Andor Season 2 Episodes 7-9
"Messenger" / "Who Are You?" / "Welcome to the Rebellion"
Writer: Dan Gilroy
Director: Janus Metz
Cast: Diego Luna, Genevieve O'Reilly, Stellan Skarsgård, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Muhannad Bhaier, Faye Marsay, Elizabeth Dulau, Kathryn Hunter, Anton Lesser, Benjamin Bratt, Alan Tudyk, Alistair Petrie
The year is BBY 2. Opposition to the Empire consolidates on Yavin 4. All the while, the Empire readies to collect on its investment in Ghorman. They are prepared to commence gouge mining, dooming an inhabited world for its minerals.
Yavin 4
Two years ago, Cassian escaped capture from infighting guerillas on this moon. Now its jungles and ancient temples shelter a growing rebel alliance. Transports laden with new recruits touch down amongst the ruins with actual marching orders. Among these grunts, our man Melshi.
Cass and Bix live in a Vrbo-ready treehouse, noticeably removed from the military encampment. They bristle at the growing command structure, accustomed to their own smaller circle of trust. Cass struggles with a nagging shoulder injury sustained in his previous mission, but he and Bix are in no rush to return to the field. Downtime looks good on them.
A newly arrived Wil is even less enthused than his friends with the ever-expanding Rebel industrial complex. His loyalties are with Luthen's much more proactive spy network. No sooner did the boy escape the orbit of Saw Gerrera than the old man gave him an assignment on Ghorman.
Tensions there have only grown and Wil feels a greater sense of urgency. As it turns out, Cass has been ducking Luthen and Wil is here to enlist him for a long overdue return to the fraught planet. It's time to eliminate Dedra Meero, the woman who oversaw the violence on Ferrix, killed Wil's father, and tortured Bix. She now walks free on Ghorman. Cassian balks at the prospect.
Later, Bix takes a reluctant Cassian to visit a woman claiming to be a Force healer, hoping she can do something about his shoulder. He's skeptical, reminding Bix that Maarva harbored some real animosity towards a fraudulent healer. Bix is adamant, chiding him for not doing everything he can to try and fix the problem.
(Gang, I think this is about more than a blaster burn.)
The Force healer seems to sense Cass's presence and approaches him. When Bix tells her about his injury, the healer says it's to his right shoulder. She's not asking. He permits her to lay her hand over the wound. The connection is meaningful for the woman, but Cass is scared and hurries off. Bix asks the healer what she saw. She's cryptic; her grasp on the Force seemingly tenuous. This man, she says, this pilot, is a messenger burdened by purpose. He has somewhere he needs to be. The woman doesn't need to use the Force to intuit that Bix wants to be that place. Whether it's a white lie or a genuine hope, the healer says perhaps she is.
By the time Bix arrives home, Cass's shoulder is already feeling much better. He rotates his arm, not wanting to believe. Because that would mean whatever he saw when the healer touched him was also real.
"Let it in," says Bix, taking him in her embrace. "It can only be good. There's no other reason."
The next day, Cass and Wil set off for Ghorman. The brass aren't happy about the impromptu mystery trip. No-nonsense General Draven cautions Cass that his days as a non-committal, fly-by-night agent are coming to an end. Cassian doesn't disagree. He's planning his exit from this fight just as everyone else is getting started.
Vel visits Bix to relay Draven and Dodonna's concerns about Cassian's commitment. She's taken the reverse course from Wil, distancing herself from Luthen while involving herself more and more with the Rebel military. Passing on her expertise to the new recruits actually seems like the perfect role for Vel. Bix assures her that Cassian will be there when the cause needs him.
Ghorman
While Wil reunites with his friends in the Ghorman Front, Cassian returns to the same hotel from last year, this time in the guise of a journalist. I use "guise" very lightly here; Cassian no longer has patience for character work. So it's no surprise that Thela the bellhop (now concierge?) recognizes him and offers him his old room overlooking the plaza. From there, Cassian notes the dramatic influx of stormtroopers. Shooting Dedra from here might prove difficult, at least if he wants to get out alive.
The Imperial fist has tightened on Palmo. We see galactic news reporters recording live updates throughout the city, regurgitating the state's talking points like posh cable news correspondents. Ghorman is a hotbed of civil unrest and disloyalty to the Emperor, they drone, the Front engaged in increasingly brazen terrorist attacks. But this is all encouraged, and frequently instigated by the ISB as overseen by Dedra. Caught in the middle is an increasingly disquieted Syril. The once useful idiot now bucks at his station, having realized disaster is imminent. This was never about baiting outside agitators. Whatever the Empire has planned, it's not for the greater good of Ghorman and a people the dupe has come to admire.
