Andor: Season 2: Episode 3: Harvest
What is it ? : At the wedding on Chandrila, Mothma talks to her daughter, telling her that her own mother was drunk at her wedding and she only now realises why. She tells her that she doesn't have to go through with it, she can walk away and no one will think worse of her, but the daughter tells her she wishes that Mothma was drunk.
They go through the wedding ceremony, and into the celebrations afterwards, where a droid comes out playing music which everyone dances to. Standing aside and observing she realises that Tay Kolma has been trying to talk to Davo Sculdun throughout the party, something he promised to not do and she discusses this with Luthen Rael, who tells her there is only one way to deal with this, shocked by this she begins drinking and throwing herself into the party. Outside, Tay Kolma boards his speeder, and it is shown that the driver is Cinta Kaz.
On Coruscant, Syril Karn and Dedra Meero are waiting in their apartment, when the door chime goes and Syril's mother, Eedy, arrives. They have an awkward meal, where she criticises Syril and is bitchy towards Dedra. Syril excuses himself, and Dedra begins to explain the situation to Eedy. That if she wants Syril in her life, Dedra guarantees her that Syril will visit at least once every two months, and will call her every 2 weeks, the frequency will depend on how much Eedy brings disruption to their lives. Eedy brings up Syril's Uncle who has political power, and Dedra tells her she's looked him up with Imperial intelligence and knows about his arrests. We see Syril waiting curled up on the bed, and when he returns Eedy is much more pleasant.
On Mina-Rau, Brasso and Bix discover that the next inspection is their farm, so they get forged papers to do work on a distant farm, but before they can leave the inspection arrives. Brasso is caught at the local store, and Bix is cornered in their home by the Imperial Lieutenant who tells her that if she finds a way of easing his tension, that he will ignore that he knows she's an illegal, and attempts to sexually assault her, but she ends up killing him. In the chaos, Brasso tries to escape on his speeder bike, with the Imperial Forces firing upon him, but Andor arrives in the Tie Avenger and kills them, but notices the speeder bike having crashed. Landing to investigate he discovers Brasso dead, and as Bix arrives, they board the Tie Avenger and leave the world behind.
High Points : "How nice for you!"
In an exceptional episode, it's these words I found the most impactful, when Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael are talking, and he suggests that she must be protected, that there is only one way to deal with Tay Kolma, and she exclaims she has no idea what he means, he say the above words. He has given up all moral standards to defeat the enemy, and I think wants to keep her safe as someone to rebuild the galaxy with those standards should they win this war. And as the amazing music builds, and she gets more drunk to avoid having to accept that Luthen is going to have a friend killed, because that friend is now a danger. She has already taken a step down the path to becoming like Luthen, she's allowed her daughter to enter a potentially unhappy arranged marriage, and now is allowing her friend to be killed.
And while the action on Mina-Rau is extremely good, and would be a highlight in any other series, it pales to what is around it. Even the meal between Dedra, Syril and his mother is amazing, Eedy is an absolute horror of a person, but in comparison to the coldly efficient Dedra she is an amateur, and seeing Dedra lay out the situation like a military plan, while Syril hides ashamedly in the bedroom, is so much fun, making you almost forget you're supporting the fascist.
Low Points : The attempted sexual assault feels uncomfortable, as it should, and I can see why people wouldn't like it in their Star Wars, but it's an excellently done scene. I can find little else to criticise in this episode, I found it absolutely gripping throughout.
So what do you really think ? : An absolutely amazing episode, the wonderful way they flipped between the music a the party, with Mothma getting drunk to ignore the violence and killing involved in what she's doing, and the same music being the soundtrack to an attempted sexual assault and the fighting that breaks out because of that. At first the music sounded out of place in Star Wars, as we saw the first Star Wars rave we've ever witnessed. But as it went on, it just suited the scenes so well, the contrast between the Chandrilan's partying away at a wedding, and people fighting for their lives.
I've been told that the series only gets better as it goes along, but already it's been absolutely amazing. Still slightly slow moving at points (Andor being a prisoner of the Rebel factions dragged along for example), but far less so than last season. Absolutely brilliant.
Final Words : With Tay Kolma probably dying off screen (it's my understanding that each group of three episodes is set one year apart), I do wonder what he hesitated to say. During the party he speaks to Mothma, hinting at his blackmail threat against her, but before he leaves he pauses, as if he wants to say something. Was he just feeling bad for blackmailing a friend? For using something he knows is doing good to threaten her with? Will we find out, or was it just another piece of fantastic acting in a series filled with fantastic acting.
Score : 9.5/10
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