Andor (Star Wars: Andor) - Disney+

[Mog]

5 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

Next episode (last of the season?) seems to be drawing everyone to the same location. I hope that episode ends with Syril arriving comically late when everyone else has left.

He’ll show up and do some sort of 80’s trope:  either wind up blowing himself up ala Heathers (but unintentionally) or show up at Dedra’s hotel/Imperial HQ with a boxy transponder over his head.

[hutch]

Spoiler

That scene with Luthen and the Arrestor Cruiser was bad ass.  

 

[azrael]

Spoiler

Best way to get a weapon is to grab it off your guards. Also Luthen would get the added bonus of having them shoot each other.

I agree with Luthen and Saw. Letting Kreegyr and his cell go down for the bigger picture is worth the price.

Mon Mothma's financial troubles would only increase if an influx of 400,000 credits suddenly appeared in her accounts for no reason. Tied to an arrange marriage gives it cover. 

 

[Mog]

Spoiler

Arranged marriage for Lieda or Vel? 

Would be messed up, but one way to save Mothma and her daughter.

 

[sh9000]

Continuing to be an excellent series.

[Seto Kaiba]

OK... "Daughter of Ferrix".

Up front, this feels like we're telegraphing that...

Spoiler

... Maarva's gonna die in this episode.

 

Anyway... let's have a look-see.

Spoiler

Cassian and Melshi are hanging from a cliff waiting for the Imperials to clear out?

Wow.  That took no time at all, huh?  Counting the opening credits and recap we're 3:48 into the episode and Maarva's dead.  They're apparently dealing with her body and the aftermath of her passing since Cassian's not there.

Cassian and Melshi try to steal an aircraft from some of the natives, only to get caught with comical ease thanks to an almost Looney Tones-esque netgun trap.

Lt. Meero's being told about Maarva's passing, and the Imperials are keeping a close eye on the situation since she's a relative of Cassian's and she's also apparently a prominent citizen locally.  Meero actually orders the Imperial prefect to give the locals permission to hold the ceremony where they want to.  Ferrix's local funeral traditions are described in some small detail.  Apparently cremation followed by having one's ashes cast into a brick to be used in construction somewhere in town is traditional.

After talking a bit about the ecological damage the Imperial prisons have done to Narkina and the reward for the prisoners (dead or alive), the aliens who caught Cassian and Melshi offer to give them a ride just to spite the Empire.

On Coruscant, Vel pays a visit to Luthen's shop looking for him.  He's not there, and she spends a while in a dick measuring contest with the assistant before relaying that Maarva died.  

Bix is dealing with the trauma of the torture she was subjected to.  Her Imperial jailers haul her in for another interrogation... about the guy who's walking into a trap.

Mon Mothma's sitting and watching some kind of vaguely religious thing going on at the embassy that's apparently an old tradition related to arranged marriages.  She and Vel have a talk where she explains her circumstances and the trouble she's in.

Syril Karn's overbearing mum wakes him up in the middle of the night because there's a call for him.  He shares intel he got from inside the former Pre-Mor administration about Maarva.

Cassian apparently went back to the resort planet he was on in order to recover his pay from the Aldhani heist and his gun.

Luthen went to go see Saw Gererra.  Saw's had a change of heart and wants to help Kreegyr, who is walking into a trap.  Luthen warns him off, and Saw goes onto a paranoid tear until Luthen trolls him into listening, and they agree that not warning Kreegyr is for the best.

Syril Karn apparently stole some money from his mother's safe to go tearing off to Ferrix to arrest Cassian at Maarva's funeral.

Luthen's call to his assistant gets interrupted by an Imperial ship that picks him up.  Luthen stalls them with a fake(?) ID and when they don't let him go he destroys their tractor beam emitter and an entire unit of TIE fighters (including two apparently using lightsabers?) before flying off.

Cassian calls his friend at the freight company on Ferrix and learns that his mother died, so he stands stunned at the space phonebooth on the resort planet for a bit.  Melshi wants to split up so they have less chance of both getting caught, and expose the Imperial prison camps for what they really are.  Cassian gives him the stolen Pre-Mor gun and they apparently part ways.  

