Star Wars: Andor 2.10 - 2.12
May. 14th, 2025 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which a spy comes in from the cold. Overall a worthy conclusion, I thought, with some minor nitpicks.
The most obvious nitpick, of course, being Bix saddled with an unexpected child as a symbol of life continuing in the very last image after not being seen in the entire three episodes. The reason why I am not indignant about this is that I was nevery very invested in Bix, otherwise I'd feel differently. Otoh,the second season had done a great job getting me more and more invested in Kleya, so when I figured out we'd be following mainly her through the last arc, I practically cheered.
I had expected some backstory for Luthen before his invitable demise, and we did get it, but in the form of basically Kleya's origin story, from literary her pov, which I thought was a clever choice. Not least because it twists the hit formula Disney Era Star Wars hit upon with the Mandalorian - hardened-by-life killer finds new life and meaning with adorable moppet - and where we come into the tale in the pov of the hardened killer, who gets softened by the moppet (but still great at defending them). Instead, when not yet Kleya, the child hiding herself while her people get slaughtered, sees not yet Luthen, he's at his most vulnerable that we ever see him until mid s2 because he's horrified and disgusted by what the army he's a part of (that's basically all we find out about original Luthen's pre Luthen life, that he's a soldier referred to as "Seargeant Lear" by another soldier) and mid breakdown about this when he discovers not yet Kleya. This does give him new purpose and gets him out of his despair, but it's a purpose that comes with a lot more death, and soon to be Kleya gets together with him not because he promises safety but because he promises a chance to bring the Empire down. And Luthen, who is so good at lying to people, is never other than completely honest with Kleya. They both become the people we first encounter in s1 through each other. It's a mutual give and take and might just be one of the most balanced partnerships we've ever seen in Star Wars or the spy genre, and when Kleya inflitrates the hospital the Empire keeps Luthen in after his unsuccessful suicide attempt so they can "interrogate" him as soon as he's able to communicate again, it's both a breathtakingly suspenseful thriller sequence and absolutely heartbreaking because we and Kleya know that all she can do for Luthen is not to rescue but to kill him, and when she does so and kisses him on the forehead, I went to pieces.
(At the same time, the episode did not shy away from rubbing it in quite how ruthless Luthen was one last time when he killed Lonni after getting the crucial information from him. Poor Lonni. Truly an unsung hero of the Rebellion.)
The second episode is devoted to Kleya's extraction from Coruscant by Cassian, and it, too, serves up all the good noir spy tropes. Though inadvertently also provides one of my few general nitpicks. Now obviously Cassian has plot armor, given Rogue One, and thus the suspense had to be on the "will Kleya make it?" side, which this episode and the previous one totally ran with, but Cassian had plot armor last season, too, and yet I was more invested in him than I was this season. The reason being that last season, Cassian had a character arc, from thief to committed rebel. This season, he didn't, really, and that meant that the characters who did - Mon Mothma, Kleya, Luthen and on the imperial side Syril and Dedra - held my interest far more. Otoh, I thought the episode managed an incredible balance act with K2, who at first was the comic relief droid he'd been in Rogue One and then we got reminded why he was reintroduced via the Ghorman Massacre as he rescued Cassian & Co. with the same chilling force.
Kleya was not the only character in those last three episodes who by virtue of being an original-to-this-series character did not have plot armor but whose life or death was up for grabs, and of course I was very curious indeed how the series would end Dedra's story. Dedra, like Syril, comes finally face to face with her arch nemesis, and at first in a for her better way - it's not a coincidence, it's deliberate, she has managed to track "Axis" down and identify him as Luthen, she has done so by her paintstakingly reading all the small print in reports and putting the right clues together. And Luthen even knows who she is. (Unlike in the Cassian and Syril case.) But her triumph doesn't last long, and not just because Luthen manages what except for futuristic medicine would have been a successful suicide. No, it's also because instead of being rewarded for finding Axis, Dedra quickly becomes the scapegoat not just for the unsuccessful arrest (which she was responsible for in that she couldn't resist the urge to personally arrest Luthen which gave him the time to stab himself) but the Imperial fuck-up that led to Lonni finding out about the Death Star and telling Luthen who told Kleya who will manage to get that intelligence to the Rebellion. And ends the series in a cell being classified as a Rebel spy. The irony (and indignity from Dedra the ultimate believer's pov), it burns. I had assumed she would die in some shootout, but this is far more of a blackly elegant fate. (BTW, if she does survive the Empire in that condition, she might get released only to be arrested again, because her role on Ghorman was official and in the books, so to speak.) And I am really glad the show kept both Vader and Palpatine off stage and out of it to the end. Andor offers the to date best and most convincing depiction of the Empire as totalitarian fascists, and a Sith or two would have provided a safe fantasy cloak again.
