Andor 1×10 “One Way Out” is the end of the prison storyline and in many ways, the end of any delusions we’ve had about what this show is about, about what true Rebellion means. Luthen puts it into words, but Cassian has embodied it from the beginning. Sometimes, to get where you want to go — where you need to go — you have to make sacrifices. And everyone on this show is probably going to end up doing just that …for the greater good. For a sunrise they won’t get to see.
The show’s clarity of purpose combined with outstanding performances has made this first season feel like a revelation, but in truth, the show has just done the one thing we perhaps needed from media in this day and age — be both firm and clear. A show that knows not just what story it wants to tell, but why it has to tell that specific story is a show that can pack a punch. Andor is precisely that show — but it isn’t just that, either.
Instead, Andor is also a showcase for Andy Serkis, who has never truly gotten his due as an actor, for Stellan Skarsgård, who has, and somehow still manages to surprise us, and for Diego Luna, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Fiona Shaw, Kyle Soller, Faye Marsay and Varada Sethu, among others. And for all that Luna’s charisma and star power carry the show, there’s never a character, a moment, that isn’t tugging at your heartstrings.
Power doesn’t panic
That clarity of purpose translates into messaging, and if Andor has been clear on anything it has been its messaging about the Empire. It is, of course, in the best interest of any authoritarian government to make its citizens believe they are in control. But Cassian sees through them enough to understand that the silence we discussed last episode, the complacency …isn’t power. It is, in fact, a weakness. Same as the panic from this hour.
Power, true power, doesn’t panic. It knows it has no need to — because it is in control. But the Empire has never been in control, it has just used its immense strength to project an image of calm it has never truly achieved. From Dedra Meero to Darth Vader himself, no one in the Empire truly believes the thing they’re selling. And that is why they can, and will lose.
I’d rather die trying to take them down than die giving them what they want
The sacrifices might be expected, but they’re no less heartfelt because of it. As viewers, we understand the story Andor is trying to tell, and we have known that might indeed mean we might lose Kino Lay, and Luthen and we know that means we will, at some point, lose Cassian. That’s the story, that’s the sacrifice. And it’s not one they take lightly, which makes it all the harder for us viewers to dismiss.
In the end, though, Andor 1×10 “One Way Out” isn’t about that loss or even about the sacrifice, it’s about the marriage of the two …it’s about what you’re willing to sacrifice for. In life, we all draw our lines in the sand, and the point of no return will rarely be the same for two people. But there is always one thing that will make us stop and think. What is that thing for us? What would it be if we lived in the world these characters live in? Don’t we …in some ways?
The question, of course, is …what are we doing about it?
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Andor 1×10 “One Way Out”? Share with us in the comments below!
The first ten episodes of Andor are now available to stream on Disney+.
