– Spoiler Review –
It’s all been leading to this, Andor’s season one finale “Episode 12 – Rix Road,” a momentous, memorable, emotional, and riveting encapsulation of everything this season has offered.
I’ve been gushing about Andor, much like everyone else, episode after episode, but I have to start off my review of the season one finale “Episode 12 – Rix Road” with one critique: the events within all seemed inevitable, predictable even, with little surprise. As I mentioned in the opening blurb of this review, I still found it momentous, memorable, emotional, and riveting, but everyone played their parts to the T in a very unavoidable way. As much as this is a critique, I feel like the show addressed this and was built with this inevitability in mind. At one point in the episode, Cassian has Nemik’s rebellious manifesto open, listening to the young revolutionary’s ideas the night before Maarva’s funeral, and in it Nemik essentially says in the end, rebellion is inevitable. All season long, people like Luthen have been manipulating events, with him specifically hoping the Empire will react like you’d expect them to, knowing it can help ignite the spark needed for more to join the fight. Then there’s Dedra, manipulating things to bring justice against Cassian and the mysterious Axis, hoping the rebels will continue to be cowed by the Empire’s might, knowing it can help dampen the spark of the nascent rebellion. As Nemik says, Imperial need for control is desperate because it’s unnatural, tyranny needs constant effort, authority is brittle, and one little spark will eventually be enough to bring it all down. As I said earlier, in a sense Nemik is saying it’s inevitable for powder kegs, like the situation brewing on Ferrix, to ignite. And hasn’t this show been all about getting people to do what’s inevitable, to wake up and fight the good fight, like Cassian? So what I feel is a critique of the episode, a bug, is actually one of its many great features, brilliantly displaying the inevitability of rebellion, of bringing the fight to those who oppress, sending off season one with a display of hope, even if it means many people unfortunately don’t live to see it. The hope is for those who do make it, to keep on persevering, that they aren’t alone in their struggles and even the littlest of fights can slowly chip away at authority until it falls apart.
All season long, Andor’s been excellent at the slow build, culminating in something memorable and explosive, literally or figuratively, and the season finale is the riveting apogee of this pedigree. From the opening theme by Nicholas Britell, which reminded me of a college marching band waking up, warming up their instruments before the big show, all the way to the actual Ferrix band drumming and playing its way through the streets to Rix Road for the funeral, the Andor season one finale feels like it’s put you on a roller coaster, working its way to the top before it all comes crashing down with that inescapable feeling attached the whole way. “Episode 12 – Rix Road” is tense throughout, various threads all building to the big funeral, and when the dam breaks, and the spark is ignited, its tangible watching from home, all the pressure, all the tension built up released in a cathartic, yet haphazard way. It’s not pretty when the people of Ferrix take it to the Empire, the unarmed citizens only able to have any advantage due to the smoke and confusion from the bombing, but it means so much to the larger galaxy and pivotal players in the rebellion its sacrifices won’t be forgotten.
As was inevitable (I’m going to be using that a lot, aren’t I?), Cassian makes his way home to Ferrix, first visiting Clem Andor’s brick, bringing with it a nice little flashback of a memory between the two. Then he comes for Bix, only to learn she’s been taken by the Empire, eventually meeting with Brasso next for an emotional sewer chat. Having snuck away from the watchful eye of the ISB, showing how much the town really knows about the Empire’s attempts to live amongst them, Brasso finds a Cassian in full regret mode, going over and over again his last conversation with Maarva. The great man that he is, Brasso remembered everything Maarva told him to tell Cassian, her words through him exactly what he needs to hear in this moment. Not only are her words about absolving him of any perceived guilt for her death, but in a smaller scale to her later amazing speech, she ignites the final spark inside him by telling him when everything he knows and feels combine, he’ll be an unstoppable force for good. Cassian came here to honor her, and as the situation became clear with Bix, to help his friends out, but in the sewer you can see the indecision in Diego Luna’s eyes, his face, unsure what he really wants to do and how to direct the fire inside, but her words of hope in his future push him to make a decision. I’ve talked about other actors a bit more than Luna in my reviews, but the moment Cassian decides his path, commits, knows what he’ll do, what could happen, transforms Luna’s face to something closer to the focused and efficient Cassian we know from Rogue One. Brasso’s final words from Maarva feel a little like they are from him too, talking about how she loves him no matter what he’s ever done, and the wonderful friendship moment between them comes to a close when the coast is clear for both of them to flee back to what they plan on doing next. I hope we’ll get more of Cassian and Brasso in season two, their friendship has been a small, yet powerful connection that’s told us as much about Ferrix as it has Cassian.
