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Every time I see someone describe Leida Mothma as "pro-Imperial," I blink.

Because here's what we know about Leida: she resents and rebels against her mother. And from Leida's perspective? Her mother is the Empire personified.

We, the viewers, know that Mon is opposed to the Empire. We know she's on the eve of launching an open rebellion. But Leida doesn't know that. Mon's path to power has been forged by working within the system, by making ripples but never so many waves as to get tossed out of office. Mon is a part of the Empire, and her commitment to working long hours in her Imperial office is part of what keeps her away from her family.

Leida doesn't rebel against her mom by signing up for Junior Imperial Academy; she rebels by embracing Chandrilan traditions. They're conservative traditions, regressive traditions, painfully gender normative traditions--but they're not Imperial traditions. They're a reminder of what Chandrila was like before the Empire (an Empire that famously favors galaxy-wide homogeneity and disdains local customs) came to power.

Embracing them isn't expressing a pro-Imperial position. If anything, it's a repudiation of the Empire--just in a very different direction than Mon would prefer Leida take. And that to me is part of the tragedy between them: they don't disagree about nearly as much as they think they do.

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Vel: I don’t know what’s worse, that you killed the love of my life who was the baddest motherfucker in the galaxy or that you have the audacity to be such a whiny little crybaby bitch about it

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Wilmon: so this is a really complicated sequence that has disastrous results if I screw it up-

Saw: isn’t it awesome how many ways it can kill you

Wilmon: I’m just here to teach

Saw: this shit is my sister, I can feel her on my skin

Wilmon: you just killed that guy

Saw: to be a rebel is to be insane

Wilmon:

Saw: you want to get blitzed on fenty-uranium and yell at the moon?

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ANDOR 2.06 | What a Festive Evening

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rip my boy

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thinking about how, when mon was getting involved in the rebellion, she must have been doing it at least in part to fight for the future of the child she was going to have/had just had. not just for leida, of course, but the idea of her daughter growing up under imperial rule must have been a motivating factor for her.

and then, in this fight for her daughter’s future, she sacrificed her relationship with leida. and then, for this fight, she sacrificed her daughter’s future altogether.

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“i wish you were drunk” is leida trying to hurt mon as much as possible, yes, but it’s also the truth, it’s leida’s way of saying she wishes mon was at least honest about not putting her first, that given she does prioritise her beliefs above leida’s happiness she should at least act like it, rather than pretending she’s offering to cancel the wedding entirely for leida’s sake.

and “you’re to stand behind me” is mon’s last opportunity to protect leida in any way, even though it’s a purely symbolic sense, and it’s her fury. it’s her fury at leida for refusing her offer, and her fury at herself for making it. it’s her fury at the chandrilan customs she’s taking part in. it’s her fury at the empire and the rebellion and herself for putting them both in this position.

and these are the last words they say to each other before leida is married, before the moment that according to chandrilan culture leida no longer “belongs” to mon and perrin. and they mean everything

the relationship between mon and leida lives rent free in my mind because. it’s the way that leida resents mon for never putting her first, and is justified in doing so. it’s the way that leida rebels against mon by adopting the ultra-conservative traditions that mon hates, and thinks she’s committing the ultimate rebellion by getting married, when really the marriage is something mon arranged for her own rebellion. it’s the way that buried deep down (i think) leida does have doubts about the marriage, is terrified that mon might be right, can never admit this to anyone ever because she’s a teenager. a child, who is getting married for reasons she doesn’t even know of.

it’s the way mon, from the beginning, has chosen the rebellion over her family. it’s the way she sacrificed her daughter’s future for the future of the galaxy. it’s the way she would have done almost anything to protect leida, to stop her from being trapped in an unhappy marriage as a child just as she was, but not quite anything, because the rebellion has to come first. it’s the way that she’s both selfish and torturously selfless, and at every moment the guilt of it is tearing her apart. it’s the way that she watched as perrin literally gave leida away, to a marriage that she herself arranged, watched how close the knife came to leida’s throat, knowing that she may never again be able to protect leida at all.

it’s the way that their relationship reached its breaking point when mon gave leida the chance to cancel the wedding. because what mon wanted in that moment was for leida to assuage her guilt and leida refused. and what leida really wanted in that moment was for mon to reassure her, because even after everything she is still a child who wants her mother to tell her it will all be okay, and instead she was told she should want to escape. and she saw through mon’s offer, saw it for what it was, and saw that even in this moment mon would never put her first.

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the relationship between mon and leida lives rent free in my mind because. it’s the way that leida resents mon for never putting her first, and is justified in doing so. it’s the way that leida rebels against mon by adopting the ultra-conservative traditions that mon hates, and thinks she’s committing the ultimate rebellion by getting married, when really the marriage is something mon arranged for her own rebellion. it’s the way that buried deep down (i think) leida does have doubts about the marriage, is terrified that mon might be right, can never admit this to anyone ever because she’s a teenager. a child, who is getting married for reasons she doesn’t even know of.

it’s the way mon, from the beginning, has chosen the rebellion over her family. it’s the way she sacrificed her daughter’s future for the future of the galaxy. it’s the way she would have done almost anything to protect leida, to stop her from being trapped in an unhappy marriage as a child just as she was, but not quite anything, because the rebellion has to come first. it’s the way that she’s both selfish and torturously selfless, and at every moment the guilt of it is tearing her apart. it’s the way that she watched as perrin literally gave leida away, to a marriage that she herself arranged, watched how close the knife came to leida’s throat, knowing that she may never again be able to protect leida at all.

it’s the way that their relationship reached its breaking point when mon gave leida the chance to cancel the wedding. because what mon wanted in that moment was for leida to assuage her guilt and leida refused. and what leida really wanted in that moment was for mon to reassure her, because even after everything she is still a child who wants her mother to tell her it will all be okay, and instead she was told she should want to escape. and she saw through mon’s offer, saw it for what it was, and saw that even in this moment mon would never put her first.

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thought i'd recovered from the first arc of andor s2 and then remembered how B2 lost maarva and how brasso was the one who looked after him and who slept at maarva's house to keep B2 company and how now B2 has lost brasso too and i

i have not recovered

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I just realised that Leida told Mon that she wished she was drunk, and Mon did just that.

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makes me wanna lose my mind though because it wasnt sexual assault it wasnt "grape" he didnt force himself upon her he didnt take her against her will THERE WAS NO TALKING AROUND IT! HE TRIED TO RAPE HER! SHE NAMED IT! she put that shame and disgust and rage right down in front of them and she claimed that power by smashing a hammer into a rapist's temple.

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i cannot understate how much i adore what andor has done for mon mothma. the way this show has taken someone who before this was mostly neglected to small supporting roles, and turned her into one of the most layered, complex and tragic characters in all of star wars has absolutely floured me, not to mention how BRILLIANT genevieve o’reilly’s performance has been too 🙏

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I SAID NO

I don't think anyone understands how important this moment is. And the fact that they called it what it is and didn't sugarcoat it. Bix my beloved you did NOT deserve that

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Imagine being Dedra Meero and being the most sane and normal person at the dinner table that shit was insane

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I don't have the words to talk about it intelligently right now, but something about the peppy hyperpop music playing over top shots of Brasso's body and Bix grieving and Cassian staring blankly into the camera and Mon dancing manically all throughout is a very good illustration about desensitization to tragedy - people are suffering and dying and the world's going to shit, but hey, a new nostalgic beat just dropped so let's bop until nothing feels real anymore.

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andor has not one not two but THREE mean lesbians and that’s what makes it peak television