– Spoiler Review –
Andor’s “Episode 11 – Daughter of Ferrix” does what any good penultimate episode should, weaving together the show’s various threads and setting them on a collision course, all while moving characters and their emotional journeys forward for the finale next week.
As ISB Inspector Dedra Meero’s net tightens on Luthen Rael and his plans, the catalyst which looks to bring it all to an explosive powder keg is a surprising and unfortunate death: Maarva Andor. While I wish she hadn’t passed off-screen, and part of me hopes it’s all some elaborate ruse on Maarva’s part in her newfound rebellious efforts (it does feel staged not just for us so we don’t see her, but for those watching her home don’t see the whole story too), her death sets into motion more than she ever could’ve known. At the smallest, most intimate level, it brings mourning to her friends and the town around her, but most importantly it effects B2-EMO.* A lot of the episode set on Ferrix deals with the little droid’s emotional response to her death, unwilling to believe it and unwilling to accept it, while the Daughters of Ferrix help clean up her house and prepare her for the funeral. Brasso has already been a character many fans have fallen for, as the kindly, we and Cassian totally don’t deserve him friend, and solidifies the image as he talks gently with Bee and later gives into the droid, staying at Maarva’s place one more night before taking him to his place. I love how the show gives Bee a chance to shine through these moments, dealing with his emotional journey the same as the human characters, which reminds us how much they care for their own, as it’s not just Brasso who’s concerned about Bee and his well-being, and this empathy and community mourning certainly won’t enjoy the Empire encroaching on their grieving process. The Empire has already publicly taken Paak and Bix from them, the latter of which we see broken, cowed by the torture, though still defiant to some degree, as when she’s shown a picture of Anto Kreegyr, she can’t even bring herself to say it’s not the “Axis” the Empire is looking for. The empathy for those already taken and those freshly lost is truly a spark which will ignite a fire, of that we can be sure, but how the Empire pushes them over the edge remains for the finale.
Beyond the community of Ferrix, Maarva’s death finds its way to Syril Karn. In the middle of the night, ex-sergeant Linus calls the Karn household, and through an unnecessarily long reveal of the information, which brought some laughs like the Karn storyline has been known to do so far, Syril knows what her death might mean. His mother might believe it’s the end of his side quest, but he’s almost giddy at the opportunity, believing it means Cassian will be there and he can finally prove himself to Dedra. Instead of heading into work, he leaves but waits for Eedy to leave, sneaking back into the home and taking her credits so he can buy passage off world and back to Ferrix. Even if the Empire’s presence will be enough to tick off the people of Ferrix while their wounds are still open, having Karn there with his fervent, blind desire to bring Cassian to justice will only serve to bring further strife to the situation. Dedra wants the funeral to proceed, to box them in and show off the Empire’s might, but she doesn’t realize she’s actually stuffing powder in the keg, not throwing water on it like her fear-first tactics usually do. In fact, it seems she’s too confident thanks to her recent successes, proving Luthen’s point later in the episode, as the man she left in charge of Ferrix’s day-to-day is against allowing the citizens to gather for the funeral and she overrides it, hoping to use it to draw out Cassian but it’s going to be far more than she bargained for.
