SPOILER Andor Ep. 1-3 Discussion

A few random thoughts:

Did he actually say, a human with dark features (Officers harassed a human with dark features) assaulted/murdered the Officers? ( Dark Features meaning complexion, or hair color, or both) Can't wrap my head around that... perfect depiction of the old boys club behind closed doors, indeed.

Fast forward: Deputy Inspector says, ...if its too much for you, let me know... I'm sure someone wants the chair.

This show is mean spirited... The Deputy Inspector is a young Wilhuff Tarkin on overdrive, haha... what can you do but laugh it off... and he is a complete utter coward with a blaster.

Episode 1 the scene with Cass, Nurchi, and Vetch is funny... hopefully more levity... not too much like Thor Love and Thunder... hehe

I did like the Blade Runneresque opening scene.

I'll stick around for Saw Gerrera

Honestly good series, thus far, I'm just butt hurt that the premise of the Rogue One/ Andor tale has no Jedi

Give me a show like this with Jedi, why don't you LFL... HAHA

Hopefully, a Dark Lord of the Sith, or Emperor shows up, Darth Vaders' Castle please... YOU CAN NEVER HAVE IT YOUR WAY... I'm still enjoying some of it...

 

Well, I think I'm glad to see this series come into existence, because it made me realize how much has been missing (in a sense) from SW: namely, great on-location sets and the creative freedom that gives a director, and a sophisticated, ongoing plot with multiple threads. I kept thinking, Wow, amazing camera shot! The ships!!! Look at the ships!!! (And I don't know squat about filming, I just know what I like. )

And yet there were times when I wasn't sure I was watching Star Wars. It seemed like I could walk into a brothel in a city near me and it wouldn't look all that different. People use the same swear words. Sure, there were aliens and weird architecture, but I think the difference was I just didn't care like I do with most Star Wars. I couldn't engage. Cassian just seems kind of squirrelly and annoying, so I didn't really care about him as he is in the show (sad backstory hasn't been sad enough yet). They were trying to make me care about Cassian's mother, but...why should I? I barely know her. I didn't care about Bix--wow, too bad you're crying but Timm was clearly a jerk. The only character I had fellow feeling for is Cassian's droid.

So I guess I'm intrigued about where the plot is going. I know we'll get to Coruscant and such and that will be Star Warsy. But as far as characters--*shrug* Maybe it will get better in terms of drawing me in? I'll give it a shot--I'd like to be surprised and I do enjoy the aesthetic in an "impartial observer" kind of way--but there's a reason I like space fantasy Star Wars. It's a whole different genre from sci-fi or spy thriller or film noir. I'm glad they're attempting to branch out a bit, but so far it's not really jiving with me (and my stone-cold heart ).

 

One thing I forgot to mention about these episodes; the flashbacks to the kid-villagers and Cassian getting kidnapp-rescued by Maarva: The young actor player Cassian (Antonio Viña), he was nowhere near 6 years old, (more like 12?), so... Does that mean Cassian has "been in this fight" for years prior to being kidnapp-rescued by Fiona Shaw? (Perhaps the reason why the "Sherwood Forest" kids all live alone is because they all rebelled, somehow, during the stripmining of Kenari?) Or, was this just the filmmakers bowing to practical realities and casting a small 12-y-o to play a 6 y-o? Thoughts? Are we going further back in future flashbacks, to see an even younger Cassian stumbling into "this fight"?

 

"In this fight" doesn't mean he was a part of the Rebellion. He just was fighting for survival since he was six years old, maybe something like that?

 

Yeah, I suspect it is. I suspect we'll see more flashbacks going back even further, to when Kenari is destroyed by ultra-capitalist exploitation and the kids (or their parents?) rise up against "the authorities" in general, or somesuch. In some sense, Cassian's childhood "fight" must connect back to the Empire somehow for the RO line to make sense, but it could be as easy as evil miners working for the evil Mining Guild extracting rawmaterials for an Evil Galactic Empire to use in some super-secret and very suspect building project.

That, or they cast a 12-y-o (or however young Antonio Viña is) and hope nobody notices

It's like, isn't Newt supposed to be 6 in Aliens, while Carrie Hahn was 11 at the time, or somesuch? (Although, that could have been an early draft, only)

 

I know the actor who plays the officer shot by Cassian at the start of episode 1, through a mutual friend. He is a Mancunian actor by the name of Lee Boardman. I was told he would be appearing in this, but I didn't know which part he would be playing.

 

I was wondering about that too. But it was weird that there were no or very few adults in the village, so I'm wondering if they had been killed somehow by the strip miners. Maybe the village adults started rebelling when he was six years old? If Cassian's parents were killed when he was six, I would count that as "being in the fight."

There was an interesting reference to Cassian's father being hanged to death. It was Luthen, I think, who said it? I thought at first it might have been Fiona's Shaw's husband (if she had one), but maybe it refers to the villagers. Maybe they'd looted the mine site and all the adults of the village were killed in retaliation? It did look like the children of the tribe were wearing adapted "first world" clothes and shoes.[/QUOTE]

 

I think this sounds very plausible. I'm sure the kids were basically woodland orphans making do once their parents have been wiped out. That's the feeling I got, at least.

Good point about Luthen mentioning Cassian's father being hanged.

Another thing I wondered about was Cassian's supposed sister... who's that? In the opening scene, he enters the stripclub/nightclub/brothel/whateveritwas supposedly looking for his sister. Of course, he could be lying and looking for Bix or someone else entierly, and we just don't know the context for it, but, let's say it was his sister Cassian was looking for... Who dis? It didn't appear that Cassian had a sister among, the "Sherwood orphans", right? Or was there a little girl he watched out for? Yes, as I write this it dawns on me that there was... There is a young girl named Kerri (Bella Swarc), and that's probably Kassa's sister <-- Ok, I just rendered my own question completely moot

 

'Andor' is the first SW live action show with a proper intro (with chaning music from episode to episode), right?

