Andor S2E07-09 Review | "Messenger," "Who Are You?" "Welcome to the Rebellion"

“We are the Ghor. The galaxy is watching.”

Diego Luna, as Cassian Andor, in the Galactic Senate. Image credit: Disney

[Welcome to Decoding TV’s coverage of Andor Season 2! For each of Andor’s four 3-episode drops, you should expect a written recap by Dan Gvozden, plus a bonus podcast episode. If you’d like to support what we’re doing here, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. The review below contains spoilers for Season 2, Episodes 7-9 of Andor. It does not contain spoilers for any future episodes or previews.]

One of the great pleasures of a show like Andor is the incredible variety of genres, tones, and scenarios that each new storyline can deliver. One arc might be a prison escape, the next a heist, and another a relationship drama. The same appeal is true of Star Wars, at least in its original conception, for both its audience and creators. Even in A New Hope, the film starts at the tail-end of a battle, as a princess is taken prisoner, turns into a slapstick marooner adventure, then becomes a coming-of-age tale. It then delves into the conventional Arthurian legend, presents a shootout in a Western-style bar, features a prison escape, becomes a sci-fi-coded, World War II, aerial-fighter picture, and so much more. It moves from strength to strength and never feels incoherent.

So too has Andor moved from strength to strength, with the character drama, political intrigue, and love stories of the previous three episodes marking a high point for the series' thematic cohesion across its many branching stories. This batch of episodes isn’t quite as cohesive in how it tests its various characters; instead, it opts to bind them together in a series of thrilling set pieces – an assassination mission, a massacre, and an undercover political extraction mission – that strains characters’ allegiances and upends their understanding of their place in the galaxy. For some, that means finally realizing just how much they have been manipulated; for others, it means being forced to accept a greater destiny than they had in mind.

Tony Gilroy and his team also understand something that has eluded many of the Disney-led Star Wars creatives, namely J.J. Abrams and Dave Filoni: George Lucas’ Star Wars weren’t merely fantastical, pulp adventures in worlds that defied imagination, but stories with deep connections to real-world histories and mythologies. Lucas famously based his trilogies on his knowledge of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and his prequel trilogy was largely, and mistakenly, interpreted as a criticism of George W. Bush’s presidency. Your mileage may vary depending on the output of the Disney Star Wars productions, but I’ve found that most of them are sporting what I call “Star Wars wallpaper.” Everything looks like Star Wars, no doubt due to Lucasfilm's wonderful production design concepts and the visual effects from Industrial Light and Magic. Yet, when things heat up, the wallpaper starts to sweat and peel, revealing that it was just a thin paper cover over generic white drywall.

On the contrary, these episodes carry forward the meticulous detail, enormous scale, and unexpected twists that writer Dan Gilroy brought to the Season 1 Aldhani heist arc he spearheaded, but also a story suffused with historical precedent and detail. Director Janus Metz made a name for himself in the international film community with his feature film debut, Armadillo, which won the Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. The documentary film, depicting a group of Danish soldiers deployed to the front line in Afghanistan, immerses itself in the tedium of war, combat with the Taliban, hidden atrocities, and maddening tragedies. These three episodes of Andor depict a fictional genocide with as much honesty and unflinching realism as can be expected from anything with the name “Star Wars” on it, perhaps even surpassing what anyone could have imagined. 

The visual staging and management of the production are second to none, with a clarity amidst the chaos that puts the many war-oriented, modern prestige dramas like A Game of Thrones’ battle sequences to shame, no doubt thanks to Metz’s war documentarian background. Even when the mature subject matter, lack of Jedi, and muted colors may not reflect the more exaggerated serial style of the original Star Wars films, the presence of talented filmmakers working with rich material and a defined artistic approach is what truly makes them feel like the true heir to the Star Wars name.

EPISODE 7: “Messenger”

This trio of episodes begins with the familiar drumming sounds of Ferrix, as the show’s title fades in from the star-speckled reaches of space. Then, it’s off to the developing Rebel base on Yavin IV, featuring familiar X-Wing-filled hangars and a growing number of temporary homes lining the outskirts of the jungles around the iconic pyramids. These constructs blend into and embrace nature and directly contrast the sterile, colorless Imperial aesthetic. Overhead, air-traffic controllers signal spaceships in and out of the bustling base. It has taken nearly half a decade and two seasons, but the Rebellion has finally evolved from a decentralized group of cells into an organized army with recognizable insignia, uniforms, and protocol.

Cassian and Bix have built a home in the jungle. It’s a significant upgrade from their drab Coruscant apartment and features a swanky pad that would make for an excellent Airbnb if it weren’t for the man-eating doodar on Yavin IV. Bix is helping Cassian heal from a nasty blaster burn on the back of his shoulder when Wilmon returns from a secretive “repair” mission that Luthen sent him on. Despite Luthen’s appeals to Bix’s needs at the end of the previous arc, the two have been out of contact with him, leading to a growing divide in their opinions on the evolving tactics for expanding the Rebellion. Cassian views the next battlefront as one driven by his involvement in their military operations, rather than Luthen’s targeted, isolated missions.

