The wonderful Star Wars sequence Andor got here to episode 11 on Disney Plus on Wednesday, returning to mercenary Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) after rallying inmates to make an superior escape from the Empire’s horrible jail. He is gone on the run together with his future Insurgent Alliance buddy Ruescott Melshi (Duncan Pow).
Shadowy insurgent recruiter Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) is staying one step forward of the relentless Imperial Safety Bureau (ISB) Supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), whom she’s codenamed “Axis.” She does not know that her ISB colleague Lonni Jung (Robert Emms) is secretly working with Luthen.
Sen. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) is attempting to cover her insurgent fundraising from the Empire, forcing her to work with greasy oligarchical financier Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane). He is not occupied with being paid to assist Mon launder her cash however needs his son to be launched to her daughter within the hope of sealing a Sport of Thrones-style marriage pact. Ew.
Andor takes place 5 years earlier than Rogue One, which tells the story main instantly into authentic Star Wars film A New Hope. Let’s escape the Empire with some SPOILERS.
Crawling via the grime
NARKINA 5 – We meet up with Cassian and Melchi as they cling to the aspect of a cliff to evade an Imperial search. They’re filthy and their decrease extremities are in unhealthy form from being within the run barefoot.
“They’re leaving,” Cassian assures his buddy a number of instances.
It briefly appears just like the boys are screwed when some Narkinians catch them in horribly restrictive-looking nets as they make a break to steal their ship. It is our first time seeing this planet’s native species; they’re cool-looking and converse a bit like pirates.
The Narkinians initially counsel they will flip them in for the Empire’s bounty, however point out that the jail has spoiled the planet’s water and determine to defy the regime. A lot to Cassian’s shock, they comply with take them to Niamos (AKA house Ibiza, the place his cash is hidden).
A mom misplaced
FERRIX – Unbeknownst to Cassian, his adoptive mother Maarva dies of her unnamed ailment. The planet’s chilly had already affected her well being, however she exacerbated it via her futile rebellious acts in opposition to the occupying Imperials.
Heartbreakingly, charming droid B2EMO (AKA Bee) is devastated by this and does not wish to depart the home. Household good friend Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) is tremendous compassionate towards the droid, even agreeing to remain the evening with him in Maarva’s home.
Oh Bee, I coronary heart you.
We additionally find out about “bricking,” a neighborhood customized, the place an individual’s ashes are combined with mortar and native stone mud to create a brick. It is then inserted right into a wall, letting their stays turn into part of the planet’s construction.
The Imperials have positioned restrictions on funerals, as a result of they’re jerks. Dedra orders her minions to let Maarva’s funeral occur, in case Cassian exhibits up. It is narratively handy that he occurs to be out of jail for this… let’s simply say it is the Power at work.
One defiant insurgent
CORUSCANT – Superior insurgent true believer Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) basically provides protocol the finger by strolling into Luthen’s vintage store and talking on to his assistant/confidant Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) about resistance exercise. Particularly, she mentions Maarva dying and that she’s going again to Ferrix.
Vel was beforehand tasked with killing Cassian, since he might establish Luthen to the Imperials. She sees a chance to search out him eventually, however it’s unclear if she’ll be keen to take him out — he proved himself as a reasonably honorable ally throughout the Aldhani heist.
She additionally visits her cousin Mon Mothma, solely to search out Mon’s 13-year-old daughter Leida Mothma (Bronte Carmichael) has dived deep into the non secular teachings of their homeworld Chandrila. She’s apparently getting ready for marriage, since their customs encourage tying the knot as youngsters.
Nevertheless, the soiled appears Leida retains throwing at her mother counsel she’s additionally doing it as an act of defiance. That defiance will virtually definitely lengthen to her agreeing to marry sleazebag Davo Skuldun’s son, sadly for Mon.
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Adding to the rebel politician’s stress (or perhaps sharing the burden), Mon reveals the full extent of her money problems to Vel. She had no problems channeling money from her family accounts to Luthen at first, but an Imperial audit made things challenging and the Aldhani heist made it impossible. She’s kinda stuck dealing with Davo.