Partagaz informs Dedra that it's time. There is no alternative to the kalkite in this planet's soil. Bad luck Ghorman, he yawns. Even now, mining machines have arrived planet-side. Syril confronts Dedra, but she dismisses his panic. They're going home soon. They're to be rewarded for what's coming.
"For what?" says Syril. "What have we accomplished?"
A newly installed Captain Kaido arrives with additional jackboots, a hopelessly green riot squad. Dread builds throughout this eighth episode as the barricades are lifted on the Plaza. The ISB is counting on an armed insurgency. Though the square itself is open, the armory is deeply fortified. Cassian observes this from his hotel room, all hopes of taking his shot here utterly dashed. As for Dedra, even she is chafing at the party line. Those mining rigs out there. The Ghorman are in a lather. What does Partagaz expect to happen? Now she's the one not being told the full story. It doesn't feel good.
The Ghorman Front arm themselves with concealed blasters and components for crude incendiaries. The elder Rylanz knows what's up though, and pleads with daughter Enza not to take the Empire's bait. He sees the noose tightening, but she's fired up; the Ghor can no longer suffer in silence.
"We are the Ghor! The galaxy is watching" the people chant. Citizens begin to flood the site of the Tarkin Massacre up to the very front door of the Imperial occupation. This is around the time I think all our hearts relocate to our throats to ride it out to the bitter end.
Rylanz pleads with his countrymen to return home, to engage in silent resistance. But he's one salmon flopping against the current. He spots Syril and chastises him for his role in the coming slaughter. Syril denies he had any ill intent, but the man won't hear it. He's aware of the mining equipment Syril insists are only rumors. They grapple in a doorway. "What kind of a being are you?" says Rylanz. "What is it you've been sent to steal from us?" The younger man shoves him to the ground and rushes off. He has to speak with Dedra.
Captain Kaido is very pleased with himself. Dedra says as much. "Everything as you wanted?"
"Let's not confuse the chain of command," he says. "I'm the trigger, Supervisor. You're the finger."
Cassian conceals the pieces of his sniper rifle in his trenchcoat and makes his way to the hotel lobby. There he exchanges pleasantries with Thela, who reveals he's kept Cass's presence under wraps. Grateful, Cass says he hopes things work out for him. Then Thela says the thing.
"Rebellions are built on hope."
Cassian will remember this.
Syril waves credentials to access the IOC building. He's briefly ushered aside to a room where a few fearful citizens are detained and KX security droids sit in silence. One looks up to regard him with blank eyes. Syril ultimately forces his way to Dedra, demanding to know what they've really been doing on this planet. He rages, grabbing her by the throat. There's a stone, she whimpers. Something in the dirt. It's abundantly clear she neither understands or cares about the deep substrate foliated kalkite at the center of this calculated genocide. This was only ever about advancement. It was always the plan and she's known all along. Whatever color was in Syril's face is gone. She sneers at him, coolly reminding him he's never complained about his promotions. Syril drifts out of the room, out onto the plaza, haunted by his complicity.
What happens next is the most brutal, arresting, honest depiction of state sanctioned violence we're likely to see in a TV drama. It is nothing compared to the true horrors ignored everyday. But it is vital for just that reason. Many may not want it from Star Wars, but we need it from Star Wars and any other outlet with such a platform. Fascism is on the rise and it's well past time to wake up.
Even as the chants turn to native song, a line of riot cops emerge from the armory, bisecting the throng of protesters. Stormtroopers ring the perimeter of the Plaza. Cassian struggles for a clean shot, but Dedra is in constant motion inside the building. Meanwhile, an Imperial sniper trains his own crosshairs. Kaido requests the order and Dedra grants it. The sniper fires on one of the riot cops. Palmo erupts. The Imperials have license to turn the memorial plaza once again to an abattoir. Wil and his friends in the Front draw weapons and return fire.
Kaido grins behind reinforced windows, fire reflected in the transparasteel. He orders the KX droids to join the chaos. They lumber into the crowd, hunched like stalking predators. One kicks a barricade, sending it skidding several meters into panicked civilians. It takes hold of Enza and hurls her into the air. She lands lifeless.
Syril blinks as violence swirls all around him. Smoke. Fire. Scores of dead. The air filled with screams.
Is the redemption arc in play? Are we going to see Syril embedded with Rex on Endor? I don't know how to feel about this.
