Andor Andor Episode 2.09 Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

What do we make of Syrill’s character arc now that it’s ended?

I found him interesting but I wasn’t quite sure what to make of him in the final episode. What motivated his decision-making when he began choking the woman he loved? That seemed to come out of nowhere. Was he mad that she kept secrets from her? Mad that the planet was going to be destroyed? Both? It’s hard to gauge his moral compass given how committed he was to betraying the Gorman’s and what he did to the old man earlier.

It was also interesting to see her showcase her desire to be loved in spite of that confrontation with him. She all but pleaded for him to stay, trying to convince him that the worst would soon be behind them.

It’s still hard to truly understand their relationship dynamic. We saw glimpses of it but never much intimacy between them.

The confrontation with Cassian was well-earned. Although I think I would have preferred a couple more glimpses into his continued obsession over Cassian’s whereabouts. There was one scene iirc near the start of the season at least.

His hand-to-hand combat was formidable. I wasn’t anticipating that but I suppose his training and decent athleticism combination help explain that pretty easily.

It wasn’t a bad ending for him. It was interesting. Part of me does feel though that it potentially could have been better. I do like the decision to close his story thread though with glimpses into his mother crying (without even being informed that he was one of the victims) and that Deedra is informed he was out there.

 

Calatrava doesn't just have projects with massive cost overruns; he also builds designs that are literally so unsafe they have to be taken apart and rebuilt with more traditional materials (not to mention lacking wheelchair access). Truly an architect after a Sith Lord's own heart.

 

Whether Bix is pregnant or not, the way she left felt very right to me. I was sure she was going to be killed by some Empire related badness. It's possible that would have broken something in Cassian, putting him more on Saw G. path. Her leaving him, making him know she wants him to continue as part of the Rebels, makes it that much more poignant when he says in RO he gave up everything for the Rebellion.

If she is expecting a little Andor, they could team up with Jacen. Not sure what the Alliances policy on procreation is. Maybe there is a little Wedge out there.

 

The key to understand Syril is that he was genuinely convinced that his role was to bring security and justice in the galaxy.

Syril thought he was essentially doing spy work to defeat a secret criminal organization.

Then he found out that he was being used like a pawn in order to commit a genocide with the goal of extracting the minerals from a planet. Not really a noble purpose.
So, of course he lost his ****.

What still leaves me slightly dubious is that in his last moment he chose to persist in his bizarre obsession for Andor rather than focusing on saving the Ghorman people, which would have felt more in line with his transformation, to me.

 

Syril's entire journey, stems from his somewhat unhinged pursuit of Andor. Andor is pivotal to Syril, while Syril is nothing to Andor. To me, it was another to compare and contrast the Empire and the Rebellion. As well, Syril's just lost everything he thought he had gained since Ferrix. The "love" of his life, the purpose of this life, just spent years using him, lying to him, and he understands there is nothing he can do, so he rages on Cassian. Or that's my take.

 

This is a 6, not bad but not anything to write home about.

 

There's an internal contradiction to fascism, and totalitarianism more generally. It's based on law and order, but the regime itself is always placed outside or above the law.

So crimes can be committed by the regime lawfully since they make the law.

 

correct but that's assuming he was 50 when he adopted her?

 

I'm not sure showing kids this show before the SW movies is wise, but each to their own.

My god what is your problem? You made the same comments in the Episode 8 thread but have popped in to repeat them in here, repeating the same skin deep criticism week after week that you think the show thinks it's deeper than it is. We get it. You don't like it. You don't have to watch it. Move on.

 

The actor was 48 in 2003 when it was filmed, if Bail was the same age, he'd be 67 in Rogue One (Smits was 60), 58 in Kenobi (Smits was 66) and 65 in this arc (Bratt was between 58-60) Smits would have been 67 when it was filmed).

At best you argue with his appearance in Rogue One that Smits was believably playing younger and he was ten years younger during ROTS explaining why he doesn't look that old in Rogue One, but in the context of Andor basically the same amount of time has passed as it did in real life.

 

Out of everything said in this thread, what I want to know is...

What did Leida and Perrin think of Mon's anti-Emperor speech?

It would be great to see how their story arc ends in the final three eps.

 

They'll either need to be hidden to protect them, or they will be arrested or killed. The Empire will come for them immediately.

