Diego Luna’s Andor is at its best when it’s critiquing authoritarianism, reflecting and skewering the MAGA politics of too many of the franchise’s fans. I never really understood how right-wing folks could see themselves in Cassian Andor, a refugee fighting for third-world autonomy. Or even the original films, which clearly espouse a pluralist view of society. But those fans are out there, rearing their ugly heads to bully Kelly Marie Tran or pretend that having women or people of color in leading parts is against the Star Wars ethos – really, their limiting sexual and racial politics here on Earth are what’s in conflict.
This second installment of the much-praised backstory to a backstory goes for it. Early on, we see the Empire as ICE, enforcing their immigration laws against undocumented farm workers. In case anyone’s wondering, our heroes don’t have papers and the Empire/la migra are evil, attempting sexual violence and killing folks who are just trying to work. You know, like in real life.
And since Andor’s set just before Luke and Leah’s adventure, we also see the fall of democracy. In one shining act of heroism, a leader of the rebel alliance denounces how dictatorship thrives by destroying our shared set of facts. The minions of the Emperor lie so loud, so often, and to so many people (including themselves) that we can no longer communicate across groups. We can’t agree on what happened, let alone its meaning – and that extends to genocide in a galaxy far, far away and on our little planet right now.
For those who’ve studied Latin American history, Andor also deals deftly with what happens when an outsized power comes in to destabilize your society, wielding big lies and bigger tactical advantages. It’s heartbreaking to watch those who would resist find all their options twisted – they’re made powerless by authoritarians who will destroy them regardless. It’s the Empire as CIA and it works.
The first season/half of Andor delivered this same scathing critique of Western power and honestly, I didn’t think anything in the second installment can top its prison sequence. Partly, because season one shows not only Cassian’s awakening but his ability to organize and make a difference in community.
In these final twelve episodes, his journey is less about changing hearts and minds (as Fiona Shaw as his mother did so eloquently in her posthumous speech), but rather as a hired gun. Luna is an excellent action star, and I admit my heart was racing quite a bit in season two. But it rises to the level of that first installment with the Ghorman massacre as haunting as the prison revolt.
And for those looking for the deployment of soft power, Senator Mon Mothma (an excellently pensive Genevieve O’Reilly) is in the narrative change game – and she is losing. She can’t convince her peers that making deals is useless. Compromising with the authoritarian regime makes them weaker, never stronger. Watching her failure is bleak, particularly as so many of our institutions today lack her courage.
Kleya Marki (a fierce Elizabeth Dulau) – the right-hand woman to Luthen Rael (a scowling Stellan Skarsgård) – also gets a strong arc, toggling between coordinator, spy, and vigilante with ease. Hers too is a tragically losing battle for Andor, setting up as it does Cassian’s death in Rogue One, is all about losing. Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen, I suppose does a little better, but she spends the series in a wounded haze, which doesn’t put Arjona’s many talents to much use.
On the Empire side, Denise Gough is back as Dedra Meero and she is fearsome. She wields both soft and hard power, spending the season changing the fates and the stories around an entire planet. Rarely lifting her frown, she’s a portrait of what happens when an individual completely buys into the fascist state. She both gets what she wants and loses everything. For the Empire only serves the Emperor. Everyone else is dispensable.
The series does suffer from taking itself a bit too seriously. The original Star Wars were largely campy fun and I appreciate Andor for carving a show for thinking adults out of the grayscale vs. earth-tone conflict. But we perhaps don’t need multiple anthropological looks into Star Wars’ made-up societies. We could have skipped the wedding rituals of Chandrila for example, instead of giving them several long sequences.
And I also don’t need to know the backstory of every character who ever started a hyperdrive. In this one, we get lots of explanations, including how Andor’s droid K-2SO came to the Rebel Alliance, which fine, I guess, but rather unnecessary. It’s ok to leave a little mystery!
That said, if all this fan service is what it takes to get Disney to invest the big bucks in Andor, I think it’s worth it. Especially if the show makes some viewers rethink their ideas about immigration, covert operations in less powerful countries, and the importance of democracy itself. For that, I’ll just take the long, sweeping shots of Star Wars’ various planets and enjoy it.
