Andor‘s season finale is a rage-filled triumph
It's not even close. This is the best Star Wars TV show of all time.
TV Reviews Davo Sculden
“Best of all time” is thrown around a lot, but with only a handful of Disney+ entries ranging from “pretty cool” to “expensive toy commercial,” I think it’s more than fair to declare Andor the best Star Wars TV show of all time. (I will add “live-action” as a qualifier in case a bunch of Clone Wars fans get mad at me.) In the short term, I’ll miss it, but the good news is we’re only halfway through the story, and we get one hell of a sendoff this week in a blisteringly-paced and gloriously angry episode of rebellion.
First thing’s first, conspiracy fans: Maarva’s definitely dead. I’d said previously I didn’t believe they’d pull that kind of trick, not only because it’s Not That Kind of Show™, but what good would it do Maarva to fake her death, all but ensuring Cassian’s pigheaded return to the place she told him several episodes ago he can, under no circumstances, stay. Maarva’s loss, her life, and her funeral ceremony are the threads connecting everything this week, and while Tony Gilroy allows for some earned somber moments, the threat of the Empire and the simmering-over rebellion wait for no one. And Maarva does, of course, have one last trick up her sleeve.
In all honesty, it’s a trick Dedra, for all her need for control, should have seen coming. Instead, she’s a little distracted by the ISB’s ruthless murder of Anto Kreegyr’s entire fleet and frustrated there are no prisoners (R.I.P. Anto, we literally did not know you). She ensures the same mistakes aren’t made this time, instructing the imperial agents stationed on Ferrix to do away with snipers for Maarva’s funeral. If Cassian’s here, she wants him alive, presumably to be kept as a hollowed-out plaything along with Bix, who is still a shell, still hearing those unfathomably horrific alien death cries.
Dedra and the Empire, though, have gotten cocky. It’s been the achilles heel of Palpatine’s system-spanning vanity project since A New Hope, but the reality holds true: the bigger the operation, the bigger the blindspots. The ISB approves a special ceremony for Maarva, considering she was a Daughter of Ferrix, which an officer dismisses as a “social club.” (We know better.) However, they demand the ceremony be pushed back two hours, and allow only for 40 mourners. (They were talked up from 30.) Dedra’s smirk all but confirms it: There’s no way this is going down the way she thinks it will.
In play is a young boy assembling a pipe bomb, the barely-held together resentment of the people of Ferrix and, of course, Cassian Andor. Syril, tipped off by Linus last week, also makes the commute, sensing yet another chance to sate his obsessions with both Cass and Dedra. Cinta and Vel link up again, more alienated from each other than ever. Hell, even Luthen’s here for the show.
All roads lead to Ferrix in this final episode, with only the briefest of check-ins with Mon Mothma on Coruscant breaking things up, so let’s get into that. Mon, showing the kind of inventive ruthlessness she’s been searching for all series, asks her totally-a-spy driver for a private chat with her husband on the way home from yet another function. She knows, obviously, the driver will listen in and chastises her husband for gambling again, something he steadfastly denies. It’s a stroke of brilliance from Mon, who’s found a way to add a new wrinkle to ISB’s audit of her bank accounts. Of course there would be some squiffy numbers if Perrin was jaunting over to Canto Bight and blowing it all on the space ponies. Just to shore things up, she does indeed grant Davo Sculden’s son an audience with Leida. I love the quiet ingenuity of her first scheme, but both plays come a little out of nowhere. Genevieve O’Reilly has done superb work all season, and it’s only natural she’d have to be sidelined a little for the grand finale, but I’d like to have seen more of her journey from dismissing Davo out of hand to interrogating her daughter’s affinity for regressive Chandrilan child bride customs to making the arrangements with Davo. It’s easy enough to infer, but for a show that so brilliantly examines systems, and the compromises people have to make to work in (or outside of) them, it feels a touch rushed.
Back on Ferrix, it’s time for Anvil Hammer Guy to finally take center stage: In beautiful defiance, he smashes loud, somber peals through the streets of Ferrix before the agreed funeral time, and citizens—way more than 40—flood the streets to pay tribute to Maarva. In lieu of Cassian (who uses the distraction to find and rescue Bix), Brasso has the honor of laying Maarva’s brick. Then B2EMO kicks into gear, and projects a 20-foot-tall Maarva hologram. Even by proxy, Fiona Shaw’s furious, beautiful speech is elevated by the actor here. Honestly, I wish I could just transcribe the entire thing right here. “I always want to be lifted, to be inspired. I remember every time the dead lifted me with their truth,” she says, the mourners of Ferrix hanging on her every word. “Now I’m dead, and I yearn to lift you.” Something ripples through the crowd. “We’ve been sleeping,” she says, and Dedra allows herself a single nervous side-eye. “There is a wound that won’t heal at the center of the galaxy; it’s here and it’s not visiting anymore.” Maarva, you sly dog. It’s not a funeral; it’s a rally. “If I could do it again, I’d wake up early and fight the bastards from the start. Fight the Empire!” she cries as an officer smothers B2EMO with a jacket. But too little, too late. The pipe bomb is thrown, and the Ferrix uprising begins in earnest.
It’s a beautiful centerpiece of righteous fury and so very un-Star Wars. It’s scrappy, violent, and raw. Even Anvil guy gets to smush a Stormtrooper. Dedra, mobbed and panicked, gets saved by Syril, and the two share an extended, charged moment. I don’t care where this goes next season as long as we get a three-person dinner scene between Syril, Dedra, and Syril’s mother.
Cassian manages to rescue and evacuate Bix and B2EMO for greener pastures, promising them (once again) that he’ll find them. I truly hope he does. Andor is such a deceptively sprawling show that we’ve barely had time to get to know Cassian through the eyes of the people he knows the most. Before he transforms into a full-fledged freedom fighter, I want to see him get his moment of peace. Just a moment. It’s all I ask.
Luthen, ever the man who knows which way the winds are blowing (he tellingly stands above the fray on Ferrix, watching from a distance as explosions and screams ring out), makes for a hasty escape, too, before finding Cassian already on his ship. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Luthen was there in the first place, and Cassian virtually puts his blaster into Luthen’s hand. “Kill me or take me in,” he dares the man who inadvertently turned him into this. I’m not a betting man, but I doubt Luthen will see either of these options as very appealing when we return to Ferrix for season two. The first dominoes have fallen. The rebellion is here.
Stray observations
- I wondered who was going to get the requisite finale monologue. Take a bow, Fiona Shaw. There’s been no short supply of great characters and greater speeches in this show, but Maarva has a lyricism to even her most raw expressions. Beautiful stuff.
- My wishlist for season two includes, in no particular order: Mon and Cassian finally meeting, an inevitably devastating hero’s/villain’s death for Luthen (he could still go either way!), and, of course, for Diego Luna to finally realize his dream of meeting his Star Wars idol, Jabba the Hutt.
- No Kleya this week. Elizabeth Dulau has been great as Luthen’s no-nonsense partner in “crime,” but I’d have loved to see a single scene where she wasn’t “at work,” so to speak. If we can get several scenes of Syril eating soggy cereal, surely we can check in on Kleya’s internal life for a hot second.
- Vel and Cinta get shunted to the side quite a bit too in the finale, but what’s left unsaid between them does a lot of heavy lifting. I hope we see them pop up again next time.
- Did you catch the post-credits scene? Gold star for everybody who called that those nondescript parts Kino’s prison floor was building would end up being part of the Death Star. I don’t see this so much as a “Gasp!” moment as I do a reminder of where this is all headed for Cassian. The obstinate, monolithic symbol of the Empire is nearly here.
- So we just kind of dropped that thread on Cass’ sister after the first few episodes, huh? Guess that’s a season two thing.
- Thanks to everyone who watched, commented, and nitpicked this great, surprising show along with me. Safe to say, writing about Star Wars online is a fraught prospect, but I’ve been bolstered by the funny, thoughtful, collaborative community that is the Andor comments section. Thanks for being my friends, even when you were schooling me. See you all next time!
