ANDOR: Season Two Review

So, are you a 'bad news first' kind of person or a 'good news first' kind of person?

 

Ok, bad news first. So, the bad news, which we already knew, is that Andor creator Tony Gilroy will not be returning to the Star Wars Universe after this second season. 

 

The good news is Gilroy has created what may end up being the second-best Star Wars trilogy of all time, after the original trilogy. The first two seasons of Andor, combined with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will go down as some of the very best Star Wars we have ever had. This is also some of the best television you will watch this year. 

 

On with the show.

 

On an outer rim planet, Bix, Brasso, and Wilmon have settled down after fleeing the uprising at Ferrix. Senator Mon Mothma is back on Chandrila, preparing for her daughter's wedding. Orson Krennic has invited Dedra Meero and Major Partagaz of the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) to a private meeting with a select group of Imperial officials to discuss a significant project. And where is Cassian Andor in all of this? He is off to steal a TIE Avenger from a remote Imperial base for his handler, Luthen Rael, and their assistant, Kleya Marki. 

 

The setup for the second season is spelled out for us in the first episode. The Empire has its sights set on the planet of Ghorman. Known for its textile industry, the planet also has beneath its surface a mineral called Kalkite. The Empire wants it to coat reactor lenses. The Emperor has its Energy Initiative, which Krennick calls the quest for energy independence, and they need that Kalkite. From season one, we already know what they want it for, just no one else in that room with Krennick knows it yet.

 

When word gets to Luthen about the Empire’s plans for Ghorman, he sends Andor to the planet to find out more. Nothing is ever as it seems with the Empire and Luthen needs to know what their end game is. Ghorman already has a tragic past involving the Empire, and with an ever-increasing presence of Empire officials and soldiers, will history repeat itself all over again?

 

If you haven't heard, the release strategy for this season differs from that of the first season. The second season will be a story told in four acts, with three episodes per block, released weekly. Each block accounts for one year (BBY 4 to BBY 1) leading up to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which Star Wars fans know leads right into the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and the Battle of Yavin, in BBY 0. 

 

For our first run-through of this second season, we watched it in those broadcast blocks, three episodes at a time, to get a sense of the overall narrative flow. The second time we tried to watch it, we did so one episode at a time, to ensure we didn't miss any details. There are a fair share of easter eggs in the script and in the visuals, more than enough to keep ardent fans and the online community busy disecting. But by the time we reached that third block of episodes, we were so caught up in the drama and the emotions churned up by the events playing out on screen that we were burning through the back half as quickly as we could. It is just so good. 

 

There was also an eerie feeling in the pit of our stomach when Krennic talked about Ghorman. Having now endured weeks and months of a neighbouring country’s leader talk shit about your country (and nearly every other country on the planet by now) deep in your soul you know the real reason why they have their sights set on you. Because you possess what they do not have—a bounty of natural resources—this rhetoric from Krennic had a profound effect on this viewer.

 

Then there are themes like the manipulation of the media, twisting the narrative on Ghorman in the Empire’s favor so that no one back on Coruscant will feel bad about what the Empire does to them. There is the arrest of political agents who speak out against the Empire, and the senators who play along and spout the same lies. How uncanny is it that something Gilroy has been working on for a couple of years, before the current administration in the U.S., reflects its corruption so accurately? It is not just the similarities to current times but to historical events, like the French Resistance during World War II, that give the show added depth and relevance. How sad that Andor returns at a time when it is so poignant. 

 

Throughout the season, Andor is a story of relationships, including romantic ones, such as that between Andor and Bix. As well, there is another romantic relationship that is so unusual it has to be seen to be believed. There is the mutual love that Luthen and Kleya (who will end up being one of our favorite supporting characters of the series) have for each other, which will have its origins explored later in the season, complete with hints of Luthen’s past. Other relationships are forced upon each other, like that of Andor and Luthen. Then there is Luthen’s moral indifference to anybody, for that matter. All of these relationships are affected by love, while others are affected by deceit and betrayal.

 

Of course, with acts of subterfuge, resistance, deceit, and political posturing, there will be consequences. This will stem from both actions and inaction. Others are due to ambition or a lack thereof. There are no precise career trajectories in the ISB, it turns out, but failure has never been an option in the Empire. Good people are treated unjustly. Bad people get what's coming to them. Then some are simply not prepared for what is to come, for what is to happen to others because of what they have set in motion from the beginning, and for the actions they take in the moments as they arise. This is simply good drama. 

