This video is brought to you by Nebula About three years ago I said this [Me] “Cassian’s getting his own TV show soon on the new Disney streaming service" "and it's going to be interesting to see what they do with it. But I hope the show explores more of the moral grays that Cassian’s been living in all his life." And in the intervening three years as Star Wars media swung between wildly disappointing to
maybe decent with flashes of brilliance, the conversation I had over and over again with
friends who were also fans of Rogue One was my friends saying they were excited for the
show, but would probably be disappointed by it. And every time I would be like…
…yeah but what if it's good? [Me Onscreen]: “LET’S TALK ABOUT ANDOR” [Exciting Music] Rogue One was released on December 16th 2016
to mixed, if somewhat positive reviews. It received an 84% on rotten tomatoes and
overall the movie was relatively well liked, and surprisingly coherent in spite of behind
the scenes troubles. I think people's estimation of the movie grew
over time in the wake of the absurdly disappointing finish to the sequel trilogy. [Poe Dameron] “Somehow Palpatine Returned” And even more so after a series of increasingly mediocre Star Wars shows on Disney Plus. [“Go Go Power RANGEERRRSSSS” song plays] But anyways…In the film Rogue One, Cassian Andor was, In my opinion, the character with
the most consistent development across the film. Especially when Compared to Felicity Jones'
Jyn Erso who just flips on a dime because she’s sad about her dad, and Riz Ahmed's
Bodhi Rook, Who was tragically underutilized. Again, it will always be hard to know how
much the inconsistencies in character development were simply down to the writing or due to
the reshooting and restructuring of the film, but in the films final iteration, the most
well realized character of the cast was Cassian Andor. This was helped by a magnetic performance
from Diego Luna, as well as the overall structure of the film just giving his characters arc
more clarity than his co-stars And apparently during the making of Rogue
One, Diego Luna had developed a backstory for Cassian as part of his personal work on
the character. [Diego Luna] “My character was coming from
somewhere else, you know?" "He has this accent that no one shares, and
he clearly has left everything behind." "Therefore, it was just the work you do as
an actor right?" "That you have to understand why you're making
the choices you're making and create yourself some background story.” So when he got a call for a potential prequel
series about the character, Luna said he was excited to be able to further utilize that
work he had done. On the other hand, there was Tony Gilroy. As we all know he was brought in to do reshoots
on Rogue One and got a screenwriter credit for his efforts. To this day none of us can truly say which
parts of Rogue One were due to director Gareth Edwards and which parts were due to Tony Gilroy. But put a pin in that for later. As it happens Tony Gilroy was not originally
slated to be the guy making this series. In 2017 when Andor was first announced, Jared
Bush wrote a pilot and series bible for the show. Bush is mainly known for his work on Disney
animated movies like 'Zootopia,' 'Moana,' and 'Encanto,' So God only knows what that
pilot looked like. By late 2018 Stephen Schiff was signed on
to be the showrunner. You might know his work on the FX series 'The
Americans'. He also wrote screenplays for movies like
the 1997 'Lolita,' and the 2010 film 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.' Tony Gilroy was originally brought into simply
write and direct some episodes, But eventually took over as showrunner in
April 2020 and Stephen Schiff left the project. Gilroy would do a fair bit of writing on the
series, he wrote 5 of the 12 episodes, but of course, he was joined by other writers
and directors and also his brothers! Dan Gilroy, who you might know for films like
'Night Crawler' and 'Velvet Buzzsaw,' wrote for the Aldhani episodes, and John Gilroy
edited three episodes. John also was one of the editors on Rogue
One, he also co-edited 'Pacific Rim'!! Along with the Gilroys, Steven Schiff is credited
with writing episode 7 and Beau Willimon wrote the Narkhina 5 Episodes, he’s probably best
known for his work on the Netflix series 'House of Cards,' he also co-wrote a neat little
political thriller called 'Ides of March'. Then there were the directors. Toby Haynes directed the opening Ferrix episodes
and the Narkina arc, he’s done a lot of BBC stuff like decent episodes of 'Doctor
Who', one of the better episodes of 'Sherlock', and a bunch of other stuff. Susannah White directed the Aldhani episodes
and she’s another BBC alum, having done stuff like the 'Jane Eyre' miniseries starring
Ruth Wilson, she also directed four episodes of the gritty HBO series 'Generation Kill.' Also I have to shout out composer Nicholas
Britell, he’s worked on films like 'Moonlight' and 'If Beale Street Could Talk' and shows
like 'Succession', and his work on Andor is just PHENOMENAL. He and Gilroy decided to pursue a sound that
was nothing like the John Williams style of Star Wars music, the sound that Giacchino
purposefully mimicked in Rogue One. So with a stacked creative team of industry
veterans they put together, genuinely one of the best pieces of Star Wars media, probably
ever? Definitely the most interesting thing to come
out of the Disney era of Star Wars. So of course lets run down the cast. Obviously Cassian is played by Diego Luna
and I cannot say enough about his performance. His work is subtle, often showing very little. At times Cassian falls into the background
of his own show, but what could be more appropriate for an up and coming spy? He’s not immediately taking over every scene
he’s in, often he’s stepping back and letting other characters take the spotlight. Which is honestly kind of unusual in a show
named after its lead character. But I’ll talk about Diego a bit more later. Next we have Luthen Rael played excellently
by Stellan Skarsgård. Skarsgård is one of those actors that just
shows up in all sorts of projects but I feel like its been awhile since I can recall a
role that allowed him to just dominate his scenes the way he does as Luthen, the mysterious
leader of a Rebel cell. Fiona Shaw plays Maarva Andor, Cassian’s
mother. Shaw is a character actor who just shows up
in everything, I particularly liked her in 'Fleabag' and she’s really great in Andor. Apparently in her big final speech she was
supposed to say ‘fuck the empire,’ but Disney said no.
[Blaster sounds bleep out any F Bombs in this video] Also apparently YouTube is cracking down on
people saying f*ck so sorry, we have to do this now I guess. There’s also the family droid and my perfect
son B2emo. Everybody just calls him Bee and I call him
Beemo. Because saying Be too emo out loud makes me
have high school flashbacks. B2emo is voiced by puppeteer Dave Chapman
who operated the B2emo model. And fun fact, the intention was to cast an
actor to voice him but apparently editor John Gilroy liked Dave Chapman’s performance
so they just kept him as the voice of B2emo. According to Gilroy, Chapman, who was accustomed
to having his voice removed from movies and shows, was “overwhelmed.” Then we have Bix played by Adria Arjona, who
I of course remember from 'Pacific Rim Uprising' because I’m trashy, but she was also in
'Good Omens'. She’s an old friend of Cassian’s who really
goes through it this season. And Cassian’s other good friend is Brasso,
who is truly the most friend-shaped man you will ever see, played by Joplin Sibtain. There’s Faye Marsay as Vel Sartha and Varada
Sethu as Cinta Kaz, two members of the rebellion who we meet on Aldhani. Also they’re lesbians! [Billy On The Street] “Lets go lesbians
LETS GO!” “Here we go lesbians. Come on!” Disney still isn’t letting people kiss but
they talk about being in love and hold hands on screen and for Disney and gay representation
that is pretty good honestly. I mean the bar is in hell but still. And then we have returning cast members from
Rogue One like Forrest Whittakers Saw Garrera, and Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma. We also have Kyle Soller and Denise Gough
playing shitty little fascists Syril Karn and Dedra Meero. I hate them so much, they’re very well written. Good job to Soller and Gough for creating
such nuanced trash fires. [Kyle Soller] “You knoooow”
[Denise Gough] “Fascist Fashion.” “Fast Fascist Fashion.” [Soller] “Okay we need to get like an Etsy store”
[Gough] “Fast Fashion.” [Soller] “We need a side hustle.”
[Gough] “Fast fascist…[mumbles]” [Both] “FAST FASCIST FASHION” There’s frankly a lot of other characters
on this show but if I listed them all this video would be really long. Or…longer anyway. So now let's talk about the opening arc. [Weird pastor from that vine?] “Why? Why?? Whyyy?????” Okay but seriously. The opening three episodes do so much to introduce
us to the world and the people that Cassian lives with. There is so much learning we do about Ferrix
that the show will pay off in the final episodes. Also this man? This absolute king? He is called the Time Grappler and I love
him. I love how much he seems to enjoy his job
of hitting this anvil to tell the people of Ferrix what time it is. The planet of Ferrix has the feel of an odds
and ends society. Most people here go to work to take apart
old scrap. The town communicates with each other through
little bits and bobs they have hanging in front of their homes. And any droids we see here are scrappy little
things like B2emo. Who by the way, spends 90% of his days in
his charging station and apparently he requires more battery power to lie! [B2EMO] “I can lie, I have adequate power reserves.” [Cassian] “Don’t tell anybody you saw
me. Don’t tell anybody you know where I am.” [B2EMO] “That’s two lies.” Also Ferrix is under the control of the corporate
security company Preox Morlana, who work for the empire. The meat of this opening arc is split between
Cassian’s past and present. In flashbacks we meet a young Cassian on the
planet Kenari, where his parents along with all the other adults seem to have died in
some sort of mining accident. Here he's called Kassa, And he has a sister
named Kerri. One day him and the other children investigate
a crashed separatist ship and one of the children gets shot. Afterwards Kassa is found by Maarva and Clem
Andor who pick up a Republic frigate on their scanners and know its coming to investigate
the crash. [Maarva] “They’ll kill him.” [Clem] “They’ll kill us!” So Maarva ends up knocking this boy out and
taking him with her. I'm going to come back to this point later
but The other half of the opening arc shows us Cassian, in the present day, and he’s
still looking for his sister Kerri. [Hostess] “Well whoever she is, she's not
here. She disappeared.” After an unsuccessful attempt to find his
sister, Cassian gets in trouble with some preox-morelana security guards who decide
to hassle him for no reason and ends up accidentally killing one of them and shooting the other
in a fit of panic. There's a great scene where the morning after
it all breaks bad he goes to Brasso and basically asks for him to be his alibi. He just looks him dead in the eye and starts
to tell him a bullshit story about how they went drinking last night and without batting
an eye, Brasso says [Brasso] “You insulted my choice of beverage.
