A/V Just Announced 7 Years Ago: Andor!! It happened!!!

Final arc

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Hard to tell, but I think the soldier looking for Luthen in the early flashbacks was holding an Imperial Heavy repeater

The rifles the ISB used on the apartment raid also reminded me of the imperial disruptor rifles from Rebels/Star Wars galaxies

 

Top 3 SW moment for me.
Finishing The Unifying Force,
Watching ROTS in theaters for the first time,
and this.

 

A bitter sweet ending, to be sure.

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I'm actually rather surprised that I felt bad that Partagaz shot himself. Throughout seasons 1 and 2 he has described the rebellion as a disease, with the ISB as a health maintenance organization. He ends the series listening to Nemik's manifesto, noting that it has spread like a virus galaxy wide. His failure is complete, and he's allowed the 'honorable' way out of suicide.

Dedra winding up in prison was a delicious twist. I thought she'd be killed, but imprisonment in the same kind of facility Cassian was in in Season 1 is absolutely joyful to watch. She had it coming. And in her final scene we can see she isn't going to take to captivity well. At all.

In the end, totalitarianism eats its own. No matter what. Dedra was one of ISB's most competent Supervisors. She slipped up once and got thrown to the dogs. Partagaz was one of the most competent ISB officers. Kleya gets away on his watch and he ends up eating his own blaster. And in the end lesser fools are left to fill their shows, and fail.

Luthen's death and backstory is suitably tragic. That he more or less adopted Kleya after his squad massacred her community is heartfelt, as is him drinking and hiding in his ship while his squad mows down civilians off screen. Him quietly begging for it all to stop really makes you understand his hard nature and insistence on bringing the Empire down.

Does it justify killing Lonni and a bunch of other more shady things he's done? I don't know. I don't think so. We know that the mainline Rebels on Yavin think he went too far. But Cassian raises the point that, regardless of Luthen's duplicity, they wouldn't be there without him.

Funny seeing one last shot of Perrin. Was that the mother of Leida's husband he was with in that final shot? He certainly looked miserable and resigned. But it looks like he didn't get arrested. Small consolation. He's still got his money and his relative freedom, but his wife ditched him to overthrow the regime he's spent so much time cozying up to. His social life is more or less ruined.

So...Bix returned to Mina Rau to raise...I'm assuming that was her child with Cassian. OK, her leaving the fight completely when she seemed all in before makes more sense now. Did Cassian know she was pregnant? Certainly throws a bucket of ice water on the Jyn/Cassian shippers, methinks.

All in all a fitting set up for Rogue One. Cassian is off to Kafrene to learn from Tivik that the weapon he's learned of is a planet killer. It was a solid ending to one of the best Star Wars shows ever made. Cheers to Gilroy and company!

 

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-Ah, that was quite a show, and what fun it was to see it through to the end.

-Though...could do with a bit less speeches on how great and essential to the alliance Luthen is - is this show called Andor or Luthen?

-Bu anyway speaking of Luthen, after all the theories about his backstory I am honestly a little shocked to find out he was just a random imperial army grunt sicked by the things he did - I mean, that is a pretty common backstory for star wars protagonists, so I should have suspected, but didn't.

-This means he and Kleya had to build up all their wealth and contacts while keeping his activities hidden.

-Kleya all about that vengeance even as a kid

-The Nautolan Bleeder dagger had a cool design.

-Dedra really blew everything with her need to gloat, though Heert certainly had his part to play as well. And whoever added Dedra to the death star group chat.

-Poor Loni. He was such a key part of the early rebellion, and he will never no. Not even anything set up to save his wife and daughter.

-Cool tooka cat. Even this show cannot escape their cuteness

-Honestly kind of shocked Heert didn't get executed over Gorst, or Lagret over losing Mothma to be honest. Similarly, a bit surprising to see Perrin still around, and with Dave's wife. He the new senator for Chandrila? I would love to see a family reunion after the war, that is for sure.