Speaking of Ferrix, all the work early in the season to let us live and breathe in the city, its people, and experience their way of life pays off in dividends in the finale. I can’t really think of another time in Star Wars were I’ve felt not only so connected to a planet or city, and its people, but also it felt so real, so lived-in, not just a beautiful, unique location in the galaxy but a city you or me watching from home could understand and yet feel is so different from ours. Heck, we’ve been to Tatooine so many times and I don’t feel its presence in the galaxy like I do Ferrix, as The Book of Boba Fett’s attempts at exploring the city were more for plot than setting (though Legends’ Kenobi novel was the one time I felt like I understood the planet just a little more, could connect with it and its people’s way of life). As Dedra and her underlings discuss what they plan to do with the funeral, how it’s all set up in a way to capture Cassian alive and show their might, their power, I felt anger and contempt, and just how much like a virus they were to the city, stormtroopers on the rooftops, patrols cutting through the usual traffic. And as the city came to the funeral, drawn by the marching band to the procession, I could feel the buzz in the air around them, that they all knew, going to Rix Road, partaking in the funeral against the Empire’s orders, could end up being so much more. And then it all comes to Maarva’s beautiful, moving speech, which starts off morbid yet hopeful, her discussion on the Ferrix way of putting their loved ones into the bricks around them broadening our understanding of the town and its people, informing us what we already knew when they rallied to alert one another in Episode 3: they won’t let the Empire move in on their city without a fight.
But the fight doesn’t come until Maarva’s speech, which builds off the discussion of the funerary stones and talks about how she wanted to be inspired all her life, lifted as she was by the stones but never sure she was doing the past and those before her justice, and now that she’s dead, she has regrets. We saw her trying to fight in little ways after Cassian left, but whatever sickness took her, it prevented her from fulfilling her goals. But she saw her passing not as something to mourn or to regret, but as an opportunity. She tells them all that they’ve had one another to comfort themselves as the Empire started coming around, worming its way into their lives, but now it wants to stay, and they let it by looking the other way, thinking putting their heads down and ignoring it, it would ignore them in turn. But she knows that’s not how this works, that they are here to stay now, that oppression will only get worse if we look away, if we continue sleeping, so she tells them in her parting words, acknowledging it could be too late, but regardless she’d wake up earlier to the truth and fight, fight from the beginning and never let up so that others could go on, be free. Fiona Shaw’s delivery, and the speech’s unfortunately prescient message, left me in tears that morning, and even typing about it now has done it again, and you can see how its affecting everyone listening, be it their resolve growing or their fear they haven’t done enough, that they’ve been asleep like she tells them, washing over them. If we hadn’t come to understand their love for their city and their reliance on one another, their community, this moment might not have hit as hard, but thankfully it does, as it also reverberates across the many other characters of the season there, listening.
For the people of Ferrix, after the Imperial lieutenant rushes in to tip over B2EMO and stop the message, it’s a call to stand up and fight. To no longer turn a blind eye or hide in sewers, but bring the fight to the Empire, to take back their freedom and extricate them from their home. They crash against the Empire’s riot troopers, banging against their shields, throwing rocks and whatnot, with Brasso even using Maarva as a literal weapon, smashing up some Imps with the funerary stone at one point, but Paak’s son has been busy, fermenting his anger over what they did to his father, building a bomb to unleash against them. The explosion rocks the city, setting off an unexpected secondary amount of explosives, and the silence that follows is deafening, until both sides erupt in a brutal fight the mostly unarmed residents of Ferrix will have trouble winning but don’t care if it means living up to Maarva’s example. As I said, this episode builds so much tension and at such a great pace to this moment, the explosion felt more like a metaphor than literal, as it was the last thing to push both sides over the edge. All pretenses for finding Cassian and finding him alive are thrown out the window, showing the Empire’s desperation like Nemik talked about, as it had such a good chance to capture Cassian and get to Axis, stop this rebellion in its tracks, but it couldn’t care to take it, it was so eager to hold onto its crumbling authority. In fact, Cassian was literally in their base, rescuing a reluctant at first Bix, still broken by the torture but buoyed by Maarva’s speech, hopefully able to mend in the time to come. And while the speech might not affect Cassian much, we see him infiltrating the base and not really paying attention to it, he doesn’t need it since her words, via Brasso, were more than enough.
