Warning: There are mentions of sexual assault and attempted rape in this article. Reader's discretion is advised.
Early reviews of Andor season 2 were glowing, and the first three episodes certainly lived up to the expectations. It even exceeded expectations in places, such as Genevieve O'Reilly hitting it out of the park with Mon Mothma's measured breakdown at her daughter's wedding.
But one sequence in particular in the third episode left the Star Wars universe divided.
In episode 3, "Harvest," we see Bix, Brasso, and Wilmon scared for their lives as the Empire's equivalent of ICE comes knocking at every door on Mina-Rau, the agricultural planet they have taken refuge in after last season's finale. They earn a living as mechanics, helping fix things around the neighborhood. But they are undocumented with no visas to be legally on the planet. There is no telling what would happen to them if they get caught, and we have already seen in season 1 how eager the Empire is to put people behind bars to build their Death Star and other weapons.
Amid rising tensions around the situation, one Imperial officer, Lieutenant Krole, approaches Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) while she is working alone. After some small talk, he asks her out on a date. She refuses, cautiously mentioning her "husband," who wouldn't like it if she took him up on the offer.
Krole returns the next day, this time seeking her out alone in their safe house in the middle of a field. This time, he does not beat around the bush. He tells Bix he knows they are "illegals," but he's willing to look the other way in exchange for sex. It becomes very clear very soon that it isn't a real offer, since he has no intention of taking no for an answer.
He attacks Bix as she backs away, pleading with him to stop. She fights back tooth and nail as Krole keeps on trying to force himself on her. At one point, he starts throwing her against the furniture, but she manages to get hold of a wrench and swing at him. He gets hurt, but not enough to stop. So Bix hits him again, and again, till he staggers out of the house and falls face-first, dead.
Critique of the attempted rape scene in Andor season 2
The scene caused quite an uproar among the fan community, with some claiming it was unnecessary.
"Regarding the rape scene in #Andor, I don’t really have a problem with it for what it is, but more so because it was unnecessary," tweeted a fan. "SA in SW feels unnecessary. You can portray power dynamics and make the audience hate the empire in other ways without taking it to such a disgusting place," said another.
Those who stood by the decision of including the scene pointed out how it wasn't the first case of implied sexual violence in Star Wars, even though it was the first to be shown onscreen. Ironically enough, the previous instances barely get recognized as such, even though they are not quite subtle.
One X user wrote, "Remember when Ashoka Tano was sold as a sex slave in the clone wars? Remember when Leia was a sex slave for Jabba? START THINKING ABOUT THINGS BEYOND THE SURFACE LEVEL, THE RAPE SCENE DID NOT MAKE IT POLITICAL, STAR WARS HAS ALWAYS BEEN POLITICAL, ESPECIALLY ANDOR."
Another fan account said, "The attempted rape scene was handled with incredible care and consideration by Adria Arjona, Tony Gilroy, and others. An extremely difficult scene to watch, but one that deepens the villainy of the Empire and has disturbing relevance to a serious real-world issue."
Regardless of fan sentiments, the truth remains that Andor was always supposed to be a gritty and realistic depiction of rebelling against a totalitarian regime. That's what creator Tony Gilroy promised us, so one can barely get mad if he delivers on it.
If one can watch unethical torture, unfair imprisonment, rampant slavery, and unregulated regime overreach unfold on Star Wars TV, and praise it all for being true to reality, one should be able to sit through a depiction of sexual assault without complaining about its necessity. To shy away from it would be to pretend it is not something that really happens in an oppressive and tyrannical regime, which is just not true.
For Gilroy, it did not feel right not to show the truth about sexual violence while telling a story about war. "I mean, let’s be honest, man: The history of civilization, there’s a huge arterial component of it that’s rape, Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter. "All of us who are here — we are all the product of rape. I mean armies and power throughout history [have committed rape]. So to not touch on it, in some way… It just was organic and felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy."
Gilroy added that he got no pushback from Disney regarding the scene, but they were made aware of the limits of what they could show onscreen in terms of violence.
However, an argument can be made about Disney and Lucasfilm's decision to leave out any content warning at the beginning of the episode.
Bix actor Adria Arjona on preparing for the scene
Adria Arjona, who plays Bix, told Entertainment Weekly that she felt "incredibly safe and cushioned" by Gilroy and episode director Ariel Kleiman while filming the scene. She shared that she studied interviews and saw videos of survivors of sexual assault, which was a draining process. But at the end, she felt like she was paying homage to those women.
"By the time that I was doing the scenes, it felt like I was telling a little part of the story of the five individuals who I really honed in on their stories," Arjona said. "It felt like I was making them proud."
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