But with some prodding, Wilmon opens up to Cassian and Bix about Luthen’s desires. He wants to recruit Cassian to travel to Ghorman to assassinate Dedra Meero, who has been observed overseeing the evolving Imperial presence on the planet. Cassian refuses the request and storms out to attend a meeting, so Wil shifts his plea for support to Bix.

Later, on their way to the center of town, Cassian and Bix spot a “force healer” (Josie Walker) from afar. Cassian reacts as one might when suddenly discovering that their girlfriend’s mother has tricked them into visiting her crystal healer/psychic, and they’ll have to play along for the next several hours. However, something unusual happens. From a distance, the force healer stops and turns towards Cassian as if a higher power (or tractor beam) is drawing her towards him. “Oh, great, here we go…” Cassian is clearly thinking. She seems to recognize him from somewhere and is aware of his blaster burn, but not in a way that suggests she’s the protege of John Edward and polled the audience beforehand. 

Instead, she places her hand on his shoulder to attempt to heal him and has a vision that allows her to see his “strength of spirit.” Cassian storms off, but the healer tells Bix that, for most people, she can feel the weight of the past that they carry. However, Cassian is gathering that pain and loss as he goes, with a purpose that might never become clear. “He’s a messenger,” she says, “There’s some place he needs to be. Maybe, you’re the place he needs to be.” We know that Cassian is bound to a greater destiny, one that will ultimately bring about the destruction of the Death Star, but this is the first indication that all of this might be in some way guided by The Force far earlier than Luke Skywalker’s last-minute involvement.

Back at their bungalow, Cassian observes that his burn has begun to heal, even if he doesn’t believe in a mystical energy field that controls his destiny, as Han Solo once put it. However, Bix is convinced, especially since she’s had dreams about Cassian’s role in the galaxy that align with what the healer told them. Is this a suggestion that Bix might be Force sensitive? Either way, Bix’s push for Cassian to take up Luthen’s mission is enough for him to return to the hangar with Wilmon to travel to Ghorman, but not without a reprimand from General Davits Draven (Alistair Petrie), who would eventually lead Operation Fracture to free Jyn and her father Galen Erso in Rogue One.

Meanwhile, things are heating up on Ghorman, as the Imperial propaganda network, HoloNet News, reports on escalating terrorist attacks in the locked-down city of Palmo. At the heart of the city, in a secret communications room, Dedra meets with Major Lio Partagaz (Anton Lesser), who tells her that they are no longer advancing her subversive plan to manipulate the Ghorman Front, but that the Empire will be sending a fleet to mine Ghorman in forty-eight hours and declaring Martial Domain in Palmo. She will now hand over the tactical details to Captain Kaido (Jonjo O’’Neill), a crisis specialist, to forcefully suppress the Ghorman people. Dedra lightly pushes back against Partagaz, reminding him that the insurgents have weapons and will be able to respond with force. He thinks nothing of it, reassuring her that the Empire knows how successful she has been in her work and that a promotion will come forthwith. It would be a mistake to assign any level of care on Dedra’s behalf; her hesitancy is undoubtedly not about the potential loss of life to the people of Ghorman or her Imperial colleagues, but about her reputation if something tragic occurred.

When Syril arrives on the planet, he immediately seeks out Dedra and informs her of a bombing at a nearby Naval Depot. She intends to keep Syril unaware of the Empire’s plans for the Ghormans and his role in their subjugation, so she reinforces that outside agitators conducted the bombing. He doesn’t believe her, as his growing doubts about his involvement in the escalating conflict come to a head. Either way, she tells him that he needs to return to his apartment and quickly pack his things to leave the planet. She says they will be rewarded when she returns with him to Coruscant. “For what?” he asks, “What have we accomplished?” In response, she wordlessly plants a passionate kiss on his mouth to silence him. Syril reacts as if this has never happened before, which immediately conjures images of the foreplay-free, passionless, efficient sex that undoubtedly occurred in their pitch-black Coruscant apartment during the previous arc.

Meanwhile, actually on Coruscant, Senator Mon Mothma and her assistant Erskin Semaj (Pierro Niel-Mee) ride in a spaceship to the Senate when their driver, Exmar Kloris (Lee Ross), unexpectedly asks about her parking and schedule for the week. As they walk away from the vehicle, the two express their suspicions that their driver is an Imperial operative who has clumsily revealed himself. When they eventually enter the Senate, the sounds of news reports about terrorism on Ghorman drown out all other conversation.

The former Senator from Ghorman, Dasi Oran, approaches Mon to appeal to her courage and bravery. He knows the Imperials are behind the bombings and is infuriated that so many of his colleagues have accepted the propaganda without any pushback. Mon tells him she’s doing what she can; it's just a sad petition for now. One wonders if a group of college students is standing outside with clipboards, asking if people have time to stop and talk about the people of Ghorman. Meanwhile, under the streets of Palmo, the members of the Ghorman Front argue over how to continue their movement against the Empire and whether peaceful resistance is still an option. Samm, the soldier whose blaster led to Cinta’s death, observes, “Look what they’ve done to us. They’ve poisoned us.”

