*Spoilers for episode 10*
Penultimate episode of the series. It’s tense and exciting, and it gives us the team-up we’ve been waiting for all season. We’re in the end game now.
In the last episode, Lonni revealed the intel he’s discovered: that the Emperor’s “energy project” is really the development of a super-weapon. Now Kleya is the only one with this information. When she sends a desperate message, Cassian comes to Coruscant to hear what she has to say.
There’s a lot going on here. We get another appearance from Ben Mendelsohn’s Director Krennic. He has an excellent scene with Dedra, sneering, “Now think. What single thing would drag me to this forsaken basement?” He’s also really good in a scene with Major Partagaz Supervisor Heert, Dedra’s assistant from last season. Heert took over the Axis investigation when Dedra was given the Ghorman project, and it’s been interesting to see how he operates now that he has a bit of power. We see his ruthless push as he deals with the events of the last episode, contrasted with him struggling to get his bearings with Krennic—because the Death Star project is the absolute height of top secrecy, Heert has no idea what’s really going on here and why someone as high-up as Krennic has gotten involved.
We get a little more on the disconnect between Luthen and Kleya’s spy ring and the Rebels at Yavin—disconnect from both sides. Commander Draven (from Rogue One) is exasperated that Cassian and Wilmon still have any loyalty to Luthen and is fed up with their willingness to disobey orders on his behalf. Meanwhile, Kleya resents the folks at Yavin for, in her mind, bailing on the messy, dangerous business of spycraft right under ISB’s nose.
The highlight of the episode, though, is the long-awaited team-up of Cassian, Melshi, and K-2SO. At the end of last week’s episodes, we got brief snippets of both Melshi and K-2—just enough to show that Melshi had made his way to Yavin and K-2’s reprogramming had taken. Now, a year later, the three of them are Rebel buddies together. I adore the scene of them hanging out on Yavin before everything kicks off, and seeing them in action on Coruscant is terrific.
When I revisited Rogue One for my pre-season 2 Star Wars rewatch, I was reminded all over again how much I love K-2SO. Ranking favorite droids is so tough, but between B2EMO and K-2, Cassian easily has two of the best droid friends in the franchise! Alan Tudyk was simply inspired in Rogue One, and he doesn’t miss a beat here. I love the little physical details he brings into his performance with the motion capture—how awkwardly a seven-foot-tall droid sits at a table made for humans, the hilarious way he slumps back into his seat when he’s annoyed at Cassian and Melshi for leaving him on the ship.
Given all that, it’s no surprise that Cassian’s interactions with K-2 are some of my favorite parts of the episode. I love that K-2 is part of the “hang around and kill time playing games” camaraderie on Yavin, and Diego Luna’s back-and-forth with Tudyk is just effortless. “Be careful, he’s trying to droid you,” Cassian warns Melshi as K-2 analyzes the credibility of Melshi’s wagers. He teases K-2, saying, “You don’t have any tens left, do you?” The whole scene is an utter delight, and it makes me happy to see Cassian having fun, just for a little bit.
Once the mission sets in, though, Cassian is all business. He still has a great dynamic with K-2, taking charge of the plan and bickering at the droid’s misgivings. But he also smoothly rattles off location details, helps Melshi get his bearings in the unfamiliar Coruscant, and adapts to a quickly changing situation.
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