Ever been to Ghorman? / I Have Friends Everywhere / What A Festive Evening (Andor - S02E04, E05, E06) - Live Action Series

Discuss the latest Chapter! (Discussion)

"Don't become too much of an individual, Syril!" SPOILERS.

PSA: keep blasters out of reach of sleepwalking people

Week 2 of Andor season 2 and another triple feature. While it's great that we get each movie in one go now, it also means there is a lot to watch. Each episode was about 50 minutes long with credits, and still about 46 minutes without. As previously announced by showrunner Tony Gilroy each separate arc / movie will move forward in time about one year, so we are in 3 BBY now.

Behold Space France!

While this is a brand new arc the Ghorman plot started in the previous week is still ongoing and is the center point of this week's story. The three episodes are still a very multilayered affair, each main character and even side character has their own arc and sub plot. We do of course have Andor and Bix. The two play house on Coruscant at the beginning of the episode. Luthen provided them with a safehouse and Andor and Bix enjoy some well deserved time off after a mission we are only briefly told about. Only Bix is still haunted by nightmares and sees Doctor Gorst, the kind and amiable scientist who came up with the alien death scream torture device, in her dreams. Things are so real to her that she is even sleepwalking now, with blaster in hand. But Cassian realises something is off before Bix can do anything too foolish.

Office space!

Syril meanwhile has moved up in the world. He's now head of some auditing office on Ghorman. And has seemingly broken off with Dedra and is even somewhat disillusioned about the Empire, in a video call with his mom Eedy he tells her that Ghorman is not at all what the Imperial propaganda makes it to be. Has Syril suddenly grown a conscience? Of course not. He's on an undercover mission for the ISB. So he is coming ever closer to his dream, that of being Space James Bond for the Empire. Syril's job is to make contact with the Ghorman underground resistance and to feed them information. As a reminder: the Empire still needs useful insurgents on Ghorman that would justify what follows next. The Empire still needs that super rare mineral for the Death Star that is only found on Ghorman.

Mon Mothma has little luck

Mon Mothma plays a much smaller role this week, with much of the plot focused on Ghorman, but she is trying to get support in the senate, yet the other senators will not hear of it and she grows increasingly frustrated with her job that resembles the farce it is more and more with each passing day.

Supervisor Lonni actually has a backbone and morals

Things are set in motion when Supervisor Lonni, who turned out to be a Rebel sympathiser and mole for Luthen late into season 1, makes contact with Luthen after three long months. And he informs Luthen that the Empire has something brewing on Ghorman, and that Dedra Meero, whom the Empire wants everyone to believe is disgraced after Ferrix, is secretly working some project involving Ghorman, but it's so top secret not even Lonni knows what it is. So Luthen needs to investigate.

Lies? Deception?

In yet another subplot we follow around Wilmon. He's the only guy who knows how to work some device that is needed to blow up some fuel station, the bad thing is said device is super volatile and one wrong move will kill you very painfully when you inhale some gas. And he has an appointment with Saw Gerrera and his crew, Wilmon is supposed to train one of Saw's men so he can operate the device. We learn that Saw wants to dispose of Wilmon once his work is done, yes, Saw is actually crazy.

Space Fentanyl is not the solution, Bix!!!!

On Coruscant we follow the civilian lives of Bix and Cassian and Bix is falling apart more and more with each day. She now does drugs just so she can sleep without having these terrible nightmares. Luthen meanwhile contacts Cassian and tells him he needs to investigate Ghorman and assess the situation there. But this will be a solo mission, Bix is left behind.

Kleya, the most professional professional in the series and also secretly awesome

And then yet another subplot is introduced... Kleya learns through one of her many hidden listening devices that Davo Sculdun (the shady inlaw of Mon Mothma's daughter Leida who more or less pressured Mon Mothma into accepting the arranged marriage) has found out that one of his precious artifacts in his collection is a fake. He is furious, as soon as the social event that he is throwing is over he will have each and every piece of his collection recertified. The only problem is... one of the artifacts in the collection has been bugged by Luthen/Kleya so Kleya can keep track of what Sculdun is up to. And that device will be found of course when each piece of the collection is reexamined and recertified. Which would mean Luthen's cover is blown. So they must retrieve the microphone. And the only opportunity for that is the lavish party Sculdun is throwing. Luthen, when he learns about all that, is close to the breaking point. You can tell this is slowly getting too much for him, all the lies, the deception, the double life. However, the only one who keeps a cool head and sternly tells Luthen what must be done is Kleya. That woman is determination personifed.

