In episodes 7 and 8 of Andor Season 2, Cassian went back to Ghorman with the intention of killing Dedra, only to find himself in the middle of a state-sponsored massacre of the citizens of Palmo. This plan, which was largely being carried out by the despicable Captain Kaido, came as news to both Dedra and Syril. Given how Syril wasn’t aware that the Empire intended to destroy Ghorman all along to mine the Kalkite in the planet’s soil, since Dedra didn’t share that information with him, he broke up with her and waded into the crowd that was being slaughtered. There, he found his arch-nemesis, Cassian, and unknowingly prevented him from shooting at Dedra. Syril almost ended up killing Cassian, but Rylanz, who hated Syril from the bottom of his heart for dooming the entire planet, shot the double agent in the end, thereby saving Cassian. Episode 9 of Andor Season 2 is, of course, all about the aftermath of this incident and how the Galactic Senate chooses to gobble up the Imperial propaganda instead of standing up for the truth of what happened in Ghorman. So, let’s talk about it.
Spoiler Alert
Mon Decides To Speak Up On Ghorman
Episode 9 of Andor Season 2 opens on a strikingly relevant and ominous note where the senator from Ghorman, Oran, is dragged out of the Senate by stormtroopers while he screams for them to stand up for his planet as his people are being massacred; if they don’t, one day the Empire will come for them, and they’ll watch others do to them what they are doing to him right now. Mon doesn’t protest there and then, but she tells Bail that enough is enough and she needs to address this situation during the upcoming senatorial session. Bail says that even though the Senate and the Empire will do everything in their power to keep Mon from speaking, he’ll make sure that she gets the mic. What happens after that is dicey. Bail tells Mon that he can help her escape Coruscant and reach Yavin, because her leadership is greatly needed there. However, he himself needs to hang back so as to stall the Empire. Yes, he knows that he’ll be scrutinized for giving the floor to Mon, but that’s something that he can handle. What he can’t afford is cutting and running while Alderaan’s fate hangs in the balance. Isn’t it interesting that since Mon’s family has always undermined her, she is free to take some drastic decisions, but since the Organas are a tight-knit unit, Bail can’t do the same, which will end up being one of the reasons for his demise?
Mon Is Being Monitored
Instead of going back to Yavin and taking a breather in Bix’s company, Cassian arrives in Coruscant to help Luthen and Kleya get Mon to safety if she chooses to deliver an anti-Empire speech at the Senate. When Cassian was on Ghorman, his cover was that of a journalist. So, Kleya maintains that ruse so that Cassian can enter the Senate Building while claiming that he covered the Ghorman massacre and he wants to write a follow-up story on it by attending the senatorial discussion on that subject. When Kleya says that Cassian needs to hold on to the fake pass she has made for him to return to Coruscant after delivering Mon to Yavin, Cassian replies that this is his last job. Obviously they get into an argument because Cassian doesn’t seem to understand the fact that fascism doesn’t stop right when he is not in the mood to fight it anymore, and Kleya doesn’t seem to understand that it’s not easy to keep going after witnessing a massacre before one’s own eyes. As soon as they are done bickering on this topic, the focus of the episode shifts to Mon’s office, where Erskin finds a bug. Mon destroys it, and we get a glimpse into the Imperial control room, where various officers are monitoring every single senator out there. Erskine advises Mon to go outside to practice her speech so that the Empire can’t hear her and ban her preemptively.
Luthen Has Some Instructions For Mon
While reading her speech outside her office, Mon is approached by Luthen, who starts things off by dropping a startling piece of information: Erskin works for Luthen, which is obviously better than the revelation that Erskin works for the Empire, because I can’t watch Mon suffer so much. I mean, she anyway feels betrayed that her most trusted confidante was there to keep tabs on her on Luthen’s behalf. I can’t even imagine how she would’ve reacted if she learned that Erskin was an Imperial spy or something. As if that’s not enough, Luthen goes on to reveal that Bail’s team has been corrupted. So, after she is done giving her speech, Luthen wants Mon to go with Cassian instead of Bail’s people. Mon still holds a grudge against Luthen for killing Tay, and just when she has started digesting the information that Erskin isn’t as loyal to her as she thought he was, Luthen is telling her that another one of her friends has been compromised. So, yeah, it’s understandably tough for Mon to just take Luthen’s word at face value. Luthen, realizing that there is no way to fully convince Mon to align with his plan, especially since time is running out, gets straight to the point and tells her that when she is approached by his agent, she needs to ask him if he is alone. If he replies with the phrase “I have friends everywhere” (kind of like Tenet’s “We live in a twilight world, and there are no friends at dusk”), then Mon has to go on the run with him.
