TV Recap / Review - Bix Seeks Help for Cassian at a Familiar Location in "Andor: A Star Wars Story" Season 2, Episode 7 - "Messenger"

This evening saw the release of the third arc’s worth of episodes in the second and final season of Lucasfilm’s live-action series Andor: A Star Wars Story on Disney+. Below are my recap and thoughts on the seventh installment.

Andor season 2, episode 7– entitled “Messenger"-- begins one year later (2 years prior to the Battle of Yavin). We open on the fourth moon of Yavin, where a rebel transport lands in front of a Massassi temple. An officer barks orders at some soldiers, and then we follow the footsteps of Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) as he enters a makeshift village set up by the rebel army. Then we cut to Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he massages an injury to his shoulder, and he is approached by his girlfriend Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), who demands that he takes his shirt off so she can apply some salve. They begin to get all lovey-dovey when they are interrupted by Wilmon, and they embrace him. “Things are getting really organized around here," says Bix. Cassian wants to know where Wilmon has been, but he’s hesitant to say, eventually telling Cassian that Luthen wants to know if he’s ready to go back to work for him. “He just wants to know if he can count on you."

Wilmon says he doesn’t necessarily trust everyone at the Yavin base. “What do you want, Wil? You want to fight? Or you want to win?" Cassian says, quoting Luthen whether he realizes it or not. Next we cut to Ghorman, where HoloNet reporters deliver monologues about recent rebel incidents as Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) walks through the plaza. Back on Yavin IV, Cassian and Bix learn that Wilmon has been on Ghorman as well, and that Luthen wants Cassian to assassinate Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), who is stationed on Ghorman at the moment. “She’s been coming after everyone we know. She’s just sitting there, Cass. She keeps winning. You know she has to be stopped!" But Cassian isn’t thrilled about the assignment, and instead reports to his rebel briefing. Once he’s gone, Wilmon tells Bix that Dedra is a monster and they won’t have a better chance to get rid of her.

On Coruscant, Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) sends a message to Dedra Meero on Ghorman that there is no suitable synthetic replacement for the mineral within the surface of the planet. He orders a declaration of martial domain on Ghorman, and then we see Syril approach Dedra’s office, but her subordinates won’t let him enter. Partagaz settles Dedra’s nerves by assuring that she will rise in the ranks of the Empire once the mission is successful, but Dedra warns him that the local insurgents have weapons. “We’re counting on it," replies Partagaz. Syril finally finds Dedra and demands information about what’s going on and why he’s being left out of the loop. Dedra tells Syril to return to Coruscant and that they will be rewarded. “For what? What have we accomplished?" asks Syril, unsure of his role in the situation. “Do what I told you," Dedra replies.

On Coruscant, we see Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and her assistant Erskin Semaj (Pierro Niel-Mee) get out of their hovercar driven by double agent Kloris (Lee Ross), and Mon tells Erskin that she’s requesting another driver. “Don’t. They’ll replace him with someone smart," he replies. We see news reports about the insurgency on Ghorman as Mon reports to the Senate building and speaks to the Ghorman Senator Dasi Oran (Raphael Roger Levy). “They don’t even bother to lie badly anymore," says Dasi about the Empire. He thanks her for her courage and her energy and tells her to protect herself, and then we cut back to Ghorman, where Dedra watches over Palmo’s town square. In a meeting of the Ghorman Front, Rylanz (Richard Sammel) resists escalation of the conflict, but his rival Lezine (Thierry Godard) demands the opposite: “We are the Ghor! If they take that from us, then what’s worth saving?"