007 has made contact with the natives

Syril meanwhile proves to be a top notch Space James Bond, he successfully pulls the wool over the Ghormans. They even find a very difficult to find file about Syril's misadventures as security personnel from season 1. So they believe he's real and holds a grudge against the Empire. Syril meets the Ghorman underground and they want him to give them data about shipments intended for a construction site. The Empire is building a massive structure almost right in the center of town, near a memorial for a massacre in which Grand Moff Tarkin killed quite a few Ghormans several years ago. Something that greatly upsets many Ghormans, because the Empire had originally promised never to build anything near the memorial that could cast a shadow on it. The Ghormans believe the Empire is building an armoury, they just don't know why. Syril is supposed to provide them with the intel they need to intercept weapons shipments.

Cassian really does clean up nicely! He poses as a fashion designer in training who wants to learn all about Ghorman Haute Couture

Meanwhile Cassian has also arrived on Ghorman in the guise of a fashion designer. His job: to assess the situation. Cassian makes contact with the underground leaders in no time (they know Luthen via radio contact). But Cassian is less than impressed about the things he sees. He believes the Ghormans are much too late to do anything now and also much too unprepared. He does not think much of their plan to hijack a weapons transport to steal some of the weapons and to even go public later so everyone knows the Empire is illegally building an armoury on Ghorman right in the city center.

Turn. Off. The. Lights! Yes mistress, immediately mistress!

We get a funny interlude with Syril who reports back to ISB on Coruscant in person. He gets to meet his flame, Dedra, in her apartment, For exactly one hour, much to his chagrin. The two never broke up of course. And Dedra has, as expected taken the place of Syril's mom in his life quite seamlessly, only with added benefits. We also learn that Dedra only has sex in the dark. This is too funny.

You all love the space fruit loops! Don't you?

Syril also visits his mom, mandatory fruit loops included. Yes, Andor knows what the fans want and expect! Dinner scenes and parties! This arc is no exception!

Andor is not impressed

Eventually Syril has his briefing with the ISB. And here we learn that Dedra, that minx, is of course using Syril and has not told him the truth about anything. So Syril has no real clue what is going on. But he's happy, he can play ISB agent and he's doing a pretty good job. He merely informs the ISB that he needs to give the Ghormans valid intel. Which the ISB is of course more than happy to provide. Their nefarious plan devised by Dedra is working like clockwork.

Syril is so close to fulfilling his dream

Cassian leaves Ghorman after just two days, after telling the underground leader that he thinks their plan is weak and that it may all be a setup by the Empire even, of course the leader won't have any of that and is angry with Cassian. But he does not care. He has done his job. He is picked up by Luthen and Cassian tells him how the whole thing is a bad idea and that they should not get involved. As mentioned previously Cassian had even told the Ghormans that this could all be an Imperial ploy, he's a smart cookie and knows how the Imperials think. But again, the Ghormans want to strike, regardless of what Cassian is telling them.

You do not want Saw as your superior

Meanwhile Wilmon has trained Saw's rebel... but then Saw simply shoots the man in the head. Revealing to everyone how he was a traitor. And as proof some radio device is pulled from a breast pocket. Which now means Wilmon has to go on the mission to the fueling station. Once there Saw goes really crazy and once the device is installed he opens a valve, letting out the extremely lethal substance. Wilmon inhales some of it and even though we do not see how Wilmon actually dies chances are he's dead now. Saw is literally crazy and it makes sense now why the proper Rebels always hesitated to work with him.

Smoooooooch!

Back on Coruscant Cassian returns to Bix, but Bix is still a mess. Things get a bit lovey dovey (we all need some love after all) but when Cassian learns from Bix that Luthen had visited her while he was away, offering her a job, he gets furious, because Cassian knows Bix is close to the breaking point and needs some time away from it all. He fears for her. And he should. Bix is doing drugs and a total mess at this point.

Luthen did not listen to Cassian....

And then we get yet another subplot... Vel and Cinta enter the scene. It turns out Luthen outright ignored Cassian's assessment and sent Vel and Cinta to Ghorman to help with the attack on the military transport carrying the weapons. So Vel and Cinta have a somewhat awkward (at first) meeting on Ghorman, but Cinta, in the meantime, had gone home to reevaluate her life and has decided that Vel is too important to her to treat her like that. So the two rekindle their romance.

Vel, I love you so much! Btw. I bought a farm for us where we can live once this is all over!

