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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
We also got a solid character moment for Cassian.

Spoiler:

Shoots the guy who suggested “sod it, let’s just split the loot then go our separate ways”.

Whilst Cassian seemingly wants out? He only wants his agreed price - nothing more, nothing less. He even offers to buy the Doctor’s shuttle, for more than market value.

So he has integrity and morals - he just isn’t in it for the Rebellion. Yet. Of course True Believer’s manifesto is going to play into changing his mind.

And massive, massive props for having both sides display competency. Both reasonably good shots. Both decent ruthless (True Believer was one I thought might crumble in the face of action, I was wrong)

I kind of want to believe he was just bluffing to test Cassian and reveal his true colors and got called on it in the worst possible way.

That sounds good, too.

Excellent episode and you folks make some good points. The universal moderate competence was a refreshing change.

Moderate competence all round, and I didn't expect the team to suffer quite so badly.

I believe someone else pointed out, currently the show can be viewed in 3 episode arcs. Wonder if that continues?

The_Real_Chris wrote:
Moderate competence all round, and I didn't expect the team to suffer quite so badly.

I believe someone else pointed out, currently the show can be viewed in 3 episode arcs. Wonder if that continues?

I believe the writers have said this is the case yes.

Saw it l last night, very much liked the portrayal of the imperials as being pretty decently competent and not just unnecessarily evil (just arrogant) and thought the writing was good (quite liked the guy playing the base commandant trying to keep his people alive, usually imp officers are portrayed as idiots or utterly rutheless).

Very much enjoying the series so far.

Not sure why people think its bad because it is slower paced, rushing everything with no context or character building is how we got the mess Rise of Skywalker turned out to be (and no, im not a sequel hater..Liked FA, thought LJ was 50/50 some good some bad, but BOY is RoS terrible)

I like to think RoS brought some common ground back to the community much in the way Anakin brought balance to the Force.

 Grumpy Gnome wrote:

Spoiler:

Small thing but I really liked that the focus of the Imperial Colonel (an Engineer at that) when at gun point was to draw a gun and demand that the kid be released. Surprisingly humanizing. Although it still ends badly for him.

Yeah, that's pretty neat. Without forty years of Star Wars to inform you you'd be hard pressed to consider the rebels the good guys here.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
Moderate competence all round, and I didn't expect the team to suffer quite so badly.

Surprisingly enough I got all the deaths right, except for the lieutenant whose motivation I mistook as wanting to keep hurting the Empire instead of trying to get out. Which is interesting considering his scene in the previous episode where he tries to shift the blame for the light guard during the festival. They sure got me with that one.

I'm still absolutely loving Andor, and this episode really felt like a pay off, but also it does seem every 3rd episode feels like a mini-finale and I'm perfectly happy with that.

One thought about this week's episode:

I think the manifesto will be enough on its own, as Cassian will learn he’s not alone in his experiences?

Or of course, rent-a-cop tries to redeem himself by chasing Andor, forcing him back into the sweaty Nordic embrace of an established character actor.

I don't think it's going to be any one thing by itself. The manifesto may give him some ideas of why the fight is worth fighting. His recent experience may tell him that the rebellion isn't going to amount to anything unless it can uphold some standards and that he can help with that. He is probably going to be identified for participating in the heist and may be reminded that it's better to pick sides and have friends to back him up now that he's on the Empire's most wanted list. He may feel guilty that he as the gun for hire got out peachy while the idealists didn't.

Just enough little things that wouldn't sway him individually adding up to make him consider joining up after all.

Another random thought hit me today. The manifesto now, thanks to Cassian, contains a treatise on the use of mercenaries as part of an insurgency.

Princess Leia had obviously read the manifesto as she didn't have a real issue paying Han Solo at the end of A New Hope.

Another odd observation, as I watch the latest episode of Andor again.

The blasters. They don’t sound Star Wars. At all. And yet….it works.

Just as the overall mood of the show is lower key, subdued and dare I say realistic? So is the blaster fire.

