another side of Mon. When Mon Mothma shows up in other stories, like Rebels or Ahsoka, she is usually portrayed as unflappable, but here we see just how scared she is when she speaks up. She’s afraid, but does it anyway. That’s true strength, not being fearless but overcoming your fears and staying true to your beliefs, whatever the risks and whatever the costs.
The Ghorman massacre itself is another example of the show shocking its audience with imagery and sounds that are eerily familiar to what is happening around the world right now. The shock of Stormtroopers and other Imperial troops surrounding the crowd of peaceful protestors and then opening fire created arguably the most visceral and harrowing sequences in all of Star Wars. There is nowhere for the Ghor to go, nowhere to hide. They have no choice but to hope they don’t get hit. There is nothing they can do in that moment to stop the killing.
The sounds of shots fired and explosions, along with people screaming and crying out in pain (both physical and emotional), convey just how hopeless the situation is. To underscore the horror, in the final moments of the episode, we hear the frantic calls for help from Dreena and others as the massacre played out: “Is there no one who can help us?”
It’s hard not to think of the panicked videos and audios seen and heard out of Gaza for the last year and a half when you hear Dreana’s plea. The horrors are unthinkable, there is nowhere to escape to, and seemingly, no help is coming. Again, it’s not a one-to-one, and season two was written and mostly filmed before the war began. It’s just a sad fact of human history that these sorts of atrocities have happened many, many times before.
The answer, of course, is not apathy. And there’s a reason why this is the moment when Mon speaks out. If the audience is paying attention, they’ll notice that this is a breaking point for her. In her horror at what has happened to the Ghor, she chooses to make her voice heard in opposition to the Empire’s action, even if it comes with a personal risk to herself. As the episodes end, the question lingers in the air for the audience: How would you respond to this? And how are you responding to what is really happening?
Andor has rightly been praised for its high level of craftsmanship, and perhaps no episodes better embody the crew’s commitment to excellence than these. Every aspect of the massacre was expertly crafted. From the realization by characters like Carro Rylanz and Cassian that the whole thing is a trap, to the marching and chanting members of the Ghorman Front arriving at the square, to the song they all sing right up until the shooting starts.
Director Janus Metz and writer Dan Gilroy do an excellent job of showing the carnage while also keeping the focus on the characters. They show just enough and imply plenty more to convey the horrors without being overly gratuitous with the violence. A lot of this is achieved through tight close-ups on the characters experiencing the event. We see through the actors’ performances just how awful it is, even if we are spared the most gruesome details.
One of those characters is Syril Karn. Syril has always viewed the Empire as the bringers of justice, and he sees rebels like Cassian as agents of chaos and disorder. On Ghorman, he is finally confronted with the truth that the Empire is truly responsible for the pain and suffering in the galaxy.
Part of this epiphany comes from the time he spent infiltrating the Ghorman Front, he seems to have built an actual affinity for them. It would have been nice to see more of this (we’ll return to this point later), but Kyle Soller does an excellent job in his brief scenes with the Ghorman Front members to convey Syril’s reluctant but genuine respect for them.
The other, more impactful, aspect is the personal betrayal he experiences at the hands of Dedra. We learned last week that Dedra and Partagaz were using Syril, and Dedra was ok with keeping her lover in the dark about their true plans. As he unravels the mystery of what the Empire is doing on Ghorman, he slowly realizes that he’s been lied to.
For Syril, Dedra was an object of fascination, long before they were ever romantically linked. She was investigating Cassian, his original obsession, which drew him to her. He believed her to be a kindred spirit, also committed to the Empire’s mission to bring peace and justice to the galaxy. It’s only now that he realizes she’s only out for herself, climbing the fascist ladder to the highest rung she can achieve.
However, Dedra seems to have built up a genuine care for Syril and pleads with him to get out before things get bad. Her pitch to him is not dissimilar to Anakin’s pitch to Padme on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith. In both cases, there’s an element of trying to convince themselves that what they have done, all the pain they have inflicted, is somehow worth it.