For Luthen, Vel, and Cinta, the resulting fight on Ferrix means something different. For Vel, it’s that this mission, this attempt to close the loose end that is Cassian, is over and her and Cinta can leave. When we first see Vel this episode, she’s come to Cinta’s little home to see her girlfriend, but she’s still too wrapped up in the mission she’s almost dismissive of Vel. But she stands her ground, the want radiating off of her, and when Vel asks, demands even, Cinta step back from the window, to enjoy what they have regardless of the mission, it’s clear Cinta knows she’s not been receptive as much as Vel as, who gave the other woman space like she asked. Cinta gets wrapped up in the procession, to be in position if Cassian comes during it, so when the explosion goes off, Vel heads into the fray to both look for Cassian and for Cinta, a haunting visual that shows off her commitment and love as she charges right into the heavy smoke. Cinta makes it out and kills the ISB plant amongst the crowd, erasing the loose end that could’ve tied them to the group, proving she’s one deadly ass lady. When it’s clear the situation is out of control and there will be no way to find Cassian now, they pack up to flee and accept their losses.
Luthen, who arrived on Ferrix the night before and snuck into the city during the morning, is ready to take care of Cassian himself if he has to, but as he watches the scene unfold, hearing Maarva’s message, the usually dour man seems to have a smile on his face. Maarva’s speech and the resulting fight on Rix Road are everything he’s been working for, everything he gave up, well, everything for, to see the spark ignite and begin the crumbling of the Empire. Whereas Maarva won’t see the sun rise on her dreams, Luthen does, getting a taste of what he’ll be denied in the end, and it gives him a measure of peace about the fight still ahead. As he flees Ferrix, he finds he’s not alone on his ship, as Cassian is there waiting for him. Cassian presents him a choice: kill him or take him in. Cassian, who could’ve cared less and just wanted the money Luthen promised him, is now eager to join the fight otherwise what else would he have to live for, how else to honor Maarva? Luthen’s smile increases again, and while the episode ends without his answer, we all obviously know what choice he makes. How their partnership will continue to work as the rebellion solidifies and joins together will be interesting to watch, as Luthen’s eventually taken out of the equation, but how, why, and when remain a mystery. Will Cassian be the one to take him out on the orders from Mon or someone else? I can’t wait to see where this all goes next in season two, which will build directly into Rogue One.
Elsewhere, Syril has made his way to Ferrix alongside Linus, the two watching the parade while Linus slowly realizes Syril is here more for Dedra than Cassian. Despite his stalkerish ways, once Syril sees Dedra knocked down in the fight with the locals, where they eventually pick her up and start carrying her away, he sneaks into the crowd and takes her away from them. She almost decks him in the process until she realizes who it is, Maarva’s speech and his problematic mindset giving him a roguish, heroic grin as he holds her close as she calms down from her near-death experience. These two have been on a collision course like this for a while, and while they certainly don’t kiss because he’s been a stalker, a man who believes he’s owed certain things if he feels any attraction, regardless of what the other thinks, but despite that she at least seems open to their connection now. Dedra’s been in control for so long, clawing her way to the top, she’s so sure of their operation, of the righteousness of her cause, she grows increasingly frustrated as Cassian slips from her grasps and the men under her authority get away with themselves in the fight with the people of Ferrix. She’s already frustrated that all of Anto Kreegyr’s men are dead, which Partagaz says is a blessing since it means the Emperor doesn’t have his ire towards the ISB, so she ends up joining in the fight on Ferrix but soon finds herself in the people’s hands. That’s when Syril steps in to save her, the experience rattling her, showing her how those without power feel, and she almost can’t take the shock of it. How this partnership evolves and what this experience means for her going forward in season two will be of great interest to watch.