236 Comments
Honestly, I was about to be thrilled that a scowling villain would get trampled to death by those they had oppressed.
I was soo hoping that too. She’s such a detestable character.
I think many of us had hoped for that, but she’s along for the ride next season. Gads, I can’t stand her arrogance.
Me, too, but she’s far too compelling to write her out that quickly. There’s one more season left!
I am glad it wasn’t revealed–and hope it never is–that *gasp* SHE’S CASSIAN’S SISTER!
The show is way too smart for that kind of chicanery. Thank goodness! Favreau or Abrams would have made her not only Cassian’s sister but also, somehow, Lando’s niece.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that there is a connection between Luthen and Deedra. The way he reacts when he sees her in the crowd makes me believe he knows her.
Given that Denise Gough is from Ireland , obviously she’s Marva’s long lost biological daughter. AND Mon Mothma’s secret sister!!
Don’t get me wrong; for a scowling villain she’s excellently handled by the writers and the actor.I could use far less of the little twerp who always looks like he smells a fart.
Come on, the incel extremist with the Jewish Mother From Hell is a perfect character for this series. Just wish he and Cassian met again during the finale (and Syrin has to choose whether to stop him or to save his dominatrix crush).
I was a bit surprised that a few characters lived.
She’s a delicious character and she will end up dead, mark my words – but it won’t be the civilians who do her in. Nothing is scarier for a fascist when their own turn on them.
Good lord no. She’s the best part of the show! (and there’s a lot of competition for that title)Tbh brutal torture tendencies aside, I think I’ve developed a bit of a crush on her.
I felt the same emotions. I was ready for the show to go dark and have the people of Ferrix stringing her up as an example, but I also didn’t think her arc would end in such a way.
I was yelling, “Kill her” the whole time
I had guessed that Dedra would end up dying in a kind of stupid and anonymous way, rather than getting a dramatic, meaningful villain-appropriate death. Being accidentally trampled to death (or lynched by an angry mob (or shot by friendly fire in the confusion)) would have been perfect, as far as I’m concerned.Except that I want to see more of her and Syril together, so in that sense I’m glad she’s still around.
She has been one of the highlights of this show so her death needs to be something that makes me both go ‘FUCK YES’ and feel sad that she won’t be on the show anymore…
Minor correction to Andor’s last line. He says: ‘Kill me, or take me in.’
What did the article originally say?
Turn
Wow, what a stunning misread of that scene!!
Yeah that changes things entirely.
That’s the most impactful minor correction in history.
It’s not even close. This is the best Star Wars TV show of all time.FIFY. Also, Cassian says “Kill me, or take me in” not turn. Gives it a bit of a different meaning. For me, this and Rogue One are the best, with the first two movies coming right behind. Nothing else has come close. I haven’t felt this level of anticipation for something and then the actual payoff afterwards since the weeks leading up to Empire being released 40+ years ago. Feels like I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. CANNOT wait for the second season.Mentioned over on io9 as well that I thought Nicholas Britell’s score deserves some recognition. Outstanding work.Everything about this worked for me. Casting, sets, costumes, FX, and especially the writing. My faith in Tony Gilroy is rewarded yet again. Knew they wouldn’t let Fiona just disappear, and that final monologue she got was a hell of a thing to watch indeed. Might be my favorite scene in all of Star Wars
100% agreement.
I haven’t been that moved by anything Star Wars since Rogue One.
This is such a great series that they could merely change a few names and wording here and there, take “Star Wars” off of it and it would still be just an amazing sci-fi spy thriller political drama, standing tall on its own. I feel it is the singular best work done in the entire franchise. Addendum: of course, then no one would have given them this huge budget to play with.
It really does feel like it could have been set during the American Revolution or during the Troubles.
Probably because the guy that created and wrote the show also wrote Rogue One and all of the Bourne movies. Tony Gilroy is one of the top political-thriller/spycraft writers of all time.
yeah putting nostalgia aside this was easily the best Star Wars property, it’s gonna be rough going from this back to the other d+ muck now
I also like that, not only did Maarva get the grand speech that kicked off the fighting, Brasso used her brick to bludgeon a bunch of Imperials too. She got revenge from beyond the grave TWICE.
I loved when, after Brasso used Maarva’s brick to hit an Imperial Officer, he turned back to the crowd and held the brick in the air triumphantly.
My theory is that Cassian rigged his space modulator pistol to overload and the blowback would have killed Luthen if he tried to fire it but with one look at the gun Luthen sees through the ruse and decides “this is my kind of rebel”.
I definitely like your theory, but I’m pretty sure it was meant to play as it appears on the surface.
I agree, might be bias because it’s contemporary to me but it really is my favorite Star Wars anything I’ve seen
The end of Rogue One had me in tears so much so that I had to sit in an empty theater for a couple minutes to compose myself. Thank goodness for sun glasses. Marva’s speech was brilliant. And the “oppression is a mask to hide weakness” (paraphrasing). So much of this is so relevant to today’s political landscape. I heard a great story about Andor on All Things Considered, on NPR last night. With a brief interview with Gilroy. Season 2 is already filming in London. He has studied tyranny and rebellion uprisings going back centuries. The gist of it was the passionate fan base and the critics loving the series, and that when Gilroy wrote Rogue One, or rewrote it, the Star Wars royalty was never going to be a focus, it was the rebellion uprising from all over the galaxy. I didn’t mind the Death Star scene; ironic that it ends up Cass was forced to help build something that he would later help destroy.
…and that would end up killing him anyway!
Don’t remind me. I can’t even watch Rogue One ending, it just breaks my heart. The worst thing is all these people sacrifice and die for this cause, and then we jump to A New Hope and it’s such a 180 turn to snark and spaceships.
I’m mostly in agreement with everything you said. In addition to “best Star Wars” ever, how would you compare it similar political-military scifi shows? BSG, Expanse, ST:DS9
That’s a good question. I haven’t seen The Expanse yet, so I don’t know. As for BSG and DS9, while I definitely have positive feelings about both overall, there were aspects of both I wasn’t a fan of. But those also went on for far longer than this will, and I’m not sure either had as much of a singular vision guiding them like Andor has. (I’m sure Gilroy is open to input from collaborators, but this is ultimately his story.) It’s probably a little unfair to compare them to this, and Gilroy could conceivably fuck up the second season (though I highly doubt it.)So, I’d say this is what I liked most, but I certainly enjoyed those as well.
I had the music stuck in my head for a good long while after this episode ended. The score has been absolutely brilliant.
I’m not seeing a lot of comments. And it doesn’t seem to be a buzzy show. But it’s been a fantastic season of TV.
The buzz is gaining steam. More tweets and social media people are noticing it. It seems to have generated a massive amount of YouTube content, with all the big Star Wars content creators endlessly theorizing about tiny details — always a good sign (no, nerds, Luthen Rael is not a Jedi).
But he has a staff thing! And the guy from Screen Crush thinks he’s an amalgamation of some obscure comic!
I’m endlessly thrilled that this show featured no Jedi, lightsabers, or Skywalkers.
I suspect that Luthen’s anti-TIE fighter beam weapon was essentially a really big pair of lightsabers.
“I’m not seeing a lot of comments.”The Walking Dead got a lot of comments.. from people bragging that they weren’t watching.
Oh man I guess I better get over there and comment about how I’m not watching it either! Although that’s a trend I don’t want to start…not sure I have time to comment on all the things I’m not watching (though I do enjoy the sense of superiority I get from it).
Last nitpik – I heard Cassian say “Kill me or take me in” in his dialogue with Luthen. Maybe I heard wrong, but it gave the scene a parent/child callback to Maarva’s original abduction. Lmk if I’m wrong. I don’t watch with subtitles. But I’ll for sure watch this episode again (I’ve been watching every episode twice since ep4).Thanks for the reviews. Hopefully Mandalorian and Ahsoka showrunners realize they need to kick things up a notch if they want to catch Andor.Joy to all when the Maarva, Kino Loy, and Syril’s Mom limited edition action figures come out.