Vel and Cinta plan the heist with the Ghormans and before everything is put into motion Vel and Cinta have some quality time together. This arc is comparatively romantic. Love is often treated not even as an afterthought in Star Wars, it's nice that in Andor we finally have characters that behave more like regular human beings. But of course anyone who has watched tv or movies for more than three days in their life will know nothing good will probably happen once Cinta opens up, comes around and promises to be a good girlfriend now..............

Mon Mothma is sick of it all

Later that night the attack on the transport is set into motion and at first everything seems to work. One Ghorman resistance member can prevent some old lady from walking onto the scene, but then a man arrives, who was shown to be somewhat of a troublemaker (or at least as someone who doesn't like being told what to do and not to do) happens upon the scene, with the Ghorman resistance unloading crates with blasters. He wants to see more, one Ghorman resistance fighter struggles with the man, his blaster is set off... and you can guess the rest.

She's dead, Jim!

Cinta gets hit and is now on the proverbial farm in the sky. Vel keeps it under control most impressively but a little later, on a transport, tells the poor Ghorman who accidentally fired the shot that this will haunt him for the rest of his life, and it should! Vel's luck is shattered. One can only guess what that will do to her down the road. From a narrative point of view Cinta's death makes sense of course. The two were never meant to have a happy end. Andor is still mostly a tragedy, after all.

Exactly the man man you do not want to see when you have to remove a microphone in the very same room!

And then, eventually we move to the real climax of the arc. Sculdun's lavish party (it would not be Andor without a posh party!) and everyone is there! Mon Mothma and husband but also Luthen and Kleya. And Kleya is the one who must retrieve the listening device. Things become overly complicated when Krennic is in the very exhibition room... lucky for Kleya a determined Mon Mothma involves Krennic into an argument. And what follows next is both very tense but also funny in a way.

Kleya and Supervisor Lonni, perfect teamwork

Kleya needs someone to block the view, and as luck would have it Supervisor Lonni (remember, Luthen's mole) is also on the guest list and Kleya promptly recruits him to provide a visual shield. Lonni is less than amused, he believes this is their death sentence, it's madness to try this stunt with Krennic and all the other people in the room. But Kleya won't have any of that, she knows that if the device is found all could be over.

Kleya is one very determined woman

Kleya manages to remove a cap, now she has to unscrew the microphone... and it's jammed. She twists and turns while Krennic and guests are moving closer and closer and closer. This scene is proof that you do not always need blaster shootouts or lasersword duels to have tension and even excitement. Anyway, Kleya has to multitask because while she's desperately trying to unscrew the microphone she also has to calm Lonni's nerves who is almost about to bail. But Kleya is, other than Cassian, the one true professional here and she manages to retrieve the microphone at the last moment. Even Lonni is safe.

All's well that ends well!

And with that the arc comes to a conclusion, almost... we see Kleya smiling and happy for the first time in forever I suppose. Even Luthen is relieved and manages a smile as the two leave the party with the microphone in their posession. Disaster has been averted for now!

Bix is playing the highly popular top 10 hit single "Alien Death Scream That Will Melt Your Brain" via headphones just for Doctor Gorst

But it's not over yet. Before the party kicked off Bix and Cassian were informed that Doctor Gorst is on Coruscant, his interrogation program is supposed to become the new standard and he is supposed to set up shop and train people on Coruscant. This is of course an opportunity Bix can't let pass by. So she tracks down Gorst, puts him in his own chair, puts on the headphones and plays the alien death scream track for him. Bye bye, Doctor Gorst! You will not be missed!

Bix is happy for the first time in about 15 years

And that's it... the three parter was once again excellent. However, this arc was as far removed from all things Star Wars as is possible. It has almost nothing in common with what people associate with Star Wars really. What we got felt more like a cold war or maybe WW2 era spy thriller with some personal drama added. We witness Bix' trauma and how she slowly unravels while Cassian, even though he knows Bix needs help and time off, cannot really help her, Bix' demons are her own and very strong.

Then we get long, long stretches of nothing but world building. We get to see more of street level Coruscant (they have little shops that sell melons and peppers), Bix and Cassian need plates for the apartment, every day stuff. We spend long stretches of time on Ghorman and learn about their society and culture, we witness town hall meetings and most of it, all of it, is spoken in a brand new alien language that can best be described as Space French, i.e. the language sounds French but all the words are alien. This is something you'd expect to see in Star Trek once again. But if you love worldbuilding you will cherish these scenes in Andor. Everything just feels utterly authentic and real, you believe Ghorman can actually exíst when you watch this, each of its inhabitants feel real as well, down to the hotel staff.

