Star Wars discussion (SPOILERS INCLUDED)

[eddy]

I can't remember the last time I was so excited for a new episode to come out, twin peaks the return? Wife fell asleep early last night and me and the daughter had a really difficult time not putting this on. It's killing me not to click on those spoilers

[Gaucho]

weak

[eddy]

Stop tempting me gaucho

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, we haven't watched it yet either. My youngest son made his middle school basketball team and had scrimmages until 8, and the other son had to do homework. Ugh.

[eddy]

Ep 10 was fantastic

Not a whole lot of story to unpack, but "Whatever we're making here, it's clearly something they need. They can't afford to be surprised again." is significant. I'm still betting (quick Tomas, what are the odds???) on parts for the Death Star, hence why they're never letting anyone out. But part of me was starting to wonder if maybe it was a labor camp that existed for its own purpose. Like, they'd make those articulated things on one floor, and another floor's job was to disassemble everything and the parts would be sorted and returned back to the floor where they were assembled to be put back together to start all over again in a kind of perverse Sisyphean loop of sadness. It also questions as to why they'd need the PORD to keep those particular inmates past their sentence; if they're making parts of the Death Star(s), presumably they would've needed to assure their silence before the Aldhani raid. Anyway...

Please tell me Kino Loy learned how to swim, and that there's a bonus scene coming that shows him getting dragged to the shore where he can live out his years fishing with Jesse in Alaska. Cos that was heartbreaking. In interviews Serkis has referred to the "three episode arc" he was part of, so I think that's.......... just where we leave Kino. Literally standing on the edge, unable to cash in on the risk he took. Crushing.

Porn Stache is a mole, called it. (Wooooo, I got one!!!!) Rael's mono at the end was utterly haunting, and also made him very scary; "we can't risk not sending people to their death because then they'll know we know they know something's up," what a bastard. He said he wrote the equation of his sacrifice 15 years ago, which would be 20 BBY.

There are some significant events that take place around then, including the attack on the Jedi Temple by Bariss Offee (for which she initially framed Ahsoka Tano); Thrawn first emerged on the scene off his homeworld; Maul reappeared; and.............. the Confederacy of Independent Systems began construction on the first of the Superweapons. A few potentially known incidents that could be inciting to a proto-rebel, the latter of which is a potential path to cross that's already been alluded to, with the incident on Kenari in Andor's youth.

More of this, please.

I looked it up because it was fantastic, but here's Luthen's mono from the end.

And what do you sacrifice?

Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. 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 burned my decency for someone else's future. I burned my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!

Good stuff. I look forward to your recap each week.

[tifosi77]

Each arc so far has given Andor a lesson in sacrifice.

Nemik taught him what it means to believe in something larger than yourself so much that you'd be willing to die to help others achieve it. Such that Andor airport like a baby before the raid on Aldhani and Nemik joked about it, but on Narkina Andor was the one who couldn't sleep..... because he appreciated the stakes more.

Kino would've taken the same route into Narkina as Andor, and would've known the place was surrounded by water. So every step forward he took during the escape was with the knowledge that he wasn't getting off the pod. Sacrifice 1 to save 5,000

These are the noble sacrifices. Luthen's work is more brutal.... send 50 men to the slaughter to protect 1; Vel and Sinta are sent to commit 1 murder to preserve the Rebellion.

The echo might have been ringing in Cassian's ears when he had Galen Erso in his sights.

[DigitalGypsy66]

The intelligence info on the raid by the other rebel faction reminded me of the British and their ULTRA program during WWII. The UK knew the Germans were planning a large bombing raid on Coventry, but chose not to act on it because it would tip off the Germans that their military code had been broken. Sacrifice some civilian deaths for the longer strategic goal.

Also in WWII, China had numerous factions rising up against the Japanese - but we usually only hear about Chiang Kai-Shek or Mao because these two would frequently give up smaller groups to the Kempeitai to help consolidate their power.

It's really something to be able to make legitimate (real) historical connections to a plot of a Star Wars TV show.

[eddy]

[DigitalGypsy66]

[Gaucho]

nice

[tifosi77]

Haha, excellent

[tifosi77]

Wowzers

I thought the escape off Narkina 5 was a little.... weak? It started off well, with Cass and Melshi on the cliff face. But the whole thing the with blobby creatures felt a little lazy. I'll rewatch in case I missed something, but it seemed a bit goofy at first blush. If that's all the more they were going to show of them facing additional peril, just ignore it altogether and cut from them evaluating whether or not to steal the quad-jumper straight to the empty beach on Space Miami. We can infer the off-camera action that got them there, and it would probably be better than was shown. I'll rewatch in case I missed something, but it seemed goofy at first blush, the first thing in the show I've for sure not really liked.