There is rumor that Timothy Zahn is in the writers room for Ashoka since Thrawn is involved. I REALLY hope that’s true because he is one of the few SW writers to never flop.
I’d settle for a B2EMO figure
Hopefully Mandalorian and Ahsoka showrunners realize they need to kick things up a notch if they want to catch Andor. Pretty sure Mandalorian showrunners don’t want to catch Andor’s viewership numbers.
True enough.
Pretty sure they were talking about the quality of the show when they said “catch Andor”.
thats the joke
definitely agree. he was saying “take me in”, as in, let me onto your team
While I agree the writing could be better for Mandalorian, I have thoroughly enjoyed that show for what it is as well, and can’t even begin to imagine the complaints if they had too many ‘quiet’ episodes…My kids biggest complaint about Andor was there ‘wasn’t enough pew pew’, and it’s a valid complaint for them as they expect lots of ‘Wars’ in their ‘Star Wars’. One of my biggest thrills with it is to discover that there is room for ‘grown up’ stories in Star Wars.
Also gotta love that Brasso got to clock some stormtroopers with Maarva’s Brick! What a send-off. Her actual bodily remains got to punch some fascists.Another side note: it’s not explicit but it seems referenced in the costuming that the classic Rebel orange flight suits and gear comes from Ferrix. Maybe its just overall thematic: good guys = orange/brick ie earth-tones vs Imperial black and white, but be it retcon or no, Gilroy and his team deserve props.
That’d be cool, although I figured it was just generic work overalls.
Yeah that would be awesome but I kind of took the rebellion garb (I don’t know another word for it I guess) as the uniform of the working class throughout the galaxy.
Good eye—I didn’t pick up on that at all, but I bet you’re right. Part of what’s great about this show is it has very little fan service—only what’s really necessary to tie the show to the bigger SW arcs. So a subtle nod like costume design is particularly rewarding.
Just happy to see Brasso survive…
Orange is also in the prison garb.
I rented out a movie theater today to stream this on the big screen for me and my son for his birthday. 200 bucks very well spent.
I CALLED IT I CALLED IT I CALLED IT(phew)Anyway, that post-credits scene was just the frosting on the delectable cake that was the season-ending episode. I can’t even quantify the goodness because it was so uniform. I’m so looking forward to/dreading S2. And really, it’s going to be hard to watch Rogue One again when this story is over because I’m now so invested in Diego Luna and Cassian Andor.
Watching the Death Star assemble itself was primo. My mouth was wide open and a bit goggle eyed.
So we just kind of dropped that thread on Cass’ sister after the first few episodes, huh? Guess that’s a season two thing.Maarva confirmed that it was only ever a desperate denial on Cassian’s part that she could have survived.
And yet someone from that planet survived, right? There was a girl of his race working at that brothel. Unless I missed something.
The sister search was just the catalyst/inciting incident for the entire show. Whether the sister is alive isn’t really relevant. If the show never brings it up again, so be it.
Yeah…no. We got a couple episodes of flashbacks and childhood stuff over it. Your idea that they went to those lengths to drop the only remaining thread from it doesn’t make much sense, narratively or production-wise.
Star Wars family melodrama rules leave a chance that Dedra is his sister. 30/70 odds
Even if we’re to believe that Maarva’s told this to Andor before, it still makes little sense that Andor wouldn’t want to see what Luthen knows about it given his surprising familiarity with Andor’s background.
The sister is… DEDRA!
thats what I suspect as well. You might throw that in spoilers, even thought its only speculation
If they wind up doing that, the eyeroll cringe will be massive. So far except this show has stayed pretty far away from the everyone’s related to everyone trope.
2nd season spoiler! Dedra’s mother is also named Maarva!
“Maarva confirmed”Maarva TOLD. She confirmed nothing.
I like the idea of the audience and Cassian never learning his sister’s fate, it feels thematically appropriate for this show. The same way I kind of hope we never find out Kino’s fate.
I am in complete awe of this show. This is the best Star Wars instalment by a massive margin. It elevates the entire OT to a beautiful new height with it’s writing, casting, sets, score, all of it top notch. These monumental themes of oppression and rebellion set against such real and precisely sketched characters. Man listen.. I’m gushing. Selfishly I wish they could complete this show over the course of at least 3 or 4 seasons, but hopefully the stripped down 2 seasons we’re evidently getting will do these characters justice. This is a Star Wars galaxy I could live in for way more years than just the two, but I’ll take any and all I can get. Simply magnificent.
I am in complete awe of this show. This is the best Star Wars instalment by a massive margin. It elevates the entire OT to a beautiful new height with it’s writing, casting, sets, score, all of it top notch. These monumental themes of oppression and rebellion set against such real and precisely sketched characters. Man listen.. I’m gushing. You know what I want them to do now? Stop faffing about re what SW movie they’re going to make next, and hire Tony Gilroy to write the next trilogy, which is all about other Rebels and what they’re doing while Luke et. al. are engaged in their shenanigans. No Jedi, no lightsabers. Let’s find out exactly how many Bothans died to bring us this information.
Amen. Rogue One and Andor have been my favorite SW chapters, the other work that Tony Gilroy did (like Devils Advocate) is also great. Should we start like a petition?
If by “start a petition” you mean “storm Lucasfilm HQ and give Kathleen Kennedy a disappointed stare until she capitulates,” then… maybe.
From the very first rough draft of The Star Wars, Lucas always wanted to show his evil empire being taken down by a community of nobodies using nothing but stones, sticks, and their fists. It was Wookies in the first draft who eventually turned into Ewoks in Jedi, and I’m so glad to see that element brought back but with real people in a way that shows their desperation, determination, and grit in ways that fuzzy alien suits never can.
Anyone else old enough to pick up on the Irish analogies here? I mean Christ, that funeral scene!
Yeah, being British it felt exactly like the reference point. When Syril et al were trying to capture Andor early on it felt like Mogadishu to me, but I’m hindsight Belfast would be more apt.
a little, but there was no wake and the band seemed a little more New Orleans.
I thought it was more a nod to British colliery brass bands.
It definitely was meant to be a Star Wars version of that
I think Tony Gilroy has stated in an interview that IRA funerals were a big inspiration for the Ferrix funeral. That entire planet seems to draw a lot of inspiration from The Troubles, especially with the clanging pots and metal to alert incoming authorities.
Sounded like Neutral Milk Hotel to me. Combining New Orleans funeral with Irish drums and some deep horns.
I’m glad that the traitor/guy selling out Cassian was killed by impact/window glass?, but was really hoping he would’ve been audio-brain-fried, bc why would the Empire give him/anyone anything?Was hoping that Syril or Dedra would somehow be killed by the Empire, to show how the oppressor doesn’t really discriminate…but, ugh, guess we’ll just have to see them edging for another season or something
A trustworthy quisling is useful, and developing a reputation of constantly altering the deal would make it harder for the Empire to make deals to begin with.
I’m not reading anything until I catch up, but I gotta sing the praises of this show. Finally a Star Wars story that is not based on nostalgia, that justifies itself by itself as opposed to in reference to something else, is specifically for grown ups (not that older kids can’t get it but, you know, not marketed to children), and that exists to tell a story, not sell my childhood back to me. It’s executed with immense competence, looks beautiful, populates itself with well-drawn, complex characters, has something to say about the real world, and still kicks ass in the Star Wars way when it needs to. Really, for anyone who’s been waiting decades for the franchise to discover a reason to exist besides bottom line profits, it’s pretty much the answer to our prayers. Sorry to gush but, you know, call a good thing a good thing.
Why on earth are you bothering to write a comment when that time could be spent watching the show! Get cracking!
But I’m at work and have very important clients…ah fuck it, you’re right, I have FICTIONAL REBELLION TO FOMENT!
