‘Andor’ Season 2, Episodes 7-9: Deaths and Births

‘Andor’ Season 2, Episodes 7-9

Before we begin, let us raise a glass to Syril Karn, a wonderfully weird villain, who meets his end in this week’s rough and rowdy set of “Andor” episodes.

What is there to say about Syril? Do we celebrate the demise of this officious little man, who craved power and hounded our hero, Cassian Andor? Or is he a tragic figure, pushed around by the two women in his life and used as a pawn in the Empire’s violent takedown of the planet Ghorman?

To be clear, there is no shame in being a pawn. This is one of the main themes of “Andor”: Pawns have value to the cause. Even the evil ones.

Ghorman’s fall is at the center of these three episodes, which are just as much about how the main characters react to events that are so shocking — and happen so fast — that they aren’t sure how to interpret them. Is what just happened good? Bad? Bad for now but good in the long run? The uncertainty of the moment is what makes these episodes so exciting and their outcome so consequential. The fog of doubt envelops Syril and ultimately kills him. The frenzy propels Cassian — though he remains wary of where it is sending him.

The big question that drives all the action has to do with how history will record the Ghorman massacre, which sees imperial troops and security droids slaughtering the Ghor by the score while pretending that they are defending their own people from Ghorman’s “inexplicable resistance to imperial norms.” My favorite of these three episodes is the third, in which Senator Mon Mothma aims to give a speech that reshapes public opinion. I have never seen a science-fiction television show be thrilling in quite this way, hinging on the courage of one politician and the will of those aligned to stop her.

To get to that episode though, we must endure a stretch of “Andor” that — while expertly crafted — is not exactly what I would call “fun.” Nor should it be.

Once again, we begin with an episode of setup, notable primarily for introducing a significant new location: the Yavin 4 Rebel Base, which in two years will be where Luke Skywalker and a fleet of X-Wing pilots launch their attack on the Death Star. We get a good look at Cassian’s domestic life in a cozy little hut with Bix on Yavin. They still go out on missions, but the still-fledgling Rebel Alliance — now more organized — frowns on them working for Luthen, who is too rash. And Cassian is having a harder time risking his life with Bix for some far-off, possibly impossible goal. He has been fighting for freedom. Right now he feels free enough.

Nevertheless, by the end of the first episode, Cassian agrees to return to Ghorman to assassinate Dedra, who has been reassigned to the ISB offices there. (The assignment is relayed from Luthen via Vel, who is now installed at the Yavin base, whipping Rebel Alliance recruits into shape.) Cassian finds Ghorman dramatically changed. There are barricades up everywhere and a heavy presence of imperial troops. Rumors abound — most likely planted by the Empire — about terrorists bombing a naval depot.

The Empire is trying to goad the Ghor into a violent act to be captured on camera by the galactic media that is reporting from the Palmo city center. The Ghorman Front, meanwhile, is getting closer to figuring out the Empire’s larger scheme, hearing whispers about mining equipment. And in the middle of all this madness, Syril finally learns that his work on Ghorman never had anything to do with exposing dissidents. Everything happens in a mad rush in this episode — frenetic by design.

Dedra tries to placate Syril, insisting that they will return to Coruscant as heroes lined up for more promotions. (During this conversation, Syril briefly chokes her, so maybe we should lower our glasses and not toast this creep after all.) Syril is then in a lousy mood when he later spots Cassian in Palmo; he figures he should at least complete his earlier mission and bring this killer to justice. The two have a very physical fight in a bar before the steadfast pacifist Ghorman Front leader Carro Rylanz (Richard Sammel) shoots Syril. Before he dies, Syril looks at Cassian and hisses, “Who are you?”

This brings us to the third episode in this bunch, which is about as good as genre television gets. Before Cassian has had much chance to recover from the Ghorman massacre (not to mention his failure to assassinate Dedra), Luthen orders him to Coruscant. There he is to pose as a journalist — giving him access to the corridors behind the Senate boxes — and help Mon escape after her speech.