Syril, like Padme, sees through it. He knows Ghorman is about to burn brightly, but can’t do anything about it. The injustice of what’s happening offends him, and the fact that the Empire he dedicated his life to is not only responsible for it but also used him to enable it is world-crushing for him. So when he sees Cassian, he sees one last chance at some form of justice. His pursuit of Andor put him on this path in the first place, and while he can’t stop Dedra or save Ghorman, he might finally be able to bring down someone he views as a villain.
The final insult for Syril comes when Cassian asks, “Who are you?” Syril has spent his whole life seeking the validation he never got from his mother. We saw last week how much Partagaz’s praise meant to him last week. So much of Syril’s life revolved around Cassian, but for him to not even be an afterthought in his target’s mind was as much of a shot to his spirit as Carro’s blaster shot to his head.
This season has seen a lot of death, including several prominent recurring characters, but Syril’s death feels different. We’ve been following his story since day one, and it was his pursuit of Cassian that jump-started his journey to becoming the rebel agent we see in Rogue One. He’s been a huge part of Andor, and his death feels significant; it’s a big reminder that we are reaching the end of the series, and most, if not all, of the characters won’t make it out alive.
Dedra, meanwhile, is in Cassian’s crosshairs—literally! It’s no surprise that in the second-to-last arc of the series, she’s being positioned as the final boss for the series. Like Syril, she’s been a big part of the series since the beginning. She oversaw the Imperial presence on Ferrix and, now, is responsible for the atrocities on Ghorman. If there’s anyone in the Empire Cassian will have a personal conflict it’s Dedra.
Even for a character like Dedra, the Ghorman massacre feels like a turning point. Denise Gough does a tremendous job portraying the conflict within Dedra as she grapples with what she’s asked to do. We’ve seen her be cruel before, and this was ultimately her plan, but the actual moment of truth tests her commitment to the Empire and the limits of her pursuit of power.
There was some speculation that Syril might get a redemption arc this season, and for a moment, it looked like things might be headed that way until he died. Now, I find myself wondering if there might be some form of redemption for Dedra in the last three episodes. We saw how she struggled with making the call. I’m not saying it’s likely, but a wracked by guilt, high-ranking ISB agent feeding the Rebellion information about, say, the Death Star would be a very Star Wars conclusion. Helping the rebels wouldn’t excuse her actions, but her working to bring down the Empire she committed atrocities for would make for an intriguing twist.
(She’ll probably remain a monster for the final episodes, but it would be nice if there’s one final turn in her story—even if it’s not the one I laid out here).
Andor has largely shied away from doing things that are “classic Star Wars,” so to speak. It has embraced the fact that it’s a story set within the Star Wars galaxy, while also eschewing many of the franchise’s most famous, or infamous, traits. It has always felt like it exists within a part of the galaxy that the Skywalker Saga hints at but never explores. Conversely, it will sometimes hint at the parts of the galaxy the films (and most other shows) focus on without dwelling for too long in those parts.
We get our most overt reference to that part of the galaxy in “Messenger,” when Cassian is visited by the Force healer. Not only is this the first mention of the Force in Andor, but it’s also the series’ first foray into any form of mysticism. Prophecy and spirituality are such a critical element to the Star Wars films, and here, our grounded, gritty, and realistic show finally acknowledges that.
I always enjoy hearing how different beings in Star Wars feel the Force, it’s part of what has made The High Republic books so enjoyable. The Force healer’s version, sensing the weight of things, is a great play on this.
Of course, we know she’s right about Cassian being a messenger. His final act, after all, is to transmit the Death Star plans to the Rebel Fleet. But in addition to being foreshadowing to his ultimate fate in Rogue One, it also works to sum up his character so far. He’s carrying the messages of all the characters he’s met and learned from over the years: Maarva, Nemik, Kino, Luthen, Vel, Brasso, Bix, etc. Each one of them has taught him something about revolution, like sacrifice, leadership, and commitment to the cause.
