Star Wars: Andor - 1.09 - Nobody's Listening!!1!

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Under intense scrutiny while imprisoned, Cassian makes allies plan an impossible escape.

IMDB score: 8.6 Runtime: 47 minutes (minus the usual).

 

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Note: The emphasis in the title is mine. There is a certain level of it actually mine own frustration with this series, and it's meticulously slow wind up of tension. Actually, I don't feel none of it for the Main Character because I already know what happens to him in the Rogue One. He's always going to be fine, even at the end, because he has that story shield.

I feel it for the other characters. For the Galactic Empire's citizens who mostly bears the brunt from the sometime not so obvious fascism. There's no racism in this universe, especially not in this time, because everyone gets the same sh!t. Some people more than others. For some reason, in the Rebels it was more up-and-in-your-face, than in this one. Maybe because everything is so pristine.

But the thing is, there's more about the "Nobody's Listening" in the story, because literally and again, the characters are fighting each other rather than understanding that they're all in the same sh!t and that they need to pull together if they're going to survive.

Let's see how Andor's going to escape...

Bix and Meero. I had to go back and check her capture. It was just right at the end, so I had no recollection, because I didn't write about it. I rooted for her runner, didn't expect her to end up in Lt Meero's interrogation, where she was bored that Bix didn't do better escape.

What did she really expect? A space-chase? Whatever it was, she'd already decided that she was going to go with the enhanced techniques as the Imperial Torturer (imagine headline in a business card) were preparing instruments, while she was just warming up. In disappointment.

The one thing she was happy about was Bix's Operative Salman Paak putting up a fight, until the morning arrived. So not only fascist but also a masochist. I bet some people find her hot, because of that image of power she's putting around her.

Yet, impressively, she'd pulled out crucial info on the Buyer's operation starting two years prior to the current events. That everything had been put in the place to buy Imperial equipment, until Bix made the distress call and were shut down.

Lt Meero leaned closer to her subject and said, "You are in my net, Bix. Are you a fish or are you a thief, mhhmmm? Seems a shame to end up on the carving board, if your motivation was just money."

I laughed when Bix deducted that Meero was "ISB" and then, even louder, when she quipped, "You seem to like this." Touche. Final time, when she revealed that she had no idea that they'd already captured Andor under a different alias.

Why Bix should dig a grave for herself by revealing anything about the stolen goodies? Everything she's going to reveal is going to be used against her and other Ferrix people. If she doesn't, death maybe an option to get out.

The last threat Meero hissed was, "The very last thing you can do now is to bore me."

Scary, eh? I'd have yawned on her face. Bix didn't. Instead, she took Dr Gorst's interrogation methods almost like a champ as he explained the process history, "There's an Outer Rim moon called Dizon Fray. There was a sentient species there, quite unusual. Extremely hostile to the concept of an Imperial refuelling centre that was being planned. I say 'was' because they created such a stir that local commanders were granted a permission to use any means necessary. And, um... well, what's important for our purposes here today is that the massacre of the Dizonties was broadcast and recorded as proof of mission. They make a sound as they die. A sort of choral, agonized pleading... and we've taken the recordings..."

So that's it. A death song of a purged species, played back through a neurohelmet, eh? Bix didn't say anything. She was terrified by the concept. Her silence lasted for five seconds, once the method was introduced. Then she spilled all the info on all the sales that the Buyer had done. And then some...

I laughed when they (ISB) claimed that they were waiting for him to come back to Ferrix and that's why they were staking out the grandma.

Not that it was really needed as the routine op yielded a rebel pilot that spilled out the Buyer's op for the Spellhaus. Big plans fail when the loose lips sink the ships. Whatever they are.

That is a serious fishface, Mr Serkin. Cassius, the natural spy, didn't even want to flag up on the radar as he denied the idea and associated credits to his other colleague about making their shift to win for the happy meals. Nobody wants to be the last one in the Imperial Prison Game.

All so that the old timer, "the shortest of the short," could make it to "home." And then he paid a tribute to Shawshank Redemption by attacking a pipe, with a file, just before the New Man got beating and introduction for the floor so that he could observe for the weaknesses.

The most intriguing detail about the prison was revealed in the access corridor was that the prison complex itself isn't under the water. The surrounding walls are keeping the water away, thus making the escape plausible.

Kino was totally against it, because like all the prisoners, he'd done the maths and not come up with a good solution. His advice, "Turn that part of your brain, off."

Well, at least he tried, but there were no takers. Not from Andor's perspective, because he wanted out before his thousand odd days had run out. "You think that they'll care. They'll make an effort!?" he growled.

"Like you would know," Kino replied softly.

"I know this. They don't need to care," Cassius growled louder. "All they need to do is turn this floor on twice a day and keep their numbers rolling. Why bother listening to us? We are nothing to them. Melshi's right. We're cheaper than droids and easier to replace."

Didn't work as Kino turned over and said, "Good luck to you."

Nobody was listening to his complaints. Nobody, until "a hundred men" were found dead. Two shifts of labour gone. Then the old man couldn't take it any more, with fourty shifts in the meter, before he passed out. The prison doctor couldn't help him or anyone in the facility. All he was there to do was to euthanize the old geezer.

Mon Mothma doing politics in the Imperial Senate. Nobody was listening. Instead, the heckling and booing was present through her speech. No wonder why she's acting up on the Rebellion front, because doing it the traditional way isn't going to work.