-On the flip side, I would have thought delivering Ghorman would have bought Dedra a bit more leeway, though then again maybe that is why she is still alive at all rather given a suitably gruesome and painful demise for

-Krennic dressing her down was pretty brutal in its own right though. He seemed like something of a nervous flop when put up against Tarkin or Vader, but in pretty much any other situation is great at intimidating theatrics and pointed insults - I particularly liked "If you aren't a rebel spy then you missed your life's calling"

-Cool designs for the medical ship, imperial police speeders, and ISB mini shuttle

-K2SO got to have his horror sequence after all. Also got to be in a parade and see the Emperor, nice bit of backstory.

-Kleya's hospital infiltration was amazing. Just a perfect combination of precision, planing, and improvisation

-Not really a big fan of the rebel leaders continuing to be terminally stupid and Andor going rogue repeatedly for several reasons. For one, in Rogue One Andor is all about following orders until Jyn convinces him otherwise, which was a big deal but now feels like a day ending in Y. For another, why is the alliance coming together supposed to be a turning point to feel hopeful about if they are just an obstacle? And why did Andor leave Luthen for them if he respects Luthen more than them?

-Particularly weird to see Bail get the stupid ball for a bit, though I did like his final scene with Andor, and Mon Mothma taking Andor's side a bit.

-Also cool to see her in the mess with the regular troops. Fits with her portrayal in Lost Stars.

-So yeah, I really wish we could have gotten at least one arc of Andor actually going on a mission with the Yavin rebels. Show why he chose them, and why they were going to promote him. Plus, put some war in your star wars. The protagonists are cool and all but they should have an army backing them up for a reason.

-In particular, I really wish there was time for Andor's connection with Tivik and inflitration of the Partisans

-At the end of things, Saw's part in the show felt pretty pointless. Even Wilmon's personal story didn't feel changed by his time there.

-Bombing Naboo huh, pretty bold, Luthen, pretty bold. No need to waste perfectly good ice cream making your point

-Pleasantly surprised Kleya and Vel are still alive. I could see the former as an intelligence officer, while I guess Vel is a drill sergeant or some kind of infantry officer.

-Should have had someone keep watch over Kleya in the hospital though, they were lucky she didn't get eaten by one of the many horrible creatures here wandering around like that.

-Paratagaz listening to Nemik's manifesto before taking his own life to avoid imperial punishment is quite the encapsulation of the series themes, especially as he wonders who the author is, having no way of knowing it was just anonymous kid killed years ago rather than anyone the empire could hunt down and make an example of.

-Guess this confirms there was a female version of the Narkina 5 prison we saw. Wonder if she will make it to the empire's end, and then what would happen to her then?

-though the rebels really should raid those prison factories. Slow down imperial production and get themselves a nice pool of motivated potential recruits.

-If I had a credit for every badass stone cold killer in star wars unexpectedly revealed to be a father to a child they didn't initially know about and never raised this month, I would have two credits. Which isn't a lot but it is weird it happened twice so close together.

-People are going to guess that baby as every character in the sequels aren't they?

-I am glad B2 got one of his family back, but is the place Bix barely escaped from the Empire once before and nearly raped at really the best place to peacefully raise a kid? Empire is probably only going to inspect more often in the future.

-People talk a lot about how existing characters or things might show up in Andor, but I can't help but think in the other direction, who and what from this show will influence star wars going forward?
*I could see the imperial army being more prominent after being featured so front and center here. I imagine stormtroopers will still dominate, they are iconic for a reason, but the army might show up slightly more often.
*Kleya, Vel, Wilmon, and Dreena are all still on the table
*Luthen is probably going to show up in more dark times material, like how Saw himself has featured in quite a few works in that era.
*New Republic Lena Mothma offers many possibilities, all exciting in their own ways.
*Ghorman I can see becoming a more commonly referenced world in anything set before the massacre. In particular, I could see the Tarkin massacre being featured in the Reign of the Empire novel series.
*While unlikely, I would love to see Ferrix, Aldhani, and Narkina liberated by the New Republic at some point or points.
*In terms of vehicles, the Fondor haulcraft, imperial jeep, hover apc, and breon dayvan are all things I can see show up somewhat regularly. The tie avenger probably less common but more prominent when it does appear.

 

Spoiler

I think Episodes 8-9 were the overall plot climax, the "Star Wars" climax, and then Episode 10-12 were the climax of the more personal stories, focusing on Andor, Kleya, Luthen, Dedra, and others we've gotten to know.

