TV Recap / Review: Kleya Marki Embarks On a Dangerous Mission in "Andor: A Star Wars Story" Season 2, Episode 10 - "Make It Stop"

This evening saw the debut of the fourth and last arc’s worth of episodes in the second and final season of Lucasfilm’s live-action Disney+ series Andor: A Star Wars Story, and below are my recap and thoughts on the 10th installment.

Andor season 2, episode 10– entitled “Make It Stop"-- begins one year later, meaning this part of the story takes place one year ahead of the Battle of Yavin that takes place in the original 1977 Star Wars film. We open at Luthen Rael’s workshop, where a message is coming through in the back room but there doesn’t appear to be anyone there to answer it. Suddenly Kleya Marki (played by Elizabeth Dulau) emerges from what is implied to be her bedroom, and we cut to a montage of people getting ready, including Luthen (Stellan Skarsgard) himself. “Promise me if it doesn’t look perfect, we won’t engage," Marki tells Luthen as they continue to prepare for a mission. “I think we used up all the perfect," Luthen responds. Then we cut to another part of Coruscant, where ISB Supervisor Lonni Jung (Robert Emms) waits on a bench. He tells Luthen that he believes Dedra Meero is finally coming for him. Lonnie also says that he’s been “burned," and that he has “figured out everything. I know what we’ve been chasing." But first he insists that Luthen promise he can get him and his family off Coruscant.

Lonnie reveals that he’s had access to Meero’s file for a while now, and he stumbled across “something huge. If they knew what I found, they wouldn’t have let me out of the building. I need safe passage, Luthen, and I need it today. Assume they’re coming now." But Luthen demands to know what it is they’re talking about before he can make any promises. Lonnie tells Luthen that Emperor Palpatine’s energy program is a lie, and that the Empire needs Kyber crystals for a superweapon. Luthen says he will take Lonnie and his family to Yavin, but the scene ends with him murdering the ISB double-agent instead. Lonnie lies slumped over on the bench as a Lothcat comes over and sniffs at his leg, and then we see Luthen giving more details about the weapon– including the name Galen Erso– to Kleya. He tells her to meet him on Yavin and then heads off, returning to the antique shop to destroy his communication device in the back room with molten metal. As he’s doing this, the front doorbell rings.

Luthen assumes his antique-dealer false identity and greets Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) at the door. “It’s so calm here," says Dedra, describing the shop. “Peaceful." They make false conversation about forged antiquities– including a ceremonial dagger– and then Dedra pulls out a box. Opening it, she reveals the stolen Imperial Starpath device that Cassian Andor delivered to Luthen in the first arc of the series. With any pretense dropped, both participants in the conversation drop their facades and start talking about freedom vs. chaos. “Ruin the galaxy and run back to your ridiculous wig," Dedra throws at Luthen. “The rebellion isn’t here anymore– it’s flown away," he responds, as she prepares to arrest him. Luthen wanders a few steps away and Dedra notices smoke emerging from the back room. Pulling a blaster on him, Dedra realizes that Luthen has stabbed himself with the ceremonial dagger. Suddenly she calls Imperial troops and medics into the room, and they carry Luthen out on a hover-stretcher. “He can’t die," Dedra orders them. From outside, Kleya watches Luthen being removed as she blends into the crowd.

At ISB headquarters, Supervisor Lagret (Michael Jenn) informs Supervisor Heert (Jacob James Beswick) about the incident with Meero. Then Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) fills him in on the details, and Heert reports that Lonnie Jung has been found dead across town. We get another montage of an Imperial forensic team digging through Luthen’s gallery and his Fondor haulcraft ship. At the safe horse, Kleya stands alone, staring out at the Coruscant skyline. As she considers her next move, we dissolve into a flashback to what is presumably the Clone Wars. Here Luthen is roughly 20 years younger and a commander on a starship. Back in the present, Kleya retrieves a bag with some equipment from a hidden storage compartment in the safe house. In a subsequent flashback, we see Luthen drink from a flask as he reels from the battle outside. “Make it stop. Make it stop," he repeats over and over again, and we realize that someone is watching him through a grate. A soldier enters to retrieve Luthen, who is reluctant to re-enter combat. When the other man leaves, Luthen hears a noise coming from the vent and finds young Kleya (April V. Woods) hiding inside like Newt in James Cameron’s Aliens.

