ANDOR aka Glum Village : its own thread

that kitchenette scene with her moue of disapproval at his emboldened behaviour was great.

love the scenes with his mom. very funny

I like that the show isnt all relentless plot but includes moments of texture like that (which often as in the case of his mom turn out to be load-bearing plot points that no longer feel like contrivances)

i love this show so much, i don’t know what it is but the WW2/resistance vibe & the pacing & level of detail is so completely my bag

*watches latest arc*

*feels pulled through the wringer with the double one-two of 8 and 9 and the final major twist of this arc which I didn't see coming*

Can't wait to be an utter and total wreck one last time next week!

Anyway yeah, that was how Syril had to go and I absolutely loved how Cassian was all "WTF" -- I also can't wait to see Denise Gough and Kathryn Hunter utterly destroying each other in the final arc, even if only metaphorically

And my big, big hunch was that Bix had to go in this arc because otherwise things would hang too heavy for Rogue One to make any sense of his character...but I thought she would die in another battle or the like, did not expect how that worked out and how utterly wrenching it is, especially when we know how things turn out when the characters don't. That concluding music, jeez.

i am a wreck

RIP Syril. He seemed for the briefest moment surprised/hurt(?) that Andor didnt know who he was.
I knew Bix was going to do ~something~ but I didn’t expect her to do the most heartwrenching thing! uuuuugh this tragic couple i love them so much! damn you Tony Gilroy this series is going to kill me

It's really funny (in the sense of "fucking tragic") to read writeups of this show that say things like, "Of course, there's no real suspense here, because we all know Character X survives, because we've all seen Star Wars Movie Y." Um, NO WE HAVEN'T. I'm, like, five (six? seven?) Star Wars movies behind — haven't seen anything since the second trilogy — never mind all the animated and non-animated TV series, etc., etc. I am watching this thing as its own thing and am not going to watch any other Star Wars thing afterward.

In a way I kinda envy you! I will say you might want to watch Rogue One after this wraps next week, but it's your call.

A few more scattered thoughts upon reflection:

I didn't fully appreciate how carefully Mon Mothma's reactions to the deaths she sees directly in this episode are set up. But with the death of Tay Kolma brought up again in episode 9, you get a sense of how that weighs on her directly but how -- no matter how great the speech -- what happened on Ghorman is something to talk about nobly at a great remove, however brave it is in context. But when Andor guns down two people on the way out with her escape, it clearly hits her that, nope, people are absolutely going to die and you are absolutely part of it now instead of plausible deniability with Tay. Welcome to the Rebellion indeed.

I loved the very small moment where the two techs talking with the guy at the Senate power chamber doing the "well we fixed it the other day and the key's somewhere else" thing, dude runs off, the two techs have a small silent beat. Gives just enough of a sense of Luthen's other irons in the fire, or maybe just something else, but we don't need the whole story there and will never get it.

Speaking of Luthen and further conniving: so Luthen says he knows the extraction team is corrupt. By implication, we learn it's because the one definite agent in that team is per dialogue in the security center 'Jung's agent,' Jung being the ISB dude with the mustache who is Luthen's direct mole in there. I keep wondering which direction this flowed: Jung was ordered to place the agent no matter what and tipped off Luthen or if Luthen (and Jung?) cooked up the idea of planting an agent on the team precisely to give Jung further cover. Because it's all a heavy fucking risk no matter what!

It's weirding me out that they made an entire fake french language, but there's a guy walking around named and spelled Jung.

i did end up watching the companion episode of Rebels (Secret Cargo s3e18)

it was cool and all storywise but i just cant w the animation. It’s like animation from a theme park ride I HATE IT

I have to say, casting wise, swapping Benjamin Bratt in for Jimmy Smits was about right. I was a little inebriated and watching old L&O episodes a few weeks ago and thought “yes, Bail Organa” when Bratt walked on before correcting myself

Bratt is bringing full gravitas, i thought he was great

Ep 8 was just incredible to me. So much tension, so much weight. I thought this season wouldn’t hit the heights of the first but I think it might now.