Before we discuss the post-credits scene (yes, of course it has one. No, it is actually worthwhile to the story!), we can’t forget to talk about Mon Mothma and family as well! Her part opens with her in their car, outside some party, waiting on Perrin, and the two get into a fight in the car. She’s on him about gambling, insinuating he’s stolen from her accounts, and he’s denying it all, of course. While Mon asked their driver, who she knows is ISB, to give them privacy, he listens in regardless…and Mon wanted him to. While Perrin hasn’t been trustworthy, per Mon earlier in the season, she seems to have brought him into her confidence, as it almost feels like he was expecting the fight as well, his denial a little too lazy and without as much annoyance as his earlier scenes in the season, though I don’t imagine she told him much more than he needed to know. Their little ruse, even if it wasn’t one and she brought the accusation up knowing it could help, seems to work, as their driver reports to Blevin what he hears and Blevin accepts the possibility of her missing money being linked to Perrin’s proclivities. It would then make sense for her to reach out to Davo and secure a loan, which is what happens next, as we see Perrin and Mon escort Leida towards Davo, his wife Runai, and his son Stekan. Genevieve O’Reilly wears Mon’s disappointment with these events on her sleeves, gathering her resolve as she knows it’ll help the future of their movement, while Leida looks excited about the development, as hinted at she would last episode. Mon has given up her family life to help further the rebellion from her position and how that choice will affect her and her story into season two is the top of my excitement list!
One of the lingering questions from the season is answered in a fitting post-credits scene: what were the prisoners making?! Turns out it was little parts to help build the concave dish of the Death Star’s firing laser! While the Death Star seemed like an obvious answer, considering the events of Rogue One, the more I think about this reveal, the more tragic layers it has to it. In the film’s first reveal of the Death Star, we see the giant dish being put into place, so it’s fitting we see it in the process of being constructed, both as a ticking clock to remind us where this all leads but also to close end the show with the film. But the importance of this scene doesn’t end there, as it builds in even more tragedy to Cassian’s story, as once again his actions have unintended consequences, in this case helping to build the very weapon of his demise. To think he helped build it, yet the process of doing so helped radicalize him, thus one day leading to him embarking on a mission to find how to blow it up, is the ultimate display of irony and everything the Empire does wrong. They think all this control will bring them power, but it only serves to build them the very thing they’re fighting. In a world where post-credit scenes are the norm, an expected after a Marvel movie or even after a Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian’s felt more like the Marvel way, this was actually instructive to the story and the characters, adding even more dimension rather than diverting our focus.
Here are a few other things:
- Curious about any news regarding season two? Since it just entered production this month, we won’t be seeing it until probably 2024, while creator Tony Gilroy revealed some tidbits to Collider (spread across a few articles but all the info I’m about to tell you is in this link): first, the second season will pick up a year after the events of the show, which says a lot considering each 3 episodes will encompass a year in the story leading up to Rogue One; and second, that anyone worried about K-2SO finally appearing, they believe it’s their responsibility to bring him in so worry no more!
- I’m glad Bix was rescued and I hope she can recover, being an important part of the show again for season two. And just because we haven’t seen her in the films, or Brasso for that matter, doesn’t mean they can’t live.
Andor’s season one finale “Episode 12 – Rix Road” might feel predictable, but it’s all part of the carefully crafted narrative cultivated across the season, bringing us a cathartic culmination of all its themes and character journeys in a finale that only solidifies its place amongst the greats.
+ Maarva’s riveting speech
+ Explosive moment feels earned, worth it, and inspiring
+ So many interesting threads for season two to continue
+ Even post-credits scene has deeper meaning
+Inevitablility of everything, which maybe is the point…
– …though still a tad too predictable
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
ANDOR SERIES REVIEWS:
Season One Premiere “Episodes 1-3” | Ep. 4 “Aldhani” | Ep. 5 “The Axe Forgets” | Ep. 6 “The Eye” | Ep. 7 “Announcement” | Ep. 8 “Narkina 5” | Ep. 9 “Nobody’s Listening!” | Ep. 10 “One Way Out” | Ep. 11 “Daughter of Ferrix”