Cassian is free, there’s going to be a funeral on Ferrix, and things don’t look great for Anto Kreegyr as the pieces move into place for the finale in Andor episode #11, “Daughter of Ferrix”!

Austin Gorton: Welcome, Adam, to the penultimate episode of Andor Season1! Following up the previous episode — one of the best bits of Star Wars and one of the best episodes of TV of the year — is no small task, and while this episode doesn’t have anything quite like Kino’s call to action or Luthen’s self-scathing monologue, there’s still plenty of top-notch stuff here even as it spins its wheels a bit.

Adam Reck: Like many a prestige television program (I can’t believe I’m using that term for a Disney+ show) this is what we might call a “table-setting” episode to prepare for the finale. But unlike many of its peers, Andor Episode #11 is chock-full of great stuff, and moved so swiftly I had to check that the runtime was the same as last week when the credits hit — so let’s set course for Ferrix where the resident masons are about to make some new bricks.

Sleepover with B2EMO

Austin: Nothing broke my heart quite like Bee in this episode. He’s like an old dog that can talk, and he spends the episode in mourning for Maarva, who has died between episodes.

Adam: B2EMO truly living up to his name here. He doesn’t want to be alone, he wants to be with Maarva, and . . . am I crying? What a gut punch. Especially later in the episode when Bee requests Brasso stay the night so he doesn’t have to leave the comfort of his charger. This little droid is just a mini-fridge of anxiety and mourning.

Austin: It’s just devastating. Poor little droid. Maarva’s death does not go unnoticed, as both Cinta and Corv, who have been stationed by their respective organizations at the bar across from Maarva’s home, report to their superiors about her death. It sucks for Cassian, because the ISB has decided to use her funeral to set a trap for him, but there’s something poetic in Maarva, who ended her life just wanting to make the Empire suffer, becoming this central figure in at least this particular Rebel/Empire struggle.

Also, Bix is still around and she is…not doing well.

Adam: The short glimpse we get of Bix is downright terrifying.

Austin: I legit didn’t even recognize her at first.

Adam: She can barely even stand up. And Corv pushes her to an impossible question: Is Anto Kreegyr, seen in a weirdly CGI-looking projection image, the ISB’s man of interest? No matter what she answers, it’s probably going to mean more Dr. Gorst. So yeah, everything on Ferrix pretty much sucks. Maarva is about to be made into bricks and the trap is laid for the ISB to capture Cassian. Meanwhile the ISB’s biggest target, Luthen, is off playing mind-games with Saw Gererra.

Tubes is My Man

Austin: Luthen goes back to visit Saw, and their dynamic has completely changed. Before, Luthen wanted Saw to backup Kreegyr’s assault on Spellhaus, and Saw was reluctant to do so. Now, Saw is suddenly all-in, but Luthen is here to let him know that Kreegyr is being sacrificed for the greater good. Saw’s change-of-heart is a little abrupt — I’m not sure what brought him around — but the irony would be hilarious, if not for the fact that it means thirty odd rebels are going to be knowingly sacrificed to the Empire.

Adam: We already know that Luthen has decided to sacrifice Kreegyr and his men. But he decides to swing by Saw and pull a trolley problem on him, essentially laying the decision of whether to save Kreegyr & co at Saw’s feet. The transformation of Saw from the character we see in Rebels to the paranoid nutcase shown in Rogue One makes a lot more sense after these kinds of mind games. Also, it’s absolutely hilarious that while Saw loses it, Luthen decides to throw “his man” Tubes under the bus even though the guy clearly isn’t Luthen’s spy.

Austin: Again, this is largely gallows humor, but this whole bit killed me. Saw assumes that if Luthen has someone inside the ISB, he probably has someone inside Saw’s organization. And Luthen responds with “yeah, I do, it’s that guy over there”. It’s all a ruse just to get Tubes to get in his face so he can grab his blaster and push Saw to make a decision about Kreegyr, but it’s also legit funny.

Adam: I also love that “Tubes” is credited as “Two Tubes,” which, I guess it’s good to be specific about these kinds of things? Of course, Luthen’s manipulation of Saw leads to the biggest “hell yeah” moment of the episode, his escape from the Empire’s Arrestor Cruiser! I can’t be the only one who expected that Luthen was going to get tractor beamed into that ship, can I? And I know I’m not the only person who yelled “Oh Sh——t” when Luthen turned the Fondor into Darth Maul’s lightsaber and lasered through two TIE Fighters?!

