Andor S2 Thougts, Part 2

Hello friends! Today I’m continuing my thoughts on Andor Season Two. I was going to do Arcs 3 and 4 together, but realized my Arc 3 post is pretty long, so I’ll do 4 next time.

(If you missed Part 1, here it is.)

Beware: SPOILERS!!!

Arc 3: Messenger; Who Are You?; Welcome to the Rebellion

Arc 3 focuses on Ghorman specifically, with the leadup to the massacre we know is coming, the massacre itself, and its aftermath. The interesting thing about the “Ghorman Massacre” is that it was originally in the Expanded Universe (Legends) and took place earlier during the reign of the Empire. In this earlier incident, Wilhuff Tarkin landed his cruiser on a group of Ghorman protesters who were blocking landing pads in protest to some sort of unfair taxation. In Andor, this incident is referenced by Thela, the bellhop Cassian talks to in the second arc. A memorial was built to those who died (including Thela’s father), and a promise was made that no Imperial building would cast a shadow over it. Fast forward to the present day, and of course the Imperials are building a tower near the memorial, which infuriates the Ghormans. They believe it’s a weapons depot, but it’s all just smoke and mirrors to get the Ghormans to misbehave so the Empire can crush them, so they can get their precious mineral.

Cassian returns to Ghorman, not to help the Ghorman Front, but to kill Dedra Meero, who is there supervising the leadup to the clash. He goes with Wilmon, who brought Cassian this message and who has been working with the GF for some time now (and has a new girlfriend, that smooth operator, lol). Dedra, of course, was on Ferrix in Season 1 and oversaw Bix’s torture, as well as leading the troops against the people of Ferrix during Maarva’s funeral, hoping to draw Cassian out in her quest for Axis. Their trip to Ghorman is not sanctioned by the Alliance, in which Cassian and Bix are firmly a part of now, and they live on Yavin since distancing themselves from Luthen. So their trip is for personal revenge, rather than as a strategic mission for the Rebellion. Draven is NOT happy, lol.

I have to mention that before Cassian leaves, Bix brings him to a Force healer that is on the base for a blaster burn that has not healed well. Cassian is skeptical, and thinks the healer is a charlatan. And maybe she is at this point, but I think we’re led to believe she’s Force-sensitive and has a true gift. When she sees Cassian, something sparks in her and she makes a beeline for him. Bix convinces him to give the healer a chance, and she puts her hands on him to try to heal the burn. But she sees something else, something about him that marks him as special, that he’s been “gathering” experiences and has a destiny. It frankly scares Cassian, and he rushes away, but the healer tells Bix that he’s a “messenger.” The audience knows that this is probably in reference to Cassian’s role in Rogue One, where he helps Jyn send the Death Star plans to the Rebellion. It’s a great scene that reminds us that the Force is still here, that this is still Star Wars, and that no matter what we do, there’s still a little mystery at work as well.

Anyway, Cassian can’t get a bead on Dedra as the Ghorman protest mounts, a protest that the Empire has encouraged by opening the plaza. Partagaz tells Dedra that their original plan is a go since all other avenues of getting the mineral has failed, with the line, “Bad luck Ghorman.” Bad luck, indeed. They bring in newbie soldiers to keep back the crowds, and these poor souls are actually there to be sacrificed by the Empire to light the spark that will begin the destruction. An Imperial sniper lets a shot go, shooting one of their own, causing chaos, and giving the Empire an excuse to open fire on the Ghor (who had stopped their shouting and began singing, which makes it all the more heartbreaking).

Syril, meanwhile, is increasingly bewildered and alarmed by what is happening and goes to Dedra for answers. Their encounter is shockingly violent, as he chokes her in his fury, learning about the mineral and their plan to sacrifice Ghorman, and the fact that he was deliberately kept out of the know and used for their own purposes. Syril’s world is crumbling: Dedra has lied to him, the Empire has set up the Ghor to fall, and he feels betrayed, to say the least. He wanders out into the increasingly violent crowd in a stupor, watching the horror unfold. Cassian is just trying to get away at this point, but the Imperials have closed off the exits, trapping everyone. Syril is in the middle of realizing he might be on the wrong side when he catches sight of Cassian: his mortal enemy, the one who ruined his life on Ferrix, and the one who must pay for his humiliation.