My young elementary age kid and I watched it together and despite her being restless from time to time… she still loved it, and had lots of thought provoking questions about the show (often she was confused by the motives of some characters… ‘why is Cel trying to kill Cassian??’) It never felt uncomfortable for her to be watching it, and quite educational in some ways (we had lots of chats regarding prisons, the dismantling of traditional cultures). Although a very different plane of child-friendly entertainment, like Avatar: The Last Airbender, it really goes to show (again and again) that an intellectual mature show does not mean it has to be full of blood, gore, ‘grittiness’ or explicit sex.
Love it. And I shouldn’t be ageist. Even if it’s too much for my five year old, I’m all for exposing kids to stuff that’s just a bit above their level. Stuff they can grow into. My appreciation of The Godfather was pretty superficial when I saw it at 12, but you follow those threads and appreciate the art more for spending years with it.
My 7 year old shoulder surfed the first two episodes… then sat in my lap!
Let’s hear it up for Bell Tower Man! I laughed hard when a storm trooper was ordered to stop him. I was like I just want to hear the sound of the bell change to the sound from ROTJ when the ewoks drum the trooper armor.
I cheered when the Stormtrooper entered the tower and Bell Tower Man just kicked him right out of there.
Pretty much agree with most of this, except that I do think Luthen is intrigued in a good way by taking Cassian in. His gamble paid off! I was more surprised that he lived to the end of the season – I figured the net would catch him, and then Cassian would be his legacy to the rebellion. Glad to see I was wrong, because Luthen is one of the best things about this series. I don’t care where this goes next season as long as we get a three-person dinner scene between Syril, Dedra, and Syril’s mother.Oh, that would be good. Dedra does not seem inclined to share, if they go down that road. Speaking of which, Syril was the closest thing we got to comic relief in this otherwise tense-as-hell finale. What was the deal with him and the Sergeant switching hats on the space-bus? For some reason, that was hilarious to me. She knows, obviously, the driver will listen in and chastises her husband for gambling again, something he steadfastly denies.She’s obviously trying to make the ISB think her husband is doing questionable banking stuff for his gambling debts, but it also came across to me as a bit of interpersonal power play for Mon – she’s using emotional leverage to get him on board with a possible arranged marriage for their daughter with a gangster’s son. Then again, I might be over-reading that, since we don’t know that he has any issues with Sculden or arranged teen marriages. I don’t see this so much as a “Gasp!” moment as I do a reminder of where this is all headed for Cassian. Mixed feelings on that. It makes sense, and given where Cassian is headed I get it, but I almost wish it had been just some part on some random star destroyer among a whole bunch of them being built – a reminder that the prison factory was just a cog in a greater, impersonal machine, and there’s nothing particularly special about that awful place or what it produced.
it also came across to me as a bit of interpersonal power play for Mon –
she’s using emotional leverage to get him on board with a possible
arranged marriage for their daughter with a gangster’s son
Agreed, but this is something that I really wish took more time to develop? Because this seems like it’s the worst of both worlds—Mon Mothma’s pimping her daughter out to Davo, but she’s also dragging Perrin into this if there’s ever any question about her accounts.The details of the financial situation (or the marriage) have never been totally clear, but I’d gotten the impression that Tay could’ve hidden the missing 400k credits if he’d been involved at first, and that Davo was particularly necessary to clean it up after the fact because it would raise the fewest questions. I more or less take it for granted that Mon Mothma will be on the run at the end of this series and while it seems perfectly normal/appropriate to have Perrin out her (intentionally or not), it just feels really weird to have her set this up herself so deliberately….and, as for the post-credits tag, I think it’d make a lot more sense if the prisoners were making components that were in turn broken down by other prisoners, back and forth forever. A government that has the wherewithal to build a planet-sized space station in space and have parts of the assembly done by space droids can’t possibly derive any benefit from using slave labor for anything of practical importance.
Having the prisoners make something with no other purpose than to keep them busy makes zero sense when they have an entire built-in labor force on hand (that they can grow at will), and it’s even stated in one episode that slaves are cheaper and easier to replace than droids. I think having them build components for a doomsday weapon is much more compelling, and much closer to the reality of empires (Rome, the USA), who use slave labor to grow their power and build their infrastructure.
Also, having the prisoners make parts for something they knew nothing about is on par with actual historical factories & facilities unwittingly making parts and components for weapons of mass destruction as to keep their intended uses secret from outside espionage. That happened a lot in World War 2 and the Cold War period. One place would make a seemingly innocuous widget here, and the other factory would make a fastener there, but all spread out from multiple sources, none of which knew they were making parts for nuclear weapons.
So I’d say two things to this: the first is that slavery in this galaxy has been in lieu of other human labor. Nobody’s using gangs of coerced or enslaved workers in lieu of a crane in building construction, for instance, and for the Empire to use prison labor for such mechanically rudimentary work raises questions about SW’s economy that I don’t really want to think about bc I don’t think they can possibly make any sense.The other is that both by having the work of the prisoners be mission-critical and also providing the economic explanation, it’s essentially rationalizing slave labor as effective in the same way that Dr. Tross’s device effectively rationalizes torture. Regarding the latter I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Luthen was able to get in and out of Ferrix safely because Bix lied to Dedra, but if not it feels almost unintentionally fascistic.
IMO it raises fewer questions and is more narratively satisfying if the prisoners are either making nothing of value (in a sort of anti-Keynesianism) or are a factor in Imperial self-sabotage, like if prison labor’s the reason why Stormtrooper armor’s so faulty.
Coerced labor is historically effective and continues to be so today. The large groups of essentially indentured servants harvesting the crops of California and building the Middle Eastern mega cities are proof of that. Let alone the origin of the railways of the American West.
As well as forcing slaves to build the very tools and maintain the systems that will keep them oppressed. Totally on point with realiy.
We know Mon will be on the run by the time Rebels is taking place which is before Rogue One
Fair enough, I’ve never seen Rebels. It just feels weird to have her creating a loose end in such an unforced way, but I’m not sure how else we’re supposed to read the scene.
When we see the squad back in ep 3 the sarge and Syril have orange bills denoting they are in charge. Sarge gives Syril his orange billed hat on the space bus as a symbolic gesture.
I was thinking it was just their dumb idea of a disguise.
Holy shit that was a great pull!
I was going to complain about the letter grade, since every episode of this show, with the possible exception of episode 11, has been an A.But the dopey post-credit sequence is enough for it to drop down to a B+ for me. That’s the kind of dumb fan service that the show has, up until that point, been totally above.
I agree, it made me cringe a bit – but I think if the showrunners were obligated to extend one olive branch to the ‘fans’, at least I’m glad it was relegated to a post credits scene. I can almost view it as a separate entity from the series itself despite the prison stuff being involved.To bloviate a bit though – if we were to connect it, it’s kind of interesting thematically that Andor now takes on a wonderful mythical irony in his role of the destruction of the Death Star. That his escape from a prison that was constructing the death machine itself is a line of fate that directly leads to its destruction.
Like the show focuses on thematically, Andor’s escape was a lot due to the Empire’s complacency and arrogance leading to its grip on tyranny ‘leaking’ (as Nemik put it). Of course there was a big space battle and Luke with his force powers that made it blow up good, but the destruction of the Death Star now also seems like the Empire’s own undoing, starting with its own ‘shortcuts’ in the Death Star’s very construction and security. (which can also be traced back further to how a ‘public enemy number one’ like Andor fell undetected into the prison in the first place through the failings of Empire tyrannical bureaucracy.)
You can also look at it as the Chekov’s Gun in Andor’s own life story. A Death Star seen in Act 1 (Andor season 1) will end up being fired in Act 3 (Rogue One)
But then it loops back around in a cool way because of what happens in Rogue One makes the destruction of the Death Star possible.
Yeah and that thematic connection is clearly what Gilroy was going for. But I still found it annoying, wholly unecessary, and far too similar to the endless bits of fan wankery that the ST and recent live-action shows have given us. The best “explanation” for the Narkina builds should have been: it doesn’t matter. What they’re actually building is totally beside the point.