There’s a part of me that feels that should be a deal breaker. Star Trek Disco doesn’t feel like Star Trek, and that for some is a Deal Breaker. Yet, somehow, in a way my limited media literacy can’t articulate? It just….works. For Andor.

The visuals are there. Oh my are they there. But characters, blasters, soundtrack? None of it is Star Wars. Yet here it is. Warmly received. Well thought of. No sad gits taking a longer runtime to tell us why they don’t like it than the runtime of the thing they don’t like.§

I mean…the Doctor comes out of literally nowhere. Not a species I think we’ve seen before. Just sort of turns up as a plot device. But….fits right in.

This is a show that deals in subtleties Star Wars has never really bothered with in the Mass Market Media. But….it works. And I’ve not seen anyone criticising it negatively. By which I mean inventing things not to like about it.

What’s going on? Is this even the early 21st Century Internet anymore?

Come on sad act neackbeard basement dwelling weirdos. Come and have a criticism if you think you’re smart enough. And deity of your choice we know you think you’re smarter than everyone else.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My favourite scene?

Mon Mothma addressing the senate.

Same old hover booths we know from the sequels. Same old echoing chamber.

Yet? No hubbub. No murmur of voices. As she looks around the chamber, many hover booths are entirely empty. Those that are occupied clearly aren’t hearing, let alone listening.

That all adds to Palpatine’s eventual dissolution of the Senate. Why keep it going, when no one turns up?

And as with Good Prequel stuff, begs a question. That question of “just how did Palpatine pull that bit off? How did he disengage worlds and systems from the democratic process to the point the don’t even bother showing up?”


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also also also?

It’s Star Wars…and six episodes in, we’re yet to have a Cantina Scene.

It should be a drawback. And yet….the whole of the thing is so compelling and boundary crossing in a very competent way nobody cares in that way.

No cantina scene? What do you mean? Pretty much the first location in episode 1 is this place with a central bar that serves drinks, and chairs and tables around the room. That's legit a cantina and totally not something else. I really don't know what you're talking about.

About the senate, that was certainly interesting. I imagine Palpi got his monarchy a fair bit of executive and legislative power in the intervening years and hollowed out the senate's importance by doubling down on the importance of committees to find decisions that already paralyzed the Republic. Committees are great since they're not public affairs and easily made up of people that can be trusted or bribed to act in the Emperor's best interest. Once it's established that debate and vote in the senate are more for show and only serve as publicity for reelections, senators wouldn't put much effort in senate meetings and possibly only show up for high profile debates. I believe Mon Mothma's speech was about some silly humanitarian thing? Who cares about that? Presence entirely optional, and if anybody asks? Senator of [insert your planet's name here] )was tied up in an important committee meeting where they worked hard to pursue the interests of their constituents.

 Geifer wrote:
No cantina scene? What do you mean? Pretty much the first location in episode 1 is this place with a central bar that serves drinks, and chairs and tables around the room. That's legit a cantina and totally not something else. I really don't know what you're talking about.

Can’t speak for others, but in the context of Star Wars a cantina scene is not just just a location that serves drinks. One of the things the original New Hope scene showed was that we were part of a larger galaxy, with all sorts of weird and bizarre aliens. Pan the crowd, see the variety out there. Not just a token guy with forehead ridges or fake ears, but far out guys/gals/things. I don’t think we get a lot of that in Andor. It’s just a lot of humans doing human things.

Don’t get me wrong, I think they are doing a great job of it. But I do think it lacks a little of the pan-galactic flavor of some other SW offerings though.

I suppose you have to account for the Disney factor with this totally legit cantina. The employees may be too eccentrically attired to allow any panning and seeing.

I haven't rewatched it yet, as I'd prefer to have the full season available before I do that, but I seem to remember that there are aliens in the streets, occasionally? Not on the nose like a cantina scene, but subtly present nonetheless. That works just fine for me.

What Nevelon said.

We’ve not had a scene of random aliens so far, and that’s kind of a Star Wars staple for the reasons already given.

