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Andor - Blog Posts
every single week when the episode of Andor ends my reaction is always: that’s IT. I WANT MORE. literally a surprise every single time when those credits start
cassian is just straight up disassociating at this point. man’s soul has vacated.
I’m this close to theorising that he was a Temple Guard. THIS CLOSE
that's
that's jedi temple guard mask
I can’t believe the first time we see a KX droid in this show it’s on a goddamn beach bro wtf—
[redacted for spoilers] in Andor ep06, in the middle of the heist: “Climb. Climb!”
Me, audibly, clutching my blanket in horror: “FUCK YOU”
I find it interesting how the keep coming back to the fact that Cassian was introduced to audiences in Rogue One with the murder of the informant. And in that moment, we see what kind of person he is and the arc he's going to go on. Because he DOES try other options, he doesn't kill the guy immediately, and even once he clearly decides that the only way they don't both die is to kill the informant, he doesn't necessarily do it in a cruel way. And the first thing we see in the moment afterwards is Cassian's face looking VERY upset. He's immensely distressed that he just had to murder someone who was on his own side, but he did it anyway and then just has to move on. We learn later that this is far from his first kill, that he's done a LOT of things like this for the Rebellion and it's a large part of what drives him.
It is a defining moment for Cassian's character, obviously. And so it's quite interesting to see them keep coming back to it.
In the pilot episode of Andor, we see Cassian shoot the guard, but it does take him quite a while to really weigh those options and decide he can't trust the guard enough to let him live and there's really very little sense of remorse or regret in the aftermath of that.
And of course now, we see him kill Skeen. Skeen who he related to a little and was beginning to trust. Skeen who then turns on them all and proves himself false. Skeen who places a choice before Cassian, to betray Vel and Nemik and Cinta, or to probably die because Skeen is unlikely to let Cassian live now that he knows the truth. Cassian doesn't want to betray the others and he doesn't want to die, so he's left with a single option before him. You can SEE him weighing all of those options as Skeen keeps talking, you can see him attempting to find another way out of it and see if he can talk Skeen out of what he's suggesting and it doesn't work. And so Cassian doesn't hesitate. He does the one thing that will save himself and allow Vel to keep the money for her rebellion. He does what is probably arguably the most morally correct option, but he also is aware that Vel is never going to believe him. She doesn't trust him enough to take his word about Skeen. And so he runs. Again.
There's more nuance this time, and we do see him really not WANTING to kill Skeen, but doing it anyway not just for survival reasons but to protect Vel and Nemik and Cinta and their rebellion, as well. He's not going to just let Skeen esacpe with the money they all fought so hard for, that Taramyn and Gorn and now Nemik died for. He kills Skeen for the cause, but he's not been a part of that cause long enough to be able to keep fighting for it afterward.
Which is likely where Luthen will come in. Who will get the necklace back and hear about how Cassian didn't take the money and be able to read between the lines enough to chase Cassian down again to keep trying to recruit him.
I love watching Cassian start to become the person who WILL kill, but kills for a CAUSE, he kills to protect other people, he kills because the greater good requires it. I wonder if we'll keep seeing more versions of this scene, more call backs to how he was introduced, as mile markers to show how close he is to becoming that person.
i think the best thing about andor is it is almost depressingly realistic. The way they went about planning this mission how few of them there were. From the very beginning of the mission it’s just so tense when the reality of what they’re about to do settles in and Vel hesitates like you can tell she doesn’t want to do it. She doesn’t want to die or watch her friends/partners die. And the way the plan literally never went perfectly from the get go Taramyn said “we’re late” the whole time they were behind schedule. Then of course the comms weren’t clear. They dropped a payload and didn’t secure them which led to another death even when the mission was over when you think “ok finally it’s done we win”. Even before the mission starts and Cassian tells Nemik he’ll be fine. It was eerily and depressingly realistic. The betrayal from Skeen once the mission was over the fact that he was apparently lying the whole time. A crew of seven with only three survivors and this mission was “a success”.
one of my favorite things about andor is that people understand where the blame really goes — with the empire. we hear a little bit that the people of ferrix are mad at cassian, but in the end every single person he sees welcomes him back and says they're sorry about his mom. bix doesn't blame cassian. the younger inmates don't get mad at ulaf for not being to carry his weight in narkina 5. instead they help him. a lesser show would have made different choices. but in andor when people could blame each other they instead realize who the real enemy is and that's solidarity.
People who are kind to droids and take care of them >>>>
@andorappreciation Day 4 - Kill Me, Or Take Me In
What in the Renaissance painting is going on here????
"The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we sleep."
ANDOR - S01E12 Rix Road
"andor is so relevant right now!"
mon mothma realized her liberal legislative methodology was completely ineffective under an inherently corrupt system and the only way she could make real change was by funding a people's revolution, one which she will assume leadership of in order to overthrow the system completely. andor was always relevant.
