Star Wars: Andor - 2.01 - One Year Later

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An undercover mission. A sanctuary threatened. A Chandrilan wedding. A chilling Imperial plan.

Runtime: 51 minutes IMDB score: 8.9 (63 votes)

 

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Now, if you have been like me, you've avoided Andor news for ages. It's just recently it has become almost impossible to avoid certain headlines toting that "the Andor is the best Star Wars since the original series." I wouldn't go that far, since all George's films are good and there's nothing really wrong with them or with the animated series. It was the Book of Boba Fett, where the House of Mickey started slipping and no2w according to some sources, Disney would like you to forget it ever existed.

According to Tony Gilroy he didn't write Andor to be another Force related story, but you can be assured that he's well aware of what's happening in the other series. In the last SW celebrations, he stated: "... without Baby Yoda there wouldn't be Andor." So, there you have it, and to him, it's not about what's the best SW shows as he put all his effort on making Andor to be unique among the others. It is a dark tale aimed for the mature audiences and not one about the space wizards.

Disney's plan for the next four weeks is to put out three episodes per week, advancing one year in between. Some people would have preferred to have all of them at once, or once per week, just like it came out in 2022.

Let's see how this one began...

Advanced Tie Fighter. If you played Star Wars Tie Fighter back in the day, you'll know that this is an exceedingly rare vehicle. And it is the one that Darth Vader piloted.

As of 4 BBY,[13] the Sith Lord Darth Vader owned and operated an experimental[14] modified early prototype of the TIE Advanced x1,[1] which he piloted into the midst of a rebel fleet in a daring attack that resulted in the destruction of the rebels' flagship, Phoenix Home.[13] He later used it to travel to Malachor to fight his former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.[15]

TIE Advanced x1

The TIE Advanced x1, or TIE/ad, was an advanced prototype starfighter that was part of the TIE fighter series manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems. Darth Vader notably flew a TIE Advanced x1. In designing the starfighters of its TIE fighter series, Sienar Fleet Systems drew heavily on the...

starwars.fandom.com

The one thing it is missing is the side panels. So this one could be a production vehicle and the thing about it is that it is jump capable and not tied to the location or act out of a carrier. In that way it is very capable to challenge for example X-Wing operations. This one was hidden in Sienar's Imperial Test Facility #73. And it is the place where we pick up our hero Cassian Andor, dressed in a flight suit, acting "as if you belong," just like he stated in the first season.

So as you guessed it, he wasn't after a single technical unit, although technically a vessel is a technical unit. And the lady in the picture is the one of the rebel assets. When you think about him as 'the natural spy,' it is also easy to imagine him being able to be a handler as well. Niya came back to darkened cafeteria where Cassius was waiting, already nervous about what was happening. She shied her gaze away from him as she explained that the craft was ready to go, as it had been "prepared for the test flight in the morning."

"Are we safe here?" Cassius asked.

"You're a test pilot. You just arrived," Niya stated without ever giving him a look. "You're excited. You wanted to look around before bed. We started flirting..."

"I like that..." Cassius chuckled.

"Sorry. I-I was told to not look at you," Niya snapped. "I didn't see anything."

"It's okay." Cassius stepped closer. "It's okay."

"I'm so nervous..."

Man, what a dialogue and the thing is, I believe her, because any 'assets' in her shoes would be nervous. After all, it is not her that's going to be escaping, but instead going to be a subject to IBS interrogation. We know what sort of methods they use from the last season, Bix's interviews. The interesting thing is that Andor is not Mr Bond, but yet, the magic of special agents was affecting the lady engineer. She was nervous and all she could think about was shagging to but her mind at ease, as she told after a brief encounter that Cassius was "cute," and then straight after looked at him and asked, "Have you been part of this for very long?"

Before Andor could answer, she squinted her eyes and turned her head away, "I shouldn't have asked of this."

"Hey," Cassius said. "It's okay. You're risking everything. You can ask what you want."

Niya opened her eyes and turned towards him. "If I die tonight, was it worth it?"

Cassius glanced at her and said nothing.

"You've done this before. You must have thought about it."

Shaking his head, Cassius answered, "This makes it worth it," instead of telling her to run and never look back. He knew she was a sacrificial lamb, an expendable and yet, still a very important asset. "Being here at the moment. Being here when you step into the circle. Look at me..."

Niya turned, and did as she was told as Cassius continued, "You made this decision long ago. The Empire cannot win. You'll never feel right unless you do whatever you can to stop them." Looking her in the eyes, he whispered, "You've become more than your fear. Let that protect you."

It brought tears to her eyes. "Thank you."

Then it was business time and not fun, even though I swear they'd have had enough of time for a quickie. Cassius made his way into the vessel, closed the door, and then turned around to see cock-pit setup just like Anakin had designed it. So more advanced than anything he'd seen before. So it was no wonder that without reading the manual and attending lessons, it was button pushing adventured instead of intuition guided move to make the vessel operational.

His first move didn't made the fighter to go forwards, instead it reversed and slammed against the wall, thus alerting the base personnel.

