"Andor," Year Two

Minor spoilers ahead.  

The second season of "Andor" is a little different from the first structurally.  Again, it's twelve episodes divided up into four groupings of three.  However, where the events of the first season took place over the course of a year, each three-episode chunk of the second season is spaced a year apart.  The first three episodes take place three years before the events of "Rogue One," the next three take place two years before, and so on.

You can distinguish each of these episode batches by the different missions and the characters' circumstances, but they're not as clearly delineated as the first season.  Cassian Andor remains an important focal point in the show, but storylines featuring Luthen, Mon Mothma, Syril Karn, and other characters often feel more important.  This year Luthen's assistant Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) becomes very prominent, especially in the final episodes.  So do informant Lonni Jung (Robert Emms), and resistance members Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Bhaier) and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu).  Ben Mendelshon's evil Orson Krennic and other characters from "Rogue One" also start showing up, and it may be helpful to start thinking of that movie as the proper finale to the "Andor" series.  

With the Rebellion building up its forces, and the Imperials amassing more and more power, the parallels to real historical conflicts become much more pronounced this season.  Multiple storylines center around the planet Ghorman, a prosperous world that the Empire wants to destroy to further its secret plans.  Ghorman essentially becomes WWII Vichy France, with a secret resistance group that the Imperials are trying to manipulate, ever-escalating restrictions on the populace, and lies and propaganda everywhere. For fans of WWII spy and war stories, it should be familiar territory, but "Star Wars" fans may be taken by surprise.  This year "Andor" fully commits to creating serious, adult-oriented stories set in this universe that really get into the darker, unromantic parts of fighting a war.  Nearly all the main characters have to grapple with the cost of doing the right thing, sacrificing their safety, personal relationships, and eventually all hope of living normal lives.  Some of the material is not only dark, but downright grim.

This also means a string of dialogue-heavy episodes that don't follow the template of your usual action show.  There's a lot of genre-hopping from political thriller to dystopian drama to dinner with Eedy Karn (Kathryn Hunter), the most terrifying mother in the galaxy.  I like that we get to spend time with characters like Syril and Dedra off the clock, and there's an unexpectedly touching episode entirely about Kleya and Luthen's relationship late in the series.  As for Cassian, the closer he gets to "Rogue One," the more he feels like a mythic figure - a Forrest Gump-like character who keeps witnessing all the big inflection points leading up to the war.  However, there's a cost to being that figure, and Cassian and Bix's relationship becomes increasingly bittersweet to follow.  And as harsh as creator Tony Gilroy is to his title character, the contrasting stories of the Imperials are even more gutting.  The Empire is merciless to the rebels, but treats their own just as badly.    

The budget for this season of "Andor" was reduced considerably, but the show still looks fantastic.  Most of the action on Ghorman takes place in one city set, for instance, but they get a lot of mileage out of it.  We hear a few more mentions of the Force this season, but there are still no jedi or lightsabers, and few aliens.  Droids, however, are a definite presence.  The Ghorman episodes feature the KX-unit droids, who are absolutely horrifying to see in action.  However, I think it's to the show's credit that I didn't miss much of the spectacle at all.  This is absolutely prestige television, and despite my own opinions on the intended audience for "Star Wars" media, there's no question that "Andor" is a fantastic new addition to the franchise and opens the door for more in this vein.      

It's very strange that we've got an episode of "Andor" that leads into an episode of "Star Wars Rebels," and bits of obscure lore from a '90s roleplaying game are now canon, but good TV is good TV.  Let's hope Disney is willing to take more risks with "Star Wars" like this is the future.  

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