I knew it would probably happen but I was not ready at all for Syril’s conclusion. Amazed they gave it such resonance.

the scene between Dedra and Syril in the conference room overlooking the plaza, especially the acting of Denise Gough, was incredible

he really did feel like he’d become a more complete person, and Dedra was manipulating him just as his mother did

guess I should watch this eh

what's weird is that i caught up last night and though there were only 9 episodes and figured that was the end, and it was a powerful episode but I thought wow that's a weird way to end this series, guess I'll watch rogue one again tonight. I was totally settled with the idea that that was it, and now I know there's a whole other arc, that makes a lot more sense!

Imagine if!

https://ew.com/andor-creator-reveals-scrapped-k2so-horror-movie-episode-11728167

That would have been fun. I feel like the ending of episode 9 has given us the perfect setup for Cassian to need a robot surrogate best friend

^^^^^

It's really funny (in the sense of "fucking tragic") to read writeups of this show that say things like, "Of course, there's no real suspense here, because we all know Character X survives, because we've all seen Star Wars Movie Y." Um, NO WE HAVEN'T. I'm, like, five (six? seven?) Star Wars movies behind — haven't seen anything since the second trilogy — never mind all the animated and non-animated TV series, etc., etc. I am watching this thing as its own thing and am not going to watch any other Star Wars thing afterward.

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, May 7, 2025 11:26 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

The series is a definite prequel to the movie Rogue One, in which Cassian Andor is a main character. Numerous other characters/actors from the show appear in Rogue One as well. I haven't seen it in a while, but I would say that while it's slightly different tonally, it still functions in the vein of a "Star Wars for adults."

I stopped trying to watch the other Star Wars live-action series years ago, and could never stomach the animation style of the cartoons.

As per Dan S I did have to check again that it's 12 eps and we weren't wrapping up after 9! 'Ironic...' after what I felt was a slow start.

What happens to Dedra and Luthen seem like the only things left to bother with.

Episode 8 was standout, Eedy's tearful face at the end was perfection.

Lol at Wilmon just constantly hooking up place to place.

In this compressed storyblast Andor just infiltrates and escapes unfamiliar places just too easily tho (er, except Yavin in ep 1).

the one thing that bothered me, and I'm being nitpicky here, is Cyril's evolution. The way he was so upset to discover what the real plan was with Ghorman. There was a tiny hinting that he had developed some relationship/sympathy with that one ghor rebel woman, but really the whole time he read to me as somebody who wouldn't have been so upset to find out the real reason they were there. Like maybe they needed to make him a bit more sympathetic, or a bit more connection to the people or their humanity or whatever.

ha yeah wilmon has a type. i have the kind of face blindness that made me think he brought the farm girl with him to ghorman, but it was a different lady entirely

xp syril never struck me as someone cold enough to go along with planetary genocide. it was all a career game to him

my favorite guy, the drunk from the end of episode 6, started the singalong during the protest

and half of why syril wants to be successful is he’s moved from a domineering mother to a relationship with a domineering coworker. dude was a striver but within a limited scope. kind of a sheltered kid, I could see where interacting with normal people who had genuine problems beyond their moms berating them would change his perspective

wasn’t sure if they were setting up syril to flip sides, but the setup was good — he was sure there weren’t any outside agitators and the empire was being fully corrupt. then at the last moment he spots an outside agitator who happens to be his own white whale!

xp syril never struck me as someone cold enough to go along with planetary genocide. it was all a career game to him

― gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Friday, May 9, 2025 9:31 AM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't think it was entirely a career game. He was an idealist who wanted to do his part for the Empire by standing up for law & order, fighting crime, and getting the bad guys.

right yeah, he wanted to be a good little boy

his anger at dedra and the empire seemed unearned.

it’s less the plan that bothered him than the fact that dedra manipulated him for years imo. I do think he developed some sympathy with the Ghorman rebels he had been meeting with as well, esp the city official’s daughter.