He tells her to be quiet as more soldiers enter the ship. In the present, Kleya readies herself and then walks outside, dressed inconspicuously. In the continuing flashback, Luthen’s subordinates want to know why he’s not fighting, and he covers for himself saying that his computer is resetting: “I’ll be right behind you." When he’s alone again, he reopens the grate to take Kleya’s hand. On Coruscant in the present, Kleya approaches the hospital where Luthen is being treated. It’s being guarded by stormtroopers. Inside, Dedra Meero asks a nurse when she can speak to Luthen, but he’s still being kept alive by machines. Dedra orders the floor cleared of personnel and patients, and then we see Kleya entering the hospital lobby with a fake bloody bandage on her hand. She makes her way through the hallways and we see her being picked up by security cameras. She uses a lockpicking device to access a nurse’s station and retrieve a suitable disguise, and then she heads further upstairs looking for Luthen’s room, passing an alien submerged in a bacta tank. She then spies Imperial ISB officers taking an elevator several floors up from where she is.

Upstairs, Dedra tells Heert that everything is under control, but Heert arrests her on the spot. After briefly resisting, she says, “Fine. Let’s get this sorted," leaving with Heert and his men. Then we’re in another flashback with Luthen and young Kleya as they look to sell antiques on a remote planet. They’re offered a price on a statue by a local dealer (Juliet Cowan), and Kleya skillfully helps him negotiate the deal, though she must pretend to be Luthen’s daughter “when it’s useful." They take their new assumed names (the ones we know them by) and Luthen uses the money they made to buy them both meals. Back in the hospital, Kleya wheels around an elderly alien lady but they’re stopped at the entrance to Luthen’s floor. Then we’re back in the flashback as Luthen attempts to sell a Devaronian victory necklace to another dealer (Jem Wall). From a distance, they see Imperial troops taking prisoners in shackles, including children. Kleya watches the prisoners march down a set of stairs, and she refuses to leave when Luthen orders her to. She approaches the prisoners and sheds tears as she watches them executed by firing squad against a wall.

Young Kleya catches up to Luthen and asks when they start fighting back against the Empire. “We have," responds Luthen. “By walking away?" “All you know now is how much you hate." “You bank that– you hide that until you know what to do with it. And when I tell you to move, you move." At the hospital, adult Kleya has abandoned the wheelchair-bound alien and is sneaking further up toward Luthen’s floor. Here she encounters an unmasked trooper, who tells her to turn back, but she simply kills him with a blaster shot. Advancing to Luthen’s floor, Kleya takes out a remote device, and then we cut back to the flashback. In the past, she’s having tea with Luthen on a Naboo-like planet and learning further lessons from her guardian. “You need to accept what you’re leaving behind. You need to know you’re making a choice. I lived most of my life without ever realizing that that was a possibility." He hands her a similar remote device to the one she has in the present, and she reaches out for it but Luthen stops her and presses the button himself. An explosion erupts on a bridge in the distance, and Luthen walks Kleya through how to properly respond to it without drawing attention, and then they leave the scene. “We’ve made our choice," he concludes.

At the hospital, Kleya presses the button and it sets off another explosion on a nearby parking structure, causing a distraction that allows her to impressively take out a number of additional troopers as she makes her way to Luthen’s room and enters. She finds Luthen on an operating table, attached to a machine that seems to be controlling his breathing. Looking over his body, she makes a decision and then begins to detach the components of the machine. This causes a beeping sound to emit from the computer monitoring Luthen’s vitals, and he passes away in front of her She kisses his now-lifeless forehead and then walks out of the room, immediately pursued by Imperial troopers. The camera lingers on Luthen’s dead body, and then we fade out, and the episode cuts to credits.

I thought this was another really excellent, incredibly tense episode, and I loved finally getting some backstory on Luthen and Kleya’s relationship, though it was difficult to say goodbye to one of the best Star Wars characters in the franchise’s modern era. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as usual, but special attention should be paid here to the performances of both Elizabeth Dulau and April V. Woods as Kleya Marki at two different but equally impactful points in her life. I also want to make note of the fact that this is the only episode of Andor to not feature the series’ title character, but I didn’t mind whatsoever because the storytelling, direction, and acting were so strong. It’s another one that will be remembered as a high-water mark for a show that’s full of them.

The complete second season of Andor: A Star Wars Story is now available to stream, exclusively via Disney+.