The streets of Ferrix have a broad mix of alien species.

Kind of?

I mean, it’s an observation and not a criticism.

On a completely unrelated note? How come given B-Wings we’re largely excised from Return of the Jedi because they were a bugger to film….the Special Editions never added in even a single scene of them doing their do!

I thought that was odd in Rebels they had the episode where they got it and how amazing it was and then you never saw it again.

That kind of factors in nicely.

Hera’s run was in the prototype. And we saw a clear issue with it’s composite beam which we can reasonably infer couldn’t be overcome.

Even more disappointing to me (and remember, I like the film) is that in Rise of Skywalker, we do see on in action, for a split second. Just enough time to see it blatted.

It’s always been my favourite Rebel ship because it looks so different and doesn’t really feature that heavily.

Of all the guff inserted into the Special Editions, you’d think that’d be something George Lucas would want sorted?

Even just digitally adding them here and there would’ve been nice to see.

 AduroT wrote:
I thought that was odd in Rebels they had the episode where they got it and how amazing it was and then you never saw it again.

To a degree, yes. But they have the already mentioned prototype explanation for it vanishing, and a theme of handing good gear over to Dodonna to save up for the big one. The Specters are small and somewhat peripheral, both on their own and as part of Phoenix group. And the way they burn through pilots and A-Wings probably doesn't inspire confidence that they'd keep badly needed ships intact for the eventual open war. So I'm okay with the B-Wing being a one off in Rebels.

I do take exception to Hera's opinion on it, though. I played X-Wing and Tie Fighter. That thing isn't slick. It flies like a bus.

 Geifer wrote:

I do take exception to Hera's opinion on it, though. I played X-Wing and Tie Fighter. That thing isn't slick. It flies like a bus.

Wasn't there a mission where you got to test fly it?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

This is a show that deals in subtleties Star Wars has never really bothered with in the Mass Market Media. But….it works. And I’ve not seen anyone criticising it negatively. By which I mean inventing things not to like about it.

What’s going on? Is this even the early 21st Century Internet anymore?

Who bets their engagement algorithms think the lack of complaints means no one likes it as they talk about it less?

The_Real_Chris wrote:

 Geifer wrote:

I do take exception to Hera's opinion on it, though. I played X-Wing and Tie Fighter. That thing isn't slick. It flies like a bus.

Wasn't there a mission where you got to test fly it?

I can't say I remember since that was a quarter of a century ago. I do remember not liking buses (I got the same feeling in Squadrons) and that in the Rebellion every mission is a suicide mission. I prefer flying for the Empire.

The_Real_Chris wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

This is a show that deals in subtleties Star Wars has never really bothered with in the Mass Market Media. But….it works. And I’ve not seen anyone criticising it negatively. By which I mean inventing things not to like about it.

What’s going on? Is this even the early 21st Century Internet anymore?

Who bets their engagement algorithms think the lack of complaints means no one likes it as they talk about it less?

Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony?

 Geifer wrote:


I can't say I remember since that was a quarter of a century ago. I do remember not liking buses (I got the same feeling in Squadrons) and that in the Rebellion every mission is a suicide mission. I prefer flying for the Empire.

They were easier to hit...

Suicide wise I do remember the mission to clear a minefield in an unshielded ship.

Andor episode 7

I liked it better than the usual “Cantina” scene, because instead of clustering them all together in one place they’re just out and about as a normal background part of society. Don’t have to stop and show them off, they’re just there.

The Empire even manages to make a cubicle farm more depressing. Pretty sure I would go insane working there.

I know ISB lady is a bad guy, but her actual competence at her job makes me want to root for her as well as her boss for recognizing her competence.

I wonder how long the time skip at the end was. Can’t have been Too long.

Good one.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Spoiler:

Erm…that felt quite disjointed.

Not sure what the Ferrix flashback/flash forwards were about overall. And the final flash forward to Cassian getting nicked? Kind of came out of nowhere.