Let’s talk about that Andor scene…yes, the one that everyone’s talking about

Tony Gilroy’s latest masterpiece has finally returned for its second and final season Tuesday night. That’s right, Andor’s back, baby! And it wouldn’t be Star Wars without somebody hating something about it, so let’s get straight to the point.

Warning: Spoilers and potentially triggering content

We’ll be getting pretty deep into spoiler territory here, so read on at your own risk. More importantly, we’ll be talking about some pretty heavy topics including assault, so consider maybe not reading further if that is upsetting to you.

Bix’s shocking scene

Right before the climax of Andor’s third episode, there is a scene — the scene — in which Adria Arjona’s character, Bix, is confronted by an Imperial lieutenant (for a second time, mind you) who proceeds with an attempt to force himself upon her leading to a pretty gruesome fight.

Battered and bloodied after his fight with Bix, the lieutenant stumbles outside where he collapses dead on the ground at the feet of one of his subordinates. Bix then calls out to the other Imperial soldier that the lieutenant “tried to rape [her].”

It’s a very powerful and uncomfortable scene — and it very well should be! Viewers aren’t supposed to feel comfortable watching this scene. It’s the reality that women experience every single day.

Politics in Star Wars

A lot of people seem to think that this scene in Andor “doesn’t belong” or it’s “too political” for Star Wars. Let’s make one thing incredibly clear, the only thing that this scene is is too real.

Star Wars has quite literally always been a political franchise, but the issue here isn’t actually rooted in politics. The issue is that certain people don’t want to see what’s actually happening in real life; they want to turn a blind eye and pretend like it’s not real. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tony Gilroy spoke about the importance of including the scene.

“The history of civilization, there’s a huge arterial component of it that’s rape. All of us who are here — we are all the product of rape,” Gilroy said. “So to not touch on it, in some way … It just was organic and it felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy. I was really trying to make a path for Bix that would ultimately lead to clarity — but a difficult path to get back to clarity.”

So, to those that claim this scene has no place in Star Wars, I ask you this:

Does it have a place in our reality? If the answer is anything but a resounding and immediate “hell no!” — then you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself what went wrong in your life.