Andor – Season 2 Episode 8 'Who Are You?' Recap & Review

The Review Geek

07-05-2025

Who Are You?
Episode 8 of Andor season 2 starts with Cassian Andor prepping for Dedra's assassination. However, Kaido and his troops begin moving all the barricades and clearing the place up, opening up the Plaza. They're putting a shell around the building and as a result, this fortress is going to be impregnable. Even worse, it means this assassination is not going to happen the way Andor wants it.
Dedra is not aware of this though and with all these terrorist attacks going on, the Empire are about to take a very aggressive stance against the locals on Ghorman. The Ghorman Front are prepped for this though and intend to use their firepower to fight back.
The main building is on lockdown, but all of this appears to be a trap to bring the rebels into one location so they can strike and take them out. Enza allows the rebels to march right into the main plaza to protest, all the while rallying the people to their cause.
Syril also walks with them but it becomes clear now that the rebels are aware that Syril is a double-agent. Rylanz tries to stop the protests and questions whether Syril is even human, before he shoves him down to the ground. Syril's position as a spy has been compromised, although the timing for this, or how it came about, is still unclear.
While the people march into the Main Plaza, Kaido oversees matters as Wil and Cassian try to regroup among the people. Out in the plaza though, Stormtroopers show up and there's the threat of things turning violent. However, one of the men begins chanting a different song, less aggressive in stature, just as Kaido's men head outside.
Syril makes it into the building, and immediately confronts Dedra about what's going on. He's furious that she kept this plan from him involving the armada and the mining ships heading in to finish the job. Dedra eventually tells Syril the truth, but only through him choking her out and forcing her to talk. He's shocked that all of this work has been for an ulterior motive, and he eventually leaves, disillusioned with the Empire.
The protests outside begin to turn violent as Kaido and his men push the rebels back. Dedra gives the order to proceed with their initial plan, allowing the soldiers to fire at will. It's chaos in the square as fighting breaks out and there are casualties on both sides.
Ghorman Front do their best to hold back the Empire but there's just too many of them. Syril can only stand in shock as bodies begin falling around him. Kaido soon brings in the big guns though as the game-changing KX-series security droids enter the plaza.
While this is going on, Andor and Syril wind up fighting. It's a gritty, brutal skirmish but before Syril can hit the killing blow, Rylanz shows and shoots Syril in the head. Andor grabs Wil and decides they need to leave, but he won't go without Dreena. This happens to be one of the women from Ghorman Front whom he's romantically involved with, but we haven't really seen too much of her.
On the way out, the rebels manage to stop one of the KX droids and Andor decides to take it with him. This will go on to become K-2SO, which is the droid joining Andor in Rogue One.
Wil refuses to leave the planet though, intending to find Dreena. She happens to be underground, sending out emergency broadcasts across all channels to let everybody know what's happened. She's reunited with Wil as they do their best to spread the word.
As the episode closes out, we cut across to Dedra as she takes a quiet moment of reflection, coming to terms with exactly what she's done.
The Episode Review
Andor delivers a great episode here, full of tension and a solid pay-off for the ongoing issues on Ghorman that have gripped this season from the beginning. Its all been building to this but unfortunately, Andor misses a trick by not going deeper with its characterisation to really make these pay-offs shine.
Not seeing the fallout for Syril being outed as a spy, nor witnessing the ties between Dreena and Wil in more detail, along with the ongoing political issues within Ghorman, all feel like missed opportunities. However, the episode itself has some great moments, and the fight in the Main Plaza is well shot, eventually culminating in the origin for K-2SO and Syril's death.
It would have been nice to see Syril join the rebel cause properly but alas, that's not to be. It does seem fitting though that Rylanz is the one to kill Syril in the end, given their earlier skirmish and what's transpired.
How will the rebellion react to Ghorman's attack? What's next for our characters? And who will survive?
Previous Episode
Next Episode
Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!