Daughter of Ferrix (Andor - S01E11) - Live Action Series

Discuss the latest Chapter! (Discussion)

"I don't have lately, I have always!" SPOILERS.

Cliffhanger

With Daughter of Ferrix we are approaching the endgame for season 1 of Andor. Let's talk about the titular character first. Cassian and Melshi escaped from the prison, now they are hiding from Imperial patrols in the air, Melshi is at the end of his tether but eventually Cassian and he pull through and come across two native aliens and their spaceship.

All the aliens you want

But before they can steal the ship they are captured. However, in a lucky turn of events the two aliens don't turn in Cassian and Melshi and instead help the two get off Narkina 5. Cassian has a destination, Niamos, the resort planet, where he hopes to still find the suitcase with the money. And as it turns out the room service on Niamos is not the best, since they never bothered to clean the top of the shower cabin, and with two aliens sleeping in the bed Cassian manages to sneak into the bathroom and retrieves his credits and weapons.

Cassian is devastated when he learns about his mother's death

Melshi wants to part ways, he feels the two of them have better chances of getting away from the Empire each on their own, and Melshi also wants everyone to know what happens on Narkina 5. So Cassian and Melshi part ways for now. Cassian then calls someone on Ferrix, asking him to pass on a message to his mother, Maarva, but Cassian learns that his mother has passed away, which leaves him devastated.

A droid that is treated with respect, not very common in Star Wars

We learn about Maarva's death very early in the episode, she died offscreen. In a rare turn of events we actually get to see a grieving droid in Star Wars. B2EMO is visibly distressed and a bit confused. And for a change the other people around him don't treat him like a toaster, but more like a sentient being, with respect. The episode actually makes you feel for the poor droid whose life is about to change dramatically, and his attempts to get Brasso (Cassian's miner friend) to stay the night with him, so he's not alone, are adorable and touching.

Poor, poor Bix...

Also on Ferrix Bix is still in Imperial custody. She cannot walk on her own anymore and needs support. She looks terrible, still suffering from the after effects of the torture. The Empire wants to know if Kreegyr is Bix' contact, aka "Axis", we don't learn what her answer is, but chances are very high Bix is broken and won't lie to the Empire. Cinta meanwhile works at a coffee shop, that is also frequented by an undercover ISB agents, both watch the situation on Ferrix for different reasons. Maarva's funeral will be in two days and Dedra tells the Imperials on Ferrix to allow the ceremony, where Maarva's ashes are baked into a brick, as is tradition, they still hope the funeral may bring out Cassian.

Kleya never has a day off

On Coruscant Vel visits Luthen's shop, hoping to find him. But he's on a mission. Instead she finds Kleya who plays the shop assistant for a while before Vel insists they talk openly. She has info for Luthen. Vel found out that Maarva is dead and that her funeral may be their chance to find Cassian. Vel snaps at Kleya when she is less then happy about seeing Vel, but Kleya promises to pass on the info. When Vel lets Kleya know that she is the rebel fighter who does things, Kleya cooly remarks that for her there is no "lately" or a mission every now and then, she is always on a mission, no day off, ever. She and Luthen, and Mon Mothma too, live very dangerous lives, even if that does not involve attacking Imperial facilities.

Mon Mothma is very distressed

Also on Coruscant we catch up with Mom Mothma and in a surprising turn of events we learn that Leida seems to be very much into traditional Chandrilan culture, including early marriage, we see her and many other girls taking lessons and repeating vows by some elder who teaches them the old customs. When Vel, who visits her cousin, sees that she is taken aback and asks Mon Mothma if she is actually taking proposals for Leida... we know of the offer, but as it turns out Leida is very much into this. Vel and Mon Mothma eventually have a heart to heart talk where Mon confesses that she is in serious trouble, because 400,000 credits are missing from her account and the Empire is due to find out very, very soon. Mon is on the verge of tears when she tells Vel that she has found a solution. So it seems Mon Mothma is at least planning to accept the deal with the devil and to introduce her daughter to the son of the thug from last week. And it's tearing her apart inside. Is it all worth it though? But then again, if the Empire finds out about Mon Mothma the entire rebellion is at risk, their unique torture methods would extract all info from her, compromising everyome.

Long distance phone call for Syril at night

Syril gets a phone call late at night from his ex sergeant. He has learned about Cassian's mother's passing and informs Syril that there will be a funeral on Ferrix. Syril, like everyone else, sees his chance and decides to head off to Ferrix. He steals some credits from his mother to buy a ticket. So everything is set in motion for the perfect storm on Ferrix in the season finale when all the important players will be on the same planet for the first time.

