The 'Andor' Season 1 Finale Has Me Ready to Run Through a Concrete Wall
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This story contains spoilers for the Season One finale of Andor.
Oh, don't we all know it well! The Big Disney+ Season Finale. WandaVision. The Book of Boba Fett. God help us, She-Hulk. The Big Disney+ Season Finale is when all the friends we made along the way meet in one place, they all point at each other, say, "Hey, you, dickface!" and try to kill each other.
Leave it to the latest Star Wars series, the stellar Andor, to actually right the wrongs of its House of Mouse forebearers. Andor's Season One finale, which is now streaming on Disney+, does do the everyone-gather-in-one-spot thing, using Maarva's funeral service as a reason for everyone to book a ticket to Ferrix. But instead of making all the characters go blasty-blasty at each other, showrunner Tony Gilroy pays off about five storylines during an episode that feels like the true beginning of the rebellion. Here are a few takeaways, including commentary on a certain steamy evil space romance.
Hoist the Colors!
I would like to congratulate Fiona Shaw for graduating from the Keira Knightley Pirates of the Caribbean School of Acting. (Fun fact: Knightley was Natalie Portman's body double in The Phantom Menace.) This is Star Wars, after all, so everything monumental must be delivered via hologram—and this is how Maarva has her "host the colaaaaahs!" moment. The sky-high matriarch delivers a rousing, winding speech that gives the citizens of Ferrix some big rebellion energy, leading them to kick Stormtrooper ass. (Another great Star Wars tradition.) Jokes aside, this is a brilliantly written and performed moment, and one that shows the true resistance brewing across the galaxy.
Dedra and Syril: Too Hot to Handle
In the midst of the melee, Dedra nearly meets her end—until the dashing mama's boy, Syril Karn, swoops in and saves her. They promptly have... a moment, which I'll let Syril himself, Kyle Soller, explain here. This is what he told Esquire about the maybe-romance:
It's like, "Oh wait, what is this? Are you ... Am I?!” And that was a funny thing to explore, because neither of us really initially wanted to lean into the will-they-won't-they, but it's kind of unavoidable given all the circumstances that have led up to it. And it's kind of beautiful, because he's doing something so selfless, actually, and she's completely traumatized and panicked and in shock. In the midst of this whole melee of a riot, you have this amazingly tender moment between these two really fucked-up, weird people in a broom closet in space.
Oh, Right, Andor
Despite another winning performance from Diego Luna, his blossoming Rebel hero is somehow one of the least interesting things about this episode. Andor is mostly relegated to save-the-day duty, saving Bix from the baddies, shipping all of his friends to safety, and going away with Luthen, who decides to not kill him. Andor's character study will surely be reinvigorated next season, when he'll surely come to blows with Dedra and Syril, in addition to working more with the rebellion. Until then, sir.
Of Course That Was What They Were Building...
The Death Star. They were building the Death Star. If you're one of the cursed among us who enjoy trolling around Star Wars Reddit, you know that what exactly was going on at the Narkina 5 prison was major fan-theory fodder. Turns out, the poor Squid Game criminals were building tiny little Death Star pieces. If you stick around long into Andor's credits, you'll see those angular machines dropping into an unfinished Death Star. Not a huge surprise, but a cool tease nonetheless. When you treat storytelling with as much care as Gilroy does, you earn moments like this.
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