Austin: That entire sequence was easily the most Star Wars-y bit in the series yet. And while this show has succeeded in part by distancing itself from that sort of thing, it worked well here, both as an action bit and something to punctuate an episode that is otherwise fairly repetitive across its scenes (i.e. everyone sharing info the audience already knows). The trick with releasing the little space knives and letting the tractor beam do the work of accelerating them and thus destroying itself was both clever and representational of Luthen’s approach to the Empire this season (he is pushing the Empire to overreach, and thus risk itself by inspiring more rebellion). It’s all a rare example of physical weaponry in a galaxy in which even swords are laser beams. Speaking of laser beams, at the risk of getting too geeky, the Darth Maul-ification of the Fondor had me wondering if those were just regular lasers sticking out the sides, or if Luthen uses that Kyber crystal he once gave to Cassian in order to give his ship lightsabers (those ship lasers, as well as the pepper grinder thing Tubes pulled out of Luthen’s pocket, have added further fuel to the “Luthen is a secret/former Force User” rumors, rumors I still don’t entirely buy into at this point).

Adam: I am very confused by the fans who want Luthen to be in tune with the Force, when this show clearly wants to separate itself from that lore, but to each their own.

Austin: Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Mon and Vel have another meeting, and while this contributes to the episode’s repetition (they are once again discussing Mon’s finances and most of what is revealed to Vel we already knew), two bits of notable info come out: it is specifically the raid on Aldhani (which Vel led but which Mon doesn’t KNOW she led) that has led to the increased scrutiny of Mon’s finances and her current situation, and also, Mon’s daughter is involved in some kind of cult-like Chandrilan MAGA movement, which seems…not great.

Adam: We learn that Mon was pulling 100k out of her family trust every month. Upon learning that her accounts were going to be scrutinized she tried to pull back the funds, only to find that she was short to the tune of 400k. She went to Tay looking to recoup those funds, but his scrutiny and the robbery on Aldhani only increased the danger Mon was in, and now she’s contemplating selling off her daughter.

What’s unclear to me is what Mon knows, what Vel knows, and what the timeline is here. Is Mon aware that Vel is one of Luthen’s soldiers? She certainly trusts her with her most secret information. But Vel isn’t forthcoming about Aldhani either, so we don’t know if Mon is aware. It’s also not clear whether the 400k stolen on Aldhani was actually the missing credits from Mon’s trust, or whether Luthen hired the group to steal the credits to repay Mon’s account. And the way the scene is written, multiple scenarios could be possible.

Austin: Ah, I hadn’t considered that the Aldhani raid was that closely tied to Mon’s finances (beyond impacting the general scrutiny they were under). We know Mon knows Vel is an operative of Luthen’s, though she pointededly doesn’t know what he has/had her doing (when they first meet in the series, she asks Vel “what does he have you doing?”). But if the Aldhani raid was motivated in part to help out Mon and not just get funds for the Rebellion and push the Empire to tighten its grips and push more people to rebel, that could lend credence to the theory that Luthen is Vel’s father — because he’d then be related to Mon, as well.

Adam: As for Mon’s daughter, it seems like the implied Chandrilan customs of arranged marriages (lots of chanting about braids) has come back into fashion. A return to conservative, old world values that doesn’t sit well with either Mon or Vel. It seems we’re reading this scene differently from each other, Austin – what are your thoughts on where this will go from here?

Austin: My biggest thought is that it likely won’t be resolved next episode, and might be the biggest dangling plotline left to carry over into Season 2. Mon’s finances, her uncomfortable partnership with Davo, her strained relationship with Leida — that all seems like too much for one episode to wrap-up when it also has Cassian and Luthen stuff to address. More specifically, I’m guessing this “Leida getting cozy with the Hitler Youth” stuff is either going to become yet another price Mon has to pay to do the “right” thing (ie her daughter rejects Mon standing with the Rebellion when it comes out) or the way Mon convinces herself to do something terrible for the “greater good” (ie maybe pairing her daughter up with Davo’s kid won’t be so bad since her daughter is so into the traditional arranged marriage stuff anyway).

Adam: Given that Mon tells Vel that she’s “found a solution,” with tears in her eyes, I’d say she’s made that decision already. Props to the outstanding acting Genevieve O’Reilly does each week on this show. She does so much while remaining so poised and still. Definitely not poised or still? Our escaped prisoners, Cassian and Melshi, who may be the sole survivors of the prison break and are looking for a way offworld.

Always the Empire, Haye?

