Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Andor Season 2 Episode 11.
Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) remains the heart of Andor’s final arc as Episode 11 picks up in the immediate aftermath of Luthen Rael’s (Stellan Skarsgård) tragic death. Even as Cassian (Diego Luna) re-enters the plot to save the day, every aspect of the episode revolves around Kleya — and it’s long overdue. There has been no shortage of spy thriller-esque episodes throughout the series, but it’s never more apparent that this is the genre that Tony Gilroy and his skilled team of writers, including Tom Bissell, know best. Episode 11 is 42 minutes of tense television that ends on a nerve-wracking cliffhanger that isn’t diminished even by the knowledge that you can hit play on the next episode.
The episode opens with Supervisor Heert (Jacob James Beswick) investigating the mess that Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) left behind at the hospital, following her failed operation to capture Axis. Attendant Joydali (Jonathan Oldfield) informs him that they believe that, based on the scale of the attack, they are looking for a team of three. Heert notes that Dedra’s failure leaves them on the spit, which means there can be no margin for error. He wants the hospital to remain locked down and to keep everything precisely where it is, which draws ire from the hospital’s director, Dr. Recklaw (Timothy Bentinck). After Heert threatens to have the doctor arrested for his interference in the investigation, Recklaw takes the hint and allows Heert and his goons to have the full run of the place.
This leads Heert directly to the hospital’s security suite, where they review all the feeds leading up to the attack. Lieutenant Moy (Jos Slovick) assists with the footage review, and they almost immediately notice a suspicious nurse who keeps looking down or away to avoid being captured on camera. However, Kleya has missed one of the cameras, and as soon as Heert has a clear look at their sole suspect, he heads straight back to headquarters to share his findings.
Dedra Might be a Scavenger, But She’s No Narc in ‘Andor’ Season 2 Episode 11
In the previous episode, Supervisor Heert — under the direction of Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser) arrested Dedra for her mishandling of the raid on Luthen’s gallery, but that wasn’t the real reason for why she was taken into custody. And that becomes readily apparent as Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) shuts off the security feed in the stark white interrogation room that Dedra is waiting in. As he steps into the room, Andor does something quite novel with its framing, cutting off Krennic’s face right at the nose. You need only to hear the tone that he uses to know that he is furious with her.
Krennic questions Dedra about who else knows about “the situation” and she claims that all she knows is that Supervisor Jung (Robert Emms) is dead. Krennic isn’t amused by her feigning ignorance, so he cuts straight to the chase. Jung’s death surely isn’t the reason he dragged himself to the basement of the ISB’s central office. He directs her to say the word, and she does: “Death Star.” He wants to know who else knows about the operation. Dedra believes that Supervisor Lagret’s (Michael Jenn) brother knows because he is stationed on Scarif. She tries to cast off Krennic’s suspicion by telling him to talk to Heert about it, alluding to his friendship with Jung, but that only fuels him further.
Krennic reveals that he believes Dedra betrayed the Empire, and he wants to know why Jung had her security cert. She’s genuinely taken aback by this revelation, but he is far more focused on finding out how Dedra learned about Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). She admits that several intel bundles were erroneously sent to her, which she failed to report. He questions her about specific things she possessed — Ghorman mining schedules, orbital progress assessments, Eadu research journals, and two years’ worth of printouts on the Jedha working group — and she weakly protests with a comment about having security clearance for Ghorman, which doesn’t explain the rest. Krennic remarks that he is disappointed that he didn’t peg Dedra for a scavenger sooner, and notes that she and her “fringey friend” read enough of the files to know too much. It turns out that Jung spent three hours logged into her account the previous night, and he prompts her to guess what Jung might’ve told Luthen about.
Dedra tries to clear her name, insisting she only accessed the files in her pursuit of finding Axis. She was forced to become a scavenger because of other people’s actions. She reveals that buried within one of the documents was the very piece of information that helped her crack the case. She discovered a readout about the interrogation of a Partisan spy who worked as the valet for the Moff on Jedha. The spy claimed that he was recruited by a man with a Fondor haulcraft filled with antiquities, which naturally led her to Luthen Rael. She makes a grievous misstep with this revelation, pinning the delay on finding Axis on Krennic’s people for torturing the spy to death. Krennic criticizes her “mindless” decision to confront Luthen alone, and snarks that she missed her calling to be a Rebel spy. Dedra remains blinded by her search for the Axis, admitting to Krennic that she believes Luthen’s assistant is really his daughter, and she wasn’t at the gallery during the raid. Krennic roughly manhandles her before leaving the room to clean up her mess.
