Andor Season 2 Episodes 4 -9 review

 

Ghorman is the focus of these six episodes set a further year on from the opening trio. Episode four `Ever Heard of Ghorman?` is a well-constructed narrative presenting multiple sides of the situation. So, we have Syril ensconced in a bureaucratic job but he’s really here to help stir up rebellion thus justifying later use of force. Back on Coruscant, Andor and Bix are living in a very dingy looking apartment but he is destined to be sent to Ghorman by the episode’s end by Luthen whose found out about the focus on the planet courtesy of the undercover supervisor Yung. Mon Mothma’s efforts to stop a bill that will give larger powers to the ISB is hampered by paranoia over Ghorman.

The plots interlink deftly and enable a sense of discomfort on a number of fronts from Yung’s twitchiness (Robert Emms is great in this relatively small but crucial role), Mon Mothma’s frustrations and most of all Syril’s attempts to engage with the Ghorman opposition. We see the place as Syril does and it is an impressively designed locale yet curiously it seems the inhabitants are French! A curious decision perhaps inspired by the French resistance whose clothing choices these Ghorman  rebels seem to be inspired by complete with appropriate berets. When they converse amongst themselves they have subtitles but I don't know enough French to know if this is actually that language or something partly invented. This aspect extends to the fabulous Parisian elegance of the Ghroman art deco hotels, cafes, and fabric shops. This is an episode without any action so relies on director Ariel Kleiman brewing up the concerns on the character’s faces and in a mostly shadowy colour palette. Most places in the Epire it seems are somewhat frugal with their lighting choices. Perhaps all the bulbs are being used in the overlit corridors of the senate? The way the cameras glide and the linked narrative provide a sense of cohesion as everything seems to circle back to Ghorman.

Part four takes us into the nuance of the rebels’ plans, somewhat ill-informed as they may be. Of course with Syril feeding them just enough information they are feeling ready to try a heist. Cassian knows the score though- despatched by Luthen to assess their prospects he returns with a verdict that they are not ready and declines to be involved. Diego Luna clearly enjoys getting to wear some more refined threads as under the guise of a fashion designer he hangs around on those shops and cafes meeting rebels via pre-arranged conversations just like they did in the war. Perhaps the motif of a spider was chosen by the production team to reflect the complex web these characters are weaving. The production focuses on nuances of planning and intel in just the same way as we learn about engines and alien art pieces in other plotlines. With this series, detail is everything.

 There’s no doubting the impressive places that have been created by the production team. The Ghorman town square set is spacious and intricately designed, every office belonging to the Empire is made to a large scale. Living quarters, even for those well placed or rich remain pristine, white and rather Star Trek like. That building the Empire are constructing that is the source of much Ghorman discontent is seamlessly integrated into the picture. The forensic visual and fictional detail can make things seem slow but it is building up to something. One plot line which could have been extended a little though and is tagged onto the end of part six is Bix’s revenge on the slimy Doctor Gorst. Despite resembling a Uni student, this was the sadistic character who put Bix though hours of torture in season one and at the end of the episode she enacts her revenge by putting him in the same machine. Its very rushed and one note- surely there was potential her for an extended dialogue scene? It would certainly have livened up episode five.

A better combination of stealth and speed comes with episode six which pivots around two extended events.  One is the Ghorman rebels’ first actual act of insurgency for which Luthen- after chastising Andor for walking away- has despatched Vel and Cinta to help co-ordinate. Poor Luthen is becoming increasingly frustrated by what he calls “all these lines we’ve laid.” 

The other sequence sees Kleya trying to detach a hidden communications device from a piece of artwork in Sculdan’s collection during a social event- with Krennic nearby. Both create their own different sorts of tension. Shot in semi darkness with a blue tint, the hi- jacking of supplies to the new building is efficiently carried out until a last-minute hitch leads to Cinta being killed. This bit is fumbled slightly due to the gloomy evening so we don’t quite see properly how it happens; perhaps an edit was made? This is intercut with the equally important detail at a social event sometimes even to the point where the sounds from one are mixed into those from the other. Unexpectedly it is Kleya’s attempts to prise the device from underneath the art before the others get round to this display that creates the most edge of seat excitement. The camera cuts above and below the art and the increasingly concerned faces of Kleya and Jung who has been dragooned into helping her.

Both situations of course reflect what a knife edge the undercover characters live under and a lot of the credit goes to the direction. On the face of it people seem able to walk around freely yet this is a world of covert bugging, espionage and double crosses so they never know who to trust. The cameras and actors pick up on this so well in many scenes- just small expressions or looks that add to the tension.

 That feel ramps up further in episode seven which jingles with nervous anticipation as Cassian reluctantly accompanies Willmon back to Ghorman with a plan to assassinate Dedra, a mission that seems unlikely to succeed as the look on Andor's’ face when its first proposed suggests. Wil is no longer the boyish enthusiast he was in season one, having already been hardened to the gravity of the situation and shares a wider view that Andor is ducking his responsibilities. Wil is still working for Luthen while the larger rebel force has its new base and set up against which Andor is chafing, insisting on being his own man when matters are moving forward. While I sometimes feel the rebels are given more one note plots than the richer, higher up citizens this sort of detail is good material. Even if we keep bumping into people I don’t remember or maybe we haven’t met them before? The annual time jump every three episodes keeps the pot boiling but sometimes there are clearly events we’ve just leapt over. I suppose the original five season plan would have moved more slowly and there are already some people saying Andor is too slow. I would say it’s a good meal cooking properly! Probably a French meal!