Pity Vel couldn’t sort Mon out with some of the money from the heist.
Elsewhere on the city planet, former Corpo sergeant/big Star Wars potty mouth Linus Mosk (Alex Ferns) contacts his disgraced ex-officer Syril and tells him about the possibility of Cassian showing up for Maarva’s funeral. Syril steals credits from his mom’s safe, presumably to fund his trip to Ferrix.
Living dangerously
SEGRA MILO – At his secret base, rebel extremist Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) learns that Luthen is going to let their unseen ally Anton Kreegyr walk into an ISB trap to protect his mole. It rackets up the tension between Luthen and Saw and briefly seems like it’ll lead to them killing each other.
Luhten ultimately wins the paranoid Saw over through his seemingly endless powers of charisma and persuasiveness.
“Let’s call it war,” Saw concludes, accepting the need for sacrifice.
The rebel pair seem to reach a new level of trust here, with Whitaker and Skarsgård being an absolute treat to watch again.
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In space, Luthen’s ship is nearly captured by an Imperial Arrestor Cruiser, whose tractor beam comes out of a conspicuous dish on the front. Feels like a big vulnerability.
The wily rebel takes full advantage with his awesome countermeasures, wrecking the dish and battling a bunch of TIE fighters sent to pursue him. In a little coup de grace, he unleashes a pair of supercool laser beams from either side of the ship and spins to take down the last two TIEs.
That’s a good trick.
He blasts off to hyperspace, seemingly planning on going to Ferrix to find Cassian. It’s unclear if Luthen intends to rescue him or kill him, but I like the idea of them all teaming up and becoming rebel BFFs. Probably too much to hope for this in this show though.
Bad news at the beach
NIAMOS – A sneaky Cassian breaks into the place he was staying prior to his arrest and gets his credits, blasters and his late buddy Nemik’s excellent political manifesto back. He tries to get a message to Maarva, only to learn she’s dead.
Melchi suggests they split up, to double their chances of surviving so they can tell people about the Empire ignoring prison sentences and incarcerating people forever. Diego Luna is fascinating to watch in this scene, hiding his grief and acting like everything is cool. C’mon dude, talk it out with Melchi!
They part ways, and Cassian is clearly going back to Ferrix for Maarva’s funeral. Everyone is coming together for next week’s finale. What could go wrong?
Rogue thoughts, unanswered questions and Easter eggs
- The ship hunting Cassian and Melchi at the start is a TIE Reaper, as seen in Rogue One and video game Jedi: Fallen Order.
- The Narkinian ship they try to steal is a quadjumper, the same kind of ship Rey and Finn initially eye for their escape from Jakku in The Force Awakens. When it’s blown up, they take the Millennium Falcon instead.
- This is the first full appearance for the Imperial Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser. It was meant to be in Solo, but the scene was deleted. It only shows up in a recruitment video in the finished movie. It was named after original Star Wars concept artist Colin Cantwell, who died aged 90 earlier this year.
- Luthen’s Fondor Haulcraft achieved legendary status in this episode. I may need it in Lego form (it hasn’t been announced yet, but it feels inevitable).
- Even though Luthen used a fake transponder code, the Empire will be looking for the Fondor now. Uh oh.
- Bee acts very much like a dog; his charging dock even resembles a bed. I would like to hug this droid.
- Woo, the Time Grappler (AKA, the awesome Ferrix hammer guy) shows up again.
- Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) has been left traumatized after Dedra subjected to her horrible torture in the Empire’s hunt for Cassian, and remains in Imperial custody. Her captors try to make her identity Kreegyr as the rebel recruiter.
- The holo the Imperials show Bix is our first (and probably last) glimpse of Kreegyr, a character whose name has been said an unusual number of times for a guy we never met.
- This is the second time we’ve heard the “Daughters of Ferrix” mentioned; it sounds like a local charity group.
- I was a little concerned that Syril was going to murder his mother, he just has that vibe at this point.
- The sci-fi pay phone Cassian uses in the final scene is awesome looking.
Come back for more Easter eggs and observations next Wednesday, Nov. 23, when episode 12 — the season finale — of Andor hits Disney Plus.