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Supervisor Heert meets with Partagaz and Krennic to share his findings from the hospital. They gather in the conference room and study a hologram of Kleya, scheming about how they intend to capture her. Krennic tells Heert to disseminate her image far and wide, noting that there will “be no limit” to his efforts. Heert questions about what charges they intend to bring against her, and Partagaz suggests they categorize her as “diseased” after leaving the hospital, and tell the public that she must be found before thousands of people die. Andor never fails to remind audiences about how authoritarian regimes operate when they want to manipulate the public to feel a certain way about a dissident.
Krennic dismisses Heert and sets his sights on Partagaz, who seems strangely frustrated with everything. He admits that he won’t be able to protect Lio, but assures him that they are mere days away from testing the Death Star. It’s a very odd exchange that seems to establish tension between the two Imperial officers, and Partagaz’s general demeanor seems reduced from how he was in the years prior. Krennic reveals that he was due in Scarif two hours prior, and his trip was delayed because of the situation on Coruscant. As Krennic departs, Partagaz wishes them both luck for what they have to accomplish.
Later, Supervisor Heert comes to see Dedra in her cell. By this point, she has heard enough to correctly assume that Luthen is dead. Heert confirms as much, and adds that Luthen was killed by his assistant. Dedra makes a snide remark about his friendship with Jung, but Heert asserts he was never friends with Jung (which feels like a blatant lie, given they were thick as thieves for years). She taunts him with the prospect of joining her in a nearby cell, but Heert is more focused on getting answers than taking her bait. He questions her about why Krennic is so concerned about all of this, and Dedra assumes he’s been sent to test her, but she never explains why. Heert tells her about the major search package he pushed out to track down Kleya, and he wants to know — given her years of trailing Axis — what she might do next. Dedra notes that Kleya would need to reach out to someone, and she would know that they know she might do this. While Heert is likely too late, Dedra explains that they found an old frequency radio on Ferrix that used pulse codes to relay messages. If Kleya were to make contact with someone off-world, she would likely use something old-school to do it.
Cassian Andor Finally Has His Team in Season 2 Episode 11
At the safehouse, Kleya chips away at a wall to retrieve a pulse transmitter stashed inside. She sets it up on the kitchen counter and proceeds to send a message that may or may not be heard by one of her allies. Fortunately for Kleya, Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) has kept his transmitter, despite breaking away from Luthen’s operation. On Yavin, Wil returns home from a mission and finds Dreena (Ella Pellegrini) waiting up for him. She asks him about the transmitter hidden under their bed, assuming that it is some kind of radio. She tells him an incoming message woke her up about a half hour ago, and Wil promises to explain things to her — but he has somewhere he needs to be.
While Bix (Adria Arjona) is no longer there to make Cassian’s spacious quarters into a home, there’s still a lot of life within it — primarily thanks to K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) and Melshi (Duncan Pow), who seem to have a nightly tradition of playing games together. As K-2 notes, while stressing over the unpredictable nature of humans, they’ve played 863 games — enough for him to have a solid predictive sample, and still come up short. Cassian and Melshi are quite giddy about taunting the droid for being a, well, droid. It’s such a great scene that helps to bridge the gap between where Cassian was a year ago and where he will be in a few short weeks. There’s also a degree of irreverence that feels true to who the character is in Rogue One.
Wil rushes in, interrupting their game with the revelation that someone — likely Luthen — has tried to make contact with them. K-2 warns that there is a base-wide restriction on unsanctioned radio transmissions, but he quickly realizes that the three men do not care about rules. Cassian is skeptical at first, believing that the transmission could have been crossed wires or a power surge, but Wil assures him that he always keeps it charged for moments like this. As they deliberate, the radio starts up again with its burst broadcast and an abbreviated chain that K-2 guesses Cassian has memorized. He does, and it’s enough to convince him that someone needs their help. He doesn’t care if it’s a trap — he has to go, even if it stands in opposition to the direct orders he’s under on Yavin.
