TV Recap / Review - "Andor: A Star Wars Story" Series Finale "Jedha, Kyber, Erso" Perfectly Bridges the Narrative Gap to "Rogue One"

This evening saw the debut of the final arc 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 series finale.

Andor season 2, episode 12– entitled “Jedha, Kyber, Erso"-- begins in the safe house on Coruscant, where Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) is considering her potential future on the fourth moon of Yavin. “You can rest there, as a hero," assures Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). “You need to tell them what you told us," says Melshi (Duncan Pow). At ISB headquarters, Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) is frustrated by the loss of communication with his troops, and then in the safe house hallway we see those very troops prepare to break down the door. Inside, Cassian shoots the transmitter, halting its signal permanently, and has Kleya collect her belongings before they depart. Melshi casually opens the door and rounds the corner to find the Imperial troops pointing their blaster rifles at him. He dives back into the safe house while the troop leader Sergeant Gharial (Andrew Brooke) barks out a “final warning." Cassian calls for K-2SO on his communicator, but the signal is still blocked. Regardless, downstairs we see K continuing to fight his way through the guards.

Upstairs, a flash bang goes off and Cassian is temporarily blinded and blaster shots are traded between Melshi and the troops. K-2SO arrives on the appropriate floor while Partagaz sends out reinforcements. K takes Heert as a prisoner and hilariously uses him as a shield against the troopers’ blasters. From Cassian’s perspective, we see Heert’s body go flying into the wall and K round the corner. “Cassian, I’ve cleared the path." At ISB HQ, panic sets in as Partagaz realizes his quarry is getting away. Cassian, Melshi, Kleya, and K-2SO board the U-wing and take off, bypassing the Empire’s reinforcements. Inside the ship, Melshi keeps Kleya awake and K says, “I assume any doubts about my value have been erased." Then we cut to Yavin IV, when the usual hustle and bustle is taking place around the rebel hangar. In an interior chamber, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt) converse with a defiant Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker) via hologram. “It’s the Empire that’s after you, Saw, not us," Mon assures him. “If only you could fight as well as you lie," Gerrera responds.

Bail says that Saw is insane, and an officer enters informing them that the stolen U-wing is returning. General Draven (Alistair Petrie) leaves the room as Mon says, “It makes the Senate look easy, doesn’t it?" Draven meets with the Mon Calamari Admiral Raddus (James Henri-Thomas) as they track the approaching U-wing, and aboard the ship K-2SO tries to transmit a message to the surface. “They’ll figure it out," says Cassian, though K suspects they will be shot down as an enemy probe. Two X-wing starfighters appear to escort the U-wing down to the surface. “I plan to tell them I was kidnapped," remarks K. In the hangar, Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) walks toward the airfield and the U-wing lands and its door opens. Cassian demands a doctor for Kleya, and she is brought by rebel troops to the sickbay. Draven orders K-2SO to power down the ship and then power himself down, and then drags Cassian in front of the rebel leadership. “Apparently you’ve been chasing something you feel is worth violating every rule you live by," says Bail Organa to Cassian. “You went to save Luthen Rael." “Luthen is dead," responds Cassian.

Cassian explains what happened with Kleya, and why she’s important. He tells them about the superweapon. “Luthen was told that there’s a connection between the Ghorman destruction, the Kyber mining on Jedha, and an Imperial engineer called Galen Erso." Bail says that the problem is Luthen, and calls into question Cassian’s judgment on this matter. “It’s everything I know about Luthen that makes me believe this is real," responds Cassian. “When I say I know Luthen, I mean I know the good and the bad. I had a front row seat on that." He credits Luthen for building the rebellion and says it’s insulting to question his sacrifice. Bail says he’s heard rumors that the ISB was onto Luthen and suggests that he was being played. He forbids Cassian from accessing his ship and confines him to his quarters, and the panel says they will further discuss the superweapon rumors the following evening. Cassian asks for and receives permission to visit the infirmary, and Draven walks him over there.

Draven tells Cassian that Saw Gerrera is on Jedha, which only spurs him on further, but first he visits Kleya in the infirmary. “Not exactly the hero’s welcome I promised, was it?" he asks as she rests on a cot. “It’s a lot for them to take in all at once." We cut to Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) washing her hands, and then we see her visit Mon Mothma in the former Imperial Senator’s quarters. “Luthen’s dead," Mon tells Vel, adding that Cassian has been grounded. “He should stop saving people," Vel responds. Mon asks Vel to spy on Cassian and “help me believe him," and then we see Cassian approach Wilmon and give him “some bad news," letting his friend know that Luthen is dead. “He made it worth it," he assures. In the rebel bunker, Draven gets a message from Kafrene, but the sender says he won’t talk to anyone except Andor. Cassian and Vel drink to Luthen “just this once," and Vel lists off the other allies they lost along the way, leaving out Cinta, though Cassian adds that name to the list, in addition to Aldhani. “Mon wants to know if your Luthen story is real," Vel says. “He died for it," he responds. “Does it matter what he did to us along the way?"

