Recap / Andor S1E11 "Daughter of Ferrix"

"I want M-M-Maarva."

"Let's call it war."

— Saw

Cassian and Melshi find some Narkinians and attempt to steal their ship. The pair get captured by a trap, but the Narkinians are sympathetic to their plight and generously offer to take them back to Niamos.

Maarva passes away and the people of Ferrix prepare for her funeral. The ISB are alerted and consider that this might be a time when Cassian would dare return to Ferrix. Syril Karn receives word from a former officer in the Corpos of the same thing, which steels his resolve. B2EMO is very upset by Maarva's death, so Brasso sits down to comfort the droid.

Cassian retrieves his box on Niamos but learns Maarva passed away through his contacts on Ferrix. He discusses with Melshi about how many survived the prison escape and talk of spreading the word of the horrific prison system before parting ways.

Luthen meets with Saw again, and learns that Saw has changed his mind and has decided to help Kreegyr with the raid Kreegyr has planned after all. Luthen tries to warn Saw off, and eventually explains the situation with Kreegyr. Saw is upset by both the manipulation and ruthlessness Luthen is willing to employ, sacrificing an entire cell to ensure his inside man is safe, but although Saw is reluctant he seems willing to go along with Luthen's plan.

As Luthen is leaving he gets stopped by an Imperial patrol cruiser, which he outmaneuvers and escapes due to extensive countermeasures installed on his ship.

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Tropes:

