Who is grumpy? I still put Andor in the top of Star Wars media!
and his
I think you have to look at the subtler developments here. Almost every major character has a significant change of heart about trusting someone or selling out someone they care about. This show has been understated and personal in scope from the beginning. It’s only fitting that it should continue with that tone.
Thinking back on this episode, there are a few images that kept coming back to me throughout the day. The first one was the opening image of an Arab kid constructing an IED. The second was the image at the funeral of a person talking to everyone from beyond the grave. The third was the image of the dead man who told Andor about the funeral lying on the ground, and the image of the scared kid who threw the IED. It was very impactful to start the episode with that IED construction.
People made fun of the AK-47s, but like the IED in this episode, the show is deliberately using iconic imagery to draw a connection to contemporary revolutionary movements.
Like the flashback scene where
Cassian’s dad cleans a GPU heatsink.
Iconic.
Great show. I can’t recall looking forward to a second season of any show as much as this one.
Inspired by this show, I went back and watched Rogue One, in which Andor claims that he has been fighting this rebellion since he was 6 years old. You’re a bullshitter Andor! You’ve only been in it for like the last ~3 years, since you subscribed to this idealistic kid’s newsletter.
Looking forward to the arrival of the hacked security droid in Season 2. I feel like the real question for the next season is whether they’ll be able to get Alan Tudyk to reprise his voice acting role for the security droid.
I mean, obviously, this idea doesn’t work at all, since it’s now established in Ep7 that the Empire roars back with huge ressources, improved technology, new Death planet, and the Alliance is on the run again fairly quickly. Maybe there’s a five year window I guess, which is where the Mandalorian sits, where the Alliance is trying to get a new government in place, and the Empire is in disarray.
But if Andor is the new canon, it seems pretty clear there’s only a few years before season1 and epIV. The Rebels aren’t an army in hiding, they’re literally little pockets pulling off what they can. Which could mean the starfighter force of Yavin is their entire fighter arm, the capital ships and troops on Endor in Rogue1 and RoTJ the entirety of their military force at the time. Compare that to what we see of the Empire: vast resources, ships and reach… it’s entirely possible the Rebels pulled off the impossible with a small disparate motivated crew, and while they can give bored and dulled Imperial troops a run for their money when caught offguard, they aren’t numerous enough to have elite troops that hunt down Imperials, given the Imperials still immensely outweigh the Alliance (and liberated planet security forces) the second after RotJ, and for the next 30 years.
I mean, a sky filled with Death-Star-Destroyers in ep9 is stupid as fuck, but it’s what we got, and Disney hasn’t decided that trilogy can be wished away just yet.
maybe he feels like he’s been fighting since then, he just didn’t know at the time that’s what he was fighting for.
I feel like Andor’s statement is a reference to whatever happened when he was young to wipe out all the adults on Kenari. I wouldn’t be surprised if that ties into the meta-plot by being some sort of Palpitine-related badness. They called it a “mining accident” without giving details. I suspect we will see it linked into the weave in Season 2.
The B2EMO / K-2SO bromance we’ve all been waiting for!
I hope so, sure, he’s busy on other stuff, but it’s still SW, and I imagine working on a sequel to one of the best SW anything ever is a drawn in itself.
Plus, finally a season 2 in space…
Re: The post-credits scene (which I almost missed–thanks for mentioning it here):
I’m probably just dense, but when watching the prison episodes, I kept thinking, “Oh it would be cool if they explained what these parts are for–like if they are TIE parts or something.” Well, the Death Star makes perfect sense, and I should have guessed. I guess that means that, for me specifically, it was not obvious, but it was fitting. I approve!
Tudyk has said that he won’t let them do K2-SO without him. He loves that character and wants to be there. He said it requires him being on stilts and just needs the time in his schedule.
Well, they don’t REALLY need him. All they have to do is get him to say a few lines into a mike & he’s basically done. The rest they can do with stand-ins & CGI.
(Obviously, I’m not completely serious here, but in principle it is possible to work around his schedule is what I’m saying…)
I’ve been rapidly catching up on this thread and binging the show this week. It’s hard to stop with one episode. But one thing that struck me was all the character choices based on human nature still leads to the Star Wars we know and love. In the first episode, when Syril’s crusty but benign chief told him not to stir up trouble, and Syril decided to seek justice and hunt down Cassian anyway, I muttered to my wife, “If he hadn’t done that, the rebels would have never blown up the Death Star.”
And with each new plot development, well, if that hadn’t happened, maybe Cassian wouldn’t have eventually helped pass along the DS plans, maybe the Empire wouldn’t have become so overtly oppressive to foment so much rebellion, maybe the rebel factions wouldn’t have been so allied, maybe Luke Skywalker wouldn’t have had a fancy X-Wing to park his ass in to blow up the hidden fortress.
It’s a fine line to walk for a prequel-sequel-spinoff. They’ve been doing a great job.
I hope that Dantooine (as mentioned in A New Hope and explored in KOTOR 1 and 2) makes an appearance as a Rebel base in Season 2.
Clem and Maarva, when they stun/rescue Cassian on Kenari, are specifically concerned about the Republic; a Republic frigate has just entered orbit above. Maarva cites their likely bloodthirsty revenge for the death of one of their officers.
Clem: He’s got people here!
Maarva: Yeah, people who’ve just killed a Republic officer. It’ll be open season here the moment that frigate lands.
…
Maarva: I’m not leaving him here to die.
That’s not to say that the poisoning of the planet isn’t somehow mixed in with the Emperor, but it was under the Republic’s oversight, not the Empire’s.