The second act ofAndorseason two , among many other things , reunite insurgent lovers Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz as part of Luthen ’s endeavor to scope out impedance to the Empire on Ghorman . separate for eld after the event of season one — save from a distant “ reunification ” at the orgasm of season two’sopening trio of episode — when Vel and Cinta encounter again across these episodes , they are establish a chance to reflect on both their relationship to Luthen and the growing Rebellion , and ultimately to each other , culminate in a tender moment : one that , afterthe casual queernessof their bow across season one , handily became what is arguablyStar war ‘ most large and explicit showcase of on - screen queer amour yet .
Alas , it was not to last . Almost immediately after Cinta and Vel get to share a moment of love together , tragedy strikes . Dealing with anxious and unprepared member of the Ghorman impedance to represent a heist of Imperial weaponry , an altercation between one of the insurgent , Samm , and a local Ghor leads to an accidental blaster spark , a isolated bolt that catches Cinta clean in the chest , kill her instantly ( streamer week for Varada Sethu being shot , plainly , between this and thelatestDoctor Who ) .
It ’s simultaneously both an excellent striking moment — especially the aftermath of Vel ’s grief , where she ruefully hangs the hurt of Cinta ’s expiry on Samm ’s scruples , a enceinte infliction she can deal in the moment than simply killing him in go — and an incredibly precarious one forAndorto navigate . No matter however it could be handled , the minute still brushes up on a controversial trope of disposing LGBTQ characters that has plagued treatment of queer mental representation in media for days : the idea of“Bury Your Gays,”in which a queer part is introduced and then killed off for jounce value once they have checked a boxful off for various delegacy rather than being give much of a character arc .
© Lucasfilm
Star Wars , especially in on - screen door stuff , still has a foresighted way to go in precede striking LGBTQ character reference , five year on from itspainfully lacklustre watershed momentwithRise of Skywalker‘s fleeting sapphic kiss . While singular characters certainly survive plenty inStar Warsmediamore broadly these days , from comics , to books , to game , Star Warsis still in the eye of many still primarily a dealership of film and boob tube , and Vel and Cinta were arguably by far and away the most prominent on - CRT screen LGBTQ characters it had delivered in the last decade . give one of them a tragical end — especially almost straightaway after give up them a moment of happy reconciliation and romance — would always have stung for fairy audiences in this setting , regardless of how well it was handled , and specially disregardless of howAndoritself is often uncoerced to infer tenseness in its spy thriller narratives by making it light to audience that the vast majority of its casting are rarely guaranteed safety .
But on the other hand , Andordoes not handle Cinta ’s demise as mere shock economic value . The moment is lay out with marvellous weight , a significance that the arc itself is built around in the tensions of what it really mean for the great unwashed to take resistance into their own hands . Cinta ’s bravery could ’ve bring in her a hero sandwich ’s dying , a brilliance of glory reflecting the choices she had made to fight back against the Empire , but the bitterness of her expiry is that people in conflicts likeAndor‘s do n’t get the liberty of the death they ’ve earned . It can be sudden , and messy , and indelicate , because that is simply the realness we all face in the apparition of the great equalizer . Her end is not only a abrasive moral for the Ghorman Front , but for Vel and the hearing too : revolution is seldom clean and seldom without cost .
Vel and Cinta are one of several romancesAndorexplores , and often break , as they are caught up in this question of the essential of resistance — and arguably even as their relationship mold a substantial part of that inquiring , its nature as an explicitly queer one is not the lonesome defining aspect of that genus Lens . In distinct contrast toRise‘s fleeting , well discarded queer moment , Andortreats both Cinta and Vel as enriched , fleshed - out characters whohappen to be gay , rather than Das Kapital - Q , capital - C Queer Characters whose existence only hangs on the metatext of the enfranchisement getting to say “ look , lesbians ! ” and then bear little else to say through them before they can be discarded . That does n’t erase either character ’s queerness , but just take in it one aspect of their whole .
© Lucasfilm
Andor‘s narrative treat them both in this regard , even as Cinta and Vel face the tough chance of still being one of the very few on - blind nance couples the franchise has had so far , also intend that the show treats the both of them like it does almost any other fellow member in its mold . InAndor‘s case , that means pay them the narrative correct to be jeopardized , to be put in harm ’s way , to have random cataclysm as much as any other heteronormative fibre would . And even asStar Warsstill continues to take diminutive footmark towards better representing a overplus of queer characters , it ’s just as vitally important that it does n’t feel like it can not take a chance with those characters simply because of representative grandness . Neither Cinta nor Velhadto be doomed by the narrative , but in the story thatAndoris separate inStar Wars , the fact that they can be is a will to the serial treating them as more than just a checked box on leaning of diverse theatrical performance .
Star Warsshould have more queer multitude in it , utterly , so the loss of any at this point is always give out to suffer . But part of that journeying to tangible , quality representation also intend that those queer characters need to be capable to be as messy , complicated , and nuanced as their straightforward counterparts , to be treated as actual characters to whom quirkiness is just one quality , and one account , among many they can be used to research . And sometimes that also means , for better or bad , being capable to put them in damage ’s mode and experience disaster , instead of leave them safely tuck away on a shelf .
Andorseason two is now stream on Disney+ .
© Lucasfilm
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