SPOILER ANDOR EP. 11 DISCUSSION

1st : i'm with @MBWilson on this. Dear @Angelman you are probably one of the best guys here. I appreciate every of your writings. I don't see where/how you could have been that offensive...

Hey ? Did we see the same episode ?
Everyone is coming back to a unique place : Syril, Dedra, the ISB chief on Ferrix, Cintha, Vel, Cassian, Cassian's friend on Ferrix (the one who cares B2EMO).... everybody is preparing to meet on Ferrix. I've seen many things setting up for the next episode !

I don't buy the Jedi thing either.
The same as @MBWilson, I prefer the fact that Luthen, through his job as an antiques dealer, sometimes stumbles upon gems, or Jedi/Sith artefacts, and reserves certain pieces for his personal use.

 

Despite the fact that this ol' brain of mine silently snarked "AndWHO?" afterward, I really enjoyed this episode. Yes, it was mostly another setup episode, but IMHO it was one of the more compelling of these this season.

True, Cassian was barely in the thing, but most of the episode revolved around the key players learning of Maarva's death (and I think she genuinely is dead rather than it being some sort of ruse) and making plans to find Cassian when he returns for her funeral. It took me awhile to register the sad fact that everyone who views Maarva's death as an opportunity to further their own agendas vis a vis Cassian learned of her passing before Cassian himself did.

Luthen got two great scenes in this one. His meeting with Saw was a prime cut of the kind of character-driven drama that has made Andor such a compelling show for me. I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of cold, calculating Luthen and loose-cannon-ready-to-blow Saw - particularly the way Saw's gnawing paranoia began to affect Luthen, just a tiny bit around the edges. A solidly written scene brought to life by two brilliant actors.

And Luthen's escape from the Cantwell-class cruiser (wonderfully named, by the way) gave us a dose of the kind of space combat that a lot of us have missed throughout the season. Only thing is, I keep seeing people referring to the red lateral beams projecting from Luthen's ship as "lightsaber blades". They didn't track that way to me. What I saw was a pair of long laser beams, rather like those we see when the Death Star's main weapon fires. Now granted, I've only watched the episode once, but that's how they looked to me.

Either way, a great action sequence!

I'm massively looking forward to next week's season finale. Having avoided trailers and spoilers, I have no idea what's going to go down, but I know it will almost certainly happen on Ferrix, and that it will involve some sort of clash amongst the various "interested parties."

 

I've immediately seen a direct reference to Inquisitors double-bladed lightsabers. And I was thinking : this is genius

 

I heard somewhere that his ship was powered by kyber crystals. Not sure the validity of that, but he did give Cass one, so there's that.

 

I think

Well, Kyber crystals were used as part of the Death Star's superlaser.

 

That was my first thought when I saw it, but it was such a subdued moment that I just assumed that wasn't the case.

Thinking back on it now, though, it's making me think how Andor speaks such a different film and music language than any other Star Wars that's come before. And that's fine, it's done some really creative things! But if it is a lightsaber, it's almost jarring how it wasn't specifically zoomed on while the Force theme plays.

 

Some nice nuance during the scene when Luthen is intercepted by the Imperial Cruiser. The intuitive thing to do when on the run from an Imperial patrol ship might be to remain polite and compliant and hope that by doing so, this doesn't raise suspicion.

But Luthen actually sounds annoyed and impatient when he snaps over the radio "Is there something wrong, patrol???"

What better way to double-bluff than to give the impression that you really are an innocent Haulcraft pilot who is irritated at being held up needlessly by the authorities?

