Andor’s Season Finale is here! This Star Wars live-action series has impressed us with the visuals, outstanding writing, and character development. From complex characters like Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) to our hero, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). The season finale delivers some excellent moments while keeping us watching for the second season, which will be some time away!
This episode excels at building tension and action. As I’ll mention later, and keep doing so, the soundtrack to Andor helps this episode stand out well, if not this entire season. Some characters felt a little out of place here and there, like Dedra Mero (Denise Gough). However, it made sense that she needed to be on Ferrix, on the front line and see what was happening.
Luthen Rael Is The Real Main Character
Following the explosive events of last week’s episode, Daughters of Ferrix, I thought Luthen would surely meet his demise in the season finale. While he doesn’t, his fate is left on somewhat of a cliffhanger. He’s confronted by the man he came to kill, Cassian Andor. But I’m glad they did not off him. Stellan Skarsgard has done a fantastic job at giving the character of Luthen life in the Star Wars Universe. I want to see what they do with him in the future. It’s unlikely he’ll make it to the events of Rogue One.
Still, Luthen does not do much in Andor’s Season Finale. He stands there, watching as the fireworks of Ferrix kick off. However, I think there is more going on here than we realise. If we look back to Luthen’s speech, this plays into part of it. What he has done is finally coming to life. He had an indirect effect on the events in this episode. While not directly responsible for the Ferrix riots, his working with Cassian led to all of this.
In essence, Luthen is standing and watching what he has dreamed of unfolding in front of his eyes. The Galactic Empire is being challenged and pushed back, almost to breaking point. You can almost see him take pride in what is going on, which works well for his character. Without him being killed off or captured, there wasn’t much he could do for Ferrix in these events. I would like to have seen more of the repercussions of the previous episode, specifically if he made contact with his assistant again.
Nemik Lives
I am so glad Andor’s Season Finale featured Nemik’s (Alex Lawther) manifesto. Our socialist Twink, as some have nicknamed him, finally got more to work with in the season finale. Hopefully, and I say hopefully, there is more to come from his Manifesto. Cassian has it, so it’s only a matter of time before it perhaps heads to being a part of the actual Alliance to Restore the Republic official manifesto!
What Nemik says in his recordings echoes true throughout Andor’s Season Finale. “Freedom is a pure idea”. All of this points to random acts of insurrection. “The frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere”. It all makes sense when we look at what Nemik says on a grander scale. You can look at all the Heroes of the Rebellion to see this echo true.
Mon Mothma’s Sacrifice
Sadly, it feels like this episode does not have the time to use Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) much. Due to everything blowing up on Ferrix, we’re left with only two small scenes. Three if we count one that mentions her. However, the cracks in her and Perrin’s (Alastair Mackenzie) marriage are forming more and more. A recurring theme in Andor’s Season Finale when you think about it. But we finally see the culmination of Mon’s dealings with the Chandrillan gangster, mob boss, whatever you want to call Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane).
The introduction of Mon’s daughter and Davo’s son will surely be a storyline carried into the second season. Personally, I still think we could have done a little more with Mon in the first season, but it’s a hard chessboard to move her on in this area of the Star Wars Universe, as she is not openly defying the Empire just yet. But we see the Empire cracking on to her via means we saw coming in the first set of episodes.
The Empire’s Reach
After us suspecting it, and Mon Mothma confirmed it a while back, her driver (Lee Ross) is an Imperial Spy. He’s seen listening in private conversations and meeting with ISB Agent Blevin (Ben Bailey Smith). However, the big turnaround is the Empire celebrating the defeat of Anto Kreeger. This follows from what we’ve seen in the previous episode, which had Luthen deliberately burn Kreegyr to save Saw and other rebels.
Though what I find interesting is we see part of Nemik’s manifesto play out. Also, something Cassian said in the first episodes. The Empire is so proud. They are looking over important details. Dedra Mero is ultimately right. Having Anto alive would have made more sense. But Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) said they wanted to ensure the Emperor was happy. This has cost the Empire a valuable resource, and you can see where the cracks start forming.
We’ve got to talk about the Funeral March scene. This sees the people of Ferrix march up on the Imperial troopers to honour Maarva (Fiona Shaw), who has passed away in the previous episode. What I love about Andor’s Season Finale is the soundtrack. The tense build reminds me of bits from Game of Thrones. You know, where you see a tense situation amplified by the music that is building as well. The outstanding soundtrack fully amplify the episode, if not the series as a whole. Nicholas Britell should do more work in the Star Wars Universe!
Final Thoughts
Sure, the season finale could have done a few things differently. But overall, this delivered a stellar performance from all of those involved. The world-building was on point, as was the character development for those we watched over the first season. I’m still wondering about Vel and Cinta and their next part. I would have liked to see more of them in this episode. However, Cinta did get her revenge against the creepy ISB agent, fatally stabbing him in a doorway and leaving him to die. It does make you think the aftermath of Ferrix is going to be deadly. If we look at the Empire’s reaction to Aldahni earlier in the first season, I wonder what will happen next.
Andor has excelled at showing us a new way of Star Wars storytelling. A way that does not revolve around the cameo of the week, more just original and real characters. From the first episode, we saw how real things were for these people. While yes, it’s just a TV show, you can imagine these characters existing and breathing in real life. This was something outlined from the very beginning of Andor. Hopefully, it continues into the second season. The show has built these complex characters and further developed others, like Mon Mothma. Therefore, they deserve good endings and for stories to wrap up efficiently. Given Tony Gilroy’s approach to the first season, we’re safe for the second season.
Season 2 Awaits!
Sadly, we’ll need to wait some time before the second season of Andor comes around. The second season will consist of another 12 episodes. Thankfully, Andor Season 2 has already begun production here in the United Kingdom. However, it will be some time before Cassian Andor returns to our screens, as Tony Gilroy reveals in an interview with Collider. Most of Andor’s production time is spent on post-production. This is also the fancy visual effects, such as Luthen’s space battle.
So, we’ll see you on the other side! Thankfully we’ve got more Star Wars content coming down the pipeline, with The Clone Wars Sequel Series, The Bad Batch, returning in January 2023 with its second season.
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