He attacks Cassian with rage, and their fight is brutal. Syril gets the advantage at last and is about to shoot Cassian when Cassian looks at him in bewilderment and asks him, “Who ARE you?” While Syril has been obsessing for years about Cassian, dreaming of the day he’ll get his revenge, Cassian has no idea who Syril is and is wondering why this random man is trying to kill him. It’s sobering for Syril, who hesitates just long enough for the leader of the Ghorman Front, Carro Rylanz, to shoot him in the head. Poor Syril.

The Imperials unleash the K2 droids, which are terrifying, and all is lost on Ghorman. Cassian and Wilmon manage to escape, but Wilmon wants to stay behind with his girlfriend, and Cassian brings a mangled K2 droid with him as he flies away. Dedra, in the wake of the massacre, has some sort of breakdown or fit, perhaps trying to come to terms with what she’s unleashed, but she ultimately gets control of herself–barely. Brutally suppressing whatever humanity she’s got inside herself, I guess.

This is easily the most harrowing, stunning episode of the whole season. And I haven’t even gotten to the last episode of the arc, in which Mon Mothma makes her amazing speech to the Senate, damning the Ghorman massacre and calling out the lies of the Empire and the evil nature of Palpatine, calling him a “monster” who will “come for us all.” There are so many great speeches in this show: Luthen’s “sunrise” speech, Maarva’s funeral speech, Saw’s rhydo speech, even Vel gets a “you don’t get to cry” speech that is moving. But this one is a hum-dinger that is a turning point for the Rebellion, as Mon flees the Senate and intends to join the Rebellion on Yavin. But the logistics of just how she gets out of the Senate and to Yavin is the problem. Sure, we see in Rebels that Gold Squadron brings her to the Ghost crew, who then will get her to Dantooine on route to Yavin. But how does she actually get out of the building, with the Empire standing by to immediately arrest her after her treasonous speech?

Mon making the speech of her life (or death, from a certain point of view).

Again, Cassian is there, the main link in a chain that leads right up to the end of Rogue One. Luthen says as much to him, that he’s always where he needs to be just when Luthen needs him to be there. (Hmm, it’s as if an unseen Force is guiding his every move…). Anyway, Bail has arranged a ship and crew to get Mon out, but Luthen tells her it’s been compromised. Who knows how he knows this, but at this point Mon is fed up with Luthen, as she’s just found out her trusted aide Erskine has been working for him without her knowledge. Luthen tells her to look for his agent and his words, I have friends everywhere. Cassian kills a few people, including Mon’s ISB-planted driver, to get her out; her shock and horror transitions her from the relative safety of the Senate to the life-or-death environment of the Rebellion.

The arc ends with Cassian back on Yavin and telling Bix that he’s done with the Rebellion. He wants to go away with her and just live their lives. The next morning he finds a message from her. She’s gone away so he will stay in the fight. She firmly believes that Cassian has a big part to play in the coming war and won’t have him abandon it for her. She wants the Rebels to win. After all they’ve been through, all they’ve sacrificed, he has to see it through. With the leaving of Bix, comes the arrival of K2S0, who has been reprogrammed to serve the Alliance.

Whew! Stay tuned for Arc 4….

Andor S2 Thoughts, Part One

Hello friends! I’ve been meaning to post my thoughts about Andor Season 2 for a while now, but I’ve been delayed by a combination of general busyness and simply being overwhelmed with its greatness, lol. I’m going to split it into two parts, the first covering Arcs 1 & 2, and Part 2 covering Arcs 3 & 4.

