Every time an episode of Andor: A Star Wars Story lands, Fantha Tracks will be giving their responses, and here are our initial gut feelings, deep dives and thoughts on episodes ten, eleven and twelve of season two, ‘Make It Stop’, ‘Who Else Knows?’ & ‘Jedha, Kyber, Erso’. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.
Johanna Linden Nybelius
So finally came the end of Andor, the best Star Wars we have had, I would even say since the original films. To me the three final episodes were not as strong as the previous arc; it’s obvious that the Ghorman massacre followed by Mon Mothma’s speech was the climax of the season. The three final episodes are all about wrapping up and putting the characters in position for Rogue One.
It’s also a bridge between the TV format and the films that are coming, it’s another pace, I can definitely see how it could easily be adapted into a feature film to put on the big screen. For anyone watching Rogue One straight after the final episode (which I did) this change is necessary. The pacing of Rogue One now feels superfast and doesn’t dwell on the background and emotional journeys of the main characters as much we have seen in the TV format.
The closer we got to Cassian leaving for Kafrene, the more my heart started to beat faster, which really shows what a masterpiece in writing Andor has been.
David Linden
Hi, I am David and I’m married to Johanna. Professionally I am an historian and a writer. Although, I do not know anything about Star Wars, here is my judgement:
As a layman (regarding Star Wars) I must say Andor was really fascinating. Seldom in life have I seen such a dark series with a glimpse of light. After all it is fiction, but I don’t know Star Wars. However, I do know my George Orwell, and had he been alive he could have produced something like this. As a writer myself I can see the challenges, and the scriptwriter rose to the occasion. It is in my humble opinion fascinating, witty and almost Shakespearean in its darkness.
Clair Henry
I’m obsessed….I’m obsessed with everything that Andor has brought to Star Wars.
The story arc of the characters, the sets, the links to Star Wars history and current political situations (even if they didn’t specifically mean to) is sublime; the attention to detail is just perfect
So, let’s start off with Dedra. One year on she’s still in there, obsessing and fighting against the challenges set before her, only to fall foul of them at the end. We see her after Ghorman physically upset and full of doubt, but in the last episodes we see her confident in her mission. When she has Luther in her sights and makes a careless mistake as he stabd himself before arrested, you know things aren’t going to end well for her. Then again, was she ever going to climb to the dizzy heights of the Empire given the battles she had against the old white men who ruled it.
To see her wearing that familiar Narkina prison suit, knowing as audience what was ahead of her and firm in the knowledge that there would definitely be no way out….did I feel a bit of sympathy? I did actually, and that is the beauty of the actress who performed the role
The sacrifices Luthen made, the dedication he had to the Rebellion, and to see where it all stemmed from; the PTSD he suffered as the rescued Kleya. He was in it for the longhaul. He waited, knowing he would never see the end, but also knowing what he was doing would be worth it; such a clever storyline for him, especially in these days where instant gratification is abundant. It’s great to show people that if you bide your time, it will come.
It’s Kleya that we have to thank for Star Wars (at least according to Andor it seems that way). Just like Cassian was rescued, the parallels between their story arcs are incredible. It’s a shame we don’t know what happened to her in Rogue One or A New Hope, but I’d like to think that for her sake and Luthens she saw the destruction of the Death Star and lived to see a peaceful galaxy, knowing that none of her sacrifices were in vain and it was all worth it.
We all know what happened to Cassianm but to see his journey and to know that he has a child somewhere in the galaxy was incredible and really did bring a tear to my eye. It was wonderful, the torn decisions that he made but with comic relief of K-2S0Â thrown in it was brilliant and set up Rogue One perfectly.
I’ve watched the last four episodes, followed by Rogue One, followed by A New Hope on repeat for the last three days (well, it is my birthday so I’m entitled to do whatever I want).
As an OG Star Wars fan what I want to say is thank you Disney for giving me what I always hoped for. I know Johanna and I will have a lot to talk about in our next episode of Planet Leia, so please check in and listen as we debate the magnificence that is Andor: A Star Wars Story.