Cassian Is Mon’s Only Hope
Instead of going back to her residence, Mon decides to stay at her office, which concerns the Imperial officers spying on her, especially Supervisor Lagret, since they can’t listen to her after she broke the bug in her office, and Kloris (an ISB plant) can’t get to her as well. After walking into her chambers, she notices Erskin still looking for bugs and decides to fire him for lying to her all this while, thereby cutting off Luthen’s access to her too. So, Cassian has to go into the Senate building without knowing for sure whether Mon is going to deliver her anti-Empire speech or not. But that’s not what’s bothering Cassian; he is worried about what’s going to happen to Luthen, Kleya, and Erskin after he extracts Mon and takes her to Yavin. He knows that things are going to get more violent after Mon’s speech, and he doesn’t want Luthen and his people to stay in Coruscant and face the wrath of the Empire. Luthen says that he has made peace with the fact that he is eventually going to die in his fight for freedom, and he advises Cassian to do the same, but Cassian is too jittery and anxious to be optimistic and patriotic. Also, he needs to worry about how he is going to convince Mon to come with him before the Empire shuts everything down or Bail’s corrupted team gets to her first. Well, Cassian takes the first step of the mission by entering the Senate Building. Luckily enough, he finds Erskin, who shows him the way to the floor that Mon is on.
Cassian Conducts A Successful Extraction
As all the senators give their anti-Ghorman speech, Mon awaits her turn, patiently listening to everyone parrot whatever misinformation has been fed to them by the Empire. Finally, Bail relinquishes his right to speak at the Senate and gives the floor to Mon, who basically says that Emperor Palpatine is the embodiment of evil and the entire galaxy needs to reject his nonsense instead of embracing it with open arms. Lagret tries to cut the live feed so that Mon’s words aren’t heard by all, but the man in charge of on-ground communications takes way too much time to get into the control room. By then, Mon’s words have reached those who hate the Empire already, and those who were probably on the fence; those who still support the Empire are a lost cause. After she steps off her podium and starts making her way to the elevator, Cassian lets her know that he has been sent to rescue her by Luthen. Although Mon doesn’t entirely trust Cassian, as soon as he shoots the Imperial spy pretending to be a member of Bail’s extraction team, she sort of realizes that she is in safe hands. When he shoots down Kloris in order to prevent him from capturing Mon in the name of the Empire, Mon is pretty sure that Cassian is ready to do anything to ensure that she reaches Yavin unhurt. Genevieve O’Reilly and Diego Luna are so bloody fantastic throughout this entire sequence that it pains me to even think that we won’t get to see any more of this iteration of these characters.
Cassian Reunites With Wilmon
We briefly see Melshi—the guy who made it out of Narkina 5 with Cassian and died in Rogue One—interacting with Vel on Yavin before the focus shifts back to Coruscant to show us Cassian bringing Mon to the safehouse where Erskin and Kleya are waiting for them. Also present are Wilmon, who is severely injured, and his girlfriend, Dreena. Kleya assures Mon that Luthen is safe and that she won’t be going to Yavin with Cassian. She and Erskin will be joining a group of rebels—if you have seen Star Wars: Rebels, you already know what this means—who’ll help Mon do a follow-up to the speech she has just delivered at the Senate before the feed was cut by the Empire. That’ll help establish the narrative that Mon has officially joined the Rebel Alliance, in case there are any doubts about that fact, thereby lifting the spirits of every “rebel scum” out there. Meanwhile, Cassian is free to go to Yavin with Wilmon and Dreena so that they can get the medical help they need. Upon reaching the base for the Rebel Alliance, the off-screen connection between Andor and Rebels is underscored again, this time by Draven, who specifically says that Cassian’s involvement in Mon’s rescue won’t be mentioned anywhere. For the sake of optics, the Alliance has chosen to bestow the Gold Squadron with that honor. Cassian clearly doesn’t care about “glory”; he just wants Draven to get the KX droid he has salvaged from Ghorman up and running, not in a murder-bot kind of way, but in a friendly way.
Cassian and Bix Part Ways
At the end of Andor Season 2, episode 9, Cassian tells Bix that he is done and that he is not going to go on any more missions. Bix doesn’t argue with Cassian this time, and just listens to him. The following day, Cassian gets Bix’s video message telling him that as long as she is with Cassian, he’ll keep thinking about retiring instead of fighting the Empire. Hence, she has decided (for the both of them) to ship out with a Rebel group on an assignment, in the hopes that it’ll prompt Cassian to focus on the cause. Cassian rushes to the spaceship docking area, but he is too late, and Bix is already gone. Before he can take a moment to digest the notion that he is probably not going to see the love of his life anytime soon—if you have seen Rogue One, you already know that Cassian isn’t meeting Bix ever again, which is just so goddamn heartbreaking—he is called away to take a look at the KX unit that he had brought in from Ghorman. When the droid expert fires it up, we hear Alan Tudyk’s voice greeting us in his signature charming and sarcastic way. I know that this can be categorized as nostalgia-bait, but K-2SO and Cassian have shown up together in just one movie, and that too a movie where Cassian was vaporized. If a TV show is managing to make me feel something by showing the origins of that relationship, I’m perfectly okay with that. Also, like everyone else, I am going to rewatch Rogue One and see Cassian and K-2SO’s bond under a whole new light, which is undoubtedly awesome. Well, those are just my thoughts on the ending of Andor Season 2, episode 9. What are your opinions on the same? Let me know in the comments below.