I don’t even know where to begin, so I’ll just begin with: I loved it. I feel it’s a masterpiece in Star Wars storytelling (both seasons, but I’ll focus on the second season here). Like Season 1, it’s unlike any Star Wars we’ve seen before: gritty, yes, and focused on the ordinary people that struggle with oppression rather than on larger-than-life figures like Jedi and Sith. And yet, it’s still quintessentially Star Wars: it’s still a story of good versus evil, though there are definitely gray areas on both sides; life for most ordinary people is messy and doesn’t fit into neat black and white boxes. It’s still about the human heart, family, love and the connections we make with other people. It’s still about doing the right thing, even when it seems the odds are against you. It’s about that Star Wars hope we always talk about. And the Force is still there; it’s a subtle undercurrent that is only mentioned a couple of times, but it’s still the spiritual underpinning of this galaxy.

In lieu of only getting two seasons, the four-arc, twelve-episode format worked well. The writers relied on the audience to fill in any gaps; in other words, they didn’t insult our intelligence, lol. So even though I would have liked some more information or storylines, I didn’t necessarily need them. The writing was tight and stream-lined, no exposition, just boom, a year later per arc. And it worked, at least for me.

I’m assuming if you’re reading this, you’ve watched the show, so I won’t summarize each episode; I’ll just touch on the big aspects of each arc and what I thought and felt about them. If you haven’t watched it, just be aware–SPOILERS!!! And please, for the love of the Force, watch it if you can.

Arc 1: One Year Later; Sagrona Teema; Harvest

The first arc deals with Cassian stealing a new TIE model from the Imperials and getting side-tracked by a bunch of newbie rebels with no leader among them. They fight among themselves, showing us how far the Rebellion needs to go to unite and work together. Some people were annoyed with this storyline, and I understand why; these people are morons, lol. But they’re also people who need strong leadership, and this is what the Rebellion needs most at this point.

The Imperials, meanwhile, have discovered a kind of mineral on the planet Ghorman that they want for the Death Star, and make plans to get it no matter what. Orsin Krennic has a secret meeting, to which Partagaz and Dedra are invited. The point of the meeting is to find a way to get the mineral from Ghorman, destroying the planet if need be, but making it look like it was the Ghormans’ fault. Krennic pegs Dedra to make it so; she doesn’t want the assignment, as she wants to keep pursuing Axis, but Partagaz tells her the assignment is a “gift.” When Dedra gets back to Coruscant, it’s shown that she and Syril are a couple, though a very weird one, lol. They finally have dinner with Syril’s mother, and Dedra’s handling of the overbearing Eadie is priceless.

Arc 1 also shows us Bix, Brasso, Wilmon and B2 on Mina-Rau, a grain-producing planet, and they work there basically as undocumented immigrants. The people they work for like and appreciate them and try to protect them, but of course, the Empire comes calling. Not only is Bix dealing with her PTSD from her torture by Dr. Gorst, but there’s a slimy Imperial who attempts to sexually assault her. This is where we know we’re not in our usual Star Wars territory; some people took issue with this storyline, saying it was too much for Star Wars. Again, this is Star Wars for adults. If we’re going to watch Andor, we need to put our big-people pants on. Oppression absolutely includes this type of manipulation and attack, and to sugarcoat it now would do the show an injustice, I think. Brasso’s death gutted me, as it was so random and meaningless, but that was the point, too.

On the other end, Mon Mothma is preparing for her daughter’s wedding. It’s a lavish affair, a traditional Chandrilan wedding. Here poor Mon has to deal with her unbearable brat of a daughter, Luthen watching her under the guise of bringing a priceless gift for the couple from Sculden, and her friend Tay, who has been hiding her money for the Rebellion in nonprofits. Tay is not happy, having had some losses with his investments (and his wife left him, no less); and he lets Mon know he basically wants money to compensate for those losses or else he’ll spill the beans. To whom, I’m not really sure, but Luthen sees him as a threat and “takes care of it.” Mon pretends to not know what he means, but of course she does. Tay’s betrayal and Luthen’s promise to unalive him, as well as the emotional toll of her daughter’s hurtful words (and presumably some guilt in arranging the wedding in exchange for Sculden’s monetary help) takes its toll, and Mon has a drunken, dancing breakdown to the catchy tune of Niamos. Seriously, it’s a song that makes even me want to get up and dance, though it’s heartbreaking to see Mon accept the price of rebellion with a public unravelling. Even Perrin looks askance at her. Oh, and seeing Tay fly away with Cinta at the helm is truly chilling. That woman is scary, lol.

