‘Andor’ Season 2 Premiere Recap: Rebel Rebel

Episodes 1-3: ‘BBY 4’

Want to escape from the real world by watching a “Star Wars” TV show? Can I interest you in Season 2 of “Andor,” which begins this week with stories about refugees being evicted from a safe haven, resistance fighters tearing each other apart, and the obscenely powerful plotting to destroy a whole planet?

Maybe a touch too real? I get it. But let me add that the first three episodes of the season, the show’s last, are remarkably entertaining and thoughtful television. It’s provocative stuff, but satisfyingly stirring.

This series is about how a revolution takes hold, in fits and starts, with a lot of disagreement about how to proceed. Season 2’s first set of episodes also shows how even in times of radical change, people have to keep living their lives.

In Season 1, the show’s creator, Tony Gilroy, divided his saga into multiepisode arcs, each presented in a slightly different style. Gilroy and Disney+ are retaining that structure for Season 2 and leaning further into the “movie of the week” concept by releasing three episodes at a time.

But the first thing fans may notice about the opening three episodes (of 12 total) is how they jump around between locations and genres, to tell essentially four different stories, all set over the course of a few days one year after Season 1 ended. The date is “BBY 4,” four years before the Battle of Yavin, the big space-fight in the original “Star Wars” that ends with the Death Star exploding. Reminder: That triumphant rebel attack was made possible by the events of the film “Rogue One,” for which “Andor” is a prequel. (Rampant franchise expansion can make for confusing timelines.)

The series’s namesake, the mercenary-turned-rebel Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), bounces between two of these stories. The new season gets off to a strong start in its opening sequence, in which Cassian steals an imperial fighter ship, posing as a test pilot. After a lot of dramatic buildup to him getting into the pilot’s seat, Cassian pushes the wrong button and goes rocketing backward instead of forward. He then accidentally engages the ship’s blasters, shooting laser bolts indiscriminately around the hangar. It’s a funny bit of slapstick, but also exciting, filled with the fine design and special effects “Star Wars” is known for.

From there, Cassian stumbles into one of this arc’s four story lines — a kind of black comedy vignette about the messiness and madness of war. After escaping the imperial freighter, Cassian tries to rendezvous with one of his rebel contacts on a wild way-station planet. There, he is cornered by a band of bickering refugees, who also claim to be rebels against the empire but do not believe Cassian is their ally. (To be fair, he is wearing an imperial uniform at the time.) The first two episodes follow Cassian as he tries to get free of these hapless would-be warriors, who eventually descend into a tiny but deadly civil war.

While he is incommunicado, the rebels tracking his mission become very anxious. They include: Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), who is on the Outer Rim farming planet Mina-Rau, living as a refugee laborer alongside other agents of the resistance; and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard), who is attending a wedding on the aristocratic planet Chandrila, hosted by the rebel sympathizer Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), who is the mother of the bride.

These two story lines — on Mina-Rau and Chandrila — vary wildly in tone. Bix, already dealing with post-traumatic stress from being tortured by the Imperial Security Bureau last season, finds her bucolic farm life is not that safe, after the Empire suddenly descends for an “audit.” (At least that is what the officers claim they are doing.) The Empire shuts down all travel and communication on the planet, creating tension between the rebel refugees and their hosts. It does not help that one of Biz’s compatriots, Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), is having a secret romance with a farmer’s daughter.

Meanwhile, on Chandrila, Mon entertains some of the wealthiest families in the galaxy while fretting over the future of her daughter’s marriage, which was arranged to help settle debts incurred from her support of the rebel cause. The scenes on this planet emphasize pomp and pageantry as well as the finer points of diplomacy. The chief source of tension here — beyond the wedding itself — emerges when one of Mon’s oldest friends, the newly divorced and suddenly cash-poor Tay Kolma (Ben Miles), pulls her aside and says she owes him a favor for all the financial support he has given her in the past. When Luthen hears about this, he worries that Tay — who knows too much and has self-control issues — could take down the very useful Mon.

These episodes’ final story line primarily plants the seeds for the season’s larger plot, while also providing some comic relief.