The logistics of Mon’s speech are as intricate as those of any heist. Senator Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt, replacing Jimmy Smits from the films), a Rebel sympathizer, would raise a point of order during a debate over a Ghorman-inspired emergency declaration and yield the floor to Mon. The original plan called for Bail’s associates to then spirit her to safety, but after intel suggests someone on Bail’s team has been compromised, Cassian has to step in. Also, someone has to make sure the ISB does not prevent the speech from being broadcast throughout the galaxy via the HoloNet.

There are further complications. Mon is having trust issues with assistants including her attaché Erskin Semaj (Pierro Niel-Mee), who is working for Luthen, and a dimwitted driver who is not-so-secretly working for ISB. Even scarier, some pro-Ghorman senators are being incarcerated with no formal charges or trial while the much larger anti-Ghorman faction is making exaggeratedly outraged speeches about “the imperial fallen.” (“What will you tell your people when it is one of your citizens who has been slaughtered?” one asks, blaming the Ghor.)

Nevertheless, she gives her speech — and it is a stunner. Speaking over her fellow Senators’ howls of protest, Mon decries a lack of an objective reality in the Galactic Senate, saying, “The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil.” She calls what happened on Ghorman “unprovoked genocide” and warns, “The monster who will come for us all soon enough is Emperor Palpatine.”

The post-speech part of the plan is not so easy. Mon, in shock over what she has just done, is leery of following Cassian, given he is another of Luthen’s agents. (Like many in the Rebel Alliance, she has had it with Luthen’s puppet-mastery.) Also, the mole in Bail’s organization, frustrated at having been eluded, catches up with Mon and takes a shot at her. The pace of these scenes is so quick, it’s easy to understand why someone like Mon — not used to running and shooting — might feel overwhelmed.

She does get off Coruscant though, and is spirited off by the Rebel Alliance to a secure location to give another speech — one the Galactic Senate can’t remove from their archives and one that serves as a call to all the scattered rebels. (That story, by the way, is told in animated form, in the “Star Wars Rebels” episode “Secret Cargo.”)

As for Cassian, he returns to Yavin, determined to retire from rebelling. But he quickly gets blindsided by Bix, who leaves in the dark of night — sacrificing her life with him for the rebellion’s sake.

In the end, what we witness in these episodes — delivered in a breathless blitz of action and information — is the moment when the Rebel Alliance coalesces and moves out of the shadows, galvanized by Ghorman. The remaining question is whether Cassian can get with the program, given that he still does not seem to share the vision of a vanquished Empire. He seems to believe it’s good enough just to help as many people as possible live freely, away from imperial control.

In that way Cassian is a lot like Syril, who seemed to think that being an imperial stooge would just involve a lot of bossing people around and feeling smugly important. Neither of these men realized — until it was too late — that they had been drafted into a war.

One Way Out

I think Syril actually might have loved Ghorman. He sure collected a lot of their spider figurines.
Bix urges Cassian to fix his balky shoulder by visiting a “Force healer,” who then senses something special within him. Is the implication here that Cassian is, as the Jedi say, “Force-sensitive?”
The Ghor hotel employee whom Cassian bonded with last year remembers him, even though he is using a different alias. Later, Cassian sees that former bellboy carrying an explosive device. The rebellion is spreading.
Mon is never fully explicit about why she has lost trust in Luthen, but she suggests that having her childhood friend Tay killed on his way back from her daughter’s wedding (something that was never shown on-screen but strongly implied) crossed a line. Ever the politician, Mon always wants more time to negotiate, while Luthen, a paranoiac, would rather eliminate problems before they escalate. Along the same lines, Mon is shocked when Cassian casually executes her disloyal driver. She is now fully involved with the real rebellion — the violent, uncompromising side — and at this point in the story, she is not sure she can handle it.
Before he escapes Ghorman, Cassian’s life is saved again, when Samm (Abraham Wapler), the kid who accidentally shot Cinta last week, stops one of the Empire’s relentless security droids. Cassian brings the droid’s remains back to the rebel base, where it is repaired, reprogrammed and switched back on. Fans of “Rogue One” already know this droid is K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk). We will get to enjoy its dry wit and casual brutality more fully in next week’s episodes.