Saw is less than pleased at first when he learns certain things from Luthen

Luthen meanwhile is back at Saw Guerrera's hideout. Saw wants in on the attack planned by Kreegyr, if he gets the promised equipment. But Luthen confesses to Saw that the attack has been found out about and is an Imperial trap. In yet another great exchange between Saw and Luthen Saw figures it all out by himself. He may be a bit weird, but he's smart, he realizes Luthen must probably have an informant inside the ISB he wants to protect. Saw also gets paranoid right away and wonders who the informant in his group is. Luthen messes with Saw by claiming Two Tubes is the informant, who of course denies it. But eventually Saw comes around and sees the bitter wisdom in Luthen's actions.

Traffic controls in space are no fun

As Luthen makes his way off planet he receives a call from Kleya who informs him about the death of Cassian's mother, but the call is interrupted when an Imperial ship scrambles the transmission and basically ask for Luthen's papers. He forges a fake ship transponder ID on the fly (his AI is quite capable), but the Imperials still don't want to let him go, they insist on an inspection.

Things escalate rather quickly

Luthen won't have any of that of course. But his ship is being pulled in by a tractor beam. He fires up his engines, pretends it's a malfunction, while secretly loading up his countermeasures. And as it turns out a spy like Luthen has a proper spy spaceship, basically the Star Wars version of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5.

Luthen's little ship has a few surprises in store for the Imperials

First Luthen fires a barrage of shrapnel that destroys one of the tractor beam emitters, letting him loose. And then he and his ship make short work of the four TIEs engaging him by taking them out with the ship cannon and what looks like giant lightsaber blades shooting out from both sides of the ship. He immediately jumps into hyperspace leaving behind a visibly confounded and exasperated Imperial officer on the bridge who probably already has nightmares about reporting this event to his superiors.

And that covers it. Daughter of Ferrix moved all important pieces across the board once more for the season finale, where probably everyone will be on Ferrix. Luthen knows where Cassian will be, Cinta is already on Ferrix, who told Vel, Dedra knows, Syril knows and poor Cassian learned it from an acquaintance on Ferrix. Let's see where will this will take us.

The episode has a few surprises, the biggest one maybe that Leida is very much into traditional Chandrilan culture, much to the chagrin of Mon Mothma and Vel. And we also learn that Perrin is very much open-minded about certain things, such as not marrying away their daughter at the tender age of 15. No, it's Leida who is super obsessed with ancient traditions. This if course means that Leida may not be as much opposed to being introduced to potential husbands... offering the easy way out for Mon Mothma, but it's still tearing her apart inside, since it means she'd have to sacrifice her own family, even if Leida is maybe not opposed to the idea. She wanted a different life for her daughter though, free of tyranny and old customs. But of course the last word has not been spoken yet and we have to see if Mon Mothma will actually go through with her plan. I still feel it would not benefit her character if she basically pimps out her daughter, even if she may be willing to marry someone at 15. What good is a rebellion that makes you abandon all morals and all principles?

Luthen and Saw Guerrera shared yet another great scene, Saw's intensity is almost frightening, and he's a very sharp tool when he figures out Luthen not only has an ISB informant, but probably moles and informants everywhere. Such are the realities of life when you fight evil regimes. Sometimes you have to do the bad thing. You can't really trust anyone, and you have to sacrifice people. Luthen talked about that in the last episode at length.

And another interesting aspect here was the treatment of Maarva's trusty droid. Not only do we see that B2EMO is experiencing actual distress and is grieving Maarva's passing, the other people actually treat him kindly and with respect, like a person, not a thing. While Luke and a few others also did that with their droids, they are mostly just treated like mindless slaves. It's a very old question, how sentient are droids in Star Wars and why are they usually treated so poorly? At least B2EMO and droids like R2 and C-3PO should be considered persons, not mindless servants. Andor gives a clear answer here. There is some speculation going around that Cassian may eventually upload B2EMO into a K2 droid, but let's see about that in season 2 when Cassian should finally meet K-2S0 and hack him.

And that's pretty much it. We got short glimpses at least of every important character. Poor Bix is in living hell, I really hope Cassian will free her in the finale. Syril seizes the opportunity and rushes to Ferrix the minute he learns about the funeral. We learn that Kleya is basically Luthen's counterpart in every way, she lives and breathes the rebellion, there is nothing else for her. Now let's see how things will unfold when most characters will be on Ferrix next week in the season finale!

Daughter of Ferrix was yet another very strong episode. I rate it 4.5 holocrons.