It was good to see more of Vel again in this last arc; her scenes with both Cassian and then Kleya were superb, and very fitting for a final episode, looking back and mourning for all their losses, taking comfort in friendship, looking forward to the future. (And I bet post show Vel/Kleya h/c is written as we speak, at least I hope so, I'd totally read it.) Speaking of looking back, Partagaz listening to Nemec‘s (spelling?) manifesto shortly before his own suicide (btw, said suicide, with the other officer leaving him the time to shoot himself had WW2 overtones - Partagaz as Rommel or Canaris?), complete with the observation that said manifesto is now everywhere, reminded me of another one of Andor's great achievements: the Rebellion truly as a people's movement with multiple origins that hinges on so many, and making this narratively compelling. Using the larger scale and narrative a tv show offers versus a movie to make us case - about the people of Ferrix and the people of Ghorman, about the prisoners who were used up as slave labors until they escaped, about the spymasters like Luthen and Kleya and the spies like Lonni and Cassian and Vel, about the droids (Bix' clichéd fate not withstanding, it was good to finally find out what had become of Maarwa's droid after the season opening arc). Andor didn't need physical ugliness or masks to make totalitarianism look evil. It defiantly kept the fully masked storm troopers to an absolute minimum and instead showed us the normal, every day faces of most of the Imperials planning and committing atrocities. And yet was never nihilistic. That young idealist from the first season might never have made it even to the middle of said season and died on Aldhani, but his words kept on spreading and inspiring people everywhere. No hero is ever perfect (including Bail Organa who first thinks the Luthen gained info might have been an ISB trap, and after his own people turned out to have contained spies, can you blame him for being a bit paranoid while accusing Luthen of having been so?), but everyone gets the chance to do better (see also: Samm), though not everyone takes it.
In conclusion: truly a great show, and I hope the creative team will get many more works to produce in whichever universe.
Speaking of creative people in other universes, last week I learned JMS has emigrated to the UK and sees employement there. This caused a great many people to wish he'd become the next Doctor Who showrunner. To which I say: nonsense, a Blake's 7 reboot is clearly the British show for him to run! Crusade had definite B7 overtones already.
The most obvious nitpick, of course, being Bix saddled with an unexpected child as a symbol of life continuing in the very last image after not being seen in the entire three episodes. The reason why I am not indignant about this is that I was nevery very invested in Bix, otherwise I'd feel differently. Otoh,the second season had done a great job getting me more and more invested in Kleya, so when I figured out we'd be following mainly her through the last arc, I practically cheered.
I had expected some backstory for Luthen before his invitable demise, and we did get it, but in the form of basically Kleya's origin story, from literary her pov, which I thought was a clever choice. Not least because it twists the hit formula Disney Era Star Wars hit upon with the Mandalorian - hardened-by-life killer finds new life and meaning with adorable moppet - and where we come into the tale in the pov of the hardened killer, who gets softened by the moppet (but still great at defending them). Instead, when not yet Kleya, the child hiding herself while her people get slaughtered, sees not yet Luthen, he's at his most vulnerable that we ever see him until mid s2 because he's horrified and disgusted by what the army he's a part of (that's basically all we find out about original Luthen's pre Luthen life, that he's a soldier referred to as "Seargeant Lear" by another soldier) and mid breakdown about this when he discovers not yet Kleya. This does give him new purpose and gets him out of his despair, but it's a purpose that comes with a lot more death, and soon to be Kleya gets together with him not because he promises safety but because he promises a chance to bring the Empire down. And Luthen, who is so good at lying to people, is never other than completely honest with Kleya. They both become the people we first encounter in s1 through each other. It's a mutual give and take and might just be one of the most balanced partnerships we've ever seen in Star Wars or the spy genre, and when Kleya inflitrates the hospital the Empire keeps Luthen in after his unsuccessful suicide attempt so they can "interrogate" him as soon as he's able to communicate again, it's both a breathtakingly suspenseful thriller sequence and absolutely heartbreaking because we and Kleya know that all she can do for Luthen is not to rescue but to kill him, and when she does so and kisses him on the forehead, I went to pieces.
(At the same time, the episode did not shy away from rubbing it in quite how ruthless Luthen was one last time when he killed Lonni after getting the crucial information from him. Poor Lonni. Truly an unsung hero of the Rebellion.)