It also manages to deftly drive a stake into Kevin Smith’s whole “Independent contractors built the Death Star” stoner theorizing.
In fairness, Kevin Smith himself helped smack that stake in years ago
Wasn’t Smith talking about the second Death Star in ROTJ? He says they would have had to bring in independent contractors because they were in such a rush to build it between ANH and ROTJ.
Even going back to the original movie you’ve got Tarkin saying that the Emperor’s taken away the Senate and now the governors will keep the systems in control using the Death Star as the big stick. The Empire is a lot shakier than it looks and they rely heavily on their big guns to maintain control.
I wonder if that was a directive that Disney handed down. “Thou shalt have one post credit scene.”Also, while it was a neat little detail, it almost kind of cheapens the prison arc. It was never about what they were making.
Agreed. It should have been kept a mystery. What they were building was utterly beside the point.
I have to disagree there. If it was a cut to Tatooine or any member of the extended Skywalker family, I’d be in total agreement, but the Death Star is still massively important. Obviously, it plays a significant role in the final chapter of our protagonist’s story but it’s also a game-changer for the SW Universe in general. It’s the Empire’s equivalent of the atomic bomb and a symbol of total galactic domination. The very reason why we have a rebellion forming in the first place. I also liked the way the scene was shot – Panning out to remind us of the sheer scale of the thing and that it would take a galactic effort over years to construct it.
Yes…it is one of the only “Easter Eggs” the show has to offer but…if we look at the context of the show as a fresh, NOOB experience for someone who has never seen a Star War…you would recognize that one part that Cassian was working on and wonder “WTF is this gigantic thing in the sky that is being built? what does it have to do with anything??”
Also, i believe Luthen is a former Sith.
Hood made it kinda obvi.
So there ya go.
I was also wondering about Luthen – ex- Jedi? Ex-sith? The billowing cape in episode 10 was extremely reminiscent of Count Dooku’s overall look, and his fighter has those red light-sabre like extensions.
I didn’t mind seeing the Death Star mid-construction–it’s pretty basic foreshadowing if nothing else, but I think it works better if it’s not connected to Andor’s time in prison at all.
I think it makes total sense that it’s tied to Andor’s time in prison. It’s not a million-to-one coincidence that he happens to be building a small part it. I think everyone who’ve been jailed is…The Death Star is a construction project that is unprecedented in scale (*I have it on good authority that it is “too big to be a space station”) so it’s going to be requiring billions of parts from across the galaxy but as its’ construction is supposed to be largely carried out in secret, it makes sense that they would use expendable prison labor. I mean, this is even covered halfway through the season when we learn that the Empire are jailing hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people for the slightest of things along with handing out ridiculously harsh sentences. That’s to provide most of the workforce required for its construction.
My only issue with it is that it looked a little bit too far along in construction for the timeframe. I’d be expecting something a bit more like ROTJ’s Death Star 2.
How long was Andor in prison? A month maybe? The Death Star was almost complete.
The post-credits scene doesn’t have to have taken place at the same time as the rest of the show. It could easily be a flash-forward to when the Death Star was almost complete, a few years later.
His prison factory was just constructing nodes for the laser dish. That’s a late-stage part of the project. Presumably the rest had been constructed elsewhere and over the preceding years.
100% agreed— really makes sense that the Empire would have to resort to something like this to complete a project of that magnitude (which, you know, has firepower that can’t be repelled). We saw Cassian’s group make, what, a dozen or so of a part that they must have needed millions of? Forced slave labor from never-ending prison sentences that for what amounts to traffic violations is a pretty brilliant explanation happening in prisons all over the galaxy is a pretty strong explanation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing I ever needed to know, but details like that definitely make this show better—especially since they don’t specifically spell out that’s what’s happening through some weird exposition dump, but just leave all the clues out there for people to put together.
It’s been in continuous construction on the down-low for 15 years now.
Fair enough then.
It’s not “massively important” to this series, though. Despite Cassian’s eventual fate.What was great about this show was its lack of pointless connections an easter eggs to other parts of the franchise. You could go into this show cold without any prior knowledge of SW and still enjoy it. The post-credit scene was the first moment that ruined that.
I still disagree. Even if you had no knowledge of Star Wars whatsoever, the sight of this giant mysterious machine at the very least is going to be intriguing and it *will* be addressed again in season 2 as season 2 is supposed to finish up around the start of Rogue One. After all, we’re following the story of how Andor winds up on that mission. It’s also not ‘pointless’ as it explains the Empire’s motives for jailing thousands (millions?) of people across the galaxy and handing out ridiculously long sentences halfway through the season – To provide slave labour for their secret galactic Manhattan Project.
I’d argue it was a quite pointful connection to other parts of the franchise.
I kind of see it the other way. When all is said and done, Rogue One will basically act as Andor’s series finale, so the post-credit scene is really just putting Chekhov’s Death Star in place for that.The mention of Canto Blight on the other hand… that felt a bit like someone had been pressuring them to put in a reference.
Uh, how is Canto Bight a forced reference? They were literally discussing Perrin’s (former) gambling habit. And it’s been established as a major casino in the SW universe.
It was a throwaway line, so I’m not getting upset about it or anything, but to me, it stuck out like a sore thumb as one of the only times Andor has directly referenced a pre-existing element of the universe when it didn’t need to. It’s not like Canto Bight is the only place where gambling is possible.
Honestly the Canto thing was pretty brilliant, in that it gave Mon a place to explain where that money was going, AND most Star Wars fans (even if they hate it with a fiery passion) understand the reference. I thought it was a nice little bit of world building, but then I didn’t hate Last Jedi the way many (most?) do…
I didn’t have a problem with the mention of Canto Blight, save that it obligated me to briefly acknowledge Episode VIII’s existence.
Given that they had to do SOMETHING in a post-credit scene, I’m glad it was just something that confirmed what people had already guessed anyway. As good as this show is as a standalone, sometimes it’s almost too separate from the larger Star Wars universe. The ISB wear white uniforms we haven’t seen before, we see almost very few stormtroopers (except in the finale) and instead get anonymous villains in black, there aren’t even really any alien characters… It easily could just be a non-Star Wars sci-fi show most of the time.
Also, if there’s even a chance that bringing in the Death Star as a major location next season, I would LOVE that. It was cool enough that Rogue One cleverly explained the ridiculous vulnerability of the Death Star from A New Hope, but I’d love if we got an ep where we get to watch Galen Erso put his plans into action. The Rebels have to find out about the Death Star at some point before Rogue One starts, and the next season is supposed to run right up to that, so I think this credits scene was just a nice little taste of where the show might be going.
There is an ISB uniform in A New Hope in the Death Star conference room scene. However, it’s doubtful that in 1977 that white uniform guy had a backstory or that ISB was even a component of the broader Star Wars story. The joys of world building backwards.
The ISB wear white uniforms we haven’t seen beforeKrennic wore the same white uniform in Rogue One. Heck, there were white-uniformed Imperial officers in A New Hope (although possibly only in deleted scenes). Grand admirals (like Thrawn) wore white uniforms too, though I don’t know if grand admirals have been depicted in live-action. But they certainly aren’t new to Star Wars in general.
I can’t tell you how much I hope they bring back Krennic for next season. It almost feels like they have to, but it’s hard to say. I would, however, be totally okay with no more Tarkin, unless through a hologram or something. While the effect was really good in Rogue One, my brain knows Peter Cushing has been dead a long time and the ‘uncanny valley’ gets amplified for me due to that…
I didn’t mind the CGI Tarkin; it looked pretty damn good, and at least a couple peers of mine (who are pretty savvy) were fooled and thought it was a real actor. But from a larger perspective, there was no good artistic reason to do it, aside from maybe as a proof of concept. They should have just cast Charles Dance.
I don’t know how any post credits scene – let alone one that we could see lined-up from a mile away, one that is absolutely linked to Cassian’s story – could make you enjoy the episode any less.