I'm glad Kleya survived, and Dedra's "end" was actually pretty satisfying. I wonder if she'll be sent to one of the same kind of prison labor camp as Cassian...

RIP to Lonnie.

How Heert died was something I didn't think we'd actually see.

I'm a little unsure of why the other director, Partagaz, died? Were going to try to pin the leak on on him - if so, why, when Dedra is already imprisoned for it?

I'm glad we got to see some of Luthen and Kleya's "origin" story. I knew they were close, but I didn't know he basically raised her from so young of an age. If they weren't rebels... their dynamic is nearly what I'd imagine a typical "rule of two" Sith dynamic to have been while they were in hiding.

While no fault of the actor... I'm kind of puzzled why they decided to write Bail Organa this way. He's not unreasonable, but he's not very likeable.

Another casualty of this not being 4 seasons is I wish we got to see when there were enough recruits that new leaders started to whip the rebellion into shape, and its new leaders making that break from Luthen. I'd guess that would be Bail Organa's people? And those other senators who I guess are theoretically as important as Mon Mothma and Bail Organa. I wonder how Draven came into all this.

We did see Perrin, definitely wish there was more, but I guess it shows what happened... he was left behind, and going on drunk affairs. I hope we'll get to see the reaction with him and Leida at some point, and see what becomes of them in the Rebellion and New Republic times...

A callback to Cassian's sister, but I guess one of those mysteries he'll die without ever knowing...

I was pretty sure Bix was going to be shown with a kid, and that it would lead into just days/hours before Rogue One.

Other Star Wars media is sure to cover Kleya, Bix, Dedra, Wilmon, and Vel.


And this was a cool design:

 

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So is The 1 BBY title card wrong because the last Three episodes are like 48 hours BBY. Leads into R1 very well though!

And I guess Saw blew himself up when he was screaming and huffing bomb fumes like in between episode 9 and 10

 

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It's pretty much what I thought. It's like how there's no 0 BC/BCE/AD/CE in real life.

They're using BBY 1 as the 12 months before the Battle of Yavin. If the Death Star exploded on New Year's Day, New Year's Eve is still BBY 1.

 

@Ghost

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I think Partagaz got in trouble because he was on point in charge of the mission to retrieve Kleya. That blew up in the ISB's face after they'd already screwed up so thoroughly with Luthen and the security around him at the hospital. He was also Dedra's direct Superior. Dedra got arrested for letting Luthen stab himself. Also probably for the lesser crime of having classified info and not reporting it as soon as she got it. So between his subordinates not suppressing Mothma properly in the last arc and screwing up completely with Luthen and Kleya, Partagaz got in trouble for overseeing a division rife with recent failures.

 

So the final shot is

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Bix cradling Cassian’s bastard child, right? I mean it could not be hers, she had a kid with someone else, but the import / vibe is Cassian’s bastard as we know what is coming so he lives on. Bastard, bastard!

sequel series: Star Wars: Andor's Bastard

 

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She calls him her husband multiple times. I’m not even sure if it’s a cover or if the Galaxy just has common law.

 

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Kleya's storyline in the last arc is a masterpiece. She is the best character in this series.

Great that Krennic was finally called by his first name on screen. He was legitimately scary in the scene with Dedra, while also showed a small glimpse of humanity in his last conversation with Partagaz.

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Agree. While overall the ending was "anti-Sith", with "master" dying peacefully (as much as possible in that situation), and his "apprentices" finally making peace with each other. Especially since Kleya, Vel and Cassian have some parallels with Maul, Dooku and Anakin respectfully.

 

I think it was something like

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come closer Lonnie, I'll whisper where you are going bzap, kind of like how Andor did his contact on Ring of Kafrene

 

What a perfect satisfying ending for the series!

And as usual defying expectations once more.

Now, we now they wrote 4 seasons and compressed them into this second 1. We know from interviews about some stories planned but cut, we know of some story changed due to the compression. How much can we re-expand it to see what may have been cut or missed and left offscreen for other sources to explore maybe? The scripts are there after all.

12 episodes a season, we got 3 of each to form season 2. Thus out of 4x12 = 48 episodes we got 12, leaving 36 to speculate about.

