Major Spoilers for Andor Season 2

Phenomenal.

Andor has released its last batch of episodes, and it went out on a high.

In some ways, the finale arc was cleaning shop. The second season has been primarily focused on the Ghormans. But that story reached its culmination in the previous arc, with the Ghorman massacre. This arc was chiefly concerned with moving the pieces into their Rogue One starting places.

That it was still some of the best TV in recent years is a testament to how incredible the show is.

Kleya, Lonni and Luthen

The first part (episode 10) was Kleya’s episode. This character has been a mystery throughout the show, even more so than Luthen. This episode combined a series of flashbacks, showing elements of her childhood, with a fantastic performance by Elizabeth Dulau in the present day, to give the character a spotlight and reveal some of her backstory.

The episode starts with Lonni, the Rebel spy in ISB, revealing the Death Star to Luthen and then being killed by Luthen. I feel a bit bad for Lonni. He’s often angry and on the edge of defection, but it’s clear why. Luthen basically forced him to stay in a dangerous situation. Then, the moment he was compromised, due to his discovery of the Death Star, Luthen killed him.

Aware the Empire will be coming for them, Luthen and Kleya decide to leave Coruscant. Luthen passes on the Death Star info to Kleya and goes to destroy their communication equipment. At this moment he’s confronted by Dedra Meero, who, after years of searching, has finally discovered his identity.

It’s a great scene, with two more great performances (all the performances in Andor are great).

For Dedra Meero, it’s a personal triumph. She even brings the season 1 Imperial Starpath Unit (that began her hunt). Luthen is unwilling to concede defeat, and while Dedra gloats, Luthen attempts suicide (so they can’t question or torture him). He’s quickly taken to an intensive care ward.

Kleya, witnessing this, breaks into the hospital to finish him off (again to prevent questioning). This occurs alongside the above-mentioned flashbacks.

It’s revealed that Kleya, orphaned by an imperial attack on her planet, was raised by Luthen, who was serving in the army that attacked them. It’s an impactful sequence: Kleya must basically assassinate the person who raised her. The actress has said that Kleya both loves and hates Luthen; he raised her, but was also in the army that killed her family. Again, a great performance.

Luthen’s Backstory Revealed?

This also reveals some of Luthen’s backstory: he was an imperial sergeant who, during a massacre, had a breakdown. He then deserts for Kleya’s sake. It’s a great backstory; far more unique than typical revenge stories. He’s conceivably rebelling to avenge Kleya’s family rather than for his own sake.

I was a little expecting Luthen to be a fallen Jedi. He has a lot of fallen-Jedi-esque traits: Lightsaber-esque items, his Jedi-esque speech about inner peace, his incredible combat skills, not to mention the Kyber Crystal he treasures in season 1.

But I’m glad they didn’t do that. A soldier who broke down during a massacre and then swore to avenge the family of a kid who survived said massacre is far more compelling than another fallen Jedi storyline.

Luthen is still a partial mystery. The flashbacks were about Kleya; he only featured so far as he affected Kleya’s story. There’s a lot we don’t know about him. Namely, why did he have all those fallen Jedi-esque traits? Why does he have a Kyber Crystal that’s “worth more to [him]” than any other offer? For that matter, where does he get all the antiques he sells in the flashbacks?

There were some pre-season 2 theories that Luthen had some close interaction with Jedi (though wasn’t a Jedi himself). To recycle that idea, maybe he fought with a Jedi during the Clone Wars, becoming close friends. After the purge, his (non-clone) unit got absorbed into the Imperial army, leading to his breakdown.

We’ll probably never know his complete backstory. But that’s how it should be. Let the character stay mysterious. (Although I’m imagining Luthen having constant Indiana Jones adventures to acquire the artefacts he sold on the road.)

Cassian, Melshi and K2SO

Luthen dies as Kleya tearfully disconnects his life support. She then flees the hospital, ISB in pursuit, and contacts Cassian (or any of their agent) to pass on the Death Star intel.

There’s a great scene of Cassian, Melshi and K2SO hanging out on Yavin, when they get the message on a prohibited radio. (There’s a nice detail in which Cassian has memorised an indecipherable encryption.)  It’s a shame we won’t see more of their dynamic; it was a fun scene.

