Every single plotline comes to a conclusion, but the end is just the beginning.
This finale is near perfect, the consequences of every action every character has made till this moment literally explode in their face, and we get semi-conclusions to the conflicts of all the characters and nearly every plotline.
I say near perfect and I'm giving it a generous 10, because not every conclusion like Vel and Cinta's was that satisfying or clear. Especially the unanswered question of what Cinta did on Aldhani. But hey, this is not the end of the show and we got one more season!
But despite some of the unanswered questions, I loved that nearly everything, even the question we had about the prison was answered here and they all had a part in the conclusion and weren't purposeless throwaway plot devices without a reason. (The prison one in particular is in the post-credit scene, don't miss it!)
I also love that every character, even the smallest ones that you don't even know much about is important to the rebellion's inception and you can say for each of these characters that if it wasn't for them, Empire wouldn't have lost. It goes so well with the theme of the show and what Maarva and Nemik were saying before and especially in this one, that even one person can make a change and help defeat the fascist forces if they wake up.
The highlight of the episode is obviously Maarva's speech that affects everyone and even makes Luthen change his mind which we haven't seen yet.
Seeing the high and mighty Dedra Meero on the ground getting tossed around and her finally feeling like everybody else, an ordinary person who isn't above anybody else after a full season of her scoring and getting Ws non-stop was definitely satisfying to watch. Dedra is a really interesting character and a pov the writers decided to show us because we root for her when she's in ISB, because she's an underdog working to be the best, but then she comes to our actual protagonist good guys and you realize "oh yeah, she a bad guy and she's really good at being bad too, maybe I should stop rooting for her" and you hate her when she's in the "real" world.
The culmination of her story with her simp Syril Karn was kinda obvious when their storylines started to clash, but I feel like Syril's plotline especially kinda lacked, was not that deep or substantial overall. Obviously, his storyline had to wait so Dedra's could catch up and they could clash then, but overall I think there could've been more between these two, and maybe he could've saved her in another instance way earlier and she could've (fall for him!?) that way. It's not that the storyline is not interesting, it's that it feels like Cassian has been through so much in the span of 12 episodes, but all that's happened to Syril is that he got to the fight in the third episode, and he has been simping ever since until now that they finally got together and she is, I'm assuming, perhaps in love with her and he's gonna be her right hand in the next season.
The action is also great once again and I love that they don't shy away from showing what actually happens in situations like this and the ordinary people unfortunately get killed the most and it's not all fun and games. They try to write the show as realistic as possible, and they definitely have achieved that in my opinion.
Maarva practically saved the galaxy just like Cassian did in Rogue One, and there wouldn't be a Rogue One if it wasn't for Maarva. We see the gradual change of Cassian from just a regular fighter who doesn't want anything to do with rebellions and such in the beginning, just looking for his sister, to working with rebels for money, to a guy who actually endured the oppression of the fascist Empire and saw that no matter where he goes, the Empire will be there, and he finally got a reason to join the rebellion and stick to the man. So I don't wanna see people saying Andor is a bad or uninteresting character. His character arc in this season was great, maybe not too obvious and more subtle, but it was there and it was great.
This also reminded me that we never heard of Cassian's sister again and it feels like the writers completely forgot about it. They only mentioned her once in the beginning and once in the middle and never mentioned her again. I just expected finding her to be a major storyline of the season, but so far it just has been the spark that started this fire and everything that has happened so far is because it all started because Cassian was looking for her. I just hope they address that in the second season because I thought it was gonna be way more important to the story and be one of the storylines but we never got anything.
Mon Mothma's storyline also comes to the point of a customary marriage that is arranged and not based on love (yet) that is all happening because of the problems Mon has faced. I saw a comment mentioning that Mon actually knew the driver was listening and she did that to drop all the accusations and financial transactions that could get her in trouble on her husband, which I didn't even notice, that's how subtle and great the writing of this show is, and also that makes her such a cunning character and perhaps evil a bit, but I guess that husband and child deserve it. One thing I love about her storyline is that usually in these types of stories you get rebellious young characters with parents, especially if they're politicians, that are more traditional and in favor of the fascist state or in this case, the Empire. But here we see the mother be more rebellious and democratic and her young daughter be more into the traditions and power and money instead. And from the looks of it, and it was perhaps obvious from before, the daughter probably will approve of the marriage happily and will serve the Empire well.
We also get more Bix in this episode and it looks like she's gonna be more of a major character in the second season hopefully since she didn't have much screen time in this season. So I hope she has a more prominent role in the next season and will be with the group Cassian is with.
The last scene is also perfect too and the perfect setup for the next season.
All in all, I liked this finale a lot, we got a satisfying conclusion to nearly all of the storylines and characters' journies. It perhaps might not be an absolute 10/10 like episodes like The Eye or the prison episodes were, because of some of the nitpicks like Cinta and Vel's relationship not being explored enough or their conclusion not being satisfying enough, and Andor's forgotten sister storyline I mentioned above, but it's a really good finale nonetheless and satisfying all around with tension and stakes at their peak and great acting all around.
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