As host and provider I was offended by this." "You were gone when I woke up. You’ve come to apologize.” But in spite of his best efforts two pre-mor
employees are found dead and this leads to pathetic fascist fanboy and Ben Shapiro lookalike,
Syril Karn trying to investigate the matter. His supervisors tell him to just let it go
but he decides to make it everybody's problem, which ends up blowing up in his face and leading
to him having a season long fixation on this dude who he met for 5 seconds who absolutely
100% DOES NOT REMEMBER HIM. It’s very funny when you think about it
actually. But the whole thing turns into a manhunt for
Cassian. He turns to Bix for some help with her offworld
connection because he has a part to sell and needs some money to run and disappear for
awhile. Unfortunately for both of them, Bix has a
boyfriend named TiMMMMMM By the way, I will be exclusively referring
to him as TiMMMMMM because his name is Timm with two Ms and I'm a child. But TIMMMMM is suspicious of Bix and Cassian’s
relationship so he rats out Cassian and makes everything harder for literally everyone. When this wannabe fascist stringbean shows
up with Mr. Colm-Meaney-wasn’t-available-that-week, and everything goes to shit, TiMMMMM is shot
and Bix gets beaten up by the guards and listen…. I did not care about TiMMMMM at all, sorry to
any TiMMMM stans, he is nothing to me, but the way Bix reaches for him here even after
he’s been long dead is so upsetting I will never recover. [That lady from a vine] “Honey you’ve
got a big storm coming” But she did successfully introduce Cassian
to Luthen Rael, the baddest bitch in the galaxy. Cassian thinks he’s just there to hawk some
piece of Imperial tech but Luthen is there to recruit him. [Cassian] “They’re so fat and satisfied they can’t
imagine it. [Luthen] “Can't imagine what?” [Cassian] “That someone like me could get
inside their house.” Luthen knows way too much about Cassian, like
how his adopted father was murdered and is just generally very intense during this whole
conversation [Luthen] “Don’t you want to fight these
bastards for real.” But Cassian really only agrees to go with
him for the promise of way more credits than what he would have gotten for that Imperial
doodad And they blow their way out of this warehouse
in an incredible sequence [Luthen] “Rule #2, build your exit on the way in." "And brace yourself”
[Explosion] And then bust out of Ferrix through a mixture
of luck and a decent plan. My favorite bit here is that, entirely unrelated
to their escape plan, Brasso in a fit of either pettiness or simply good instincts that this
might help out his friend, does a thing to mess up their shuttle and when this poor asshole
tried to fly it and crashes the pre-mor folks assume its all part of some master plan [Sgt. Mosk] “We’re under siege. They’re everywhere” (lol) But the fates or maybe forces align and so Luthen and Cassian get away. Over the final moments of episode 3 we get
a phenomenal track called Past/Present Suite by Nicholas Britell. As we listen to its soaring strings we get
a beautiful sequence intercutting between a young Kassa leaving Kenari and Cassian leaving
Ferrix. It's exciting, it's gutting, it's overwhelming,
and we’re only on episode 3. So Andor as a creation is a curious thing. A prequel to a midquel with a troubled production. And in response to Andor being…well…rad
as hell. I've seen some people start to perhaps overstate
Tony Gilroy's influence on Rogue One, to try and explain the good parts of it as being
exclusively due to Gilroy's contributions. [Me] “I didn’t want to become a Gareth
Edwards truther but here we are.” So let's run down the stuff we actually know. From what's been said in interviews, In Gareth
Edwards version of Rogue One, I think it was just more of the third act? Probably some events happened in a different
way or a different order but in general It just seems like there was more of it. According to actor Ben Mendelsson who played
Orson Krennic said there were somewhere around 20-30 different scenes in the earlier version
of the film And then Gilroy came in and restructured it
into the version we all know. What Gilroy said about the reshoots was that
“When things pass through many hands and there's a great deal of confusion ... and
there's all kinds of accessories and jewelries and bootstraps and zippers, and all the rest
of the stuff. The purity for the characters, if it's not
there to begin with, it just deteriorates and just turns into an absolute mush.” Now some stuff that we know were Gilroy editions
include the Rings of Kefrene sequence, where we are first introduced to Cassian shooting
a man in the back, The scene provided some fascinating character building in a few minutes,
and, I’m fairly confident that the entire change of Jyns character from rebel to criminal
was a Tony Gilroy addition. Let me explain. So first off, Duncan Pow, who played Melshi
both in Rogue One and in Andor, said he was brought on for the reshoots and hired by Gilroy. Given he’s a pretty major presence in the
scene of Jyn being broken out of prison, that makes me think this entire sequence was a
reshoot. Moreover the first teaser trailer for Rogue
One dropped on April 7th 2016. The teaser trailer with the now infamous line
[Jyn] “This is a rebellion isn't it? I rebel.” implying her rebellion status. Then the reshoots were announced in late May,
2016. So I’m pretty confident Jyn the Criminal
was a Gilroy addition. Honestly at this point looking for Melshi
is a good way to spot a reshoot moment. Which does lead me to believe Cassian’s
big speech here [Cassian] “Everything I did, I did for the rebellion.” was a reshoot, because Melshi is behind him
THE WHOLE TIME. Not like insert shots to add him into a scene,
He's right there in the wide shot. Based on some behind the scenes footage, It's
very likely this scene is simply a reshot version of a scene that existed in the original
cut, much like the Jyn being briefed on the mission scene which was reshot so many times
as the story was tweaked that they had a running joke on set that they were making a movie
called Star Wars Scene 16, according to actor Alistair Petrie who played General Draven. That being said there’s still so much about
the behind the scenes and who did what that we will never know. Like there’s this puzzling factoid, According
to actor Freddie Prince Jr who worked as a voice actor on rebels, Dave Filoni directed
the final sequence with Darth Vader in the hallway? This was contested by screenwriter Gary Whitta
a few days later and I don’t know what to make of this… But I do think overstating Gilroy’s influence
is a mistake. Because people are now attributing the ending
of Rogue One to him. People are now saying Gilroy was the one who
suggested they all die at the end. Hell even The Guardian just put that factoid
in an article WITH NO CITATION Early on Edwards and the creative team thought
Disney and Lucasfilm wouldn't allow them to go to such a dark place, so early treatments
of the script had some characters surviving but according Gary Whitta “We told them,
we feel they all need to die, and [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy] and everyone else
said to go for it. We got the ending that we wanted.” Edwards has stated multiple times the intention
was always for everybody to die, and when Gilroy has spoken about the film, he also
speaks like that was always the intent, in one 2018 interview he said: “‘Everyone is going to die.’ So it’s a movie about sacrifice.” And Diego Luna said when he was hired he knew
Cassian was going to die. [Luna] “I remember people saying like, we
shot different endings?" "And uh…just to be clear, the day I was offered
this role, I knew this was…this was it." "It was one film, and I knew what the end was
gonna be.” Although it might have played out differently
in Edwards version of the film. In fact there’s a little clip from some
ABC featurette in 2017 that looks like it's showing a very different death for K2SO and
Cassian????? The particulars may have been tweaked but
the end result was always the same, they were always going to die. I just find this minor rewriting of history
so odd. Like let's be clear, I think a lot of it is
just coming from Disney themselves. Gilroy's total absence from all behind the
scenes and press surrounding Rogue One was wild. He gets a screenwriting credit but you won't
see him once in the blu ray special features. Disney seemingly went out of their way to
suppress his involvement and just pretended that Gareth Edwards made a cool movie and
nothing weird ever happened behind the scenes don't you worry about it. And in a true stroke of irony Gareth Edward's
name has not been mentioned once, In any of the press or interviews surrounding the prequel
series Andor. I don't think this is malicious or anything
I just think it's fascinating how Disney seems to have decided to handle this. And I am assuming that was a Disney decision,
I doubt that was something Tony Gilroy would have been quibbling about. And to be clear I don't think Disney knows
how to promote the people they are trying to promote in any given moment. Y’all remember the Andor trailer advertising,
From the Director of 'The Bourne Legacy'???? THE BOURNE LEGACY?????? [Bourne Legacy Jeremy Renner Man yelling about
CHEMS] Why not from the writer of 'The Bourne Identity'? Or the director of 'Michael Clayton'? Just as a better representative of like…
good movies Gilroy worked on????? Whatever let's talk about Aldhani In the 2nd arc of the show Cassian goes to
the quiet mid rim planet Aldhani, and the show begins to expand its horizons. We meet Space Karen AKA Dedra at her place
of work on Coruscant where she is capable and girlbossing and popping pills to her hearts
content. She’s tracking stolen items and believes
there may be an underlying plot to uncover. And don’t get sucked in watching her triumph
over her male peers, because when she succeeds it means people die. As actress Denise Gough put it “She is not
just a woman in a man’s world, but a fascist in a world of fascists." "It was important to see that power corrodes
women as much as men” We also get to catch up with the man who would
invent a new slur just for you, as he gets fired from his job and goes home to his equally
awful mom. There is something very funny about their
scenes because you can see how this woman made this horrible fascist fanboy but he’s
way too deep in his bullshit for pity. By the way his mom Eedy is portrayed by the
incredible Shakespearean actress Kathryn Hunter [Kathryn Hunter as Puck] “And sometime lurk
I in a gossip's bowl In very likeness of a roasted crab” [Kids giggling] So that's cool, I love to see her. She is truly wild here. [Eedy] “Shame I couldn’t have seen more
of you when you were flourishing." "I'd have had the memory to sustain me.” But the meat of the arc takes place on Aldhani,
on the way to the planet Luthen and Cassian have another incredible conversation about
getting back at the empire. [Luthen] “I’m offering you everything
you want all at once.” [Cassian] “What is ‘Everything’ I want?” [Luthen] “To put a real stick in the eye
of the Empire. And get paid for it.” But Cassian isn’t sold. The ISB, The Rebels, The Partisans. They’re all the same to him. But Cassian's options at this point are EITHER
get dropped off in the middle of nowhere or do a job for Luthen for 200,000 credits. So he agrees to do the job, and Luthen tells
him to pick a new name since Cassian is a wanted man. He chooses Clem. His adopted fathers name. And Luthen gives him a blue kyber crystal
as a bit of insurance. Apparently its worth a lot. And all the rebelcaptain shipers went
OMG THEY BOTH GOT A SPECIAL SPACE NECKLACE AAAAAAAAA But ANYWAYS when they land on Aldhani, Cassian’s
not particularly happy to be there and and his new cohorts are even less pleased to have
him but nonetheless he quickly learns they are planning to infiltrate an Imperial base
on the planet and steal the payroll for the entire sector. They’re going to use a planetary event called
The Eye, which is of great significance to the indigenous population as their cover. Now, The leader of this team of freedom fighters
is one, very frustrated Vel Sartha, along with her terse second in command Taramyn Barcona
played by Gershwyn Eustache Jr. There’s the highly capable Cinta, and the
jaded Arvaal Skeen played by Ebon Moss Bachrach, and there's the true believer, and very good
bean, Karis Nemik played by Alex Lawther.v There’s also their inside man on the base
Lieutenant Gorn played spectacularly by Sule Rimi. He gets several moments where he quietly expresses
such disgust and disdain for the people he works for and it's just incredible. So basically much of the opening episode is
Cassian learning the ropes, learning what he needs to know for the mission. And Nemik takes a shine to him quickly, thinking
he’s a fellow believer in the cause. He tells Cassian all about his socialist theories [Nemik] “The pace of our repression outstrips our ability to understand it and that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine." "It’s easier to hide behind 40 atrocities
than a single incident.” and well.. It's very ‘seize the means of production’
if you know what I mean, but my friends Jessie Gender and Aranock are working on a series
of videos that will talk about THAT way better than I could. Anyway, he’s writing a manifesto which he
wants Cassian to read. Also at one point Skeen says this about Cinta [Skeen] “She’s already sharing a blanket if that’s what you’re wondering.” Is THAT what they’re calling it now? This isn’t made explicit until later but
Vel and Cinta are in a relationship. Meanwhile Skeen is consistently suspicious
of Cassian and his intentions. to the point that, as their making their way
to the base, he holds Cassian at knifepoint, finds the kyber necklace and makes a big fuss
forcing Cassian to admit, yes he was paid to be on this mission, but he’s still planning
to go through with it in spite of all the risks. [Taramyn] “You’re the one that’s afraid.” [Cassian] “But there's a difference between
fear and losing your nerve." "Make a choice." "Don't use me as an excuse.” Later Skeen apologizes to him and tells him
he had a brother, a farmer, who was killed by the Empire. [Cassian] “What kind of farm?” [Skeen] “Pepper trees. Centuries of ‘em.” There's also a great scene later where Nemik
is kind of disappointed to realize Cassian is not a true believer in the cause and he’s
being paid and so on. A jaded Cassian tells him the empire doesn't
play by the rules because they don’t care enough to learn them and a frustrated Nemik
says [Nemik] “So you think it's hopeless, do
you? We should just submit and be thankful?” [Cassian] “Do I look thankful to you?” Chills. I get chills every time. Back on Coruscant we get a peek into one of
what I can only imagine is Luthens' many alter egos, the slightly oily and overly cheerful
seller of antiques and artifacts. There he covertly meets Senator Mon Mothma,
who speaks in code, purchasing a ‘gift’ for her husband while whispering that she’s
having difficulty moving money around for the rebellion and she fears she is being watched. Back at the Mothma household we get to know
her awful husband Perrin and her daughter Leida who seems to hate her. Then on Aldhani we watch the heist play out
largely according to plan. Cassian, Skeen, Nemik, and Barcona infiltrate
the base as security guards helping to ‘round up the locals’ and Cinta and Val have to
like scale a wall and stuff to jam the bases radios. The plan goes ok initially, they take this
guy as their hostage and get him along with a few security guards to load the credits
on their getaway minivan aka the rono trawler. But one guy is too good at his job and investigates
the comms being jammed meanwhile Lt. Gorn gets to look the boss man in the face [Commandant] “You'll hang for this.” and say this
[Lt. Gorn] “Seven years serving you? I deserve worse than that.” and it's AMAZING. But that guy shows up with some security and
it all goes to shit. In the ensuing firefight Gorn, and Barcona
get shot. Nemik saves Cassian from being strangled and
then as they’re escaping, the giant cases of money which weren’t locked down for the
flight, roll back and crush Nemik. Still he manages to give Cassian the coordinates
to pilot their escape [Nemik] “CLIMB” and it's one of the most visually stunning sequences of the series. Cinta, meanwhile, is able to slip out the
backdoor as cool as a cucumber. But Vel, Skeen, and Cassian have to decide
if they’re going to divert and try to get Nemik medical attention. After a moment's hesitation Cassian agrees. When they arrive on this backwater planet,
and this doctor tries to save Nemik, Cassian and Skeen wait outside and have a little conversation. It starts out relatively chill but then Skeen
starts suggesting, hey what if we just ran away with all the money. And we could split it too, this is totally
fine and normal. What do you mean? [Cassian] “So, no rebellion for you?” [Skeen] “Oh, I'm a rebel. It's just, uh... me against everybody else.” Turns out he lied about his brother and Cassian
starts to back away as Skeen talks about how alike they are And Cassian shoots him. Because it's not like he could just walk away
from this conversation, I doubt Skeen would have let him live after telling him all that. What Diego Luna had to say on the subject
in an interview with Collider was [Luna] “I mean, that's how the season starts,
basically with him finding out he has to kill this person." "This is the second time that it happens, and
he tells you that he's not afraid or scared" "of making a complicated choice like that,
and he's taking care of the whole team." "He doesn't know Nemik is gone, and he's
protecting them." "He's feeling part of a team for the
first time." And then he has to go inside and tell Vel. Nemik is already dead and now so is Skeen. Basically he says he’ll take the money he
was promised and leaves them the shuttle. He gives the kyber necklace back to her and
as he turns to go Vel tells him Nemik wanted Cassian to have his manifesto. [Cassian] “I don’t want it.” [Vel] “He insisted.” I do not know how to describe the emotion
on Cassian’s face here but it is gutwrenching. Finally Cassian takes it and runs. Back at Luthens shop he hears the news of
the Aldhani heist and takes a moment to step into the back where he just laughs in open,
naked relief. So now let's talk about politics in a Star
War Now for reasons I can’t fully parse, people
seem really frustrated by ANY discussion of politics in Star Wars. Like…I don’t know why other than an unwillingness
to engage with the material they purport to enjoy. Also lets not forget the immortal words of
Lana Wachowski & J Michael Straczynski, as said by my beloved Hernando in 'Sense8' [Hernando] “All art is political. Never more so than when pretending it’s not.” Because any writer takes their thoughts and
beliefs into what they write. It's impossible not to. And While it's true that Star Wars is murky
when treated as a political text. There are still, very definite politics within
Star Wars. But they are not necessarily always consistent
or coherently expressed. In part due to the many creators behind Star
Wars as we know it today. We celebrate the victory of our rebel heroes
in 'Return of the Jedi' and somehow in the time between this and 'Force Awakens', The
system of fascist oppression is recreated almost beat for beat in The First Order. Somehow Palpatine returned! Like I’m sure if I read the novelizations
maybe they would explain but the movies sure don't. Still, Star Wars has always had politics embedded
within it from its inception. George Lucas himself imagined The Empire as
a deliberate allegory for Nazis in World War II down to their uniforms, Triumph of the
will inspired visuals, and naming Vader's soldiers Stormtroopers, aka Sturmtruppen,
specialist soldiers in the German army. But also according to George Lucas the rebels
are the Viet Cong and America is the empire. [James Cameron] “Their using asymmetric warfare
against a highly organized empire. I think we call those guys terrorists.” [George Lucas] “When I did it they were
Viet Cong” [Cameron] “America is so proud of being
the biggest economy, the most powerful military force on the planet." "It’s become the Empire from the perspective
of a lot of people around the world.” [Lucas] “well it was the Empire during the
Vietnam War.” If you're someone who thinks the prequels
are good and somehow not political let me remind you of these lines [Padme] “This is how Liberty dies with thunderous
applause.” [Obi Wan] “Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic! To democracy!” If you're somebody who likes the Star Wars
cartoons, remember that time the jedi were described like this in Tales of the Jedi?? [Semage] “Jedi claim peace but mostly keep
law and order for the rich and powerful.” And Count Dooku agreed with him by the way! or that time a bunch of rebels pushed against
a police blockade in 'Clone Wars'? Star Wars has always been full of political
ideas [Anakin] “They could attack soft targets
while the Republic continues to engage them on the battlefield.” [Obi-Wan] “That sounds like terrorism, Anakin.” [Anakin] “Well I think of it as an insurgency.” There’s been a lot of speculation about
how the hell Disney allowed Gilroy and co. to make a genuinely radical show. Supposedly they allowed the lesbian romance
between Vel and Cinta, which is largely just dialogue and longing looks but still. It seems they largely put their foot down
about depicting sex, violence, and swearing, at least in what's been publicly stated. Considering the milquetoast politics of other
Disney properties, I was under the impression Disney just wouldn't allow media with interesting ideas to get made. Egg on my face I guess. By the way, go watch Princess Weeke’s video on 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' called 'The Revolution was not Televised.' But I think Andor might be the most political
and the most politically relevant piece of Star Wars media we’ve ever seen. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. [Luna] “Probably, that's one of the reasons
why I love the world of Star Wars, because it’s been always like that." "You know it’s always been very political,
and this one it’s relevant also" "because it’s been made by people who live in this time.” And there’s plenty of genuinely radical
politics in the show, from prison abolition, to depicting revolts against a police state,
to the struggles that come when trying to unite people of varying ideologies to fight
for one cause [Saw Garrera] “I am the only one with clarity
of purpose.” There’s also some pretty incredible Latine
representation with Cassian Andor played by Mexican Actor Diego Luna and there's also
Bix Caleen played by Adria Arjona who is Puerto Rican. Unfortunately, outside of Diego Luna’s role in Andor and Rogue One, Latine representation has been a bit touch and go in Star Wars. [Me] “Boy, it sucks they made you a drug dealer huh?”