It’s also a shame we saw so little of K2SO – a result of season 2’s structure – splitting it into arcs set a year apart. I so understand why, though. K2SO is so unstoppable that his presence would automatically lower the stakes of any combat situation. Tony Gilroy has said as much.

Sure enough, there’s a scene, in episode 12, where K2SO single-handedly defeats a squad of ISB soldiers and uses Supervisor Heert as a human shield. It’s a cool sequence, but it makes it pretty clear why they only introduced him at the end. I digress.

Cassian, Melshi and K2SO rush off to Coruscant, defying the Yavin commanders. They quickly find Kleya, learning about the Death Star and Luthen’s death. Kleya, however, is reluctant to go to Yavin, as she’s aware the Alliance dislikes Luthen. The argument is interrupted by the arrival of ISB.

This is the first action sequence where almost every character has plot armour: Cassian, Melshi, and K2SO are in Rogue One. That might be why they felt free to use K2SO here (defeating the ISB). We already knew the characters would survive, so they could showcase K2SO’s power without reducing the stakes.

The only character who isn’t guaranteed to survive is Kleya. When she passed on the Death Star intel, she lost her plot armour. The sequence manages to reintroduce some tension by leaning into this (helped by her episode 10 spotlight). A stun grenade leaves her injured, and it’s not clear she’ll live.

Even returning to Yavin, Kleya survival is far from guaranteed. There’s a moment where, thinking she has nothing left, she walks into the dark predator-filled jungle. Fortunately, Vel finds her and they have a short heart-to-heart conversation.

The Rebel Council

Cassian is disciplined by the Rebel Alliance leadership, a council of generals and senators, and tells them about the Death Star. (It’s cool that they got the Rogue One actors back, even the comms officer returned!) Mon Mothma, now with her Rogue One haircut, is willing to hear him out, but the other council members are hostile.

They don’t believe in the Death Star, and they don’t like Luthen either. Even Bail Organa (Princess Leia’s adopted dad) appears hostile to Cassian.

A lot of fans are annoyed by the council’s hostility (even by Bail Organa). I get why. We know everything Cassian is saying is true, and the council’s disbelief comes across as arrogant. But I kind of understand why that’s their response.

I’ve always gotten the impression that the Rebel Alliance was actively avoiding outright war. Most of its senators will remember the Clone Wars and probably aren’t eager to do that again. Instead, they’re hoping to resolve the conflict diplomatically. I think they view the Rebel Alliance as a way to give the Senate teeth.

On paper, the Senate is powerful; it’s the coordinating body for thousands of planets. That’s why the Emperor keeps it around until the Death Star is ready. The Empire has subsequently spent years intimidating individual Senators; it keeps the non-corrupt politicians scared and divided. We’ve seen the resulting senatorial weakness throughout Andor.

The Rebel Alliance, however, empowers senators to speak out, since now their worlds have some protection. This has made the Senate opposition more powerful. We see that in Rogue One and A New Hope, the Empire is constantly concerned about Senate opinion.

The Alliance council, in short, wants a peaceful solution to the conflict. They’re subsequently at odds with the likes of Saw Gerrara and Luthen, who seem to actively want war (Mon Mothma says as much in Star Wars Rebels). The Death Star, however, forces them into the full-scale war they’ve been avoiding.

Hence, they don’t want to believe it’s true (and it is a pretty conspiratorial tale). Still, their response does come across as arrogant.

Luthen, for his part, has been outmoded. His puppet master brand of covert and ruthless rebellion is no longer fit for a more chaotic galaxy and a more explicit rebellion (especially one that’s pursuing diplomacy). A fact which has become increasingly clear as season 2 progressed.

The ISB Collapses

Meanwhile, the ISB is tearing itself apart.

After her botched attempt to capture Luthen, Dedra Meero gets arrested. Her constant rule-breaking ultimately enabled the Rebels to discover the Death Star – info they stole from her, but which she was not supposed to have. This results in Director Krennic intervening.

There’s a powerful interrogation scene in which he makes clear that Dedra, whose spent the show seeking control, is miles from the top. This meshes with Krennic’s own dressing down by Darth Vader during Rogue One.