Daniel Lo
As of today, well over half of all existing Star Wars films and shows are prequels. It’s a peculiar factoid that I don’t often think about, but when I do it strikes me as a bit odd. The glaring downside to any prequel is the viewer, to some degree or another, will at least sort of know how it ends. Of course, that ceases to apply if we go back far enough as was the case with The Acolyte. That’s an outlier though, as the other “prequel” films and shows tend to lead up to another.
Andor was no different, and as promised took us right up to the start of Rogue One. Any character who has not already shown up later in the timeline would as a rule have to die or be otherwise written out of the story somehow. Despite the unavoidable predictability that comes with the territory, Andor as a whole did not disappoint. Sure, it took away from the suspense in certain scenes. When Cassian Andor, Ruescott Melshi, and Kleya Marki were pinned down inside the safe house, the drama was a bit muted by the fact that we knew at least two of them would make it out. Now imagine someone who has never seen any Star Wars was watching this. Much more interesting, right? Still, the fact that Andor as a whole remained so compelling is a testament to its overall quality.
One aspect of season two that stood out to me was the pronounced use of unhelmeted Imperial troopers. Whether it was the sacrificial rookie grunts on Ghorman or the seasoned killers that made up Supervisor Heert’s tactical squad, the stakes felt far more elevated and kills more brutal when human faces had nothing to hide behind. Standard stormtroopers still made appearances, but they felt more like background elements than anything else. This detail has been consistent with one of Andor’s main strengths: Showing the human side of Star Wars.
The final trio of episodes each had their own pacing. The first was all about Luthen Rael’s ending, told through a linear chain of events while punctuated by flashbacks involving him and Kleya Marki. They served as an effective bookend to Cassian’s own flashbacks near the start of season one, and heightened emotions as Kleya tearfully took the former Imperial soldier turned architect of the Rebellion off life support. The middle installment showed Dedra’s gradual transition to becoming an Imperial prisoner after her botched capture of Luthen while setting up a cliffhanger for Kleya, the sole remaining rebel still in harm’s way and without any plot armor. The final episode of the week, season, and show opened with the safehouse shootout, which was violently ended by a familiarly disobedient K-2SO. After our heroes made a safe but complicated return to Yavin, the final 20 minutes of the show gave us a Return of the King-style series of layered endings. Every one of them was earned.
With the aforementioned fact that season two ended just before the start of Rogue One, it’s a shame that there’s no room for any more Andor. I enjoyed the dark and gritty realism, and the consistently high level of quality across every aspect of the show left no obvious “weakest link” anywhere to be found. I will particularly miss Luthen’s antique gallery, which doubled as a showcase of rotating easter eggs that has surely delighted even the biggest nerds. It could very well have been Star Wars at its best, brought to a joyous end with some very familiar music for those of us who watched the end credits to its final conclusion.
Based on Star Wars by George Lucas? Mission accomplished.
Greg McLaughlin
As the finale ran its course in this final arc of the season and series, I think Tony Gilroy and company pulled off what they had set out to do: condense the final years of Andor into 3 show arcs over the course of one season. I think it did better at accomplishing the mission in the earlier ones, more so at the end where I think they really could have used a couple more episodes to complete the journeys of a number of characters introduced at the series’ start.
I think this last arc had the hardest mission: to serve both the series and Rogue One, where it would lead up to. This season we have seen two main parallel threads, with Cassian and with Mon. With time focused on introducing a flashback of Luthan and Kleya, I think Mon’s transition story from a rebellious, but well-off senator on the run, to the calm, but heavy hearted Rebel leader in Rogue One and Return of the Jedi was a bit truncated.
It wouldn’t have been a hard bet to place, given the number of surviving characters from Rogue One, and, well Ghorman for that matter, that more of our cast would have met a similar fate. With them safely tucked away on Yavin 4, I think their story waned a bit and they seemed oddly out of place.