It's also commendable how Andor has the space to breathe, nothing is ever rushed, each character is given ample time, which is something you can of course do if your episodes are almost 50 minutes long and not just 25. Andor is the most cineastic of all the Star Wars shows. But of course it's also the slowest slow burn imaginable. I believe a majority of fans will find Andor, and especially these three episodes, just boring and slow. But as you can tell by the length of the review a lot of things happen, it's just that it's all mostly personal, and does not involve blasters, space battles or lightsabers. Hallmarks of Star Wars of course. But as an adult drama Andor succeeds on all fronts.

And since the series gives each character so much time, even secondary characters on Ghorman, you really care about them. Death here is not some random event that makes you shrug your shoulders. Especially Cinta's (not very surprising) death hits you. It's tragic to see how Vel pined for her girlfriend in the last arc... only to be properly reunited now and even finding Cinta a changed woman (she was seriously hurt and needed to recuperate, which gave her a new outlook on things), only for Cinta dying the most random and needless death. It's not some heroic sacrifice, but a stray blaster shot fired on accident by an ally. This is how you die in Andor. Not with a flash and a bang steering your space fighter into the enemy. Such is life in the Star Wars universe. Luck is fleeting. I do wonder if Bix will live to see the end of the series. Maybe she has banished her demons after killing Gorst and will stop taking drugs just so she can sleep. Of course we know already the relationship between Cassian and Bix is not meant to be, Cassian only has three more years to live.

The party was, once again, the true highlight. The timing and blocking was excellent here. Lonni who is truly out of his depth... being bossed around by Kleya who desperately tries to unscrew the microphone. It's comedic even, but as all things in Andor it's subtle, it makes you smirk and smile maybe.

I would like to once more point out the excellent costume design here. Ghorman fashion is just fabulous and I think many people may want to cosplay as fashion designer Cassian in the future. Set design is also impeccable, both with the returning and all new locations. And you can tell they had as many real locations and actual big sets (augmented with CGI) as possible. But this makes places like Coruscant and Ghorman so tangible, so real, these places have never felt so real in Star Wars before. The acting is, as usual, also impeccable. They cast francophone actors for the Ghormans, so the Space French sounds very believable, not a hint even of British or American accents here. And all the usual cast members once again do an excellent job. I want to highlight Adria Arjona here though who plays the fragile, broken and messed up Bix very beautifully. Another standout performance for me was Elizabeth Dulau as Kleya, she played a much bigger role than usual and carried the climax of the arc, she's very understated, almost always calm on the outside, but Dulau manages to let the audience feel the steely determination and even anxiety, but not with grand gestures, it's all very subtle. But as I said, everyone delivers a top performance here, Lonni as the nervous ISB agent who believes he is about to die in 10 seconds was also excellently portrayed by Robert Emms.

But as I said, this is also as far removed from Star Wars as people know and love it that I cannot see how Andor will have much of an audience, unfortunately. Indeed, Luminate did not have Andor in the top 10 in week 1. The numbers, as far as Luminate is concerned, are lower than The Acolyte's which does not bode well... but we should wait for the next charts. Andor had only two days time to gather watch time and three lengthy episodes were dropped maybe not everyone got to watch them in those first two days. But if Andor fails to enter the charts next time (the charts are released this Friday or Saturday) it will not bode well.

What all of that means is that chances are extremely low we'll ever get something like Andor again. So if you enjoy Andor, savour it as much as you can now. And of course you can always revisit the show in the future. Andor has, in my opinion, a high rewatchability factor. If you like character dramas, that is. And as I said previously, this week was literally a spy thriller really. With undercover agents, moles and lots of subterfuge. Very few blaster shots were fired, there were no space battles... and the most exciting scene was Kleya trying to unscrew a stuck microphone with a bloody hand. But in many ways those scenes are as exciting as the duel of the fates in The Phantom Menace. Just on a different level. It's a bit tragic that this experiment succeeded artistically and critically... but failed when it comes to popularity. Then again, Andor is really very far removed from the explosions, space battles and dark villains revealing to be the father of the hero as possible. Instead we see Star Wars reimagined for adults and arthouse enthusiasts. It would always be niche. But IF you like character driven dramas then Andor is peak television. This arc is a masterpiece, in my opinion and I am happy to give it a resounding 9/10 or 4.5 out of 5 holocrons. The story hits you in the heart, it touches your mind, it even offers some subtle but excellent humour. Dedra telling Syril to turn off the lights, YES, NOW, is what Star Wars humour should be like, I'd take this over Jar Jar stepping into something every day.