thefanfictiondeepstate

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She gives him her pack, and he doesn’t… really… no. That’s really, that’s K2. Like, he doesn’t, y’know— “Go get the bags, droid.” “No. I’d rather not. That’s not my thing.”                    —Alan Tudyk at the Rogue One Panel at Star Wars Celebration 2016

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Mon fleeing Coruscant without her husband is as iconic as it is hilarious.

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Like on some level I think Gilroy and I just have vastly different philosophies on what makes a good adaptation. On its own this is something I could make my peace with! The thing that sticks like a stone in my shoe is that a show with such explicitly political aspirations - a show which frequently has sharp and poignant things to say about politics! - BEGAN by retconning and discarding and downplaying so much of what made Cassian Andor as a character politically compelling and confrontational to begin with, because......it just didn't speak to them? It wasn't Hollywood-protagonist coded? It would require as much (if not more) sharp and specific political engagement with what space imperalism looks like as with what space fascism looks like?

I do sincerely love the show for what it is. But something else that was just as meaningful and interesting had to be retconned for it to be born, and that's a weird emotional experience as a viewer which I'm trying to talk through as even-handedly as I can

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#rebellions are built on hope alcohol consumption that makes the unbearable weight of a fascist regime somehow manageable 

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Okay you KNOW I have complaints (Gilroy treat the women of color right challenge: impossible), but some notes-scribbled-on-back-of-hand favorite things about the final arc of S2:

Cassian and Melshi and Kay playing space poker and giving each other shit and giggling tipsily, 15/10 no notes

Luthen "The ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or gratitude" Rael's first response when he knows he's caught: "Do you want to know why?" Dedra (and by extension the ISB) does not in fact give a single fuck. The authorial restraint exhibited in writing him a meaningful sendoff but NOT allowing him the what-radicalized-me speech that all evidence suggests he's got in his back pocket. Immaculate characterization, A+ literally killing your darling, A+ not letting your fave run away with the narrative when it's time for the narrative to run away with him.

Relatedly, the smug little arrest theatrics Dedra has clearly been rehearsing and fantasizing about. They both want a main character monologue sooooo bad. Made for each other (evil version) tbh

God help me but I do love a can't-rescue-the-captured-spy-but-can-make-their-death-as-peaceful-as-possible plot point, that whole hospital sequence is so tense and good

KLEYA MY BELOVED

Top secret Death Star program not immune to CC-ing the wrong person over space email (gritty realism)

@ my past self tweaking Luthen for his theatrics and referring to that sacrifices speech as "his best space king lear audition:" how does it feel to have the gift of prophecy?

Luthen teaching Kleya that cool spies don't look at explosions (before they go off) was a great little spy-story tradecraft bit

Krennic remains an all-time great space fascist for me and Ben Mendelsohn remains a scene-stealer. The way he grabs Dedra by the FACE and shoves her back down into her seat was crazy work

Partagaz also launched himself straight to the top of the villains list. Love that* for him [*fucking around and finding out]

Honestly imo one of the most consistently strong bits of S2 - both in terms of political commentary, and of thematic continuity with Rogue One - is mercilessly drilling down on all the ways the system eats its own. All these guys (& Dedra) think that empire is their pet leopard, that it follows their commands and gives them power. But it was always only ever Palpatine's pet leopard (and it still eats his face in the end!)

I've been having lot of feelings about getting to see Yavin as a physical space where people live and eat and sleep. Even if I do find Cassian's house a bit silly (sorry it looks like a real estate brochure for some kind of treehouse meditation retreat)

Fraught Mon & Saw holocalls are exactly what I ordered from Star Wars I would watch a whole season about that

Draven looking Bail Organa straight in the eye with zero shame and the galaxy's most blandly noncommittal "You could make that case" running cover for the guys he's also completely furious with: there he is! The bastard man I know and love! (Completely hapless at controlling his operatives #notmydraven but this was good. And lowkey hilarious)

I did also enjoy his increasingly quiet & pensive face as he catches the scent of good intelligence while everybody else squabbles

Raddus sighted! Merrick mentioned! This is blatant Rogue One fan pandering but I fear I am not immune

Vel being asked to suss Cassian's story out and just. asking him

Kleya my beloved (Part II)

MY BOY WILMON LIVED

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Source

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"The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we sleep."

ANDOR - S01E12 Rix Road

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Dedra Meero was accidentally added to the Signal chat.

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Oh my Dedra being interrogated as a potential rebel spy right after she expresses how much she is disgusted by the rebellion and its "chaos"...oh that's motherfucking perfect both as a form of punishment for what she did and as a reveal of how the Empire will always be, not a substitute parent (in the case of Dedra specifically) to impress, not something to protect from threats, from illnesses, but a fortress, a monster always ready to eat you up, to make use of you. Boldness and rule-breaking is for the Rebellion, and you wasted it on this big walking corpse that is the Empire, Dedra. And she's still giving advice to the wolf eating her. Good lord. You're locked out, babe. You're locked in.

And Krennic gets to be scary for once ! That doofus.

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Well well well. If it isn't the consequences of our own actions.

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I’ve repeated “Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Dedra” to myself like five times now, giggling.

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There is something so incredibly cruel but satisfying about Dedra's fate. This is the "worse than death" scenario for her. She lives... And that's it. The same system that created and shaped her now turned its back on her and she's just as insignificant as she can be. She has no one, she is no one, everything she has now are just her memories and depression over her life choices. Without her uniform she is nothing - her power was limited by how much the Empire allowed her to take and work with.

This is exactly what would one wish for a villain, this is the end you want for someone who hurt innocent people and worked for the system that oppressed everyone - including their own people apparently.

That doesn't mean seeing Dedra like this wouldn't hit me, I didn't expect her to end up like this. I was ready to wave at her as she would stand on the Death Star and thinking "Well, enjoy until you can, your fate is sealed", but like this? You never know.

Well done, Andor, well done.

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andor is truly the epitome of everything that star wars stands for without the naivety of twirling sword fights and magic powers. now don't get me wrong, I love the more campy side of star wars, but as I grow older and exhausted, I NEEDED andor…

I fell into the trap of trying to find common ground, bent myself backwards to argue, to educate. thing is, their ignorance is a front. they know exactly what they're doing and they're wasting our time to do it. and if they don't? well, then they're too far gone. not everyone is gonna be vader saving the day or kallus, most will just be like syril or dedra. that's life.

all of this to say, stop taking the high road! rebellion is messy, freedom is messy!! some people will never understand it and will in fact go out of their way to misconstrue it. don't even bother engaging. we are NOT in a position to fight fire with water, and it's too late to smother it before it grows. luckily for us, rebellions are built on hope.

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ISB goon's initial assessment: A strike team of at least 3 people...

Nope, just Kleya. Kicking all y'all asses.

(Nice foreshadowing of "...make 10 men seem like 100".)

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i need you guys to look at this fuckign post

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The nature of Star Wars fandom is such that a fairly innocuous post can feel like a rent-lowering gunshot. Anyway one thing I really enjoy about Syril Karn as a character is the degree to which he functions as an Anakin Skywalker foil.

(Deliberately imo, especially if you watch the S2 trailers; they knew exactly what they were evoking with those shots of Dedra clutching her throat.)

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ANDOR | 2.01 - 2.03 + TEXT POSTS