Arc 2: Ever Been To Ghorman?; I Have Friends Everywhere; What A Festive Evening

Arc 2 brings us a year down the road. After Cassian saves Bix and Wilmon (leaving our beloved B2 behind, though it can’t be helped), Cassian and Bix are living together in a safe house on Coruscant. I love seeing these two as a couple. During the first season we learn that they had been together when they were younger but broke up at some point, and Bix was with Tim, but I was hoping that she and Cassian be together again at some point. They just fit each other. But Bix is still struggling and has an addiction to some drug that helps her sleep. Luthen sends Cassian to Ghorman to see about the Ghorman Front that has formed there in the guise of a fashion designer named Varian Skye, but Cassian feels they’re not ready to take on the Empire and wants nothing to do with it.

Luthen sends Vel and Cinta instead. The two hadn’t seen each other since that quick glance at the wedding, and it’s clear that Cinta has changed. She refers to some “accident” that took her out of the game for a bit, and while recuperating, realized she missed Vel. They both told Luthen they wouldn’t take the assignment without the other. Their reunion was sweet but ended in tragedy with Cinta’s death during their mission to help the Ghorman Front, another senseless death, as it was a result of one of the Ghor disobeying their orders. I’m wondering if Cinta’s “accident” was her deliberately crashing the ship she and Tay were in at the end of the first arc and she got injured while killing Tay. We’ll never know, I guess, but it’s a leap that makes sense.

Syril, meanwhile, has been on Ghorman as an Imperial inventory manager, but was really put there to infiltrate the Ghorman Front. Syril has no idea what he’s really doing, though, as Dedra has not told him about the mineral and the Empire’s ultimate plans to destroy Ghorman. He thinks he’s just there to identify possible “outside agitators.” But he’s really there to get the Ghormans to act up so the Empire can then punish them.

Wilmon, we find, is with Saw Gererra, presumably sent to him by Luthen. He’s supposed to teach them how to calibrate some mechanical thing to steal rhydonium from the Imperials, a kind of fuel. Saw kills the guy Wilmon has taught, because Saw thinks he was an Imperial spy, trying to find out where they’ll strike next. Who knows if this is true, but Saw is paranoid and crazy at this point. So Wilmon has to accompany him to the target to get the fuel. Saw is able to breathe the poisonous stuff and is addicted to it; he calls it his “sister,” which is creepy considering he lost his sister Steela during the Clone Wars and has never been the same since. He convinces Wilmon to breathe the stuff, too, and I thought that was the end of Wilmon; he’d either die or be a permanent part of Saw’s nutty crew. But surprisingly, this didn’t happen; he shows up in the next arc alive and well.

Kleya discovers that their listening device on a piece of Sculden’s art collection will be discovered if it’s not removed. She enlists the help of Lonni during a party to remove it, and it adds an unbearable level of anxiety while Mon and Krennic trade barbs. We also see Bail Organa at the party for the first time, and that the role is being played by Benjamin Bratt rather than Jimmy Smits. It’s a bit disappointing that Smits’ schedule prevented him from reprising the role, but on the other hand, Bratt did an excellent job of Being Bail, particularly in later episodes.

The classic “blow something up and don’t look back while you walk away” scene.

After talking to Bix and becoming concerned about her health and well-being (in Luthen’s particular, selfish kind of way, lol), he sets up Cassian and Bix to get revenge on Dr. Gorst, who has come to Coruscant to enlarge the part his torture methods will be used in the Empire. Bix satisfyingly hooks him up to his own awful device, and then Cassian blows him up as they walk away. Good riddance, Nazi doctor! A fine way to end the arc.

Stay tuned for my thoughts on Arcs 3 and 4….

