Even if you can’t use the Force in Star Wars, it’s possible that the Force is still with you. In fact, Jedi Masters like Yoda and, later, Luke Skywalker, would insist that the whole deal with the Force is that it’s everywhere in everything, all the time. And yet, for decades, Star Wars has kind of struggled with the gap between regular folks and outright Jedi. In Rogue One, we got a little bit of this intermediate Force-user representation with Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen). Then, there was Finn’s (John Boyega) on-again, off-again Force-connection throughout the sequel trilogy, and of course, The Last Jedi’s Broom Boy. But overall, live-action Star Wars hasn’t really demonstrated how the spirituality of the Force would manifest itself in day-to-day life. Until now.
Mild spoilers for Andor Season 2 Episode 7 ahead.
In Andor Season 2, Episode 7, Bix (Adria Arjona) and Cassian (Diego Luna) meet a Force Healer (Josie Walker) on Yavin 4, and her presence is not only great for the episode’s story, but also gives Star Wars a dose of much-needed realism when it comes to the Force.
At the top of Episode 7, we’re one year beyond the events of Episode 6, and Bix and Cassian are now living on Yavin 4 along with a bunch of other Rebels. This is clearly an upgrade from the couple’s previous dismal life hiding out on Coruscant. They’re visibly happier, but Cassian is grumpy about one thing: a Force Healer.
This unassuming woman doesn’t claim to be a Jedi, or even an aspiring warrior. Instead, she seems to dip into the Force and try to use it to heal people, literally. Although the backdrop of Andor deals directly with the Empire massacring the Jedi, the actual Force and people’s religious beliefs are rarely mentioned in the series. But, unlike a truly secular sci-fi status quo like Star Trek, the present-day of Andor does exist in a time when what we would consider miracles are real. When the Force Healer manages to make one of Cassian’s injuries feel better, he’s still apprehensive about how much stock he puts in the Force.
Some of this echoes a conversation between Luke and Han in A New Hope. Luke sort of challenges Han’s non-belief in the Force, and as a rational skeptic, Han says, “No mystical energy field controls my destiny.”
The idea of personal choice is a big deal for Cassian in this season, too. These three episodes deal with Cassian wanting to “get out” and fully quit being a spy for the Rebellion. Throughout this season, Cassian has made it clear that what defines him is that he makes his own choices. And so, Bix’s leaning toward the Force is a point of contention; she’s okay with a little bit of spiritual determinism. The Force Healer even tells Bix that Cassian is a “messenger” of some kind and that she sees, through the Force, that “there’s a place he needs to be.”
The audience is, of course, aware that the Force Healer is correct: Cassian is destined to help steal the Death Star plans in a year, and then, sadly, perish. But what makes Andor such a smart show is the way it twists this knowledge and uses it against us. Because the truth is, many of us in Cassian’s position would respond the exact same way: with rational, secular pushback. Han’s non-belief in the Force in A New Hope is sort of a joke because we can see evidence of the Force and miracles throughout the movie. Cassian’s resistance to a belief in kooky Force Healer is the opposite: Almost nothing in his life experience indicates that the Force is reliable. So, in the debate between Bix and Cassian about the Force, the audience is bringing in their own baggage from the rest of the Star Wars movies to sort of try and side with Bix.
And yet, if we view Andor as its own series (difficult, but possible), then the Force becomes a tiny bit more realistic in this series than ever before in Star Wars. Most people in the galaxy far, far away would have a view of the Force similar to Cassian’s. And, even when confronted with the miraculous power of the Force, those fantastic implications would be hard to accept, and even harder to ignore.
