How Andor Season 2 Brings Actual-World Horror Into Star Wars

Warning: This text comprises spoilers for the primary three episodes of “Andor” season 2 and discusses the possibly triggering matter of sexual assault.

“Andor” has by no means been a collection to do something midway. The place the remainder of the “Star Wars” franchise has hardly ever had the time or curiosity in diving too deep into the practicalities and politics of an Empire ruling over a whole galaxy (and the one time it did, effectively, we obtained the prequels), this spinoff/prequel present has by no means as soon as shied away from shining a lightweight on the true face of oppression. Whether or not or not it’s season 1’s exploration into the banal fanaticism of characters like Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) and his trusted Sergeant Linus Mosk (Alex Ferns), the career-minded Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) climbing the Imperial bureaucratic ladder, or the systematic oppression of the native inhabitants on Aldhani, each villain has their very own motivations and causes for lending their help to authoritarianism. And, simply as in our personal historical past, the sheer and easy humanity of all of it solely makes it much more terrifying.

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Season 2 has picked up this identical thread and run with it, as I wrote in my evaluate “Andor” for /Movie right here, and it solely takes just a few scenes into the premiere episode to comprehend how a lot deeper it goes. In reality, this method to drawing on real-world horrors seems to be a concentrated focus all through the primary three episodes total, all of which dropped directly on this season’s new launch technique. 

It begins once we’re supplied a window into probably the most informal boardroom dialog about tried genocide depicted in all of “Star Wars,” as Dedra and Main Partagaz (Anton Lesser) are summoned to debate what to do concerning the planet Ghorman and the underground mineral deposits they should excavate to gas the Emperor’s “vitality undertaking.” In episodes 2 and three, we return to the trio of Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), and the droid B2EMO (Dave Chapman) on Mina-rau peacefully hiding from the Empire — till a random audit places “undocumented” staff like themselves squarely within the sights of native patrols. When this all culminates in episode 3, with one of the crucial distressing moments in all the franchise, it is painfully clear what “Andor” has on its thoughts.

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With every considered one of these subplots, “Andor” season 2 brings headlines from our personal world straight into the “Star Wars” universe … and it is all of the simpler for it.

Calling a secret workplace assembly to calmly and rationally talk about the potential for exterminating (or forcibly eradicating) a whole populace earlier than breaking for lunch would possibly appear just like the stuff of mustache-twirling villainy, however “Andor” presents this with a startling sense of matter-of-factness. It takes some endurance to determine precisely what the Empire is as much as right here, as we’re first requested to sit down by way of a jovial information reel depicting Ghorman’s trade of alternative: the manufacturing of a threadlike substance often known as Ghorman Twill. There seems to be a way more sinister motive behind the Empire’s curiosity within the planet, nevertheless. The presence of invaluable minerals beneath floor means they’re keen to do something to get their palms on it — as much as and together with genocide.

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The mere indisputable fact that “Andor” is keen to repay the hints of Ghorman from season 1 and really name out the Empire’s intentions for what they’re says rather a lot, as does its informal depiction of Imperial officers treating this like merely one other day on the workplace. There’s “simply following orders,” after which there’s “brainstorming methods to be extra inventive about following orders in between rounds of hors d’oeuvres.” As an example, one officer flippantly talks about how introducing a plague or staging a pure catastrophe to get the natives to depart of their very own accord is extra bother than its value. 

In the meantime, we’re launched to a wholly new department of the federal government often known as the Ministry of Enlightenment — a not-so-subtle allusion to Nazi Germany’s personal Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment. And, in fact, there’s Dedra’s personal blinkered mission to additional her personal agenda. Her aspect dialog with Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) is galling in how mundane it’s, quietly planting the seeds for manipulating a insurgent insurgency on Ghorman to stir issues up and supply themselves cowl for better atrocities to return.

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Viewers should wait just a few weeks to see the payoff to all this setup, however there’s one thing unmistakably chilling about finishing up a genocide in secret whereas planning forward to twist public notion as soon as it turns into public. As the Oscar-winning documentary “No Different Land” proves emphatically, that is hardly the stuff of fiction. In “Andor,” that solely makes it really feel much more true to life. 

Guess you by no means thought you’d see a Disney-era “Star Wars” manufacturing wade into the identical sorts of discourse presently engulfing the political and social area nowadays, however “Andor” is nothing if not fabricated from surprises. Creator/author Tony Gilroy and his writing staff by some means obtained away with sneaking in a few of the most overt commentary in all the franchise, due to the subplot happening on the planet Mina-Rau. It is easy to think about a model of “Andor” that forgot all about Cassian’s (Diego Luna) dearest buddies — Bix, Brasso, Wilmon (Muhannad Ben Amor), and B2 — however, fortunately, that could not be farther from the reality. In reality, Gilroy makes them the epicenter of one of the crucial harrowing sequences in all the season.

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Whereas hiding out incognito from the Empire on this little-known backwater planet, the survivors from Ferrix encounter their worst nightmare within the type of an Imperial audit and kickstart one of many present’s best storylines. Tactualhe dialogue goes out of its strategy to classify our good guys as “undocumented” staff with out a visa or some other sort of identification, which places them vulnerable to the invaders descending upon their rural city and clearly calls to thoughts debates surrounding modern immigration. The present would not merely use this as window-dressing, nevertheless, however goes a step additional by highlighting the absurdity of all of it. The native Imperial goon, Lieutenant Krole (Alex Waldmann), really admits that the planet wants undocumented staff so as to thrive and implies he is keen to look the opposite manner … if solely Bix provides him what he needs. The tried sexual assault that follows lends a frighteningly human face to all of the Empire’s widespread abuses, all by way of the actions of a single wicked man. If this does not appear well timed or actual, that is solely since you’re not wanting arduous sufficient.

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Within the course of, “Andor” season 2 accomplishes what no different “Star Wars” film or present has ever finished earlier than. The franchise has by no means felt extra well timed or extra politically potent. Within the weeks to return, followers could also be shocked by how a lot additional this collection pushes the envelope.

In case you or anybody you understand has been a sufferer of sexual assault, assist is accessible. Go to the Rape, Abuse & Incest Nationwide Community web site or contact RAINN’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).