This article contains spoilers for Andor episode six
Andor episode six had a lot of buildup behind it, but delivered in style. The heist on the Imperial base was tense, visually dazzling, and superbly acted, in many ways putting recent Bond movies to shame. The Rebel unit succeeded in their mission to steal the Imperial payroll and escape, though sadly not without multiple casualties along the way (though we won’t miss the two-faced Arvel Skeen…).
The most tragic was Alex Lawther’s fresh-faced idealist Karis Nemik, who saved Cassian’s life, but was crushed between two pallets of Imperial gold as the transport accelerated away from the base. A frantic trip to a doctor failed to save his life and he died on the operating table. But, even while injured, he still gave the title hero the directions to escape the interstellar bombardment, instructing him to “climb! climb!”
This is a direct reference to Cassian’s robot buddy K-2SO’s demise towards the end of Rogue One. As Cassian and Jyn Erso escape with the Death Star plans K-2SO is pinned down by Stormtroopers and repeatedly blasted as he operates a control console. Some of his last words to Andor are an instruction to “climb! climb!”.
This means that Cassian will likely have been thinking of Karis as he escaped in Rogue One, perhaps considering his manifesto as he gradually realized that this would be his last mission for the Rebellion. Both of these scenes are from writer/director Tony Gilroy, so this link absolutely isn’t coincidental.
This is the kind of attention to detail we adore, and further proof of why Andor is leagues above other Star Wars shows.