Make It Stop (Andor)

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode

| series = Andor

| image = AndorMakeItStop.png

| image_alt = Luthen walks down stairs, shot using Dutch angle

| caption = Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) makes his way down stairs in Coruscant after learning of the Death Star from informant Lonni Jung, whom he has just killed.

| season = 2

| episode = 10

| director = Alonso Ruizpalacios

| writer = Tom Bissell

| music = Brandon Roberts

| photographer = Damián García

| editor = Morten Højbjerg

| release_date = {{Start date|2025|05|13}}

| length = 48 minutes

| guests =

| prev = Welcome to the Rebellion

| next = Who Else Knows?

}}

"Make It Stop" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction political spy thriller drama television series Andor. It is the twenty-second episode of the series overall; it was written by Tom Bissell and directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios.

"Make It Stop" is set in BBY 1{{efn|The year of the Battle of Yavin, i.e the events of Rogue One (2016)}}, a year after the events of the previous episode. It is the first, and only, episode of the series not to feature Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, instead focusing on Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) and Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau) and their backstory, culminating in Luthen's death at Kleya's hands. The episode thus marks Skarsgård's final appearance on the show, as well as the final appearance of Robert Emms' Lonni Jung, who is killed by Luthen early in the episode.

"Make It Stop" was released on Disney+ on May 13, 2025 as part of a three-episode block also including "Who Else Knows?" and "Jedha, Kyber, Erso". The episode received widespread critical acclaim for its writing, emotional weight, and the performances of Skarsgård and Dulau.

Plot

One year after the events on Ghorman, Luthen and Kleya receive an emergency ping to the shop's radio from Lonni. Luthen meets with him in public; Lonni reveals that he has had access to Dedra's ISB credentials for a year, through which he has learned that the Emperor's energy program is a cover for a superweapon that Krennic has been building for over a decade. Lonni also mentions that he found references to Kyber crystal mining on Jedha, as well as an engineer named Galen Erso.{{Efn|As seen in Rogue One (2016).}} Lonni also warns that Dedra has likely uncovered their identities and will come after him soon; he makes Luthen promise him and his family safe passage out of Coruscant, but Luthen kills him to ensure his silence.

Luthen meets with Kleya and hastily makes her memorize everything Lonni told him, then heads to the shop and destroys the radio by pouring a molten liquid over it. He is interrupted when Dedra arrives at the shop. Luthen maintains his friendly facade until Dedra shows him the stolen Imperial Starpath unit Cassian first tried selling to him,{{Efn|As depicted in "Reckoning".}} confronting him as the mysterious "Axis" she has chased for years. Dedra says the building is surrounded, but Luthen tells her that she is too late and the Rebellion has already expanded throughout the galaxy. Dedra notices the burning radio system and holds Luthen at gunpoint, only to realize he has stabbed himself in the heart with an ancient knife from the shop while she was distracted. She frantically calls in her reinforcements to inspect the shop and take Luthen to the hospital. Kleya watches with a crowd of onlookers as Luthen gets taken away in a medical transport.

Kleya goes to the safe house Luthen provided Cassian and Bix and retrieves a lockpicking device. She then travels to the hospital where Luthen is being kept, which is under heavy Imperial watch. She dons stolen nurse attire and evades surveillance while searching for Luthen. Dedra, meanwhile, is arrested by the ISB for botching Luthen's capture, and her former assistant Heert, now an ISB supervisor, takes over her investigation. Imperial technicians at Luthen's shop unsuccessfully try to salvage data from the destroyed radio.

As Kleya makes her way through the hospital, she reflects on her past with Luthen. Flashbacks reveal that Luthen was an Imperial sergeant named Lear, whose unit massacred Kleya's hometown when she was a child; he found Kleya hiding in his ship and informally adopted her while defecting from the Empire, tormented by guilt. The two began selling antiques under new identities while waging resistance against the Empire, including the bombing of an Imperial garrison on the Emperor's home world of Naboo.

In the present, Kleya sets off explosive charges she had placed on Imperial ships parked outside the hospital, creating a distraction that she uses to break into Luthen's ward. She tearfully disconnects Luthen's life support system and watches him take his last breath, then escapes the hospital right as the guards return.

