Time passes, and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and the Rebels are approaching the point of declaring all-out war on the Empire on Scarif.

In the final three-part episode of the second season of Andor, set in BBY 3, the crisis on Gorman begins to escalate when Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) dispatches Cassian and trusted agents Vel Sartu (Fay Marsay) and Cintu Kaz (Varada Setu) assess the brewing uprising on the front lines.And while Wilmon Paak (Muhannad Bhayer) learns how to survive in the trenches from none other than Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) continues to fight through diplomacy, meeting with Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) with all the decorum possible.

Meet Varian Skye

The year that Cassian rescued his friends from Mina-Rau, he and Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) began working together on missions for Luten Rael. But to investigate the brewing rebellion on Gorman, Cassian must go alone. Disguised as Varian Skye, an aspiring fashion designer from Coruscant making his first pilgrimage to House Rylantz to see the fine fabrics created by a longtime master weaver, Cassian comes into contact with Carro Rylantz. The respected businessman is also the leader of the Gorman rebel cell, counting his daughter Enza as one of its members. They are a proud family, maintaining a legacy that has endured 19 generations, and fearful of Imperial occupation, but they are not all that impressed with Cassian and his aversion to starting an open fight. “It's hard not to steal things. It’s hard to leave,” Cassian warns. Perhaps he's thinking about Ferrix and the home he lost, the fleeting life he led in the years that followed. But with the Empire clenching its fist around so many star systems, the people of the galaxy will soon have no choice.

And Cassian doesn't know that their inside source is Cyril Karn (Kyle Soller).Karn may not be stalking Andor in his sleep, but he continues to harass him from the shadows, acting as a double agent from his new position in the Bureau of Standards office on Gorman. Invited to a secret meeting of the Gorman Front via a note left in a gollectipod trinket, we have to admit that Cyril Karn seems an unlikely candidate to pull off the ISB double agent's top-secret infiltration. But with the support of the head of Imperial Security BureauDedra Miro (Denise Gough), Karn finds himself working directly for href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/major-partagaz">Major Partagaz (Anton Lesser). If only his mother could see him now!

Through the eyes of these outsiders, we get to know Gorman on a more intimate level as Cassian and Cyril meet the locals and realize the burden they carry. In the center of the city, a memorial pays tribute to the innocent lives lost in the Tarkin Massacre, an earlier incident of civil unrest and Imperial repression that is an open wound in Gorman's history. And now the Empire boldly erects an arsenal to blot out the sunlight, a shadow looming over Gorman's people, unlike Tarkin's great ship that refuses to delay landing despite the peaceful protest below. As the young hotel worker Tela tells it, this tragedy becomes the story of a boy who lost his father too early, but refused to leave his home.

Life interrupted

Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz soon find themselves on the Gorman front as well, and their reunion is surprisingly tender given their estrangement. Vel admits that she's only on this mission to see Cinta, and while she doesn't go into detail, it appears that their time apart was orchestrated out of an attempt to protect Vel.It's a very typical Han and Leia bond - right down to the line about Cynth's hair being different - and it serves as a reminder that rebellion often interrupts the personal lives of those who choose to fight.

Poor Vel. At the beginning of the heist, she is as bossy as always, ready to rein in these rebels, teaching them the chain of command. The Empire benefits from being a militaristic operation, and the rebels must line up if they hope to defeat their enemy. But when a fight breaks out and a shot is fired that kills Cinta, Vel suddenly loses sight of his entire purpose and place in the operation. In an instant the roles are reversed and Enza reminds Vel of the work they have to do. But like a good soldier, Vel is only briefly lost in his emotions. By the time the team sets off with the stolen Imperial crates, Vel has regained his courage. Her instructions begin more like a eulogy for the fallen. “She was a warrior! She was everything you dreamed of,” Vel tells a sobbing Samm. “She was a miracle, and you... die like this? Because of you? Some whining, cutesy child-fool? Don’t you dare cry... You will atone for this forever.”

And speaking of redemption, we're happy to see Bix's transformation from unbridled to the dispenser of her just retribution. It's a mission tailor-made for her, as the Empire is poised to turn Dr. Gorst's horrific torture methods into a textbook for submission. It could be argued that Beaks needs this win to fight off the demons that haunt her evenings. If she hadn't been the one to end Gorst, would she have ever believed that she was truly free from that particular pain?It's a small victory for the rebels and an explosive end to Bix's torment, but a moment worth celebrating nonetheless.

Spies at the highest levels

And on Coruscant Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) and her husband Perrin Fertha (Alastair Mackenzie) go to a luxurious evening Davo Skuldun (Richard Dillane). These are the elite of the capital, including Director Orson Krennic and Lonnie Young (Robert Emms), Luten Rael and Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau).

One of the most daring missions in this arc, Clay must skillfully remove a listening device from the Tinian Codex while some of the most powerful players in the Rebellion and the Empire stand just feet away from her. At any moment it could be compromised and everything they had sacrificed and worked for could be destroyed. But Clea is unwilling to admit defeat, and this time she will need her own blood to complete her job.

Meanwhile, on D'Qar, Vilmon Paak learns a lesson in the harsh reality of war. Far from the young man who took action when his father was kidnapped by the Empire, Vilmon begins to become increasingly confident in his place among the rebels. But Saw Gerrera still - understandably - scares him. The base looks completely different from when The Resistance would use it in the fight against The First Order. In that future, General Leia Organa will lead with compassion. But that's not So's forte.His rebel cell adheres more to the pirate code, taking what they want and killing the traitors on sight. Is this the beginning of So's descent into madness?