[My roommate laughing behind the camera.” Oscar Isaac is Guatemalan and Cuban and in
the bad movie that sucks they decided that he used to run spice?? [Zorii Bliss] “Your friend's old job was
running Spice.” Which is Star Wars for drugs. Spice = drugs in Star Wars. [Finn] “You were a Spice Runner?” [Poe] “You were a Stormtrooper?” [Rey] “Were you a Spice Runner?” [Poe] “Were you a scavenger? We can do this all night!” In Clone Wars we get the Martez Sisters, Rafa
and Trace, voiced by Elizabeth Rodriguez and Brigitte Kali who are both Latina and in season
7 they get an arc about drug running?? And Ahsoka has to teach them that smuggling
drugs is bad. They come back in a Bad batch episode as members
of the rebellion which is cool I guess. And for those who don't understand why depicting
Latine people as drug dealers is bad? Well… [John Leguizamo] “We’ve been shortchanged
for the most part you know, obviously," "we’ve always had to play, you know…either drug
dealers, killers, murders, or we’re maids" "and illegal aliens, and always at the bottom
of the food chain.” It's a pretty big trope at this point and
a genuine limitation for a lot of Latine actors who would like to do literally anything else. Oscar Isaac even chose his stage name in the
hopes of avoiding being typecast as a gangster. Instead of Oscar Hernandez he used his middle
name Isaac, which apparently led casting directors to think he was Jewish? So mazel tov I guess. But many actors from Anthony Quinn to Martin
Sheen have changed their names to try and avoid being typecast. Diego Luna said in an interview on his role
in Narcos Mexico “We’re asking so many people to be patient
when we shouldn’t — they’ve been patient for decades. But stories are getting more specific, which
is great news. More and more, we’re caring about where
the story comes from and about the reality we’re trying to portray.” Actor Tenoch Huerta, another exhausted Narcos:
Mexico alum said "They need thieves, they need kidnappers, they need whores. So they call the Brown-skinned people to make
them. And we fit under that stereotype, [...] They
are always calling me to make the same character. It's the bad guy—always" Not to mention the actual harm that has been done by the drug trade in places like Mexico. Which, Luna addressed saying “For this very
complex machinery to work, yes, you have the drug traffickers, but you also have the government
on both sides of the border allowing this to happen,” “For this to happen, there’s someone allowing
it to happen on the other side. And there is a market to feed. The biggest market is up north from where
we live, so we are here. “It’s not that Mexicans are worse than
any others. It’s just that we happen to be the door
between the developing world and the first world, and we are the longest border between
these two very different realities. That’s reality for us.” So basically yeah it sucks that 90% of what
Star Wars can imagine for Latine people is just…drug dealers. But now there is also Pedro Pascal as the
Mandalorian, and in Andor we get not just Cassian but also Bix who is her own fully
realized character so…hopefully Latine representation is improving. But there is also the issue of colorism in
Latine casting. Both in Star Wars and in media at large. UCLA's Hollywood diversity report of 2022
found that only 7% of lead roles went to Latine actors in 2021, based on the top 200 English-language
releases. Meanwhile Latine people currently make up
18% of the US population. And most of the actors finding mainstream
success are light-skinned. Tenoch Huerta is of indigenous descent with
a Nahua maternal great-grandmother and a Purépecha paternal great-great-grandmother, and he's
recently seen a lot of mainstream success after his scene stealing role as Namor in
'Wakanda Forever'. And it seems he's been calling out this colorism
for years, criticizing those he calls "Whitexicans" In a Vice interview he said, “Because most of the Mexican actors who are in the US are white, they are upper-class, they are fresas. [Mexican slang for posh or bougie].” [Tenoch Huerta speaking in Spanish] Diego Luna himself has a lighter mestizo complexion. Mestizo being a term for people of mixed European and Indigenous Latin American descent, with his mother being British, and his father being
Mexican. His position in Hollywood is a complicated
one to be sure, and even still, just by proudly displaying his Mexican accent he did something
that was unheard of in Star Wars back in 2016 [Interviewer] “Was there ever a conversation
about what accent you should use?" [Sorta mumbles a bit]”
[Luna] “Uh yeah, I think the conversation was, ‘this is my accent.’” [Laughter] I know Diego Luna has said a lot about how much it meant to him to be a Mexican in Star Wars [Luna] “A Mexican in Star Wars, c’mon!”
[Applause] [Luna] “You wouldn’t find a Mexican in Star Wars.” “He goes like ‘I want you to play the
guy!’ And I was like…aaw…really?" "No no there has to be something wrong!" "I…I’m Mexican, I just like crossed the
border from Mexico City, I have This Accent!" "You know this accent, I cannot get rid of
This Accent!” So he simply got to just be a Mexican dude
in Star Wars. And there’s this really lovely tumblr post
from this girl who goes by the handle River Always Knew who took her Mexican father to
see Rogue One in theaters. She wrote:
“When Diego Luna’s character came on screen and started speaking, my dad nudged me and
said, “he has a heavy accent.” I was like, “Yup.” When the film was over and we were walking
to the car, he turns to me and says, “did you notice that he had an accent?” And I said, “Yeah dad, just like yours.” Then my dad asked me if the film had made
a lot of money. I told him it was the second highest grossing
film of 2016 despite it only being out for 18 days in 2016 [...]. He then asked me if
people liked the film, I told him that it had a huge following online and great reviews. He then asked me why Diego Luna hadn’t changed
his accent and I told him that Diego has openly talked about keeping his accent and how proud
he is of it. And my dad was silent for a while and then
he said, “And he was a main character.” And I said, “He was.” And my dad was so happy. As we drove home he started telling me about
other Mexican actors that he thinks should be in movies in America. Representation matters.” And it does. [Huerta and this reporter being emotional
in Spanish? Is this a useful caption???] It really really does. There are some minor issues I have with Andor
that may be addressed in season 2, my friend Steven who is the one reading Diego’s lines
for this video is convinced they will be addressed because he is, in his own words, fully Andor
pilled, and the consulting latino on this video. Again his words not mine. But I do think it is a little suss the way
all of Cassian’s flashback sequences were in some unsubtitled mystery language? Like I guess they’re speaking Kenari but
it seemed unnecessarily alienating and othering for some very indigenous coded characters,
to simply be incomprehensible to audiences. That definitely wasn't the intention, but
it was a result. According to my friend LegalKimchi, who is
Puerto Rican by the way: [Legal Kimchi] "In Star Wars it is difficult because there
is no "Latin America" in universe." "So I understand the wanting to include indigenous
coded background for Andor." "I liked that actually." "A nod to our latine mixed indigenous background." "But the lack of subtitles and "mystery" of
his background leads to a certain othering." Also I remember reading some quote from Gilroy,
I can't find it now but where he said this scene, was the first time Cassian had ever
seen his own reflection and that's why he gets upset which is ridiculous, this boy never
saw his reflection in water ever???? But the big thing is that Maarva steals this
very indigenous coded child from his home based on a LOT of assumptions. Like yes she thinks she is helping, but she
literally drugs and kidnaps a child and then later tells him he should stop looking for
the sister who he was separated from against his will? [Maarva] “Stop searching for your sister…It’s
a fantasy.” That sucked. I’m all for complicated characters and maybe
season 2 will actually address that in some way but I waited all of season 1 for somebody
to say something about it and nobody did and just…look up Australia’s stolen generation,
look up residential schools and the number of times in history when white colonizers
stole indigenous children from their families, supposedly for their own good. I’m all for Maarva being a complicated mother,
as long as the show acknowledges she was far from perfect and assumed she was saving a
child while kidnapping him. Anyway let's talk about The Volume. A common sort of…frustration, I’ve seen
online, from people who I think didn’t particularly want this show to exist is that they don’t
understand why it looks so much better than most of the other Disney Star Wars shows we’ve
gotten. 'Book of Boba Fett,' 'Obi Wan' and even later
seasons of 'The Mandalorian' looked like trash sometimes. What’s funny is from what I can tell, Andor
might cost a little more per episode to produce but ‘The Mandalorian’ overall seems to have cost
the most out of any live action Disney Star Wars series, and yet even seasons 2 and 3
look a little dead at times. A little airless. This is in large part due to how these shows
are spending their money. All the shows aside from Andor are highly
reliant on either CGI or a new technology they pioneered on ‘The Mandalorian’ called
The Volume. Basically an immersive LED soundstage, with
almost seamless LED screens, that can display backgrounds for scenes. According to Comingsoon.net: These backgrounds
are largely produced using technology like the Unreal Engine or Helios, “to change the background in real-time as it’s being filmed. The process of using the stage and integrating
these technologies and special effects with the filmmaking process is known as StageCraft.” Basically, the Volume is using video game
tech to have a lively background, augmented by some bits of set. When it works, it's pretty seamless. Mando riding a speeder through a desert looks
great. The problem is it seems sometimes these shows
are becoming over reliant on The Volume or just over reliant on CGI in general because,
Man, parts of 'Obi Wan' looked awful. Same goes for 'Book of Boba Fett.' In an interview with some of the production
team for Andor, production designer Luke Hull said [Hull] “the Volume is an interesting
piece of kit, it’s a very expensive piece of kit" "…And I don’t want to get into the details
about it but like…If you’re not using it enough on your project for the right reasons?" "Then it’s just a very expensive in camera
V effect.” So compared to other Star Wars shows, Andor
was largely shot on location and on built sets. Green screens were mainly used for set extension
and the only real CG heavy bits were The Eye sequence in episode 6 and Luthens ship fight
in episode 11. Much of the sets were built at Pinewood studios,
some Coruscant scenes were filmed at Canary Wharf, Aldhani was I think largely filmed
in Scotland, I’m pretty sure this quarry in derbyshire was where they shot some Narkina
stuff and Clevely’s was where they filmed Niamos. Tony Gilroy said of this decision: “We want reality. We want to make the galaxy real. We’re just saying that everything that’s
happening is happening to people. We’re going to see people that are just
absolutely thrashed by the Empire [...] We see a variety of planetary cultures that are
destroyed in what will be reminiscent of Colonialism in many ways,” And…shocker, sets and practical locations
just look better and more tactile, because they are. While I get that with a show like 'The Mandalorian'
maybe they don't want to put another man in a tin can in the desert considering it was
hell on Anthony Daniels back in the day. There are times when the Volume can be very
practical. But using it all the time leads to a world
that feels flatter. And while we’re on the subject of behind
the scenes stuff allow me to yell about Nicholas Britell some more. I know I mentioned him already, talked about
a favorite track, Past and Present Suite. But what Britell is doing on this show is
so good and so layered. I mean first off Star Wars has never really
grappled with the idea of pop culture in universe, but now there’s the track Niamos! There’s the Morlana Mix, which is featured
in the club on Morlana in episode one, the Coruscant Lounge Mix which plays at Mon Mothma’s
party in episode 8 and then the Galaxy mix when we arrive on Niamos in episode 7. And so there’s just this song thats popular
enough that they have different mixes of it playing in night clubs and fancy parties. Isn’t that neat?? Now is it…Jizz Music? The CANONICAL NAME of a genre of music in
Star Wars that Max Rebo and his band played at Jabba’s palace? I don’t know but boy is that funny to think
about. But there’s also the skill and complexity
on display with the main theme of the show. Now I'm not an expert in music theory. But I've always been a fan of soundtracks
and instrumentals. There's a term I sort of use personally for
a particular genre of music I find within movie and TV scores, I call them building
songs. Basically songs that have sort of one theme
and slowly build and iterate on them until it's very grand and majestic sounding. Think the credits song from ‘Cloud Atlas’,
or Hans Zimmer's Time from ‘Inception.’ What I find neat about the score of Andor,
Is that while there are a few tracks that I would categorize as building songs. Like the Past/Present Suite from the end
of episode 3, My Name is Kino Loy, from episode 10, and Eulogy from episode 12. But the score as a whole kind of functions
as a slow but steady build. Many people have already pointed this out,
and it's very cool by the way, if you overlay all 12 versions of the opening title track
onto each other You get a pretty grand sounding piece of music. [All the openings are being slowly layered together to play at once,
it sounds rad as hell] The whole score is slowly coming together
piece by piece. Like the rebellion itself it is slowly building
into something. We moved from genre to genre, instrumentation
to instrumentation. From jangling percussion to cello's and strings,
to uneasy synths, to a brave but unsteady brass band. But it isn't fully there yet. Britell said the opening was asking a question