Cassian also says Kleya wouldn’t lie about this information, and then we cut to Kleya sitting up in the infirmary and we hear Nemik reading his manifesto from the first season. “Remember this: freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously, and without instruction." Now we see that Partagaz is the one listening to this recording, and he turns it off when Supervisor Legret (Michael Jenn) enters the room. “I’m assuming you’ve heard it before," Partagaz says. The two talk about how the message has been spreading around the galaxy, and Partagaz asks for a moment to collect his thoughts before Legret brings him in for questioning. As Legret stands with stormtroopers outside the room, we hear a blaster go off inside the ISB chamber, and Legret stops the troopers from intervening in Partagaz’s implied suicide. On Yavin IV, Kleya wanders out into the rain while Vel tells Cassian to reconnect with Bix. “She’s safe, isn’t she?" Cassian asks. “That’s what I hear." “She wouldn’t be safe with me." “She might disagree." “Once this settles down, maybe. I’ll think about it." “Don’t wait too long," Vel concludes.

Cassian thinks to himself and then we see Vel encounter Kleya in the jungle outside. Vel gives Kleya her raincoat and brings her back inside, comforting her. In Vel’s hut, they talk about Luthen and how what she did for him couldn’t have been easy. “He always used to say, ‘Know your way out before you go in.’ I don’t even really know where I am." “I have friends everywhere," responds Vel with Luthen’s code phrase. “You’re here with friends." Vel tells Kleya to sleep and goes looking for Mon Mothma, while Draven arrives at Cassian’s hut and orders him to meet with the contact at Kafrene, telling him about the Imperial star destroyer that’s parked on Jedha. “If this is all a trap, it’s a brilliant way to spring it." “How do I get to Kafrene," asks Cassian. In the bunker, Mon Mothma tells Bail Organa that she and Draven need to be heard out. Cassian dreams about his sister and is then woken up by K-2SO, who tells him, “The man you do not like is here." Bail Organa enters the hut and asks Cassian if he ever sleeps well. “No." “Then we have something in common." Bail says, “If I die fighting the Empire, I want to go down swinging." “You and Luthen would have gotten along much better than you think," says Cassian. “May the Force be with you," replies Organa, sending Cassian off to Kafrene.

We see boots of rebel soldiers on the ground, led by Melshi, as Cassian walks off toward his destiny. Then there’s a montage of other characters’ fates, including Wilmon and Dreena (Ella Pellegrini) sharing tea, Mon Mothma chatting with her cousin Vel in the mess hall, Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie) going home with Davo Sculdun’s wife Runai (Rosalind Halstead) in his hovercar, Kleya waking up, and Dedra Meero in a prison cell on Narkina-5. Kleya watches the rebel troops prepare for the coming war, and Cassian passes by the Force healer, who gives him a knowing look as he approaches the U-wing. On Jedha, we see Saw Gerrera looking off into the horizon as the star destroyer hovers over Jedha City. Cassian boards the U-wing and we see Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) looking out over the under-construction Death Star. On the U-wing, Cassian tells K-2SO that their destination is the Ring of Kafrene. “Get us out of here," he tells K, as the U-wing leaves the airfield outside of the Massassi temple and flies off.

On the grain planet, B2-EMO plays with another small droid and we see Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) walking through the field and swaddling a baby in her arms. She comforts the baby and looks out toward the horizon, a smile on her face. So there’s a tiny glimmer of hope in the form of a baby Andor as we know our heroes face certain doom in the events of Rogue One, but the overall message that’s presented is that their sacrifice– much like Luthen’s will have been worth it. And I believe Star Wars fans– in addition to anyone who just enjoys really good TV– will agree that Andor was worth it as well, despite the fact that we knew Cassian’s fate before the first episode was ever released on Disney+. I have my minor nitpicks with this season, but on the whole I’m struggling to come up with any major complaints outside of K-2SO’s limited screentime that I talked about in the previous recap. Showrunner Tony Gilroy and his creative team have delivered something undeniably awe-inspiring here, and I’m curious if it will affect my next rewatch of Rogue One in the way he has suggested it will. There’s so much more to talk about, and I remain certain that we’ll be dissecting this series for years– if not decades– to come, but for now I’ll just say that I’m very glad this show exists and even happier that it was able to reach a more-than-satisfying conclusion. And ultimately I hope the reception of this series leads to Nemik’s message being heard far and wide.

The complete series of Star Wars: Andor / Andor: A Star Wars Story is now available to stream on Disney+.