B is the saddest little doggy droid ever; making him a 'quadruped' is a nice subtle design touch, subliminally reinforcing the needy doggo aspect.

The final scene.............. Cass making the formative decision to be a Rebel, in an embrace with a comrade in arms by the seaside, gazing into the bright distance............... foreshadowing his ultimate demise in Rogue One. (As much as you can cinematically foreshadow something you already know happens)

There are still a couple more shots from the trailer(s) that haven't appeared yet. One of them is a shot of what looks like Karn hitting the dirt on Ferrix in the hustle and the bustle of what we now know will be Maarva's funeral (RIP); that whole thing is gonna be 'nanners imo.

More thoughts later.

General thought on the show at large.

The music....... I've been trying to pin it down all season long and it finally hit me. Structurally it trades on the same melody as the cue called Binary Sunset from Ep IV. But that leitmotif is also called 'the Force theme'. It was played when Luthen escaped from the tractor beam (Alderaani ship caught in an Imp tractor beam, heh). They focused on Luthen's not-a-walking-stick stick when he entered Saw's lair. He's the one pulling the strings and driving the plot forward, people are reacting to his choices; he's the protagonist of the story. And I'm convinced more than ever that he is Jedi or Jedi-adjacent.

[Gaucho]

More like space Blackpool.

[eddy]

Maybe the quietest episode yet (not in a bad way). Not looking forward to this season ending. At least it sounds like the new Willow series is going to be good.

[tifosi77]

Wacky theory time

Maarva's "brick" will actually be a bomb, or be the cover for planting one.

Yularen and the ISB went to some effort to let it be known that the use of local customs/traditions as a cover for Rebel activity would dealt with harshly. Lt. Exposition explained to Meera the custom on Ferrix is for locals to be cremated, and blended with space-crete and molded into a brick that's built up into some wall in town.

This honestly sounds like a really stupid custom, but I thought it was interesting hearing the explanation coming from an ISB honk (who by the way stands out like a sore thumb when he's surveiling Maarva's house), not an actual local. Shows the Empire knows and expects the brick thing, won't think twice about it.

[tifosi77]

A couple more ramblings.....

"I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago..." I mentioned initially that 15 yrs ago in the Andor timeline was Order 66. But it was also around the time when Count Dooku died at the hand of Anakin Skywalker. And I completely forgot this, but before his fall to the dark side, and before training a young Padawan called Qui-gon Jinn,, Dooku had an apprentice called Rael Averross. I believe this person only exists in Legends, but he was briefly part of an Inner Rim system's royal court ($$$), and was known to have a....... belief system that was sometimes at odds with the Jedi Council.

He doesn't really match a physical description that would fit Stellan Skarsgard, but I also don't think they're in the habit of pulling direct character references like that by accident, and SW is filthy with characters hiding in plain sight with super obvious names.

And we just got the Tales Of The Jedi series that focusef on Ahsoka and Dooku. We know one of them is getting their own show here soon...... but why update Dooku's story now? Might Luthen Rael be the spiritual successor to Dooku? Maul became vengeful towards the Sith after his abandonment on Naboo, perhaps Dooku's apprentice didn't care for Palatine's dismissal of his master and now Luthen has it out for the Empire.

I'm starting to feel the effects of my COVID booster right now, and I can't sleep. So this is what happens.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Damn my kids and their active social lives, I haven't watched it yet lol

[DigitalGypsy66]

Andor's finale will be the longest Disney+ show to date, at 53+ minutes (with credits). Nice. I think we'll need the time to wrap things up.

[NAN]

Just started Andor. On episode 4. Starts off slow, but starts picking up some. Enjoying so far!

[meow]

Andor's finale will be the longest Disney+ show to date, at 53+ minutes (with credits). Nice. I think we'll need the time to wrap things up.

Really? I would have bet that several Mandalorian episodes were > 60 minutes

[tifosi77]

The 'with credits' tag can be very misleading.

[LeopardLetang]

Hmm was it last episode that had like 11 minutes of credits

[DigitalGypsy66]

All of these streaming shows have at least 5+ credits with the localization actors (who voiced whom in Farsi, Spanish, Catalan, etc. etc.)

[LeopardLetang]

It's always just a bummer when you think it will be longer

Ok. Wow that was great. Shades of GOT piano opening (light of the seven scene). The casting in this freaking show is outstanding. Set design and costuming.

[Gaucho]

It's always just a bummer when you think it will be longer

twss