We didn't yet have an answer to. "By tailoring it to each episode, you get
a different lens: Here’s where we’re going, here’s where we’ve been." He later went on to say "Hopefully, those
things add up over time so you’ve created a sense of sonic memories. It has a potency." So with that, let's talk about episode 7. Episode 7, titled 'Announcement,' is an interesting
transitional episode. While most of the episodes were grouped into
multi episode arcs, episode 7 is a standalone piece that moves everything into place for
the next arc. The Announcement of the title is, according
to Dedra Meero, what the Aldhani Heist was. She claims it was an announcement of intent. The Empire responds swiftly to the Aldhani
heist because, shocker, hitting the money was an effective tactic against them. So the Empire is introducing a new more stringent
sentencing and resentencing initiative for anybody who so much as blinks at a stormtrooper
the wrong way and Dedra manages to win control over Ferrix from a co-worker after effectively
convincing her bosses of her theory that there was a pattern to the stolen imperial tech. At the same time, the wearer of the world's
worst necktie starts working at the world's most pathetic office job. JUST…Look at him in his shitty little future
cubicle. [‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ music lol] Meanwhile Mon Mothma has heard the news about the heist and she is freaking out. Because Mon Mothma is having some banking
troubles. By the way, since I’ve now watched all the
Star Wars cartoons I would like to personally thank Tony Gilroy on my hands and knees for
NOT bringing the BANKING CLAN into Mon Mothma’s banking issues. The Munes, as depicted in the cartoon specifically,
are some of the most antisemitic character designs I think I’ve EVER SEEN. Add in how they talk [I’m not even going to write it out just imagine a bunch of dudes who sound like Porky Pig with a sinus infection] And shit like this [Clone Wars Announcer] “Corruption discovered at the core of the banking clan!” Just, thank you Mr. Gilroy for never once
bringing up these horrible little caricatures. If you want to learn a little about these
anti-Semitic stereotypes that are older than dirt, watch my Much Ado About Nothing video
and my tangent about Shylock. But basically Mon Mothma is STRESSED, and
at one of her many fancy events full of people who say things like this [Shitty Person #1] “The Emperor’s primary charge is to protect us is it not?” [Shitty Person #2] “If you’re doing nothing
wrong, what is there to fear?” [Mon Mothma] “I’m fearing your definition
of wrong.” She meets up with her old friend from Chandrila,
Tay Kolma. He’s apparently more outspoken against the
empire than she is, at least publicly. Under the guise of childhood reminiscing she
tells him she wants his help funding a Chandrilan charity organization [Mon Mothma] “I’ll ask you to be chairman. it will appear to be another of my benevolent and useless irritations.” When he asks what they’re really doing she
simply tells him they’re raising money and he’s best not knowing the rest. [Mon Mothma] “Perhaps you find my politics
a bit strong for your taste.” She tells him that she’s being watched,
and that they can’t trust her husband. And Tay agrees to help. We also catch up with a cleaned up Vel and
Luthen’s assistant Kleya Marki played by Elizabeth Dulau. I haven’t mentioned her because she hadn’t
been featured much up to this point but in this episode we start to see just how many
plates she’s got spinning. Vel wanted to see Luthen, she wanted him to
be angry about the people they lost, and she wants to know where Cinta is. Kleya tells her the deaths are sad, although
Luthen never really trusted Skeen and Cinta is busy. Then she tells Vel her next assignment is
to track down the man she knew as Clem AKA Cassian. He’s a loose end and he knows Luthen so [Vel] “You mean kill him.”
[Kleya] “This is what revolution looks like…Vel…” And then there’s Cassian who just doesn’t
fully grasp how bad it is in Ferrix as he returns in the dead of night to grab Maarva,
pay his debts and go. Maarva tries to tell him how dangerous Ferrix
is now, but Cassian’s just excited they have the money to be able to run. He says they can go somewhere warm, where
the empire isn’t lurking but Maarva is hesitant. She puts him off until the morning and he
goes to see Bix. Bix is tired and beaten, still visibly bruised
from her encounter with those ISB agents. She’s the one who finally drives the point
home that Ferrix is fucked and Cassian can’t be here. People blame him for the Imperial Occupation. Because he killed those two corpos and came
to Ferrix to hide. Realistically it was only a matter of time
before they came, Cassian was only the excuse they needed but Bix says some might turn him
in for a buck. She also tells him she doesn’t know how
Luthen knew all that stuff about Cassian, but he didn’t learn it from her. And this scene is just so sad, because while
these two clearly care for each other the situation is too messed up for either of them
to say much more than good luck as Cassian hands her the money he owes her, Brasso, and
a few others, and then leaves. [Cassian] “He needs to forget about me. And that goes for everybody.” [Bix] “I’ve done it before.” On his way back home, as he hides from storm
troopers we get a brief flash of a day when people were protesting the Imperial presence
on Ferrix, probably not long after Order 66 [Ferrixian #1] “Long live the republic!”
[Ferrixian #2] “Free Ferrix!” Cassian’s father Clem told him they would
just plant their silly little flag and leave, but he tried to calm the angry crowd screaming
at the soldiers [Clem] “You’re only making it worse!”
[Soldier] “HALT!” [Everyone goes quiet]
[Soldier] "TURN!" And he was murdered for it. A Young Cassian tried to get revenge on some
troopers and was arrested. After prison, he was sent to the front lines. [Cassian] “I fought in Mimban when I was 16." "Straight out of prison, into the mud." "I'm one of 50 that survived." "And who did it turn out we were fighting? Ourselves.” But he goes back to Maarva who tells him she
isn’t leaving. The Aldhani heist has given her hope. People are standing up against the empire
and she wants to do her part, here on Ferrix. [Cassian] “You can't beat them Maarva.” [Maarva] “Not if I run away.” She tells Cassian he has to go and try and
find some peace. He says he’ll have no peace because he’ll
just be worried about her all the time. [Maarva] "Thats just love. Nothing you can do about that." She has to stay and she has to go. So she tells him she loves him, asks him to
try and understand. He says he doesn’t and he leaves. Some time later, in what the internet has
collectively named space Miami, Cassian’s going by the name Keef Girgo, which…
thats a Glub Shitto name if I ever heard one but hilariously it also sounds like somebody just
swapped some letters on Greef Karga’s name to come up with it? Remember this guy from The Mandalorian. Greef Karga and Keef Girgo, wow. Anyways, Cassian’s got all his money and
supplies hidden in this little hotel room, and he still has Nemik’s manifesto. But while he’s out walking on the beach
some people go running past him, running from some soldiers. And he gets grabbed simply for looking suspicious. A KX droid nearly chokes him and he’s sentenced
to six years for nothing at all. The other bit of behind the scenes that can’t
be talked about enough is Diego Luna. Like I don’t want to downplay Tony Gilroy
here, he made a great show, he made 'Michael Clayton', but he also did 'The Bourne Legacy' [‘Bourne Legacy’ Man yelling CHEMS] A show like this is surely down to every creative mind that broke the story down, wrote it, and directed it with such finesse that you might think it looks easy. But Diego’s performance as Cassian Andor
is just stunning. Often he’s doing such subtle work, and you
just see it all happening in his eyes. I’ve followed Diego Luna’s career pretty
much since 2004 when I saw him in 'The Terminal'. He’s just a sweet minor character in that
but he’s constantly popped up in interesting roles over the years in films like 'Frida',
'Milk', 'The Book of Life', or as a minor character in the 2016 film 'The Bad Batch'…no
relation to the cartoon. I still need to watch more of his spanish
language films but obviously classics like 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' and 'Rudo Y Cursi' are
a must watch. A lot of his work I arrived to late, mostly
because I was a little young for films like 'Frida' and 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' when they
were released. And Also
He was in the Masterpiece, The PINNACLE OF CINEMA
'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.' Which to be clear is a terrible movie that
I have great affection for. And Diego Luna hates every time somebody brings
it up in an interview [James Corden] “You were in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights!”
[Diego Luna] “SHHH” [Audience applause and Diego swears but its bleeped] [Diego] “Oh no I cannot do this, sorry.”
[Record scratch and people laughing in the background] He’s also directed movies like 'Mr Pig'
and 'Caesar Chavez', executive produced tv shows like 'Pan Y Circo' and 'Everything Will
Be Fine', and he runs a production company with his best bud Gael Garcia Bernal
And a bit that puts him in my good books personally is that he’s also 100% a rebelcaptain shipper
like the rest of us. [Interviewer] “Thank you so much for getting those plans to Leia. We're so grateful. Really appreciate it.” [Diego] “I mean... Well you should tell Jyn but yeah”
[Laughter] [Diego speaking in Spanish] And thats just fun for me personally. But we also know that Diego had some input on the writing of Andor. According to an interview with Slashfilm "When I was invited to play Andor and to be part of the production team of "Andor," it was four years before we were ready to tell a story. So yes, of course I've been involved in many
conversations. I've been part of the whole process of the
writing and putting together the team and the execution and the post-production and
finalizing it." In another interview with Variety he said "Producing a show like this can mean many things, you know, because everything is happening at the same time. Sometimes I’m the eyes of the set, the eyes
of Tony Gilroy, because he’s writing and I’m on set and I can call him and say “Look,
this is happening. I’m feeling this. There’s a lack of clarity here.” Or like, “Man, this just happened. It’s amazing. Take a look at it because that might inspire you for what you’re writing.” I have the chance to see things from the days
I have time off, like no other producer in this show. I can stay home and I can think about stuff
and I can come back with ideas that, by being there every day, you couldn’t see. It’s difficult to define exactly what I do. It’s about having an opinion when your opinion
matters, when there’s time for that opinion, to shape things. As an actor, mostly, every time you come with
an opinion or an idea, it’s a little too late." And from the sounds of it, this production
has been nonstop and very taxing. In one interview he said when episode 6 was
released he was doing press for the show, while still doing the Spanish looping for
episode 12, and rehearsing for season 2. Also this is silly point BUT [Diego] “He’s a great cook. His best thing is Chilaquiles.” [Luthen] “You were on the ground in Mimban for six months. You came in as a cook.” Like I don’t know if that bit was based
on his suggestion BUT given his excitement about utilizing the backstory he came up with
for Cassian I think its a safe bet that at least some of the Kassa stuff was from him. But there’s also lines like this one [Corpo] “What if he swam over? Did you swim over Scrawno?” Or there’s Cassian getting racially profiled while walking on a beach! We may never know where and when he was having
input but there are times where I’m inclined to credit him. He’s made his politics pretty clear over
the years, he directed a film about civil rights activist Caesar Chavez and he was going
to Zapatista protests when he was a teenager. For the uninitiated, the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation or Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN for short, was
an uprising against the Mexican government in 1994. The movement, largely based in the state of
Chiapas, was for indigenous rights, land, and freedom. After the initial uprising and the taking
of seven municipal seats in Chiapas the movement would
continue in non-violent protests and forming their own independent government which, as
far as I know still exists to this day. And according to a GQ article “With the encouragement of family and teachers, a teenage Luna would skip school to join the protests. He and his classmates mobilized, independently
organizing events—protests, concert fundraisers, food drives—to support the residents of
Chiapas.” in 2019 he was even invited to a Zapatista held film festival. And I do think his ideas on this stuff might
have influenced the show In a vulture interview he was asked: “Did you feel you were making an inherently political show?” “We’re telling the story of the awakening
of a revolution. There’s no way not to be political. If you wanted to avoid it, there wouldn’t
be a show.” [Interviewer] “Are there parallels that can be drawn between the rebels in this series and the resistance in real life?” [Diego] “Definitely! About the need for an articulated civil reaction, you know? Obviously there’s no one with superpowers that will come and fix things for us." "It’s about our reaction, it’s about what we can do together you know? About the strength we have in our numbers and about the work you can do with or in your community you know?" And now I’m going to tell you all to watch
LegalKimchi’s excellent video on rebellions vs revolutions because that's a complex distinction
to make, but I think Diego Luna’s input on the writing of the show might be found
in moments like this [Cassian] “They can’t imagine it. That someone like me
could ever get inside their house.” Also -on a far, FAR less
serious note I just have to mention…y’all remember Diego Luna wanting to touch Jabba the Hutt?? [Diego] "Yabba...I've always wanted to touch him...like the texture of Yabba is something I need to discover." "Yabba c'mon! Touching his...you know? Like his belly"
[Felicity Jones] "I dunno." [Diego] "Ooh! I was so tempted."
