- Andor season 2 episode 6 includes a very cathartic moment for Bix Caleen
- Adria Arjona has explained why it’s so significant for her Star Wars character
- Bix has struggled to move past the trauma she suffered in the show’s first season
Andor actor Adria Arjona has opened up on the cathartic “justice” that her character Bix Caleen enjoys in this season’s sixth episode.
Ahead of Andor season 2‘s launch, I sat down with Arjona to discuss Bix’s journey in the Star Wars TV show’s final installment.
As part of our chat, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get Arjona’s thoughts on the emotional release Bix feels following events that transpire in season 2 episode 6, titled ‘What a Festive Evening’, too.
Full spoilers immediately follow for Andor season 2 episode 6 and its predecessor’s final few episodes.
It’s an understatement to say Bix has been put through the emotional wringer in one of the best Disney+ shows.
Her troubles may have begun in Andor season 1‘s early entries, which saw Bix contact nascent Rebel Alliance founder Luthen Rael to set up a meeting between him and Cassian Andor. However, the risk she took was nothing compared to the traumatizing events she’d be subjected to later that season.
Indeed, when the Galactic Empire invaded Ferrix to track down Cassian, Bix was caught in the proverbial crossfire. As one of Cassian’s closest allies (she was his ex-girlfriend, after all), Bix was taken prisoner and psychologically tortured by the callous Doctor Gorst to force her to tell the Empire where Cassian is.
Long story short, Cassian rescues Bix in the Disney+ series’ season 1 finale and, with Brasso and Wilmon’s help, gets Bix to a relative safe haven that, as we learn in this season’s first episode, is an agricultural planet in the Outer Rim called Mina-Rau.
However, while she escaped physically, Bix is still mentally and emotionally trapped by the horrifying events she experienced.
The first three episodes of one of 2025’s new Star Wars shows, the events of which take place 12 months after last season’s finale, are not only full of more trauma-laced moments, including almost being sexually assaulted by an Imperial Officer in episode 3, but also reveal she’s plagued by nightmares of Doctor Gorst.
In chapters four to six, which occur one year after season 2’s first act, Box has become addicted to the illegal in-universe substance called Death Stick, which she takes to help her sleep.
It’s this two-year cycle of never-ending mental and emotional anguish that makes the final sequence depicted in ‘What a Festive Evening’ all the more cathartic for Bix. Indeed, when Cassian is called upon to conduct a new, mysterious mission for Luthen, Bix wants to tag along.
It’s a good job she does. Before episode 6 ends, we learn that Cassian and Bix have been sent to dispose of Doctor Gorst, whose secret lab is situated on Coruscant – the same planet the pair have been hiding out on for months.
Knowing how important this mission is to her, Cassian lets Bix take the lead. Long story short, she uses the same psychological torture equipment on the evil scientist before Cassian destroys Gorst’s headquarters to make it look like it blew up in an experiment gone wrong.
I won’t spoil what lies in store for Bix in this season’s next six episodes – as I noted in my Andor season 2 review, I’ve seen all 12 chapters. Nonetheless, episode 6 is a watershed moment for Bix in her efforts to purge herself of the pain and misery inflicted on her – and Arjona fully agreed with that sentiment.
“[Showrunner] Tony [Gilroy] has a really beautiful way of instilling confidence in you without actually giving you a compliment!” Arjona joked to begin with. “But, really, I wanted to do justice to how he wrote Bix’s arc this season and by what happened to her at the end of season one.
“After last season’s finale, I had so many questions for Tony because I was really curious to see how she was going to cope with it. How would she deal with it? Would she shove it under the rug or try to face it head-on?
I was really curious to see how she was going to cope with it
Adria Arjona
“I very much identify with Bix as a character, who’s someone who has to act tough and be strong, and be part of something great,” Arjona continued. “But, thanks to what happened in season one, she’s physically and mentally unable to play a role in the rebellion, which frustrates her.
“That big moment [in episode six] allows her to redeem herself and, as you’ll see very soon, she re-finds herself throughout the rest of the season. She has come back into her own and you finally see the sparkle in her eye, which she had in season one, again. It’s like ‘you’ve gone through so much, but now you’re back to who you were’. It was really special to see her overcome that and take ownership of her future once more.”
Andor season 2 episodes 1 to 6 are out now. Three more episodes will arrive on May 6/7, with the final trio being released on May 13/14.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