 

All in all, this episode feels like it has a few too many moving parts.  It's hard to really take any of it in, because it's so scattered and most of it has no significance in and of itself... it's pieces of a bigger picture that's scattered all over hell's half-acre right now.  The last episode's going to have a hell of a job tying up these loose ends.

[TehPW]

You fail to mention the resort is COMPLETELY EMPTY of people, humans or aliens. Not even IMPs are present...

The end music is the most painful: you literally feel Andor's grief and confusion (what to do?)

Edited November 17, 2022 by TehPW
Derpyiness

[Roy Focker]

10 hours ago, TehPW said:

You fail to mention the resort is COMPLETELY EMPTY of people, humans or aliens. Not even IMPs are present...

Early am hours just after dawn but before the beach is open. Public parks near me are usually closed between dusk and dawn. They aren't closed off. You can enter them. Odds that a park services employee is going to find you is rare. If they do you'll just be told to leave.  If the Empire in Andor catches you it's prison.  The people at the resort know to follow the rules or else. The Imperials know that ruling by fear means there's no need for 24 hour beach surveillance.

[Seto Kaiba]

11 hours ago, TehPW said:

You fail to mention the resort is COMPLETELY EMPTY of people, humans or aliens. Not even IMPs are present...

Not completely empty... the room Cassian was staying in has a new occupant who is fast asleep in the bed when Cassian breaks in to recover his belongings from the lockbox he hid in the WC.  It appears to be early morning, so the guests at the resort may simply be asleep after a hard day/night's partying.

[Mog]

I thought it was the aliens that gave them a ride that were sleeping in that room.

Wasn’t watching that scene too closely.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Mog

[Roy Focker]

10 hours ago, Mog said:

I thought it was the aliens that gave them a ride that were sleeping in that room.

Wasn’t watching that scene too closely.

"We'll give you a ride but, you'll have to watch us sleep."

Kinky.

[Mog]

Clean water, free room to crash at on a resort planet.

Seems like a fair deal in exchange for transportation.

. . . But all those credits, and all Melshi got was Cheepo Andor's spare gun.

[electric indigo]

8 hours ago, Mog said:

But all those credits, and all Melshi got was Cheepo Andor's spare gun

...which will probably get him in trouble with Pre-Mor security.

[TangledThorns]

3 episodes in and I like it. Totally improved over the craptastic Obi-Wan and Boba Fett series.

[Seto Kaiba]

12 hours ago, electric indigo said:

...which will probably get him in trouble with Pre-Mor security.

It can't.  Pre-Mor's security force was disbanded by the ISB back in the fourth episode when the Empire revoked the corporation's governing authority.

Admittedly, I was so sure that gun was going to turn out to be the Chekhov's Gun that would link Andor to Aldhani... but it seems to have been a fakeout.  If Melshi does get arrested, it might accidentally convince the Empire he's Cassian Andor if they notice it's a stolen Pre-Mor security-issue weapon.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Seto Kaiba

[Big s]

On 11/18/2022 at 4:24 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

It can't.  Pre-Mor's security force was disbanded by the ISB back in the fourth episode when the Empire revoked the corporation's governing authority.

Admittedly, I was so sure that gun was going to turn out to be the Chekhov's Gun that would link Andor to Aldhani... but it seems to have been a fakeout.  If Melshi does get arrested, it might accidentally convince the Empire he's Cassian Andor if they notice it's a stolen Pre-Mor security-issue weapon.

I know Melanie is eventually in the movie, so I’m not really sure if he’s gonna get in too much trouble. This show doesn’t seem to do cameos in the same way others do and some characters seem to have their fate left to the imagination. I almost wouldn’t doubt this is the last time we see him in the show, but likewise I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return in other episodes. I’m just surprised that on a resort stop that nobody looked above the shower until Andor returned and that they were able to book the exact same room

[Duke Togo]

Season 2 started filming today, which will continue into next summer.

[Bolt]

So, didn't anyone else notice what looks like a laser sword..?

And that little ship he's flying is epic..

[Big s]

13 minutes ago, Bolt said:

So, didn't anyone else notice what looks like a laser sword..?

And that little ship he's flying is epic..