The second episode is devoted to Kleya's extraction from Coruscant by Cassian, and it, too, serves up all the good noir spy tropes. Though inadvertently also provides one of my few general nitpicks. Now obviously Cassian has plot armor, given Rogue One, and thus the suspense had to be on the "will Kleya make it?" side, which this episode and the previous one totally ran with, but Cassian had plot armor last season, too, and yet I was more invested in him than I was this season. The reason being that last season, Cassian had a character arc, from thief to committed rebel. This season, he didn't, really, and that meant that the characters who did - Mon Mothma, Kleya, Luthen and on the imperial side Syril and Dedra - held my interest far more. Otoh, I thought the episode managed an incredible balance act with K2, who at first was the comic relief droid he'd been in Rogue One and then we got reminded why he was reintroduced via the Ghorman Massacre as he rescued Cassian & Co. with the same chilling force.
Kleya was not the only character in those last three episodes who by virtue of being an original-to-this-series character did not have plot armor but whose life or death was up for grabs, and of course I was very curious indeed how the series would end Dedra's story. Dedra, like Syril, comes finally face to face with her arch nemesis, and at first in a for her better way - it's not a coincidence, it's deliberate, she has managed to track "Axis" down and identify him as Luthen, she has done so by her paintstakingly reading all the small print in reports and putting the right clues together. And Luthen even knows who she is. (Unlike in the Cassian and Syril case.) But her triumph doesn't last long, and not just because Luthen manages what except for futuristic medicine would have been a successful suicide. No, it's also because instead of being rewarded for finding Axis, Dedra quickly becomes the scapegoat not just for the unsuccessful arrest (which she was responsible for in that she couldn't resist the urge to personally arrest Luthen which gave him the time to stab himself) but the Imperial fuck-up that led to Lonni finding out about the Death Star and telling Luthen who told Kleya who will manage to get that intelligence to the Rebellion. And ends the series in a cell being classified as a Rebel spy. The irony (and indignity from Dedra the ultimate believer's pov), it burns. I had assumed she would die in some shootout, but this is far more of a blackly elegant fate. (BTW, if she does survive the Empire in that condition, she might get released only to be arrested again, because her role on Ghorman was official and in the books, so to speak.) And I am really glad the show kept both Vader and Palpatine off stage and out of it to the end. Andor offers the to date best and most convincing depiction of the Empire as totalitarian fascists, and a Sith or two would have provided a safe fantasy cloak again.
It was good to see more of Vel again in this last arc; her scenes with both Cassian and then Kleya were superb, and very fitting for a final episode, looking back and mourning for all their losses, taking comfort in friendship, looking forward to the future. (And I bet post show Vel/Kleya h/c is written as we speak, at least I hope so, I'd totally read it.) Speaking of looking back, Partagaz listening to Nemec‘s (spelling?) manifesto shortly before his own suicide (btw, said suicide, with the other officer leaving him the time to shoot himself had WW2 overtones - Partagaz as Rommel or Canaris?), complete with the observation that said manifesto is now everywhere, reminded me of another one of Andor's great achievements: the Rebellion truly as a people's movement with multiple origins that hinges on so many, and making this narratively compelling. Using the larger scale and narrative a tv show offers versus a movie to make us case - about the people of Ferrix and the people of Ghorman, about the prisoners who were used up as slave labors until they escaped, about the spymasters like Luthen and Kleya and the spies like Lonni and Cassian and Vel, about the droids (Bix' clichéd fate not withstanding, it was good to finally find out what had become of Maarwa's droid after the season opening arc). Andor didn't need physical ugliness or masks to make totalitarianism look evil. It defiantly kept the fully masked storm troopers to an absolute minimum and instead showed us the normal, every day faces of most of the Imperials planning and committing atrocities. And yet was never nihilistic. That young idealist from the first season might never have made it even to the middle of said season and died on Aldhani, but his words kept on spreading and inspiring people everywhere. No hero is ever perfect (including Bail Organa who first thinks the Luthen gained info might have been an ISB trap, and after his own people turned out to have contained spies, can you blame him for being a bit paranoid while accusing Luthen of having been so?), but everyone gets the chance to do better (see also: Samm), though not everyone takes it.
In conclusion: truly a great show, and I hope the creative team will get many more works to produce in whichever universe.
Speaking of creative people in other universes, last week I learned JMS has emigrated to the UK and sees employement there. This caused a great many people to wish he'd become the next Doctor Who showrunner. To which I say: nonsense, a Blake's 7 reboot is clearly the British show for him to run! Crusade had definite B7 overtones already.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-15 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-15 09:37 am (UTC)Right now my fannish (and brain) capacity is entirely taken up by "The Three Musketeers" across multiple languages and media in any case -- the Russian version is well worth watching but sits on the outer limits of my abilities, and the others are I suppose associated spin-offs that took on a life of their own...