The Andor season 2 finale has landed, tying up all loose ends leading to the events in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Another year passes for our characters, leading to the leak of Palpatine's biggest project and the ensuing chaos from both the Empire and the Rebellion.
What is this project, and who will survive? SPOILERS BELOW.
Season 2 episode 10 takeways
As mentioned above, a year passes, yet Dedra has become more obsessed and focused than ever to capture Luthen, who has been under the alias Axis since season 1. Luthen receives a message to meet Lonni Jung, one of the rebellion spies who has been working undercover for the ISB.
He has been compromised and begs Luthen for safe passage for himself and his family in exchange for secret information he obtained from Dedra's files. It seems the secret energy project the Empire has been focused on, which involves Ghorman, was all leading to the creation and functionality of the dreaded Death Star, the planet killer.
Upon hearing this information, Luthen kills Lonni and relays the information to Kleya. Luthen returns to his antique shop where he proceeds to destroy the radio and communication devices, he and Kleya have been using, when Dedra arrives.
What begins as a well-performed act on both sides soon fades when Dedra unveils the stolen radio piece Luthen had obtained at the beginning of the series. It becomes clear to Luthen that the only way out is to kill himself with an antique weapon while Dedra is distracted by smoke coming from the ruined communication tech in the back room.
Needing Luthen alive for questioning, Dedra has him taken to a hospital where the entire floor is shut down and guarded by the Empire. Unfortunately for her, Luthen is unconscious and barely alive thanks to a machine he must be hooked up to.
When Dedra's superior Partagaz learns of Lonni's death and the current situation with Luthen, he orders her arrest. In the meantime, Kleya, using skills she had developed over the years, manages to sneak into the hospital, pose as a nurse, and thanks to some planned explosions, is able to kill the rest of her way to Luthen.
She disconnects Luthen from the machine, allowing him to die peacefully and escape. What made this episode especially interesting is that throughout Kleya's plan to kill Luthen, which will prevent the Empire from obtaining any information regarding the rebellion on Yavin 4, she recalls her past with Luthen.
Once working for presumably the Empire, Luthen flees his duties, taking a new name with Kleya under his wing, after finding her hiding in his ship. Assumably, she was native to the unnamed planet, and possibly the only survivor of the incident.
Growing up, the two pose as father and daughter, trading artifacts to earn a living. She is exposed to how brutal and unfair the Empire can be, scolding Luthen for not getting involved.
In reality, they need to bide their time and wait, which often means innocent lives are lost along the way. The real measure of her involvement comes when the two are enjoying their time and luxury on Naboo, where Luthen gives Kleya the option to either continue her life for the rebellion or leave it all behind for a normal life.
She chooses the rebellion, which prompts Luthen to detonate an explosion, killing Empire soldiers across the way on a bridge, teaching Kleya firsthand what the rebellion is all about.
Season 2 episode 11 takeways
Having escaped the hospital, Kleya returns to the old safehouse where Cassian and Bix once lived. Retrieving old technology using a pulse transmitter, much like Morse code, to send a message to Cassian on Yavin 4.
The message reaches Wil, who brings the device to Cassian, Melshi, who joins the rebellion, and the new and improved K-2SO. Assuming the message to be from Luthen, the trio decides to disobey orders and leave to rescue him.
Problem is ISB is continuing its investigation of Luthen's antique shop and finds the destroyed communications tech. As they try to see if any of it is salvageable, the pulse transmitter comes through, allowing them to begin tracing its location.
Meanwhile, Dedra is arrested and questioned by Krennic, who, thanks to Lonni, is accused of secretly working for the rebellion. She denies all accusations and admits that she had no choice but to take action against Luthen on her own, as the Empire buried key information that led to her discovering his identity.
Krennic is worried about who else might know about the Death Star but there is no definitive answer.
Cassian and Melshi arrive to rescue who they assume is Luthen, leaving K-2SO in the ship when all communicators are cut off by approaching ISB security. Noticing this, K-2SO takes it upon himself to kill the officers, making his way to Cassian.
