<em>Andor</em> Season 2, Episode 9 Recap

Looking for a recap of season 2, episode 8? Join the rebellion.

Talk about speaking truth to power. As Andor races to the end, "Welcome to the Rebellion" (season 2, episode 9) brings another propulsive 50-plus minutes of suspense, surprises, spy thriller set-pieces, and stirring monologues sure to become new slogans for our own earthbound resistance. It's a great episode, and maybe even a phenomenal one, leaving even the most cynical Star Wars fan like myself—someone who very recently didn't bother observing May the Fourth on Instagram—buzzing from the aftershock.

It's impossible to imagine Andor surpassing the dizzying highs of episode 8, but episode 9 keeps an upward trajectory at blazing speed. Though it is a bummer that this time next week, it'll all be over. Then again, this Star Wars we're talking about—it's never truly over.

Another year is over in Andor's timeline, and next week begins the last march to Rogue One. Mon Mothma just dropped the mic like she's CM Punk circa 2011. The galaxy heard her loud and clear—and now the Rebellion is truly in motion. So shall our recap of Andor's latest episode.

In 2005, Genevieve O'Reilly first played Senator Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith, for a scene that wound up on the cutting room floor. Go back and watch her scene now. In the plastic world of the prequels, the founding of the Galactic Rebellion is stiff, like a stage play rendition of historical events instead of history happening in real time. It's testament to a young O'Reilly that she still comes across assured, mature, and wise beyond her years. It's unfortunate how the sleepy formalism of George Lucas's prequel-era direction derails the whole thing.

Twenty years later, and gone is the costume-play vibe in O'Reilly's performance. Holding the Senate floor in an enthralling speech midway through the episode, O'Reilly's Mon Mothma now speaks with gravity only years of experience could inform. Mon opens the episode with a distressing double-whammy, finding a bug in her office and learning from Luthen (Stellan Skarsgärd) that her own assistant Erskin (Pierro Niel-Mee) has been a spy on his behalf. Even if it's for the Rebellion, it feels like a betrayal; Mon Mothma simply can't ever escape this secret war.

With the horrors of Ghorman prompting an emergency Senate hearing, Mon Mothma prepares a speech that will essentially out her as part of the Rebellion. Along the way she is torn between two paths: Escape with agents sent by Senator Bail Organa (Benjamin Bratt, substituting for a busy Jimmy Smitts), or escape with Cassian (Diego Luna, duh) sent by Luthen. Unbeknownst to Organa, his agents are compromised—intel Luthen uses to send Cassian instead. But one gets the slight impression that Mon Mothma would rather escape through the top-floor window than trust any stranger.

In the end, Mon Mothma gives a speech that infuriates the Empire, splits the floor, and is heard all across the galaxy. And what a speech it is—a call to arms on behalf of truth over resting in propaganda's comforts. "I believe we are in a crisis," she pleads. "The distance between what is said, and what is known to be true has become an abyss ... The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest." So, can O'Reilly recite this speech on Capitol Hill?

I just need it said loud and clear: Episode 9 is the culmination of a miracle. Throughout the course of Andor, Mon Mothma has evolved from tertiary action figure to a real character, an individual with perspective and conviction while haunted by unseen repercussions. When she first appeared in the series I was dismissive; more for Wookiepedia, I scoffed. But Andor kept going. Now, at its end, Mon Mothma isn't just a new personal favorite character of mine. She might be one of the most consequential in Star Wars ever, in league with Luke and Obi-Wan. To think that once upon a time, she was just a deleted scene.

Mon Mothma holds the floor, but there's so much else happening around her. As Organa's team implodes from betrayal, Andor races to get Mon Mothma to Yavin. Using his fake Mid-Rim News credentials, Cassian sneaks his way to Mon, though not before acquiring help from Erskin. Indeed, they have friends everywhere.

Once Mon and Cassian meet (for the first time, too!), it's all forward-moving action as Andor packs "Welcome to the Rebellion" with Bourne Identity-esque foot chases, Mexican standoffs, and a reverberating synth score. If there's any feature that truly separates Andor from the Skywalker Saga, it's the music. Eschewing the grand majesty of John Williams' compositions, Andor is stripped down and familiar, its soundscape akin to modern spy thrillers. Brandon Roberts is the composer for Andor this season, his work mostly defined by horror movies like Underwater (2020), Black Box (2020), and Thanksgiving (2023). Roberts appears to know about music that gets the blood pumping, but one also imagines production using Hans Zimmer as a temp track and realizing how well the combination works.

Ultimately, and unlike the previous episode, Cassian succeeds in his mission. He extracts Mon Mothma to Luthen's dumpy safe house—where Mon notices Cassian has maybe lived there before—and then to Yavin. Cassian is told official records will say that Gold Squadron performed the job. (This is a reference to pre-existing canon.) But it doesn't matter to Cassian; what matters is the job. And Cassian has done his job, apparently for good. Returning to Bix (Adria Arjona), Cassian declares his intentions to retire from the Rebellion and find a place for the two of them to live in peace. "I want this. Right here. I want to be with you," Cassian tells her. But you can read it on Bix's face. You can see it in her avoidant eyes. Something is wrong.

In the morning sun, Cassian wakes to an empty bed. In a video message that is basically a Dear John letter, Bix tells Cassian she "cannot be the reason" he leaves the Rebellion. The Force healer's words still in her ears, Bix believes Cassian is meant to do great things for the movement, and she knows she can't have Cassian until his job is done. All of it.

So she leaves. Where to and for how long stays open-ended, and frankly, it doesn't matter. We know how things will end for Cassian. And we know now what he's given up to fight for the Rebellion. It all makes his appearance in Rogue One that much more meaningful. The whole time, Cassian is thinking about someone to get back to, even if he never gets the chance to.

Cassian has lost Bix, but he gains someone new: K-2SO.

Speaking of Rogue One, the K-2 unit that nearly killed Cassian in the last episode is finally repaired and rewired by Rebellion engineers. There's some fun acknowledgement about the possible ethical violation of reconfiguring a Droid; in the Star Wars universe, Droids are considered alive to a degree, even if they are second-class citizens. "You'll hear a lot of blather about 're-programming,'" says a Rebellion tech, before adding, "it's nonsense." Given that we now live in a reality where A.I. is starting to take over people's livelihoods—sure, whatever you say.

The point is that the episode ends with K-2SO waking up—he's voiced by the delightful Alan Tudyk, with his dry sense of humor intact from (and for) Rogue One. After the bombardment of heartbreaks that Andor has subjected audiences to, comic relief has never felt better.