On Yavin IV, a Force healer attends to the wounds of rebel soldiers at nighttime as Bix and Cassian approach. When Cassian realizes where they’re headed he resists, saying that his mother Maarva hated Force healers. “If I was in pain, I’d try to do everything I could to fix it," argues Bix. But as they’re arguing, the Force healer (Josie Walker) leaves the crowd and approaches the two of them. She correctly guesses that Cassian has a blaster wound on his right shoulder, and asks if she can place her hands on it. Cassian reluctantly agrees, and once she’s done she thanks him. “Thank you for what?" “The clarity. It’s so easy to lose faith." She implies that Cassian is important somehow, but he refuses to listen. Once he’s gone the Force healer tells Bix that she can “sense the weight of things." She tells Bix that “there’s someplace he needs to be." Bix is left shaken by the encounter.

Next we’re back on Ghorman, where Syril intercepts Enza (Alais Lawson) in a dark alley. He tells her that the Empire is convinced the Ghorman Front is being led astray by outside agitators, and then she slaps him and walks away. Back on Yavin IV, Cassian examines his wound, which he’s surprised to find is actually feeling better. Bix enters and tells him a little bit about her conversation with the Force healer. “I’ve felt it before, Cass. She called you a messenger. I’ve had dreams like that. I know that you felt something. That’s why you’re so upset. Let it in. It can only be good; there’s no other reason." We cut to the interior of the rebel hangar, where General Davits Draven (Alistair Petrie) walks out to the airfield and confronts Cassian, who is loading his bags onto a U-wing starfighter with Wilmon. Draven is upset that Cassian is leaving again without permission from the Rebel Alliance. “The day I need permission to come and go, I’m gone," says Cassian. “That day is near," replies Draven.

Cassian and Wilmon take off from Yavin IV and enter hyperspace toward Ghorman, and then we cut to that planet where Imperial troops are further occupying Palmo’s town square. An officer named Captain Kaldo (Jonjo O’Neill) barks orders at a sergeant to get his troops shaped up, though he tells them they are green. Dedra watches from a distance and tells Grymish (Kurt Egyiawan) that the troops look like children as they march off. Back on Yavin’s moon, Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) finds Bix and tells her how she’s left smuggling behind and is now doing intakes on new rebel recruits. Vel tells Bix that the rebel leaders sent her to reprimand Cassian for abandoning the Alliance without official leave: “Cassian is a leader now. A little discipline doesn’t seem too much to ask." “He’ll be there when you need him," Bix responds. On Ghorman, Cassian arrives in the town square and asks Wilmon when the nighttime lockdowns started. They talk about the strategy of taking out Dedra and say goodnight, trading a Ferrix “stone and sky" farewell.

In the hotel lobby, Cassian approaches the clerk he met a year earlier, but this time he’s got a new fake identity. Once he’s out of earshot of his coworker, the clerk gives Cassian a room overlooking the plaza but tells him he’ll have to carry his own bag this time, implying that he remembers him but that he’s willing to help. Cassian goes to his room and looks out over the plaza to the Imperial offices. Then he calls in to the Ghorman Front headquarters, where Wilmon responds and gives him the go-ahead for the mission. Cassian sets up his viewfinder and his rifle, continuing to study his target. He uses a mirror to spot two stormtroopers on the roof of the hotel. He contemplates his next move, and this serves as the cliffhanger ending for this episode, which I thought was a really strong start to this third arc of Andor’s second season.

I particularly enjoyed seeing this series take its first steps into the mysticism of the Star Wars universe via the Force healer, a character that feels appropriately grounded in the more realistic take on A Galaxy Far, Far Away that Andor presents. Obviously as Star Wars fans we know that the Force is indeed real (“all of it") in Star Wars, but it’s interesting that Cassian is a skeptic about it (much like Han Solo was, at first) and that he got that from his mother. I also liked that we’re starting to see the cracks in Syril Karn’s seemingly undying faith in Imperial rule. Above all I’d say Syril is committed to law and order, and when the Empire veers from those priorities to achieve its own secretive purposes is when he starts to see that it’s maybe not the best system for everyone in the galaxy.

The first nine episodes of Andor: A Star Wars Story season 2 are now available to stream, exclusively via Disney+.