Name: Andor season 1 episode 11
Director: Benjamin Caron
Released: 2022-11-16T13:30:00

In episode 11 of Andor, Cassian looks for a way to escape Narkina 5 along with Melshi while others involved in the rebellion also have a lot to deal with. The episode is now streaming on Disney+.

Recap

Cassian and Melshi are holding on for their dear lives on the side of a cliff as ships patrol the sky. Back on Ferrix, Maarva has passed away and the people are making preparations for her funeral as she was well-known and well-liked.

Cinta is watching along with the other stranger who has been observing things recently.

Cassian and Melshi spot two aliens working with a ship nearby. Cassian isn’t sure if he can fly it but Melshi makes a run for it anyway because the aliens appear quite slow.

Unfortunately for them, there’s a trap set up that captures them both in sticky nets before they can make it to the ship. One of the aliens speaks broken English and suggests offering them up to the empire for a reward but Cassian and Melshi plead with them not to.

The aliens then free them because they also hate the empire for what the prison has done to their waters there on Narkina 5. They ask them where they want to escape to and Cassian says Niamos.

Captain Tigo reports to Dedra about Maarva’s death and Dedra tells them to allow the locals to have a funeral but insists that they maintain a close eye on all proceedings. The hope is that this event will surely attract Cassian’s return.

Vel visits Luthen’s shop on Coruscant but only finds Kleya there. Kleya tells her that it’s not smart to be there or even discuss their operations but Vel is insistent on meeting Luthen.

Kleya agrees to pass on any information that she gives and Vel tells her that Andor’s mother has passed away and she’s headed there the next morning.

The other stranger on Ferrix who has been observing Maarva’s house turns out to be an undercover Imperial officer. Brasso takes one final look at Maarva’s place and then tells B2EMO that they have to leave but the droid convinces him to stay there for the night.

Bix is in a terrible state after all the torture that she’s been through. She’s escorted to another room where the officers show her a picture of Anto Kreegyr and ask her if that’s the man she introduced Cassian to but all she can do is cry tears of pain and anguish.

Mon’s daughter, Leida is learning ancient Chandrillan chants along with friends of hers as her mother watches. Vel arrives and is surprised by this but Mon tells her that it was Leida’s idea and she’s very interested in this.

Vel asks Mon if she’s taking proposals as well and Mon breaks down and opens up to her. She talks about how she had been sifting away funds from her family trust for a long time but then she was warned that the empire was looking into the records and she had to find away of replacing those funds somehow.

And then after the Aldhani heist, things got even worse which is why she reached out to Tay Kolma and it hasn’t helped her situation in the slightest as she still has to replace 400,000 credits before the account is inspected.

Syril gets a call from his former sergeant who is still on Morlana. He informs Syril that Cassian’s mother has died and this could be the opportunity to finally capture Cassian.

Cassian makes it to Niamos and secures his stash of credits and blasters. Luthen pays Saw Gerrera a visit and Saw tells him that he’s ready to work with Anto Kreegyr.

Luthen tells him that it’s out of the question as the ISB knows about Kreegyr’s plan. He gives Saw the choice between warning Kreegyr and burning their source in the ISB while making them more vigilant, or sacrificing Kreegyr so that the ISB feels invincible and lets their guard down for another attack.

Saw agrees with Luthen to sacrifice Kreegyr for the greater good and calls it a consequence of war. Syril waits for his mother to leave the house and then goes into her safe to take some credits out for himself.

Luthen is travelling and he gets in touch with Kleya to discuss his meeting with Saw. They speak in code and Luthen says he has another issue on his mind before going back to Coruscant but Kleya tells him that she’s got it covered.

Before they can complete their conversation, an Imperial ship comes up on Luthen and blocks his communications. They order him to identify himself and Luthen uses a fake transponder code from Alderran.

Luthen tries to stall for time as he plans his escape but the ship switches on its tractor beam and orders Luthen to prepare to be boarded. Luthen activates his ships counter measures and manages to shut down their tractor beam before fighting off a couple of TIE fighters and escaping into hyperspace.

Cassian contacts Xan back on Ferrix to get a message Maarva but Xan tells him the bad news. When Melshi asks him if everything is alright, he says yes. Then Melshi says that they need to split up to improve their chances because someone needs to let the galaxy know what happened on Narkina 5.

Review

One of the best things the Star Wars franchise has been able to do is depict droids with some semblance of feelings or emotions. In this episode, B2EMO appears to exhibit real grief at Maarva’s death and this endears him further to the audience.
This episode is a comedown from the previous task, which would have affected any episode given the unenviable task of following that one. There is more focus on the rebel’s side of things with very little shown of the ISB or the Empire.
The reductive Chandrillan customs are something that have been casually explored in the last couple of episodes and once again falls in the realm of relatable subplot involving real world issues within a sci-fi series set in a fictional future.