Syril rushes out of his meeting with Dedra and updates Enza Rylanz that the ISB believes outside agitators are behind the recent activities on Ghorman for which the Front is being blamed. She has seen through his manipulations, even if he hasn’t, and slaps him across the face before storming off. I’ll admit this confused me when it happened, if only because Syril’s role on Ghorman and what he believes it to be was never successfully communicated. During the previous arc, I assumed that Syril could recognize the humanity in the Ghor, but that he was fully committed to baiting them for the Empire to use as an example. Whatever allegiance Syril shows here is consistent across this arc. Still, it is a prime example of how some of the many moving parts in a show like Andor can be hard to track, particularly with yearlong gaps in the timeline between each arc.

A series of dramatic arrivals on Ghorman sets the stage for an impending conflict. Sergeant Bloy (Tomi May) and his soldiers, revealed to be inexperienced trainees, arrive and establish themselves in the plaza for military exercises. Dedra watches afar and comments to Captain Kaito that they look like children. Meanwhile, Cassian and Wilmon recklessly navigate their spaceship through the webberies and mountains outside Palmo. 

Once they reach Palmo, they quickly plan how to communicate leading up to the assassination of Dedra and their exit strategy. A curfew has been imposed, so they swiftly get off the streets, agreeing to shoot Dedra through the glass windows of her room from the hotel across the street. This time, Cassian approaches the hotel receptionists under his latest identity, a journalist named Ronni Goojah. He doesn’t have an Imperial stamp, but the bellhop he met a year earlier recognizes him and waves him through. Upon entering his hotel room, not led by a bellhop this time, he quickly scopes out the area and peers through his windows, which are now barred. Still, he can see ISB officers inside their apartments, meaning he can potentially get an angle on Dedra. However, as he readies his sniper rifle and communicates with Wilmon, he hears familiar chatter over his comms; a squad of stormtroopers has positioned themselves directly above his room to oversee the plaza.

EPISODE 8: “Who are you?”

This second episode opens with a stunning aerial view of Palmo, with its plaza shining in the sunlight, as it rises above the city from atop a hill. This singular image makes an immediate impression that the scale of this story will outstrip anything that has come before on Andor. We rejoin Cassian in that same plaza, assembling his sniper rifle as Bloy trains his bumbling soldiers in the square. But suddenly, there’s movement, and an elite squad of stormtroopers and Imperial officers alike begin to erect a series of barricades throughout the plaza. Cassian activates his comms to Wilmon, waking him up in his bed next to Dreena (Ella Pellegrini). They must have shacked up between episode drops. Sorry, Beela. But at least we know that Wilmon has a thing for women with double “e”s in their names.

This escalation is all news to Dedra, who learns from Partagaz that Kaito ordered the erection of the barricade. She’s worried, too, that rumors of the Imperial mining ships’ arrival in the countryside of Ghorman have begun to swirl, but Partagaz isn’t concerned about it; the main story they need to continue pushing is Ghorman’s resistance to the “norms of the Empire.” And that story is coming through loud and clear, as we see Syril’s mother Eedy watching her television on Coruscant, where the Imperial news tells the story that the citizens of Palmo are breaking curfew and organizing a general strike against the Imperial presence. To that point, the Ghorman Front may not be as portrayed by Imperial propaganda, but they are preparing for the increased Imperial presence in Palmo and embracing the potential for violence by getting ready with their guns and Molotov cocktails. Leeza (Caroline Vanier) hands Samm a firearm, and the two exchange a knowing look as they hide their weapons under their jackets. The Imperials, too, begin a process of escalation by evacuating the Imperial employees adjacent to the plaza, including Syril, and opening the plaza to the public, who storm into the barricaded space to protest.

As the drums of conflict continue to escalate, Carro Rylanz watches from his silk shop on the plaza's edge and immediately senses that his people are being led into a trap. He begs his daughter Enza to stop the Ghorman Front’s plans, but she refuses, “We can’t be silent anymore.” He’s despondent, his daughter is leading his people to the slaughter, and before he runs off to stop the throngs of people entering the plaza, he warns her, “We’ll be silent when we’re dead!”

The crowd swells as protestors storm through the streets, waving flags and chanting. Members of the Front blend into the crowd, as do Wilmon and Syril. Carro stands in the middle of the road, pleading for them to go home, but no one will listen to him or even acknowledge the presence of their elected leader among them. Suddenly, Carro spots Syril in the crowd and realizes that he has been a mole this entire time, undermining the Front’s mission by posing as an Imperial defector. He pulls Syril into a doorway and berates him, despite his claims of having meant him no harm. Syril insists, “I was here to trap outside agitators [like Axis].” The fact that Syril believes Carro would accept his excuses further infuriates Carro, “What kind of a being are you?”