Even in the episode “Messenger,” when he helps Mon escape the Senate building, he is allowing her to carry her message of rebellion and hope forward. Having a mystical character call him a messenger was an excellent wink to those who know his future, while also summing up his arc so far for those who don’t know what happens in Rogue One. This has been Cassian’s story, and he will do that one more time during his final mission to Scarif.
The reveal that Bix believes she can also feel the Force is an intriguing wrinkle in the final weeks of the series, especially since she leaves at the end of “Welcome to the Rebellion.” If this were five years ago, we might be speculating that she would be getting her a spin-off show set after the events of Andor and Rogue One. But since Lucasfilm’s focus is shifting away from series and back towards movies, this feels very unlikely (though I would happily be proven wrong).
It will be interesting to see what, if any, role Bix plays in the final arc. I hope that she isn’t completely removed from the story, that would feel wrong given her importance thus far. But clearly, she thinks Cassian won’t ever embrace his destiny with her around. For as committed to the cause as he is, Cassian has also always longed for quiet. At the start of this arc, he wants to leave the Rebellion and run away with Bix. He made a similar pitch to Maarva in season one. But the women in his life know that this is a pipe dream. They will never truly know peace until the Empire is gone for good. And so she leaves.
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this turn of events. The motivation is understandable, but it also feels off for one of the main characters of the series to choose to sit out the finale. This is one area where the structure and release schedule for season two works could be a benefit. It allows Adria Arjona to return as Bix in the finale, while also allowing for the characters to have spent a year apart.
I’ve been trying to reserve judgment on the season structure until we can see the full picture, and for the first two weeks, I thought it worked well enough. It moved the timeline forward, but without making us feel like there were important moments that happened off-screen. There were other stories, of course, but the key moments in our characters’ lives would play out within the episodes.
This week, however, I felt something was missing by not having spent more time with the characters over the year between episodes. The first such moment comes early on when Vel and Bix have their heart-to-heart about Cassian. “I know you, Bix,” Vel says, even though we have never actually seen these two characters interact before. Of course, we can infer that they’ve met before, even gone on missions together, but the moment would have carried more meaning if at least one of those adventures had played out on screen.
Similarly, “Welcome to the Rebellion” relied heavily on the audience’s previous knowledge of other Star Wars projects to understand the relationship between Bail and Mon. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy Bail was part of this story, and I thought Benjamin Bratt did a fine job stepping into the role (even though I still missed Jimmy Smits), but the episode assumes we already know Mon and Bail’s Rebel partnership. This is fine if you’ve watched Rebels or read The Mask of Fear, but I think they could have used just a bit more context for new viewers.
A criticism often levelled at Ahsoka was that it didn’t make sense if you hadn’t seen Rebels and/or The Clone Wars. I always thought this was an overreaction, but there is certainly a ring of truth to the idea that new viewers will be at a disadvantage. I think the same can be said of the Mon/Bail scenes. Now, neither of these disadvantages is insurmountable; plenty of new viewers have loved both Ahsoka and Andor. But I can’t help but wonder if their scenes together would have hit even harder if we had another set of episodes with them working together on Rebel business and planning for their future on Yavin.
Both of these moments are victims of the decision to end the series with season two. The original plan for Andor was to do five seasons, but the realities of the production meant that it needed to be cut down. As such, the crew was left to pick and choose what was most important and then figure out how to write around the rest. Overall, I think they’ve done a very good job, and the episodes themselves have been truly great, but there are clearly compromises that needed to be made.
A moment they, understandably, felt obligated to include was the origin story for K-2SO. In the original version of Andor, before even Tony Gilroy ever came on board, K2 was meant to be a main character from the start. Then the series was restructured, and K2’s introduction was delayed until now.
And here is my unpopular opinion of this arc: I didn’t like how it was done.
