selenicseas

I finally got the chance to watch episodes 7-9 about a month after I planned to. Better late than never, I guess?

This set of episodes focuses entirely on Ghorman massacre – from the buildup, to the massacre itself, to the political aftermath on Coruscant. There's another major character death in this arc (Syril), but surprisingly, it happens in the middle of the arc, rather than at the end.

Speaking of Syril, it seemed that he was somehow having second thoughts about the Empire killing people on Ghorman when he had no issue with it happening on Ferrix. Maybe it was because he actually got to know the Ghorman rebels. It's like he was starting to come to the conclusion that the Empire might not be all that…and then he saw Andor and died right after.

I recognized the KX droids not from Rogue One, but Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. They're just as awful here in this show as they were in that game; I absolutely hated having to fight them. I definitely was not expecting this to be where K2-S0 came from.

So, now that Bix has left to somewhere unseen, Cassian has zero ties to his old life. There's nothing preventing him from dedicating himself entirely to the Rebellion now that he has nothing else. There is literally nothing left for him to lose.

I've been waiting for season 2 of Andor for two and a half years. Once there was a confirmed release schedule, I knew I'd be watching new episodes as soon as I could – not just to avoid spoilers, but also because I like the show and really want to see where it goes next.

Each batch of three episodes in Season 2 is supposed to cover one year of time. I was curious as to how exactly this would be shown on screen. The first three episodes take place over the course of just as many days. At least, that's the case for the storylines following Cassian, Bix, and Mon Mothma. Dedra's storyline isn't particularly tied into the others; it might not be happening concurrently.

This definitely felt like an introduction to the rest of the season. We're introduced to what each character has been and is currently doing. Of all the storylines, I'd say that Mon Mothma's was the strongest, while Cassian's was the weakest. I'm not sure the humor they were going for with the rebel infighting really worked. Or, I might have received it better if it hadn't gone on too long. Cassian's arc here felt like it was padded to meet the length of the other arcs; it could have been shorter.

There is probably a better way to word this, but I think the ultimate purpose of Bix's arc is to show that there isn't a way to avoid getting directly involved in the Rebellion. She, Brasso, and Wilmon have spent the past year living as undocumented workers, trying to live beneath the Empire's suspicion while still assisting Cassian – now an actual Rebel – and it still didn't work. The Empire found them anyway, and they had to escape their new home with Cassian – in a TIE fighter he stole to give to the Rebellion. Their "passive" resistance was forced to become "active" resistance, and it was directly due to the Empire's own actions. If the Empire had never come to Mina-Rau, I imagine Bix and the others would have continued assisting Cassian, but never actually join the Rebellion themselves.

At least, this is where I'm assuming that plotline is going. I could be wrong! We'll find out tomorrow.