‘Andor’ episode seven recap: the Empire strikes back

You can’t steal from the bad guys and expect to get away with it. After two blocks of three episodes that each built up to the central heist on Aldhani, Andor allows itself a bit of a reset this week – getting back to the bigger story that’s been running in the background. Now out of the bogs and back in the halls of power on Coruscant, the Empire is doing what it does best: striking back.

The Imperial Security Bureau has been wounded by the attack but the spark of rebel activity has given it the perfect excuse to begin cracking down. The cops are out, and the stormtroopers are in – with heavy taxes and martial law rolled out across the galaxy. Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) is still desperately trying to climb the career ladder and all her overtime finally pays off as she starts connecting the dots between those pesky rebels.

Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), is less lucky. Still the sad sack of Star Wars, the ex-cop is having to take every job interview his mum lines up for him, along with every not-so-subtle dig about how much of a loser he is (her pep talk about his new suit is brutal: “Look at me. I don’t believe in myself. I’m desperate for approval…”)

And he’s not the only one licking his wounds. Vel (Faye Marsay) has made it back to Coruscant and is meeting with Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau), who we now know is more than Luthen’s antique shop assistant. Revealing that she’s working for someone else in the rebel faction, she tells Vel that Cassian needs to be killed: “We can’t have him walking around with Luthen in his head. This is what revolution looks like.”

Clearly, the rebels have to get their act together. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) goes to meet Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) and freaks out that her money helped to pay for the Aldhani heist, before meeting up with another banker pal, Tay Kolma (Ben Miles) to source extra funds. We’re a long way here from the organised rebel army that we see in A New Hope – and Andor wants to show just how difficult it all was to pull together in the first place.

And what about Cassian (Diego Luna)? Heading straight back to Morlana One with his money, his plan is to pick up his adoptive mother, Maarva (Fiona Shaw) and escape somewhere sunny. Running into a badly beaten Bix (Adria Arjona), he finds out that things aren’t that simple. A flashback to the day when Maarva’s husband was hung by the Imperials shows us why she isn’t going anywhere, so Cassian flies off to the Miami of Star Wars (Niamos) alone.

Shacking up with a girl who lays in bed asking him to run out for revnog and peezos (“the greeny green ones!”), Cassian, now called “Keef”, instantly gets himself arrested for walking the wrong way down the beach. Sentenced to six years in prison, maybe he should have rethought that plan to run away…

‘Andor’ releases new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday