Andor's First Season Finale Made Star Wars Better
Andor’s season one finale, “Rix Road,” capped off a journey taken by many, not just one, in a perfect hour of television. Diego Luna solidified Cassian as one of the most important characters in the canon—retroactively at that—and the Lucasfilm series, led by Tony Gilroy, proved it’s simply operating on a level that’s unmatched in expanding what it really means to be Star Wars. It’s going to be a long wait until season two.
I’ve watched the season finale, which was directed by Benjamin Caron and written by Gilroy, two times so far—and I’m still stunned.
Everything kicks off with the tuning of musical instruments, as if an orchestra is getting ready to perform; you get hints of winds and the slow and steady beating of drums. It’s the preamble, and we get some quick-fire dialogue in which local Ferrixian Xanwan (Zubin Varla) tells Andor’s longtime friend Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) he talked to Cassian on the comm box and told him about Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw). Knowing Cassian, Brasso figures he’s on the way back to Ferrix and voices that he may try to show up at the funeral, something that another local overhears. Xanwan is concerned for his friend—you can tell his mind is fixin’ up a plan—and it’s great to see more of the character beyond just catching Andor up on what he’s missed.