Main cast: Stellan Skarsgård (Luthen Rael), Denise Gough (Dedra Meero), Elizabeth Dulau (Kleya Marki), Anton Lesser (Major Lio Partagaz), Robert Emms (Supervisor Lonni Jung), Jacob James Beswick (Supervisor Heert), and April V Woods (Young Kleya Marki)
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Yes, it’s me, stepping in for Mr Mustard because the poor guy is so overwhelmed by the fact that his pain is ending that he has to take a break to purchase more libation to celebrate that fact. ‘
I don’t dislike this season as much he does, but it has been a rough one because of pacing issues. This season thus far had been written and played out like a two-hour movie stretched painfully out to fill 12 episodes, and the annoying appearances of “Remember this guy? Remember that lady? Remember-berries!” characters that don’t do anything aside from fanservice don’t help.
Still, it is easy to want to make fun of the title of this episode, Make It Stop, by saying that it reflects my feelings, but I have to say, this is an actually solid episode for Andor.
It’s not perfect, but it’s decent if viewed as a standalone short film. In the context of Andor, however, this could be the best episode of the second season!
A big reason for this is that, finally, the people at Lucasfilm remember that Stellan Skarsgård is a very good actor and finally let him do something aside from glowering and acting smug.
Yes, it’s time to wrap up loose ends as we are nearing the end of the second and likely final season of Andor. Since we don’t see or hear of Luthen Ruel in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we know he’s going to either die or go on a long holiday in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Unfortunately for him, the fates working for Kathleen Kennedy have opted for death.
Anyway, in this episode, we learn of the obvious: the massacre at Ghorman is a front of the Empire to build you-know-what that the whole Rogue One: A Star Wars movie revolves around. Ruel learns of this from Supervisor Lonni Jung, who asks Ruel to lead him and his family to safety in return for the information. Naturally, Ruel gives him a ticket to the afterlife instead — bye Jung! He did his thing in a few scenes in this season, and now that he’s outlived his usefulness to the plot, he can join Karn in that table over there.
This episode also sees the fleshing out of the relationship between Ruel and his PA Kleya Marki. Now, I would ask whether this late stage of the season is the right time to give Ruel and Marki some semblance of depths, especially with Ruel exiting stage left at the end of this episode and Marki is unlikely to play any further role for the rest of the season. Then again, this is present-day Lucasfilm, so I’m just glad this isn’t The Acolyte or Ahsoka, so I’ll just settle for whatever I can get at this point.
Still, Mr Skarsgård and Elizabeth Dalau finally get to show off their acting chops, and it’s such a joy to finally just sit down and enjoy the performances of actors that can emote and deliver decent lines that aren’t bogged down by endless quips. It makes me think, “Why can’t the rest of the show be like this?”
The solid acting and some feels aside, the episode is pretty predictable. Worse, the whole Meero and Ruel showdown boils down to “She just knows!” and “He has no contingency plan to escape being confronted for his crimes, unbelievable as that may be!” — really bad and lazy writing there from the Lucasfilm crew.
However, again, that is par for the course as present day Lucasfilm has voluntarily become so entrenched in mediocrity and ineptitude in the name of DEI that they are basically up the creek without a paddle. To expect more from them is like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.
Of course, now that we are nearing the end game, with events of Rogue One: A Star Wars looming over the horizon, the rest of the episodes seem clear cut. Bix and Andor aren’t having a happy ending, as Andor wants revenge for the loss of his family in that movie, and whatever Andor seeks to do in the next few episodes, he is once again going to fail to allow the movie to happen.
Thus is the problem of trying to make a thriller out of a prequel where the conclusion is foregone.
Oh well, no matter how bad the rest of the season may be, at least there is one episode to enjoy in this season, so cheers to that!
As a bonus, this episode is refreshingly free of the moon-faced one that has only one facial expression and his mopey girlfriend. They are back in the next episode, though, so ugh.