From interviews we know of the K2 horror episode f.e., and I guess this arcs flashbacks once were their own episode entirely with Luthen and Kleya. It feels like the Saw plot from last weeks arc was its own episodes as well, so that I'd atribute at least 1 episode to Saw's group in each season, maybe 2 even. Ghorman, Coruscant etc. would have been more spaced out as well. I feel Bail would have had his own episode or 2 to flesh him out more and maybe glimpse Alderaan. Also cut are I guess backstories and more detail for the other 2 Rogue 1 Senators seen in the Rebel Council scene as well as other characters. Probably a Jedha episode with Tivik and Bodhi to lead into this finale that may or may not cameo Baze and his pal. Maybe one for Raddus, Dodonna, Merrick and Draven.

In general it feels that, to spread out their 4 season story into 3 episode arcs with 1 year between each, they needed to shuffle around some stories. While the last 3 episode arc is pretty clear, as is the first 3 episodes, both middle arcs about Ghorman seem like they would have fit into the same year if spaced out a bit. It's not like they used the last 3 episodes of each original season. They selected thematically fitting and retooled some to flashbacks or sidestories cut shorter.

Anybody heard more cut content or can fill in more ideas based on analysis?

 

All right, one last time, though, I am, like almost everyone else it seems, likely plotting a Rogue One re-watch. And that, of course, leads to Star Wars.

This set of episodes are a bit different to their predecessors. Where those formed discrete arcs, these act as both epilogues to Andor, and prologues for Rogue One. It is testimony to the skilled execution of them that they easily cover both roles.

It's too early for a series review but, one thing is clear to me. In an era of trickery and subverting expectations, Andor didn't do that. It has its surprises and deaths and twists, but it plays fair in all of it. It's probably one of its strongest cards.

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What really stood out to me in the confrontation between Dedra and Luthen, aside from how much was left unsaid, is Dedra clearly embodying the Vimes Rule of Villainy. Namely, she likes to gloat, and that gives Luthen his one opening.

Getting to see Kleya and Luthen's origins, plus their early rebellions worked well. The highlight was her infiltrating and exiting a fully locked down hospital to enable him to die. That it was thought by the ISB to be a team of three is fitting testimony to her skills.

That it is Dedra who finds out there are, in the ISB, fates worse than death is wonderfully fitting. In her arrogance Dedra never picked up on Partagaz's coded warning to her about Krennic. Watching her get done over by him is darkly amusing, especially when combined with the knowledge that Tarkin will do unto Krennic as he did to Dedra.

The extended escape sequence on Coruscant was excellent. Again showing the force of the Empire and their controls over the environment.

On Yavin, it was an interesting move to render Bail as more of an obstacle. The other two Senators seen in Rogue One are present, as is Raddus. Like in the film, the only defining feature of those two is their utter uselessness.
Draven cuts a more interesting figure here. As a general, he's in the enforcer role, but he also knows his people well. He can't be seen to agree with either Wilmon or Cassian, but he knows they have a point.

Three brilliant scenes, with great emotional impact, was the toast between Cassian and Vel. And then there's Partagaz, listening to Nemik's manifesto, which has gone viral, ahead of his suicide. Finally, in case you thought they had forgot, the story shows where Bix and B2 are.

This has been a spectacular four weeks. Now to get the UHD disc set that should follow, unless someone's being very unwise.

 

Overall my favorite Star Wars project

 

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For a second there I wondered if it was Perrin with Syril's mom... but glad it was not.

 

That would have been hilarious

 

I was wary of the condensing of 4 seasons of episodes into one season, and while there were issues, and calibrating my expectations as needed, they did a great job as is. And I can always hope for books and comics to expand the era

 

There's plenty of gaps for those too.

 

I love the idea of Palpatine going to parades. Like, he's in his evil Sith robe with his ****ed up face, glad-handing and pinning metals.

 

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[Palpatine voice]
He grew so powerful, and so wise, had so much information, the only thing that worried them was others' stealing that information. He taught his apprentice everything he knew... and she killed him in his sleep. Ironic, isn't it, that he could save the galaxy, but not himself.

Probably more like the end-movie-montage in AOTC, when Palpatine, Mas Amedda, Bail Organa, and a couple others are watching the clones parade through Coruscant on a balcony before sending them off. No reason for the clones to go to Kamino to Coruscant just to march for the politicians before fighting unless it was a kind of parade.