[Felicity laughing in bemusement] [Diego] "And the texture."
[Felicity] "And just like" [Laughter]
[Diego] "The texture, I'm very curious to actually touch that texture." [Felicity] "I don't think you'd have a nice time." First off Diego as far as we know HAS NOT TOUCHED JABBA. [Diego] "I moved on. It's over." "It's not happening. And I'm OK with it. Thank you for asking." Which is a tragedy I hope sometime before Andor is completed they invite him to wherever they store that Jabba puppet so he can DISCOVER THE TEXTURE BUT with all that being said. Internet, I’m addressing you directly now. We have had our fun, now We, the internet must
stop. We can have our little Yabba memes in private
but we have got to leave this man alone. People have been sending him Jabba merch ever
since and just look at this poor mans face as he has to explain on live television No
he is not sexually attracted to Jabba the Hutt [Diego] "I mean but that was ONE INTERVIEWER!" "And I was asked and asked and asked about Yabba and it suddenly started to feel like I was in love with Yabba" [Laughter]
[Diego with increasing desperation] "It's Not! I'm sorry!" "What's the best gift for Diego"
[Jimmy Kimmel] "Yabba." [Diego] "Turned 40, Ohhh you're Yabba! Like Nooooooo!" Like check out what he said in this one Uproxx
interview on the subject “Well, we are all rooting for you to finally
meet Jabba in this series. I hope that happens. I don’t want Cassian to do it! Oh, you want to do it. I said I want to do it! Right. Because of the curiosity I have. Don’t blame Cassian!” Which is truly beautiful. I love that this is Diego's funky little fixation
and he doesn't want Cassian to suffer for it. I hope one day Diego gets to touch Jabba but
we must leave this guy alone about this shit. Clearly he’s been regretting ever saying
anything for about 6 years now. We’ve had our fun, it’s time to move on. But yeah I think Diego Luna’s role on the
show as actor and executive producer is just phenomenal. I really hope he wins an Emmy for this show
because he earned it. Now strap in, because its time to talk about
Narkina 5 The Narkina 5 arc is when this show went from
great to exceptional, and it's some of the most gut wrenching storytelling I've ever
seen. Cassian is placed in a prison called Narkina
5, one of the 5 prisons set in the middle of the ocean on the planet Narkina. Here, prison wardens walk around in these
big rubber shoes to protect themselves, while prisoners are barefoot and vulnerable at all
times to the prison's main form of punishment. Basically getting electrocuted through your
feet. They call it getting fried. But the floors in this entire prison can become
a punishment or death sentence with the push of a button and the prisoners are always at
risk. Anytime the prisoners are told, “on program”
they must stop what they’re doing and stand with their hands behind their head. In this hellhole, the series gives us a penal
system that is part prison, part concentration camp, and part Amazon warehouse. At this point in the season we don't know
what the prisoners are building but on each of the seven floors of this prison, with its
seven rooms per floor, and seven tables per room there are groups building these mechanisms
and whichever group builds the most gets flavor in their food that day, And whichever group
builds the least gets fried as punishment. At night, prisoners are forced into open units
with no privacy to speak of. The central aisle of these areas is yet another
electrified floor forcing them to remain inside their units at night or risk death. And with that, let's talk a little about the
prison industrial complex. Most American prisons utilize what many call
the slavery loophole in the 13th amendment. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution
was ratified in 1865 and stated that slavery was abolished “except as punishment for
crime.” And through that loophole, American prisons
have been exploiting prisoners as a labor force for little to no pay. While the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per
hour, most prison jobs pay an average of 13 to 52 cents an hour. While some prisoners work to produce goods
such as pillowcases, sheets, license plate manufacturing, meat and milk processing, and
other state owned prison industry related goods
Most work in maintenance jobs such as custodial services, laundry, carpentry, food services,
electrician work, and plumbing. Some prisoners are made to work in the public
works sector as firefighters, road workers, cleaning up landfills and hazardous waste. Jobs that are dangerous and require a high
level of skill and for which they often receive little to no training. Both public and private prisons will push
prisoners into these sorts of jobs. Many prisoners work in agriculture at what
some call penal plantations. Despite many of these work programs being
labeled as a way to teach prisoners valuable skills, many are unable to find work in the
fields they were previously employed in for pennies. And even more are given such menial tasks
that they don’t end up with any transferable skills that would lead them to employment
upon their release. Most prisons require inmates to work and so
they are forced to participate in this system that exploits them for poor pay, puts them
in dangerous work conditions with minimal to no training, and they have no safe methods
of addressing grievances if they are abused or mistreated by those who are in charge of
them. And what little money these inmates make is
spent largely on basic necessities such as food, toiletries, medication, health care
copays, and phone calls. In a 2020 Current affairs article, Wilhen
Barrientos, a Guatemalan immigrant described gus incarceration at the Stewart Detention
Center where he was forced into labor for CoreCivic, one of the more infamous for-profit
prison companies. “Barrientos explained that in prison, he
faced an “impossible choice”: he could either work for pennies, or attempt to live
without necessities such as soap and toilet paper, which were not provided to detainees
and had to be purchased. And when Barrientos refused to work
double shifts, or tried to organize his coworkers, guards would threaten him with solitary confinement. In 2017, CoreCivic punished Barrientos by
placing him in medical segregation for two months, using the excuse of a non-existent
chicken pox infection as justification for their retaliation.” Oh and here's a not fun fact. The American Correctional Association does
not mandate that prisons offer inmates three meals a day. And the quality of the food they are given
is…quite frankly…obscene. According to a 2022 ACLU Report
‘Sixty-two percent of formerly incarcerated respondents to a 2020 survey reported that
they rarely or never had access to fresh vegetables while incarcerated. The typical prison diet, which is high in
salt, sugar, and refined carbohydrates, contributes to the elevated rates of diabetes and heart
disease among the incarcerated population. People who are incarcerated in the U.S. are
also six times more likely to contract a foodborne illness than the general population.’ Is this reminding you of Narkina 5 yet? Every part of the American prison system is
fucked beyond recognition and needs to be changed given that the United States has the
highest rates of imprisonment in the world. Because, hey here’s a fact that you might
need to hear. Committing a crime should not strip any person
of their basic human rights. And another not fun fact, given the United
States recent attempts to criminalize the existence of trans people, and people who
need abortions, on top of decades of harsh policing that targeted people of color, what
the United States considers to be A Crime is a rapidly widening target. By the way, according to the book City of
Inmates by Kelly Lytle Hernández “Black and Native peoples share the
highest rates of incarceration in the United States. They also share the highest rates of killings
by police officers.” And that's before you throw in the pandemic
where prisoners are locked together in close quarters and not provided basic necessities
like masks and hand sanitizer. With roughly 2 million people imprisoned in
the United States, Prisons are a petrie dish for the virus and
many health experts recommended safely releasing as many inmates as possible in 2020 and 2021,
particularly the elderly and those with health conditions that put them at higher risk. According to the Prison Policy Initiative
“Only three states — New Jersey, California, and North Carolina — released a significant
number of incarcerated people from prisons. Parole boards also approved fewer releases
in the first year of the pandemic than the year before. The response of governments was so bad that,
in total, 10% fewer people were released from prisons and jails in 2020 than in 2019. As a result, at the end of the first year
of the pandemic, 19 state prisons systems were at 90% capacity or higher.” According to the Covid Prison Project, as
of April 28th, 2023 there have been: 645,385 COVID-19 cases among people incarcerated in
prisons and 2,933 Deaths With only 562,647 Incarcerated People having
received at least one vaccine dose. And those statistics include immigrant detention
centers. As of February 2023, about 27,000 individuals
are currently held in Immigration Customs Enforcement detention centers -
but as of January 2022, only about 3% of people held in ICE custody had received any booster
shot, according to news reports citing agency figures. And again, according to Kelly Lytle Hernandez
“With Mexicans and Central Americans comprising nearly 97 percent of all deportees and 92
percent of all immigrants imprisoned for unlawful reentry, U.S. immigration control is the most
highly racialized police and penal system in the United States today.” There are many, MANY clear and pointed parallels
between the prison system we see on Narkina 5 and the real life, horrendous carceral system
in America, from the exploitation, to the poor nutrition, to the lack of care and mistreatment
by guards. And for a time we see Cassian is truly crushed
beneath the weight of the system he’s found himself in. And that's before we fully understand the
resentencing initiative which is lengthening their prison sentences and getting released
inmates simply sent to another prison. There are scenes in episode 8 where you can
see Cassian more afraid than we’ve ever seen him. This is a dude whose soul is temporarily vacating
his body due to stress. At one point in their bunks, a man purposely
steps onto the electrified floor, frying himself. And you hear prisoners who are numbed to the
horrors of this prison complaining about the smell and the fact that his body will remain
there until the morning. That numbness to the horror permeates episode
8, even as we get acquainted with its characters. Here we meet Ruescott Melshi played by Duncan
Pow. In Narkina 5 he's one of the characters who
seems to best understand how bleak their circumstances are. [Melshi] “Don't ever look at the number. Double, triple, it doesn't matter. You're in 'til they don't want you. Get straight with that.” and throughout this arc it seems
him and Cassian bond. Although we get very little in terms of their interactions, there is a lot of meaningful eye contact. I hope in season 2 we get more of their dynamic. I'm very interested. We also meet Kino Loy, played by Andy Serkis. Serkis was hesitant to return to Star Wars,
particularly because he worried people would start trying to connect this character with
the villain of Force Awakens and the Last Jedi, Supreme Leader Snoke, who was a motion
capture creation, one of Serkis’ career long specialties since the technology was
pioneered for his performance of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. He was correct to be worried because fans
instantly were theorizing how Kino Loy became Snoke. Fans in general were absolutely thirsting
for the usual fan service easter eggs we’ve been getting from Disney Star Wars and fortunately
Andor was interested in no such thing so [Andy Serkis] "I was very concerned for the fans that...the rumor mill was...the Snoke theories would start flooding in and people would be sort of starting to piece together" "well is Kino Loy related to...you know to Snoke. And I have to tell you he's not." Kino Loy is a floor manager in Narkina 5,
essentially the foreman of this group of prisoners. And he’s a prisoner himself, so he’s just
focused on following the rules and eventually getting out. Serkis said he imagined in Loy's former life
he was a factory foreman [Serkis] "And he would have fought for worker's rights on the outside you know before he was incarcerated but he would have been seen as a troublemaker." but he, like many of them, has been
so subsumed by this prison. Cassian also works with a team of characters
including the elderly Ulaf, played by Christopher Fairbank, Jemboc played by Brian Bovell who
is kind of the leader of their little team, there’s also Taga, Ham, and Xaul. By the end of the episode we jump to 30 cycles
later, where he’s now a seasoned expert, accustomed to the work, accustomed to the
slop they’re fed, accustomed to the threat of daily torture and he’s just keeping his
head down…for now. One of my favorite things about this arc is
how, despite the prison incentivizing animosity between the inmates, literally pitting them
against eachother for decent food or the threat of torture. But in spite of that there is no animus between
prisoners, a few minor squabbles but we dont get the trope of the prison bully, or the
cafeteria fight, or what have you. In fact prisoners from other floors communicate
messages to each other through sign language while they wait in these long hallways every
day. Although the prison encourages infighting,
these people are already working together wherever possible. Also, its a little thing but did you notice
how whenever Cassian is on program, in the way he holds himself, with his hands barely
touching the sides of his head. And often when they activate the floors, you’ll
see him stand on that floor until the last possible second. Cassian is always doing the bare minimum of
compliance unless he’s trying to stay under the radar. And I love it. In episode 9, we see Cassian, Melshi, and
another prisoner Birnok, have already started to formulate an escape plan, but they need
more information about the prison. Information that Kino as the foreman might
have access to. Throughout the episode Cassian pesters Kino
asking how many guards are on each floor, and Kino just stonewalls him, telling him
he’s better off just waiting out his sentence. In one particularly gutting scene Cassian
says nobody is listening, with the ever present threat of the floors they’re overconfident
in their control, and with the resentencing initiative they have an endless supply of
cheap labor. [Cassian] “We are nothing to them. We're cheaper than droids and easier to replace.” Meanwhile Ulaf’s sentence is almost up, but he’s not doing well. He seems forgetful, and has more difficulty
with the quick precision of their daily builds. Kino, seems to see Ulaf struggling, and genuinely
tries to help, by reminding him that he’s almost free. [Kino] “You are the next man out. You are the shortest of the short.” But at the end of a work day while they wait
in that long hallway something strange happens. The power is cut, and prisoners from other
floors are frantically signing something that Birnok and Taga can’t quite figure out. Kino tells them all to shut up and stop freaking
out over nothing. [Kino] “How many hands does it take for one word to get through up here?” The next morning they learn a whole level was fried. 100 men were killed and nobody knows why. And Kino in particular is horrified, he really
thought as long as the prisoners were good and served out their sentence they would be
fine. Cassian coaches him to say nothing so the
guards won't hear them talking. [Kino] "We have heard nothing!" "It's another day...another shift..." It's here where Ulaf collapses at the end
of the shift. But everyone at the table covers for him,
trying to keep the guards attention away from the man who is clearly dying [Cassian] “Ulaf. Hey, look at me. Almost there.” As they head out into the waiting area, Kino
calls for the medic to come look at him. Everybody is cleared out of the hall except
for Kino, Cassian, and Ulaf. And the doctor…oh this doctor. [Rhasiv] “Look at me, brother.”