That’s probably because he’s actually a sith causing problems so the empire has an excuse to become more aggressive 

[Bolt]

That's an interesting thought. So he warns Sal so he can go on to help Rogue One provide plans to destroy the Death Star.?

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

That's an interesting thought. So he warns Sal so he can go on to help Rogue One provide plans to destroy the Death Star.?

Could be. I get the feeling that Palpatine doesn’t really care if there’s major loss of life or finances as long as chaos gives him an excuse to tighten his grip. There were a massive amount of ships and troops hidden away. He probably had been hiding his forces and building his real military for quite some time 

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

So, didn't anyone else notice what looks like a laser sword..?

And that little ship he's flying is epic..

A steel-capped stick with a contoured grip?  To me, that says "trench club".  Or maybe some kind of stungun/prod?

Luthen doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who believes in being elegant in battle.  He strikes me as a "whatever works, works" kind of guy who wouldn't hestiate to carry something to silently knock heads in should the need arise.  

[Bolt]

22 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

A steel-capped stick with a contoured grip?  To me, that says "trench club".  Or maybe some kind of stungun/prod?

Luthen doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who believes in being elegant in battle.  He strikes me as a "whatever works, works" kind of guy who wouldn't hestiate to carry something to silently knock heads in should the need arise.  

How about that Kyber crystal he gave Cassian? IF he is a survivor of order 66, his character would fit that bill. Or even better, a dark force user. Just saying.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Bolt

[Dobber]

Man I lost my access to this show just before the BIG (I’m guessing escape) episode a couple weeks ago. It’s killing me not getting to watch and keep up with things. Been avoiding spoilers this far. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up soon. 
 

Chris

[Duke Togo]

This is the show. Man, this is the show. This (along with Rogue One) was the only prequel we needed. And it’s just amazing.

[Roy Focker]

Season finale was great.

A story like this is only possible these days with small screens.

[Bolt]

15 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

Season finale was great.

A story like this is only possible these days with small screens.

Did you catch the end credits scene?

[azrael]

1 minute ago, Roy Focker said:

A story like this is only possible these days with small screens.

Tell that to the new-old CEO...

That tied up the season nicely. I did like the

Spoiler

...little monologue describing the Rebellion and how it's all a collection of little things until it becomes 1 single movement.

Also that box of grenades...I recall a shoretrooper throwing a 'nade into the supply shuttle in Rogue One and the entire cargo area blew. I was half expecting a much much bigger explosion from a box of 'nades...

 

[Duke Togo]

I just found out about the post-credits scene. Going to watch it now.

[Bolt]

Yes, a great finale to the season. Many loose ends secured nicely. 

Spoiler

The manifesto is definitely working on Cassian. His mother's speech was great. It even moved Luthen, maybe reminded him why he's doing what he's doing. I think it even affected his decision not to kill Andor. And i loved the funeral dirge very much. The end credits scene was cool. Those components being made by the prisoners was exactly what i thought they would be. About that, I believe those were all made by human hands. I don't recall a single "alien" in the prison..

Great writing. I hope season 2 can keep it up. By far the best SW series.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Bolt

[Seto Kaiba]

Seldom have I ever been this excited for a season finale.  Andor has grabbed me in a way that I really did not expect it to, having never really been more than a casual member of the audience where Star Wars was concerned.  

Spoiler

The title music has slowly evolved over the course of the series... in this episode, it's loud, dominated by horns, and discordant.  A clear sign that sh*t is about to go off.

Hey, I recognize that one!  That's the Imperial shuttle model that Vader and the Emperor use in the original trilogy.  I built a model kit of that one with my dad when I was a kid... one of only two Star Wars kits I ever tackled.  The other being the Millennium Falcon.  The other thing out on the airfield is one of those shuttles from Rogue One, IIRC.

It was a dark and stormy night... again.  Not that we're foreshadowing.  Also, after so many episodes of seeing regular Imperial mooks and the occasional trooper, it's weird to now see Stormtroopers and those black-armored Stormtroopers from Rogue One standing guard around Ferrix.  It's probably meant to be super intimidating in-story, but their ability to intimidate as allegedly elite forces has long since been eroded in the eyes of the audience given that they're memetically awful shots and their body armor seemingly offers no protection to speak of.

