Main cast: Diego Luna (Cassian Andor), Denise Gough (Dedra Meero), Alan Tudyk (K-2SO), Elizabeth Dulau (Kleya Marki), Muhannad Bhaier (Wilmon Paak), Anton Lesser (Major Lio Partagaz), Duncan Pow (Melshi), Alistair Petrie (General Davits Draven), Jacob James Beswick (Supervisor Heert), and Ben Mendelsohn (Orson Krennic)
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Who Else Knows? is the second to last episode of this season of Andor, but anyone watching it for the first time won’t realize it. Where’s the urgency, the drama, the build up to something grand?
This is a filler episode, through and through, as the people behind the show are dragging things out again before the finale. This boils down to what I’ve always said: this season has a pacing problem. This season could have been halved in terms of episode count and the whole thing would likely be much more gripping and entertaining as befit its purported genre of sci-fi action thriller.
Basically, two things happen here.
One, Andor is asked to help Kleya Marki now that the heat is on her. Since someone needs to tell the Rebellion about the Death Star, there is absolutely no surprise that she will survive… at least long enough to tell Andor and his buddies.
So, for now, the plot dictates that Andor accomplishes a rare success in this season, so at least he gets to keep a shred of his dignity intact by the time the finale ends.
Two, Meero is grilled by Krennic about her confrontation with Ruel that led to his death. This is basically a long exposition to explain how she learned about his perfidy, which is nice I suppose, as it gives some closure.
However, the explanation only makes Meero’s action with Ruel look quite stupid and out of character for someone that has played the career politics game so well up to that point. Chalk this one up to another instance of sloppy writing, when things happen just because of plot necessity without appearing as an organic part of the plot progression.
Now, Meero is nowhere to be seen or heard of in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, so it’s pretty obvious that her arc will ultimately end in the finale. She is being set up as the fall person, in which I suppose is meant to some kind of karmic payback for how she treated Karn, but honestly, I find it hard to care for her or Karn much to be too concerned about her story or her fate.
She is written like a plot device, a character that exists just to make things happen. Her relationship with Karn goes from zero to a thousand without any proper build-up so meh, she can be killed or exiled for all I care. Like Karn, she is just here to serve the plot, and she will be disposed of once she outlives her usefulness.
At any rate, that’s about it as far as drama goes in this episode. Nothing too exciting or memorable, just people with sad faces walking or running around dropping expositions and occasionally chasing one another while waving guns that they can’t aim to save their lives.
Then again, that’s this season in a nutshell. It’s tad more focused than the first season but it feels as padded as that previous season, and the lead character is even more of a side character than the guy whose name is in the title of the show.
Anyway, the finale is next, and then it’s a wrap.
