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TV Andor |ST| Bodhis upon the gears [SPOILERS]

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Andor | ST | Bodhis upon the gears

[incoming transmission]

Sup rebels.
I noticed a severe lack of discussion about the best Star Wars content under Disney thus far (imo), so I decided to create an ST.
As of now, the latest episode to air was Episode 9 - Nobody's Listening! and I'm dying to discuss it.


Episode number​
Episode title​
Story arc​
Air date​
Episode 1​
Kassa​
Escape Arc​
September 21, 2022​
Episode 2​
That Would Be Me​
Escape Arc​
September 21, 2022​
Episode 3​
Reckoning​
Escape Arc​
September 21, 2022​
Episode 4​
Aldhani​
Aldhani Arc​
September 28, 2022​
Episode 5​
The Axe Forgets​
Aldhani Arc​
October 5, 2022​
Episode 6​
The Eye​
Aldhani Arc​
October 12, 2022​
Episode 7​
Announcement​
Intermission (standalone)​
October 19, 2022​
Episode 8​
Narkina 5​
Prison Arc​
October 26, 2022​
Episode 9​
Nobody's Listening!​
Prison Arc​
November 2, 2022​
Episode 10​
TBA​
???​
November 9, 2022​
Episode 11​
TBA​
???​
November 16, 2022​
Episode 12​
TBA​
Finale​
November 23, 2022​


Why does this show feel so different from the other Disney+ Star Wars tv shows?

I'm not sure, but it very well be an intentional creative decision by those in charge.
According to an interview with Andor showrunner and head writer Tony Gilroy, he had asked everyone participating in the creation of the show to let go of their reverence for the property and just write what they know to be good. According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
“In every department, we’ve had all kinds of people come in, and they know it’s Star Wars, so they change their behavior. They change their attitude. They change their thing,” Gilroy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And you go, ‘Wait, no. Do your thing. You’re here because we want you to be real.’ So it’s a testament to the potent power of Star Wars. It really gets into people’s heads, but to change the lane and do it this way, it takes a little effort.”


Rules for participating in this ST

Also, I'd like to lay down a couple ground rules:
1. Please don't get too carried away comparing this show to the other Disney+ Star Wars tv shows. I want to think about Andor!
2. Spoilers for content up through the last episode aired are free game. However, please hide spoilers for upcoming episodes under spoiler tags.


Discussion starter topics
  • What are your thoughts on the show so far?
  • What were your expectations before the show aired?
  • Has it lived up to those expectations?
  • What do you think is in store for each character?

Please discuss below!

[end transmission]
 
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At this point I'd go so far as to say Andor is my favorite piece of post-Disney acquisition Star Wars media. It feels unreal how well-paced and earned every bit of tension and payoff is.

Also, something about the prison sequence is so unsettling deep in my gut and I can't explain why. Maybe it's the way that everything unexpectedly looks like a sterile hospital contrasting with the dark and hopeless sense of despair that pervades every mind. Maybe it's the terrifying way that the very floor they stand on is woven into their daily life as a cruel method of punishment.

But most of all I think it's the detachment between the prisoners and their keepers that makes it feel so dehumanizing. These prisoners never come in contact with a guard screaming in their faces or ordering them around. Instead, they are so removed from society and their own humanity that their orders and punishment come from a disembodied voice and an electrified floor. I think that's what it is. The prison is an exhibition of methodical, efficiently cruel dehumanization.
 
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I never cared about Star Wars.

I enjoyed the Trilogy of new Star Wars movies in the post Disney world (the trilogy being Force Awakens, Last Jedi, Rogue One).

I tolerated everything else.

I absolutely LOVE Andor.

In the year that had Severance and some other incredible TV, I think Andor might wind up being my favorite show? Every second of every episode is so good and I don't know how they keep doing it?

"How many guards on each level?" I've rewatched that final scene of ep9 so many times because the execution is a master class of TV storytelling.

Normally I don't feel the need to post on a message board about TV anymore. Here I am.
 
I never cared about Star Wars.

I enjoyed the Trilogy of new Star Wars movies in the post Disney world (the trilogy being Force Awakens, Last Jedi, Rogue One).

I tolerated everything else.

I absolutely LOVE Andor.

In the year that had Severance and some other incredible TV, I think Andor might wind up being my favorite show? Every second of every episode is so good and I don't know how they keep doing it?

"How many guards on each level?" I've rewatched that final scene of ep9 so many times because the execution is a master class of TV storytelling.