We’re another year later and Ghorman’s lovely town square is now crawling with Imperial troops, a curfew keeping the locals inside at night while the rebels bicker in secret. The moment when the Empire tightens its grip before beginning the plan to extract the valuable resources is close and this episode leads us into the fire. One noticeable thing is the amount of news reports filtering through either when character pass reporters or coming in over a communicator, this underscores the urgency and is reminiscent of out real-life twenty-four-hour news cycle. Plus, it does help the viewer keep up with the plot. The episode’s title `Messenger` refers in part to an unusual scene in which a Force healer appears to not only salve a lingering wound of Andor’s but also see a vision for his future. This could be hoky yet Dan Gilroy pens an intriguing but vague scene that hints at the character’s destiny. In a series that leans hard on machinery, guns, and rebels this is an interesting interlude. We haven’t seen a lot of the Force in this show and this is a subtle way to acknowledge. The episode also highlights the understated on screen rapport between Diego Luna and Adria Arjona. They totally convince as a couple – Bix says here that she can’t remember a time she didn’t know Cassian. Nuances like this add a different feel to a lot of modern series that rely on clever, snappy dialogue. Just a look between them speaks volumes.

By the episode’s end the final shot with Andor looking from his hotel window at the breqing situaton cross the square is another wordless moment that speaks volumes. When Andor is assessed, I don’t imagine episode seven will get as much attention as some others yet I found it a perfectly calibrated lead in for the horrors to come.

Episode eight- the powder keg explodes. A showpiece standout, this is the episode people will talk about when they look back to Andor in the same way as people still reference `The Red Wedding` form Game of Thrones all these years later. Yet that was something removed from reality unless you happen to know a family who regularly poison each other. Watching `Who Are You?` it’s impossible not to be struck by the similarity to so many real-life events we’ve witnessed. Yes, there’s the Star Wars trappings of course- stormtroopers, laser weapons, robots- and yet the hearty, defiant singing (surely inspired by Les Misérables?), the sudden explosion after the build-up, the randomness of who lives and who dies are all familiar. That episode title refers mainly to a particular fight yet it could just as easily mean everyone. Names are no longer important when two sides go into battle like this and for the viewer, knowing all this has been orchestrated by the Empire, makes it all the more powerful.

Director Janus Metz  oversees quite a full plate here and manages to cover everything while maintaining the tension and the horror of such a scenario. He takes the camera deep into generously populated crowds (no twenty extras for this) and then cuts back to expressionless officers and more nervous soldiers facing up to a crowed swelled by patriotism. It’s not rushed yet at the same time it explodes from one side of the screen to the other.

There are many tableaux in which we follow the fate of individual characters with a sense that any of them could fall prey to a stray shot or explosion. Let’s talk about Syril who seems to be the unluckiest man in the Empire. He of course blames Andor for all that went wrong on Ferrix but I wondered if he’d forgotten when they pass each other in the chaos at the square. A few minutes later though it’s clear he hasn’t and the two’s fierce fight is only ended when someone else shoots Syril in the head. The one slight weakness of a prequel of course is that we know Andor must survive whatever peril they put him through here, even so it’s a terrifically brutal slice of combat. Kyle Soller departs having created a memorably put upon character always at the beck and call of others, always straining to keep his dignity. Perhaps the ultimate insult to Syril is that even in the heat of their fight, Cassian doesn’t even remember him. `Who Are You?` translates shiny sci-fi into something tangibly real in a way Star Wars has rarely done before. And with all the things happening in the world at the moment, it’s not always an easy watch but an important one nonetheless. There’s still four episodes to go but I don’t know how the series can top this.

As Cassian flies away at the end you imagine that surely this is the moment where he fully commits to the rebellion he’s been sometimes less than one hundred per cent behind. He’s seen first hand just what the Empire is capable of. The next episode though shows this is not quite the case.  Episode nine may seem like something of an addendum but then Andor is a series that can ramp up the tension just as much in a senate as during a battle. Much of the running time is devoted to the lead up to, making of and escape after Mon Mothma’s speech. Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon has been a composed bundle of worry this season and the chance has finally come for her to break cover. Her speech is powerful and clearly judging from the panic it causes amongst those monitoring it, not the sort of honesty normally heard in the chamber. It refers to the Ghorman massacre specifically as “genocide” and there are enough non-specific references within the text that we can apply to contemporary news stories. I wonder how the episode will play in some places. Genevieve O’Reilly’s poised yet human performance this episode is superb. Mon’s escape finally enables her to meet up with Andor himself, the first time the series’ two main characters have interacted. I do sometimes feel the writers could give Cassian a few more lines at times though.

Andor can be a `heavy` watch at times and I don’t just mean the scenes of the Empire’s brutality but its pace is considered and unfurls more like a novel. Yet it is a rich work whose true quality will surely be remembered as a stand out series with just three more episodes to go...