Andor just delivered its penultimate episode. Eleven episodes have already gone by somehow and this episode served as both a stage set for the finale and another excuse for some gripping dialogue in the interim.

Written by showrunner Tony Gilroy, Daughter of Ferrix opens up with Andor and Melshi literally hanging on the side of a cliff waiting for the Empire to finish their search. Before long, they find a quadjumper in order to get off the planet and in their desperation run to steal the ship, the duo ends up in the defensive trap set up by the owners of the ship, which was two giant sticky nets. I’m curious what viewers think of the owners of the ship, two alien fishermen. One spoke basic (English) and another their native language and it was a little hard to make sense of what was happening I found. Took me a moment to realize they have no love for the Empire and we’re open to helping Andor and Melshi, but I didn’t follow how the attempted theft of the ship was just brushed aside.

Andor didn’t get too much to do this episode as we got all the major plot points set up for next week’s finale. The biggest event is arguably the off-screen death of Maarva, Cassian’s mother. Her absence from the last few episodes, coupled with the abrupt death, makes her last words with Cassian that much more impactful now. Huge props to Gilroy here for making me feel utterly gutted about B2EMO’s “emotional” state, stuttering “I don’t want to be alone” in the aftermath of Marrva’s passing. The skittish droid was wrecked and didn’t want to leave the house and it’s a testament to the writing that I had an emotional reaction here considering we haven’t seen much of B2 on this show. It was also nice seeing B2 treated as a person, basically, rather than a thing. His well-being was being considered, despite not being sentient. Elsewhere on Ferrix we get one scene with Bix, who is a husk of her former self and is asked if Anton Kreegry is Axis (Luthen). We don’t get an answer, but I have to imagine she’s going to lie and say yes.

The Empire, of course, sees an opportunity with the passing of Maarva and allows the people of Ferrix to host a small funeral procession for Maarva in hopes of luring Andor out to capture him and thus get another lead on codenamed Axis. They have no idea Andor was incarcerated though, so chances are Andor would have never known about his mother’s passing and the Empire would have wasted their time, as they assumed Andor was in contact with his home this whole time. But Andor called his contact on Ferrix and learned of the passing of his mother and this shakes him to his core. Despite the obvious dangers, we know he’s going home next week, despite having just claimed his stolen credits and has the opportunity to start anew.

But news of Maarva’s passing isn’t limited to the Empire or Cassian. Karn also learns of the news from his former colleague, Sergeant Mosk perhaps immortalized for uttering the first curse word in Star Wars. Through his information Network, he learns of Maarva’s passing and informs Karn, who in turn steals from his mother and plans to find Andor on Ferrix and bring him to justice. Karn is an interesting dilemma on the show, as he wants justice to be served but has shown he’s willing to resort to stealing and stalking to get his way, so he’s not as puritan and he thinks he is.

Mon Mothma has a brief but crucial scene with Vel where they talk about Mom’s daughter. She’s been very interested in the old religious ways of Chandrilla, something both women seemingly scoff at and even judge, but her daughter’s newfound interest in traditional customs brings tears to Mon’s usually stoic disposition as she’s ultimately decided to agree to the marriage proposal from last week. Mon is in dire financial trouble, with 400, 000 credits off balance in her ledger. She’s going to be audited and if she can’t balance the sheets, there are to be issues. Luthen is unaware, either due to lack of information or lack of interest but he’s not going to be the saviour here. But a marriage to a shady banker may be the answer and that’s likely going to come with its own set of consequences.

Speaking of Luthen, he’s probably the highlight of the episode this week. Not only does he have a great action scene, but he also gets a tense verbal sparring match with Saw, who displays some extreme levels of paranoia, but rightfully so. Luthen informs Saw about the situation with Anto Kreegyr and Saw immediately suspects that Luthen either has a mole in the ISB or is ISB himself. They have something of a verbal standoff, with Saw dodging the questions about what they should do about Anto, and Luthen playing to Saw’s paranoia by telling him, untruthfully, that Two Tubes is his informant, which sends Saw over the edge. No one is to be trusted here, especially these two, but somehow they’re going to have to find common ground. Also, what was the item Luthen was carrying when he got frisked? He kind of looks like a lightsaber hilt, but I can’t imagine it would be. Then again, he is a collector-so it wouldn’t be so outlandish to think he carries on for protection.

But that scene did lead to a short but sweet dogfight between Luthen and the Empire. We got to see the live-action debut of an Arrestor Cruiser, which is based on early concepts for Star Destroyers and was supposed to make its live-action debut in Solo before getting nixed (it has appeared in Rebels before). It’s a good thing Luthen was speaking in code to Kleya, or else he would have been in instant danger from the ship’s audio surveillance. Stuck in a tractor beam, Luthen and his slick ship are able to destroy the TIE’ fighters (with one weapon that looked like Maul’s lightsaber coming out of the side wings; it was awesome) and escape to hyperspace, leaving the Empire dumbfounded. It was a brief scene, but one that showed that Luthen isn’t just a skilled manipulator.

Now everyone’s in place for what will likely be an action-packed finale. Considering action has been sparse in this show, it’ll be interesting to see how it handles it and what the consequences will be? Will Ferrix rise or will their suffering inspire others, as Luthen wants? What will happen to Kreegyr and will Mon Mothma sell her daughter to save herself. Come back next week for the review of the finale, as well as my thoughts on season one of Andor as a whole.