Normally I don't feel the need to post on a message board about TV anymore. Here I am.

God I'm right there with you.

I saw somebody mention the value of significant, hard-hitting dialogue being context- and spoiler-free;
looking at that last line through that lens:

How many guards are on each level?
Never more than twelve.

This exchange is as mundane, transactional, and boring as you can make one when devoid of context.

But the reason it has such a wrecking ball of weight - the reason why people were tweeting about it - is because of the magnificent context behind it.

1667597837128.png
 
God I'm right there with you.

I saw somebody mention the value of significant, hard-hitting dialogue being context- and spoiler-free;
looking at that last line through that lens:



This exchange is as mundane, transactional, and boring as you can make one when devoid of context.

But the reason it has such a wrecking ball of weight - the reason why people were tweeting about it - is because of the magnificent context behind it.

Absolutely (double shoutouts to that tweet from Austin, shared that with an off-site friend as well).

Even the setup is very by the books, even adhering to the rule of threes if I'm not mistaken but they earn it SO hard and the delivery is flawless, the editing is getting out of the way (they hold the take) AND THEN NICHOLAS BRITELL. I was already all over his Succession score but what he does here always floors me. The way it crescendos from tense into LETS EFFIN GO. Wow. The music is actually doing a version of the classic LOST act-out/ending horns. Something I've rarely seen replicated since.

I'm measuring weeks in "time to Wednesday". The wait for s2 will be cruel. And this is for a story where we know exactly how and where it ends. This is wild.
 
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Yep, actually getting an answer to "How many guards on each level" after the man had previously refused to even entertain the idea gave me chills. You know he's had enough. You know shit is about to go down. The suspense is palpable.

What I love the most about Andor is that it isn't your standard Star Wars affair. It doesn't even attempt to emulate the Star Wars we know. They are doing their own spin on it by showing the struggles behind the curtain.

Palpatine has been mentioned, but I bet he won't ever actually show up. Hell, the way this show has been going, I would be disappointed if he did. The depiction of the Empire through the ISB is the most believable it has ever been, and they achieved it by showing some of its inner workings through the lens of, you know, fucking everyday bureaucrats. It sounds boring on paper, but it just works.

Or take Mon Mothma's subplot. Whether or not she will be able to move her money and by what means is such a mundane and ultimately irrelevant affair, especially because you know she pretty much has to pull it off for the timeline to make sense, but somehow they managed to make it interesting.

I could go on, but I'll just leave it at "I had zero expectations going in, but this is the real shit, and I want more!"
 
Yep, actually getting an answer to "How many guards on each level" after the man had previously refused to even entertain the idea gave me chills. You know he's had enough.
And the wild thing is (this is not my own realization, I saw someone else [edit: added source] point this out this morning), that he immediately has an answer to the question he refused to even acknowledge when he was asked the first two times (again, the brilliance of this being so simple and by the book with the rule of threes) shows that he has entertained the idea. Maybe early on in his sentence he was scoping out guard counts and patterns as well and had just given up and resigned himself to "the system" and wait it out, keep his head down, play by the rules and he'll make it out. The way you see his belief in that system crumble throughout this episode hits so hard. The two scenes during the shift change on the bridge are so good. Again, two scenes for set-up. And then you get the answer at the end. What happened on level two (=> the illusion of hope breaks). And how many guards are on each level (=> he has been activated, Andor is, in fact, not "alone in this").

I could talk about this forever lol and that's just one part of the episode that had incredible stuff with Mon and everyone's favorite Incel Boi starring in his own twisted romcom :D
 
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And the wild thing is (this is not my own realization, I saw someone else point this out this morning), that he immediately has an answer to the question he refused to even acknowledge when he was asked the first two times (again, the brilliance of this being so simple and by the book with the rule of threes) shows that he has entertained the idea. Maybe early on in his sentence he was scoping out guard counts and patterns as well and had just given up and resigned himself to "the system" and wait it out, keep his head down, play by the rules and he'll make it out. The way you see his belief in that system crumble throughout this episode hits so hard. The two scenes during the shift change on the bridge are so good. Again, two scenes for set-up. And then you get the answer at the end. What happened on level two (=> the illusion of hope breaks). And how many guards are on each level (=> he has been activated, Andor is, in fact, not "alone in this").

I could talk about this forever lol and that's just one part of the episode that had incredible stuff with Mon and everyone's favorite Incel Boi starring in his own twisted romcom :D
That… That didn't cross my mind. I was so caught up in the suspense that I did not even question why he immediately had an answer to the question after he "broke". But yeah, that all makes sense. Just further proof that the writing is really good in this.
 