Cassian and Melshi find Kleya, who relays the information Luthen gave her, which includes: kyber crystals, Jedha, and the name, Galen Erso. Cassian then tries to convince Kleya to come with them back to Yavin 4 when the officers arrive.
After a stunning bomb goes off, knocking Kleya unconscious, Cassian and Melshi fend off the ISB until K-2SO saves the day. Together they escape, returning to Yavin 4, where Cassian tries to convince the council, which includes Mon Mothma and Bail Organa to look into Luthen's intel.
But due to Luthen's bad blood with nearly everyone in the room, and his paranoid behavior, they decide not to discuss it any further. Mon Mothma is the only person in the room who believes Cassian, but she is vastly outnumbered.
We see her take a more hands-on approach to the rebellion, having to deal with Saw's irrational behavior.
Season 2 episode 12 takeways
The final episode of the season is more subdued, as we are now moving towards the events in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Mon Mothma is skeptical of Cassian and asks Vel to talk to him to get a feel as to whether the intel is reliable or not.
Vel speaks to Cassian, who has a fondness for Luthen, as he was the man who made everything possible. Vel suggests Cassian reach out to Bix, to which he seems unsure but agrees to think about it.
But Bix will have to wait for Bail Organa gives him an assignment. One of Cassian's contacts is a member of Saw's group on Jedha and has been relentlessly contacting Yavin demanding to speak to Cassian.
Jedha, was one of the pieces of intel Luthen collected from Lonni. Cassian leaves Yavin 4 with K-2SO in tow for Jedha.
As the episode and season comes to a close, we learn several things. Due to the failure in capturing Kleya, Partagaz kills himself in lieu of getting arrested.
Krennic is seen overlooking the Death Star, which is near completion. Dedra is imprisoned in what may be the same prison Cassian was residing in back in season 1.
Mon Mothma's husband seems to have moved on, romantically tied to his son-in-law's mother. And last but not least, we find that Bix had returned to planet Mina-Rau, from the beginning of the season, where B2EMO has been residing all season.
There in the fields, Bix is seen holding a baby protectively in her arms, insinuating that when she left Yavin 4, she was pregnant with Cassian's child.
Andor season 2 finale review
And that is a wrap of Andor season 2! Taking a completely different approach to season 1, where scenes were either action-packed, fast-paced, or grinding to a halt, conversation pieces. There were a lot of moments that took me by surprise, as Andor is often easily dismissed or forgotten in the realm of Star Wars Disney Plus TV shows.
Truthfully, it shouldn't be, as it takes a more serious, adult approach to the beginnings of the rebellion and how easy it was for Palpatine to obtain complete power with little to no resistance. Characters we already knew from season 1 have more development, but some plot threads were left cut, such as Andor's mission to find his sister and the complete abandonment of B2EMO.
Some character motivations changed without any details as to why and how, but we get to learn of K-2SO's origin story and more about the dreaded Krennic. Ending the season with Bix and Cassian's child is going to leave the fanbase wondering who the child is and if they are someone we have already met in another Star Wars project.
Of all the characters, I loved following Mon Mothma's story the most, as she juggled the complexities of the rebellion with her life as a wife, mother, and politician. Her constant tightrope act made her more powerful and inspirational than I ever thought possible.
Overall, the show was a hit in my book, developing more lore for the franchise, giving audiences an up-close look at how the rebellion began, and the nitty gritty details of how both sides operate kept me engaged throughout.
My only gripe is the three-episode chapter release, as it gets exhausting and draining to watch all three back to back in a single sitting with so much going on in each episode. True, no one has to do that, but let's be honest, everyone will feel inclined to out of pure enjoyment and spoiler avoidance.
I, myself, am included in that category as it is my job to recap the show, which made it difficult to remember what happened in each episode, especially where episodes began and ended. If there was less going it would have been more enjoyable, but the format just wasn't doing it for me.
Is this the last time we'll see Cassian Andor? Will Disney Plus follow the story of who his child is?
Stream Andor season 2 on Disney+.