Speaking of Cassian, when the episode picks back up with him and Melshi, they still haven’t escaped the planet, supporting one another in the struggle to keep fighting, to keep going, even though no escape seems in sight. Through luck they stumble upon two Narkinians (I have the episode’s subtitles to thank for that), Dewi and Freedi Pamular (and the credits for how to spell those), and their quadjumper, like the one Rey and Finn were racing to take before deciding the garbage would do. They seem unconnected to the Empire and only worried about the fishing they are doing, and since they appear large and blundering, Melshi and Cassian decide to try and take their ship. Melshi rushes in, however, and the two get captured by weird, wet, sticky nets the Narkinians have guarding their ship. The conversation was a little weird and hard to follow, but funny in its own way, like something out of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the Narkinians sort of looked like the Vogons, too!), as they seem to blame the Empire and its prisons for poisoning their water, which Cassian and Melshi do their best to convince the pair they are the prisoners, not the Empire itself. Largely in a conversation between themselves, one half we don’t understand, the brothers (that I’m guessing on) decide to let them go and take them off-planet. Cassian decides on Niamos, where he sneaks back into his old room and thankfully his stuff is still there (the camera work here almost suggests he entertained the alien on the bed to get in but by the time he leaves it’s clear this isn’t the case). With his stuff intact, his new anger and purpose after the prison, his natural next step is to contact Ferrix to get a message to Maarva. Connecting with the transport business owner Xan, Cassian seems confident, elated even, the message he wants conveyed to Maarva is she would be proud, after all, the last time they spoke her rebellious bones had awoken and he was still running, so knowing he’d freed a whole prison would certainly bring warmth to her soul. We already know the terrible truth however, something Xan tries to tell Cassian though he keeps cutting him off, but once he’s able to tell him, the camera switches to Cassian, Diego Luna barely holding back the true pain this is causing Cassian to feel, at the anger boiling up at the Empire from what it took from him, his chance to see his mother one last time before she died. Melshi is nearby and he’s got himself under control, not telling him what he’s heard, but it sort of works out, as Melshi wants to split up and start telling the galaxy what happened to them, what the Empire is really doing with their prisons. Cassian wants more people to know too, but dealing with Maarva’s death, going back to see her funeral, obviously looks to pull him back to Ferrix, so the two part ways for now. The episode ends on Cassian looking out at Niamos’ sea, a sunset blocked by clouds yet still looks gorgeous, Nicholas Britell’s score swelling to an emotional end of the episode, Luna providing resolve and focus on Cassian’s face as the episode fades to credits.
While “Episode 11 – Daughter of Ferrix” ends there, our review doesn’t! See, Maarva’s death still has ripples throughout the galaxy, which is what brings Vel to Luthen’s shop, but since he’s away she has to deal with an annoyed Kleya. She has news from Cinta of Maarva’s passing, the former now working at the shop she and Vel sat at a few episodes ago, always watching Maarva’s place, trying now to blend in rather than be a visitor staying at the local hotel. Vel wants to tell Luthen, but Kleya insists otherwise. In Vel’s confrontation with Kleya, who is even stricter than Luthen with their rules, she has her own little monologue like Luthen’s last episode, answering Vel’s challenge on what she’s done lately by telling her of all the spinning plates and desperate faces she deals, which helps put things in perspective for Vel. Before she leaves, Vel tells Kleya about Maarva and how she’s going there, potentially to carry out the mission, potentially to bring Cinta back if he doesn’t show, basically hinting they won’t waste anymore time on this loose end after this. When Kleya is able to reach Luthen, they engage in some coded double speak about his mission and her news, though I wasn’t completely sure what exactly they were talking about as it was either about Bix/Ferrix/Cassian or potentially felt like a reference to Mon, but I’m assuming Ferrix considering Kleya’s verbiage about how much heat was on the “item.”
It’s a good thing Luthen and Kleya so easily slip into their coded conversations, as he finds himself in the Imperial sights in the middle of their talk. So where is he that he’s dealing with Imperials?! Turns out Luthen’s out visiting Saw Gerrera again who, fickle as he can be, is in the middle of prepping his group to join Anto Kreegyr on the mission to Spellhausen, the exact opposite of how he felt about the job when Luthen told him about it. Luthen’s not terribly surprised but seeing the fever in Saw’s eyes, how he wants to complete the mission, stick it to the Empire, and get all the parts he was promised from Luthen out of it, he decides to reveal he knows the ISB knows about the mission. For someone as untrusting and suspicious as Saw, this sets off far too many red flags, paranoia seeping in, wondering if Luthen is ISB or has spies in his group. Luthen wants Saw to know how much value he has, revealing he’s sacrificing Anto and telling Saw about it, but he knows the man needs to have the power in the situation, which he has little as the paranoia takes over. So Luthen does something funny, yet drastic, saying it’s Two Tubes who is his spy, which allows him to take the alien’s gun and train it on Saw, focusing the man on the decision at hand with this information: does Saw tell Anto, just to save a few men and burn Luthen’s ISB contact, or does he let them go through with the mission so the ISB feels invincible and their source secured? Of the two, Saw can burn Luthen the most, so yes he values him due to his strength and convictions, but he also knows how much damage he can do if caught, so he’s taking a big leap to get Saw even more convinced to work with him and his plans in the future. Saw ends up deciding to let Anto go, first claiming it’s for the greater good, and after Luthen says he doesn’t care how he rectifies it, saying it’s for war, showing Luthen’s gamble worked and the man is even more willing to work with him in the future.