Even Kleya, having done a magnificent job of infiltrating a guarded hospital to put Luthan down, was brilliant. Cassian’s rescue once again was executed fantastically, and made the first two episodes keep that momentum going. Once Kleya began though to dwell on what her life now would be – punctuated with getting stunning by the ISB grenade – started to make me feel like like the story wasn’t as confident to know what to do with her now.
If baffles me that we would never see her address the council, as the berated Cassian for potentially working with bad, or at least old information and chiding Luthan’s aging importance. Having seen the full council in action in Rogue One scoff at Jyn Erso giving second hand information, Kleya was a primary source. She was right down the way in the infirmary. All they had to do was ask her themselves.
I also thought, if the amount of screen time was at a premium, if you would have substituted Mon for Vel in Kleya’s last scene, yet kept the same dialog, you would have gotten a better example of Mon’s evolution, and information that would have synced with Rogue One. They did feel that Galen was important and that he had a daughter who knew Saw.
Speaking of which, Saw and Krennic’s return this season has been a master stroke with both chewing scenery like they were at a good buffet. I think Ben Mendelssohn was used very well and you could clearly see that Ben had the time of his life. Forest Whitaker just can’t do a bad Saw scene, except for the very last holo shot where I think he got shoehorned in. Boy was I wanting to see a mission go bad, or a better version of the break with the Rebellion. It might have proved a good use for Wilmon, who hasn’t been doing much since Ghorman.
Mon’s family also got a short straw. Real shame we only got one wrap up scene with Perrin and Sculden’s wife. No fallout from Mon’s speech? Sculden didn’t rat anybody out? That flashback sequence really got to the front of the line in this arc.
Bix I think was used well, hinting that she made it back to Mina Rau and had been carrying Andor’s child. That was a nice touch and also seeing B2 one last time. I love that droid but that was a good example of one that I was just fine leaving alone to play and relax with other droids.
Having made it this far, you’d probably get the impression that I wasn’t happy with the series. On the contrary, Andor was some of the best written and best Star Wars created for the small screen. They deserve the flowers and all the awards that they get. I have a hard time thinking we will get the likes of this again. What I have though been disappointed with, is the release schedule which splintered a large group experience. Many folks didn’t have the ability or time to gulp down that three-hour movie every week and thus, everyone was on their on solo journey. Without a new movie in the theater, this is our Star Wars and I think it’s best served to the widest audience possible in a way that we can all enjoy at the same time and roll with the week to week; that would have been something to behold, had they ran them in single files. I would hope in future series we never again have to bundle shows together. Especially if they cost so dang much to make.
Andor is over. Long live Andor
Paul Naylor
Whoa.
An emotional journey, tying up so many loose strings and tantalising us with others, Andor has been such a special addition to the franchise. A prequel to a prequel that we never knew we needed. For all its mis-fires, Disney has at least given us an unbelievable backstory to the events of where it all began – Star Wars: A New Hope. As we prepare to mark 50 years of a galaxy far, far away, it is refreshing that something made half a century ago has, does and always will stand the test of time.
If I could go back to that wintry queue that circled the Clifton Cinema in Wellington, Shropshire, and whisper in my seven-year-old ear that this was just the beginning of a lifetime connection to a saga and all its spin-offs, I probably would not comprehend that length of time.
Being a Star Wars fan is like any fandom – football teams, music acts, anything. It’s a passion. An inescapable joy – and pain – that has you in its grip, and I for one never want it to let go.
Sander de Lange looks at all the reveals and easter eggs in Andor: The Guide: Episode 10 ‘Make It Stop’
Sander de Lange looks at all the reveals and easter eggs in Andor: The Guide: Episode 11 ‘Who Else Knows?’
Sander de Lange looks at all the reveals and easter eggs in Andor: The Guide: Episode 12 ‘Jedha, Kyber, Erso’
Hear Mark Newbold and Mark Mulcaster discuss Chapter Three of season two on Making Tracks Reaction Chat: Andor: A Star Wars Story Episodes 22, 23 & 24.
