‘Andor – Season 2’ Episodes 1-3 Recap: “One Year Later/Sagrona Teema/Harvest”

*Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for episodes 1-3 of Andor – Season 2*

Star Wars does not deserve Tony Gilroy, and yet…

With the first episode of Andor – Season 2, which begins in media res, as Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) steals an imperial starship he has no idea how to control, Gilroy and director Ariel Kleiman set a new standard in what Star Wars should achieve, in a post-Skywalker Saga era. I’m one of the few who does not care about Rogue One, yet the prequel series is visually – and thematically – superior in every conceivable way, bringing back real, textured excitement and thrillingly written political intrigue as the Empire takes greater hold of the Galaxy, and resistance fighters are growing and looking for a way to take them down.

The opening scene of episode one is what Star Wars should always strive to be. This isn’t “Star Wars for adults”, as some may describe it, especially given the Jon Favreau/Dave Filoni universe that started out promisingly but delved into mindless point-and-clap drivel. This is pure Star Wars. Nothing more, nothing less. The action, a total visual feast for the eyes, is bracingly kinetic and surprisingly cathartic, as Andor clumsily drives the ship back to a rally point, where he is set to meet his contact, but is instead ambushed by a gang of fighters who believe he is an Imperial pilot. That scene alone gave me hope, in the purest sense of the term, that this season would genuinely be something special.

I’m not the type of person who likes to make bold, hyperbolic statements. We’ve certainly had our share when discussing Ryan Coogler’s (incredible) Sinners, most notably a specific sequence that ranks high among the decade’s very best. When the social media embargo for Andor’s second season lifted, many critics hailed it as the best Star Wars piece of media since The Empire Strikes Back. That’s insane, because Irvin Kershner’s 1980 sequel is one of the best films ever made. However, and only after watching the third episode, I’m now fully convinced that it very well may be on its way to BEAT The Empire Strikes Back – and The Last Jedi – as the best Star Wars title ever made.

I certainly don’t want to jump the gun, especially given Gilroy’s approach to season two. However, I haven’t been glued in front of my television screen watching some of the most riveting intrigue built up like this in a very long time. After the first episode’s action sequence, I was already hooked, but got pulled in even further by how Gilroy smartly sets up four narrative threads that will make up the bulk of the second season:

1. Cassian Andor attempting to make his way back to Mina-Rau, where Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), and Wilmon (Muhanned Baier) are.
2. What’s happening in Mina-Rau, as an Imperial Audit is occurring.
3. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), and Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) are plotting to get funds for their rebel activities, whilst Tay Kolma (Ben Miles) is in deep trouble.
4. Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Syril Karn’s (Kyle Soller) lives post-season one, as a couple (Gilroy actually shipped them. Incredible), with Dedra taking more responsibilities within the Empire, after Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) tasks her with the decimation of an entire planet, whilst Syril is still attempting to crawl his way back up.

We follow these storylines in a parallel montage for the bulk of the first three episodes, which are set a year after the events of the first season. The series will release three episodes a week, as each batch of episodes will move forward a year, culminating in the beginning of Rogue One. So we basically have a Star Wars movie every week, one that shows all of us what this franchise should be, yet are refusing to embrace it as it continues to delve into mindless, unimaginatively inept territory with the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter, two projects where my interest is at an all time low.

Of course, not all of these narrative threads pay off, but by the end of the third episode, Cassian reunites with Bix and takes care of the Imperial Auditors in a staggeringly mind-blowing moment of pure cinema. In fact, the third episode’s climax is a pure visual/aural experience, cutting between Mothma celebrating the betrothal of her daughter Leida (Bronte Carmichael) to Davo Sculdun’s (Richard Dillane) son, Stekan (Finley Glasgow), and Andor trying to reach Bix and Brasso back. It’s one of the most ingenious displays of parallel cutting seen in this side of the galaxy, with an expanded Niamos theme carrying Mothma to dance. It’s not a joyful dance, but one riddled with anxiety and terror, knowing what’s to come. Simultaneously, tension mounts within Mina-Rau, as Bix is still carrying the psychological scars of her torture in the first season and is pursued by an Imperial Auditor who wants more than simply asking questions.

Arjona is phenomenal in those three episodes, giving real agency to a character that was sadly relegated to the background for the bulk of the last half of the first season. Her eyes register more terror, not only in relation to the Empire, but on her personal experience that she is still unable to recover from, than most of the development spent with the character the last go-around. The sequence where she stands up to the Imperial soldier making unwanted advances towards her is possibly one of the best displays of her acting you’ll ever see, using the rage boiling inside Bix since that fateful torture session to finally stand up to herself.

I also especially loved seeing Soller return as Syril Karn, notably in how, despite his newfound romantic relationship with Dedro, he still hasn’t changed, especially when his mother, Eedy (Kathryn Hunter), pays him a visit and completely unmasks him for who he is. Instead of standing up to her inappropriate behavior, he decides to leave the dinner table and crawl into bed in the fetal position. He’ll never be able to become the strong-willed person he wants to be if he keeps letting his mother’s feelings towards him inside his mind. All of these moments are deftly visualized and performed, although the lethargic pacing of Gilroy’s writing can sometimes hamper the dramatic tension built as we return to the world of Andor one last time.

Notably, the entire narrative arc we spend with the group of fighters who eventually turn on themselves is, despite unexpected bouts of intense action, the weakest part of the first three episodes. There are a few well-mounted one-takes that bookend the season’s first episode, but this entire exchange between Andor and the fighters gets stretched so thin that it ultimately loses its dramatic potency. Thankfully, Luna remains in top form as Andor, giving more dramatic texture to his character than he ever did in Rogue One.

It’s clear that Gilroy should’ve entirely directed Rogue One, because his vision for Andor is far more complex and layered than that movie ever will be, despite some screenwriting inconsistencies. However, I’m more hopeful than ever that next week’s time jump will be far more psychologically riveting and lead us to something genuinely special that we will likely never see in Star Wars ever again. It’s the sad state of affairs, but I’ll take each win where I can get them.

The first three episodes of Andor – Season 2 are now available to stream on Disney+.