And let me just say to anyone jumping into this thread and being befuddled by this vague discussion about two mundane lines in episode 9 of a show they've not seen (@WestEgg :D?): this doesn't even spoil anything really. That's the beauty of it all.

Even if you heard things or seen plot things from earlier episode, the piece itself lives in the experience of it, not in plot reveals or references. Even if you've heard the guitar solo somewhere, you need to listen to the whole song and the joy of the solo is still there because you've been on the journey to it.
 
if you ever wanted to see what these humans look like when they're laughing and aren't pretending to be miserable

 
ON PROGRAM



The different elements of Andor are so well pulled off, be it the acting, the directing, the editing, set design, sound design, the writing at the most base level. It all comes together into a masterful package -- and with the team behind this production, one should hope for no less.

Look at that recent scene -- you'll know the one -- the lead-up, the absolutely correct decision to not give us the sound in question, silence but we can see everything we need to purely through the acting, as that silence is broken and that new sound becomes something else entirely as the seamless scene transition doubles as an homage to the original Star Wars -- not calling attention to itself in any way, but subtle, merely a connecting point, an acknowledgement that these are the same, a point of intertextuality that invites consideration. In a way, one could say this is an excellent encapsulation of the show in general, and it's meticulous and absurd in its brilliance.

The show has also proven masterful at employing and sustaining tension, be it the subtle ticking clock of light streaking across the night sky, and again, and again, the understated depiction of time running down, or the unknown tragedy that occurred in a distant part of the prison, where something clearly happened but it's not known exactly what and knowing anything must be hidden, or the slow buildup on Ferrix, where eventually the situation has got to explode.

And those explosions are so satisfying as everything falls into place. The Eye, especially, was pulled off wonderfully, and I fully expect this new fomenting pocket of rebellion will be as well.

The deliberate setup, all the nuance at play, it's engaging and well-constructed, and never feels like it's been long enough to reach the end of any given episode.

All this to say Andor is probably my favorite piece of recent Star Wars media, to the absolute surprise of nobody.

And then there's the question of how something like this fits into the whole of this thing we call Star Wars. I've commented elsewhere that Star Wars was, from its inception, rooted in the mythic -- one of the elements that The Last Jedi, for instance, tapped into which feels missing elsewhere.

Andor, on the other hand, is incredibly grounded, but it doesn't feel like that mythic element is missing. It lends credence to the idea that a mercenary, a smuggler could fly from one end of the galaxy to the other and never see anything to convince them some all-powerful force is in control, gives depth to the fascist regime and the extent of its inhumane structures and strategies of control, to the ordinary people within it, furthering its interests or fighting against them, to those trying merely to exist and survive. It builds a structure to strengthen the mythical elements where they do turn up. Those instances can now feel mythic within their own reality, as is indicated when characters have referred to that old, dead religion or to an absolute disbelief in the mystical.

It doesn't merely rely on the iconography of the past, trying to justify its existence through sheer nostalgia and recognizability, but uses that iconography and filmic language to its own ends or recontextualizes it, whether that be the deeper importance of a kyber crystal -- left unstated, but lending further weight to the exchange -- or the terror evoked by the hum of a tie fighter., even just the suggestion that the universe runs entirely on luck. It adds texture to and amplifies the rest of the Star Wars mythos, rather than propping itself up against it.

I can see why someone might suggest the series isn't Star Wars enough, but I can't agree. This is very much Star Wars, just on the underside, the structure that holds the mythic up. Behind the myths, there is a living world. This is a peek at that world.

It is a mirror of our own, delving into different topics and themes with relatability and applicability, sure, but very much Star Wars at its core.
 
Or take Mon Mothma's subplot. Whether or not she will be able to move her money and by what means is such a mundane and ultimately irrelevant affair, especially because you know she pretty much has to pull it off for the timeline to make sense, but somehow they managed to make it interesting.

TvN's 작은 아씨들 (Little Women) is a crash course in the importance of conducting one's money laundering properly and what happens in case of failure, and how ripe for storytelling money laundering truly is.. Um. Sort of.

Point being, there could be a whole show built around the Mon Mothma stories, all the politicking, the funding, the home life, the danger at every turn. Andor already creates such tension with just dialogue; I have no doubt a political thriller around this character would have also worked. The team here would have made it riveting.