Austin: I’m torn by the immediate “escape” sequence. The whole bit with Cassian and Melshi hanging on the side of the cliff is harrowing (and contributes to the series’ ongoing relationships with literal and metaphoric climbs). Seeing some non-humans play a role in the story is appreciated. And I love the Nakinians’ whole “The Empire? Fuck those guys!” vibes.

But at the same time, the whole sequence felt…superfluous. Like, I guess we needed to know how Cassian and Melshit got off Narkina Five, and if we didn’t, I’d probably be complaining about that. But aside from the brief tension when they get captured in the Narkinian’s gross looking nets, the sequence played out more or less without tension. Could the creators have just had Cassian and Melshi show up back on Space Miami and leave it to us to assume they found a ship and got off Narkina Five in relatively unremarkable fashion (which is what we ultimately saw)?

Adam: I hear what you’re saying. Dewi and Freedi were fun, since we haven’t seen many aliens (seriously, where were all the non-humanoids in the widget prison?), and I totally dug their vibe, but we know we’ve only got one episode left so Melshi and Cassian aren’t getting captured again. While we’re nitpicking, I also found it kind of hilarious that no one disturbed Cassian’s suitcase full of guns and money that’s just kind of been sitting out in the open this whole time. No one thought to, I dunno, look up and see what was in that case?

Austin: Clearly, the housekeeping service in Space Miami is subpar, as they never cleaned above the shower in all the time Cassian was in prison.

Adam: One thing in the case that we got a quick reminder of was Nemik’s manifesto, which Cassian accidentally starts playing on audiobook mode as he collects it. With his belongings on him, Cassian is ready to head home and reunite with his mother, B2EMO, and maybe even Bix. Unfortunately, when he calls Ferrix, he’s in for some very bad news.

Austin: Again, the repetition of the episode hurts the episode here. This is a big moment for Cassian, as he realizes that on top of everything else, the Empire has cost him the chance to say goodbye to his mom, to let her see how he’s become (somewhat) more of a leader and rebel. Diego Luna nails it, as he does, and the closing moments of the episode, as he stares out from a beach at the sunset in shock, is a beautiful evocation of the conclusion of Rogue One (in which a beachfront Cassian and Jyn watch the approaching firestorm triggered by the Death Star). But it’s also like the 312th time we’ve watched someone be told that Maarva died in this episode. Brasso told Bee, Tigo told Dedra, Vel told Kleya, Mosk told Syril Karn, and now we’re watching Cassian be told. Alright, so that’s just five times, but the impact is lessened each time we hear it again, even though the last instance is the one that should be the most powerful.

Adam: If they hadn’t sold the B2EMO stuff so hard, I would almost think the Daughters of Ferrix faked Maarva’s death for some reason given the number of times it gets mentioned. But now the table is fully set for all of our friends to reunite for the season finale: Cassian will inevitably return home where the ISB, Dedra, and Karn will all no doubt be waiting for him along with Ferrix friends and allies Cinta, B2, Bix, and Brasso. I also have to assume things will come to a head for Luthen, Mon, and Vel. But since we’ve already got a guaranteed 2nd season, I think we’re also headed for a cliffhanger! (I know we had a literal cliffhanger in this ep, but you know what I mean).

Austin: Tony Gilroy had promised big things for this episode and the finale, and while I mostly enjoyed this episode, it definitely felt lacking in the wake of the series’ hot streak of late, performing the unenviable task of setting the table for the next episode. Which hopefully means the finale will deliver on that promise, even while I’m fully expecting plenty of material to be left for season 2!

Force Facts

Dewi and Freedi Pamular are played and puppeteered by Matthew Lyons and Liam Cook. Matthew played Quadpaw earlier this season, and Liam has portrayed multiple aliens in Episodes 7-9 including Ochi of Bestoon in Rise of Skywalker.
The series continues to sprinkle in various Rogue One aliens; there is a member of the same species from Narkina Five that helps out Cassian and Melshi present amongst Saw’s crew in that film.
Their quadjumper ship, however, first appeared in The Force Awakens (a ship of the same model was what Finn and Rey were originally going to steal to get off Jakku before switching to the mothballed Falcon).
The shot of Luthen’s Fondor being chased by the Cantwell-Class Arrestor Cruiser is a nice homage to the opening shot of A New Hope.
Speaking of the Arrestor Cruiser, it represents a deepcut Easter Egg, as it technically predates even A New Hope, coming from the preliminary design art of Colin Cantwell (from which its class designation is derived). It appeared briefly in the training film Han briefly glances at in Solo, and in an RPG sourcebook, but this is its first appearance in action.

Austin Gorton

Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton