Rix Road (episode)

"Rix Road" is the twelfth and final episode of the first season of Andor. The episode is directed by Benjamin Caron and written by Tony Gilroy.
==Official description==
Cassian returns home to Ferrix, a tinderbox that is experiencing a spark of rebellion.
==Expanded description==
Targeted by numerous interests, the fugitive Cassian returns home to Ferrix, a tinderbox that is experiencing a spark of rebellion.
==Plot summary==
===Homecoming===
The episode opens with Wilmon Paak working on a machine at his late father Salman Paak's Repaak Salyard. Elsewhere, ISB Supervisor Dedra Meero lands at Ferrix's spaceport in a Lambda-class shuttle with two Death troopers. Stormtroopers guard the spaceport and Caleen Salyard. Meanwhile Bix Caleen waits anxiously inside her cell.
Meero is greeted by Captain Vanis Tigo, who says dinner is ready. Meero instead decides to walk the streets with Corv as her escort. Wilmon continues working on a machine. Meanwhile, Xanwan informs Brasso that Cassian Jeron Andor has returned to Ferrix to attend his mother Maarva Andor's funeral. Brasso tells him to keep this news secret and find steam to no one.
A disguised Meero and Corv walk through the streets of Ferrix while Wilmon assembles a machine. He looks to a hologram of his late father Salman. Elsewhere, Nurchi speaks with Xanwan about the impact of Maarva's death on Andor. The two agree not to discuss their conversation with anyone else.
===Marital strife===
Meanwhile on Coruscant, Mon Mothma confronts her husband Perrin Fertha about his gambling in their airspeeder. Mothma tells the driver Exmar Kloris to give them privacy. Mothma tells Fertha to take his gambling offworld to Canto Bight. Fertha gets angry and denies he has a gambling problem. Fertha thinks that people are trying to get Mothma down by coming after him. Fertha hints that whoever is behind revelations of his gambling activities is aware of her covert activities. He asks where he would get the money. Mothma responds that concerns her the most. Fertha says someone is lying to her, which Mothma agrees. Kloris listens intently to their conversation.
===On the run===
Back on Ferrix, Vel Sartha meets with Cinta Kaz. Kaz tells Sartha that they are being watched by an ISB operative and that Meero has arrived. Kaz thinks they are getting ready to trap Andor. Sartha is aware of the situation and says they need to get there first. Sartha tells Kaz to come away from the window. Andor roams the streets of Ferrix and touches an inscription. He reflects upon his late adoptive father Clem Andor's words "that that man who sees everything is more blessed than cursed."
Andor experiences a flashback of his father teaching him how to wash and recycle used machines as a means of saving money. Andor climbs into Caleen's scrapyard and is confronted by a pair of canine creatures. He is discovered by the custodian who turns out to be his old friend Pegla. Pegla reveals that Caleen was captured by the Empire.
While Caleen waits in her cell, Andor reflects on the late Karis Nemik's manifesto about freedom being a source of strength when the struggle seems impossible. Nemik talks about countless cells engaging in acts of resistance across the galaxy without realizing that they have enlisted in the cause. He talks about diverse rebel cells being part of a galactic struggle. The Imperial need for control is unnatural since tyranny requires constant effort. Authority is brittle and oppression is the mask of fear. He talks about the small skirmishes and battles swelling into a bigger tide that will overwhelm the Galactic Empire. One single thing will break the siege.
===Meero's trap===
Meanwhile, Tigo informs Meero that Imperial forces have pulled back their air traffic and uniform patrols and relaxed curfew. Tigo says that the trap is ready. When Meero asks when is the funeral, Tigo says that the Empire has delayed the funeral for two hours after lunch. After negotiations with the Daughters of Ferrix, they assigned half of Rix Road for the funeral and allowed a maximum of forty people to attend.
Another Imperial officer explains to Meero that the Daughters of Ferrix are a social club and that Maarva served as a president. Merzin Keysax dismisses them as a nonsense and says that they will have snipers and local containment units stationed nearby. Meero rules out the use of snipers since she wants Andor to be taken alive. Sartha walks past an Imperial speeder manned by an Imperial Army trooper carrying two stormtrooper snipers.
===A hollow victory===
Elsewhere, ISB officers Blevin and Exmar Kloris discuss an audio recording of Mothma and Fertha's conversation about the latter's gambling problems. Blevin thinks that they can exploit Fertha's gambling problems as a leverage against Mothma while Kloris thinks that Fertha has gambled before. Blevin also discusses Mothma's recent financial transactions. Lagret informs his comrades that they are missing news of the successful operation against Anto Kreegyr. Blevin leaves to join the briefing but Kloris stays behind.
Major Lio Partagaz proudly announces to the assembled ISB officers that Kreegyr's entire team was killed and that they can close the case. The sole dissenter is Meero who speaks via comlink since she is offworld. Partagaz justifies the decision to take no prisoners by saying that the elimination of Kreegyr's cell was intended to please the Emperor following the Aldhani heist. When Meero says that they need prisoners for intelligence gathering purposes, Partagaz tells her to capture the elusive "Axis".
===Plans in motion===
Elsewhere, Rael exits his Fondor Haulcraft and rides a speeder bike on the rocky surface of Ferrix. Meanwhile, Corv realizes that the man whom he has been following is not Andor. Pegla arranges for Andor to meet with Brasso in an underground tunnel. Andor regrets leaving Caleen. Brasso passes a message from Maarva. Maarva says that Andor is not at fault and describes him as the first spark in the fire. Maarva also describes Andor as an unstoppable force for good. Brasso also tells Andor that Maarva loves him despite his faults.
Elsewhere, Pegla keeps watch for Andor. He tells Andor that the street is clear while Brasso tells Andor that Caleen is being held in the hotel. He thinks the Empire is keeping her alive for a reason. Andor is determined to rescue her. Brasso says that he will take care of the funeral while Andor rescues Caleen. Meanwhile, a disguised Syril Karn and Linus Mosk travel on hoverbus towards Gavalox Communications.
===Maarva's funeral and speech===
Andor climbs out of his hiding place while stormtroopers march through the streets. Sartha also meets with Rael and discusses Meero. Rael briefs Sartha about their plans to assassinate Andor and tells her to get in touch with Kaz, who is watching the Andor household. The "Time Grappler" bangs a block to signify the beginning of Maarva's funeral. Musicians begin playing their instruments as the Daughters of Ferrix prepare for the funeral. Meero asks what is going on.
While Rael roams through the streets, Karn and Mosk also travel in disguised through the town. Musicians lead the funeral procession through the streets of Ferrix's settlement. Wilmon also jons the procession while carrying an object in his pouch. Sartha, Kaz, and Corv also slip through the crowd while an Imperial officer orders his men including Imperial Army troopers and stormtroopers to get the people off the street. Andor spots Rael while hiding in an attic. Meanwhile, Caleen watches the procession from her cell.
Nurchi meets with Corv and negotiates his reward in exchange for spying. Corv agrees to smuggle him out and stages a fight to maintain Nurchi's cover. At the Ferrix hotel, Meero warns Captain Tigo that she wants Andor alive. As a large crowd of citizens gathers in Rix Road, Imperial troops arrive to confront the funeral procession. B2EMO leads the procession. With Corv and Death troopers in pursuit, Andor flees into a sewer which leads to a kitchen in the Imperial hotel.
Imperial forces watch as the funeral attendees begin chanting "stone and sky." Meanwhile, Andor holds a cook at gunpoint and asks where Caleen is. The cook gives directions before expressing his condolences for Maarva. At the funeral procession, B2EMO plays a holorecording of Maarva, who talks about touching a funeral stone for the first time while she was six years old. She talks about walking to the Funeral Square with her sister and being inspired by the dead. She tells the assembled crowd that she wants Ferrix to go on. She says that the people have been sleeping. Maarva says that they have been turning from the truth: that there is a darkness spreading through the galaxy. She describes the Empire as a disease that thrives in darkness and when they sleep. She urges them to fight.
===The uprising===
Captain Tigo overturns B2EMO, angering the crowd who begin attacking the Imperial Army troopers who are equipped with riot gear. During the ensuing riot, Brasso knocks out Tigo with a brick containing Maarva's remains. Andor navigates his way through the hotel and knocks out a soldier. As the crowd fights the Imperial Army soldiers, an officer orders his men to shoot the "Time Grappler." Meanwhile, Andor finds Caleen in her cell and tells her that he has come to free her. Caleen is reluctant to leave but Andor encourages her.
Meero is accosted by protesters. Wilmon hurls his improvised bomb at a vehicle carrying explosives, scattering the crowd and the Imperial soldiers; he is detained by a pair of Imperial stormtroopers, but is rescued by Brasso, who leads him to safety. Now behind the defensive formation, Captain Tigo issues orders to open fire on the crowd as the protest descends into a skirmish. Stormtroopers open fire on civilians and protesters, killing several. Corv finds Kaz in the streets but she stabs and kills him. Pegla evacuates B2EMO from the streets while stormtroopers use laser turrets to open fire on the crowd.
Andor escorts Caleen out of the hotel, which has been damaged by the explosion. They pass an unconscious Nurchi, who was knocked out by debris. A stormtrooper attempts to stop the Time Grappler, who instead throws him off the tower. Meero is attacked by a mob but is saved from being lynched by Syril Karn, who hides her inside a storeroom. Meero is initially angry but reluctantly thanks Karn. Rael watches the uprising from a distance. Elsewhere, Kaz reunites with Sartha. Sartha is concerned about the blood but Kaz notes that it is not her blood.
===Escaping Ferrix===
Pegla helps Brasso prepare a ship for lift-off. They are soon joined by Andor and Caleen. Andor convinces them to evacuate Caleen and advises them on escaping Ferrix. Andor bids B2EMO, Bix, Pegla, and Wilmon farewell and promises to find them. While the ship flies away, Andor heads back to the Ferrix town center. A despondent Mosk sits by a street corner. Meanwhile, Mothma and Fertha introduce their daughter Leida Mothma to Stekan Sculdun and his mother Runai Sculdun.
Rael boards his Fondor Haulcraft and tells his droid to prepare for departure. He is soon confronted in the cockpit by Andor, who asks if he came to kill him. When Andor hands him a blaster, Rael asks what game is this. Andor says this is no game and dares Rael to kill him or take him in. Rael smiles and decides to recruit Andor.
===Epilogue===
At Scarif, Imperial construction droids assemble the machinery produced by the Narkina 5 prisoners on the main part of the Death Star, as TIE fighters fly over the station.
==Credits==
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