Granted, this is coming from someone who always appreciated the attempt at weaving the political storylines into the prequels and wished they had been better realized. There would be so much fodder for that just in the Clone Wars, too.

And the wild thing is (this is not my own realization, I saw someone else [edit: added source] point this out this morning), that he immediately has an answer to the question he refused to even acknowledge when he was asked the first two times (again, the brilliance of this being so simple and by the book with the rule of threes) shows that he has entertained the idea. Maybe early on in his sentence he was scoping out guard counts and patterns as well and had just given up and resigned himself to "the system" and wait it out, keep his head down, play by the rules and he'll make it out. The way you see his belief in that system crumble throughout this episode hits so hard. The two scenes during the shift change on the bridge are so good. Again, two scenes for set-up. And then you get the answer at the end. What happened on level two (=> the illusion of hope breaks). And how many guards are on each level (=> he has been activated, Andor is, in fact, not "alone in this").

Further, what is it that comes up throughout the episode that he has the most visceral reactions to time and time again? It's this. It's the question coming up, the suggestion that this is what awaits those trapped in this system. This is his one hope he has held onto, and that one hope keeps being questioned -- the terror brought up within him -- and he cannot dare entertain the idea that this hope is an illusion. It could even be that he's considering it specifically throughout the episode, or maybe he entertained ideas in the past, but the mere possibility hits him at the core. And then he has to deal with that illusion being shattered.

Rebellions, after all, are built on hope -- or perhaps quelled by the same --, and sometimes they are built on the lack thereof.
 
TvN's 작은 아씨들 (Little Women) is a crash course in the importance of conducting one's money laundering properly and what happens in case of failure, and how ripe for storytelling money laundering truly is.. Um. Sort of.

Point being, there could be a whole show built around the Mon Mothma stories, all the politicking, the funding, the home life, the danger at every turn. Andor already creates such tension with just dialogue; I have no doubt a political thriller around this character would have also worked. The team here would have made it riveting.

Granted, this is coming from someone who always appreciated the attempt at weaving the political storylines into the prequels and wished they had been better realized. There would be so much fodder for that just in the Clone Wars, too.
Agreed! This absolutely sounds like something I would love to watch! Maybe I should get Netflix after all, if only just to give that show a go.
 
This show is very good.
Agreed.

I'm consciously thinking about this upcoming episode and considering giving it a watch when it drops tonight... but no, I'll probably just be avoiding spoilers until I can find some time tomorrow.
 
Agreed.

I'm consciously thinking about this upcoming episode and considering giving it a watch when it drops tonight... but no, I'll probably just be avoiding spoilers until I can find some time tomorrow.
It drops at like 3AM for me. I’m either watching it in the morning or waiting till sunset for better lighting.
 
Next episode, the title screen comes into view, before Andor fades out. Everything is dark for a moment, a reflection of these times of imperial control, but then some new words fade in:


Star Wars
One Way Out



A rousing rallying cry as thousands of incarcerated overrun their prison to make their escape, a rallying cry from a man who considered himself dead already, who knew his one way out was through that death. The other prisoners might have a path, but that is closed to him. He makes it to the end, and he simply does not possess the ability to take that path to life. It's a simple thing. "I can't swim."

Sure, it's still possible he made it out -- consider the imploration that escapees help each other, though some brief scenes indicate some were not so lucky as to receive this aid --, but he still did what he did with the full belief he would never make it out alive.

This realization stands juxtaposed with a poetic speech from someone else entirely, but which contains a reflection of what has just occured: "I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see."

One way out, indeed. And wouldn't you rather give it all at once to something real?
 
I am just catching up with this show after a busy September and October of gaming, and wow! This thing's incredible.

I wouldn't argue with someone who ranked it as the best Star Wars thing ever.
 




two really good interviews from this week
 
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Yeah, I've really been enjoying this show but last night's episode was on another level. Enormously impressed all around and yes, I loved the way the monologue from Stellan Skarsgard perfectly articulated the episode's themes.

Also thought Andy Serkis has been superb in the show. And who knew repeated imperial board meetings would provide such compelling drama? Wonderful show.
 
Can not stress enough how this show is the big, positive surprise of the year for me in all things media. Will be a rough wait for season 2. Hope they don't end this one on the biggest fucking cliffhanger.
 
Yeah, it's crazy that out of all the things I was looking forward to this year, this was the one that blew me away the most.

As for the most recent episode, I thought it was good, but it also was kind of straightforward in that we already knew what to expect - a big breakout.

The only real surprise for me was how ingenious it was to fry the whole system by leaking water from the pipes.
 
