Andor Andor Episode 1.09 Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Anyone still rooting for Dedra?

Incredible writing in this episode. The interrogation dialogue from Dedra and the torture doctor were impeccable. The screams of dying alien children…good God.

And Arjona’s acting in that scene was top shelf. She deserves an Emmy for that alone.

O’Reilly, Serkis, Luna, everyone in this episode killed it. In one way or another.

Up there with some of the best thrillers I’ve seen.

I can’t help but feel like I don’t deserve this show. It’s too good.

 

She needs a cool cape. Director Krennic is 100% more likable because of his cape.

 

Interrogators drop speculative stuff like that all the time, just in the off chance that the person being interrogated will confirm a hunch or even a wild guess. And in this case, it wasn’t wild. They have a small list of Rebel names, and one Rebel attack to work with. It would be unrealistic if she didn’t make the connection.

The doctor explicitly says, in the episode, that they’re no longer letting prisoners out. “Not anymore” I believe he says. This is due to the multi-faceted draconian decree Yularen issued a couple episodes back. The same one that landed Cassian in jail. I believe he may have even said that existing sentences are to be extended, or something like that.

In short, the recycling wasn’t happening before. This is the first time.

 

Krennic may have had a cape, but Dedra is actually…capable.

*runs away*

 

Dedra in the one interrogation scene is already more menacing than 2 hours of krennic I'm sorry. he still does nothing for me. the only reason he was in that movie is because they didn't want to CGI tarkin the whole time

 

I really do hate you.

 

I don’t think the story of the old guy at the table was intended to end in a surprise. As with everything in this show, we watch the whole process. And here we watch the process of an old man being killed through neglect in a prison by the Empire. It was agonizing to me, and that was clearly intentional. Its predictability did not stop me from getting emotional as he collapses and later died. This is what brutal social systems do best: kill the weak and devalue the elderly.

Should I pull a Syril here, and profess my undying love for you?

 

Dedra might be my favorite Disney SW villain ever.

 

I gotta say, giving Syril an almost Oedipal degradation... proclivity is probably the funniest way this could go.

 

Cassian: Noone’s getting out…?
Doctor: Not now. Not after this.

The prisoner recycling is a result of the post-Aldani crackdown.

 

just look at all these stalkers.

 

Dedre and Syril are going to have their own RO Beach moment. Hugging as the laser beam/fireball consumes them.

 

ISBasic Instinct

 

Right now I’m thinking Syril will continue to cause problems to Dedra to the point where it’s threatening her position. She’ll then paint him as a rebel sympathizer in order to get rid of him. He’ll be a diehard Imperial sycophant all the way up until they kill him.

 

Look out, Sharon. Syril's in the chair now.

Nope. Dedra's totally into him. #Dedril

 

My favourite episode yet in a fabulous series.

I've seen some people around the traps predicting redemption arcs for characters like Syril and Dedra. I think that's a misreading of the tone and preoccupations of this show. These characters are showing us the monsters that fascism creates. Syril is a self-deceiving fool who believes that the Empire stands for something real, and that he has a special place in delivering it. But the machine cares nothing for people like him - it will chew him up, eat him alive. Dedra is less delusional, she knows and embraces the horrifying truths about the Empire, because she believes that through it she can gain personal recognition and authority.

These characters may well have moments of realisation of the lies they've so completely bought into, but redemption? I don't think it's that kind of show. It's about how authoritarian systems delude, corrupt, and crush individuals, and Dedra and Syril are its prime examples.

 

Wellllll......I won't be wasting another half an hour of my life pausing, then unpausing, sighing in frustration, rewinding the VHS tape, then playing and pausing, unpausing, sighing, rewinding and so on until I get to the right moment.

 

Later that night, Dedra wakes up in a cold sweat after recurring dream sequences.

 

I bet on Syril going against Dedra as soon as he realizes that she has zero compassion for anyone.

 

I'm not sure Syril cares at all about compassion. I expect he'll keep trying to prove himself as a good little fascist helper until it kills him. He might end up hating Dedra because she scorns him, but not because she lacks compassion. He probably already knows that and considers it to be a virtue.

 

@Jolee Bindo
Syril is a man-child. He's not fully aware of the cruelty around him. He eats cereals while his mother tells him what to wear and gives him a pat on the back when he gets a promotion. Things haven't gotten real to him yet.
I'm convinced he'd be horrified if he were in the room with Dedra and Bix.
When the atrocities will get to him (and they will) I think we'll see a different Syril.

 

struggling so hard to not let her see how much those puffy pants do it for him.