One Way Out – ‘Star Wars: Andor’ Episode 10 Easter Eggs
All of the storylines are hurtling towards their finales, and everybody is sacrificing something this week Andor.
I’ve said it time and time again, but Andor is some of the finest live actin content Star Wars has produced in years. The writing, acting, and themes are all consistently top-notch, and this episode brought all of that and then some. What happened this week? What made this episode so special? And what Easter Eggs did we notice? Let’s discuss.
Spoiler Warning! In order to delve into this episode we will need to spoil large portions of it. If you haven’t seen Andor Episode 10 yet, proceed at your own risk.
The Prison’s Uniforms are the Rebellion’s Colors
This isn’t new. I clocked this detail when we first got to the prison, but the symbolism of it didn’t seem as big and obvious until this week. This episode features a rebellion in the form of a prison break where all of the rebels are wearing white and orange prison uniforms.
And in just a few years’ time, a giant, organized rebellion will feature some of the same players and orange and white uniforms. I think it may be a little bit of a stretch to assume that the Rebellion wears these colors to honor the members of this prison break, but the symbolism and mirroring here are strong.
It goes hand-in-hand with…
The Prison is Shaped Like the Imperial Cog
After weeks of seeing the prison from inside and underwater, we finally linger on a view of it from the top. And it is shaped almost exactly like the Imperial Cog Logo. On one level, this is probably just decent space architecture, but it’s also a powerful image of what the Empire does. Both in the prison and out in the galaxy they control with terror and fear. But they also don’t and can’t listen to everyone at once and can be beaten with a good plan and some hope.
Luthen Has Another Notable Antique in His Shop
Luthen has had quite the collection of artifacts including Indiana Jones’s whip. But this week we got a look at something a little more recent. In his collection is a headdress worn by Padme Amidala in Attack of the Clones. It’s curious that something worn by a former queen and senator would be for sale as opposed to kept in a museum or safely displayed on Naboo somewhere. So perhaps this is a reproduction or Padme owned a wardrobe that wasn’t entirely bespoke. But I doubt it.
Speaking Of Luthen…
Luthen isn’t a Good Guy or a Bad Guy, but He Leans Dark
Luthen meets with his informant in the ISB who lets him know about everything from the search for Axis to the Kreegyr situation. Lonni, the informant, then tries to quit the rebellion. He’s got a daughter now and he wants to live a quiet life without the constant fear of the Empire figuring him out. And Luthen is not receptive to this. He says he’d rather let Kreegyr and his whole team die to maintain their cover and refuses to let Lonni leave his post. He needs his spy there. And he doesn’t care what the price is to pay later, it will all be worth it for the rebellion.
And this gives us such beautiful symmetry between Luthen and Mon Mothma as rebel leaders. Mon would prefer to be peaceful, debate her enemy, and send money and senate support where it is needed in the most legal way possible. We know that there will be a breaking point for Mon in about two years and she will fully join the rebellion and their war. But for now, she would like to see a galaxy brought to its senses through polite discourse.
Luthen, on the other hand, doesn’t care how many souls he has to throw at the problem to fix it. And that includes people who are on his side. To him, this is already a war, and it’s one that he doesn’t expect to see the end of.
And this last point also mirrors another leader who Andor recently followed, Kino. Both men ‘burn their lives to make a sunrise they know they’ll never see.’ And eventually, Cassian will do the same while retrieving the Death Star plans.
All of this is visually captured beautifully by Luthen often wearing dark colors. In this week’s episode, he even had a similar silhouette to Darth Vader as his cape blew in the wind and he refused to allow Lonni peace with his family. Meanwhile, in comparison, we often see Mon in white suits and dresses and Kino in his white prison uniform. They’re all different sides of the same, tragic coin.
They Don’t Close the Snoke Plot Hole
This scene broke my heart. I may never get over it.
As the prison break comes to its conclusion, Kino watches his companions jump into the water to swim for freedom and realizes that he can’t swim. And as Cassian is knocked over the edge by escaping inmates, Kino is left looking out into the water with an absolutely soul-crushing expression on his face. We don’t see him jump and we don’t see him die. We’re just left with the image of him staying behind after heroically making sure everyone else had a chance at freedom.
So what happens from here? Does he jump and do his best to float or get help from another escaping prisoner? Does he drown off-screen? Or does he stay behind to be found and interrogated by Dedra? Does he get shoved in a science tube and turned into Snoke somehow?! They introduced Andy Serkis as a second Star Wars character and don’t make it explicitly clear that they aren’t the same guy. The Snoke-Hole is still open!
(Only?) Melshi and Andor Make It
There were only two characters who we knew had to make it out of the prison alive, and those were Andor and Melshi. We first met Sergeant Ruescott Melshi in Rogue One. He’ll help Cassian assemble the infamous Rogue One squad and eventually fall in the Battle of Scariff. But first, he had to escape Narkina 5 with Cassian.
Unfortunately, these are the only two who we see make it safely to shore. The length of the swim mixed with the imperial search ships we see in the background makes me wonder if many others made it at all.
What did you think of Andor‘s prison break episode? What do you think happened to Kino? Which character’s sacrifice this week broke your heart the most? Let us know in the comments!
May The Force Be With You, Adventurers!