We’ve seen Luthen be shrewd in the way he manipulates people, and get in on the action early on, but now we see the full power of what his efforts have honed him into. In space over their meeting place, Luthen’s stopped by a regular sector patrol and he knows far too easily they don’t care if his fake ID will check out, they are going to board him and he doesn’t want any physical evidence of him anywhere with the Imperials. They start to tractor beam him in and he delays them just Poe Dameron in The Last Jedi, just waiting for his secret weapons to charge…and holy hell does he have one cool-ass ship! When ready, the ship shoots little missiles or debris like items at the ship, taking down the tractor beam, and then he begins to blast through the TIEs, who can’t even touch him, then he reveals the awesome as hell laser weapons on the side (forget double-bladed Maul…Luthen raises you the lightsaber ship!), taking out the remaining ships before he jumps to hyperspace. Luthen’s ruthlessness isn’t just with how he burns and uses assets, it’s in his every move, the quick, precise, and clean victory only fitting for a man who has given everything already. Top-tier space action mixed with character beats, I love it.
Lastly, but certainly not least, Vel goes to visit Mon again, though last week’s conversation with the loan shark Davo and what she’s chosen to do remain a mystery until the end of their scene. When Vel arrives, Mon’s having trouble keeping her emotions in check, watching a bit in anger, but also sadness as Leida is in a session with someone called the Elder, who is showing her and other girls her age the “old ways” of Chandrila. Vel seems as angry as Mon, who’s far more angry than we initially realize but the episode begins to make clear, but Mon claims Leida likes it due to the friends she has and the comfort she finds in it. As Mon tells Vel everything that’s going on with her accounts, the mention of Aldhani causing Vel pain since she knows this is partly her fault, she reveals she’s found a way to make it work due to Tay’s connections. A lot of this comes from Genevieve O’Reilly’s stellar acting, but it seems clear to me Mon has accepted Davo’s proposal, the sadness and anger not due to Leida choosing the cult-like vibes of the old ways, but rather over her own hand in it and how she’s willing to let it happen because it secures her from persecution and saves their early rebellion efforts. They’ve been distant for some time now, long before the season started, but Mon’s been able to fool herself she doesn’t mind and it’s not that big of a deal, it’s a small price to pay because she’s out doing good for the galaxy, but now with Leida finding comfort elsewhere, giving her mother distant, disconnected looks as well, Mon can’t lie anymore that her efforts are what’s drove a wedge between them. I imagine Mon thought keeping the truth from them would lead to a moment revealing the work she’s done to help her family and the people of the galaxy, but because Leida wanted a mother now, not later, she’s let her slip by for the greater good. And in a way, Leida connecting with the old ways means she’ll be fine with a meeting with Davo’s son, which would secure Mon the money she needs to avoid scrutiny, and the fact she’d rather that happen then stop her is likely what’s tearing Mon up inside. And she can only hope it’ll be worth it, their efforts will bear fruit, to make such a cost. It’s also interesting how Leida’s descent into a conservative movement is played, showing how its ways are something oppressive regimes like to foster, this adherence to a higher power, chomping down on free thinking, so it’s even sadder for Mon to see her daughter become what she’s fighting, while also painting the troubles conservative mindsets can bring to democracy. My parting thought on Leida is that she’s overhearing everything so far, hence her suddenly showing up when Tay and Mon have been chatting at parties, and maybe she overheard Davo and is doing this for her mother, even if it’s mainly for her own comfort and the friends she’s making, but if this happens to be true, I feel like we won’t find out until the finale or next season.
Here are a few other things:
- *In case you missed it, I went as B2-EMO for a Halloween party this year! Needless to say, I was far happier than he was this episode…
- Next week is the finale, but just be careful, as spoilers are already out there as some people who get screeners have no morals.
“Episode 11 – Daughter of Ferrix” minds one death rippling through the galaxy, setting the stage for a big clash as Cassian comes back to town and Dedra’s net tightens, all while Luthen and Mon face what their scheming has wrought.
+ B2-EMO needs support too!
+ Luthen convincing Saw, going off on the Empire later
+ Diego Luna bringing all the emotions as he learns of Maarva’s passing
+ Mon dealing with her choices
+ Setting us up for the finale
– Wish Maarva didn’t die off-screen (but maybe, hopefully…she didn’t!)
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”