Speaking of which, it was a total surprise that Vel turned out to be Mon Mothma's cousin, under Luthien's work, reporting also to the Mistress of the Rebellion. I laughed and facepalmed at the same on Mothma's behalf when the hubby were trying to organise a husband for Vel, the rebellion. Both Vel and Mon looked at him as if he'd let out a giant, smelly frog in the morning table, when he said, "Who's left of any value at your age?"

The greed is so believable. The Imperial Hubby is so corrupted. Mon's need for Vel, to keep her cover under "a spoiled and rich," cousin of hers.

The banker friend had found a solution in the Galactic Criminal Underground, "A Chandrilan banker with treasure relationships and a book of business that's absolutely huge" called Davo Sculdun. Motha called him as "a thug," as soon as the name was mentioned.

Maybe it's time to step up the game Mrs Mothma.

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Good, tensile episode.

 

[Parson]

"The very last thing you can do now is to bore me."

I believe that quote was "The very last thing you want do now is to bore me." I actually thought that scene was very effective. And I think the actor play Meero plays stone cold villain very, very, well.

But anyway. I agree. This is a slow burn. There is a lot of tension in every aspect of the story. I have this vibe that for most of the characters in this story the end is going to be very bad indeed. Of course, like you say, Cassius is golden at least as far as self-preservation goes. The next most likely to survive the coming confrontation has to be Meero.

On the whole I've really enjoyed the settings. I think the factory/jail is brilliant. There's just the right amount of clever hi-tech innovation and low-tech intimidation to make it by far the most interesting setting in the series. On the same line, I think the Senator's house lends itself to some stunning settings. I especially liked the shot where she is watching her "cousin" leave framed beautifully by the curves and curtains of the entryway.

 

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For Meero's pic I wanted to use a later shot, where she's in her office, looking like a madam. You know the one I mean. It is the whole posture and the fact that she's the only girl in the boys club that makes her almost like a dominatrix. But I wanted to show Bix in the pic, because she's turning out to be the one of the main characters, even though her role is mostly a side one.

She's a fixer in a very bad spot, under the Imperial wrath. In my mind, she's most likely candidate to make it in Andor's crew, once he's going to start forming it and fighting back the oppression, instead of trying to escape it. The west side of the galaxy is known as Unknown Regions and that is the place, where he should have escaped, if he had wanted to escape everything. But the thing is, Cassius needs Bix more than Bix needs him. So, it's very likely that she's going to be rescued, and she'll end up in the Cassius crew as someone he needs...

But for Meero, I suspect she's going to stay in the series for a long time as the main villain, while Karn becomes her private or rather personal investigator into the matters surrounding Andor and the formation of the Rebellion leadership. She's most likely going to be also a downfall of the Buyer, and it's going to mark as a feather in her proverbial hat.

The problem that the Rebellion has is that they need a spymaster, like Lucien to handle the task. Andor is a great field operative, but he's nowhere close to being a mastermind, like the Buyer. And Mon Mothma clearly cannot handle the task. Take him out and the Rebellion has a big problem, as they seem to have throughout the Galactic Imperium era. Yet, the brilliance that the Rebellion has is that it's made up of multiple, independent cells, and it keeps those elements throughout its history, mostly intact.

But why? Why the Rebellion keeps its form if Luthien is eliminated in this season?

 

[Dave]

I already know what happens to him in the Rogue One. He's always going to be fine, even at the end, because he has that story shield.

This is my only problem too. Otherwise it is a great series (and much improved on other offerings.) However, you could say the exact same for any prequel. You could say that the prequel film series was ruined because we all knew that Anakin would turn into Darth Vader.

That is a serious fishface, Mr Serkin.

I also thought he was a little dim. We were told that sentences kept being lengthened, so the fact that no one is ever released isn't a great leap. They are slaves. There is a shortage of labour. People are imprisoned for no reason. People are worked to death. The Empire is evil. However, only after the revolt in section 2 does he suddenly no longer believe he's getting out when his nominal sentence is over. Something akin to Stockholm Syndrome maybe?

 

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Something akin to Stockholm Syndrome maybe?

I wouldn't use that to describe it. Before the old man's death, he was trying to keep the law like a sympathizer. Now he has turned his coat and become one of the Cassius' combatants. So, like a typical male, he was stubborn and fighting against the change, because the risk was too high, not any more.

If you watch these back-to-back, the change might be more obvious as the story reaches its climax in the next three episodes. Kino might be instrumental in the prison escape and forming a riot, but I don't expect him to live through it. It's more likely that he's going to pass away just before reaching the freedom, in my mind. But if they keep him, he might end up in Andor's crew.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Enjoyed the episode but the slow pacing is getting a little frustrating - we've been following the corpo officer from the beginning but his story is going nowhere. I keep wondering if this is the guy Cass kills at the start of Rogue One, but don't want to go check in case of spoilers.

The Cass section in this episode was somewhat predictable, that the old guy would die, and that the supervisor would help after discovering that no one is going home. And I would have liked to have seen Mon Mothma's story develop a little more.

Although am enjoying the series, at times it feels like the story is just treading water, and that the overall run time could have been cut down and condensed a little more. For example, did we really need the monologue about what Bix is going to be listening to for torture?

One interesting point is that I've noticed a couple of shots used in this series that directly copy shots from the original Star Wars. I can't remember what the first one was I noticed, but in this episode when we cut from Bix's torture prep with the noise, closing door, and camera panning down to marching boots in the corridor outside, it was a direct copy of Princess Leia's torture prep scene from the original film.