I don’t hate it, but it felt out of place and perfunctory. It felt weird that, in the middle of the horrors of the Ghorman massacre, we stopped to pick up a dead droid. It’s only a few seconds, yes, but it felt like we were only doing it because we “had to.” We were taking away from the story being told to “do a Star War.” And the final scene of the arc, where K2 is “born,” also felt tacked on after Bix’s emotional goodbye video.
I understand what they were trying to do, too, with introducing K2 into Cassian’s life just as Bix walked out of it. And, on paper, the idea of him meeting his future best friend just as he loses his current best friend is a good one. Solo did this to perfection, having Chewie be there when Han loses Qi’Ra, so it doesn’t feel like he’s lost everything. The shot of Chewbacca putting his hand on Han’s shoulder as he watches his childhood best friend leave him behind is one of the most well-executed moments in that movie.
Again, Andor’s one-year gap between every three episodes structure hurts it. That moment between Han and Chewie works so well because we’ve seen them build up their relationship throughout the movie. Here, we get Cassian and K2’s first moment (which, I should mention, was very good), and then we’re going to jump a year forward in their lives. We won’t actually see that relationship develop and evolve. If there’s a criticism of Andor season two as a whole, I think it’s that we missed out on seeing that. Again, shrinking the length of the series has left so much potential on the table.
Regardless, I am very much looking forward to a “classic” Cassian and K2 adventure next week. K-2SO is one of the best new droids and was a highlight of Rogue One (a movie which had many highlights), so any opportunity to see more from him is more than welcome.
I still think Andor is one of the greatest Star Wars stories of all time. For as much as we’ve covered so far, there are still even more elements in these episodes that are worthy of praise and discussion. For example: Cassian and Mon’s first meeting and escape from the Senate were thrilling. This was the first time the two characters had been on screen together in the series, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. The tension as the ISB closed in on them, and the subtle nods in the writing as to how Luthen knew Bail’s people had been infiltrated, was superb writing.
Another place where the show did a really good job of adding some nice context to a moment in Rogue One was when the Ghorman hotel worker dropped the phrase “Rebellions are built on hope.” This moment could have felt cheesy, or like it was included just to give a backstory to a moment from the movie that didn’t need one. But Gilroy and co. managed to imbue it with enough weight within the episode that it doesn’t feel superfluous.
It comes from an unexpected place, the Hotel worker, Thela, who remembers Cassian from his last visit and prevents his colleague from reporting his visit to the authorities. It may be a small act, especially in the face of the horrors that follow on Ghorman, but it is an important one.
Even amid the growing Imperial presence and aggression on Ghorman, Thela doesn’t lose hope, for Ghorman or the galaxy. Rebellion requires looking at a hopeless situation and choosing to stand up anyway. The hope at the core Rebel Alliance stems from people like Thela seeing the Empire’s intimidation tactics and not backing down. It doesn’t always result in victory, but fighting and losing is always better than not fighting at all.
And even in defeat, there is value. As Nemik wrote in his manifesto back in season one, “Even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward (…) the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.”
Nemik’s words can be taken quite literally here. There is a direct line from Thela stopping his colleague from reporting Cassian to the battle of Scarif and the destruction of the Death Star. But Thela’s action is the kind countless others have made, choosing hope in the face of fear. Each act builds on the other, creating the flooding effect that the young Rebel philosopher wrote of.
The end really does feel near for Andor. The pieces are being moved into place for the final act before Rogue One. We’ve lost characters we’ve followed from the beginning, and seen characters from desperate parts of the galaxy finally come together. All while the Empire tightens its grip around the people of the galaxy, trying to choke the life out of all who resist it.
The show has never pulled its punches, asking the audience to reflect on their own actions and beliefs. There may be monsters coming for us, but we can push back if we channel the courage of Cassian, Mon, Bail, Bix, and the others to speak truth to power no matter the cost.