Spoiler Warning: Andor Season One
The latest episode ofAndorhad the prison break we had all been expecting and so much more told on the side. Andor’s storyline followed him through the prisoner’s revolt in his Imperial work camp, and it found its title here, “One Way Out.” But some big events passed inside the network of Rebel spies. The Empire had begun to exercise some counterespionage as well, only to be preemptively undone by a mole in their organization. The definition of rebellion changed in this episode when Luthen Rael admitted what he had sacrificed to create this political movement. And Mon Mothma was given an impossible choice.
Last we left Andor, he was preparing to escape from his Imperial prison when he discovered the Empire would never release him. Mon Mothma met with a shady criminal in order to seek more funding for the Rebellion. And Luthen Rael attempted to coordinate a military attack on an Imperial outpost. In episode ten ofAndor, “One Way Out,”Cassian manages to pull off his plan to take control of the prison and free the prisoners. Mon Mothma must pay an incredible price if she wants to maintain funding for the Rebellion. And Luthen Rael’s plan is exposed, but he sacrifices Rebel lives in order to keep himself and his mole hidden.
Andor Escapes Imperial Prison, But Will Everyone Make It?
In the last episode, a prison medic told Andor and Kino (Andy Serkis’ character) that the prison guards had killed an entire floor’s worth of prisoners to hide the fact that their prison sentences would never end. Now that Kino knew there was only one way out of the prison, he became determined to help Andor in his plan to break out. That day he informed the rest of the prisoners on their floor that the only way out of the prison was to stage an escape, and the group organized to stage a riot the next day.
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Before the guards brought in a new prisoner, Andor spent his work shift filing through a pipe in the bathroom. Once the pipe was broken, water flooded onto the electrified floors, and the prisoners started the riot. It began as a simple fight staged between two of the workers, but once the guards opened a path onto the working floor, the prisoners struck. Eventually, Andor and the others started to seize weapons and distribute them to the others. When the guards tried to shock everyone on the floor, the water from the broken pipe managed to short-circuit the system and create a safe path for them to get to the control room. Once the riot gained momentum, the guards started hiding instead of trying tocontrol the prison break.
When Andor and Kino made it to the control room, they shut down the power for the prison. Kino managed to send an inspiring message to the rest of the prisoners over the loudspeaker, and soon the entire prison was revolting. Eventually, everyone made it to the very limit of their freedom. Since the prison was a floating manufacturing plant, everyone had to swim for it once they got to the door. That’s when Kino admitted to Andor that he had no idea how to swim. In the chaos, Andor was knocked into the ocean. The last we saw him, he had made it to the shore and was running into a wasteland, followed by another prisoner.
The Rebellion Pushes Everyone to Their Limits
When Mon Mothma’s childhood friend Tay arranges a meeting with a wealthy mob boss, she’s confronted with a difficult decision. The criminal, Davo Sculdun, doesn’t want a commission or percentage of the profits from this monetary venture. He wants the legitimacy of a senator. He casually suggests that he and Mon Mothma uphold an old tradition from their culture. He wants to join his family with Mon Mothma’s family.
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He tells her that the price of his financial support is to have her daughter marry his son. Mon Mothma is immediately offended and demands Davo leave at once. But he doesn’t leave without hinting that he can tell Mon Mothma is considering his proposal, and he knows she may sell her daughter tosupport this Rebellion.
Meanwhile, in the Empire, Dedra Meero works to uncover a Rebel plot to attack an Imperial outpost, but we follow her assistant outside the ISP base and into a derelict elevator. There he puts in an earpiece and starts talking to Luthen as the elevator begins struggling to move. Surprisingly, the first thing Luthen does – aside from checking to see if this meeting is a trap – is threatening the Imperial officer’s daughter. He tells Luthen all about Dedra Meero and how she knows about the Rebel attack. But as the conversation continues, he admits that he wants out of the spy game. Now that he has a family, being an informant for the Rebels is too dangerous. But Luthen won’t let him leave.
As the elevator door opens, Luthen stands there, covered in a black cloak and shadow, looking very much like a Sith Lord. As he meets with the Imperial officer, he explains he will let the Rebel attack force die because if the attack doesn’t happen, the Empire might suspect they have a spy in their ranks. And this mole is too valuable to the Rebellion for Luthen to allow him to leave. We see the Rebel leader stand there on a scaffolding reminiscent of the setting of the lightsaber battle inThe Empire Strikes Back.
As this darkly shrouded man explains what he’s done for the Rebellion, it seems that the “good guys” might have done some pretty bad stuff in the name of the Rebellion.Andoragain subverts our regular ideas aboutStar Warsstoriesand shows us a more realistic picture of how a revolution might start.