[Cassian] “His name is Ulaf.” [Rhasiv] “I don't wanna know his name.” Kino keeps stressing that he’s only got 40 shifts left, they just need something
to get him back on his feet. The doctor, whose name is Rhasiv, says thats
not an option, and he says Ulaf is lucky to go out this way. [Rhasiv] “Another week like this, and you'll be begging for what he's getting.” And with that ominous rejoinder they ask him
what happened to the men on level 2. He tells them a man who had just been released
on level 4 was immediately put back in on level 2. When word got out they killed them all. And Kino, who spent the whole of these last
two episodes being the model prisoner, keeping his men in line, gets the most satisfying
line of dialogue in the series thus far. After being asked over and over again [Cassian] "How many guards on each level." "How many guards on each level." Cassian asks him one more time
"How many guards on each level." And Kino replies
"Never more than twelve." And when I tell I screamed and punched the air like holy shit. But I need to talk about the medic. I said Narkina was part concentration camp
and never was I more reminded of this than when we met Rhasiv. [Rhasiv] “I can't help him. I can't help anyone.” In Olga Lengyel’s book, the Five Chimneys,
she describes her time working as a nurse in Auschwitz in the bleakest of terms. With limited to no resources and Nazi guards
breathing down their necks, often their best option was to literally kill a patient. “The most poignant problem that faced us
in caring for our companions was that of the accouchements. As soon as a baby was delivered at the infirmary,
mother and child were both sent to the gas chamber. That was the unrelenting decision of our masters. Only when the infant was not likely to survive
or when it was stillborn was the mother ever spared and allowed to return to her barrack. The conclusion we drew from this was simple:
the Germans did not want the newborn to live; if they did, the mothers, too, must die. One day we decided we had been weak
long enough. We must at least save the mothers. To carry out our plan, we would have to make
the infants pass for stillborn. Even so, many precautions must be taken, for
if the Germans were ever to suspect it, we, too, would be sent to the gas chamber--and
probably to the torture chamber first.” And the way the medic Rhasiv talks to Kino
and Cassian. Saying he doesn’t want to know Ulafs name,
telling them killing him is kinder, and all he can do for the man, reminded me viscerally
of Olga Lengyel. And it's not just the doctor who reminded
me of this. You see in the Sonderkommando Uprising of
Auschwitz, it was important to have higher ups involved for the information and power
they possessed. Just like in Narkina, prisoners were often
used as foreman and leaders over their work groups, and one Oberkapo named Kaminsky was
instrumental to the Auschwitz uprising. I don’t have any photos of the man but he
was mentioned in several accounts. One survivor, Daniel Bennahmias was terrified
of Kaminsky, who he remembered as a ferocious overseer. But Filip Muller remembered Kaminsky as a
strong leader, one who once talked him down from an attempted suicide. When Kaminsky died in the uprising, Filip
Muller said the resistance lost one of its best that day. And I just thought of Kaminsky a lot while
watching Kino in these episodes as he rises to lead a prison revolt. If you want to learn more about the Auschwitz
uprising I did a whole video about it, I’ll link to it in the description. Outside of the prison story of this arc we
see Mon Mothma working with Tay Kolma to realize just how screwed she is with her money situation
and how she needs to find a way to replace the funds she gave to the rebellion or she’ll
be caught. We also learn Vel is her cousin and rather
ironically, its Vel’s Rebellion antics which have made things worse for Mon. And Tay’s solution to her money troubles
is to bring in this guy, a slightly sleazy Chandrilan businessman who would give her
the funds, but in exchange he wants his son to meet her daughter, as an introduction,
for them to be married. She says no she won't even consider it but [Davo Sculdan] "That's the first untrue thing you've said." Meanwhile Cereal Korn and Space Karen meet and it's
truly a match made in hell. She questions him about his failure on Ferrix
and says she might put something positive about him in her report or whatever, so now
he has a creepy crush and he stalks her. Its…a time… Dedra keeps on her mission to uncover this
rebel network and the figure she names Axis. It's funny how right and wrong she is here
because she too thinks Cassian is a central player and current threat. Nobody realizes he’s in one of their prisons
right now, orchestrating a prison break. She also goes to Ferrix and tortures Bix for
information about Cassian and Axis in one of the most upsetting sequences in the show. We never hear what is played for Bix on these
headphones but we’re told it's the sound of a now genocided species, in particular
it's the sound of the children dying. [Bix Screaming] At one point they question her about this man Anto Kreegyr and it's clear that no matter what she does, she’s screwed. And she has no idea who this guy is. But Luthen knows him. Luthen who is still anxious that Cassian is
out there somewhere knowing too much about him. [Luthen] “You’re guessing”
[Kleya] “And you’re slipping!” [Luthen] “I’m not slipping, I’ve just
been hiding for too long.” Afterwards, Luthen goes to meet with Saw Garrera
to plan a joint mission with Anto Kreegyr to attack an Imperial power station at Spellhaus,
and in exchange he’s going to give Saw supplies. Saw doesn’t want to work with Kreegyr because
he says he lacks a clarity of purpose. Speaking of clarity of purpose. Back in Narkina, Cassian says tomorrow they
need to move on their plan. Kino is still shell shocked but Cassian tells
him tomorrow is their best chance. He says the people running this prison are
afraid. That they just killed 100 men to keep them
quiet. [Kino] “I’d call that power.”
[Cassian] “Power doesn't panic.” “I would rather die trying to take them
down, than die giving them what they want.” In their bunk that night, Cassian tells them
all that Ulaf is dead, that the rumors are true, and they’re sending men back into
prison after their sentence is up. And Kino finally cracks, yelling at everyone,
"No one is getting out!" He speaks from his bunk, and in an excellent
detail you can hear his words being passed down the hall as he speaks to the whole floor
and tells them its all true, they’re not letting them go ever so they need to figure
this out. The next morning when he wakes up its clear
he’s made up his mind. He tells everybody,
"We are done with counting shifts!" He tells them there is only one way out. And they can play it how they want but he’s
going to assume he’s already dead. [Kino] "Lets make it look good." On the floor, Cassian goes to the bathroom to a wall panel we saw him futzing with before. He’s been trying to saw through this pipe,
now with this spanner he manages to whack at it until it starts to leak and then flood. This is their plan to short out the floor. The warning for On Program is called and inmates
are hiding tools behind their heads for the fight as they bring a new man down the lift. Cassian comes out just in time and soaking
wet. But the guards don’t notice, they’re too
busy harassing the new inmate. And when the time is right Ham and Xaul start
a pretend fight and Cassian uses that as cover to jam the lift halfway to the ground. And bless this new guy who immediately takes
the opportunity to try and join in, he’s quickly shot and killed, while Cassian and
Birnok attempt to climb the lift. Prisoners start throwing tools and pieces
of equipment at the guards. When they realize the floor is about to be
activated most of them climb onto the tables and in a stroke of luck or something else,
Kino survives as the floor shorts out beneath him, but another man is electrocuted to death. And from there all hell breaks loose [Kino] "ATTACK!" People are dying left and right, Birnok dies, Xaul dies, and Kino just tells them all to climb! [Kino] "Come on! Climb!" Once they get up into the hallways they take
out the guards and move to other floors, sending down lifts and telling prisoners to join them. And Cassian and Kino make their way to the
control room, where they are preparing to activate all the floors in the facility to
control or kill all the inmates. Remember Cassian said they’re cheaper than
droids? But the pair quickly take control of the room,
killing one guy and getting the other two to shut off all the floors and stand to the
side. [Cassian] "On Program! Now!" You're doing amazing sweetie
[clap clap] But now Cassian insists that Kino get on the
PA and address all the inmates. Because Kino has been getting men to follow
him for years. So he gets up to the mic and delivers one
of the most incredible speeches, and thats saying something because there is another
banger coming THIS VERY EPISODE. I’m going to have to read most of it because
copyright, sorry I am nowhere near on Andy Serkis’ level. But Kino gets on the mic and tells everybody
his name, that he’s a day shift worker on level 5, and they have control of the facility. All the floors are cold. He tells them to get out, to take charge,
to start climbing. And then he looks at Cassian as he quotes
his own words back at him. [Kino] "And I would rather die trying to take them
down than giving them what they want." And he tells them “We know they fried a hundred men on Level Two. We know that they are making up our sentences
as we go along. We know that no one outside here knows what's
happening. And now we know, that when they say we are
being released, we are being transferred to some other prison to go and die and that ends
today! There is one way out. Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who
is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind
us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been
working, we will be home in no time. One Way Out” And then he chants one way out and the whole prison screams it with him. Its very satisfying to see all the guards
cowering behind a door because they really were relying on fear and pain to do the work
for them and it wasn't enough. The inmates race for the exit which is simply
an exit, high in the air over the ocean, and they all start to jump in the water. All except for Kino. [Cassian] "What's wrong!"
[Kino] "I can’t swim!" Cassian gets knocked into the water before he can even fully understand what Kino was
trying to tell him but we’re left knowing Kino is quite probably going to be killed
or worked to death in yet another prison. And the worst part, The worst part, is that
Kino knew. All the prisoners can clearly see they’re
in the middle of the ocean when they get left at Narkina 5. And Kino's knowing this recontextualizes everything. His willingness to just submit because no
prison break would end with him alive, his upset as he learns they can't just be good
inmates and serve out their sentence. The emotion he shows as he gives that final
speech. He told his fellow inmates on level 5
"Play it how you want...But I'm gonna assume I'm already dead." He didn’t get up on a table with the other
inmates when they shorted out the floor. And finally, when he said over and over again,
there’s one way out. That way out meant his demise and he made
it their battle cry. I just….I have a lot of feelings about Kino but this episode ISN'T DONE because hey remember this guy? He’s gotten a lot of closeups during all
the imperial briefings. His name is Lonni Jung and it turns out he’s
a double agent working for Luthen. He’s got a daughter now and he wants out
so he comes with information. The Empire knows about Kreegyr, they know
about Spellhaus and he tries to hand all this information over as a way out. Of course it's not like the Empire is gonna
let this guy retire and Luthen tells him so. When Lonni gets upset, saying Luthen doesn’t
appreciate his sacrifice. Luthen tells him he does appreciate his sacrifice. And Kreegyr and all of his men will die so
his daughter still has her father. He tells Lonni that they need heroes, people
like him. Lonni asks what Luthen is sacrificing and
we get our second banger speech that I have to read most of again because as I said before
it's a banger. Sorry I’m also not at Stellan Skarsgård’s
level So he tells Lonni that he sacrifices calm,
kindness, kinship. And he says “I’ve given up all chance at inner peace, I’ve made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote
15 years ago from which there’s only one conclusion: I’m damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield,
my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice
without contemplating the cost, and by the time I looked down, there was no longer any
ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy
to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life, to make a sunrise that I know
I’ll never see. No, the ego that started this fight will never
have a mirror, or an audience, or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? [Luthen] "EVERYTHING!" And from this speech about what he’s given up to fight fascism. About the need for heroes. We cut to Cassian and Melshi, running for
their lives across a beach in the dead of night. They don’t know it yet but they’ll be
those heroes one day. So Andor engages with Rogue One, and all of
Star Wars in a lot of interesting and unexpected ways. Like we always knew the rebellion pilots wear
orange and white. And now we know those are the colors of their
prison uniforms on Narkina 5. They took what the Empire used to try and
shove them down and made it into their fucking flag how rad is that? But then theres the fact that Cassian’s
home on Kenari seemed to full of the color yellow, Cassian was wearing it himself when
he got taken to Ferrix. And there again, the color yellow is all over
the place. Cassian’s been one color away from Rebellion
his whole life. And yes Andor is a prequel series that will
connect directly to Rogue One but what's interesting is where the show aligns with and contradicts
are previous knowledge of the character. Everybody remembers this line [Cassian] “I've been in this fight since I was six years old.” We all assumed Cassian was a child soldier
for the rebellion but it's more complicated than that. At this point the Wookiepedia article for
him is a mess of stuff from like, The Rogue One: Visual Companion that might not be canonical
anymore about him joining an insurrectionist cell when he was a child. I’m not sure Maarva and Clem would have
signed off on that. But in the show we learn he was imprisoned
when he was a young teenager and forced into military service when he was sixteen. He worked as a cook and then deserted. So does that make this line [Cassian] “I've been in this fight since I was six years old.” Wrong? No, not really. They clearly were considering it as they came
up with this story. [Diego Luna] “You remember there was a--a
line in uh…Rogue One?" "Where the character says: ‘I’ve been in
this fight since I was six years old’ right?” [Audience cheering] [Luna] “So now we’re gonna meet that man you know?" "The wounded man that couldn't have a childhood
who's been fighting since he was six years old.” So instead it becomes about what Cassian considers
as the fight. According to the Star Wars Databank encyclopedia,
Cassian was 9 when he was taken from Kenari by Maarva. So maybe he was six when his parents died
along with all the other adults in this mysterious mining accident on Kenari that seemingly left
this gaggle of children orphaned and fending for themselves. I think given what we know about Cassian its
fair to say his fight is as much about surviving as it is about winning. There’s a lot of interesting nuggets like
that to think about and consider with this show. But there is one bit that is just particularly
funny to me? So all the Rogue One materials said Cassian
was from Fest. And fans really ran with that? Just a lot of folks talking about Cassian
speaking the language of fest, reminiscing about his home world Fest etc, etc. So to have Andor just casually retcon this
information? [Maarva] "We have always said Fest. Every doc I submitted has always said you were born on Fest!" It's just really funny to me. I probably mentioned Fest in my silly opus
too, and I’m too lazy to change it. I can’t explain why but thousands of fanfics
being canonically wrong is so goddamn hilarious to me. There’s also the way this show connects
and further builds up characters like Mon Mothma and Saw Garrera, both of whom have
existed prior to Rogue One of course, Mon Mothma was in Return of the Jedi played by
Caroline Blakiston, she was voice by Kath Soucie in the Clone Wars cartoon, and in Rebels,
Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, and Andor she has been played by Genevieve O’Rielly. Although I think it's fair to say Andor is
the first time we learned much of anything about her. [Mon Mothma] "Perhaps you find my politics a bit strong for your taste." Saw Garrera was introduced in the Clone Wars
cartoon as a separatist insurgent voiced by Andrew Kishino. When we meet him later during Rebels, he’s
voiced by Forest Whittaker and closer to the hard edged, somewhat unstable character we
know in Rogue One. But once again, Andor gives us some of the
most interesting characterization we’ve seen of him. Here fighting the empire has made him increasingly
paranoid of betrayal and infiltration. We see the cost of constant fighting on his
mental state in moments like this one [Saw] “You have people everywhere don’t you?”
