‘Andor’ Finale Recap: Friends Everywhere

Season 2, Episodes 10-12

Across the two seasons of “Andor,” so much has happened that at times it has been easy to forget that the show is, functionally, a prequel. All along, we have been watching the story of how the rebellion against the Empire evolved and strengthened in the five years leading up to the films “Rogue One” and “Star Wars.”

But does “Rogue One” feel like it follows directly from “Andor”? I watched the movie again after the “Andor” series finale, and the transition is not smooth. The movie shares some of the show’s themes, exploring how rebellion requires compromises, sacrifices and a willingness to set conventional morality aside for the sake of a higher purpose. But as a viewing experience, “Rogue One” is big and loud, full of blockbuster-scale battles. “Andor,” while often thrilling, operates at a more personal level, following how individuals can be swept up in the rush of major historical events.

The difference is made especially clear in the final three episodes of “Andor.” Last week saw the conclusion of this season’s primary story line, about how the Empire’s destructive Ghorman mission galvanized the galaxy’s scattered resistance movements. One year later, the rebels finally discover that the Ghorman project was tied to the construction of a superweapon, and must decide whether to act on this intelligence.

That debate is mostly saved for the strangely sedate series finale. This set’s first two episodes are mainly about the Alliance’s most problematic adjuncts: Luthen and Kleya. Cassian’s admirable loyalty to these people — who inspired, sheltered, exploited and infuriated him — anchors one last swashbuckling “Andor” adventure rooted in the idea that every soldier counts in a fight for freedom.

Luthen and Kleya remained on Coruscant — largely forgotten — after the nerve center of the rebellion moved to Yavin 4. As the start of Episode 10, the ISB mole Lonni Jung meets with Luthen and says that he has been secretly snooping through Dedra Meero’s private digital files for a year, piecing together the Empire’s Death Star plan. He asks Luthen for safe passage for himself and his family. Instead, Luthen kills him.

Luthen, knowing that his whole operation probably just died along with Lonni, hustles back to his antique shop to destroy the evidence of his galaxy-spanning communications and intelligence-gathering apparatus. Before he can finish the job, Dedra appears at his door.

The scene between Dedra and Luthen is a series highlight. These two veterans of a long, bloody war have mostly outlived their usefulness to their respective causes. But they both still know how to swagger. Dedra first pretends to shop, all the while teasing Luthen about the possibly sketchy provenance of his wares. Then the masks come off, as Dedra smugly boasts of finally dragging “Axis” out of hiding. Luthen cockily counters, “I’ve known you all along.” Then Luthen stabs himself, while the evidence Dedra needs goes up in smoke in the shop’s back room. Panicked, Dedra has Luthen rushed to a hospital, hoping to save his life so she can have him tortured and questioned.

The rest of this episode combines a nifty caper plot with a series of touching flashbacks. As Kleya uses her formidable stealth to roam relatively freely around a heavily guarded hospital, we get a short history of her life with Luthen, via vignettes woven through the main action.

The hospital scenes are fun, because it’s fascinating to see what a Coruscant hospital looks like. (There are an awful lot of windows!) Also, Kleya is so deft, playacting at being a medical professional and eluding the Empire’s layers of security. But the real meat of these scenes are the flashbacks, which begin with an orphaned Kleya stowing away on an imperial starship and meeting a young Luthen, who back then was working with their future enemies and feeling disillusioned.

Each successive flashback shows Kleya growing up by Luthen’s side, as he built his antiques business and started weaving together a network of connections. She often posed as his daughter — although privately, he stubbornly refused to claim her as family. The episode concludes with the young Kleya witnessing Luthen putting theory into action by setting off a bomb near imperial troops. Meanwhile, in the present day, the older Kleya gives Luthen a kiss and unplugs his life support. It’s a sweet moment.

The episode that follows is just as exciting and also laced with welcome sentimentality. (Nothing wrong with bringing a little warmth to a series as it draws to a close.) This story involves Cassian rescuing Kleya, whether or not she wants him to.

Once again, strictly as a piece of action-adventure television, this episode is top-shelf. “Rogue One” fans who have been hoping to spend some time with the deadpan, droll K-2SO get their wish here, as the droid joins Cassian while keeping count throughout of all the Rebel Alliance protocols they are defying. (In a wistful moment, K remembers its past, recalling appearing in a parade on Coruscant. “The Emperor was there,” it says, as if pining for a less scrappy life.) There is plenty of derring-do here too, as Cassian races to beat ISB to that familiar apartment Luthen kept as a safe house.

