Tony Gilroy and his team of artists have delivered 10 episodes of “Andor,” and every single one of these episodes has been as good as or better than their predecessor. It did seem like the show had reached its peak in “Andor” Episode 6 with the culmination of the Aldhani heist. There was some trepidation (on my end only because I’ve been burned way too many times by “Star Wars”) about what they’re going to do for six more episodes. And suddenly, Cassian’s narrative turned into a prison break story, where he had to use his convincing powers to motivate a floor full of prisoners to stage a mutiny. In Coruscant, Dedra Meero found herself overseeing Ferrix and planting a trap for Anton Kreegyr to prevent his assault on Spellhaus. Elsewhere on that planet, Mon Mothma was grappling with the notion of asking Davo Sculdun for funds, while Luthen Rael was going around looking for more rebels to join his fight against the Empire.
Spoilers Ahead
Davo Sculdun Comes Up With A Preposterous Proposition For Mon Mothma
Since the proverbial cat is out of the bag, Cassian tells Kino that it’s important for the others to know that they aren’t going anywhere. Their sentences are fake. And all of them are going to die there of torture or old age if they don’t stand up for themselves and take over the facility. Since Kino is so programmed to follow orders and do as he’s told, he refuses to think that escape is a possibility. It’s only when Cassian says that he’d rather die trying to take the guards down than work endless shifts to give them what they want that his eyes open up a bit. He realizes that he’s a dead man either way. But it’s better to die knowing that he tried to do the right thing instead of doing nothing, especially after finding out that there’s no end to his sentence and no reward for his diligence to the Empire. That’s why Kino lets the entire floor know that the following day is going to be their last shift. When the new man comes in to replace the deceased Ulaf, everyone’s going to do something to overpower the guards.
Dedra finds out that Kreegyr has taken the bait about the Rebel pilot whose ship has “malfunctioned.” Major Partagaz says that they should wait and watch Kreegyr (or someone from his team) get to the ship and then capture the concerned party. Supervisor Lonni Jung offers an alternative solution. He says that if Kreegyr is, in fact, watching what the ISB is doing to this Rebel pilot, the ISB should follow their usual protocol and “inspect” the ship. If they don’t, that might make Kreegyr suspicious, and he might realize that it’s a trap and then cut and run. Partagaz agrees that that’s the right thing to do, and it seems like Dedra goes ahead to carry out this operation. But instead of following Dedra, surprisingly, the camera hangs back to focus on Lonni, thereby setting up his eventual reveal. On Narkina Five, Kino hypes everyone for their final day as prisoners. On Ferrix, we find out that Maarva isn’t doing very well. And then we return to Coruscant to bear witness to a puke-inducing conversation between Mon Mothma and Davo Sculdun.
Of course, the conversation doesn’t begin on a disgusting note. Mon, Davo, and Tay exchange formalities. They talk about being direct and whatnot. But then Davo brings up Perrin and vaguely mentions how many cultures don’t fully appreciate the clarity of the Chandrilan marriage. It seems random because Davo then veers into the topic of Mon’s charity and says that it won’t be an issue for Mon to move the funds from her account to her foundation without raising any alarms. To avoid staying in Davo’s favor, Mon asks what he wants in exchange. And Davo says that he doesn’t need money but a return invitation to Coruscant and an introduction to Leida. Yes, Davo wants Mon’s 13-year-old daughter to enter a diplomatic marriage with his 14-year-old son. Mon rubbishes the notion and promptly tells Tay to show him out. Now, diplomatic marriages might have been popular until the 18th century, but child marriages are still happening in India, as you read this sentence. Even though the numbers have decreased, millions of girls are still at risk of getting married before they even reach adolescence in the name of culture and tradition. And the custom’s existence amongst the Chandrilans shows how backward they are despite having so much money and technology at their disposal.
Kino And Cassian Make Their Way To The Control Room
Kleya informs Luthen that she has come across a request for a meeting with their secret informer. While Luthen decides to go for it, Kleya warns that it can be a trap. Luthen retorts that if it’s indeed a trap, then they’ve already lost. I just love Luthen’s nihilism. After the Aldhani attack, he’s either ready to go on the offensive or die. There is no in-between. He doesn’t want to do anything half-heartedly. He’s so committed to the cause that he doesn’t care about himself or, as we are going to find out later, anyone else as well. Talking about going broke for one’s cause, Cassian, Kino, and the rest prepare for the arrival of the new prisoner. Everyone’s at varying levels of nervousness because they are so broken by oppression. But when they see Cassian jamming the elevator, they spring into action and start attacking the guards (who start shooting at them). Cassian’s plan to flood the floor and cause a short circuit works out, albeit with a few casualties, thereby taking away the one thing that the guards can use on the prisoners: electric floors.