Still in the hotel lobby, Thela rolls a grenade to the wall and dies meters from the place where his father gave his life seventeen years earlier. The wall explodes, momentarily stunning Cassian, a hair's breadth from pulling the trigger.
Syril shakes his stupor and, turning, spies his obsession of the past three years hidden behind a pillar. Andor. He'd know the face anywhere. Though he's likely unaware, Syril Karn saves Dedra from assassination once again. As Cass readies his rifle, he launches at him, sending them both sprawling into a cafe. Syril lays into him with frenzied strikes, slamming his head into the floor. Cassian manages to break free, but Syril doesn't relent, slamming a chair into his back. The walls come down and they suddenly find themselves in a shooting gallery. Syril levels Cass's own gun at him, dead to rights. He shivers with contempt.
"Who are you?" says Cass. Syril actually starts to lower the weapon in defeat. A blaster bolt from Rylanz relieves Syril of his shame, thus ending his character arc with absolute precision.
Dedra doesn't see Syril's final moments, but she surveys the broader atrocity from upstairs. She's dismayed.
Cass and Wil escape the Plaza, but the KX droids doggedly pursue the screaming Ghor into the surrounding avenue, flinging bodies into walls. One hones in on Cassian — an armed combatant — and lurches toward him. It bats fleeing civilians aside. Cass and Wil open fire, but there's no stopping it — save for an armored Imperial speeder that rams the droid into a wall. Good save, Samm, the young resistance fighter burdened with causing Cinta's death.
Wil refuses to flee the scene with Cassian. The lad insists on regrouping with the Front. "Tell people what happened here, Cass," he say, mirroring Melshi's call on Naimos. These atrocities can't go ignored. No matter what. It is Cassian's role, his curse, to carry this message a little further. The friends part ways. Ferrix. Stone and sky. But Cass asks one last favor. They help him load the ruined KX droid into the speeder.
Reunited at Front HQ, Wil listens as his girlfriend, Dreena, sends out an emergency broadcast over the radio, a plea for outside aid. Cassian cries as he races out of Palmo.
Dedra waits alone in the small antechamber where she typically communicates with Partagaz. She gasps for air, tugging at her collar. Her uniform suddenly feels very tight
TIE fighters circle overhead like buzzards.
Coruscant
Eedy Karn watches news coverage of the violence on Ghorman, first with mild concern from her breakfast nook and then with despair, comforted by friends on the couch. They sit in rapt attention to the anchor as she solemnly conveys the Imperial narrative. This was a tragedy wrought by Ghor insurgents and outside rebel groups.
And that's been the spin throughout the galaxy. The ISB has engineered the perfect murder. The murder of a world, its people, and their culture. In controlling the narrative, they've cast Imperial forces as the martyrs.
Stormtroopers publicly arrest Senator Oran of Ghorman without so much as a warrant. He pleads with his fellows to remember his planet and caution that their worlds could easily be next. Mon Mothma and Bail Organa watch in horror.
Mon knows she has to say something, but Bail warns that it will more than end her career; she'll have to go into hiding. He's been doing a lot of thinking about this. Yavin isn't ready. They need to continue to stall for time, even in this farce of a government. But he concedes that they have to take a stand. It's time for Mon to inform the galaxy of the Empire's treachery and assume her place in Rebellion leadership. We are talking Bilbo's 111th. One last hurrah and then poof.
Bail will remain in the senate, continuing to buy time. Essentially a hostage. He tells Mon to ready a speech but to be on alert for listening devices. Another senator's offices were bugged.
Kleya preps Cassian for the job of protecting Mon if she needs to make a quick exit. His new cover is Ronnie Googe, reporter for Mid-Rim Network. The pass she's forged for him will be good for the season, but Cass says he won't need it after this job. He's done. Kleya doesn't have time for sob stories. Her dedication to the cause likely dwarfs Luthen's.
Mon's aid, Erskin Semaj, sweeps the office for listening devices. They find one and Mon crushes it. The Imperial tech charged with surveilling her notices one of his widgets going out and starts to investigate. Erskin isn't sure this is the only bug, so he suggests Mon get some fresh air while he continues his search.
Luthen — divested of his gallery wig — finds Mon pacing the plaza outside the senate building. She's rehearsing her speech. How did he even know she'd be here? Well, there's no easy way to tell Mon this, but Erskin actually works for him, has since the wedding, in fact. She'd say she's never felt so betrayed, but really this is just the latest knife in the back. There's no time for upset though, because Luthen's intel says Bail's extraction team is corrupted. She can't trust the people tasked with spiriting her to Yavin. She recalls Tay Kolma, how swiftly Luthen removed him from the board. After all, they're all just pawns to him. Assets. It's not as if he cares about her or any of them.