There will be times
when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try.
the long-awaited velcinta presentation
it's been well over a year since i first offered to make this so i won't waste your time with a lengthy preamble. here it is in all its glory
(for the love of god please talk to me about them)
see, i have always interpreted syril’s motivation as finding a place where he can belong, whether that place is a person, a community or an ideology.
syril never really fits in with his colleagues on morlana one, he feels like “a stranger” and “a tenant” in his own childhood home, he doesn’t even have the same accent as any of his coworkers. sure, this can be because he is very socially awkward, but he sticks out like a sore thumb wherever he is. the only time where he sort of (but not really) blend in is when he works at the bureau of standards, not because he finally found his calling but because working a menial job directly for the empire in coruscant means there is little to no room for individuality.
for more than half of the season, we see that the only thing he CAN attach himself to is his own sense of self-importance. he yearns to be seen and recognized by the people he believes to share his values. at its core, his belief is simple and inoffensive enough: maintaining law, justice and order. humans have a natural inclination towards justice, so it stands to reason that he expects everyone to share his sense of righteousness. but when he becomes disillusioned with the people around him because they don’t care about the same things he does, he immediately feels displaced (and the audience feel that too.)
so we have a character who just doesn’t feel right no matter what situation the story puts him in and suddenly he’s with the isb. even though he doesn’t seem to fit in at first, he feels vibrant. he feels energetic. he feels alive. as if he has found his calling. under the rhetoric of the empire, his faith in justice and order is easily reassured and at the same time easily misconstrued as being of “service to the empire”. in other words, he feels vindicated and thus he conflates serving the empire with the pursuit of justice.
so it comes as a shock to no one that he attaches himself to dedra, or at least the version of dedra he’s made up in his head, because he believes she - and by extension the empire - shares his values. his conversation with her after he stalked her and him saving her at the end of the season are, to me, an indication that he has already been radicalized by the empire and its false sense of order and security. so it will genuinely confuses me if he actually turns to the rebellion in season 2.
Syril Karn is doomed to remain a fascist to the end
I've watched a bunch of videos with people talking about how Syril is a wildcard who could go either way with his allegiances, and seen speculation about how he could have easily been a Rebel instead, if he somehow ended up finding that side more attractive.
Here's why I think this is a shallow interpretation of the Andor show.
As the video 'How to Radicalize a Normie' by Innuendo Studios (link here: https://youtu.be/P55t6eryY3g?si=UxUauetzOETvTg1r) says, the young fascist man is not exactly looking to conservatism for a political ideology, but for 'the cure to his soul-sickness'. Syril needs to feel like he is worth something - and his mother refuses to offer him unconditional love. In fact, she actually refers to him as an investment - berating him for failing to offer her what she considers a sufficient return, and then gushing with praise when he reveals that he has been promoted. There is a void in his heart that needs something or someone to love him without reservation - and here comes the Empire, that tells him that he is good and worthy simply for supporting its vision of order. The Rebellion cannot offer any of its members the same - sure, it believes in equality of all the people who the Empire would otherwise look down upon, but it needs them to prove their worth before giving them value as individuals. The Empire, however, will allow Syril to passively consider himself better than large swathes of the galaxy simply by being.
Cassian, on the other hand, learns over the course of the series that he is loved and an individual by his family and community, without reservation. The final episode reinforces this idea - Maarva, Brasso, B2EMO and Bix retain their affection for him despite all his flaws - as Maarva relays through Brasso, she 'love(s) him more than anything that he could ever do wrong'. Even Pegla, who was grouchy earlier about Cassian taking the ships he is responsible for, is able to offer unconditional empathy to him upon seeing him after Maarva's death. Cassian is therefore not vulnerable to the Empire's rhetoric in the way Syril is.
I hope this thread gets reinforced in Season 2 - it really makes the anti-fascist critique that runs through the show.
The Velcinta post i reblogged earlier made me think of the unlikely-to-happen-in-the-show scenario where
What if there is no big sacrifice or grand breakup or dying in the other person’s / each other’s arms type of situation
What if Aldahni does drive them apart but as time passes, more mundanely than they think
What if they keep going on separate missions and spending less time with each other and even if they are on base at the same time all they do is argue
And they try to make things right but have to reckon with the fact that the spark isn’t there anymore
No one dies, no one is seriously injured but vel and cinta still lose each other
Reddit can be a nasty place, but then you see posts like this one and it just makes your day a little bit better. Thoughts on Nemik’s manifesto from Andor in the context of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. As the OP says, imagine that last section as read by Alex Lawther.
if i get another show that sets up a revolution that goes absolutely nowhere within the span of six months, if i have to bend over backwards again trying (and failing) to make sense of why season 2 chickens out of exploring the political themes of season 1, if i get characters that act nothing like their season 1 counterparts because the writers somehow forget about character development, i will be on the news.
100 days to go to season 2. it's almost time lads. making preparations.
this speech never fails to make me cry. one of the most beautiful monologues in the entire cinematic history. no really, i’m not exaggerating.
if you haven’t watched andor, do yourself a favour and go watch it. every minute of it. you don’t even have to know star wars lore to enjoy it.
i’ll admit, it gets really rough to watch sometimes, so please be mindful of your mental health. if you decide to give it a try, i promise it will be worth your time. even if you end up not liking it, at least you would have gotten something out of it.
SO WHAT DO I SACRIFICE? EVERYTHING.
FILM & TV YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW | DAY 2: GENRE
↳ Political Drama, Spy Thriller, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
my hypothesis for why we leftists are always at each other’s throats is that when you are left enough, every one is on your right :))
“Chewbacca is… a Maoist. Hera Syndulla? A Trotskyist. Ahsoka Tano? A Social Democrat. Ezra Bridger? A Posadist. Lost! All of them, lost. I am the only one with clarity of purpose.”
(I don't think this post has made it here yet but if it has, I'll happily take it down)