Life Day Update

Hello friends, long time no blog!

I hope everyone had a happy Solstice/Christmas/Hannukah/Life Day. I’ve been taking a break from the blog for a few months, as I was busy taking care of my elderly Dad. He ended up getting pneumonia and sepsis and passed away at the end of November. Then I got sick for a few weeks. I’m just now feeling as if I’m getting back to “normal” and have missed the blog, so I thought I’d give a quick update.

I’ve been reading a lot of great non-Star Wars books* (see brief list at end of post), but I did read the latest High Republic novel, Tears of the Nameless, and I think it’s probably my favorite HR book so far. It focuses on Reath Silas, one of my favorite HR Jedi, and his quest to solve the Nameless problem. He gets help from a Padawan named Amadeo, and oh yeah, his old Master, Comahc Vitus returns with some vital information. I was thrilled to see Comahc return, as he had left the Order at the end of Midnight Horizon. Fantastic book.

Another SW book I read was the Mace Windu book The Glass Abyss. This one was…interesting. Mace has never been one of my favorite Jedi, but I do respect the guy. But I’ve always wanted to like him, as well. The Clone Wars went a long way in helping me with that; he was great whenever he made an appearance there. I tried reading Shatterpoint, the Legends book about Mace, but I just couldn’t get interested. I didn’t have much hope for this one, to be honest, since I saw that a lot of people didn’t really like it. But you know what? It wasn’t bad. It was definitely different for a Star Wars book, and especially different for a Mace story. But maybe that’s the point. Here, Mace goes to an Outer Rim planet at the behest of his now-dead friend, Qui Gon Jinn, who had a mission there several years ago. The people are under the thumb of two different crime lords who hold a tenuous balance there. He befriends a community who have a symbiotic sort of relationship with giant silkworms (!) and comes to deeply respect them. He also falls for the leader of these people, and it’s weird seeing Mace all romantic and stuff (once he realizes he’s in love, that is), lol. One of the villains is strange, as well, as he’s two different beings bonded as one, a Rodian and another humanoid species, named Chulok. The other crime boss is a giant insect. Yeah, very weird stuff, but I found it kind of entertaining. I also read it in the hospital while my dad was dying, so it holds some weird emotional heft with me. So yeah, I do like Mace now, lol.

In live-action news, I’m quite enjoying Skeleton Crew. It took a few episodes to really hook me, but I’m fully on board now. It’s a fun, weird, mysterious adventure and I can’t wait to see how this is going to turn out. I’m curious about Jod’s past (is he just a random Force-user, or a former Padawan who escaped Order 66?) and if he’ll come to use his Force powers for good instead of piracy; I’m also wondering about the whole At Attin thing and what’s going on there. And if any harm comes to our sweet Neel there will be hell to pay.

Star Wars things I’m looking forward to: there will be some Bad Batch comics in January, a Clone Wars adventure I think, and this will be a comic series I’ll need to have on my shelf. I’m also hearing rumors about a Bad Batch novel coming out in April or May? If so, I’ll be in Bad Batch heaven! I’m looking forward to the conclusion of The High Republic series with the last wave of books, and of course, Andor Season 2. I recently rewatched Season 1 and I’m totally ready for that great series to continue and conclude.

So instead of blogging and/or writing these past few months, I’ve gotten back into drawing, specifically, portrait drawing. I just needed to do something different, and I have this crazy dream of creating Star Wars fan art. If you know me, you know I LOVE Star Wars fan art, and I’ve often thought, You know, I want to do that too! So I’m going to. I’m still practicing my portrait skills, but once I feel ready, I’m going to start drawing Star Wars characters, and I will certainly share them here if I feel they’re any good, lol.

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Let me know what you’ve been up to, and what Star Wars things are making you happy right now in the comments!

* Here’s some great non-Star Wars books I’ve read lately:

The Madwoman Upstairs, by Catherine Lowell
The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
The Blue Hour, by Paula Hawkins
Once there Were Wolves, by Charlotte McConahy
Currently reading: Wool, by Hugh Howey