Andor Season 2 Episodes 10 -12 review

 Some Star Wars aficionados may not care for the careful pace, contemporary allusions or darker elements of Andor; just looking at those who complained about the lengthy sequence of Mon Mothma dancing is enough to tell you that. Maybe the series is too subtle for those who like Star Wars to literally be about battles with only the basic character templates that the films had. Andor is a work of art, a crafted, thoughtful achievement whose appeal will surely last a long, long time. These final three episode shunt the story right up to just before Rogue One and show the variety and the class the series has. 

Spoilers after the break

Episode 10, `Make It Stop` is an unexpected detour from Andor’s story (in fact he’s not in the episode at all) focussing on Luthen and Kleya. Their story has always been somewhat enigmatic with it not being clear how they came to work together yet the early part of it is sketched in here as a flashback. We open with an even more nervous than usual Lonni who has discovered the plan for the Death Star and ends up dead on a bench at Luthen’s hand after he’s given him an info dump. He doesn't say "Death Star" but that's what he's talking about. Its a good twist in the story that this information only comes to light at the moment when the undercover rebels are about to be exposed. Of all the supporting characters involved in covert rebellion Lonni has been the most visibly edgy, a good performance from Robert Emms. It’s notable that this is the only time we see him meet Luthen in public rather than deep underground which highlights the urgency of the situation. The Empire it seems is onto Luthen and this is the tale of loose ends being shut down. 

Soon after Luthen is therefore not overly surprised when Dedra comes calling to the shop. I love the scene between the two as both know what the other is up to yet its initially cloaked in pleasantries. She feigns interest in the collection before revealing an item she would like to sell which turns out to be the big clue she knows about him. It’s a very strongly played scene, full of subtle gestures, hidden meanings and slips so casually into its reveal. Had Dedra just sent in some stormtroopers to arrest Luthen things would have turned out differently but its as if she has to boast about her cleverness first. Denise Gough and Stellan Skarsgaard are gripping here, as indeed they always are, but having them together in a scene is gold!

Luthen's attempt to evade capture by killing himself with a ceremonial knife doesn't quite work  meaning he is rushed to hospital as Deedra must keep him alive for the information about the rebellion. Kleya watches and you can tell from her face she intends to do something. What we don’t expect are a series of flashbacks showing how the two met when  she was just a child and they gradually started working together making money from selling and buying antiquities. It’s an engaging tale even though its odd position when one of them is about to exit the story but it fills in a lot of the background. Suprisingly it's Kleya who takes the lead early on; we see her engaging in clever bartering when Luthen's instinct is to walk away and you get a sense that their partnership turned out to be alot more equal rthan we thought. Yet little is spoken of this between them; when Kleya asks if she's his daughter now, he replies that she is when its convenient. 

These flashback scenes are probably not essential yet I found them a further bedrock in showing the way the rebels gradually built their network. From where we first see Luthen in flashback, an army officer hiding inside a ship to the luxury of where he ends up is quite some trip. The other star of the episode is Elizabeth Dulau as Kleya (the younger version well played very well too by April Woods). Her resolve and determination as she breaks into the hospital to finish off Luthen makes for an exciting final sequence of the episode. What it also shows is the mindset of rebels and why they end up so ruthless keeping personal ties to a minimum and even sacrificing them for the greater good. 

Sometimes a prequel can provide an advantage for viewers and episode 11 is an example of how that can work. Whereas the information Kleya has is little more than a handful of short soundbites, we know what it all means. The words Death Star are finally mentioned in this episode but the characters don’t really know what it entails whereas the viewer does. This episode seeks to tie up hanging threads notably the Empire trying to track Kleya down as she finds a way to communicate to the rebels. There’s a great scene where the now captive Dedra - whom the Empire think may be a spy- is questioned by Krennic with Ben Mendelson in full intimidation mode. Apparently, the moment he pushes his finger into her head was improvised during filming. We see the way that nobody is indispensable the Empire with Heeart (a wonderfully confident yet sometimes creepy Jacob Bestwick) seamlessly shifted to replace Dedra and find the fugitive. The episode ends with a cliffhanger as troops approach the dingy apartment where Kleya, Cassian and Melshi are hiding out though we know K-2SO, the deadpan card playing robot is not far behind.

The final episode, save for a barrage of action at the start, is a slow-paced reflective end to the series. While there is an argument that the post Ghorman material lacks the urgency of the rest of the season once Mon is helped from Coruscant, no can doubt how seamlessly this narrative moves believably towards the evens of Rogue One. It includes some superb shots of actor’s faces as they ruminate over what has happened wordlessly completing their plotlines in a way that we understand. They do it several times in the episode and perhaps because we know what comes afterwards it holds more import none more so than the slow-motion walk Andor takes to his ship at the end. Its as if he knows he won’t be coming back and just to unsettle him further that Force healer from several episodes ago gives him a worried look. "May the Force be with you," says Organa just before he leaves.

Equally impactful in the sense that is shows the pressure on the multitude who serve the Empire is General Partagaz’s final moments courtesy of Anton Lesser’s economically good acting. The General knows it’s over for him- the last thing he listens to is Nemik’s manifesto which seems to have spread since we saw its writer in season one. He also seems to have grasped just how wide the rebellion is spreading however hard he tries to contain it. I've always admired Anton Lesser as an actor right back to the little seen (and underrated) 1998 series Invasion: Earth. His best line in Andor is "calibrate your enthusiasm" delivered as ever at just the right level. Later we see Krennic gazes with satisfaction at the still under construction Death Star, an unexpected glimpse of the iconic weapon. Then there’s Kleya who wakes up near the end and looks out at the activity, accepting that Luthen’s work was all for something. It almost brings a smile tom her face because after a lifetime of hiding, running, and pretending she can sense she can just be herself now.

Not that her reception was as expected. When Cassian brings her back- after a terrific close quarters shoot out that opens the episode- Luthen’s hard won information is initially greeted with scepticism by the rebel committee. “It makes the Senate seem easy” muses Mon Mothma. This makes sense, there’s no reason why a rebel group would be as organised as the Empire. The final scene shows us Bix with a baby, presumably Cassian’s, and we can interpret her final glance into the distance as a sort of contentment for now a least. I suppose the baby is the reason she left Cassian as she knew a child would not be safe.

Andor is a series that boasts such a fine cast and at the end it would be unfair to single anyone out because, rather like the finely calibrated rebellion plotline, they all work together to create a memorable result. This has to be not just one of the best spin off shows for any franchise but simply one of the best shows full stop.