Andor's Most Compelling Story Finally Gives a Classic Star Wars Character Room to Shine

Remember those dark days when pop culture as a whole scoffed at the very idea of ​​"Star Wars" prequels for their "boring politics"? May we never return, especially as "Andor" proves that portraying the banality of politics in mainstream entertainment can be as tense and thrilling as any space battle or lightsaber duel - when it is in good hands, at least.

A major storyline specifically for Mon Mothma may not have been at the top of the fanbase's wishlist for this series, but it turned out to be one of the absolute best additions to a series that already has so much to do. Now that Andor's heist is over, viewers may have braced themselves for an inevitable bout of disappointment with the aftermath. While Episode 7 mostly focuses on how the Empire reacts to such a brazen act of rebellion, showing us that the perspective through Mon Mothma's single lens gives the episode the boost it needs. needs to maintain the momentum built up over its previous hours. .

It is through Mon Mothma (and, in a similar role, Stellan Skarsgård's Luthen Rael) that we see how the still-secret Rebellion has begun to loosen the Empire's iron grip on the galaxy. As a soft-spoken antiquities broker, Luthen has perfectly modest cover for his revolutionary agenda, flying well below the Imperial radar. As a senator knee-deep in the (very public) business of limiting the "overreach of Empire", Mon Mothma has far less leeway and far more to lose if her rebel sympathies were to get out of hand. reveal.

It turns out that's exactly where the central tension of this subplot is centered.