I know im late to the party but I only just finished it
I really liked the shot of bix on the planet with the child it was so reminiscent of the ending of Andors life on Scarif standing there looking over the ocean; facing down death.
Where as his kid is looking over a ocean of wheat facing down a life of hope because of the actions of Andor.
The fact that Cassian had a baby, somehow put me at ease, knowing what his fate was.
In case anyone missed it, if you watch the credits all the way through on E12, the Andor theme merges into a take on the main SW theme and it’s glorious.
This is up there for one of the best shows ever made. Damn near perfect television. And it completely elevates all the existing Star Wars content that surrounds it. Rogue One is so much more impactful now. ANH feels like the culmination of a grand series of events rather than the start of something.
I just want to layout the in-galaxy timeline here:
Day 1: Lonni accesses Dedra’s files and learns about the Death Star and imminent raid on Luthen.
Day 2: Lonni leaks the Death Star intel to Luthen. Luthen kills Lonni and gives intel to Kleya. Luthen destroys his comms network. Dedra raids Luthen’s, resulting in Luthen’s hospitalization. Dedra is arrested by ISB. Kleya raids the hospital and kills Luthen.
Day 3: Krennic questions Dedra. Cassian, Melshi, & K-2SO rescue Kleya (killing Heert) and bring her to Yavin IV. Bodhi defects from the Empire and brings Death Star/Galen Erso intel to Saw Gerrera.
Day 4: Partagaz commits suicide. Cassian meets Tevik on Kafrene and learns more about the Death Star.
Day 5: Jyn Erso is busted out of prison and brought to Yavin. Tarkin takes over the Death Star from Krennic.
Day 6: Cassian, Jyn, and K-2SO travel to Jedha. They get Bodhi’s intel. Tarkin tests the Death Star by destroying Jedha, killing Saw.
Day 7: Vader summons Krennic to Mustafar and threatens him. Rebels raid Eadu, destroying the base and killing Galen Erso.
Day 8: The Battle of Scarif. Full Death Star plans leak. Krennic dies. Empire’s first real military defeat. Vader captures Tantive IV and Leia. 3PO & R2 escape to Tatooine and get picked up by Jawas.
Day 9: Uncle Owen buys R2 & 3PO. Leia is interrogated by Vader and interrogation droids.
Day 10: Luke meets Obi-Wan. Lars homestead is destroyed. Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, Chewie, and the droids escape Tatooine w/ Death Star plans. Tarkin questions Leia and destroys Alderaan.
Day 11: Raid on the Death Star. Leia escapes. Vader & Obi-Wan final showdown. Falcon is tracked to Yavin.
Day 12: Battle of Yavin. Tarkin dies and Death Star is destroyed.
Think about it from the Empire’s perspective. Just 12 days after the first hints of the Death Star even existing leaks the Rebellion manage to destroy it. They were working on that thing for nearly 2 decades in secret. Then almost the moment it’s discovered it gets destroyed. The Rebellion must look so incredibly competent and powerful compared to the epic string of fuck ups from the ISB.
And think about it from Palpatine’s (and Vader’s, although less-so) perspective considering the Force. Palpatine kept this under wraps for 20 years. Then the fact of its existence leaks. 10 days later Obi-Wan fucking Kenobi shows up on the Death Star w/ 2 of Anakin’s old droids and Anakin’s son to rescue Anakin’s daughter (although I don’t know if Palpatine knew that Leia was related). 2 days later, Anakin’s son destroys the Death Star.
Palpatine has to be freaking the fuck out over this. It has to feel like Force powers beyond his control are orchestrating all of this. Like the Force itself is conspiring to bring him down. We saw how paranoid and back-stabbing the Empire is in the final 3 episodes of Andor. Imagine how much that’s gonna ramp up after the Battle of Yavin.
That is probably why the Empire colapses after the destruction of the second Deathstar. Palpatine probably throws a massive tantrum and purges a bunch of high up, competent people from the Empire. Palpatine then probably installs himself or Vader as leader of a bunch of ministries just because of the feeling that “if you want something done right do it yourself”.
