'Andor' Season 2 Premiere: Weekend at Mothie's

I’m going to apologize in advance for the incoming comparison that I don’t exactly love, but I needed a spot to plant my feet and start wrangling all my swirling thoughts about the Andor Season 2 premiere. Back when Netflix started flushing money down the drain to adapt The Witcher, the streamer was not subtle about the golden apple that every platform was reaching for: The next Game of Thrones. Obviously, that didn’t work out. In fact, the only thing that came close to hitting that target was … more Game of Thrones.

Disney+, on the other hand, was not chasing that dragon. It was churning out Marvel and Star Wars product as fast as it could, and I’m not going to waste precious time rehashing how all of that backfired. However, in that pursuit, Disney+ accidentally stumbled backward into creating a prestige TV powerhouse. When anyone says “the next Game of Thrones,” it’s widely considered a shorthand for a series that defies genre conventions thanks to political intrigue, mature themes, and dynamic character interactions while still delivering expertly crafted set pieces thanks to an astronomical budget. Andor crushes it on all those fronts.

What took me down this path? The Maltheen Divide scene in Episode 1, which gave off huge the Painted Table vibes from Game of Thrones as it should because both were going for a whole Hitler in the Alps theme. One more pointedly than the other, of course, but enough rambling.

Does Andor Season 2 live up to the hype from Season 1?

Judging by these first three episodes, I’m ashamed I even asked the question. Right out of the gate, the cinematography on this show is still off the charts. I know Tony Gilroy doesn’t want people to dog on The Mandalorian, but compared to its siblings and most TV shows, Andor is f*cking gorgeous to watch. Everything from the lighting to the sets is just *chef kiss*. From there, we barrel into the writing, which remains outstanding and brings us to another big question, where I was also an idiot to have doubts.

Does the three-episode release strategy work?

Yup. Yup, it does. My major concern was that each episode would be too dense to digest so quickly, but so far, they have flowed effortlessly into each other. I didn’t want them to stop. I watched the first two on Tuesday night, and against every urge in my body, I waited on the third episode because I had to take my kids to school in the morning. I will not make that mistake again.

For starters, I deprived myself of the joy of barreling right into the gut punch of a third episode. Bad move on that alone. Second, I work in digital media, so my day consists of pouring eight billion headlines into my eyeballs, and you better believe I had things spoiled against my best efforts. First thing Wednesday morning, I knew somebody gets assaulted in a bad way. I had a theory who that might be, but by the afternoon, my theory was proven wrong and I knew the exact person. Surprisingly, that event was not as Game of Thrones-y as I expected, but we’ll gaze carefully at that elephant in the room in a bit.

Long story short, I’ll be taking all three straight to the dome on Tuesday nights.

Is watching Andor still an activism?

No, and it never was. Look, this show hits some particularly prescient themes that should be discussed, but please, keep in mind that it was fully written before the 2023 writers’ strikes. Like Daredevil: Born Again, Andor had the horrible misfortune of America re-electing a president who acts exactly like a comic book supervillain that plays all the fascist greatest hits. The parallels are already crazy.

That said, let’s try and be chill. Once again, I’m starting to see the narrative that Tony Gilroy somehow tricked Disney into releasing Andor, which makes absolutely no sense. I’m sorry that a Star Wars show is so well-made that you’re forced to be a cringe normie who enjoys a Disney product, but Gilroy has repeatedly stated in interviews that Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy championed the show. They saw what the first season was specifically about and made a huge gamble to greenlight another one. There was nothing hidden here. It’s plainly clear that Andor is a show about how a fascistic regime operates and what happens when you push the people under its boot too far. That’s always been Star Wars’ whole deal: The Empire vs. the Rebellion. So, maybe stop worrying about in-crowd preening and just enjoy a freaking awesome show.

Are you going to rant like this in all of these recaps?

Maybe! But, yeah, let’s get to the story.

Mon Mothma

As always, Genevieve O’Reilly continues to be the MVP of Andor. Her performance as Mon Mothma undoubtedly helped Season 1 lock down an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, and after these first three episodes alone, I’ll be very surprised if O’Reilly doesn’t score her own nom. She freaking deserves it. The premiere finds Mon at her daughter Leida’s wedding, which was an arranged marriage that Mon was forced to orchestrate to secure funding for the Rebellion. Considering she really didn’t want her daughter to be shackled to some doof like Mon’s husband, Perrin, it was a brutal sacrifice. But this is Andor, so the hits kept on coming.

Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) unexpectedly arrives at the festivities, and it becomes clear by the end of the arc why he’s there. Their financier and Mon’s childhood friend, Tay Kolma (Ben Miles), is unraveling. Turns out funding the Rebellion was not so great for his business or his marriage. He is a sloppy drunk the whole weekend and barely hiding his feelings for Mon. It’s not great, and Luthen wants it handled because Tay has also been making reckless moves to recoup his losses. Mon thinks this is a simple matter of making him financially whole, but Luthen makes it clear that she’s avoiding the real price.