 

I keep hearing Nemik's manifesto in my head while watching this season. Excuse the paraphrasing, but "The more they tighten their grasp, the more systems will slip away ...". Throughout this season of Andor you can feel the tightening. See the slipping. Excellent story telling.

So glad Mr. Gilroy kept the Rebel's part of this story intact. I'm always impressed by the way the Live Action shows don't belittle the Animated ones.

 

10/10/10... Great episode and arc. Mon Mothma's speech chefs kiss...

 

I think it's hard to do better SW than ep 8 & 9.
I'm really looking forward for the final episodes.

 

Is that you, Tony? Very well said. The final word on the subject, IMO.

 

Not to mention that there are eight cities on Ghorman, and in episode 1, the imperials talked about the fact that the whole population will likely need to be removed because of the gouge mining. So it’s possible massacres happened in each Ghorman city and we just didn’t see it.

 

Wil’s girlfriend (I forgot her name?) says on the radio something like “hundreds of bodies in the plaza and thousands more in the streets as we speak” if I recall correctly… it is implied imps and the droids are just slaughtering everyone around I think?

 

Well that was incredible. If episode 8 was a 1000/10 then this was 999/10

Firstly, I thought Bratt was excellent as Bail. Great casting and hopefully goes some way to shutting up the bedwetters out there who can’t deal with a slightly different face

Loads going on in this episode to remember to comment on but a few things that stood out.

I’ve seen someone mention further up the thread about Nemik’s manifesto and after watching S1 the last few days on my latest run through, that manifesto was ringing in my ears as Mon feels the walls closing in. When they are fleeing in her vehicle, she looks both terrified and freed at the same time to me. All of this work playing in the background, the secrecy, the facade, it’s all over soon and she can take action surrounded by people who share her beliefs

I thought what they did with Kloris was very clever. It was very ambiguous whether he was going to go and apprehend Mon, or whether her speech had made him think about what the empire was doing. I think he was going to help her personally. But when Cassian shot him it called back to two things in my mind. Number one - He’s spoke a lot about not being able to make his own decisions, he made that choice to kill Kloris. He didn’t know what he was coming to do or what his intentions were, so in that moment it was his decision. Number two - In Rogue One he mentions how he’s done horrible things for the rebellion, we get to see that as a viewer again here because we can see that Kloris is potentially going to help, yet to remove all potential jeopardy from the extraction he chooses to kill him

Bix’s speech was really sad. I wasn’t 100% sure about it when she started, but by the end I was bought into it. Cassian is too important, he’s proved himself time and time again to be an incredible asset to the rebellion and she can’t be the one to let him walk away from it all. We know Cassian’s fate so it leaves us feeling distraught that there is a possibility she lives and doesn’t know he’s dead post R1 or something else could happen in the last arc. In rogue one Cassian talks about giving up/losing everything for the rebellion and we are completely seeing it play out on screen

I love how this show has helped to bolster and put faces to the ranks of the rebellion. We know the OT films are centred around certain characters and the same with Rogue One, but for me it just strengthens that connection to the rebels when you consider that there’s people like Vel, Wilman and his girlfriend from Ghorman who are a part of it and we’ve seen what they’ve been through to get to this point

- Also it seems quite clear to me that the genocide she speaks of is happening off screen. After the plaza shootings the empire clearly carried on expanding outwards, the plaza was just the spark that they needed to justify it, not sure how people can’t see that if I’m honest

 

I just hope it doesn't end up being too ghory.

 

Thanks for posting this comparison -- doing the Lord (Vader)'s work here. After 25 years, I've come to the realization that Coruscant is my favorite Star Wars planet. I know it's a cold urban sprawl, but it's just become such a core part of Star Wars. From the movies to the books and games, I have so many fond memories of it and love seeing it, top to bottom, every time we're there. Andor has given the city planet even more character.

EDIT: My sincerest apologies for the double post. This isn't Reddit and comments are more... linear... I will be sure to multiquote moving forward.

 

Syril is also highly motivated to try and improve his standing and power, without any regard to his limitations. Early in series 1, he's already modified his uniform and prepares an extensive report on the killing of two officers at the brothel on Morlana One. Soon after, he leads the mission to Ferrix and ends up freezing in the middle of a chaotic situation, like he will do on Gorman.