Now, when we have the second Deathstar blowup, Palpatine and Vader die, The Empire collapses. Not because the Deathstar blew up but because of how Palpatine reacts when the first deathstar blows up.
Once the second Deathstar blows up, a now gutted and leaderles Empire fractures into a bunch of small pockets of empire. This was probably already happening to a large extent during the events of Return of the Jedi. Palpatine diverting more of his own focus to this one project and not noticing that the fringes are starting to fray, or noticing and not caring because he is about to have his super weapon.
Is the tinfoil to tight. Probably, but this is my head cannon for starwars now.
Things go differently in the current canon, but what you described was more or less what happened in the old EU. There was no line of succession or instructions for what happened if Palpatine died. His death, along with Vader and important central figures in the Empire in ROTJ left a lot of squabbling Moffs and Admirals of dubious levels of competence in control of splinters of the Empire.
It wasn’t until Thrawn that someone competent started consolidating Imperial forces again.
Great show, the only thing I question is that it seems like the intel Luthen got at the end about the death star had no bearing on the plot at all because right after that (in the movie) Cassian goes and gets the exact same intel from Saw.
Also the rebel alliance refuses to believe cassian, luthen, and kleya about the death star but they instantly believe galen erso (who they’ve ordered assassinated) and his daughter who no ones ever met???
I know the show had a difficult job to do giving us an ending before the ending (rogue one) and my complaint is only about the final episode, everything else was amazing.
In my headcanon they believed jyn because of luthens intel, even though they dont mention it in rogue one.
I’m just glad B2 got the good ending. Just enjoying life and racing like a little kid with his other friends.
7 comments here in 19 hours, surprised.
I didn’t watch any trailers or advertising. one thing I like about TV series is you have a sense of quality before the ending. This has been an excellent story. Just surprised how few people were lined up to watch right upon release. A cultural moment.
Tuesday at 9pm is such a weird drop time, plus with three episodes it’s a 2.5 hour commitment. I like to watch things as soon as I can, but that has to be the worst possible time if the goalie to get everyone (which I assume is not the actual goal.)
Just finished watching it all, have been trying to avoid any spoilers all day. I can’t speak for all, but the three episode drops have been nice, but take time to get through. I envy people who can watch it night and maintain a healthy sleep schedule.
All falling action really. Wrapping things up, setting the stage for R1, which is, in true Star Wars fashion, made better than it was by TV, but still deeply flawed.
I thought Dedra’s fate was kind of perfect, and just showed that the system wasn’t set up due the likes of Syril or her, true believers until it was too late. The Luthen episode was the best of this bunch for me, but overall what was going to top 7-9?
I’m head canoning Kleya as the boss of the very serious ladies drawing lines with light pens in ANH or ESB, and then being an intel muckitymuck in Mothma’s administration after the war.
Also, B2 is okay! Oh, and baby Andor, which does at least explain more about why Bix did what she did.
The Luthen episode was the best of this bunch for me, but overall what was going to top 7-9?
8 must objectively be the best tv i have ever seen.
The Luthen episode was the best of this bunch for me, but overall what was going to top 7-9?
Agreed. Luthan was a treat to watch.
I’ll give episode 12 one thing, though, they really showed the political complexities of the rebellion. All the factions that have to come together without trusting or even liking one another. You can imagine how the New Republic was a bit hamstrung as they avoid consolidating power behind a single figure.
I’m still disappointed we only got two seasons. Season one was a masterpiece. Season two was good, but rushed. Reminded me of season two of Rome where they had to pack multiple seasons of stories into one last season because the money ran out.
I’m also amazed Disney released three eps at a time instead of once a week. It’s like they don’t want you to stay subscribed for more than a month per year.
I truly hope that the art direction and costume teams for “Andor” win all the awards this year. You really feel like you are watching another universe that existed somewhere in another galaxy far far away.
I honestly wonder if they sped up season 2 not because they thought it’d get cancelled or go stale but because since it was successful Disney wanted more control over it. It’s already come out Tony Gilroy was butting more heads with execs for season 2. He seems like he would want to go out his way.