This is as good a place as any for us to revisit Syril’s arc over the past two seasons, as he has transformed from a corporate cop who fully believed in his mission to ensure justice and order on Ferrix to where he is now. At the outset of Andor’s story, it is Syril’s dedication to his job that led him to uncover the deaths of two of his comrades and to be drawn into this story. After he reports the deaths of these men, his boss asks him to cover them up as the result of a “regrettable misadventure” so that he can present a favorable report of their activities on the planet. As Syril doggedly pursues justice for his two deceased colleagues, both of whom were killed by Cassian Andor, his determination results in the failed arrest of Cassian, the further death of more Imperial officers, and his being bound, gagged, and fired.

He finds himself back on Coruscant, living in the city's lower levels with his controlling mother and working in the Fuel Purity department, thanks to his criminal uncle’s connections. At every step along the way, he had chosen to do his best within the parameters of what the Empire’s bureaucracy asked of him. And yet, instead of punishing those officers who chose to look the other way, the Empire fired Syril. In a typical story, this is where we’d start to see the seeds of rebellion stirred in Syril’s heart, leading him to turn on the Empire and embrace a more just system.

But instead, Syril chooses to obsess over revenge, pinning all of his problems onto the haunting image of Cassian Andor, a man he considers a dangerous, murderous threat to the Empire's “order.” He has a point: Cassian is no saint, having murdered one of the Pre-Mor officers in cold blood. Even within his job at Fuel Purity, Syril uses his limited power to trigger as many red flags about Andor as possible, drawing the attention of Dedra Meero as she attempts to hunt down the “Axis” group herself. When he finally meets her, he tells her:

"I thought I had ruined my life. I thought I was done. After meeting you and discovering you understood how dangerous Cassian Andor was just… Just being in your presence, I… I've realized that life is worth living, I realized that if nothing else, there was justice, and beauty in the galaxy and if I just kept going… Perhaps my deranged belief that there was something better fated for me in the future was a dream worth clinging to."

She threatens to arrest him for stalking her, which is fair considering that Syril’s obsession with justice and revenge has become inextricably linked to his love for her. This is the same woman who is now manipulating him, despite what may be the tiniest bit of genuine affection for him (more on this later), on Ghorman to get what she wants: not justice, but respect and glory within the Empire.

Back on the streets of Palmo, Syril throws Carro to the ground, truly unaware of his claims about the Empire’s desire to mine the planet, as his understanding of his role in enacting justice starts to crash down around him. As Cassian’s plans change, he hands the bellhop his hotel room key back and wishes him luck. The bellhop tells him, “Rebellions are built on hope.” Cassian casually says this line on Jedha in Rogue One after meeting Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). She would later repeat it on Yavin IV at a meeting among the leaders of the Rebellion to passionately argue for a mission on Scarif. The line triggers a look between Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, suggesting they’ve heard it before, perhaps from Cassian.

As Andor and Syril enter the plaza, more Ghor join them, unifying behind a chant of “We are the Ghor. The galaxy is watching.” TIE-fighters race overhead, Imperial troopers ready their weapons, and Cassian spots Dedra observing the proceedings from her balcony overlooking the plaza. Syril takes it all in, seeing for the first time without the veil of manipulation over his eyes, and hears the HoloNet reporters lying about an insurrection instigated by the protestors. He runs to confront Dedra but is redirected into another room filled with powerful KX-series security droids, known for their lethality and ability to take down dozens of civilians at a time. One of the droids stares at Syril for a long time, as if suspecting he might be turning against the Imperial cause.

He flees the room, finds Dedra’s control room, and confronts her, “What have you done?” He wraps his hands around her throat, slowly choking her, “How long have you known about all this? There is an armada up there!” It’s a stunning moment that illustrates how deeply his love for Dedra is intertwined with his quest for justice and revenge, as seen through his belief in her support of that cause. She reveals to him that the Emperor’s genuine interest in Ghorman is not to use them to expose outside agitators like Axis, but to harvest kalkite from the planet. “We’re going home, Syril. We’re going home as heroes. This began long before we got here; they’ve been planning it for years. They’re doing this no matter what. We wanted to be together. You didn’t seem to mind the promotions!”

Dedra’s goal throughout their relationship was always to do whatever it took to ascend through the Empire’s hierarchical system, regardless of the cost to others. She justifies this by telling herself, despite her actual morals, that the wheels of the Empire have already been set in motion and that any small act of rebellion she might engage in along the way isn’t likely to make a difference. So, why not manipulate the system to benefit herself along the way?

Syril, for all his faults, at least thinks he’s being virtuous in his deception of the Ghormans. He may have been lying, but he didn’t realize the full extent of the damage he might cause, especially if it allowed him to fulfill his desires to stop Axis and help the Empire. And what's the harm if he got a few promotions along the way? Well, now he’s realizing just how much damage he’s caused, as he’s been working to facilitate the wholesale invasion of Ghorman by the Empire. He tersely says, “Good luck, Dedra,” quickly leaves the room, and embarks on a path to the plaza that could offer him redemption. Will he be big enough of a man to take it this time?

