#maybe andor

[mayhaps-a-blog]

Folks I just finished this week's episode and I loved it so much I have to talk about it

Unfortunately most of my friends aren't caught up so y'all are getting the unhinged rant instead XD Sorry not sorry

So interesting to see Gurathin's backstory, which we never get in the books - for any of them, really - which says so much about why he's been like that for the show!

And SecUnit being SO BAD at deescalation, like my dude, my gender-lacking guy, you are so awkward XD

And we got the monologue from the books about why SecUnit doesn't just walk off, which really does help say why it's sticking around (even if it's at least partially a lie, you could never abandon a client SecUnit and you know it XD ), like it has actually thought about this, you know?

And that final shot - that was SUCH a good shot, showing us the enemy SecUnit's face. That little reminder that we've mostly seen them as faceless constructs - that the PresAux team has only seen faceless constructs, look at the contrast in how they've dealt with LeeBeeBee's death vs. enemy SecUnit 1 at DeltFall and now - but SecUnit itself can never forget.

Everything Mensah, Arada, and Ratthi is arguing for, everything they're slowly convincing themselves is true about SecUnit, is ALSO true of the other SecUnits. They can see it as a person now, because it's talked to them, shown them its face, dealt with them in a human manner. But they still haven't reckoned with the fact that every other SecUnit - including the ones trying to kill them - are exactly the same.

Trapped in the same position. Forced to guard their stupid clients, follow their every stupid order. Forced into killing those clients, attacking PresAux, other SecUnits - things they never asked for.

They want to know if SecUnit feels regret? For killing LeeBeeBee? I don't know, do they feel any regret for killing the first SecUnit?

How could SecUnit feel regret? It was doing its job. It was being a good SecUnit. It's never been allowed to feel regret before.

Mensah's starting to get it - that mining drill comment was such a good line, and she's finally starting to think. And that realization, that start, is why we can see SecUnit starting to trust her - starting to listen to her, where it still can't deal with the others.

This show is SO FUCKING GOOD and I can't believe I need to wait a whole week for the next episode :'(

[petals42]

also the fact that drummond is killed on accident in the elevator due to the muscle spasms of the innie/outie switch-- the process is VIOLENT and is always violent and is always a death and for once it happened to lumon upper management rather than staff. the metaphor. i love it.

[thevalleyisjolly]

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.

[antianakin]

It seems a little hilarious to me that they have Cassian making the argument that the only reason any of them are here, the only reason the REBELLION exists at all, is because of Luthen... and he's saying it to BAIL FUCKING ORGANA.

I'm sorry, but while I am happy to accept that Luthen did do a LOT of things to keep the rebellion alive and likely recruited quite a few of the people on Yavin to this cause himself and trained them up, there are just as many if not more who are there explicitly because of BAIL ORGANA.

Bail Organa who began fighting the Empire the moment he showed up at the Jedi Temple the night of Order 66 and turned around to save any Jedi he could and then became a GETAWAY DRIVER as Yoda went to assassinate the Emperor and then proceeded to agree to take in Anakin Skywalker's child in order to hide her from the Empire.

Bail Organa who has literally been shown helping recruit the entire Ghost Crew and likely brought on the entire Phoenix Squadon and theoretically the entire Gold Squadron. Bail Organa who was the one who helped Riyo Chuchi try to fight for clone rights. Bail Organa who saw Ahsoka Tano on Naboo for Padme's funeral and immediately turns around to offer her a chance to join the rebellion which she does eventually choose to take. Bail Organa who eventually does allow his own DAUGHTER to join the rebellion and run missions when she's old enough.

You cannot convince me that somehow Luthen Rael is MORE responsible for the creation of the rebellion and its existence and people's involvement in it than Bail Organa. You can't.

[glindauplland]

ANDOR: 1.12 || 2.09

[skitskatdacat63]

Why is he like this, why is he such a freak, who gave him the right to act like this

[henley-reeves]

"And when it's done...when it's over...and we've won...we can do all the things we ever wanted. Everything we'd know we've missed."

