If Andor Episode 6 was the debut of the Rebel Alliance as we know it, Episode 7, “Announcement,” is the closest the series has come to classic Galactic Empire domination. The episode is brimming with bureaucratic bluster (prequel fans rejoice!), emotional reunions, and pure Mon Mothma perfection. In the words of Pre-Mor Sergeant Linus Mosk, “there’s fomenting out there,” and, more than halfway through the first season’s 12-episode run, it’s time for our characters to pick a side.
After the Aldhani heist, Imperial coffers are over 80 million credits short, and the Empire is, ahem, striking back. The Imperial Emergency Act (basically a Patriot Act on steroids) has transformed the galaxy into a surveillance state, including expanded search and seizure, longer prison sentences for so-called anti-Imperial activity, and a hefty tribute tax on systems harboring partisans.
By order of Palpatine, the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) now has Army and Naval resources at its fingertips. There to deliver the news to Major Partagaz and company is the mustache himself, ISB Colonel Wullf Yularen, played by British TV veteran Malcolm Sinclair. That’s right, the narrator of The Clone Wars — and former Republic Admiral, bestie to Anakin and Obi-Wan, bestie to Grand Admiral Thrawn, eventual Battle of Yavin casualty, and all around no-nonsense guy — is back in live-action for the first time since A New Hope.
Dedra is given command of the Morlana sector, including Ferrix. No doubt she’ll get to the bottom of Cassian’s little Morlana Corporate mix-up/double murder from the first episode, putting her on a collision course with Syril, and probably with Cassian. But she thinks the Empire is making a mistake by treating Aldhani like a robbery when it’s really (title drop!) an “announcement.” Cracking down will only play into the Rebels’ hands.
Speaking of announcements, inveterate momma’s boy Syril is back with another bowl of cereal (he pours his own Bantha milk this time) and his signature arrestingly high collar — a sartorial choice that, according to his mother, screams, “Look at me. I don’t believe in myself. I am desperate for approval.” Can’t a guy just enjoy a custom fit? Syril quietly rages when he learns of the Aldhani heist via HoloNet News, but his days of meting out justice are over. He lands a horrifically mundane cubicle job in fuel purity at the Bureau of Standards, courtesy of the still-unseen Uncle Harlo.
Meanwhile, Luthen and Mon Mothma are at odds over the nascent Rebellion. Mon wasn’t in on Aldhani, and she’s terrified that Luthen has endangered their vulnerable Rebel network by jumping the gun. But, like Dedra, Luthen is convinced that a wave of authoritarianism will push more people to the side of the Rebellion: “The Empire has been choking us so slowly we’re starting not to notice. The time has come to force their hand.” (Saw Gerrera much?)
Mon Mothma does things her way (hushed tones, plastered-on smiles) at a dinner party, where she recruits Tay Kolma (The Crown’s Ben Miles), an old banker friend from her home planet of Chandrila. Mon tells Tay that her public persona is a mask, hiding her true political machinations. It’s a tactic she learned by observing Palpatine, she says: “I show you the stone in my hand, you miss the knife at your throat.” Mon plans to make Tay chairman of her new Chandrilan charity, a front for moving money into the Rebellion.
Cassian returns to Imperial-occupied Ferrix, where he has a flashback to the last time Ferrix was under occupation, patrolled by clone troopers in the Empire’s early days. Cassian’s adoptive father Clem is mistaken for a pro-Republic rioter and hanged in the square. We see an enraged young Cassian charge the troopers, which likely led to his imprisonment before he fought on Mimban.
In a brief and frosty reunion, Bix warns Cassian that the people of Ferrix blame him for the Imperial occupation, and that he could well be turned in again. Bix reveals that she and Cassian are indeed exes, and that Timm likely reported Cassian to the Corpos out of jealousy. Cassian splits, leaving her with 12,000 credits to pay back everyone he owes.
Cassian tells Maarva that he’s scored enough credits for them both (and B2EMO, of course) to flee Ferrix for someplace “warm and easy.” Just how many credits does he have? Assuming Vel/Luthen honored the 200,000 deal, he’s left with 158,000 credits after shelling out 12,000 to pay his debts and 30,000 for the doctor’s ship in Episode 6. Nemik’s manifesto? Priceless.
Maarva decides to stay on Ferrix to fight for the Rebellion, citing both Clem’s memory and the Aldhani success as inspiration. Cassian doesn’t reveal his involvement in Aldhani, calling it a “robbery,” not the grand Rebel awakening that she thinks it is. In a deeply moving exchange, Maarva insists that he take the money, give up the fruitless search for his sister, and find peace: “You can’t stay and I can’t go.” Before parting, Cassian promises that he’ll return to Ferrix.
Back on Coruscant, Vel has swapped her Aldhani sheepskins with some Capital finery for a secret meeting with Kleya, who chastises Vel for breaking protocol by sending a message to Luthen. In the interest of tying up loose ends, Kleya orders Vel to kill Cassian.
Under the alias Keef Girgo, who sounds like a fun guy, Cassian has made it to an Ibiza-like beach planet called Niamos only to be arrested during a snack run (you’re telling me the galaxy doesn’t have food delivery apps?) for some such civil disruption/rebellious relay run thing he wasn’t actually part of. The crime originally carried a six-month prison term, but the Empire has lengthened the sentence in the wake of Aldhani, and Cassian gets six years. Yet again, Cassian’s reluctant Rebel involvement has some bitterly ironic consequences. So much for “win and walk away.”
By the way, the Niamos beat has dropped:
Theory Time
- Mon Mothma says that only three people in the galaxy know about her moonlighting for the Rebellion. There’s Luthen and Kleya, of course. The mystery third person? Gotta be Bail Organa. Fingers crossed for a Jimmy Smits cameo before the season ends!
- Is Kleya acting independently when she orders Vel to kill Cassian? We don’t actually see Luthen give the order, and his aim was always to recruit Cassian to the cause.
- Secret paternity watch for Luthen is on red this episode. Vel is a little too disappointed that it’s Kleya, not Luthen, who meets her on Coruscant. Sure, maybe Vel just wants a big fat ‘Thank you’ from Luthen himself for getting the job done. Or maybe she doesn’t trust Kleya. Still, Vel’s “I really thought he’d be here” is giving…frustrated daughter.
- Now that we have a live-action Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi has been cast) and Wullf Yularen, all bets are on Grand Admiral Thrawn showing up in Disney’s upcoming Ahsoka series.
Easter Eggs
- At the ISB, Colonel Yularen says, “The only question we need to answer is how tight to close our fist,” echoing what Leia tells Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope: “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” They rhyme!
- There are a couple nods to Rogue One on the beach planet Niamos. Cassian is nabbed by a shoretrooper, last seen defending the beach on Scarif. And the Imperial KX droid that chokeslams Cassian is the same model as our beloved K-2SO. But, alas, in Star Wars canon, Cassian meets and reprograms K-2SO on the planet Wecacoe. No K-2 for us. At least, not yet.
- Syril’s Bureau of Standards worker bee scene looks a lot like the nightmarish office sequence from Orson Welles’ 1962 film The Trial, based on the Kafka novel. In the scene, Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) has come to consult his Uncle Max, who, much like Syril’s mysterious Uncle Harlo, may be able to help him.
New episodes of Andor stream Wednesdays at 12am PDT/3am EDT on Disney+.