the cassian/bix storyline gutted me, i too thought that she might die in a battle or something, but somehow this is even more heartbreaking. It’s hard to get prequel writing right but just how Rogue One gave us a new perspective on the events of A New Hope, this has also been great at colouring in Andor’s character and his actions in Rogue One.

anyway, I now badly want a t-shirt that says “I have friends everywhere”

I think another key thing for Syril's fate too is how we first meet him in this season, puffed up as the guy in records doing the training now...but he's still just the guy in records doing the training. It'll all been hollow glory, and he finally gets the chance to avenge it all, Cassian negs him, he seizes up mentally and then is just killed. The end.

denise gough was really incredible in episode 8

my favorite guy, the drunk from the end of episode 6, started the singalong during the protest

I loved the guy to his right noticing like 'oh yeah, good idea...' - perfect face-acting no notes

he's not just a passing drunk, is he? if im thinking of the same person, anyway

which is lezine, played by thierry godard (the french actor who's a cop in spiral), a militant and vocal rebel who (at the big gathering) kind of gets the situation they're in but also has to be shut up bcz he's angry and impassioned

he's terrific in spiral btw

One thing that sorta jumped out at me out of the blue was

The assassination of Gorst and bombing of the ISB interrogation lab. It's possible that I wasn't paying enough attention, but I did not see that coming. I assume there was more foreshadowing that I didn't pick up on?

Fuck, I totally meant to hide that. Not sure why my H tag didn't work.

Let us salute Tony Gilroy's shit-talking fan of a kid:

https://ew.com/andor-creator-mocked-by-son-not-including-famous-rogue-one-line-11730406

"My son is a big Star Wars fan, and he often comes to the house and busts my balls at the computer about how little I know," Gilroy explains. "One day he's there at the house and he's goofballing on me, and he's like, 'Well, who's going to introduce 'rebellions are built on hope'?" "And I go, 'What do you mean?'" Gilroy continues. "He goes, 'Well, in Rogue One, Diego says it. And Jyn repeats it.' And I go, 'Well, isn't that from somewhere?' He goes, 'No, man, what are you talking about? You better figure that out.'"

The thing for me w Syril is his snap w Dedra is (i think) a reaction to the realization that he is a Pawn. Up til that moment he’s believed and seen himself as Syril Of Some Importance Actually …and to learn that he is Of NO Importance and that that is orchestrated by a woman he theoretcally loves (question mark, or whatever) like once again undercut by a key female figure in his life … the emasculation that we’ve all born witness to is outside Syril’s own experience where he has this memory palacd built solely on who he tells himself he is

And then as he short circuits on the plaza becoming more and more useless he sees Cassian, his Purpose, and seizes on him once again like yes finally I can prove my worth (mixed with) this fucker started all of this its his fault i’m not who i thought I was … only to find in his dying moment that even to Cassian, he’s nobody.

yeah that feels otm.

kathryn hunter is such a great actress that she made me feel sad for mama karn

One thing that sorta jumped out at me out of the blue was

Me too, to the point that I initially though maybe that was a dream sequence, other people seemed to have caught it right away but for me it was a little jarring, I ended up having to go back through the episode to see if there was some obvious thing I missed.

I think Syril is the character most harmed by the season's structure; it's easy to forget that a year has passed between episodes 1-3 and 4-6, and another year between 4-6 and 7-9. Yes, Syril grew his hair out, but not much else has changed, so if you're not constantly reminding yourself that a lot of time has passed, you can think he's undergone a sudden transition. It hasn't been that sudden, it's been a year-long process, but we haven't been allowed to see the gradual evolution of his thinking.

Yup. He’s been hanging around this group for a year, knows they haven’t been violent, and becomes increasingly frustrated by all the propaganda. Dedra trusts him but not enough to tell him they’re doing false flags and psyops in an attempt to turn the locals to violence and it breaks his little heart.

Yeah I got all that. Just wanted them to show it a hair more.

It was most obviously flagged in his reaction to her having him followed. VG nailed it but I’d add, a large part of his joy and pride was his belief that they were doing it together as a team. I’ve had a few undercutting moments like that in my working life and felt it very hard.