Captain Kaito orders all exits from the plaza closed, trapping the Ghormans inside as the armored stormtroopers close in from all sides. Wilmon tells Dreena to hide, while Kaito instructs his “green” soldiers to move through the crowd, relying on their inexperience and the crowd's anger and fear to provoke a conflict. A few Ghor men start to destroy the plaza’s stone floor with picks as they prepare to throw them at the Imperials. The members of the Ghorman Front begin distributing Molotov cocktails to the crowd while Lezine leads them in singing a Ghorman anthem. Many cry, tears streaming down their faces, knowing what’s about to happen, as others begin to hurl stones at the advancing troops.

On the balcony above, Dedra orders Syril to be found and brought back inside when Partagaz reaches out to her through her comms. There’s silence. She disconnects from the comms and tells her officers to “Proceed.” The snipers on the roofs fire upon the crowd, but not at the Ghormans. Their laser fire kills their own men amongst the Ghormans, which allows the stormtroopers, amidst the confusion, to open fire on the crowd as chaos ensues.

What follows is a massacre, as the members of the Front pull out their weapons and start hurling Molotovs, and the snipers retrain themselves on the civilians. These episodes’ director, Metz, delivers a master class on how to shoot crowds, block action, and control chaos, even as all hell breaks loose on the plaza of Palmo. Cassian kills a few of the approaching stormtroopers, but we watch the members of the Front fall to their deaths one at a time. Eventually, even the unstoppable KX-droids are released on the crowd. They throw the barriers to the side and unleash their full power on the fleeing Ghormans, including Enza, who is picked up and thrown across the plaza to hit the hard stone, killing her on impact.

Amid all the death, Syril stands in shock, observing everything in slow motion. The camera spins around him as he processes it all and confronts the actions of the Empire. Surely, his entire worldview is being reshaped in this moment as he realizes their desire was never “justice.” He not only suffered at their hands in the pursuit of justice, but his work also brought about the injustice playing out before him. The camera's movement and the slowed-down time allow Kyle Soller’s face to convey the depth of Syril's pain. And yet…

As Cassian lines up a rifle shot to finally assassinate Dedra, Syril spots him from afar, immediately recognizing him. Forget justice. Forget the Ghormans. Forget the Empire’s wholesale slaughter. Forget Dedra’s betrayal. Cassian Andor, the man who started all of this and whose actions destroyed Syril’s life and put him on this path, is standing right before him. This is all his fault. Revenge becomes Syril’s most primal instinct, and he jumps on Cassian, diverting his shot, inadvertently saving Dedra and launching a brutal fistfight between the two men. They throw things at each other, hurl their bodies against pillars, and Syril gains the upper hand until a rogue grenade splits them apart. Syril seizes Cassian’s gun and points it at him. He hesitates, soaking in the moment, when Cassian asks, “Who are you?”

Yes, even in his moment of triumph, he’s nothing more than a bit player in Cassian’s story, not even worth a place in his memory, despite spending years obsessing over Cassian’s capture and bending his whole life around it. Even here, he’s denied himself a redemptive arc, just as he did in Season 1, because he has allowed his feelings of victimization to overwhelm any interest he ever had in “justice.” Instead, he has wielded “justice” as a rationale for using his limited power over others. And the minute someone pushed back against that power, no matter the context, Syril was ready to throw everything he had at them, even if the body whose laws they were breaking was committing injustices that made them pale in comparison.

And thus, fittingly, this ends Syril’s story, as a well-aimed blaster bolt from Carro’s weapon strikes Syril directly in the head, and he collapses dead. Wilmon rushes to the scene while Cassian stares in disbelief at Syril’s body, a man he didn’t even know.

As Carro stays behind, lying in his shop to die, Cassian and Wil flee the city. Wil doesn’t want to leave Dreena behind, but Cassian forces him to continue as a KX droid sends bodies flying across the courtyard in its path towards them. The droid spots Cassian and chases him, cornering him against a wall. But at the last moment, an Imperial transport driven by Samm runs over the droid, splitting it in half against the wall, causing it to power down. Samm may have been the one who inadvertently caused Cinta’s death, but for a brief moment, he is allowed to become a hero.

Wil leaves to find Dreena and implores Cassian to “tell people what happened here, Cass,” as the two say goodbye with the words “stone and sky” to reference their lives on Ferrix. However, Cassian asks for one last favor. They load the KX droid into the back of the transport, and Cassian drives off through Palmo to escape the unfolding massacre as Palmo One, the voice of the Ghorman, comes through his radio. “This is murder. The Empire built this fire. They made this fire and led us to the slaughter. Now they expect us to die without knowing why. The conspiracy we’ve feared is real! It’s here today.” It’s the voice of Dreena, as she’s joined by Wilmon, broadcasting from the Front’s secret headquarters under the plaza. Cassian’s cries, in shock, his eyes fixed on the horizon as he guns his transport out of Palmo as TIE-fighters race overhead.