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

also another reason I don't like the take of Cassian being a messenger is that. I just can't help but feel like after they already replaced his previously established backstory with Jyn's almost beat for beat, they're now also thematically superimposing Andor!Cassian over yet another unfairly overlooked Rogue One character:

Get your mitts off my boy, Gilroy! Do not take one of the most poignant acts of bravery on Star Wars and recycle it for the laziest chosen one story of the last decade. What is this. Why are we turning Cassian into the 3-in-1 shampoo of Rogue One characters.

[groove-on-boogie-down]

Ok so…. Andor Spoilers but

It might be a compelling addition to the story but I still can’t get over two white men coming together to write Saw Gerrera (black) as a jet fuel drug addict peer pressuring others instead of just saying he’s using medical oxygen in Rogue One.

Did I like his monologue and the symbolism of it? Yes. Introducing self-medicating in multiple characters in the story as coping mechanisms introduced as a result of colonialism and oppressive labor and ptsd? I can see it, yes. Was it giving Reagan introducing drugs to marginalized and black communities? Also yes. There’s even an added layer in the article where it implies Luthen is enabling all of this.

But am I side eying it? Absolutely. Just by nature of the the behind the scenes elements.

This season of Andor seems to require a lot of weighing the cost-benefit analysis of storytelling choices vs stereotypes and tropes. I see a lot of ppl say ���these characters just so happened to be people of color”. Maybe. I might use that explanation elsewhere too. But that’s why it’s always good to have advisors and writers of color to catch these potential blind spots. Especially since these characters are not new.

[jack-abbot]

@swsource STAR WARS WEEK: Day 1: The Chosen One - Favorite Character ↳ CASSIAN ANDOR

"I'd rather die trying to take them down than die giving them what they want."

(insp)

[anxietyriddledsquid]

in honor of the andor s2 trailer im crawling out from beneath my rock

[rochenn]

Star Wars being full of Cassette Futurism even to this day is one of my favorite things ever, but there's not enough indoor smoking to REALLY sell the vibe

[what-the-daredevil]

i continue to be extremely impressed by the way daredevil: born again handles the arc involving police corruption. first it was the cops with the punisher tattoos and frank’s obvious and explicit dislike of them, and now the whole thing with fisk’s anti-vigilante task force? explicitly including commentary on how special privileges for this task force include not having to use body cameras, when this is something that comes up in police corruption IRL, is so… it’s so important. it’s a conversation that needs to be had and by god they’re having it.

this show is literally telling us how this kind of behavior is evil. it’s being the opposite of subtle. it doesn’t cut corners. it’s so rare to get a big-budget production from a company like disney that actually says things of value, and for it to be something as current and polarizing and important as the corruption in the police force? i’m shocked. pleasantly so, but shocked nonetheless.

not to mention the way there’s actually heavy-handed critiques of the justice system itself. the arcs with hector ayala and leroy mancini serve to emphasize the privilege people like matt have in a system that’s designed to disadvantage people. matt might be the hero in the story but he’s not innocent in upholding the shitty laws and regulations that are put in place to keep other people down.

it’s such a clear portrayal of the corruption that permeates every level of the justice system from the ground up and society as a whole and the fact that it’s a fucking disney+ show??? i’m kind of in awe.

[andorerso]

DIEGO LUNA as CASSIAN ANDOR in every episode: ↳ Season 2 Episode 06

[quarantineddreamer]

who's gonna write or draw kleya meets leia with the entire Rebel Alliance constantly confusing them

or i can just picture them standing together in a busy, chaotic briefing room and they are trying to Get Shit Done but someone shouts one of their names and its all garbled so they both just slowly turn wearing twin 'don't fuck with me rn' expressions

[antianakin]

If they were going to have Bix leave Cassian instead of killing her off (which I do like by the way, I appreciate that she isn't just killed for convenience), they should've swapped her narrative with Cassian's in this season instead.

BIX should've been the one becoming less and less committed to the Rebellion because she just wants to be able to find peace where she can instead of giving what little she has left to this Cause.