Lovely accommodations at the hotel for Bix, I see.  The Imperials have gone full "a mattress on the stone floor".  

Cassian's friend Brasso gets told about Cassian's call... and there's a brief side shot to show that the moneylender from the first episode overhearing them.

Cinta's stalking Meero?  

And that moneylender's now playing the guy Cassian talked to (Xanwan apparently) like a cheap fiddle.  

Yeah, that's a bomb.  This person that we've seen four times now in the episode building something is making something that looks like a bomb.

Mon Mothma's hanging out in her car, picking up her loser husband.  She's scolding him for gambling, which he denies, and tells him to go to the planet where that awful plot tumor from The Last Jedi was set.  Is she about to frame her husband for gambling away the 400,000 she can't replace?  That would be cold.  Luthen levels of cold.  It seems like it's all for the benefit of her driver, who has been implied to be an Imperial spy.

Vel shows up at Cinta's place on Ferrix, and is annoyed that Cinta is obsessing over the ISB agent she's been stalking.  She speculates that they're putting together an op to capture Cassian Andor, and that they have to get to him first.

Hey, there's Cassian.  Walking the streets in the dead of night where he's absolutely the most conspicuous.  He visits what I guess is his foster father's brick, before moving on to climb into Bix's yard again.  Cassian learns from his friend watching the place that Bix was taken by the Imperials and hides out in that old ship to listen to Nemik's manifesto.

Lt. Meero is being briefed on the situation, they've apparently made Ferrix and Maarva's funeral as big a trap as they could.

We finally get confirmation that Mon Mothma's driver is an ISB plant.  He apparently reports to Lt. Blevin.  They get interrupted for the postmortem (literal) on Kreegyr's attack that was set up as a trap.  Meero's upset that nobody was taken prisoner.  Luthen's on Ferrix too, for some reaosn.  Presumably as a third interested party looking to stake his claim to Cassian Andor.

Cassian meets up with Brasso in some utility space underneath one of the buildings, and gets all regretful about having left Maarva on Ferrix when he fled the last time.  He gets to hear his mother's last message.  He's clearly about to go after Bix.

Oh god, Syril Karn and that Scottish sergeant are on the tram in to town.  They switch hats for some reason?  

Luthen meets up with Vel in Ferrix, they discuss the situation and Luthen seems pleased about the situation.  He's still planning to kill Cassian.  Everyone seems put off when the anvil starts chiming.  The band we see warming up are playing some lightly modified conventional instruments... mainly western concert flutes that seem to have been attached to other instruments like clarinets.  The others are playing french horns and other normal brass instruments spraypainted gray.  One band member has what looks like a totally unmodified button box concertina.  Cassian spots Luthen in the crowd.

Nurchi is apparently working for the ISB, and is demanding double the reward for Cassian plus a ride off planet.  They fake his arrest.  He points out where Cassian has been spying on the proceedings from.

A massive crowd has gathered for Maarva's funeral.  WAY more than the 40 people the Imperials thought were coming.  OK, the brass ones on Maarva... she turned her funeral into a mass civil disobedience event complete with most of the city and a goddamn marching band advancing on the Imperial line.

Cassian has apparently already done a runner before the Imperials get to his position, and seems to have broken into the hotel through the sewers.  

Maarva gives a speech by way of a hologram from her droid.  The Imperial commander on site tries to stop it and starts a riot in the process.  The funeralgoers storm the Imperial lines.  

Bix is apparently so broken by the torture she's afraid to leave her cell.

Yup, that was a bomb.  Karn goes dashing out to try and save someone, and we see it take out the small armored vehicle at the back of the Imperial line and the frontage of the hotel.  Nurchi and the guards watching him get knocked away from the windows.  It sets off a number of secondary blasts as munitions cook off, taking out Bix's window and knocking everyone down.  The Imperial prefect orders troops to fire at will.

Cinta successfully assassinates the ISB's watcher on the streets in the chaos, while Cassian and Bix escape.  Meero tries to join the fight and is taken out almost immediately with a rock to the head and then kneed in the face when she tries to pick up her gun.  The Imperial stormtrooper sent to stop the anvil chimes... takes the express route back down to ground level after walking right into a kick.

