The following contains spoilers for Andor Season 1, Episodes 1-3, streaming now on Disney+.

The Star Wars Holiday Special has resolutely refused to die, despite the active efforts of Star Wars guru George Lucas and a justly earned reputation as a disaster. Indeed, fans have come to embrace its ridiculousness, turning a franchise embarrassment into a quietly beloved piece of kitsch akin to infamous Star Trek: The Original Series episodes such as Season 3, Episode 1, "Spock's Brain." And for all of Lucas's attempts to wish it into the cornfield, it has made significant contributions to Star Wars canon, most notably by introducing the world to Boba Fett.

Even so, expecting a show like Andor to acknowledge it is perhaps more than most fans could hope for. The new series is the polar opposite of the Star Wars Holiday Special in almost every way: stripped down, gritty and taking a serious look at how revolution foments in an actively oppressive society. And yet Andor's Season 1, Episode 2, not only features an Easter egg that directly links the two, it does so with the same emotional intent as its risible predecessor.

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Star Wars Holiday Special Bantha doll Lumpy

The Star Wars Holiday Special was conceived largely as a variety show, which were popular at the time, and which led to some of its more cringe-inducing moments. But the dance numbers and Harvey Korman comedy sketches are wrapped around an ostensibly legitimate Star Wars plot, as Chewbacca tries to return to his home planet of Kashyyyk in time to celebrate Life Day. The Imperials, eager to capture the rogue Wookiee, conduct a search of the house, and ransack the room of Chewie's son, Lumpy. In the process, an Imperial officer twists off the head of Lumpy's stuffed Bantha, leaving it in pieces amid the detritus of their search for the heartbroken child to find.

It's notable in part because it's one of the rare moments in the Holiday Special that shows the Imperials' true colors. The way the scene is directed, the officer destroys the toy not because he thinks he'll find anything useful in it, but because doing so will cause pain to the boy. The casual ugliness stands out amid the silliness and generally positive vibes of the rest of the show. It may just be a stuffed Bantha, but the Imperial's pointed destruction of it speaks volumes about the nature of the Empire. Cruelty is the point.

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Star-Wars-Andor-Bantha-Toy-1

That point isn't lost on Andor, which is as different from the Holiday Special as night and day, and yet similarly includes a young child imperiled by the Imperials. The first three episodes include copious flashbacks of Cassian Andor's childhood on the planet Kenari, where he was raised in an indigenous culture living a tribal lifestyle. That ends when a ship crashes on the planet. A pair of scavengers -- Maarva and Clem -- find him exploring the wreck and take him with them, knowing that the Empire will likely wipe out the entire tribe when they arrive on the planet. Maarva becomes a surrogate mother to him, which makes her a target as the events of Andor unfold.

Episode 2 uses a specific sequence to suggest their relationship before the reveal. Maarva walks through what turns out to be Cassian's childhood room, noting some objects there from his younger days. It includes a stuffed Bantha, nearly identical to the one in Lumpy's room in the Holiday Special, as well as a mock lightsaber and a few other toys.

It's striking not only because the deadly serious Andor is making a callback to the franchise's single goofiest entry, but because in both cases the toy symbolizes much the same thing. Cassian lost his childhood to the Empire's oppression, ultimately turning him from a victim to a colossally consequential Rebel. Lumpy, while cut from a far different cloth, experiences a milder version of the same thing as the Empire trashes his room. The toy speaks not only to a sense of lost innocence, but a reminder of who and what the Empire really is. Andor's elegant use of it suggests yet again that the Holiday Special has more to offer than it seems.

New episodes of Andor stream every Thursday on Disney+.