Andor Season 2 Gives Its Best Star Wars Character A Perfect, Horrible Ending

Call your kin to come and sing "We are the Ghor" ... but only after watching the latest three episodes of "Andor" season 2. There are major spoilers ahead.

"Andor" really is the single greatest narrative achievement of the "Star Wars" franchise, isn't it? This show is nothing short of a miracle, a bold, brave, complex experiment that makes the nearly 50-year-old franchise better in retrospect. Season 2 has brought every character arc and plotline to a masterful boil on the road to "Rogue One" with a tragic, poignant exploration of the cost of fighting fascism. There is no mistaking it: This beautifully crafted, shot, and designed show is not just great "Star Wars" TV, but one of the best TV shows of the decade, period.

In an already tragic yet epic season, it's been hard to say goodbye to characters we've followed since season 1. Of course, "Andor" is not just going to kill everyone for shock value because it's a prequel. Instead, the show is weaving together spectacular storylines in a way that feels inevitable, so even when characters meet ends we hate to see, it feels right for the story that Tony Gilroy and his team are telling here.

Last week, we said goodbye to the baddest rebel in the galaxy, Cinta Kaz. Now, this week, we say goodbye to yet another beloved (from a certain point of view) "Andor" character. That's right, I'm referring to everyone's favorite bootlicking space Nazi weasel, Syril Karn (Kyle Soller). One of the most unique "Star Wars" antagonists, Syril Karn was not some terrifying cyborg with a black cape, or a guy with a red face and devil horns. No, Syril was something more human and recognizable; not as frightening as Tarkin and not anywhere near as smart as Thrawn, but a simple guy with naïve faith in fascism and Imperial propaganda who would do anything to advance his career and further Imperial control.

Syril is not a supervillain, so his death came as less of a bang and more of a whimper. It was a pathetic end to a pathetic character, so let's take a look back and say goodbye to this cereal-loving mama's boy.

Episode 8 of "Andor" season 2 is an exercise in how long you can endure a pit in your stomach, and in clenching your buttocks for an hour. This is the moment "Star Wars Rebels" fans have been dreading: The Ghorman massacre.

Of course, Syril is in the middle of it, as he is at the very least partially responsible for getting the Ghorman Front to the point where the Empire could crush them in a harrowing episode. At first, Syril doesn't believe anything is wrong, and he even repeats Imperial propaganda when Carro Rylanz (Richard Sammel) confronts him about Imperial mining operations on the planet. But he quickly realizes something is wrong as the Ghorman begin singing what seems like their national anthem in one of the most emotionally charged moments in the entire franchise, a moment that temporarily brings "Les Misérables" and "Casablanca" into the galaxy far, far away.

Syril finally snaps and confronts Dedra Meero, demanding answers and threatening her with violence. It's the end of the space Nazi power couple — an Imperial zealot girl, and a naïve fascist romantic boy. It is also Kyle Soller's finest hour as Syril, giving the character a desperation as he finally realizes just how much of a pawn he really was and how the Empire used his zealotry to commit an unspeakable atrocity. He did not bring destruction to Ghorman in the name of peace, freedom, justice, and security of the Empire, like he thought, but rather because of a resource war and a plan some bureaucrat cooked up for political glory.

Anyone who guessed Syril would turn on the Empire was kind of right, but it's a testament to the brilliance of the writing in the episode that he doesn't just join the Rebels. Syril's breakthrough is confined to him realizing his entire adult life was wasted in the service of an ideology that places zero value for his own life and those of innocents. What makes it tragic is that Syril realizes this too late, and he is powerless to stop the coming massacre, forced instead to stand dumbfounded at the people he came to know as the stormtroopers close in and open fire.

Still, this is "Andor." Everything is tragic with a little bit of a sense of humor. Syril was never going to save the day, but he wasn't just going to die in the middle of the plaza, massacred alongside the Ghormans. No. He deserved more (and less).

While trying to make sense of everything going on, the Imperial bootlicking weasel part of Syril spots Cassian in the square and tries to justify his own behavior. Obviously Cassian is involved with the Rebellion, and he's here working with the Ghorman Front, so the Empire was justified after all, right? That'd mean Cassian is responsible, not Syril. With this in mind, he goes ham on the revolutionary and tries to kill him. It's an ugly, hard-hitting, bloody fight the likes of which we don't really see in "Star Wars." There's no elegant fencing or cowboy-style shoot-out, just an old-fashioned brawl in the middle of a war zone.

Syril doesn't get a speech, an explanation, or even a chance to confront Cassian. Instead, the Valjean to Syril's Javert ruins years' worth of obsession with three simple words: "Who are you?" This destroys Syril's entire psyche and distracts him long enough for Carro to shoot him in the head. In the end, Syril Karn ended up as just a footnote in the history of the Rebellion, without the recognition he wanted from the Empire and without even a chance to try to make up for his sins. He just died a pawn, a bootlicker discarded when he was no longer of use.

Goodbye, Syril Karn. You got exactly what you deserved, but it was still a bit sad to see you go. This was the most creative, quietly despicable character in "Andor," and a villain like no other. Sure, he is technically not the most evil villain in "Star Wars," but by inadvertently causing the Ghorman massacre without even realizing it (until it was too late), he's implicated in one of the most harrowing moments of "Star Wars" history.