Andor – One Way Out Review

What a spectacular hour of television. From the thrilling prison break to the revelation of a double agent within the midst of the Imperial Security Bureau, this episode really had it all. And that included the chance to see two great actors – Stellan Skarsgård and Andy Serkis – really get the chance to show their worth to a series like this one with stellar performances. For a series that was pitched as the story of Cassian Andor before he sacrificed himself in Rogue One, Andor has become about so much more. But as “One Way Out” showed us all, it’s truly about the sacrifice necessary to allow good to triumph over evil – and just how much that costs those who work within the gray areas of the Rebellion to make it happen.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will say it again: Morally gray characters are far more interesting than those who tread in the pure light. If someone is always good – if you can always trust that they will make the right choice at the right moment (even if, sometimes, that choice still means they can’t win) – that’s boring. I’ve had this debate with folks in the past – that they only want to see good superheroes conquer the bad guys, they don’t want dark, moody ones – and I never quite understand the argument they’re making. Sure, presenting hope – that things will work out and people will be ok in the end – isn’t bad writing and can be compelling. But refusing to take the time to delve into your heroes and see just what makes them tick, what gives them the strength to win, why they are willing to go to a certain line and not cross it? That’s not worth the price of admission for me.

What we had this week with Luthen – in a speech that will resonate throughout the Star Wars universe for years, beautifully written by Beau Willamon (who knows a thing or two about great speeches as the former showrunner of House of Cards) and beautifully performed by Skarsgård – was as close to a perfect moment as I think I’ve ever seen in a story like this one. We had a hero – one with a sketchy past, who has made it clear that the human, financial, and personal cost he asks of those under his purview is great and that he’s not afraid to cut off someone if the “greater good” requires it of him – lay out just what it takes to win a rebellion. But not just that, what it takes for someone in his position – a man who puts on his own façade daily, who moves the chess pieces around, who is working multiple contacts in multiple places, who is trying to tie together the various factions of the Rebellion into some semblance of a coordinated attack – to get up in the morning and do his job.

On the outside, he appears to have the cushy position. He can go about his day-to-day business, checking in on those who need it, fielding reports, connecting with contacts, but he never needs to get his hands dirty on the ground. Luthen and Mon Mothma hold similar positions within the Rebellion in this way – presenting outwardly as elite, normal, powerful in different but still similar ways, but being wracked with guilt, fear, and nerves when they look in the mirror at night. But, unlike Mon, who is in as precarious a spot as anyone in the Rebellion – as I suspect we will see in stark relief by the time the series is through (and the choice of hiding her money or betrothing her daughter to the son of a criminal is likely what will set her on the path to the underground) – Luthen is the one character who has to know everything about everyone and keep all the balls in the air, lest the Rebellion fail. It’s a hell of a position, and one in which he, as he said in his speech, doesn’t expect to make it out alive. That’s heavy, heavy stuff.

We saw this play out in a micro-arc this episode with Kino Loy’s speech at the prison and the revelation that, after rallying the troops to escape, his inability to swim (and his separation from Cassian at the ledge) likely means he’s not going to make it out alive. Every revolution needs the spark, the person who is able to create the sense of community, of safety, of immediacy, to get the oppressed to rise up. Rarely does that person live to see the fruits of their labors realized. Did Kino somehow manage to swim, in that mass of humanity, and survive? We don’t yet know – and we might never know – but we know that many of those men in the facility did survive (and, in the case of Cassian and Melshi, will go on to help the Rebels in other ways during the Rebellion). Does the sacrifice of one outweigh the survival of the many? “One Way Out” certainly argues that it does – and it goes even further to suggest that any and all who sign up to participate in the overthrow of a fascist force like the Empire also agree – explicitly or implicitly – that the needs of the many outweigh their own wants, needs, and, ultimately, life.

The human cost of stories like this one is often ignored in the storytelling, as the tale opts to focus on the hero’s journey rather than the roles of the many that allowed that hero to get in a position to complete their heroic task. We know that our titular hero makes it out of this series alive, but we also know that, down the line, he’s going to sacrifice himself so that another Star Wars hero can begin on his own journey (and he, in turn, will do the same later in his life). But, with this episode, we also reminded that those sacrifices aren’t pure moments where a person lays down their life, calmly, rationally, understanding their role, so that others may live. Rather, it’s a long road to get there – one filled with loss, self-doubt, worry, fear, and pain. Knowing you are sacrificing yourself for the greater good is one thing. Knowing that you are dooming others to that same sacrifice? Well, that’s not quite so easy. Television is at its best when it holds a mirror up to us, to our world, and reflects back key parts of the human condition for us to digest, dissect, and understand. Andor managed to do that and more with “One Way Out.” A hell of an episode of television, indeed.