With that being said, maybe not 5, but I think 3 would have been perfect
Gilroy said the original plan was for 5 seasons. Once they sat down to start working on season 2, though, they looked at the calendar. They did the math on when season 2 would come out, then on how long it would take to make all 5 seasons. They decided that none of them wanted to be working on the same project for a decade+, so they decided to cut it down to 2 seasons.
Where did you hear about him butting heads with execs? From all the interviews I’ve seen, it seems like the exact opposite was the case. It sounds like Kathleen Kennedy, specifically, ran interference for Gilroy to let him do pretty much whatever he wanted.
Andor s1 and s2 got greenlit and budgeted right about the time Disney+ first came out. At that point, Disney was trying to produce as much stuff as they could to be Disney+ exclusive to fill their catalog. That’s how Andor got such a large budget and how Gilroy got such a free hand to do whatever he wanted. I’ve never read anything about execs trying to reign him in with regards to creative control. The only limitation I’ve heard was a budget one about wanting to do an episode of K-2SO as a horror monster rampaging through an Imperial ship.
A lot of word was out there that the management team at Lucasfilm was a bit soured on Andor after they were told by higher ups at Disney to not interfere with the creative side.
But ofcourse no one will say so in an official interview.
I suspect it was in Gilroy’s contract his project was to be left alone, especially seeing how meddlesome things became with The Mandalorian S2 & S3, Book of Boba Fett and all other just about failed projects that had management sit on the creatives’ chairs.Andor also is in stark contrast to most of the shows/movies made directly under Lucasfilm’s management and their creative style… and it is bringing in the accolades for it, while most of the other stuff is falling very short.
All in all, I would have preferred a 3rd season, if they could have shot them back to back it would have been amazing. As it is now, while great television, S2 feels like it is rushing through the story.
More tales of Luthen and Kayla, heck even Saw would be a good fit, until season 3 glued it all together.To close, Tony Gilroy has my deepest respect for making Andor and Rogue One, yet doing so without craziness surrounding it all. If I ever get the chance I’d shake the man’s hand and thank him profusely.
I think directors always butt heads with studios. Sounds to me like it was really expensive and they didn’t want to commit to pay for any more to finish out his arc and they probably didn’t feel like they could leave it half done.
I had watched Rebels S3E16 before binging the finales and I’m in awe of how much they cared about continuity! The ending of E12 just goes STRAIGHT into Rogue One beautifully … I found myself just going “fuck it” and watching it straight after lol
No notes this time. If I had the time, this would have been a binge from Episode 10 all the way through A New Hope.
Your post prompted me to rewatch Rogue One today. Honestly, Andor really elevates it. Almost felt like the real finale too.
Kinda just stunned after that last episode. The first two had me breathless.
Episode ten was great. Tense. I felt for Loni and his family. The confrontation was great.
Episode eleven ramped it up. I really didn’t think Kleya was going to make it—my only prediction that missed, but they kept me on edge. I normally hate flashback episodes, but it was only maybe 1/3 of the episode and it was the perfect amount.
Twelve… I’m stuck on. In the end it has to bridge the gap between 11 and Rogue One. It was scaffolding and I just couldn’t turn my brain off about what came next and it’s hard to create tension given that. It still was enjoyable to see it play out.
I think the last episode was impossible to get right here because the end of the series is not season 2, episode 12. It’s the movie.
They had a hard requirement to make this work with what the movie has given them and while it made the series finale a bit… underwhelming, the episodes prior to it were really good. Just look at the movie as the real finale.
Agreed. That last episode was never going to be a gut punch, but it was still satisfying to see it play out. I guess the last scene with Bix might’ve hit hard with some but honestly I was expecting that when she left. Least shocking twist ever.
But none of that is complaining. It was good.
![[Discussion/Spoilers] Andor Season 2 - Finale](https://media.piefed.social/posts/Hc/DT/HcDTBUdgvKpvrG2.jpg){kind=link}