There’s a YouTube vid where someone theorized the things the prisoners were making were the undercarriages of Imperial Probe Droids. I liked that theory. This … was fine. It would be cool to find out that Narkina’s 3rd floor work group sabotaged every 20th unit – thus causing the Death Star’s dish to fail upon first use and push everything back by a year. Loy seemed too uptight initially to let his crew purposefully sabotage anything.
I guess I had a different takeaway. The Death Star angle means that Aldhani wasn’t the reason prison sentences became harsher (or, as I’ve found out, permanent). It was a convenient excuse to meet a longer term goal.
No, dumb fan service is in Rogue One when the two guys that get into it with Luke at the cantina randomly walk down the street. This was OK. Rogue One’s entire plot is about stealing plans for the Death Star, so it would only make sense we’d lean into it a bit. I can go either way on whether the pieces Andor built in prison needed to be included.
You say fan service, but let’s face it…this entire series is leading up to the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star. The post credit scene was fitting and appropriate. The irony, Cassian gets killed by the very thing he was working on. While succeeding in the mission to get the Death Star plans to the Rebels. That’s a genius idea on the part of the writers imo.
I’m sure there is a warehouse full of notes they’ve received from Disney execs about fan service so I’m willing to give them a pass on this one.
What are you talking about? I love the reveal that the Empire is building a giant satellite dish they can use to broadcast
their message of peace, freedom, justice, and security across the
galaxy.
No, dumb fan service would have been if Cassian has been nearly injured while working in the prison and quipped “These things will be the death of me” and THEN they have the post-credit scene of the parts being built into the Death Star.
That’s not fan service. That’s ironic foreshadowing of a powerful friendship snapping in two and coming to its tragic conclusion.
Well, no. The first two episodes are a C at best – they are the achilles heel of this series. I rewatched the whole thing with my wife after I raved about the later episodes, and it was very interesting to see her reactions.Like many people, she would have quit after episode 2. Literally nothing happens in episode 2, the pace is terrible. In 3 things pick up, only to slow down again in 4, though that episode benefits from opening the universe of the show. Still, not enough drive to keep the doubters engaged fully. The preparation of the heist – once again, two episodes could have been condensed into one. Luckily we get some great writing and action and many ‘never seen before in the Star Wars universe’-moments. Once the heist starts, the series really falls into a good groove, and the prison episodes are brilliant. But episode 11 is just more scene setting, and episode 12 – too many missed opportunities. Once again pacing proves to be the biggest hurdle. All the main characters are brought together in one location with the exception of Mon Mothma, but hardly any of them meet. There are no big emotional moments with Cassian, not with Bix (‘come on, let’s get you out of here’), not with Luthen. (Didn’t even realize Cassian knew Luthen was around). Stellan Skarsgard gets nothing to play in the entire episode. He just watches. We don’t even see Cassian grieve the loss of his mother, or witness any part of her speech. And we didn’t get to see the dom sex scene between Meera and Syril that you just KNOW took place after her rescue (I’m not sure if it would have been maledom or femdom though, but in either case it will have been nasty).And the post-riot situation on Ferrix wasn’t handled clearly either – is the planet now in full resistance mode? Did the Emps beat down and crush the rebellious mobs for good, or would they have had to retreat? Was it the beginning of the liberation of Ferrix? Too many extras just calmly going about their business once the massacre is over. I agree that taken as a whole Andor is the best Star Wars series ever and it brings a lot of lived-in realism to the fairy tale (though there’s always the risk that too much realism in a genre piece – in this case Space Opera with a simplistic binary backdrop – ends up destroying the fantasy resting at the heart of the enterprise). But the series does have a few unfortunate flaws which turned both reviewers and a fair portion of the audience against it at the start, and these flaws could have been fixed easily. And as far as I’m concerned, episode 10 works far better as a series finale (though it would have had to tie off a few more ends) than episode 12 did.
While we all guessed it was coming, I did appreciate the fact that Andor had a hand in building the thing that would bring about his own demise. Plus, it also serves as a ‘countdown’ clock—next season will not cover much time in the SWU, I’m guessing, seeing as how we see the ring thing being installed as the final piece of the Death Star in Rogue One.
LOL at including the Death Star in a show about Cassian Andor being “fan service” when his ultimate fate/death is directly linked to the Death Star.I knew that the guy that complained about every episode of The Mandalorian S01 and told everyone they were wrong would eventually return during these Andor reviews with an equally bad take.
Why wouldn’t Luthen find taking Cassian in appealing? He knows how supremely capable the guy is and no longer has to worry about his loyalties.Very perplexing observation.
Think his wry smile showed he’s all in on Cassian
Exactly. Don’t understand the reviewer’s point at all.
The reviewer initially thought the line was “kill me or turn me in”, and then analyzed those two choices as neither being appealing to Luthen. Of course, it’s “take me in” which is utterly different.
Syril, you dumb bastard. I was wrong to call Syril “Brownshirt Javert.”” Javert was eventually able to recognize the injustice of the system he supported. Syril still doesn’t realize he’s on the wrong side even after seeing the Empire slaughter innocent people. I will now call Syril “fascist Smithers.”
I honestly thought during Maarvas speech that it may have actually gotten through to him but nah he’s still an Imperial fan boy.
People like him are what made the real life Nazis possible. True for the fictional Empire too. Anything to be accepted by those in charge.
Syril, grrrr…
May we all find us a partner that loves us as much as Syril loves his Fascist Mommy Meero
We see the sarge drinking in an alley I think he might have figured it out.
I’ve been going with “Imperial Arnold Rimmer,” myself
From the first episode on, I thought of him as Imperial Arnold Rimmer (BSC, SSC).
Imperial Gabe from The Office. Snotty little suck up who doesn’t see he’s kissing the wrong ass til it’s too late.
How about Ben Shapiro?
The most critically acclaimed Star Wars content in a long time and viewership is low. Why? I think it’s because it was made for Star Wars nerds. The ones who know every little detail about the franchise. The fans who want to delve deeper into the lore of Star Wars. It’s not for the casual viewer. They would find it boring. It’s not an action packed series. It’s like a soap opera in the Star Wars universe. That’s not to say it doesn’t have action, but it’s few and far between. It’s a slow paced series that has a lot of character and world building. If you are a Star Wars fan that doesn’t like it because you want easter eggs and a lot of action. You’re everything wrong today with Star Wars fans.
They’re not saying “Fight the Empire”, they’re saying “Fete the Empire” “Feeete the Empire”
Or Matt Gaetz.
Season 2 – Mon Mothma casually brought up bringing someone into “the group”, I’m wondering if and when we’ll see a Bail Organa reveal.
Canonically, Bail is a big mover in the Rebellion, but I wouldn’t be at all sad if we didn’t see him in Andor. He hasn’t been a particularly compelling character the few times we’ve seen him (although despite its many flaws, Obi-Wan Kenobi actually gave him some nice development, especially re his relationship to Leia). EDIT: I mathed wrong, ignore the rest of what I posted before, the age thing works fine. (I still don’t think they need him.)
Earlier in the season when she first talked about getting in touch with “an old friend” to help her out with her money problems, I was sure it was going to be Bail Organa.
The absolute mad lads and laddesses, they stuck the landing.
Thanks Tom for the review recaps and thanks to this wonderful comment section. I’ve loved tuning into every week to see us collectively realize and wax lyrical on how special this show was turning out to be, as if we were watching an underdog unknown team slowly but surely, match by match, emerge victorious against all odds. Quite a fitting trajectory, considering the themes of the show itself.If I have only one nitpick, it’s that sadly this ending feels like the amazing beginning of a great saga… not the halfway point of the story. I wish wish wish we were getting the whole five seasons instead of two, but I’m glad it’s the showrunners call and not executive interference. But still, even if somehow the second season was cancelled, this one season would stand tall with the Empire Strikes Back as the high watermark of Star Wars, and as one of the greatest seasons of television I’ve seen and that I’d happily place in the gilded halls in which The Wire, Breaking Bad, Deadwood lie.