Nevertheless, Dedra’s understanding of the rebellion, from her prison cell, ultimately proves essential in the ISB tracking down Kleya: it makes a clear point about authoritarian leaders scapegoating their incompetence on capable subordinates.

Likewise, with Supervisor Heert’s death, the ISB’s failure to capture Kleya is ultimately blamed on its primary leader, Major Partagaz. This character has become a fan favourite. He’s got a huge screen presence (“calibrate your enthusiasm”) and all his scenes have been amazing. He has a final moment to shine in the last episode.

Realising he’s about to be arrested, Partagaz waits in the ISB conference room listening to Nemik’s rebel manifesto. It’s an inspired creative choice. Nemik’s words perfectly sum up the ISB’s collapse (the constant and futile effort of tyranny). In his final moment, Partagaz finally realises the truth of it: the Empire was doomed from the start.

I also love the detail that Nemik’s manifesto is being listened to galaxy-wide. Cassian and Vel have presumably played a part in spreading it.

Partagaz chooses to shoot himself rather than be arrested. Less competent supervisors will presumably take his place at the head of a redundant ISB (an irrelevancy once the Galactic Civil War starts).

Dedra, for her part, ends up in a Narkina-style factory prison. She’ll presumably help build the Second Death Star as a victim of the same oppression she helped create. It’s a horrifying and well-deserved fate for a horrifying and fascistic character. The Imperial regime accepted her fanatic loyalty when she was useful and stepped on her when it was convenient.

To Rogue One…

It was stated that Andor would lead into Rogue One, they really meant that. It ends just a few hours before Rogue One starts.

At the end, Cassian briefly remembers his lost sister, the search for whom began the story, but whose fate he’ll never discover. (I did briefly think they were implying that Kleya is his sister, but that is not the case.)

He gets woken up by K2SO and then reconciles with Bail Organa, who sends him to confirm the Death Star’s existence (which we see in Rogue One). Organa considers that he may himself die opposing the Empire, and wants to go down swinging, foreshadowing his death on Alderaan in A New Hope.

A surprisingly large number of characters do survive the final episode – I thought it was going to be a blood bath.

As Cassian leaves the Yavin 4 base, he shares a brief look with the force-sensitive healer (who presumably senses he’s off to do Rogue One), and there are some closing shots of the surviving characters (including Dedra).

Melchi is training troops, Kleya is seeing the Rebellion that she and Luthen built, Wilmon is having breakfast with his partner, Vel and Mon Mothma are eating with the troops.

In contrast to Mothma’s apparent happiness on Yavin, there’s also a brief scene of her husband, Perrin, still living a depressed and hedonistic life on Coruscant (I’m kind of curious about Perrin’s response to Mothma’s rebel activity).

It’s a great final scene, with some fantastic music. In the final shot, we briefly see B2EMO again (and he’s got a friend!), and it’s revealed that Bix left because she was pregnant, which Cassian didn’t know about. It makes their plan to reconcile after the war, and Cassian’s imminent death, even more devastating. He’ll never meet his kid.

Interestingly, while some of these characters die in Rogue One, there’s still a lot more the survivors could do in the Star Wars universe. Their stories aren’t done yet. It does seem unlikely that we’ll see them again, though.

That’s sad, but probably for the best. They were incredibly well handled throughout Andor. The script would have to be really great to justify their return. Moreover, a good story should leave people wanting more, not overstay its welcome. (And I do want more! Time to rewatch Rogue One).

Final Thoughts

Overall, season 2 of Andor has been great.

I did have some small complaints about the first couple of arcs, but it was just nitpicking. In short, I thought the three-episode arc structure and the regular time jumps forced them to rush some parts. It also required them to keep reestablishing the status quo.

On the other hand, the new structure kept the story concise and fast-paced. My small nitpicks were completely resolved a couple of arcs in.

It also ensured that the show ended on a high note. There was no chance of it overstaying its welcome or slowly tapering off as the production ran short of money, patience and energy (the fate of many popular shows).

They avoided any chance of an unceremonious cancellation as well. They got to tell the entire story. And I’m so glad it did. The show has easily been the best piece of Star Wars media since the Original Trilogy. I’m going to miss it.

They nailed the ending as well. Andor has ended on a high note.

-Dexter