At an off-the-books meeting in the Maltheen Divide, several of the Empire’s most powerful and secretive officers have been gathered by Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who “Star Wars” fans will know as the director of the Death Star project. Orson announces the Empire’s intention to plunder the mineral resources of Ghorman, a mostly peaceful and prosperous planet that supplies much of the galaxy’s fabrics and fashions thanks to its native population of fiber-spinning spiders. The primary plan is wage a propaganda war against Ghorman, painting the planet as a hotbed of terrorists. The more covert plan is to nurture a group of Ghor rebels, whose actions might be destructive in a predictable and exploitable way.

The big meeting itself is often very funny, beginning with the kitschy Ghorman tourist film Orson shows before stating his case. The story line then spins off into a strange and amusing domestic dramedy, as Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), the woman behind the I.S.B.’s “let’s co-opt a Ghor rebellion” scheme, returns to the Coruscant apartment she shares with Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), a fussy imperial bureaucrat who would do anything for the emperor. One of this arc’s big set pieces is a dinner party Dedra and Syril host for his annoying mother, Eedy (Kathryn Hunter), a would-be socialite.

In fact, although these episodes are meant to be watched as one, like a feature film, they still play as very expensive, visually stunning TV episodes. Each has enough moments of high drama, thrilling action and weird humor to sustain a week’s worth of fan conversation, were “Andor” releasing them one at a time. The Ghorman promotional film in Episode 1, a moment when Bix is cornered by a flirty imperial officer in Episode 2, the painfully awkward Karn family dinner in Episode 3 … these are the smaller pieces of storytelling that television excels at, keeping audiences engaged as the plot gradually falls into place.

The resolution to the action on Mina-Rau provides the most movie-like payoff this week. As the Empire begins to root out the refugees with the natives’ help, Bix and Wilmon and company try to stay out of sight, on a planet where the vast fields of grain make it hard to hide from low-flying starships. Fortunately for the rebels, Cassian is able to escape from the warring band of ragtag soldiers and fly to the rescue, evading the planet’s imperial blockade in his stolen fighter.

The Chandrila scenes provide much of the non-action spectacle in these episodes, with wedding rituals that involve lots of flowers and rhythmic drumming. Mon’s husband, Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie), has another highlight when he delivers a heartfelt speech about being mindful of life’s moments of gaiety amid all of the galaxy’s many opportunities for anxiety. He insists he sees this joy and hope in the bride and groom — two people who are being forced into marriage as part of a business deal. It is no coincidence that Episode 3 ends on a shot of Mon furiously dancing, as though trying to extract some pleasure out of something that is, ultimately, terrible.

For me though, the most moving moment comes early, when Cassian is preparing to steal the fighter with the help of an insider at the Empire’s test facility. The woman, Niya (Rachelle Diedericks), knows she may have signed her death warrant — or at the least cost herself a job. When she asks if Cassian believes her sacrifice is worth something, he says, “This makes it worth it. This, right now. Being with you, being here at the moment you step into the circle.”

Cassian may never wrap his head around the rebellion as a galaxy-wide phenomenon. For him, it is still about connecting with people on a one-to-one level, sharing the understanding that the only way to live freely is to fight, side-by-side.

One Way Out

• The melancholy, malfunctioning droid B2EMO makes a couple of brief appearances on Mina-Rau, where he acts like a sad old dog, waiting for his master Cassian to come home.

• Dedra is unhappy about being put on the Ghorman project because she is still focused on finding Luthen, code-named “Axis.” Her boss, Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser), chastises her for this obsession, saying that she made the political blunder of building up the legend of an enemy before she knew she could catch him.

• We never see the outcome, but it is strongly implied that Luthen takes care of Mon’s Tay problem by having his undercover agent Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) whisk him away from the party and kill him. Cinta is spotted at the wedding by Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay), who is Mon’s cousin and Cinta’s girlfriend, and who has barely seen her lover since Cinta started doing some of Luthen’s more dangerous jobs.

• I loved everything about the Karn family dinner party, from the slinky ’60s-style cocktail music to the way Syril wears a shirt with a kind of built-in tie. (This is a common element to imperial fashion, for both men and women.) Plus, the way the night ends, with the imposing Dedra effectively ordering Eedy to butt out of Syril’s life, is delicious in a way that the meal’s menu of skewers and fondue almost certainly wasn’t.

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