Gonna be real: I thought that price was banging him. Considering this arc has a heavy focus on male insecurity, I had a bad feeling about this. Turns out, the solution is good old-fashioned murder. Tay is too dangerous to the cause, and that’s where Cinta (Varada Sethu) makes her Season 2 appearance. To be clear, Tay’s fate isn’t shown, but it’s pretty heavily implied that he’s not going to make it home from the wedding. Cue Mon getting sloppy drunk herself and dancing it out to one helluva banger. The music on this show does not miss.

Dedra & Syril

When we catch up with Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), she’s seated at a table with a select group of Imperial officers who are being tasked by Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) with a highly secret and delicate operation on the planet Ghorman. Turns out, the Empire is very much concerned with sparking any sort of uprising, which could easily happen when you’re talking about mining a planet so hard that it might literally fall apart. That’s not going to go over well, considering Ghorman is a famed and beloved source of the galaxy’s finest fabrics. It’s not an obscure planet, and people will notice when it ceases to exist.

Krennic correctly clocks that Dedra has concerns about the endeavor, particularly the plan to use propaganda to smooth over the Empire’s increased presence. She proposes that the key is having a Rebel faction get out of hand. While Krennic likes this idea, Dedra later tells her superior, Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser), that she wants nothing to do with this obvious shit-show in the making. He makes it clear that it’s not optional and to view the opportunity as a “gift.”

Meanwhile, Syril (Kyle Soller) is back at the Bureau of Standards, but he’s moved up the ranks, presumably because of his relationship with Dedra. Saving her during the Season 1 finale was apparently the spark these two needed, and now, they’re sharing an apartment. However, the rest of this arc will have them face off against a powerful enemy: Eedy Karn (Kathryn Hunter).

In a sheer display of ruthlessness, Dedra completely cows Syril’s emasculating mother over dessert and sets Eedy straight on how their relationship will work moving forward. Namely, she’ll keep her cutting remarks to herself if she wants to interact with Syril again. There is no room for negotiating.

Bix

Here’s where the real-world parallels set off all the alarms. While Cassian (Diego Luna) is off stealing a ship for Luthen, Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), and Wil (Muhannad Bhaier) are hiding out on Mina-Rau. It’s essentially a giant wheat-harvesting planet where the Empire doesn’t want undocumented workers, which they call … illegals. Yeah. This scrutiny puts Cassian’s crew in a tough spot as the Empire ramps up its audits. Remember in the original Star Wars when Grand Moff Tarkin says, “Fear will keep the local systems in line,” we’re seeing that in action.

Unfortunately, these audits bring around an Imperial officer who takes a particular interest in Bix. If you’ve been on social media lately, you may have seen an intense debate on whether Star Wars should have a rape scene. I’m not taking any side of that conflict, nor am I touching, “We’re all the product of rape.” (Jesus, Tony.) That said, I was expecting something way worse because, again, I didn’t watch Episode 3 until Wednesday night. The drumbeat of headlines made it seem like we were getting into Game of Thrones territory, but fortunately, what played out was a short-lived attempted assault. Bix fought off her attacker and left his ass for dead. I’m guessing what has everyone up in arms is that she yelled, “He tried to rape me,” and I don’t know what to tell you. That is what happened!

For those keeping score at home, Bix is really getting put through the wringer by the Empire. She was tortured in Season 1 so badly that she’s still having nightmares a year later, and now this. As if that wasn’t bad enough, this arc had one last gut punch left to unload.

Cassian

I’m pretty sure this was the case back in Season 1, but um, Cassian is the least interesting part of Andor. Don’t get me wrong, the opening scene where he steals the TIE Interceptor TIE Avenger is great. After that, I couldn’t care less about whatever was happening with that pirate gang. I guess it set up Yavin? Sure, whatever, but let’s be real: The show needed a place to stash its title character while all the interesting stuff happened.

However, in all fairness to Diego Luna, he was worth his weight in gold in the final moments. After making it back to Mina-Rau just as things are going south, he did not get there fast enough to stop this arc’s last kick in the teeth: The death of Brasso. The shattered look on Luna’s trembling face as he pilots Bix and Wil the hell out of Dodge sells the whole thing. This is what this show does: Every single piece of Andor works in perfect concert, and it hits like a sledgehammer every time.

See you next week.

[UPDATE: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Genevieve O’Reilly was personally nominated for an Emmy for Andor Season 1. In an affront to God and nature, she was not. Mike regrets this error, but he also wants the Television Academy’s home address.]