• Ace Custom: When the imperial patrol craft launches its fighter wing against Luthen's Fondor, we get to see the full extent of its modifications, which are not limited to better engines and onboard A.I. Cue Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Ace Pilot: Luthen proves himself to be quite deadly in a dogfight, making expert use of his tricked-out Fondor to down several attacking TIE Fighters while escaping an Imperial patrol.
• All There in the Script: The Narkinian fishermen are not named in the episode, but their given names in the credits as Dewi Pamular and Freedi Pamular. Despite sharing last name and calling themselves brothers, they are not the same species and not related by blood.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • When the Imperial interrogators ask Bix if Anto Kreegyr is the man she introduced to Cassian, she is seen working up the energy to speak, but we don't see how she replies.
  • It is unknown whether or not Tubes is actually working for Luthen, or if Luthen just said so in order to distract Saw enough to make his point.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When Vel tries an Armor-Piercing Question, Kleya has an answer right away.
  Vel: I brought [Luthen] Aldhani. What have you done lately?
  Kleya: I don't have lately, I have always. I have a constant blur of plates spinning, and knives on the floor, and needy, panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many.
• Batman Gambit: Luthen's escape from the Imperial cruiser, where he exploits standard imperial procedure and response to allow him to make a clean getaway. He fights against a Level 2 tractor beam to force them to increase to Level 5 and draw him in, whereupon he launches physical debris which is pulled in at Level 5 speed to heavily damage the tractor beam dish, thus releasing him from its grip and allowing him to deal with the air wing they send after him.
• Break the Cutie: Bix looks sallow and is still ruminating on her torture, and then the Imperials bring her in again to ask if Anto Kreegyr is the Buyer. They say they'll have to bring in Dr. Gorst again if she doesn't cooperate.
• Bring News Back: Melshi decides that he's going to make sure the truth of what's happening on Narkina-5 is spread to the Galaxy.
• The Bus Came Back: Linus Mosk makes a rather chipper call to Karn to inform him of Maarva's death (and the possibility that Cassian may attend), after having not been seen since he was fired from Pre-Mor.
• Call-Forward:
  • A TIE Reaper like the one that deployed the Death Troopers at the Battle of Scarif, where both Andor and Melshi will be and die, is patrolling while the same pair are still on Narkina.
  • Just like Rey and Finn will attempt in The Force Awakens, Cassian and Melshi attempt to rush to a parked quadjumper to steal it and make their escape, with both attempts failing, only to work out in unexpected ways.
  • The last shot of the episode is Cassian standing on a beach on Niamos alone with the sun gleaming on the horizon before him, shot in such a way that is very similar to the massive explosion caused by the Death Star firing on Scarif, with Cassian and Jyn awaiting their final fate together on a beach there.
  • The sleeping alien in Cassian's hotel room appears to be a Blutopian, the same species as the one in Jyn's cell and aboard the prison transport from which she is freed in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
• Contrived Coincidence: Maarva's death, and Andor's escape and attempt to contact her, happen within just a few hours of each other, allowing Andor to learn of her death and return to Ferrix for her funeral (which Luthen, the ISB, and Syril Karn are all anticipating). Had either event been just a couple of days sooner or later, Andor most likely wouldn't have learned of it in time to show up.
• Crazy-Prepared: Luthen's ship (in contrast to the Millennium Falcon) is what happens when someone has all of Han Solo's ambition and vision for a custom ship, and none of his limitations in resources. When stopped by an Imperial patrol ship, the onboard A.I. comes up with a number of existing transponder codes corresponding to ships of the same type, down to being able to dredge its databanks for codes for ships from specific worlds. When that doesn't work and they are caught in a tractor beam, he revs the engines, powerful enough it forces the Cantwell-class to increase tractor power, thus forcing it to draw in flechette countermeasures to shred the tractor emitter and let him escape. TIE Fighters are deployed, but the ship has both an automated turret and side lasers to handle dogfights, then he makes a near-instant hyperjump escape, leaving the patrol ship dumbfounded as to what just happened.
• Cultural Rebel: Inverted; Leida is a much more traditionalist Chandrilan than Mon (and even Perrin, whom Mon noted to be surprisingly open-minded about Chandrilan traditions), who notes that the ancient customs are more popular among Chandrilan immigrants to Coruscant than on Chandrila itself.
• Dirty Business: He doesn't like Kreegyr, but Saw still doesn't like the idea of letting him and his men be slaughtered. Even so, he concedes that strategically it makes sense.
  Saw: For the greater good.
  Luthen: Call it what you will.
  Saw: Let's call it war.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mon and Vel's shared response to Leida being with the Chandrilan traditionalists evoke the worries and fears of seeing a family member joining a fundamentalist movement or a cult. Additionally, Leida being the immigrant child of two Chandrilans who live on Coruscant and embracing the more questionable aspects of Chandrilan customs also brings to mind how children of immigrants in real life tend to embrace and make their ancestry a large part of their identity, sometimes even if the customs they choose to embrace are ones their parents disapprove of and maybe even emigrated to escape.
• Dramatic Irony: Cinta and Corv (an undercover operative from the ISB) interact without any hint of knowledge that they're both spies for opposite sides.
• Due to the Dead: Ferrix has a tradition where after someone is cremated their ashes are baked into a brick that's used to build walls in the town. The ISB allows them to perform this ritual for Maarva in the hopes that Cassian will be lured back to take part.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While it's colored with his usual paranoia and assumptions, Saw is still condemning of Luthen's plan to give up Anto Kreegyr and his men, only reluctantly relenting after a tense standoff in which Luthen makes his point.
  • Luthen himself briefly shows regret and doubt for the first time about letting Kreegyr and his cell walk into the ISB's trap.
    Saw: You think it's worth losing Kreegyr?
    Luthen: ... I did. I'm not sure right now.
  • Mon Mothma mentions that Perrin is "surprisingly open-minded" about the traditions of Chandrila in contrast to their daughter, despite his other failings as a person.
• Flechette Storm: Luthen unleashes a barrage of shrapnel from the Fondor in order to disable the patrol cruiser's tractor beam dish. The numerous projectiles puncture and tear up the dish in seconds.
