TV Review | Star Wars: Andor Season 2 (Episodes 1-3 – by Max Nocerino)
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Max Nocerino 
The premiere episodes of Star Wars: Andor Season 2 were epic, with the right balance of action and intrigue. My only critique was that I wasn’t overly fond of the Chandrilian culture.
Star Wars: Andor fans were thrilled to learn that Season 2’s premiere included three episodes. Three episodes will be released each week until the season concludes. I don’t think Disney could have given Star Wars fans a bigger treat if they had tried!
Andor: Season 1 was probably best known for how little backlash it faced from both fanboys/girls AND critics. They said the show was perfect in every way, and some were even going so far as to suggest it was the best Star Wars offering since The Empire Strikes Back. While I feel that this is a HEAVILY arguable fact, I too was enchanted by Tony Gilroy’s skill in crafting a series that captured the essence of Star Wars, but also contained a significant amount of plot writing, acting, and dialogue. Something that has long been critiqued within Star Wars. “You can type this sh@%# but you can’t say it, George,” Harrison Ford once famously said
With so many expectations to live up to, fans were dying from suspense and apprehension about Season 2. Would it be as great as the first season? Or would it become another example of a “disappointing sequel” that all moviedom is vulnerable to? Well, thankfully, the former is correct.
SEASON TWO
Star Wars: Andor Season 2 hit the ball right out of the park, and I am once again dazzled at how adept a storyteller Gilroy is. The series skips ahead a year to 4 BBY (for context, a bit after Ezra joined the Ghost crew), and Cassian Andor is a full-on spy working for the nascent rebellion, led, still, by the mysterious Luthen Rael, and the posh and primp Senator Mon Mothma. Mon is also dealing with another big event on her plate – the betrothal wedding of her 14-year-old daughter. This arrangement was necessary, as Mon owes a galactic banker lots of money for helping to fund their rebellion, and she frequently whispers to Luthen, “I’ll get a number”, showing how desperate and anxiety-ridden she is over this whole situation. She doesn’t want her daughter to marry this other KID, nor does she.
Meanwhile, Cassian’s assignment is to steal a prototype TIE Avenger from a Sienar Testing Facility and bring it back to Luthen for (presumably) analysis so they know what their enemy is capable of. Cassian can get a young human woman to defect against the Empire despite her overwhelming fear, and he poses as a test pilot to get authorized to go near the Avenger and steal it.
TIE THEFT
For those older fans who remember the 1977 depiction of the TIE fighter, you will marvel at how much more advanced the control and targeting systems are on this vehicle. Cassian himself has difficulty flying it and almost doesn’t make it off-world. Diego Luna delivers an excellent performance, helping the audience capture Cassian’s panic and frustration when many things go wrong.
The story is expertly juggled between four frames of reference: Cassian, Mon, Dedra, Syril, and Bix Caleen, Cassian’s childhood friend, who is on the run from the Empire since she was captured and tortured by them only a year earlier. Bix and the other Ferrans have taken refuge on an agricultural world, growing wheat as farmers for the Galactic Empire. It really is so poetic and beautiful that we are seeing a REAL farm in Star Wars, for the first time, and seeing Stormtroopers wade through tall wheat plants is strangely cathartic with its vastly contrasting imagery. I also like how Tony pulled from our current reality, as Bix is an undocumented immigrant to this world, and the Empire cannot find that out, or she will be (likely) removed and perhaps recognized. In America, many know about how illegal immigration is being cracked down on under the current administration.
REALISM
Realism in Star Wars has always been a fickle decision on my part, for Star Wars, though. Is “superior” Star Wars a facsimile of our own life on Earth (just with magic and more advanced technology) or should it be as alien and bizarre to us Earthlings as possible? It’s hard to tell. It depends on who you ask. I lean towards the latter, but I like seeing our world’s parallels in the stories.
I also admire Gilroy’s bravery in tackling something I never thought old Star Wars or Disney would ever dare to touch. Sexual assault. Yes, in a franchise designed primarily for kids, we see in these episodes, the first example of rape (onscreen) in a Star Wars project. Yes, rape has been referenced briefly in some of the more obscure comics and novels in the past, but here we see it front and center, and so eerily reminiscent of the horrible sexual abuse stories we have all heard and loathed in our lifetimes.
IMPERIAL RULE
A creepy Imperial human male (with a pompous British accent) takes a shine to Bix and tries to get her to go out with him. Bix references her husband to have him back off, and he does. Initially, much like modern rape victims, the victims often are familiar with their attacker, and it is clear that this man is not done with Bix. He meets up with her again and reveals he knows she’s illegal. He promises to “overlook” this fact if she does a “favor” for him. Bix violently defends herself from his unwanted sexual advances, and we see a brutal tussle that leaves the Imperial dead. It’s a compelling scene, and I do not recommend it for children under 17.
Its 2025, and I am astounded that we are watching an attempted rape scene in a Star Wars medium. That’s realism for you! It also gets me wondering how rape is dealt with in terms of criminal justice under the Empire. I have a hunch this guy would have gotten off with less than a slap on the wrist, since he is in the Imperial Navy. Disgusting!
GHORMAN POLITICS
As for more realism, the list goes on. The Imperials are looking to crack into the core of the planet Ghorman for its vital metals, and the secret “evil” trustee board watches a holo-commercial devoted to explaining Ghorman’s greatest export. Spiders. The Ghorman spider (creatively named) is bred in “weberries” all around Ghorman and spins Ghorman twill, a prized commodity used to manufacture fabrics for clothes. The holo-ad feels like a TV commercial from the 1950s and is retrofuture Star Wars at its best.
I didn’t touch on this enough, but that weird, Imperial creep “cubefarmer” Syril (from last season) has managed to form a romantic relationship with the ISB agent he was stalking (yes, stalking). They are now living together in an apartment in Coruscant. The apartment is also very Montesanto House of the Future-esque, and Syril’s overbearing and impossible to please mother meets Dedra for the first time. Gilroy based her mannerisms on a stereotypical “overprotective Jewish” mother, and she does not approve of Syril’s choice in a mate, or that he never calls her. I think this is the pinnacle of realism, and it boggles my brain that this woman can exist in the same universe as Vader or Palpatine. She is amusing and reminds me of my second cousin (don’t worry, I am Jewish)
I won’t spoil the surprise fans will get when they see where Cassian ends up. But it was quite a mouth-gawping moment for me as I watched. I never would have suspected such a twist.
VERDICT
This premiere was epic—the right balance of action and intrigue. My only critique was that I wasn’t overly fond of the Chandrilian culture. I feel they are just a human-settled world with no distinction, culturally (in my head), and the language they created for them was a bit much. Yet, this is the most minuscule critique I can offer to this premiere. Also, though. Are there other spider species on Ghorman besides the twill spinning one?
A for realism. A+ OVERALL. I cannot wait until the next three episodes!
The first six episodes from Star Wars: Andor Season 2 are now streaming on Disney+.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
