'Andor' Season 2 Episodes 7 - 9 Review

Star Wars

May 7

Andor artwork — Image Source: StarWars.com

After last week's set up what was to come, Andor has finally reached what fans have been speculating about since before the release of Season 1: The Ghorman Massacre. We have it, it's horrifying, and we also have other stories to go alongside it about the politics of the surging Rebel movement. Without waiting further, lets discuss Episodes 7 to 9, “Messenger”, “Who Are You?”, and “Welcome to the Rebellion”.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Andor Season 2.

We won’t go into great detail about the Massacre because it goes down exactly as the Empire had planned. They spent over two years riling up the Ghormans, riling up the galaxy against the Ghormans, and then drew them into a killing field around their memorial to the last slaughter of their people, only for a new one to begin as the Empire finished tying the Ghorman noose. The steady, ominous buildup, led by a “crisis specialist” brought in to help escalate the situation, also sees Dedra Meero on site as the person given the position of pulling the trigger. But she is suffering from moments of pause. Syril is still on Ghorman, and while she does not allow his growing skepticism to overtly affect her, Dedra has clearly grown concerned about the Empire’s timetable for the planet.

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When the moment comes, though, she does not hesitate. Syril, who finally learns the truth of the Empire’s intentions with Ghorman, runs into the crowd occupying Palmo Plaza, only to disassociate and wander as the Empire secretly kills one of their own, giving the excuse for their troops to open fire and kill the Ghor, even as the Ghorman Front pulls out their own weapons. Cassian and Wilmon, on Ghorman, to try and assassinate Dedra after learning she would be present, lose that opportunity in the chaos. Cassian also has a brutal no-holds-barred fight with Syril, who suddenly notices and charges him, only for Syril to fully pause when Cassian has no idea who he is. Our ex-Preox-Morlana employee is then shot and killed by a third party, yet another brutal and abrupt death in an episode already full of those terrible moments.

In the aftermath of the Massacre, and after recovering a KX droid the Front managed to disable, Cassian is off to Coruscant as Mon Mothma prepares to make a speech against the Empire and Palpatine. Bail Organa appears, and the show, finally, after two seasons, has both characters acknowledge that they are part of the same Rebel Alliance and have been working together for some time. Bail offers Mon an escape route, only for Luthen to insert himself and insist Bail’s team is compromised. Surprisingly, it is, and the ISB pursues Mon in a frantic chase after her powerful speech, and it is up to Cassian to help get her out of the Senate.

Positioned at the start and the end of all this relentless momentum is Yavin 4. Bix and Cassian live there, with Bix fully recovered and no longer addicted to sleeping medication, and Cassian running missions for the Massassi Group. However, the start of the episode also shows the walls going up between the Rebel factions. When Wilmon arrives with Luthen’s intel on Dedra, it is clear he’s been running Luthen’s missions behind Massassi Group’s back. Vel also appears, having cut ties with Luthen after what befell Cinta in the previous arc, and instead, working with the Massassi Group. The Rebels are dividing even as they gather together, with Luthen positioned against Bail Organa and the core of the Rebel Alliance that exists on Yavin 4. This particular thread appears likely to factor in next week, but we’ll have to wait and see.

One bright spot of news amidst a lot of character deaths and injuries is Bix. At the end of the arc, Cassian is “done.” After Ghorman, he no longer wants to work for the Rebels, believing he’s given enough. But Bix, partly influenced by the words of a Force healer at the Yavin base who sensed Cassian’s importance, will not let him quit. As the person he loves and needs to fight for, she leaves, forcing him to remain with the Alliance due to the promise that when everything was over, and the Rebels had won, she would find him again. Of course, there is tragedy in that, because she won’t find him, but her survival of this series is a positive element, alongside the final-minute activation of K-2SO, who immediately brings some sassy levity to a serious moment.

Overall, Andor Season 2 has reached its crescendo, a huge, horrific action setpiece as a genocide against the Ghormans begins. Every actor gives a stirring performance, be that stirring grief and sadness as the losses pile up, or stirring anger and loathing as they plan and execute the Empire’s wishes. With one last arc to go, what, who, or where it will focus on is unclear, though we’ll only have to wait a handful of days to find out.

Rating: 9/10

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