Cassian’s group breaks up into various teams, and they go to each floor to liberate the prisoners and tell them to proceed to the escape point. Meanwhile, Kino and Cassian approach the control room and hold the guards hostage. The duo forces them to shut down the main power to the building so that it switches to the backup power and renders the electric floors on every level useless. There’s a pretty great moment here when Kino and Cassian order the guards to do what they want them to do. The guards feign ignorance. For example, when Kino says, “Turn it off,” the guard says, “That could mean so many things.” Or when Cassian says, “cut the power,” another guard starts to explain what that means instead of coming to the point, which is that he doesn’t have the authority to do that. In real life, government employees or those working in HR at a private corporation have this habit of using loopholes to not answer a question directly. They even structure their manuals & protocols in this loopy fashion so that they can waste the most amount of time and confuse the person confronting them. It’s a very small detail in a show like “Andor”, but it’s rooted in reality.
Anyway, after taking over the control room, Cassian urges Kino to address all the prisoners and tell them to do the needful. And Kino fails to come up with the right words. Cassian tells him that he has done this sort of thing multiple times for the fascist regime. Now, he’s getting to do it for the oppressed. So, it shouldn’t be a problem for him, especially when he doesn’t have the pressure of a guard breathing down his neck. After some hesitation, Kino goes into “Caesar” mode (not the Roman general, but the leader of the apes played by Andy Serkis in the “Planet of the Apes” movies) and orders everyone to rise to the occasion. He reiterates Cassian’s line about dying while trying to take down the fascists instead of giving them exactly what they want. I won’t lie, but this brought me to tears. Diego Luna’s performance is excellent. There’s no doubt about that. But Andy Serkis absolutely kills it in this whole scene. There’s so much melancholy, anger, hope, and power in every single inch of his face that it seems like close-ups and extreme close-ups were invented for this scene.
‘Andor’ Episode 10: Ending Explained – Who Accompanies Cassian After Escaping From Narkina Five?
The most heartbreaking revelation of the Narkina Five escape is that Kino can’t swim. FYI, the buildings are completely surrounded by water, and the escapees have to swim to the nearest piece of land. As the oncoming horde of men pushes Cassian into the ocean, we don’t get to see if Kino makes the jump or not. If he did jump in, we could only hope that one of the other prisoners helped him swim. If he didn’t jump in, does that mean he’s going to stay in Narkina Five and maybe take control of it? I am sure that the few guards that are there are going to be no match for him. Now, that brings us back to that theory: is Kino Loy actually Snoke or the first iteration of Snoke? He is a natural-born leader. He has a craving for power. So, it’s not a stretch to assume that someone from the Sith can bring him over to their side and create the base for Snoke. Yes, I’m still saying that he isn’t Snoke. But his DNA can be in Snoke because casting Serkis as two characters in such an insular franchise is suspicious. Or it can be the empty ramblings of my hyperactive mind, and this is the last that we’re going to see of Kino.
Back in Coruscant, we find out that Supervisor Lonni is a Rebel spy working for the ISB as he meets Luthen and tells him about the trap that’s being set for Anton. Lonny wants Luthen to let Anton know about this so that his men can be saved from an incoming Empire assault. But Luthen says that if he prevents Anton from doing his thing, the ISB is going to figure out that there’s a leak in their department. They’ll conduct an internal investigation and find out that Lonni is the mole, thereby jeopardizing their whole operation. That’s when Lonni speaks his truth by revealing that he can’t do this anymore because he’s a father now. Luthen gives him a much-needed reality check. He tells Lonni that he has nowhere to go. I don’t think the Empire has a retirement plan. No fascist organizations do, because they don’t know who is going to leak what they are actually doing. The Rebels don’t have a retirement plan either, especially for Lonni, because he’s in too deep. The time it has taken for him to rise through the ranks cannot be redone. So, he needs to stay there for as long as he can (read: forever) and keep feeding information to Luthen.
Lonni insinuates that Luthen is the only person who doesn’t sacrifice anything while he keeps forcing everyone else to give up everything. That prompts Luthen to go on a full-on rant about how he has given up on calm, kindness, kinship, love, inner peace (describing his mind as a sunless space is relatable as hell), and, well, everything. And as he says that he needs Lonni to stay on the mission because he needs all the heroes he can get, we see that Cassian and Melshi have made it to the shore. Now, throughout episode 10 of “Andor,” director Toby Haynes constantly keeps Melshi in focus, following what he does, the glances he exchanges with Cassian, and shows us if he made it out alive. That’s because he’s one of the characters who becomes a good friend of Cassian’s. He is the one who rescues Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, the chief engineer in charge of the Death Star, from Wobani. He takes part in the battle of Scarif and dies there. So, since we have seen the genesis and the end of Cassian and Melshi’s friendship, I’m guessing future seasons of “Andor” are going to show how their bond grows and what kind of rebellious missions they partake in.