He’s not the only one in shock. Back in the secret comms room, Dedra begins to buckle under the weight of her actions and the realization that Syril was killed in the conflict. She tugs on her uniform, trying to straighten it out and regain her composure, committed to maintaining her performance as long as she can continue to amass power and control. Meanwhile, we join Syril’s mother, Eedy, who watches Imperial propaganda that mournfully reflects on the “heroes of the Empire” who lost their lives on Ghorman. She wears a mask of tragedy as her two friends comfort her. I suspect we’ll never revisit Eedy in the final arc of this season, but I don’t quite know what to make of this final moment with her. After berating and controlling Syril for so long, I wonder if her grief here is genuine or performative. However, I lean towards the former, given how much his death on Ghorman likely only reinforces her firmly held interest in keeping her precious, soft Syril out of danger.

EPISODE 9: “Welcome to the Rebellion”

The final episode of this arc opens with the haunting choir of Ghor voices singing, as if from beyond the grave, that sent shivers up my spine. It’s raining on Coruscant, and inside the Imperial Senate Building Ambassador Oran is being arrested without a warrant or charges by Imperial stormtroopers, ostensibly for conspiring with the people of Ghorman to attack the Empire. The Senators are shocked to see their former colleague hauled away, but they don’t act as he shouts, “It’s my people today, and your’s tomorrow. Remember this day! Remember Ghorman!”

Mon Mothma and Senator Bail Organa share their disbelief at how quickly things have deteriorated within the esteemed body of the Senate. She revisits her plan to deliver a “Hail Mary” speech before the Senate, despite Bail’s skepticism about its feasibility and effectiveness. Still, he’s eager to support her, even if it puts him in the line of fire. Given that Grand Moff Tarkin selects his home planet of Alderaan as the first planet-sized target for the Death Star, I’m uncertain whether Bail fully understands the implications of his actions here. But, how could he?

Mon seems to have a sober understanding of the threat that the Emperor presents, though by the end of the episode, even she will be surprised by just how dangerous the world she’s entering can become. She asks Bail to arrange an exit plan for her when she finishes her speech and encourages him to join her. He refuses, feeling that he needs to remain to help stall the Empire’s progress because the base and army on Yavin IV aren’t prepared to stand up to the might of the Imperial Forces.

Cassian, meanwhile, has returned from Ghorman and is being instructed by Kleya on his next mission, where he will infiltrate the Senate as journalist Ronni Goojah from the Mid-Rim Network. She has given him a knife for protection, which might slip past the security system at the Senate, and new credentials to get through the check. Given the massacre he witnessed on Ghorman, Cassian informs Kleya that he intends this to be his final mission for Luthen. She is offended that he would say so and rightly calls him out for it. The last time he tried to walk away, he ended up on Naimos with a sex worker and was arrested and imprisoned in the Narkina 5 Imperial Prison Complex (not quite the vacation he was looking for).

“You were a witness to the Ghorman Massacre; you’d think there’d be no stopping you! The Senator you’ll be saving is about to risk everything putting a voice to the atrocity you just survived. Tell her you’re ‘done.’” Kleya scolds Cassian, but he just wants to have the ability to make his own decisions. “I thought that’s what we were fighting for,” she responds.

When Mon returns to her Senatorial office, she and her assistant Erskin scour the room for a listening device, which they quickly find under the bathroom sink and destroy. As soon as they do so, it triggers the ISB officer, Felzonis (Ragevan Vasan), who is actively monitoring it, to report the disruption to his superior, a temporary supervisor, Lagret (Michael Jenn), who can control all the spying and media signals throughout the building. Out of an abundance of caution, Mon decides to practice her speech on the poolside plaza of the building and out of earshot of anyone who might be listening. If this distinct set looks familiar, it’s because both Andor and Westworld were shot at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, outside the L'Hemisfèric building, which is meant to resemble a giant eye.

But out of earshot is still well within the reach of Luthen, who approaches Mon from afar and reveals that her assistant Erskin has been working for him all along. Sonuvabitch! And that’s not all; he’s learned from his Imperial spy, Jung, that Bail’s extraction team, which she relies on to get her to Yavin, has also been compromised by the Empire. She doesn’t trust Luthen, particularly after the revelation that even he has been spying on her for years, but he insists that she does. Mon reminds him of how often she thinks of her childhood friend Tay Kolma and how quickly Luthen determined that he was a risk and chose to eliminate him. When compared to the Empire, Luthen’s activities scare her even more. The Empire may be committing genocide, but there’s a pattern to their behavior, whereas the invisibility of Luthen’s hand makes him a less reliable and even more dangerous partner.

Even so, Luthen tells her that one of his men, whom he knows he can trust, will come to escort her out of the Senate and will be recognizable by uttering the phrase, “I have friends everywhere.” Upon returning to her office, Mon Mothma confronts Erskin about his betrayal and learns that he has been working for Luthen for two years, ever since the wedding on Chandrila. She immediately dismisses him and forces him to leave the room.