Luthen says so many years of secrecy has twisted all of them. He urges her to trust the agent he's sending for her and not Bail's team. She's to ask if he's alone. He'll say he has friends everywhere.
The next morning Mon dismisses Erskin and they're both clearly heartbroken. She's lost everyone. Perrin is noticeably absent this week. I'm curious whether we — or Mon — will ever see him again.
Cassian thinks Luthen is crazy to stay on Coruscant at this stage, but the old man says no Yavin for him. His concern is getting Mon to safety. Kleya's spinning plates trying to determine whether this operation is plausible with Erskin off grid and the senator uneager to trust them.
Journalists and wonks arrive for the special session of the senate. Cassian and the three agents comprising Bail's extraction team all enter separately. As a necessity, Bail doesn't know any of them and they don't know each other. One is an ISB plant.
Mon confers with Bail in the moments before they enter the senate chamber. This is happening. This is it. He says he'll see her again in Yavin, hopefully in a year.
"Tear the shit out of this place," he says. Don't ask me to choose a favorite between Ben and Jimmy. They've both crushed it as the Senior Senator from Alderaan.
Cassian runs into Erskin, who could never abandon Mon in her time of need, even if he can't stand at her side. They do a vibe check and realize they're on the same side. It's a good thing they did. Erskin helps Cass navigate the gallery.
The ISB plant — Beska, an agent specifically linked to Lonni — calls in to headquarters, but one of the other agents on the extraction team notices. He asks for an explanation and she kills him.
Bail does some maneuvering and arranges a point of order for Mon to address the senate uninterrupted, in a break from the official agenda. ISB knows this can't be good and rushes to kill the live feed. The man on the scene is locked out of the server room.
Mon takes the floor and offers an impassioned eulogy to objective reality, to truth as the galaxy knew it. The Empire is lying to everyone about Ghorman. What happened there just yesterday is nothing short of genocide. Her fellow senators jeer her. But she's able to rebuke Palpatine by name just before the lever is finally thrown and Mon is silenced. ISB wants her detained immediately.
While what's left of Bail's team waits for the senator in a lobby, Cass is able to greet her in the hallway immediately outside the chamber. She tries to shrug him off, assuming he's an out-of-pocket journalist. When he says he has friends everywhere it stops her in her tracks. As they take an elevator down he's able to provide enough names to convince her of his connections. He escorts her through the lobby. Reporters swarm. Beska makes an overture to Mon, but Cass and Erskin force her hand. She pulls a blaster and identifies herself as ISB. Erskin diverts attention, loudly claiming she's a Rebel spy. She reels on him and Cass shoots her.
Cassian gives Mon his coat and ushers her away with Erskin behind to clean things up. They hurry through the building as the ISB struggles to close the place down. Kloris, Mon's treacherous driver, attempts to intercept them, but Cass takes him out. They make their escape in Mon's private car.
Erskin and Kleya meet Cassian and the senator at the safehouse. Dreena watches over Wil, who's sporting a nasty wound to his leg. He needs a proper doctor. Mon takes the opportunity to speak with Cass as they wait for her escort to Yavin. The Rebellion likes to control the narrative as well. Gold Squadron will be credited with her rescue, and she's to give another speech. She's not sure how to thank him. He says only to make this worth it.
Yavin 4
Cass returns to Yavin and Bix. He gives Draven his ship back, the broken KX droid a charred peace offering. He tells Bix his plan to resign in the morning. They've given off. They'll go away somewhere. In the deep wells of Bix's eyes we know this isn't to be. Even if we hadn't seen Rogue One we'd know.
"The only special thing about me is luck," Cass says, "and I've overplayed my hand already."
She hugs him.
He wakes alone to birdsong. She's left him a video recording.
"We have to win. We have to beat them. And I believe you have purpose in making that happen. I need to believe that."
She promises that when this is over she will find him. They will be together again.
Cass races to the temple but all outbound ships have already gone. She's really gone.
A corporal waves him over. They're about to reactivate the KX unit. Reprogrammed, of course. Theoretically. Everyone trains their guns on the droid strapped to the worktable. A tech turns the dial at a diagnostic console and the droid writhes to life.
Good morning, K-2SO.
Three episodes remain.
I'll see you along the road.
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