Cassian instructs Wil to get them scheduled for a test run, and K-2, once again, tries and fails to get them to do things by the book. As they are gearing up to leave the base, Draven (Alistair Petrie) catches wind of their scheme, and knows better than to believe that Cassian has sincerely scheduled himself for an evaluation flight. K-2 keeps a running tab of the number of orders they have disobeyed (18, to be specific) as they disregard an order to stand down. With Cassian, Melshi, and K-2 halfway across the galaxy, Draven interrogates Wil about what the trio is doing. Wil admits that they are headed to Coruscant to help Luthen, and only because it was an emergency call — a final call. Draven is disappointed that even after everything, they still jump the second Luthen snaps his fingers. Wil reminds Draven that everything they have on Yavin is directly because of Luthen, which doesn’t earn him any favors. Draven orders Wil to be confined to his quarters for his role in the mission. As they arrive on Coruscant, Melshi marvels at the city — he’s never been to Coruscant, and he’s likely never been to any planet that’s quite so auspicious. K-2, however, has been to Coruscant before, and he gets a chuckle out of Cassian as he recalls a parade he was in once, which the Emperor himself attended.
The ISB Closes in on Kleya in ‘Andor’ Season 2 Episode 11
Meanwhile, Supervisor Heert arrives at Luthen’s gallery, where the ISB is still sweeping for evidence. While Luthen destroyed a lot of evidence, the transmitter remains intact. At the precise moment that the ISB gets the radio up and running, Cassian makes contact with Kleya in the safehouse. They intercept the transmission and use it to geolocate where Kleya is hiding. Heert makes contact with Partagaz to share their success, and quickly puts together two tactical teams to infiltrate the apartment complex where the safehouse is. Heert shows off a hologram of Kleya to the tac teams and tells them that they must capture her alive.
Episode 11 quickly becomes a race to the finish line for both Cassian and Heert, who are blissfully unaware of each other. As Cassian and Melshi head inside the apartment complex, Heert’s team launches a comms scramble, which K-2 takes note of immediately. It takes Cassian a little bit longer to recognize that his comms aren’t merely malfunctioning, though he doesn’t share this with Melshi. They head up to Level 27, and Cassian remarks that it’s been a while since the last time he was in that long stretch of hallway. After all, it’s been a year since he rescued Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and broke away from Luthen’s operation. They’re cautious as they approach the room, well aware of the fact that this could be a trap, but fortunately it isn’t — at least not intentionally.
Cassian knocks on the door, calling out to Luthen to open the door, but it’s Kleya who answers with a blaster in hand and a look of disappointment that it’s Cassian on the other side of the door. Cassian is equally surprised to find Kleya there. At the same time, the ISB sends a message through the transmitter, which helps them locate the precise unit she’s inside, and within minutes, the tac team is given the order to descend on the building. Kleya tells Cassian everything they learned from Lonni. Scarif, the super weapon, the kyber crystals, and Galen Erso. Cassian is less concerned about all of this and presses her for information about Luthen. Is he really dead? Kleya bristles at the question and insists that Cassian repeat all of the information she just relayed to him. She’s fixated on the details because this is the information Luthen died for. Cassian tells her that they can’t stay on Coruscant, and Kleya panics at the thought of being taken to Yavin. She knows how they feel about Luthen, and by extension, her, but Cassian refuses to leave her behind.
Cassian promises her that things will work out for her on Yavin, but she’s still stuck on the fact that Cassian once told her that he was “done.” He recalls how she thought he was “wrong,” and he is confident that he made the right decision back then. Kleya grabs him, angry and upset, and tells him to thank the galaxy that Luthen stayed on Coruscant for as long as he did, because he figured things out that no one else did. “You owe him that.” It’s safe to say that Cassian owes Luthen a lot more than that. While Cassian and Kleya hash out their differences of opinion, K-2 is busy saving the day. One of the troopers radios in a question about whether they requested a reinforcement droid, and he’s told it’s likely just the local patrol — but it’s not. K-2 takes out troopers left and right as he makes his way into the apartment complex where the tactical team is already en route to the safehouse. Episode 11 ends right in the middle of the operation, leaving us on the edge of our seats.
The entirety of Andor is streaming now on Disney+.
K-2 saves the day with strength and humor in Andor Season 2 Episode 11.
- Release Date
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2022 – 2025-00-00
- Episode 11 is the perfect mid-point episode for the series’ final arc.
- The balance between K-2’s humor and Cassian’s stoic attitude makes for a dynamic and entertaining episode.
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