[Luthen] “You’re avoiding the question.” [Saw] “All of your sources.”
[Luthen] “Try to concentrate.” and this? [Saw] “I am the only one with clarity of purpose.” Which I feel like is some of the best characterization
we’ve gotten of him yet. And then there’s Duncan Pow’s Sergeant
Melshi. Melshi was a minor character in Rogue One. A recognizable face that showed up in a bunch
of scenes. He spent enough time onscreen that when he
died I went, aww that guy! Sorry Melshi, I did not learn your name until
I wrote fanfic. Funnily enough, this character is named Pao? [Cassian] “Melshi? Pao” I genuinely wonder if that was a gag on Duncan's last name? But when he showed up in Rogue One I legit
was like [Whistling and pointing]
But then there are also the thematic connections to Rogue One and motifs carrying over from
it which are just EVERYWHERE. First off there’s people yelling climb before
they die [Nemik] “Climb!” [Kino] “You need to run! Climb! "Climb!” [K-2SO] “Climb!...Climb!” credit to Tumblr User Hobbitinthetardis for
this joke, but truly it is like Tony Gilroy said “I am going to make a show that has
so much climb motif!” There's little moments like this one [Cassian] “Nobody's listening. Nobody!”
[Cassian] “Do you think anybody's listening?” Also when we first met Cassian in Rogue One,
we saw him kill a man. At the beginning of Andor we get a similar
introduction but this time he’s much more panicked and less self assured. Over the course of the season we see what
this man will kill for. Initially it's just out of fear and self defense,
then, maybe it's for a team, and by the end it's for freedom. Also there’s a lot of references to Cassian’s
inevitable demise. Since this is a show where the ending is already
known, it's about the journey and the tragedy that we know is coming. Gilroy is not out to shock an audience with
some incredible unexpected twist, he’s just telling a good story. I mean there were a few surprises but I’ll
get to that. The references to Cassian’s fate are devastating,
whether its little moments like Cassian standing on this beach at the end of episode 11 wondering
whether his mother was proud of him. [Cassian] “Tell her I’m thinking about
her…She’d be proud of me.” Remember that he told Jyn in their final moments? [Cassian] “Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn.” There’s Luthens big speech in episode 10
where he says “I burn my future for a sunrise I’ll never
see” Or this very subtle one that I did not catch. Big ups to tumblr user Kamillahn for catching
this. One of the first lines of dialogue in episode
1, is this bartender handing Cassian his drink and telling him [Bartender] “You pay at the end” And as we know from Rogue One, he certainly
does. In the opening of the episode 11 we catch
up with Cassian and Melshi, clinging to the edge of a rock face, waiting for the imperial
ships to pass them by [Melshi] ”Tell me they’re leaving?
[Cassian] “They’re leaving” But from there we go to Ferrix where and IM GOING TO CRY OVER A DROID I think this is the first time Star Wars has ever cared about a droid this much. Most Star Wars media treats them as comedy
relief, or Worse [Baby Yoda hitting a button to say yes repeatedly in a dead IG-11 voice] and asks you not to think about how they’re basically slaves. But Beemo’s personhood is respected here
in a way that makes me FEEL THINGS. You see Maarva has died, off screen, simply
from complications of old age. We checked in with her on Ferrix a few times,
hearing about her decline in health, but her passing is a quiet, uneventful affair. And the only one left in that home now is
Beemo. And the way Brasso kneels down and just talks
to him? Asking if he wants some time alone with Maarva
before they take her away? [B2EMO] “I d-d-don't want to be alone I want
Ma-Ma-Maarva” It really feels like the conversation one
might have with a small child. And we sit with Bee as Maarva’s body is
carried away. Later we learn that Ferrix has a particular
funerary tradition. After two days of mourning, the body is burned,
and the ashes are mixed with Ferrix dirt and mortar to make a brick. And then... [Corv] “They find you a wall” The idea that Ferrix is built on the remains
of its dead, that the living are lifted by those who came before. I have a lot of feelings about that. Meanwhile, Vel comes back to Coruscant to
try and talk to Luthen, instead Kleya is the one there to meet her. And in this scene Vel is cocky, full of bluster
as she tries to get a meeting with Luthen right now. Kleya is frustrated telling her they have
rules for a reason, there’s a process. Finally Vel tells her,
”I gave him Aldhani what have you done lately?” And Kleya tells Vel there is no lately, she
has Always. She has her hands full with hundreds of spinning
plates and knives on the floor [Kleya] “And needy panicked faces at the
window of which you are but one of many.” Which….holy shit…tell me everything about
you Kleya I’m FASCINATED But, this seems to get Vel to listen, she
tells Kleya that Maarva is dead, and people are gathering for her funeral. They think Cassian might show up. And Kleya looks really upset by this information?? I have a personal pet theory that Maarva knew
Luthen, and that's how Luthen knew all that stuff about Cassian and wanted him in the
rebellion so bad? We know Maarva was a rebel, and Luthen knew
Everything about Cassian, but he didn’t learn it from Bix. He even knew about how Clem died and how long
Cassian was forced to serve in the military when he was 16. That’s just my theory, I could be wrong,
I don’t think I am though. But from there Vel goes to see Mon Mothma,
whose daughter apparently just wants to become a tradwife? She’s just going hardcore fundamentalist
to spite her mother. And Mon Mothma is seriously considering Davo
Sculdan’s offer. Her daughter definitely would be willing right
now, but it's still a bit of selling her daughter to save her skin. We also check in with the clown car brigade
aka Syril and Sergeant Mosk, the guy he worked with on the botched Ferrix operation. Mosk heard about Cassian’s mother dying
and tells Syril about the funeral. Also shoutout to Syril’s awful mom? [Eedy] “The mystery of your former triumphs have been vanquished. I can sleep peacefully now.” Listen they both suck but she makes me laugh. Syril, I think, steals some of his mo'ms money
to run off. Clearly he plans to be a white knight and
save the day or something. But on the other end of the spectrum there’s
Luthen going to see Saw. Now that he knows Kreegyr’s whole mission
is blown he comes to Saw to call him off. But he’s unsure of whether or not he actually
wants to let Kreegyr and his men walk into a trap and die. If he does, the ISB will feel untouchable,
and they’ll be easier to manipulate. But if he tells Kreegyr, 30 or so dudes get
to live, and he will lose his inside man. Hearing him lay all this out, Saw begins to
question whether Luthen himself is an ISB plant, because he has people everywhere. [Saw] “All of your sources!”
[Luthen]“Try to concentrate.” Because he is casually discussing sacrificing
an ally. [Saw] “It’s 30 men!”
[Luthen] “Plus Kreegyr” Saw gets a little lost in his paranoia until Luthen literally pulls a gun on him… [Luthen] “I’m doing this so you’ll listen.” Finally Saw seems to grasp the question at
hand. Luthen is asking Saw to make the choice whether
or not to sacrifice 30 men [Luthen] “Plus Kreegyr.” And Saw says yes [Saw] "For the greater good."
[Luthen] “Call it what you will.” [Saw] “Let's call it…war” And it’s rare to see Luthen expressing doubt about his actions but this is the man who said [Luthen] “I burn my decency for someone
else's future” and I think he’s thinking about this stuff
constantly and just not saying it out loud. But then he gets in his ship the Fondor and
has the sickest ship fight ever when some Imperials make the mistake of trying to pull
him over for nothing. Luthen just decimates them and flies away.
[Curb Your Enthusiasm Music] Meanwhile Cassian and Melshi on Narkina find a couple of dudes with an old raggedy ship
and they try to steal it, but these two critters catch them in slimy nets before they even
get close. Love these weird little guys by the way, they
talk like funky pirates [Narkanian] “Scob the Empire. They not be killing ye.” They talk about how the prisons are fouling
the water on the planet making it hard for the inhabitants to live, and once Cassian
and Melshi explain they are not the Empire, they escaped the Empire, these dudes go alright
cool, where you headed [Cassian] “Niamos?” Back on Niamos, Cassian is able to sneak into
that hotel room to grab his gun and his money. And Nemik’s manifesto [Nemik] “Tyranny requi--”
[Recording stops] But he heads back out to make a call back to Ferrix. He’s able to reach this guy, Xan, who we
met in the opening episodes. They haggled over the cost of Cassian getting
a ride somewhere. Now Cassian is calling to ask Xan to pass
on a message to Maarva. [Cassian] “Tell her I’m thinking about
her…She’d be proud of me.” And its Xan who has to break the news
“Your mother's dead.” And we’re left in a horrible quiet as Cassian
processes the news and then goes to Melshi, who is standing by the beach. Melshi asks how many people Cassian thinks
made it out [Cassian] “Not enough.”
[Melshi] “What if it’s just us?” Melshi says people need to know what's happening
on Narkina. So Cassian gives him the extra blaster he
stole off a PreMor agent in episode 1 and wishes him good luck. And we end with Cassian staring out at a sunrise
on a beach. A reminder of what's to come in his future. In the final episode, Rix Road, all the pieces
fall into place, but not in the way one might have expected going in. Dedra arrives back on Ferrix and tours the
area with this guy, Corv who's been lurking around the last few episodes. And a fun note here is for all that they might
be wearing the right clothes they don’t fit in at all. They’re too clean, everybody on Ferrix is
a little bit worn and dirty and they stand out like sore thumbs. Also Cinta is tracking them, and excitedly
tells Vel when she arrives what information she’s gathered instead of picking Vel up
from the port. It’s a little bit sad actually, I hope they
can work this out in season 2. Vel also catches up with Luthen who explains
that they’ll let the Empire find Cassian for them, and then they’ll kill him [Luthen] “We just need him dead before they start asking questions.” And after taking Cassian’s call the night
before Xan tells Brasso that Cassian knows about Maarva. Brasso tells him to keep it quiet but unfortunately
they’ve got a local turncoat with Nurchi, who Cassian owed money at the beginning of
the season. Nurchi overhears and later gets the details
out of Xan and reports it to the ISB. Even these two dipshits head to Ferrix, having
an absolute clown car moment on the way where they switch hats? …these two are ridiculous. I don't even know what to do with them. Back on Corsuscant, Mon Mothma decides to
gaslight gatekeep girlboss her own husband. As she sits in the car where their driver,
who is an ISB plant, can listen in, she makes up a tale about how he’s gambling again
and she fears where he’s getting the money from. Perrin mostly sucks so honestly this made
me cheer a little but I will allow one iota of sympathy for the guy who was also forced
into a loveless marriage when he was 15. Anyway the driver reports it back to the ISB
who take it exactly the way she wanted them to. They assume the odd banking records they’ve
seen were Perrin stealing Mon’s money. And then all the ISB dudes go and celebrate
a successful mission, since Kreegyr and his 30 men are now dead. Dedra’s the only one who's mad about it
because dead people can’t give them information. Fortunately for the rebels they don’t listen
to her, as all eyes turn to Maarva’s funeral on Ferrix, waiting for Cassian to appear. And in the early dawn hours, Cassian slips
into town, unseen and unnoticed. He has a moment with his father, Clem’s
funerary stone. Brushing off some of the dust as he remembers
what his father once told him [Clem] “They don't look down, they don't
look past the rust. Not us though, eh?” Seemingly fortified by the memory he moves
on to sneak into Bix’s yard. But he doesn’t find Bix, instead he finds
Pegla and his weird dog things. In episode 1 we saw Pegla out in this ship
scrapyard. He got into a fight with Cassian and told
him not to show his face there again. But here, after everything he simply gives
Cassian a hug and says he’s sorry about his mum. It’s sweet actually. And Cassian asks where Bix is and well… [Cassian] “Where is she?” We don’t know what his plans were before
but I think this is the moment he completely switches gears. That night he listens to Nemik’s manifesto “Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle.” And he says to try. A notable line in a franchise famous for this line
[Yoda] “do or do not, there is no try.” It's a phrase that sounds cool but can feel
a little defeatist at times. Here we are simply told that trying is enough. All you have to do is try. The next morning he meets Brasso in the tunnels
beneath the city. The tunnels Maarva tried to investigate which
do indeed lead to underneath the hotel the ISB have occupied. But Cassian meets Brasso down there and we
have another A+ hug. Cassian tells Brasso how he tried to come
back for Maarva before, and Brasso knows. Maarva told him. She also told him to tell Cassian that none
of this was his fault. That he knows everything he needs to know
and feels everything he needs to feel. [Brasso] “Tell him…I love him more than anything he could ever do wrong.” God this scene gets me. Maarva was a complicated woman but I’m glad
she was able to send him this message. The pair more or less agree, Cassian will
go get Bix, Brasso will take care of Maarva. At the mouth of the tunnel, Pegla is keeping
watch for when it's safe to move, because he is an A+ dude, when the time is right he
signals for Cass to hide up in this crows nest sort of deal. When everything is ready, he will go back
into the tunnels and head for the hotel. But now it's time for Maarva’s funeral. The ISB folk had so casually talked about
denying them permits, trying to limit where the funeral could be held and how many could
attend. But for all that talk and bluster, Ferrix
is not listening. A band begins to play the funeral march. That’s a real band playing live by the way. You can hear the slight discordance of it
which makes it feel all the more real. These aren’t professionals. These are laborers who pull out their instruments
on ceremonial occasions. You can tell this is the tune they’ve played
for years. For every funeral. In her cell, Bix can hear it and along because
she’s heard it her whole life. And with Brasso, holding Maarva’s brick,
and Beemo beside him, and the full band behind them, they walk through the town. More than 30 or 40 people are there almost
instantly. They form up and on Beemo’s signal they
march down Rix Road to the central square, where they chant stone and sky [Ferrixians] ”Stone and sky, stone and sky, stone and sky” And then it's time for Maarva’s eulogy, delivered by Maarva herself. Beemo recorded it and projects her big and
loud for everyone to hear. It’s another rad speech. She talks of her memories of being young and
attending a funeral, feeling the weight and meaning of being lifted up by those who came
before you. But then she goes on to say: "We’ve been sleeping. We’ve had each other, and Ferrix, our work, our days. We had each other, and they left us alone. We kept the trade lanes open, and they left
