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Everyone should have expected a big, climactic finish to “Andor” season 2, episode 3. Season 1 made a trend of the multi-episode arc, each one delivering a major climax at the end: the showdown with corporate security on Ferrix, the Imperial payroll heist on Adhani, the prison break at Narkina 5, and the memorial service turned rebel uprising back on Ferrix. Since season 2 is taking year-long time jumps between each group of three episodes, it was natural that the trend would continue, and the first arc of “Andor” season 2 ends in a maelstrom of a montage with Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) at its center.
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The main action of the episode takes place far, far away from Chandrila, where Mon has been busy the whole arc hosting the wedding festivities of her daughter Leida (Bronte Carmichael). Instead, the last 10 minutes or so mainly focus on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as he races back to the farming community on Mina-Rau where Bix (Adria Arjona), Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), and Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) have been hiding out since fleeing Ferrix. But intercut with the intense fight on Mina-Rau — one that leaves Brasso dead and — we get shots of the wedding reception, featuring a harrowing portrait of Mon Mothma doing shots and dancing wildly to a remix of season 1’s “Niamos” music.
To be fair, Mon has a lot on her plate in this moment. She’s supposed to be happily celebrating the marriage of her (very young) daughter in a Chandrilan tradition that she deeply disagrees with. Of course, the only reason the wedding is happening at all is because Mon needed the groom’s father, Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane), to help hide her rebel-affiliated finances from Imperial eyes. To top it all off, she’s just sent off one of her oldest friends, Tay Kolma (Ben Miles), to be killed by Cinta (Varada Sethu) at the orders of Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård).
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Mon Mothma: Messy Queen of the Anxious Girlies
Pretty much every Mon Mothma scene in this opening “Andor” season 2 arc is in desperate need of a sertraline prescription. The opening scene on Chandrila in episode 1 features a single long take tracking Mon for nearly two and a half minutes. It’s the kind of reintroduction that lets you know right away you won’t be breathing much this season.
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From the flowing clothes and bright colors to the gaudy, classical decorations, the whole enterprise on Chandrila is about as claustrophobic as it could be. And things only get worse when Tay comes to Mon with some personal problems. See, a mid-life crisis can be mildly annoying for your friends and family under regular circumstances, but when you’re a banker for the Rebel Alliance, and your wife has just left you, and you’re feeling like your monetary compensation is insufficient for the risk you’ve taken on, that same crisis becomes far more dangerous. Tay’s repeated (and, at times, drunken) requests for money convince Luthen that the only way to safely deal with him is a quiet hit, which Mon objects to vehemently but ultimately allows to happen.
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Her wordless flurry on the dance floor at the end of episode 3 is “Andor” at its best, bringing together all the terror of hiding in plain site, the guilt of dirty deeds, the suffocating opulence of rich Imperial life, and the allure of hedonism in times of heartbreaking brutality. It’s a blistering, horrifying, gorgeous moment that would surely hit home for anyone who’s lived under the mind-melting insanity of an imperial state. We can see that no matter how frantically she might move, she can’t dance quick enough to evade the crushing weight of, well, absolutely everything.
The end of Andor season 2’s first arc suggests a darker tone than season 1
When you compare episode 3 of “Andor” season 2 to episode 3 of “Andor” season 1, you’ll find both striking similarities and differences. Both end with Cassian leaving a planet after an Imperial attack, though this time around, he’s the one flying the ship, not the one riding in the back. There was a casualty in the first season’s third episode, but it was Timm — a skeevy, vindictive man who maybe didn’t deserve today but also wasn’t mourned by most fans. Here, the casualty is Brasso, someone we’ve come to care deeply about over the course of the show. That’s without mentioning the attempted rape on Bix by an Imperial officer, whom she thankfully escapes and kills.
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Combine all that with the abject chaos of Mon Mothma’s big dance scene, and you’ve got a first arc that feels more chaotic and grim. Sure, “Andor” season 1 wasn’t exactly twin sunshine and rainbows, but the end of its first arc at least left you with a sense of calm. Here, the final moment before the credits is a whirling dervish of flowy wedding outfits, filmed in such a way that it’s impossible to tell what’s actually happening before the screen cuts to black. It’s an ending that’s meant to leave you feeling tense, manic, and unresolved — sort of like logging onto any social media platform on any day of 2025.
Perhaps the most striking thing about Mon Mothma’s psychedelic dancing is the shot of her dirtbag husband Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie) staring at her from across the room with genuine concern. He may be the worst, but he also recognizes just how lost and desperate his wife is in that moment.
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