As the chase proceeds, we check in one last time with Dedra, who staked her whole career on bringing in Luthen and unraveling the Rebel Alliance. The mess at the hospital and the revelation that Lonni had access to her files has sunk her. She has a humiliating meeting with Krennic, where he pokes and squeezes her head (why must so many people manhandle Dedra?) and has her arrested for all the information she scavenged about the Death Star. “Andor” has always been about the minor players in a revolution. That included Syril and Dedra — two now-discarded gears from the imperial machine.

Extracting Kleya from the safe house leads to multiple narrow escapes and a literal deus ex machina as K arrives to save the day, casually swatting away all imperial impediments. As the tension builds, Kleya expresses skepticism about leaving with Cassian, who she feels abandoned Luthen. But Cassian stands by his choice to join the Rebel Alliance, saying, “No one can do this alone.” His team speeds an injured and embittered Kleya off Coruscant and to Yavin 4, which Cassian considers a proper place for “a hero” to rest.

The rescue mission carries over to the final episode, which, big escape aside, feels a little anticlimactic as the series’s creator Tony Gilroy replaces gunfights and chases with committee meetings. In terms of Gilroy’s filmmaking career, this finale is more “Michael Clayton” than “The Bourne Legacy.”

But hey, “Michael Clayon” is a gripping movie too. The arguments here are engaging and lively, as the Alliance’s leadership weighs the risks in committing assets to one of Luthen’s causes. To Cassian and Kleya, this is not just a debate about whether the Death Star actually exists. It’s about whether the Rebel Alliance properly values Luthen.

Anyone who has seen “Rogue One” knows that Cassian will eventually get the assignment to investigate this lead. But “Rogue One” fans also know that once Cassian’s team confirms Luthen’s intel, the Rebel Alliance will keep arguing, before deciding not to pursue the matter. (The “rogue” in the movie’s title refers to the choice Cassian and his cohorts then make, to steal those plans anyway.)

But those are admin-level worries. “Andor” ultimately leaves all that behind to close with some nice moments featuring the characters who have been on this journey from the start. Vel urges Cassian to reconnect with Bix, which he promises to do once “this settles down.” (Spoiler: For Cassian, it never will.) Vel also comforts Kleya, who worries that without Luthen, “I don’t even know who I am.” Vel’s answer? “You’re here with friends.”

There is a darker mirror to these final Yavin 4 scenes on Coruscant, where Major Partagaz notes ruefully that Nemik’s anti-Empire manifesto is now spreading throughout the galaxy. A cynical functionary who always held himself at a remove from the Empire’s bluster, Partagaz ends “Andor” facing who he really is … and staring coldly at his own blaster.

Our final “Andor” image though is not of Cassian or some ISB yahoo. It’s a shot of Bix, back on the idyllic farming planet of Mina-Rau, carrying a child in her arms. That’s right: “Andor” ends with another Andor, who will get to live in the galaxy that Cassian helped set free.

One Way Out

• By the end of “Andor,” the Yavin 4 base looks like the one we recognize from “Star Wars,” with the color-coded uniforms and X-wings. (Also, Mon Mothma now has her “Rogue One” hairdo.) But the most notable change may be the way people say, “May the Force be with you.” I had never really thought about it, but the Rebel Alliance openly acknowledging the Force in “Star Wars” is a meaningful act of defiance against the Empire, which — publicly at least — derided Force users.

• Throughout this series I enjoyed the various ways Stellan Skarsgard portrayed Luthen, as both a wig-wearing, swishy antique dealer and a stern terrorism facilitator. Skarsgard plays some new notes in these last episodes, as a man increasingly cut off from power, coming to grips with his grim fate.

• We come full circle with “Andor” Season 1, as Dedra confronts Luthen with the stolen Starpath Unit that first brought Cassian into his life.

• Before the finale ends, we get a touching roll call of the fallen, honored by Vel and Cassian. This is just another way that these episodes add some conventional TV finale moments to an otherwise unconventional TV series.

• The moody “Andor” music differs from the rousing “Rogue One” score, but over the closing credits the distance between these “Star Wars” spinoffs closes, as we hear pieces of the original John Williams “Star Wars” soundtrack.

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