us alone. We took their money and ignored them, we kept
their engines churning, and the moment they pulled away, we forgot them. Because we had each other. We had Ferrix. But we were sleeping. I’ve been sleeping. And I’ve been turning away from the truth
I wanted not to face. There is a wound that won’t heal at the
center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into
everything around us. We let it grow, and now it’s here. It’s here, and it’s not visiting anymore. It wants to stay. The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness,
it is never more alive than when we sleep. It’s easy for the dead to tell you to fight,
and maybe it’s true, maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it’s too late. But I’ll tell you this…If I could do it again, I’d wake up early and be fighting these bastards …from the start." [Maarva] “Fight the Empire!” As Maarva speaks we see the Imperials looking
on with increasing anxiety and then frustration. We see Luthen, listening, and watching. Absorbing her words. We see Cassian racing through the tunnels,
climbing up the stairs into the hotel, looking for Bix. And by the way, during the filming of some
of these scenes it sounds like they played a recording of the funeral march for Diego
and he said it made him cry. Diego Luna’s mother died in a car accident
when he was two years old. I imagine this material might hit close to
home for him, he said he didn’t want the character crying in these scenes but he was
having a hard time Not crying. And as Maarva’s speech plays in the episode,
we also see the crowd of people looking up at her. Brasso, Xan, Wilmon Paak, whose father was
recently hung in the square, and many others too. And they are getting angry. To quote another series that I loved [Mr. Nancy] “Angry is good. Angry gets shit done” So when this ISB guy tries to put a stop to things by kicking over Beemo, the result is
nearly instantaneous. [Imperial dickhead] “ENOUGH”
[Everybody starts screaming] Maarva Andor sends her regards BITCH! Don’t bring a gun to an old lady brick fight
you fools!!!! I'm sorry the memes were too good. A riot breaks out as people fight against
the Imperials, in visuals that are eerily similar to what we’ve seen over the last
few years when people protested against police violence. Good old Pegla gets Beemo out of there safe
and sound but Xan along with many others die in the ensuing fight. At one point, Wilmon, who in the beginning
of the episode was building something, now throws that something at the imperials. It's a bomb. Which goes off, near a bunch of crates of
their own munitions. Because Andor, much like international sensation
'RRR,' thinks it's pretty sick to blow fascists up with their own bombs. Also at some point during the chaos, Cinta
stabs this Imperial dickhead and its Awesome and my favorite man basically, This Is Spartas a
trooper off his belltower? God bless Meanwhile, Cassian finds Bix in her cell. There’s this one heartbreaking moment when
she tells him Maarva was just here and he smiles [Cassian] “Wasn’t she great?” but initially Bix is too scared to go. It takes a bunch of explosions and some coaxing
for Cassian to get her out the door and on the move. Also in a beat that thoroughly disappointed
me, Cereal Korn is able to white knight space Karen out of harm's way. I sincerely hope they get blown up in season 2. Brasso was able to get Wilmon out of the square,
and he, along with Jezzi, a prominent member of the daughters of Ferrix and Beemo, are
on one of Pegla’s ships trying to get out of there, when Cassian shows up with Bix. [B2EMO] “Ca-Ca-Cassian”
[Cassian] “Help her up” “She’s coming around, c’mon.” But Cassian’s not coming with them. He tells Jezzi how to fly them out and Beemo
is saddened by the news. [B2EMO] “I n-n-never got to see you.” Cassian tells him to take care of Bix, and
that Cassian is counting on him. [B2EMO] “You always say that.”
[Cassian] “And you always come through.” Bix tells Bee not to worry, because Cassian will find them again. [Cassian] “I will. I’ll find you....Now go! Go! Go!” Once before Maarva had told Cassian she had
to stay and she had to go even though he would worry about her constantly. [Maarva] “That’s just love. Nothing you can do about that." Now he is following in his mother’s footsteps,
heading for the rebellion, and loving his family from a distance. So Cassian leaves as their ship takes off
and flies away. In the final moments of the episode we see
the aftermath of the battle. Mosk looks sad, drinking in some alley. Luthen takes a speeder back to the Fondor. On Coruscant, Mon Mothma is setting up Leida
to meet Davo Sculdan’s son and she looks eager to become a tradwife. And on Luthen’s ship, Cassian is already
there waiting for him. He tells Luthen to either kill him, or take
him into the Rebellion. And Luthen….laughs. And we are left staring at a Cassian who is
not quite the man we knew or the man we will come to know. He’s on the brink of that change, almost
but not quite there yet. And in the post credits scene, we see the
pieces they were building in Narkina 5 were pieces for the Death Star. Which means Cassian helped build the thing
that will kill him. And I have a lot of feelings about THAT. Now in terms of, predictions for season 2. We know we will see how Cassian met K-2S0 [Alan Tudyk] “Do you need a droid in this one? Other than the ball thing?” [Diego Luna] “I don’t think so.”
[Alan Tudyk] “OTHER THAN THE BALL!” We know that the season is going to end with
Cassian heading to the Rings of Kafrene where we saw him at the start of Rogue One. There’s a few other things that have been
announced but there are also the things I want to see in season 2. Like I'm hoping Cassian finds his sister. But…Mainly…in the final episode I want a cold open with Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso convincing Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook to defect and take that message to Saw Gerrera. Maybe in the middle of the episode we can
see Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso being arrested. And in the final moments of the episode we
could cut between Bodhi escaping the Empire with the message, Jyn being sent to the prison
on Wobani, and Cassian stepping onto the shuttle bound for the Rings of Kafrene. And THEN, in a post credits scene I want Brasso,
Bix, or whoever makes it on Ferrix to lay a brick for Cassian. Because after watching Andor, we now know,
unlike the rest of the Rogues, Cassian had people. And I want there to be people left who can
mourn him and honor his sacrifice. I know it's silly and he’s fictional but
it would mean a lot to me. And in terms of the bigger ideas behind the
series…I mean how refreshing to see something coming from the Disney Empire that has some
thoughts on its mind. Which is something that I think Tony Gilroy,
Diego Luna, and the entire creative team should be praised for. And this season ended up being everything
I could have wanted from a show about Cassian Andor. Of course, realistically I think some of how
this show got made with all of its radical politics is that…while its real world parallels
are pretty clear and pointed, they are discussed in oblique unspecific terms. Freedom and tyranny and light and dark. While it's obvious what the messages are, [Gilroy] “It’s an easy analogy to the nazis but I mean…you go along, people go along!” But I mean…nobody in this show is talking
about the evils of late stage capitalism…well except for Nemik for 5 seconds “Can't be jammed or intercepted. Something breaks, you can fix it yourself." "We've grown reliant on Imperial tech, and we've made ourselves vulnerable.” The show is smart and handles its ideas well
but I’m sure there are racist transphobic antisemitic assholes who could still watch
this show and go…Cassian is just like me! Well maybe not the racists. Watching this show does not actually replace
real world political action but I think it does a great job of inspiring said action
because… The thing I love about Andor, and Rogue One
as well. The thing I tried to express in my original
Rogue One video but maybe failed to do, was to say that…. Its easy to say shit is fucked. Its easy to stand in the rain and say shit
it's raining. And it's true, things are bad right now. Like wow imagine living with a rising fascism,
police brutality, mass death, and a system that unjustly pushes down everybody who doesn’t
neatly fit within it. Did you think I was describing the Star War,
No Ah Hah I made a clever joke. It's easy to say the world is ending and do
nothing. It's hard to look at a broken world and say
something must be done. In the Pirkei Avot there is a saying “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” In fact this show depicts Just how hard that
is! Cassian at every turn just wants to live his
life but this system won't let him. It pushes him down deeper and deeper until
the only alternative is to act. Jyn was able to simply ignore it. [Jyn] “It's not a problem if you don't look
up.” which even in that movie was a subtle commentary
on privilege, but now in a show starring Diego Luna, we see that some people don't have the
option to just look down. In fact it's the people who are able to just
‘not look up’, that in a way, are still benefiting from the system. Jyn could ignore it, Cassian can’t. If you’re ignoring a system thats killing
people, if you’re doing nothing but standing around and saying shits fucked, without trying
to find an umbrella, then you’re part of the problem. And this show says over and over again by
not choosing a side, a side is chosen for you. People like Mon Mothma have the luxury to
worry over their own morality while Cassian doesn’t even have the option to worry about
it. He’s always cornered, he’s always forced
to make a choice. I wonder if the same will be true for him
in season 2. Right now in America, and frankly most western
countries, one side wants to live and the other wants to dominate. One side is fighting for basic rights and
the other is upset they can’t say the N Word anymore [Bo Burnham] “We used to own all the money and land,
and we still do but it's not as fun now.” The Paradox of Tolerance is something that
a philosopher by the name of Karl Popper described as “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the
disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those
who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught
of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.—In
this formulation,” Or to quote Adam Bates,
"You can say 'all are welcome,' but if wolves and sheep are both welcome then you're only
going to get wolves. The smart sheep will go somewhere else and
the naive sheep will be eaten and processed. If you welcome Islamophobes and Muslims then
you'll get Islamophobes. If you welcome Klan members and people of
color then you'll get Klan members. If you welcome nativists and immigrants you'll
get nativists. "Refusing to choose is a choice. It's a choice in favor of the people who prey
on others and who refuse to acknowledge the humanity of those they hate." A common talking point you'll find among people
spreading hate rhetoric now a days Is that they're being silenced and attacked by woke
sjw mobs Go watch Shanespears two part video series
about history of the word woke compared to its current usage, while we're on this. It's unclear how people like this are being
quote unquote silenced on their public platform where you can watch their videos. Although nobody is owed a public platform
and free speech just means the government can't stop you from saying whatever you want
It doesn't mean that people have to listen to you. But generally speaking a lot of the ideology
behind modern hate groups seems to be this idea that equitable treatment for all means
less for me. It seems to think that hatred against peoples
very existence is a fair stance that deserves equal space with people simply asking for
basic human rights. Asking for gun control so elementary schools
aren't shot up, asking for police reform since we know that when literal school children
are endangered they will do nothing, and cops really love to shoot black people for no reason
at all What happened on January 6th was not a revolution
It was an attempted coup. It was an attempt to maintain the status quo
that was egged on by the then sitting president to disregard the results of the 2020 us election. Because people chanting white is right are
not revolutionaries, Theirs is the rhetoric that has been chanted by slave owners and
Nazis alike, and is as old as time. People who are trying to white wash history
and remove truth from schools are not heroes they're fascists. People trying to outlaw trans children and
adults as well, are not heroes they're villains. People insisting guns matter more than human
lives are not the ones who need protecting right now. Remember that local elections matter just
as much as national ones. Remember to volunteer, donate to charity,
and find ways to support your local community. Donate directly to trans people fleeing genocide
in the US where certain states are making their existence illegal [Michael Knowles] “Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” remember that protests, strikes, and walkouts
are effective tools to make yourself heard in your school, your neighborhood, or your
workplace. I'm not telling anyone to go and strike right
now, but REMEMBER that if you are in SPECIFIC SITUATIONS this is a WELL KNOWN AND EFFECTIVE
TOOL. And remember that when basic human rights
are being outlawed, you do what you must to survive. And remember to help each other. And remember that fascism is brittle, it breaks,
it leaks. And it thrives in darkness…while we sleep… All you have to do is try…and look up. Just try. There's only one way out and it's up, so get ready to climb "One of my favorite parts of the process of
every video is designing and creating the thumbnail for it. Starting with my last video on Bladerunner
2049 I started painting the thumbnails for my videos because its fun and allows me a
chance to get creative in an entirely different way from the writing and video editing stuff. So starting now, I’m going to be making
companion videos about my process for these thumbnails and releasing them exclusively
on Nebula. Nebula is a creator owned streaming service,
where creators are free to explore ideas that dont work on an ad supported platform like
YouTube, and its where hundreds of creators are making exclusive content that you can't
find anywhere else. For example, Abigail Thorn’s multiversal
Shakespeare play The Prince, or Maggie Mae Fish’s series Unrated on the history of
sexuality in film And if you use my link in the description
you’ll get a 40% discount on annual plans, which comes down to as little as $2.50 a month
while supporting my channel directly. A percentage of your subscription fees every
month go directly to me so you would be helping me continue make videos Soif you'd like go check out Go.Nebula.tv/ladyknightthebrave
Thanks! So
sorry this took so long y’all. Along with this health issue I’ve been having
since January I had a trip home that basically ate up most of April. Also I spent like a month doing research and
I used almost none of it because it didn't end up working in the script. All of which is to say thank you very much
to my patrons who have supported me through this dry spell. I hope the next video doesn’t take this
long. So thank you all for watching and Ill see
you on the next one.