 

Forgot to mention that the music is great. Nicholas Britell's score is not as in your face as Mando (not a criticism), but it's very well done. It's the composer from Succession so I'm not surprised. That score is one of the best going right now.

 

We see the mining operation is already shutdown, we see the kids wearing what look like adapted modern clothing, and we see no adult figures. That's enough for me, personally, to accept that 'the fight' Cassian has been in since he was 6, is already 6 years old at this point. The mention of the hanging is a good point, I'd be surprised if we didn't get that via flashback at some point to be honest.

At the moment we know he's tough enough to kill (basically) in self defence, we need to get the point where he's cold enough to kill his allies. A flashback where we see him watching his father getting hung would go a long way towards 'darkening' his character. Not killing Syril Karn at Luthen's request already makes him appear slightly soft, but that could just be the stage we're at.

As a side note, as a slightly tubby bloke that swears a lot, I'm leaning towards Kostek as a costume for celebration London

 

I assume here that you are referring to when Cassian shoots his informant in Rogue One?

I personally didn't see that as particularly cold. The guy had a broken arm so couldn't climb out of the alleyway to safety. I think Cassian almost does him a favour and prevents his capture by the Imperial troops and probable torture for information, then execution. It comes across as more of a mercy killing I think, and you can see on Cassian's face immediately after that it appears to affect him somewhat.

Just my two pence worth.

 

Starting Episode III now.

I really wish I liked this show more than I do. There are some good parts, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

But my god, it can be tedious, too. I'm so glad it's breaking away from the Disney Six Episode format, but this is starting to feel like the outdated 24 episode season format now, full of tons of filler. Surely there has to be a sweet spot somewhere.

 

My experience after two episodes was that it was just okay. The 3rd episode really delivers. I assume this was a part of the reason they released them as a group. Those first two episodes really need the 3rd to sell the series.

 

About the sister... How did she get off the planet?

When we first hear that a guy from Kenari is wanted, someone commented that the planet was destroyed in a "mining accident" and it was "toxic" now. Plus, when Fiona (what is her name? Marma??) "rescued" Cassian, she did it because the Republic was going to do something drastic when they found one of their ships had crashed and its people dead.

So the question is--did the Republic destroy the planet and all the people on it in retaliation (like Fiona predicted) and call it an accident? Or did they kidnap the kids and traffic them or something first? (Or had the mining accident already happened by the time we see Cassian get "rescued," and the planet wasn't really destroyed after all, and Cassian's sister got off planet some other way?)

 

Having finished the third now, I'd say that's pretty much my experience too. It was far better than the other two.

Hopefully the series manages to maintain this momentum- but with so many episodes, I'll admit I'm worried.

 

Is Chirrut Îmwe a "force user" in Rogue One to your eyes?
Chirrut clearly had something with the Force, it's proven multiple times in Rogue One. Maybe we can consider him as a force user, even if he never was a jedi and was nothing next to a Jedi training.

Because we could get more Guardians of the Whills in this series.

 

Those are very good points.

The easy ones first: We haven't a clue how the sister (Kerri?) gets off Kenari, but the opening scene indicates that she did. It'll be interesting to follow that story thread And, Fiona Shaw's character is named Maarva Andor, IIRC.

On Kenari being destroyed: You are very right. I just assumed that they allued to the environmental disaster brought on by the strip-mining stuff (possibly covered up as a "mining accident" to avoid political blowback). But, as you say, Maarva & Co did flee because they feared Republican reprisals. Interesting... But this again raises the question, how old is Kassa supposed to be? The Old Republic turns into the Galactic Empire when Cassian is 6 or 7 years old (i.e. he's born in 26 BBY), so... either we're talking about the actual Old Republic and Kassa is supposed to be 6yo, or Kassa is more like 12, and we're somewhere around 14 BBY in the timeline, many years after the Old Republic has ceised to exist. I'm so confused right now...

 

Looking through this thread I'm starting to notice that the last couple of years really changed the perception of television.

A lot of people seem to criticize the slow pace of this show. People just want the icing on the cake, but not the whole cake.

I'm glad that there are finally shows again which take their time. I really enjoy the slow pace of 'Andor' or for matter of fact the slow pace of the new LOTR series 'The Rings of Power'.

Yes, you could have made the first three episodes into a 50min episode, but all of the previous SW shows felt rushed, especially 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'.

Finally there is a SW show with dialog scenes which takes longer than 30 seconds.

While we were watching the first three episodes, @RockyRoadHux highlighted a moment in which we just saw Andor packing his bag. We saw the whole process. Some may find something like this boring, but for me it was a moment of peace and spending time with the lead character.

I really miss little moments like these in today's media.

 

I just went ahead and did a rewatch of the first three Episodes and it feels really good to have something that feels like prestige television set in my favorite universe of all time. I love how there's dialogue that exists to just exist instead of pushing something forward. I love how we see the life of these people highlighted over plot. I love how characters seem to matter more than story. I get the complaints, probably more so than for most other Star Wars things because it is very unlike-Star Wars.

But I also think Star Wars can be many things and take different shapes. I don't find it necessary to rag on Mando, Boba or Kenobi. I'm not entirely sure if I want all my Star Wars to be like this, and I'm almost certain it won't be. But for right now, I'm enjoying the ever-loving curse word-that-is-now-canon out of this.