Andor – Season 1 Episode 11 “Daughter of Ferrix” Recap & Review

Daughter of Ferrix

Episode 11 of Andor starts with Cassian attempting to evade the Empire with another escaped prisoner, Melshi. The pair find themselves hanging on for dear life on the edge of a cliff-face. A beautiful fade edit skips out from this to another scene, that involving B2EMO over on Ferrix, who’s needed to help the Daughters of the planet. Maarva is dead.

A big funeral is planned to mourn the passing of The Mother, but the Empire is ever-watchful and is keen to make sure no trouble ensues. Meero decides to allow them the permit for this 2 day event, explaining the customs to the other officers.

Meanwhile, Andor and Melshi make a run for it, intent on getting to a quadjumper and getting off the planet. Unfortunately, they walk right into a trap as a net springs out and catches them both. Two aliens watch with bemused expressions. Their names are Freedi and Greedi, and after some back and forth rapport, they admit they’re not happy with the nearby prison, which has siphoned all their water and caused them to scrabble for scraps. Thankfully Cassian and Melshi talk their way out of trouble, and take off in the ship to a safer system.

One person not doing too well here is Bix, who’s still suffering the effects of her torturous ordeal. She hasn’t given much information up, but she’s a complete mess. In her exhausted state, she’s asked about Anto and his connection with Cassian Andor. She begins to weep, but doesn’t crack. At least not yet. But how long can she hold on for?

Meanwhile, Vel learns the trouble Mon Mothma is in. The rebellion is not cheap and she admits in confidence that she’s been pulling 100,000 credits out of the family trust every month for the rebellion. It all seemed to be going swimmingly, until a few months ago she was contacted by one of the bankers back home, warning that Imperial inspectors would be taking a closer look at her books.

Mon admits she’s done what she can, pulling everything she could access into the main account. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. One empty ledger at the end was off-balance and in order to rectify that, she used Tay Kolma to help replace the credits. Of course, this is a slippery slope and now there’s 400,000 credits missing – and all eyes will be on Mon very soon as a result.

Luthen doesn’t even know how bad this is, but he did warn her. Vel narrows her gaze and admits this can’t get out… but Mon has a solution. It’s not a particularly pleasant one, but a solution all the same. And it could well be striking a deal with the shady Davo Sculdun.

Sergeant Mosk rings Syril with information on Andor. He brings up how Maarva has passed away and as such, it’s the perfect opportunity to grab Andor as he could show up for the funeral.

Speaking of showing up, Luthen warns Saw Gerrera about the upcoming trap the Empire have laid for them. He’s willing to burn Kreegyr, their ally, to keep everything they currrently have in place. The mole inside the Empire is invaluable and Luthen knows this. However, it’s Saw’s decision. Do they let Kreegyr go down or play the long game? Or do they warn him, save his life, but end everything?

Luthen knows how the Empire operates and believes letting this sacrifice happen would make the Empire feel invincible – cocky even. That superior confidence would allow them to exploit any weaknesses the Empire have and strike harder. The alternate would see the Empire more suspicious than ever before and make a counter-attack that much harder.

Luthen is picked up en-route back home by an Imperial Star Destroyer – an early model from the looks of it – and armed with a mighty tractor beam in the form of several big satellite dishes on the front. Luthen attempts to get away, and although his fake ID passes, the Commander onboard the Destroyer is determined to board and search Luthen’s cargo, claiming they “need the practice.”

When Luthen attempts to get away, evading the tractor beam with counter-measures, TIE Fighters attack. Thankfully Luthen has lasers on the side of his ship which completely cut through them in ease. I wonder if they’d cut through the Star Destroyer too? Well, we don’t wait to find out as Luthen jumps to hyperspace and manages to evade the Imperials.

Meanwhile, Andor tries to send a message back home to Maarva, but the news comes in that she’s passed away. He’s understandably heartbroken, and after handing over his gun to Melshi, who promises they need to spread the word about the horrors of Narkina 5, Andor is left with a difficult decision to make.

The Episode Review

Andor’s penultimate episode sows the seeds for what should be a very intriguing finale to come next week. There’s plenty to like about this chapter and the subdued way Maarva’s death was handled is certainly a nice addition that works really well in the context of the story.

Al roads now lead to Ferrix, with the Empire undoubtedly eager to throw their weight around. However, Syril is the wildcard here and it remains to be seen exactly what will happen at this funeral.

The show has done well to keep all these moving parts ticking along and understanding how much trouble Mon is in helps to contextualize her plight and how difficult it’s going to be for her to actually stay in this rebellion and not arouse suspicions. Either way, next week’s finale should be quite the intriguing watch.