Production

= Writing =

The episode was written by Tom Bissell, in his first writing credit for the show, and directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios, who would go on to also direct the last two episodes of the series.{{Cite web |last=Lovitt |first=Maggie |date=April 8, 2023 |title=Tony Gilroy on the Race to Finish His Final 'Andor' Season 2 Script |url=https://collider.com/andor-season-2-tony-gilroy-script-comments/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408223151/https://collider.com/andor-season-2-tony-gilroy-script-comments/ |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |access-date=June 24, 2025 |website=Collider}}{{Cite web |title=Andor (2021–2024) |url=https://directories.wga.org/project/1225499/andor/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609150719/https://directories.wga.org/project/1225499/andor |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 24, 2025 |website=Writers Guild of America West}}{{Cite web |last=Lovitt |first=Maggie |date=November 3, 2022 |title='Andor's Season 2 Directors Revealed by Series Creator Tony Gilroy [Exclusive] |url=https://collider.com/andor-season-2-directors-ariel-kleinman-janus-metz-alonso-ruizpalacios/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114191104/https://collider.com/andor-season-2-directors-ariel-kleinman-janus-metz-alonso-ruizpalacios/ |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |access-date=June 24, 2025 |website=Collider}} The final three episodes of the season cover the three days prior to the start of Rogue One (2016), with showrunner Tony Gilroy saying "it'll be, like, four or five days, and then we'll jump a year, and then there'll be another four or five days, and then we jump a year", with the final shot leading into Rogue One.{{Cite web |last=Travis |first=Ben |date=May 4, 2023 |title=Andor Season 2's Final Three Episodes Cover The Three Days Before Rogue One – Exclusive |url=https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/andor-season-2-final-three-episodes-cover-three-days-before-rogue-one-exclusive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506204817/https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/andor-season-2-final-three-episodes-cover-three-days-before-rogue-one-exclusive/ |archive-date=May 6, 2023 |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=Empire}} Gilroy expressed that after gaining confidence in Elizabeth Dulau's acting abilities from director feedback during the production of the first season, he did not want to leave the relationship between Kleya and Luthen ambiguous or explained by other creators, leading to the creation of the flashback scenes in the episode,{{cite web |last=VanArendonk |first=Kathryn |title='Before Anyone Else Defines It, I'm Going to Define It' |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/tony-gilroy-andor-star-wars-rogue-one-interview.html |website=Vulture |date=May 16, 2025 |access-date=June 23, 2025}} depicting their relationship, which was inspired by the road movie Paper Moon (1973).{{cite web|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/1871406/andor-luthen-kleya-backstory-movie-inspiration/|title=The Classic Movie That Inspired Andor's Luthen And Kleya Backstory|last=Meenan|first=Devin|website=/Film|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=May 28, 2025|access-date=June 23, 2025|archive-date=May 30, 2025|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250530230000/https://www.slashfilm.com/1871406/andor-luthen-kleya-backstory-movie-inspiration/}}

= Music =

The original score for "Make It Stop", as with nine other episodes of the season's twelve{{efn|All episodes of season 2 but "Ever Been to Ghorman?" and "I Have Friends Everywhere" credit Roberts as the main composer}}, was composed by Brandon Roberts, replacing Nicholas Britell, the composer for the show's first season, due to scheduling conflicts.{{Cite web |date=April 11, 2025 |title=Brandon Roberts Scoring Disney+'s 'Andor' Season 2 |url=https://filmmusicreporter.com/2025/04/11/brandon-roberts-scoring-disneys-andor-season-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250416183502/https://filmmusicreporter.com/2025/04/11/brandon-roberts-scoring-disneys-andor-season-2/ |archive-date=April 16, 2025 |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=Film Music Reporter}}

The soundtrack for the episode was released alongside that of the other two episodes in its block on May 16, 2025 via Walt Disney Records as part of the last of four volumes of the second season's original score.{{cite web |url=https://filmmusicreporter.com/2025/05/15/andor-season-2-vol-4-episodes-10-12-soundtrack-album-details/ |title='Andor' Season 2 – Vol. 4 (Episodes 10-12) Soundtrack Album Details |website=Film Music Reporter |date=May 15, 2025 |access-date=June 23, 2025}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Andor Season 2: Episode 10 (Original Soundtrack)

| total_length = 12:37

| title1 = Andor (Main Title Theme) – Episode 10

| length1 = 0:43

| title2 = A Weapon

| length2 = 2:50

| title3 = What Have You Done?

| length3 = 1:39

| title4 = Nurse Kleya

| length4 = 1:50

| title5 = You're Finished

| length5 = 1:36

| title6 = We've Made Our Choice

| length6 = 1:36

| title7 = Luthen...

| length7 = 2:23

}}

Release

"Make It Stop" was released on Disney+ on May 13, 2025 as part of a three-episode block, alongside "Who Else Knows?" and "Jedha, Kyber, Erso".

Reception

= Critical response =

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating, based on 6 reviews.{{Cite Rotten Tomatoes |id=andor |type=tv |title=Make It Stop |season=2 |episode=10 |access-date=June 22, 2025}}{{cbignore}}

William Hughes of The A.V. Club gave a positive review, writing "We embark fully into Andor{{'s}} final stretch, with our hero nowhere to be seen, the Rebellion in uncertain waters, and the most important information in the universe kicking around in one lonely spy's hunted head."{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/andor-recap-season-2-episode-10 |title=Andor kicks off its final stretch with two mesmerizing scenes |website=The A.V. Club |first=William |last=Hughes |date=May 13, 2025 |access-date=June 22, 2025}} Mike Redmond of Pajiba also gave a positive review, summarizing that "Andor doesn't have to be praised for every little thing or fascism wins. It's just a TV show, folks. A very brilliant one, but let's bring it down a notch".{{cite web |url=https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/andor-season-2-finale-recap-is-kleya-cassians-sister.php |title='Andor' Season 2 Finale Recap: Attack of the Kleya |first=Mike |last=Redmond |website=Pajiba |date=May 15, 2025 |access-date=June 23, 2025}}

Notes

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References

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