The next morning, when Cassian meets with Luthen and Kleya, he updates them on Wilmon’s desire to stay behind on Ghorman and presses Luthen on his decision not to return to Yavin with him and Mothma if their mission goes according to plan. Cassian worries that after Mothma’s extraction, Luthen will have a target on his back that he won’t be able to escape, and that it's time for him to join the larger, growing Rebellion that he helped spark into creation. Luthen, echoing the words of the Force healer, suggests that he knows wherever Cassian goes, he will find what he needs to continue the mission; without Luthen, he will be guided by fate, or something even higher, because even now, Cassian always appears when he needs him. In the meantime, he implies to Cassian that if Mothma is arrested, Cassian needs to take down as many Imperials and allies alike (including Mothma) as he can, lest they reveal the Rebellion’s secrets to the Empire.

And so, with his instructions to proceed, Cassian flashes his falsified press credentials and enters the Imperial Senate Building as Ronni Goojah, despite looking as though he just came from the scene of a massacre. Meanwhile, three members of Bail’s security team gather to formulate their plan for escorting Mothma out of the building. However, it remains unclear whether Luthen’s information about one of them being compromised is true. Separately, Mon meets with Bail, who reaffirms his plan to have his people escort her from the building, seemingly unaware that there might be a danger lurking within his team. As they depart, with Mon wishing that Bail take care of himself, he responds, “We do what we can. Tear the shit out of this place.”

Cassian watches over a screen that monitors the Senate chamber as a cat-like Senator calls for a list of the Empire’s lost “heroes” on Ghorman to be read. Erskin approaches Andor, repeating the “I have friends everywhere” code phrase, while Bail’s team gathers their blasters and reports to Supervisor Jung. We learn that the woman on the team is working for the ISB when she murders one of the other men. Jung still has to oversee the potential subversion of Mon Mothma’s escape, despite working for Luthen, if only to maintain his cover as a loyal servant of the Empire, but later tries to stop her. Look! This whole situation is really confusing, with everyone’s motivations and knowledge of who is working with whom further complicating things. I understand why Mothma is so distrustful of everyone.

On the “floor” of the Galactic Senate, with its signature floating pods, Bail is called to speak, where he evokes an article that allows a Senior Senator in an emergency to cede the floor to another Senator without approval. This permits Mon Mothma to speak, despite the protestations of her colleagues and the Imperial officers who quickly try to shut down the outgoing feed. As Cassian and the mole in Bail’s escort race to the door outside Mon’s office, she is met with dead silence as she takes the floor to deliver her impassioned speech.

I’ll say, given the history of transcendent monologues across all the episodes of Andor, Mon Mothma’s speech had a lot to live up to and mostly comes across as a relatively generic political speech without many specifics that might get the galaxy’s blood boiling, until she ends with a proclamation that couldn’t have triggered her evacuation more quickly. “What happened yesterday on Ghorman was unprovoked genocide,” she says, rising to the occasion, before finishing with, “The monster who will come for us all soon enough… is Emperor Palpatine.” Jung shuts down the feed, having held off for as long as possible. Many Senators object, but a few stand in silent solidarity with Mon, who is already gone and looking to get out of the building with zero haste.

Cassian waits outside Mon’s office, and as soon as the doors open, he rushes to her side, eager to escort her to safety. He tells her that he was on Ghorman and that “I have friends everywhere,” but she’s unwilling to trust him. Nevertheless, Cassian is insistent and invokes her cousin Vel’s name, asserting that he was the last survivor of Aldahni and that, “I know Luthan can be hard, but you have no choice but to come with me.” She’s sold.

They push through a crowd of reporters, eager to get a word from her after her speech, but the mole in Bail’s company pulls a gun on them and the crowd. However, Erskin thinks quickly and shouts, “She’s a Rebel spy!” Cassion guns her down and ushers Mon towards the doors while Erskin stays behind to hold up the third member of Bail’s team, Selko (Akshay Khanna), who swears he’s not ISB. As they rush through the building, Cassian tells Mon, “Welcome to the Rebellion.”

With the immaculately white interiors of the Imperial Senate Building reflecting everything around them, the ensuing chase involving a group of stormtroopers, Mon, and Cassian inevitably calls back to our heroes’ escape from Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. Like that chase, Mon and Cassian's plans must be adjusted on the fly after the Empire begins to lock down the building and the loading dock. Instead, they make their way toward her private vehicle and a confrontation with her compromised driver, who has chosen to abandon the spaceship to seek out Mon. However, when they cross paths on an extended walkway high above Coruscant and in public view, Cassian feigns being an Imperial who has captured Mon, draws his blaster, and kills the man, urging Mon, despite her surprise, to continue toward her vehicle. Moments later, in her ship, they gun their way out of the Senate parking structure and deep into the heart of Coruscant.

They arrive at Cassian and Bix’s apartment, where Kleya and Erskin wait, having miraculously survived their flight from the Imperial Senate Building. In the back of the apartment are Wil and Dreena, who managed to escape from Ghorman, although Wil’s leg was severely injured in the process. Kleya reports that Luthen is safe and that an escort of Rebels from Yavin will be arriving shortly to retrieve Mon and Cassian, hoping that she will deliver another speech that can successfully rewrite her story as if she’s been working with them all along, without mentioning Luthen’s involvement. Mon is unsure how to thank Cassian for saving her life, but his advice is to “Make it worth it.”