• Heroic BSoD: Not only is Bix still greatly shaken from Dr. Gorst's nightmarish torture session, she has noticeable trouble even speaking.
• I Know You Know I Know: Luthen's long game with the Empire. In order to protect Lonni as The Mole inside the ISB, and the tactical advantage it brings, Luthen often has to put the rebellion at a disadvantage, so that the ISB doesn't suspect there's a mole. This means letting Kreegyr and his men fly into a trap, so that the ISB feels its ranks are impenetrable.
• Jerkass:
  • Just to be petty, the Imperial garrison throw up bureaucratic interference against Maarva's funeral, but Dedra orders the funeral be fully permitted, counting on Andor finally showing up there.
  • Even after Luthen's phony transponder comes up as an Alderaan trade ship, the captain of the Imperial patrol ship insists on sending a boarding party, snidely remarking that they could "use the practice".
• Laser Blade: Luthen's Fondor is equipped with two red ones that emit perpendicular from its wings, which he uses to carve through two TIE fighters.
• Life Will Kill You: Maarva passes away due to complications of old age, and the episode starts with residents of Ferrix organizing her home after her passing.
• Man Hug: Cassian and Melshi share a brief embrace before going their separate ways.
• Meaningful Funeral: The community are determined to give Maarva a traditional Ferrix funeral with a full procession through the city.
• Motor Mouth: Linus Mosk when he tries to call Syril with information, though he says that brevity is needed. He's working at a smelting plant so his verbosity keeps getting him interrupted.
• The Needs of the Many: Luthen convinces Saw that Kreegyr's group must be allowed to walk into an ambush, as otherwise it would tip the Imperials off about having a mole in the ISB, providing vital intelligence. It's "for the greater good," since this can harm the Empire far more than one attack by Kreegyr's group.
• Nerves of Steel: Luthen shows no signs of fear, panic or even general nervousness when he's caught by an Imperial patrol and nearly captured.
• Net Gun: Andor and Melshi fall afoul of one the Keredians set up to protect their ship. When they're detected, the machine fires two gooey white nets that instantly cocoon them while the ship's owners casually stand by.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: While telling Vel about her financial troubles, Mon says that with Tay's help, she was doing fine again, but after what happened on Aldhani, suddenly, all of her accounts were frozen, and Tay was unable to do anything except find out she was in more trouble than she thought. She's unaware that Vel was the leader of the Aldhani heist, and when she brings up Aldhani, Vel turns her gaze down briefly.
• Pardon My Klingon: This episode introduces another new swear word, courtesy of the Keredians — "Scob the Empire!"
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Luthen's ship always appeared interesting, but this episode is the first time we get to see how it really handles. When Luthen is caught off-guard by an Imperial patrol ship, he feigns compliance before deploying countermeasures against the tractor beam and eliminates a squad of TIE fighters all within a few minutes. The ease with how this tiny transport ship humiliates an Imperial ship is impressive.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The Empire could easily deny Ferrix's request for a public funeral for Maarva, especially after having seen a previous cultural ceremony be exploited for insurrection. But they allow it to go forward because they hope Cassian will attend so they can catch him.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Cassian has survived and escaped the Narkina 5 prison and then recovered his possessions he'll need to get by, but hundreds or thousands of others at Narkina 5 likely didn't make it, and Maarva has died alone and without knowing her son's fate before Cassian could have spoken to her again.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: When Cassian and Melshi are captured by two aliens, they speak Basic to the humans and Narkinian among themselves. Cassian and Melshi don't understand Narkinian, which isn't translated for the audience, either. In a later scene, Two Tubes speaking is translated with subtitles, since the two other in-focus characters (Saw and Luthen) both understand him.
• Really Gets Around: When he returns to Niamos, Cassian retrieves his stash of weapons and money he left hidden in the apartment of a lady friend. He sneaks in while she is asleep, and appears to have a tentacled alien in bed with her.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Luthen is a high-level rebel leader and is flying a ship with highly illegal modifications. However, the Imperial captain does not know any of this and decides to detain Luthen simply to be petty.
• Sadistic Choice: In the previous episode, Luthen was forced to choose between warning Anto Kreegyr about the ISB ambush and tipping the ISB off about The Mole, or saying nothing and allowing Kreegyr and his men to be killed. Having chosen the latter, he's then forced to give Saw the same choice after Saw changes his mind about joining Kreegyr. After some thought, Saw makes the same choice as Luthen.
  Saw: For the greater good.
• Schrödinger's Canon: The method used by Luthen to escape the tractor beam combines two different ways the heroes escaped tractor beams in the Star Wars Legends continuity, The Thrawn Trilogy. One was by firing torpedoes into the beam, which pulled them to the projector and destroyed it; the other was releasing a shower of reflective shrapnel which caused the beam's computer to temporarily lock up.
• Screw the Money, This Is Personal!: The two native Keledians Cassian and Melshi encounter note that the Empire has a standing bounty on any escaped prisoners, alive or dead. They decide to help them escape instead, explaining that the Empire's presence has fouled the water and killed off a lot of the fish, leaving them with no livelihood.
• Shrine to the Fallen: In Ferrix, a person's ashes are baked into a brick, engraved with their name, and added to a wall.
• Spy Speak: Luthen and Kleya engage in a form of this as he's leaving Segra Milo, discussing their dealings with Saw and the whereabouts of Cassian as if they were discussing a very valuable antique. Their caution is well-founded, as Luthen's ship is intercepted by an Imperial patrol ship in the middle of the conversation.
• Stunned Silence: After Luthen destroys a tractor beam, cuts through a squad of TIE fighters and escapes the Imperial patrols, the commanding officer simply stares out of the window at the wreckage in silence.
• Tragic Keepsake: When Cassian retrieves his possessions from their hiding place on Niamos, we see that he still has Nemik's manifesto with him.
• Uncertain Doom: We're never shown what happened to the other escaped prisoners. Cassian and Melshi get really lucky and run into some aliens who get them offworld. Presumably most of the other prisoners were either recaptured, killed, or are lost in the wilderness dying of hunger and exposure. Melshi theorizes that the two of them might be the only ones who got away.

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