"What the..." escaped from a Stormtrooper's mouth as they witnessed this scene. It made me laugh out loud. The whole escape is serious business, and Andor was making a mess of it by not knowing how to fly that notorious machine. Stormies with the bolters didn't stop him for a second. It was the rocket trooper guy, who missed his first shot, that made Andor to sweat.

It was incredible to watch to lower the tube and start reloading it, while Andor couldn't really figure out the controls, until he had no choice. He had to do it, or die trying. And I have to say I love every moment of GTAing Vader's test vehicle. From the way he fly it, it was no wonder that he was struggling with the control, as it was all tuned for the Force user and not a pilot like him.

Motha estate, Chandrilla with Leida and her friends admiring the wedding dress. I like that they'd devoted a whole room to display, and someone had included pink bonsai trees into the equation. It was lovely to see Mon basking alongside the Imperial Hubby and being able to relegate tasks to him. So I guess he has been forgiven, and yet, the wedding is advancing full speed and therefore the money problem must still exist.

It didn't concern her. It was Luthen's arrival in the wedding that wound her up. And yet, she received him diplomatically with a smile on her face, instead of telling the guard to throw the Buyer out. "Luthen," she called out.

"Oh dear, you found me," the spymaster replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm afraid that's a secret," Luthen answered. And then he hurried away only to be caught by the father-in-law, who told Mon, "Go away. Go away. You're ruining my secret."

Luthen as a bringer of wedding gifts? Man, it makes me if the spymaster manipulated the criminal banker to thinking that he needs a gift from him. Mon wasn't happy about it and yet, she was powerless of stopping him either. But the thing is, Luthen had also brought his assistant to the wedding, and neither one of them were happy to be there as they were more concerned about Andor's mission than doing the routines.

Receiving a message that Andor had landed the vessel in a rebel hideout and got caught as an Imperial pilot by them would not have been a thing that they'd have wanted to broadcast in Mothma's estate.

It has been a while since we saw Orson Krennic in the big screen. Although to me, it has been two night since I finished rewatching the season 1 and Rogue One at the end of it. This time he was in a place called the Maltheen Divide. Googling reveals that there is no previous record from this place. Therefore, a perfect place for a secret meeting.

"Now, the group in this room is, of this moment, the tightest of closed of circles." Krennic dictated to the people that also included the witch, Lt Debra Meero. "Any security violation will be brought to Emperor's personal attention."

Then he proceeded to show a supremely weird film about Ghordman's Spiders and how the whole planet uses them to produce silk for the fabric that their society uses to produce garments for the rich. And yet, Krennic didn't allow the film to roll to its end.

"Ghorman..." he began to explain. "Is of great interest to the Empire." Then he sat down at the end of the table and continued, "I doubt anyone here is unaware of the difficulties we've had making the Emperor's dream of energy independence a reality. Now, I heard the rumours, tales, setbacks. Grovelling for Senate funding."

He stood up and continued, "I met with the Emperor yesterday. And he suggested, I remind you that the Energy Initiative remains the centrepiece of his agenda. Access to stable, unlimited power transform the galactic economy."

Man, what a pipe dream. The thing is that SW's galactic wide operation is so many levels above the energy that we can output today, or even tomorrow, or in a hundred years. I'd believe that they can handle Dyson's sphere and not reach any further, and yet, that seems to be the Emperor's dream. And the spider's in Ghorman are not the most unique thing. That is the mineral, deep underground, called Kalkite.

And the main reason, "They need to use Kalkite to coat reactor lenses," and to mine it, they have to make the planet potentially unstable. Possibly wiping out the whole supply. Hence, they needed the best that Imperial can offer to control the situation. Lt Meero's suggestion was, "You'll need Ghorman Rebels to do the wrong thing..."

B2Emo, Brasso and a new old model of speeder bike. It was a blessing to see that Andor's family had settled into a farming world, instead of living in Ferrix's slums. And it felt good to see that B2 still cares about Cassian, even though he now has much bigger family. None of them knew where he'd gone, only that he'd be back. One day.

They'd no idea that Cassian had landed the test vessel in the jungles and got captured by a rebel group that had been detached from the larger rebel movement. But that has always been the case in the rebel groups as they are so independent and detached from each other, because there is no central command. No communication network, until they make it in the Rebels animated show.

The problem for them is that their planet Mina Rau, and not the one where Cassian had landed. Not that the natural spy would not have told them where he'd gone anyway. Only Luthen would have known and he was tied to Mothma's wedding. Then again would he'd been able to stop the rebel group from fighting each other? I doubt it.

Cassian was once again on his own and nobody really knew where he was, just that he'd gone missing. Another problem was the Andor's family was facing an Imperial Census that would reveal that none of them had Imperial Interstellar Passports.

The tension is surely ramping up in this episode, but it also feels like in the first season as the series is set for slow burning fuses.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I felt this episode was a little slow, but it's setting up the storylines for the season so I'm not surprised. Though slow, I did not find it boring. I really like Andor and think it's one of the best Star Wars shows. Looking forward to watching more episodes.

 

[REBerg]

Clumsiest vehicle theft I've ever seen depicted.
Cassian should have checked for an owner's manual before attempting takeoff. I'd love to have that blaster in stalled freeway traffic.