 

That's sorta an assumed thing, that's also an Easter egg-like bit. As soon as Cassian asks Luthen "what's powering this thing?" the groundwork was laid for us to assume. Ep.11 only furthers the assumptions seeing the power of this modified Haulcraft and the lightsaber-like weapons.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 18, 2022, Original Post Date: Nov 17, 2022 ---

Passive is the perfect way to describe Cassian in this episode. I think it is meant to show where his head is at this time. Everyone else is plotting, planning, scheming toward events that will undoubtedly change their lives as well as his. He is a leaf in the wind. He has to be thinking about the fact that he quite possibly just led hundreds of men to their deaths. I can't imagine he had plans on hanging around Niamos very long, now he has all his worldly possessions with him and he just got an emotional gut punch. He has to know that going home to Ferrix is a death trap, but he has done nothing but run headfirst into danger most of his life. We saw in the Kenari flashback and the flashback to his father hanging in the square, when his emotion and rage pushed him to react violently and without clear thought. Well, here he goes again. That's why he was so quick to let Melshi go. He's not about to lead someone else into his own personal hell. He's not in control of his own path, he's being led by anger and grief. Passive.

 

Luthen's tangle with the destroyer was so Star Wars, and not just in the zoom-zoom, pew-pew sense. The conspicuously inept imperial command that can't blow one little ship out of the sky and instead uses plodding, inefficient tactics to neutralise it. And Luthen's ship with its anachronistic and impractical weaponry. Seriously the double saber blade spin maneuver was ludicrous. It was a million to one to hit both fighters. It would make sense to use with wings level in order to rake the laser fire along an enemy ship, broadside. One that's not moving fast and relative to your ship. But spinning in the hope that the enemy ship doesn't just avoid the slowly spinning blades and pass through? Preposterous. And that's nothing if not Star Wars. Love it.

 

THIS! This is why I love Star Wars. Here we are, rational grown adults debating the practicality of using lightsaber blades as defensive mechanisms on your spacecraft. God, I love the internet. Thank you.

 

I enjoyed Luthen's encounter with the Imperials. I found it exciting and as many have pointed out, it felt very Star Wars to me. Otherwise, I found this episode . . . eh, okay.

 

I thought it was funny - sure, it's a million to one, but I figured the computer was flying the maneuver for that very reason. With today's technology you could track the movements of all three ships (two TIEs and the "haulcraft") and calculate the rotation necessary to pull it off (or determine that you cannot).

Given the amount of time that it took to calculate the jump to hyperspace he could have done any one of a number of other maneuvers to stall for time, but the writers chose to give a little fan service instead and develop his character. Luthen never wavered in his resolve, he knew he was getting out of there because he was prepared for it. After his "countermeasures" on the tractor beam, I expected him to escape, but he toyed with them for a bit before departing. His character is evolving.

 

Obviously

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 18, 2022, Original Post Date: Nov 18, 2022 ---

Ah, now, that part actually makes perfect sense. You cannot reliably jump to light speed while you are coming under direct fire. That's why you have to engage and destroy any fighters harassing you and/or make sufficient maneuvers to get clear long enough to make the jump without being a sitting duck.

That's why Holdo was able to ram the mega destroyer. The FO commander was so target fixated and convinced that the cruiser was merely a decoy from the lifeboats containing the resistance that by the time he gave the order to fire on the Raddus, it was too late. Ordinarily, an enemy ship preparing to jump would be closely monitored to assess and immediately thwart any ramming threat, if the enemy ship was not already under fire making it virtually impossible for any ramming attempt to succeed. Precise trajectory at the moment of the jump is crucial. At any time. But especially when aiming your vessel at another ship.

 

There is a restraint and maturity to this show that is welcome to me. If the Luthen escape scene had been part of the recent movies of this franchise, under certain other directors that I shall not name, then Luthen would have been yelling and shouting and whooping it up as he made his escape. Probably running around in his ship too.

Instead, he remains quiet and focused, with the ship's computer doing the talking. It was magnificent.

 

That's because it was an homage to the classic SW space fight tropes.

Based on your reaction, I'm guessing that's because the show was written for a different audience than you.

 

I've said it before, Luthen has ice water running through his veins. He has obviously lived an interesting life.