REVIEW: ‘Andor’ Concludes as the Best Star Wars Project of All Time

SPOILERS BELOW FOR ALL OF ANDOR

Star Wars is full of watershed moments. The Battle of Geonosis began years of intergalactic warfare, the Battle of Endor marked the beginning of the New Republic Era, and the timeline itself is literally split on either side of the Battle of Yavin.

For the Star Wars fandom going forward…we will define ourselves by the time before and after Andor.

With its final three episodes, Andor dives fully into the flames of Rebellion, and on its way to the opening credits of Rogue One, it reminds us that nothing is more important than hope.

The Final Sacrifices

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One of Andor’s greatest strengths since Season 1 has been its unbelievable cast. To begin the final arc of the series, the show decided to highlight the strength of the ensemble by focusing not on the titular character, but rather the intense sacrifices made by Luthen Rael and Kleya.

The choice to seemingly abandon your protagonist for an entire episode could have been a miserable backfire, but the Rebellion has always been about the sum of its parts. Throughout Episode 10, we got to fully accept just how crucial Luthen and Kleya were to the formation of the entire thing, and by fleshing out their relationship even more…the final moments of their partnership hit even harder.

After his Axis cover is officially blown by Dedra Meero, Luthen takes the only path that was ever afforded to him and attempts to silence himself in order to keep the Rebellion’s deepest secrets, but unfortunately, the final blow rests in the hands of Kleya. Witnessing them grow stronger over the years through flashbacks as Kleya made her way to literally kill her mentor was gutting, but it also went to show that no sacrifice was ever too great for either of them – they were always going to burn to create that sunrise, after all.

While Luthen’s fate may not have been too surprising, the final scenes of his most potent adversary definitely were. Dedra Meero, mere moments after capturing the object of her furious obsession, was made to suffer the consequences of Imperial impulsiveness by none other than Orson Krennic.

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Although she expected to be welcomed as a hero for her discovery of the Rebel network, her ego clouded her judgement during Luthen’s capture, costing the Empire valuable secrets. Denise Gough’s performance deserves unlimited praise as she portrayed Dedra’s desperate attempts to cling to her fanaticism and devotion to the Empire that she helped build, but as Tony Gilroy said:

"Fascism doesn't just take down the oppressed, it doesn't just come for the people it's trying to control; it inevitably destroys the people who have worked the hardest to build it."

Her final scene weeping in the depths of the Narkina prison is among the most powerful in all of Star Wars. A final reminder about the price of tyranny.

However, all of these sacrifices would be for naught if they weren’t tied to the biggest revelation in the history of the series…the revelation that would light the fire for the Rebellion’s ultimate victory.

Rogue One Rising

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Since the beginning of Andor, Tony Gilory has been clear about the final scenes of the series. Cassian Andor would finish his story by heading to the Rings of Kafrene where we meet him in Rogue One. Therefore, the series needed to end with all the pieces in place to begin that story.

What I didn’t expect was how much this final arc would feel exactly like that film.

By the time we return to Cassian and the Rebels on Yavin, we are mere days away from meeting Jyn Erso. The politics and alliances of the Rebellion are solidified, the costumes and haircuts are picture perfect representations of what we saw in 2016, but there’s one crucial thing missing: the confirmation of the Death Star’s existence.

The way that this final arc sets up this reveal is breathtaking. In the most sadistic game of galactic telephone imaginable, the revelation of the Death Star and its ties to Ghorman, Jedha, and everything we’ve seen thus far in Andor makes its way from the inner workings of the ISB all the way to the heads of the Rebel Alliance.

Witnessing how tenuous this exchange was throughout every step is thrilling beyond description. At so many points, a single word could have been forgotten, a single person could have been arrested, a single blaster bolt could have silenced the Rebellion forever…but they made it.

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Because these are the Rebels we saw a decade ago. Cassian, Melshi, and K2 arrive to rescue Kleya with military precision (despite their customary disregard for orders). Draven, Bail Organa, and Mon Mothma are running the base with authority and discipline even though they know how desperately the odds are stacked against them.

To put it as simply as possible, this arc is Rogue One in everything but name. Somehow, on a small screen with the budget of a tv show, Tony Gilroy and the creative team put together the exact feeling of an enormous blockbuster and further intensified the message of one of the greatest Star Wars stories ever told.

It’s a miracle.

But even though there is plenty of darkness and despair surrounding these final hours of Andor, there is never a single moment where we forget the most important lesson in the history of the franchise: hope.

Rebellions Are Built on Hope

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The final shot of Andor will stay with me for years.

In a series filled with uncertainty and violence, with tyranny and oppression, the final moments of the final episode are a calm, serene look at a woman with a child holding out hope that his father will come back over the horizon.

Now, all of us watching know that won’t happen. Bix Caleen will never again see the father of her child, and by the time this scene happens, he may have already met his ultimate fate at the hands of the weapon he helped build in the depths of Narkina-5. But somehow…that doesn’t matter.

Because she has hope. And as Luke Skywalker would say…that is the lesson.

Every character throughout the 2 seasons of Andor has had moments of despair where they would have had every right to throw in the towel. To walk away from the destruction. The darkness. But they didn’t. They held out hope, because they knew there was a sunrise that would shine through on a brand new day - even if they weren’t around to see it.

This is perhaps shown most beautifully in an unexpected arena: the ISB meeting center. When Partagaz spends what are ultimately his final moments listening to the beginnings of Nemik’s manifesto from Season 1, it’s a reminder that even though we have just witnessed the Massacre of Ghorman and the death of Luthen, the hope of the galaxy is shining brighter than ever.

In fact, it shines so brightly that not even one of the Empire’s darkest forces has any power against it. A realization he accepts at the end of his own blaster barrel.

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It is undoubtedly sobering knowing that Rogue One follows these episodes, because we as an audience know that Cassian Andor will never meet his child. We know that Saw Gerrera will meet his fate on Jedha just as Bail Organa will meet his on Alderaan.

But we also know that a young pilot from Tatooine will blow up that Death Star and lead the forces of Yavin into a battle that they will win. And that will all be thanks to plans that were stolen by a group on Scarif led by a man from Ferrix who was recruited by a spy who asked him to fight for something real.

And after all that…the sun will rise on Mina-Rau and bathe the love of his life and child in the safety of its warmth. It doesn’t get more hopeful than that.

Conclusion

Andor will go down in history as one of the most important Star Wars stories of all time. The filmmaking has been immaculate from the very first episode, and somehow, the second season eclipsed the quality of the first to deliver the greatest story of Rebellion we’ve ever seen.

And now it’s over.

It’s easy to immediately fall into a despair over the fact that we will never see a new episode of this series, but to give into that darkness would be antithetical to the lesson Tony Gilroy and company fought so hard to teach us.

We must take the lessons of the show and apply them every day. We must look darkness in the face and never turn away. We must lead with hope. We must fight for truth.

Then, and only then, can we know that one day…the sun will rise.

The full series of Andor is streaming now on Disney+