As for the most recent episode, I thought it was good, but it also was kind of straightforward in that we already knew what to expect - a big breakout.

The only real surprise for me was how ingenious it was to fry the whole system by leaking water from the pipes.
I think this underscores how the breakout is itself not actually the point. It's a necessity, but not as much the focus as one would expect. Instead, the highlight is on the character dynamics and growth, what happens to the Empire when rebellion strikes, and -- amid the triumphant setpiece -- that some will still fall behind and be lost, even those who played a pivotal part.

From the start, we see the character roles switch. Kino, the leader, is trying to talk Cassian down, to not rush in, but Cassian, certainly not a leader, is having none of this and insists they need to get out now. By the time we get through the opening, Cass is the one telling Kino to get "on program" as they ready to enter the next section. And then he's the one telling Kino to tell their cell block what happened and what is happening, before finally divulging the information himself -- and yet it's still Kino finishing this off and giving the speech in the morning, because he's the foreman, still the de facto leader. And for the plan's execution, this was set out by Cassian and his group, though Kino continues to act as the leader to provide an air of legitimacy, the suggestion that nothing suspicious is happening.

And once they're in the control room, Cass continues taking charge with an order that the imperials get "on program" and shut off the power. Kino now remains the outward-facing leader as he broadcasts a message at Cassian's behest and insistence: "It has to be you." While Kino hesitates and stumbles here, Cassian urges him on, and them Kino acknowledges the flip. He looks Cassian in the eye and repeats the words Cass had told him: "I'd rather die fighting than giving them what they want."

This is what inspired Kino, and it's now what will inspire the rest of the inmates. It's Cassian, and it's why Kino is following him.


This, of course, doesn't impact why the escape would be written so straightforwardly. Usually a plan will be laid out for the viewer so the obvious setbacks are there to overcome, but things went overall smoothly here.

I'd suggest this is for a couple reasons. It highlights how terrified the imperials are as their panopticon falls apart. Power doesn't panic, but they'd already illustrated the fragility of their power, and now they demonstrate they have none. This empire falls apart once the oppressed band together.

It also provides for a triumphant setpiece, the chant of "one way out" repeated over and over, creating a high specifically to bring it back down as Kino admits, "I can't swim." The euphoric momentum crashes and highlights the gravity of this moment, the recontextualization of actions before. And you think back to the fallen escapees earlier. For as straightforward and effective an escape as this was, it wasn't without its casualties. I find the lack of twists and surprises prior to this likely is meant to make this hit harder through sheer contrast.


And then we switch to Lonnie's meeting with Luthen, which has so much to it but connects clearly.

"I burn my life to make a sunrise I know I'll never see" can immediately be connected to Kino's role. He knew his one way out wasn't going to be the dawn of new hope, of new life, for him, but it creates that sunrise for others.

But then we have Cassian, again, who became the leader in these events. He recognized when someone else needed to be the face. The Empire had made Kino a figure of some erzats authority, someone the other inmates would listen to, as a tool to keep them suppressed. But Cassian took this tool of the enemy and used it against them.

Like Luthen, he took leadership from the shadows. The Empire is looking for Axis, but don't realize they're creating what could become a new Axis -- not to consider Fulcrum --. It's driven further as the shot switches to Cassian and Melshi making their way at the end, the final voice over saying that "I need all the heroes I can get."


It's also shown in the shot of the inmates swimming away. This isn't about a prison break. It's about the birth of rebellion.


The only real surprise for me was how ingenious it was to fry the whole system by leaking water from the pipes.
I appreciated seeing instances of people who couldn't figure out what the deal with the water was.
 
Just saw the new episode. I guess them setting things up for the final episode of the season was to be expected, but it did a pretty good job at that. Looking forward to the season finale — not looking forward to the wait for season 2, though.
 
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Ok, I watched the scene twice, but I couldn't figure out why the aliens let Andor and his pal go. Was it a "we hate the Empire too, so fuck them" kind of decision?
 
A quiet but emotional episode, bar that excellent little chase scene.
The fact an Imperial search was so comprehensively outfoxed was a nice touch - clearly, they're not used to this kind of defiance
Ok, I watched the scene twice, but I couldn't figure out why the aliens let Andor and his pal go. Was it a "we hate the Empire too, so fuck them" kind of decision?
Yes, basically. Another Indigenous people whose planet has been wrecked by the Imperials, was what I gathered.
 
This show is absolutely full of characters who are positively broken: broken people, broken cultures, broken systems -- everything, broken.

