Andor Dedra Meero

We kind of get implications she doesn't really have a life outside of her job, especially given the constant bags under her eyes and her conversation with her assistant about he should go home with him noticing that she stayed and worked late.

 

Yeah, I don't think she has a very healthy work-life balance.

 

That's exactly what she wants you to think!

 

The sexual tension between Dedra & Syril gave me clammy palms. Once they've undertaken all relevant risk assessments, clarified their individual Service Level Agreements, and made sure all applicable insurance policies are in place they'll have one hell of a date.

Post date they can discuss their Key Performance Indicators.

 

I've been wondering if she's so intent on unraveling the Rebellion's network because she's worried it's not good enough, that only by breaking their system can she put a better one in place. Stress-testing.

Some of her early episode dialogue feels loaded with double meaning. Perhaps Gough is just good enough an actress, working with stronger-than-standard SW dialogue, that's she's making me see a Rebel where instead there's just a different kind of zealot.

 

We are just not used to POV villains in SW (they are so rare) so we convince ourselves that she must ultimately be a rebel, but in this case it doesn't seem to make much sense.

 

I think it's disappointing if she is rebel and seems not to make any sense, she has hurt Rebellion already (by revealing the pattern and "Axis") more than anyone else of the imperials. Yularen's iron fist approach hurts ordinary people more than rebels, it makes rebellion just more popular in the long run. Seems to me Dedra is honestly imperial. She believes in the system and does her best to make it more effective. She doesn't seem to question it a bit. Would be very surprising if she would turn out to be rebel at this point. I would suspect Syril would instead become rebel at some point. He is not one so far though.

 

Hope that at the end of the season she is going to have a success (at least partial) and (finally) a vacation.

 

I surely hope she won't be killed off any time soon.

 

Honestly if she ends up meeting her demise/downfall in this season I suspect that it won’t be at the hands of the rebels. Not directly anyways.

 

I’m confused. Why are hoping for super-competent Space Nazi to be successful? Man, Denise Gough is a phenomenal actor. She can even inspire some fans to cheer on her ruthless Imperial ambitions!

 

So that Dedra will have a promotion and become an even bigger threat in season 2, in order to Cassian's eventual victory over her be truly impactful.

 

Besides, it's a fictional universe, you can cheer for whomever you want

 

I think Bor Mullet is understandingly worried (especially after certain events in the USA) that some people may take inspiration from sympathetic portrayals of fascists, serial killers and other bad guys and act on it in real life. For instance, Joker (2019) raised a lot of similar concerns. However, considering the general anti-totalitarian message of Star Wars, I am quite confident that by the end of Season 1 very few people will really like Dedra (especially if her next victims are Maarva and B2EMO). Poor Syril is a different case altogether. He is born to be pitied (unless he becomes an ISB officer, of course).
That being said, I agree that for roleplaying purposes everybody is allowed to like whomever they want. Otherwise TOR MMORPG wouldn't have a Sith faction, for instance.

 

That’s a great reason. Better than @3sm1r’s.

I was actually mostly just saying that in order to highlight how good Denise Gough is. She’s so viscerally convincing that she makes you root for her against your better judgment. She deserves an Emmy. Before the Emmy’s even air.

ETA: Also, looks like you’re right about how all will eventually view Dedra:

 

I wouldn't believe a word she says.

 

I'll hold my judgement on whether or not I stop "cheering" for her. The main point is that Dedra Meero does not believe she is evil. She believes she is doing the important job she's been tasked with and wants to do it to the best of her ability. If anything, from her perspective, she considers the rebels to be evil in how they've stolen/destroyed property and killed (nay, murdered!) Imperial agents.

 

Usually in SW villains are cartoonishly cruel. In Andor characters tend to look a bit more like actual people. That said, if you really feel the need to pass characters under moral scrutiny, the show makes it pretty clear that she has no problem with torture, and she is surely smart enough to be aware that the Empire committed unspeakable atrocities, and chose not to care.

 

In spite of her formidable salary, Dedra lives in a stark studio apartment only a 5 minute flight from ISB HQ. No decorations in that one, besides a a picture of The Emperor hanging over her bed. It’s a downsize from the big poster of his Republic War Bonds speech that she rocked in the bedroom when she was a student in college-prep.

 

Precisely.

Also would be a great contrast - showing both "rebel" and "Imperial" vacations.

 

I somehow get the feeling Cassian won't like beaches in the future. And not just because of the sand getting everywhere...

 

Well, yeah. Like most Nazis. This show is fascinating in its presentation of an important thing: humans, and even seemingly quite normal humans, can acquiesce to and commit unspeakable evil. When evil characters are reduced to cartoon buffoons, it separates us from them. But we shouldn’t be separated from them. They are in us. I had a German neighbor once whose strongest memory of her mother was when she commented on the beautiful red banners the Nazi party had adorned the streets of Cologne with. “Such a vibrant color,” she said. “They really bring the streets to life!” She bought into everything that government did. Was she evil in her bones? Did she think she was evil? I doubt it. Did she acquiesce to real and monstrous evil? Yes. She did. And Deedra of course is doing much more than that. She’s trying to implement that evil. She thinks it’s right. Or at least, she thinks she’s right to pursue her career ambitions to their fullest. But we know it isn’t right. So we don’t cheer for her success.

That said, storywise, I hope she does succeed so she can rise in the ranks and become the show’s chief villain (and then fall). Gough is so incredibly good as Deedra. Maybe the best SW villain since Tarkin.

 

By far my most hated character.

The acting is brilliant. Which means that I want her to die ASAP. I simply cannot stand her. She is obnoxious in any and every way. And she stands for everything that I despise. She even makes me feel bad for Syril Karn, which is absurd, because he is also a tool.

There is simply no way she is a rebel or a good character or anything of the sort. She is evil and a zealot that only cares for personal success.