The moment when the two marching bands converge, pause briefly, then pick up their pace as they march towards the troopers in the riot gear. I mean, yeesh, who would’ve thought a marching band scene in a Star Wars show would be that chill inducing?
That moment where the brass band music changes from a melancholy funeral march to a “WE COMIN” march
It left me wanting more, so that’s good.
But can we please just stop the whole “best Star Wars thing of all time” hyperbole. It’s a different Star Wars thing. They all are a bit, but comparing Andor to, say, RotJ seems a weird and ultimately pointless thing to do.
Bit like comparing which Doctor is the best in Doctor Who. That’s why there isn’t one, instead you just have “my Doctor”, not better than the others just the one you grew up with or prefer.
When a franchise has been going for decades, saying what’s “the best” becomes an increasingly futile exercise.
I think we can call it the best because it’s actually written well unlike… basically the entire franchise (minus Empire, which is impeccably written).
Yeah, well, you know, that’s just like, your opinion, man.
You know, I’ve been thinking some more about this idea that Andor is written better than everything else in Star Wars (except Empire), and while there is some truth to that, it’s probably not as clear cut as some might think.
First, Andor is a TV series so naturally the writers have more time to flesh out characters, motivations, situations, etc. compared to any of the movies. So already the movies are at a bit of a disadvantage through no fault of their own, meaning comparisons here are arguably unfair.
Second, Andor is more of a drama with intrigue and suspense being the focus rather than the action and meme-able dialogue the rest of Star Wars (especially the movies) is known for. So the style, genre, and the purpose of Andor’s storytelling is naturally different from the rest of Star Wars, making comparisons again arguably unfair.
Finally, there are other Star Wars things that are well written: Empire we’ve already mentioned, Rebels is excellent overall for a kids show, then if we include other media in the franchise we have to mention Knights of the Old Republic, the Thrawn trilogy, a whole bunch of comic books… it’s just evidently dubious to say “Andor is best” or even just the best written.
I’ll concede it’s probably the best political intrigue suspense thriller story set in the Star Wars universe yet. The story’s just started though.
I thought this episode was as boring as that funeral march music that never seemed to end. Building up to that trap they set for the rebel ship only for it to happen off screen. Huge boiling point reached with an enslaved city; one guy threw a bomb and some people got shot. Cassian slowly and carefully leads a broken woman to safety. Am I missing even one other thing that happened? Can’t believe most people actually liked it
I’ve seen increasing recognition on social media, but still hope it gets the attention it deserves. Strangely it was only today that I first saw an actual commercial for it in the wild. Feels like Disney didn’t push it very hard after premiere, maybe that’ll change now that it’s all up for binge watchers.
Oh, the whole Sister thing will likely come back in a big, bad way.
when the ISB goon charged and flipped B2EMO over, I screamed “dont you fuckin dare!!” at my TV and watching Brasso charge back gave me the shivers and tears of righteous fury no story has been able to do in quite a while…by jove this show is amazing. Fiona Shaw deserves not just an Emmy, but like, a small island or something…
I’m still wondering about Uncle Harlo. Wild guess is that it’s Luthen.
Palpatine
Damn that was good. These episode grades are just too low. This series has been straight As (though you could talk me into B+ for episode 11). It’s just excellent. I don’t know what else to say. Its so good that I wish they’d go back to the original plan of having multiple seasons instead of just two. It’s not that I don’t trust Gilroy and crew to deliver next season. I’m sure they will and it won’t feel rushed. It’s just I want to spend as much time in this world as possible.
I would watch 20 seasons of this show. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I haven’t been so obsessed with a show like this in years, and I was losing all hope that Star Wars would ever be good again. That being said, I think the show runners knowing this is a 2 season story really lets them focus on a complete narrative and not drag the thing out just for the sake of keeping it going. Happens to so many great shows. I think that will make season 2 even better.
Loved that her burial brick is used to smash imperial skull.
I never understsaood, with the Empire’s ability to build advanced droids, why they even need slave labor? Living beings need to be housed, fed and could rebel. They also get old, hurt and wear out. Droids won’t rebel and only need energy. So much more efficient.
The cruelty is the point, I think. Fascists actively enjoy having the boot on others’ collective neck—they don’t need a reason at all, let alone a logical, or even fiscally practical, one. Oppressors gonna oppress.
Yo shit ain’t free unlike slave labor
Likely much, much cheaper. I mean they show that the human prisoners aren’t doing all the work here, so likely the Empire has the prisoners doing the menial work where it isn’t cost efficient to use drones.
They say it directly in one episode, slaves are cheaper and easier to replace than droids.
You have to pay out of your own budget to acquire droids. All the costs of acquiring prison labor are external.
Exactly any humans not under your control will rebel. So recruit anyone you can into your army, and then those that don’t join you turn into your prison workforce. Tyranny is a pressure cooker and those in charge need to vent the steam outward or risk rebellion. See: The Crusades, The War on Terror, Russian invasion of Ukraine, China sometime in the next 10 years vs Russia or Taiwan.
One. Way. Out.
Season Two wishlist:
– To see just how fast and furious Mon Monthma’s house of cards comes crashing down. Presumably something will lead her away from Coruscant to leading the rebel cells from hidden bases. I don’t want that to be the C-plot, I want it to be front and center, messy, and glorious.
– While I understand that it’s a Great Internet Group Thought that this show has no fan service, despite the fact that Luthen’s shop is Fan Service Central, I would like Andor and Hera Syndulla to have a mission together. They would contrast each other greatly and be a lot of fun to watch.
– Director Krennic to have a scene. I expect there to be some synergy with Ahsoka and for Thrawn to have a small bit, but, I’d love to see Krennic back when everyone let him think he was in charge.
– Jimmy Smits as Senator Organa. Not so much because the character is super great, but, he’s been in so many Star Wars projects already, he should get the chance to be in one more. And between the Rebel Alliance taking a bigger role in season 2, and the whole Coruscant of it all, it’s super easy to get him in for a walk-on.- Get William Shatner in for a scene. Can you imagine the reaction? I’d break the internet. Much more than Andy Serkis appearing on screen. Star Wars always needs older white men to be Imperial Officers Who Are Killed… why not Shatner? (Plus he’d be able to one-up his rival George Takei, who merely voiced a Star Wars character in The Clone Wars.)
are we supposed to know who pipe bomb builder is or whoever was on his hologram projection?
It was the son of the guy who had the radio that Bix used in the back of his yard, that was captured and tortured before her. The Hologram was his Dad.
The son of the shop owner where Luthen’s radio was, where Bix would visit to ask for a piece of scrap “in the back” then climb the chimney stack and radio. His father was picked up by Meero and tortured all night then hung, and ultunately gave them Bix. The father and his son were seen several times throughout the season, the son often serving as a lookout or message runner.Its his father’s hologram that he’s looking at while finishing the bomb.
Pipe bomb builder was the son of the man who was helping Bix communicate with Luthen. Whatever space radio she was using, it was stashed at his business. Later he got taken in by the Empire and tortured — I think he’s the one who gave up Bix — and finally killed. So Pipe Bomb Boy had reasons.
And those reasons perfectly mirrors* Cassian’s own dad being hung in the same street, which didn’t radicalize him – but certainly adds to the steps of the ladder.(*It rhymes)
Loved that the plans against Andor failed due to him prioritizing a living friend over dead family as important as that family may be.
Also loved that half the riot was just the Imperials fucking up their own ambush.
I enjoyed the Wilhelm scream in the audio mix of the melee at 40’03”.
“…an inevitably devastating hero’s/villain’s death for Luthen (he could still go either way!)…”Umm, no offense, but you still don’t really get Luthen’s character, do you? He’s not and will never be a definitive “good guy” or a “bad guy.” He’s the guy doing the morally questionable but necessary work—including sacrificing Kreegyr and burning Andor—behind the scenes to get and keep a rebellion up and running. Or rather he has to be a villain so that everyone else can be a hero. Like, he gives a whole (incredible) speech about it in the previous episode.