Syril Karn apparently risked his life to save Lt. Meero from the mob by impersonating someone taking her hostage.  They seem to be having a bit of a moment while she comes down from the massive adrenaline high of having narrowly missed death at the hands of an angry mob.  Luthen is watching the whole fracas from afar as Vel and Cinta pack.  Brasso and the others prepare a ship.  Cassian conveniently arrives with Bix just as the ship fires up and gives them advice on how to get out without getting detected before leaving again.

Looks like Mon Mothma agreed to that arranged marriage meeting after all.  

The Sergant is drinking on the side of the street.  Luthen is headed back to his ship only to find Cassian there waiting for him.  Cassian correctly guesses Luthen came to kill him.  Cassian gives Luthen a choice to either kill him or take him aboard as a member of the Rebellion.  Luthen seems pretty satisfied.

Well, that wraps up most of the plot threads from season one in a neat and tidy package.

Hopefully this is the last we'll see of the Ferrix set, considering how much time was squandered there dramatically walking nowhere in particular.

They neatly wove the various side stories - Vel and Cinta's, Syril and Moss's, Luthen's - together with Cassian's for the ending of the first season so there are very few loose ends still remaining to be tidied up.  Notably, who the hell the new kid the camera keeps dwelling on is and why we're supposed to care about Mon Mothma.  She stopped being relevant to the series just a few episodes in, and now when the story switches focus to her it feels like someones's cutting segments from a completely different series into Andor as makeweight.  Switching from grounded, focused, compelling character drama about the rise of the Rebellion and the espionage speed chess Luthen and the ISB are playing to another segment of the marital and financial struggles of a family of out-of-touch 1%-ers who loathe each other on Coruscant is as jarring and unwelcome as cutting away from a Bond movie to show segments from episodes of Frasier or Days of our Lives.

It almost feels like they're trying to stealth pilot a Mon Mothma series, the way Star Trek has tried and failed to do stealth pilots for spinoffs like "Assignment: Earth" or Michelle Yeoh's Section 31 series... except even more ill-advised.

 

Spoiler

OK woah, so the mysterious whatsits that Cassian and co. were making are a part of the superlaser dish of the Death Star?

That's a bit too convenient, IMO... that Cassian would just happen to have coincidentally worked on part of the Death Star as a prison laborer.  This is that "It's a small galaxy" problem from past material, where every main character is somehow connected to every major event in recent history.

[azrael]

So...

Spoiler

Mon Mothma's husband had a gambling problem. Guess that's as good as any cover for her financial dealings. Setting up an arranged marriage for her daughter also would be a good way to remove her from the picture and cutting off all avenues that the Imps could use against her.

 

[Big s]

It was an alright ending for the season. It did leave a lot for the second one.

Spoiler

I was hoping for some competent storm troopers, but like all Star Wars, they’re failures. Even the death troopers sucked. At least the trooper that got knocked out didn’t get ko’ed by a slap but I feel like their armor is and always will be useless. I was kinda surprised it took so long to shut down that message when it started talking trash about the empire.

guess we gotta wait til next season to find out about Andor’s sister. That and the will they won’t they situation with the antagonists.

I’m pretty sure no one was surprised by what that part went to at the end, but it was still fun to see

Maybe next season will answer why we wasted so much time on Andor’s backstory in the first two episodes 

[azrael]

45 minutes ago, Big s said:

It was an alright ending for the season. It did leave a lot for the second one.

Maybe next season will answer why we wasted so much time on Andor’s backstory in the first two episodes 

That does relate my primary complaint about this season; wasted time, like the first 2 episodes. Because next season will be covering the 4 years leading up to Rogue One, I imagine there will be less fluff. But because of that, they might be packin 'em in each episode.

[Mog]

Yup in retrospect, it seemed that whole flashback bit at the start seemed kinda pointless.

Should have shortened it and emphasized more on Cass’ time with Clem and Maarva more.

The other “time wasting” bits were there to make you give a damn about the other characters, such as the Aldhani arc and the prison arc.

But that first arc felt a little disjointed.

Regarding that last teaser,

Spoiler

I guess we know one OTHER reason ol’ Project Stardust was “slightly” delayed. 😅