CASSIAN should've been the one refusing to leave and becoming more and more committed the more of himself he's given to the Rebellion because who is he if he leaves now, what will it all have been for if he quits NOW.

For one, it fits in better with Cassian's entire arc in Rogue One. Cassian's speech to Jyn at the end when he brings the volunteers to her is that all of them have done awful things for the Rebellion and they don't regret that, but they WILL regret it if they stop fighting now and have to live with knowing it was all for nothing. He can't walk away anymore. Either they take down the Empire or Cassian dies working towards that goal. Those are the only two options for Cassian anymore and that's SO CENTRAL to his character.

For two, it would be an interesting foil to his earlier conversation with Maarva in season 1. People have pointed out that there's a clear PARALLEL between Cassian's two conversations with Maarva and Bix and, to me, what this shows is that Cassian hasn't really developed all that much between the two seasons even though multiple years have passed. He's still not committed to this really, he still somehow believes they can find a quiet place to just hide away from the Empire and have a normal life. But if you turn it around so that now someone else is asking Cassian to walk away from this and Cassian is now the person who refuses to do so and he has to parallel Maarva's "That's just love" line... oof that shit hits SO GOOD and shows how far he's come as a character at the same time.

For three, it allows BIX to develop more as a character. Yes, she's a fighter, and she's strong and competent and fierce. But throughout season 1 she also has so much she's still fighting FOR. She has Timm, she has Cassian, she has Brasso and Maarva and the Paaks and Ferrix in general. She's fighting for her home and her family and her loved ones. But one by one she loses them. Timm is killed, Cassian leaves, Salman Paak is killed, Maarva dies, Ferrix is occupied and then they riot and who knows how much of Ferrix and its people is even left in the aftermath of Rix Road but even if there IS something left Bix has to run from it with no real hope of being able to ever return.

And then we get to season 2 and she almost immediately loses Brasso and B2EMO. The home they'd started to make on Mina-Rau is also something they have to leave behind and the safehouse they're in on Coruscant is clearly not something Bix feels is really a home. She has SO LITTLE left to keep fighting for the way she did before. And it might've been interesting to see Bix, who had been the original rebel on Ferrix, the one who was actually Luthen's connection to the planet and to Cassian, be the one to start losing that conviction because so much of it had been connected to her love for her people and her home and a desire to save it.

Bix is a fighter, yes, but the whole reason she's with Timm at the beginning of season 1 is because she DOES want a more normal life, one that Cassian isn't able to give her even before he becomes a rebel. Bix wants to be able to build a home with her family that she can grow old in and build a life in. She WANTS that, but she also loves her family and her home enough to fight for it when necessary. But then it's all taken away and they keep expecting her to go out and fight and more and more she isn't quite sure WHY she's still doing this. Maybe she's doing similar things to Cassian, maybe she's also having to go out and be an assassin or a saboteur and it GRATES at her because this isn't the person she wants to be, it's not the life she ever thought she'd live, and she wants to take out the Empire and avenge Ferrix and Brasso and all the others who died on Rix Road, but she finally hits a point of no return where she just can't keep fighting like this and making these sacrifices, she CAN'T. And she tries to convince Cassian to come with her because she can see him chipping away at everything she'd loved about him, she can see the way it eats at him too, but Cassian is Maarva's son and now that he's committed himself to this, there's no looking back.

And so Bix leaves, because she knows she deserves more than this and refuses to lose who she is, and Cassian stays, because he knows he'll never forgive himself if he doesn't see this through. Bix finally learns to fight for herself, and Cassian learns to fight for everyone. Maybe it's even amicable. That could be another foil to the conversation with Maarva where he tells her he doesn't understand why she's staying. But this time, as Bix explains why she can't do this, he can understand, because he's BEEN there now. And Bix understands why Cassian can't leave with her, too. There's no animosity between them when they separate. They were on opposing paths and they met in the middle for a while, but now they're at different places in their lives again and they have to say goodbye. They've done this once already and survived, they can do it again.