It's already been noted, but we're seeing cultures devastated in the Empire's wake (Aldhani being written that way in response to COVID restrictions was was to the overall story's benefit, even if a more vibrant cultural gathering might have afforded more spectacle). It's a good element.

Look at B2EMO here. Fully charged and yet insisting on a need to remain and charge further, because the vast majority of that charge capacity is filled with grief (and, perhaps, an inability to truly compute what is occurring). This is a great portrayal of humanity, and it's in the form of an adorable little droid*. On the note of humanity, Ferrix has a lot of that. You can see it in how the community has cared for Maarva -- look back, even, all the way to when corporate security had her detained in her house -- and now in Brasso's interactions with B2EMO.

Further on Ferrix, Bix is another example of absolute brokenness, but in a different way. It's a major difference from the common trope of people shrugging these terrible things off, and it illustrates the horror of these oppressors, as they casually say they'll put her through that again if they're not convinced.

I haven't really mentioned this storyline, but Mon Mothma, with her broken family and now everything falling apart, herself beginning to fall apart under the weight of what is happening, what she is doing, what she is considering, it's all conveyed well.

Luthen gave a whole monologue about his brokenness, his being a shell of a person!

Of course, everything Cassian is going through can have a breaking effect. He keeps being so excited when it comes to his mom, when he goes to get her to escape, now when she'll be proud of him and he'll come back as soon as he can. We end here with devestation. This is a man soon to snap.
 
Andor finale tomorrow, who is ready?

Really curious to see how they wrap this up, especially since we already know it will be getting a second season. Have not been looking forward to a season finale this much in quite some time.
 
I skipped the last episode so I could watch an EXTRA LONG FINALE
 
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Loved the finale. I was absolutely hooked throughout, and emotional several times. I really didn't know what to expect from this series as a whole, and even after I was intrigued by the initial episodes, I certainly didn't expect to become this engrossed in it.

Kudos all round. Probably give this an end of year rewatch, I think.
 
What glorious summer by the sun of 'Roy --
Now is the winter of our diskarntent.




I mean, we know he’s not going to kill him
Yeah, I just thought it was a funny cliffhanger

I wouldn't say it's a cliffhanger at all. That we as viewers already know Luthen isn't going to kill Cass aside, the scene itself signals to us that he won't: that smirk and scoff are an indication of Luthen's realization of what's happened here, from the asset he truly hoped Cass would be, to the liability he hunted down in vain, to the appearance here, Cass willingly presenting himself to be a necessary sacrifice -- whether as a casualty or an asset, he's all in.

We're not meant to be wondering what's going to happen here, what Luthen's choice is going to be. We already know the answer. The scene indicates the answer.

It's not a cliffhanger. It's a culmination of Cassian's journey and character development that brought him here; it's a cementing of where he stands as a character and the decisions he's had to make, the path toward those decisions yet to be laid before him; it's an endcap on this story, regardless of whether there's more to see; it's Cassian sacrificing himself now for the cause, just as we know he will do until the end. (It's like pottery)

It's one of the things I appreciate about this show: it's not truly about the question of what will happen next, who or what we will see, and so forth. It's about the characters themselves, the struggles and difficult choices, the sacrifices and question of what must be sacrificed, the larger movements and intimacy of each character themselves.

At least, that's why I figure the ending works.




That post-credits scene tho

Absolute chills

I'm of two minds on this one.

The first is that I might have preferred that scene to not be added. Something about it seems incongruous with the way the show has been put together otherwise, the way information has been conveyed and what information that nice. It feels disconnected, which, well, it is a post-credits scene. Part of this is the idea that what the prisoners were building isn't the most important -- whatever it is, it's part of the larger machine of oppression; they are building the very tools through which they are crushed.

The second is that I can appreciate knowing that Cassian was forced to build specifically pieces of the very weapon of his demise, and specifically tiny pieces for the laser itself -- again, it's like pottery. And it does absolutely tie into where the character and story are going, so it's not some random connection to something else entirely.

I find within me that first mind overtaking the second, that second never really having developed a strong hold. Again, a large part of this is likely the disconnect with how the series has chosen and conveyed information up to this point, especially if we take Rogue One to be the end cap of a continuous whole. The Death Star itself has already begun to be a foreboding presence in the background, and it seems like something that would continue to build up the same way, just an ever-looming presence, an ominous force.
 
Now I just wanna say that it’s crazy how Diego Luna looks exactly like Paul McCartney
 
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