This is one of the things that I think makes this show (and, to a lesser extent*, Rogue One) as sophisticated as they are: it recognizes that real warfare (particularly asymmetrical guerilla warfare) involves having people who are willing to do some pretty horrific things in the name of victory. Heroic characters like Luke, Han, Leia, etc. are white-hats (sometimes disguised as grey hats, like Han; or have momentary crises of confidence, like Luke) who would never really do anything brutal. Which is fine, because that’s the kind of story they’re in.But a rebellion of this nature is going to need to have people who are willing to murder at the drop of a hat, or to sacrifice an entire team because they’re playing a longer game. This show is proof positive of the idea that you can take a world that’s been tonally consistent (in this case, PG or PG-13 Manichean conflict), and produce an entry that takes a very different approach, and have it fit in seamlessly. Frankly, anyone who complains that Andor isn’t “really” Star Wars because it’s not all lasers and space wizards is someone whose opinion I’m not interested in.*Lesser because it’s a 2-hour movie that still has fairly clear “these are heroes!” messaging about the main characters, and simply doesn’t have time to get into the elaborate moral quandaries this show does. It’s still my favorite of the Disney-era SW movies (although it does have some flaws, mainly that Jyn is boring).
I actually disagree that this is the statement the show is trying to make.Luthen’s speech in the previous episode is nothing short of badass and very much in line with the typical anti-hero/morally-questionable protaganist that has been so popular in modern TV. Under any other circumstances we would take his speech at face value.But we know Cassian lives, and that if he didn’t the Death Star may have never been destroyed.I also think the use of wording is very telling. He says he is “condemned to use the tools of my enemy”. What this immediately evokes for me Audre Lorde and “The master’s tools will never dismantle the masters’s house”: however seductive using your oppressor’s methods against them may be, even if you are successful you will simply create another oppressive system that simply privileges a different group. I think in this episode we may have even seen a flicker of doubt in Luthen about his belief this world view as he is moved by the passionate uprising around him. Really excited to see what happens in season 2! Haven’t posted on here since Mad Men ended, but this episode gave me all the feels!
(Also thought that Nemik’s exhortation that in the face of fascism all you need to do is “Try” is an interesting when compared to the famous “Do or do not: there is no Try” – Yoda. This is definitely not your daddy’s Star Wars!)
This entire episode was phenomenal, but I especially loved the slow, slow build of the funeral procession, with the music building the tension beautifully. Then the reach the end of their march and it’s quiet until the holo begins. I kept expecting the Imps to step in & end the speech earlier than they did, since it was obvious what Maarva was talking about. But Imperial officers are never shown to be thinkers, so the speech finishes and then the Imps immediately prove Maarva right.
I loved that Brasso booted the Imp that attacked B2EMO right in the chest. I’m disappointed that Karn is still alive, but I’m glad that Meero wasn’t trampled by the crowd, though for a second there I thought she really would be. She’s such a perfect villain. That scene when Karn rescues her was perfect.
And that ladies and gentlemen is how you build up tension. I was sitting on the edge of my seat just waiting for things to go boom.Reminded me of the border scene in Sicario.Got a kick out of Brasso headbutting a stormtrooper with his helmet on.
I didn’t, that seemed like the only stupid moment in the riot sequence. Why give your troops armor if it can’t even stop a headbutt from a human??? From a wookie, okay, but not from an ordinary (if burly) factory worker.
I’d agree with you if it weren’t for the fact that the actor playing Brasso is a big dude. Plus it’s the heat of the battle, adrenaline and so forth.
DM: “Why are they all gathering like that?”LK: “Looks like they’re going to have a parade. Maybe they’ve finally accepted us as one of they’re own.”DM: “I don’t like the looks of it.”LK: “I don’t think we should worry about it. Look they have a band.”
I speculate that Kreya’s backstory and the quest for Cassian’s lost sister may well intersect. Clearly, she has a past. And we still have not learned what exactly happened on Kenari. S2 fodder, most likely. Kassa has some roots to dig up before he’s free to be all in for the Rebellion – even if the shock of losing Maarva says otherwise.
Short term, Maarva told Cassian to stop looking – and then he was on a short vacation on Space Ibiza, then suddenly prison. I am sure the sister is too set up to just drop. It won’t be what we expect.
Nowadays “reviews” in AVC are just recaps with little to no critical thinking. We watched the same episode, why is the review just recapping what happened?
The only thing that would have made this better is if the ship with Bix et al was blown up immediately after take off. When she said “Cassian will find us” I knew the show was ballsy enough to just blow up those beloved characters on the spot (instead of putting plot armor on them and fetishizing them literally for decades in spinoff content). How thrilling/dreadful/catalyzing would that have been. A little disappointing they flew off to live another day. Oh and because I haven’t seen anyone say it yet, is the secret twist at the end of the show that “Andor” has been about Maarva Andor all along? Apologies if this has already been suggested/accepted.
So do we think Ahsoka will take over as Axis/Fulcrum in the second season of this show (annoying everyone who likes how minimal the connections to the rest of the franchise are), or will we get a cameo from Luthen in the Ahsoka show? If they don’t tie them together one way or the other, even if just as an end-season post-credits stinger, I’ll be surprised.
I went to see Star Wars in 1977 when I was 11 years old and have been a fan ever since and have not missed a movie ever, and Andor is at the top, it gives flair without light sabers and Skywalkers. It brings into focus the reality of what the struggle was for ordinary people who loathe the Empie and the struggles and sacrifices that was made by them. Kudos to Andor.
Oh my god the idea of Syril Dedra and Syril’s mom is a great idea.Luthen knows which way the wind blows, and Cassian is so known at this point he is a liability despite his talents (he can never exactly go undercover again), but Luthen has to be okay…the question is whether Cassian has to go work for Forrest Whitaker because he’s too known.It was a waste not to have Mon Mothma talk to the daughter; we spent time on that storyline. Syril can still turn into Javert: remember Chiwetel Ejiofor in Serenity?
1. Empire Strikes Back2. A New Hope3. Andor
The most critically acclaimed Star Wars content in a long time and viewership is low. Why? I think it’s because it was made for Star Wars nerds. The ones who know every little detail about the franchise. The fans who want to delve deeper into the lore of Star Wars. It’s not for the casual viewer. They would find it boring. It’s not an action packed series. It’s like a soap opera in the Star Wars universe. That’s not to say it doesn’t have action, but it’s few and far between. It’s a slow paced series that has a lot of character and world building. If you are a Star Wars fan that doesn’t like it because you want easter eggs and a lot of action. You’re everything wrong today with Star Wars fans.
It was fist-pumpingly awesome to see Anvil Guy kick that stormtrooper off the tower, but I must admit no small amount of disappointment that he didn’t crack his helmet in with his hammers first.
We did get our obligatory Wilhelm Scream though, so there’s that.
Tired: Lone Wolf and Cub, but Star WarsWired: The Battle of Motherfucking Algiers, but Star WarsI am just astounded that this show exists.
I understand why Disney made the change, but I rather wish they hadn’t. It still would have been PG-13.https://www.cbr.com/andor-fiery-finale-speech-f-bomb/
Yeah. This would have worked so much better.
Tom, I believe you misinterpreted Luthen and Cassian’s last conversation. Cassian was telling Luthen, kill me or take me in…as in INTO THE REBEL ALLIANCE. You totally misread that line. Luthen of course will be taking Cassian in to the rebel cause and show him all the ropes. Also…a B+ Come on dude, don’t be that guy. Go back and change the letter grade…do it for MAARVA CASRA ANDOR
Just finished this show. Anvil Man kicking the stormtrooper out of his tower was an all-timer, I just wish he had crunched their porcelain helmets with his hammers. Definitely thought Syril and Dedra were going to kiss after he saved her. That will probably be a thing in season 2, the galaxy’s ickiest romance. Also thought Dedra was going to be torn limb-from-limb by the crowd when they caught hold of her; if this was not a Star Wars show, she very well might have been.Cannot wait for season 2. Best Star Wars thing since 1983.