As they arrive on Yavin, Wil is taken to a medic. General Draven, grateful for Cassian’s actions, acknowledges that he won’t log any of their comings and goings. He tells Mon that their Gold Squadron, a team of pilots who fly Y-wing fighters (alongside Hera Syndulla’s ship, The Ghost), will be taking her to deliver a speech broadcast across the galaxy (and you can watch it here from Star Wars: Rebels). And, lest you forget, Cassian tells Draven that he has a dead KX droid inside the transport that he thinks will be useful to the Rebellion (and of great levity for those of us who know K2SO from Rogue One).

I don’t usually comment on the moments from this show that call back to imagery from the original trilogy. Still, I’ll admit that as Cassian walks into Yavin IV’s hangars, where Rebel engineers prepare an X-Wing for battle, and as the music brings in the familiar horns from John Williams’ iconic score, I got chills, reader. Throughout this show, we’ve obviously witnessed the birth of the Rebellion. However, it wasn’t until this moment, with the Rebellion imagery that is so recognizable from those original films, that my brain finally registered that this long journey had finally arrived at the place and time promised from the very start. If anything, this moment was proof of the value of conservatively withholding familiar imagery and the power it can wield when appropriately revealed after a long journey apart. I hope the teams at Lucasfilm can take note, though I suspect this feeling will remain a rarity, despite Andor’s successes.

Cassian returns to his home on Yavin IV, looking for Bix. They smile when they see each other, but she is more reserved than we might expect. She listens silently as he tells her he is done working with the Rebellion and plans to inform Draven that he will leave with Bix to hide so they can be alone. He feels the only thing special about him is his luck, and that “I’ve overplayed my hand already.” But when he wakes in the morning, he finds her gone and a video message for him in place of a goodbye note.

Her solemn message explains why she left and that she believes she can’t be the reason why he abandons the Rebellion, knowing that “We have to win. We have to beat them. And I believe you have purpose in making that happen.” As Cassian races to the landing dock, her message continues, “I’m choosing for the both of us. I’m choosing the Rebellion.” Cassian is in agony; she has already left, and he’s now alone on the landing pad at the base of one of Yavin IV’s many temples. The wind blows through his hair as he looks out at a destiny he doesn’t want. The show reflects the inverse of Luke’s aspirational twin sunset on Tatooine, where he longed to embrace a greater destiny for himself. Instead, Cassian’s future holds nothing but tragedy for him, one we’ve already seen play out in Rogue One, as we hear Bix promise that “When it’s over, when it’s done, we will do everything we’ve missed. I will find you.”

From offscreen, Cassian is called to help power up the KX droid he brought in. The droid is strapped down, and the engineer explains that they swapped its cortex, allowing them to implement “impulse suppression,” the real secret to undoing the Empire’s control rather than reprogramming. (Note: This explains why K2SO can’t stop himself from being brutally honest throughout Rogue One, no matter the social situation.)

As the score rises, Andor grabs a weapon to prepare for the activation of the powerful KX droid. After a tense countdown, electricity races through the hulking droid, as if this episode suddenly transformed into a Frankenstein movie, and at the end of it, fan-favorite KS20 (Alan Tudyk) is born. He turns towards Cassian, who points his rifle directly at his head, “If I’ve offended you, I apologize. If not, I’d appreciate you pointing that elsewhere.” The Andor score kicks in, the episode cuts to black, and the increasingly painful wait for the show's final three episodes begins.

Stray observations:

• Remember Bloy’s trainee soldiers and how unprepared they were for the Ghor to attack them? These must be the reserves they recruited from for the stormtroopers for the remainder of the Skywalker saga. I don’t care how many times Obi-Wan points out how precise the blast points were on the Jawas’ sandcrawler, those guys couldn’t hit the broad side of a bantha.

  
  Oh! Slam! 1977 stormtroopers, slam! Take that, ya dumb fascists! Whatcha gonna do? Ya gonna cry? Huh!?

• So, throughout this review/recap, I referred to “Molotov cocktails” several times, which are Earth-coded in their naming. Let’s take to the comments here and devise a Star Wars name for them. I can’t promise that Disney will canonize our suggestions, but maybe we can get a laugh out of them.
  
  The name “Molotov cocktails” is a reference to a Soviet foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, who used radio propaganda to suggest that Soviet bombings of Finland were actually "airborne humanitarian food deliveries" for their "starving" neighbors. So, should Shambo (Fred Haig) and Osar (Tom Durant-Pritchard) from the Ministry of Enlightenment get the honors here?

Andor airs Tuesday nights at 9pm ET on Disney+. Look for recaps/reviews of the latest batches of episodes here later that evening. Dan Gvozden is a film and comics critic who lives and works in Baltimore. If you enjoyed this review, check out his Spider-Man podcast, The Amazing Spider-Talk.