 

Production design has never been an issue when it comes to the Star Wars franchise. The cultural designs for Chandrila and Ghorman specifically stand out for different reasons. There is a distinctly Japanese feel to the costume design for the Chandrilans, a nod to the Japanese influence that began with the original Star Wars trilogy and continues today in animation, such as Visions, and series like The Mandalorian.

 

The Ghorman culture has a distinctly European feel, evident in the music and orchestration even from the moment the city of Palmo appears on screen. The Ghorman Front is in tune with the resistance movements during the Second World War, with underground movements and attacks on Imperial forces as the years go on. 

 

And on Ghorman, did we have it wrong all this time? When footage of the season first appeared in teasers and trailers, some pundits speculated that some of the action we were seeing was of the impending massacre on Ghorman, thinking it was The Ghorman Massacre. But then, having watched the show in full, afterwards, we learned that there was another tragic event, also called The Ghorman Massacre, which was committed back in BBY18 by then-Captain Wilhuff Tarkin, who parked his warship on protesters who were blocking the landing pad. That was just after the Clone Wars (which ended BBY19), when he still held the rank of Captain and began his ascent to Grand Moff, living out his final days on the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. Whether it is the first or the second massacre, this turning point of the season is also one of the most emotional moments in it. It gives off full Les Misérables vibes before the chaos breaks out. 

 

It is also our introduction of the KX-series security droid, which is frankly terrifying. We got an idea of what a KX droid could do watching K-2SO in Rogue One, but that was nothing compared to what an Imperial version was programmed to do. Holy moly. It bolsters action scenes, such as the second massacre, where laser bolts mean business, buzzing like bees around the heads of Ghormans, and snapping like hornets when they hit their target. A teeny, tiny bit of the opening scene of the first episode, when Andor steals the TIE Enforcer, has been posted online by Lucasfilm. It's just one minute of a larger scene, but it does give you a taste of the accelerated action that everyone at Lucasfilm can now achieve in these shows. Gone are the days of the pew, pew, pew. When there is action in Andor, it is fantastic.

 

In the lead-up to this second season, we wondered aloud how a character like K-2SO would fit in with the serious drama about the rise of the Rebellion. A fan favorite from the start, their arrival is a welcome one, coming at a time of much-needed release after all that dramatic tension. A time when we need it the most, after the big event that propels everything forward, which leads up to Mothma’s moment to shine, to speak out against the Empire in the Senate, and her subsequent escape from Coruscant. 

 

Following that, we need that glib humor. We need that sarcastic, seven-foot metal behemoth to crack wise about flight plans and tabletop games. The first block of episodes also features some dry humor. Nothing over the top, just light enough to entertain before the season gets down to business, the business of fighting against the Empire. But K-2SO comes in at the right time; then we roll right into the big release that we get from Rogue One, which stands as a significant full-on space adventure conclusion to this arc. 

 

The season concludes with a closing shot that nearly brought us to tears, a shot that reminds everyone what and who the Rebel Alliance is truly fighting for. We leave you with that to find out in the fourth week of release.

 

Tony Gilroy has been one of the best things to happen to Star Wars this past decade. It is a shame that they have decided that their time with the franchise and the studio will not continue. But that was ten years well spent. Their “trilogy”, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and seasons one and two of Andor are some of the best things to happen in the SWU since, well, ever.

 

Gilroy's shows and a movie prove the point that to be successful, you don't always have to base your story on the Jedi. As was already proven with the first two seasons of The Mandalorian (season two finale notwithstanding) and Skeleton Crew, if you look at the people that exist in this universe, you know, everyone else in the Galaxy far, far away, except for a handful of Force users, you can still tell a really good, compelling story. You can tell a story that is tense, exciting, dramatic & emotional, one that does not rely on superhuman events to give you satisfaction.

 

Andor's success lies in the fact that, although set in a galaxy far, far away, it manages to remain relevant to our universe and our time. Like all good sci-fi has done in the past and will do in our uncertain future. Now we have something that will deeply please Star Wars fans for years to come. Hopefully, brighter years.