Star Wars: Andor - 2.03 - Harvest
- Thread starter ctg
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ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,884
So I'm not the only one who feels that the episodes so far has been slow and not really great. Certainly not 9 points great, which I agree, and maybe the reason is in the editing room. The thing is if you watched recently the first season, you might've also noticed that the edits are long, whereas in this season, there has been a lot of jarring quick cuts that could've been tied to make the episodes longer.
When, me and other critics said that the first season episodes could be longer, closer to 50 minutes than 20 or 30, we meant to give the story more breathing space. Some of the cuts have felt like fillers, and hence I haven't bothered commenting them, like for example the wedding climb in the last one. It didn't lead anywhere, whereas the rebels in the jungle felt that they needed to explain the back and forth between the rivals, but they couldn't show the true madness. The audience simply was left to make their own conclusions on what the .... is happening in Yavin IV?
And that is taking the audience scores down a few notches. But like everyone have stated, we are here for the long run, even though we know that this is possibly the last season, followed by Andor's death in the Rogue One. I, for one, am not ready to put this down, because Andor isn't a flop. It's aimed and built differently, requiring a bit more patience from the main audience.
Let's see how the darkness rolls in this one...
Star Wars Universe is a beautiful place, a wonderous place, where in places life really florish, and in the others it's completely void. For the Tie pilots, being tied to carrier operations, getting forgotten in space is the biggest fear, because normal TIEs don't have jump-drives. Therefore, if you're lost, you're essentially effed, whereas Advanced TIE Fighters and TIE bombers still can return to safe harbours.
Andor having lost the pilot helmet isn't completely effed, even if the functionality tied to the helmet were lost in the process. Instead, he regained long range radios, which should be standard equipment in the Advanced TIE Fighters, because of the jump capability and Anakin as a designer would have thought about it. But since no manual, what can you do but to use what's familiar to you!
I, in Andor's shoes, would have ignored the radio and instead gone into the pushing buttons trials and figuring out what Vader's machine can do in human hands. I also would have trusted that being an Imperial Machine, it would retain certain mask due to its status. The only problem is that it is so exceedingly rare that it would flag up in the system scans.
Harvest rituals. Man, I just love this shot. Maybe because it's so full of life and love. It is a celebration, even if it is shadowed by the Imperial presence. I especially liked seeing E2EMO in his element, playing with the kids, instead of being an autonomous, armoured storage box. Brasso, for being a big man, also got enough to eat, before he had to run away to deal with their farmer host.
For the look on his face, I expected that he'd sold the group to Imps, but instead he produced an emergency work order for "800 block" and he suggested for them to "circle back when it's safe." But whenever it's really safe? Never, while the Imperials are on the ground. And if you live among them, you have to be aware that they act like certain topical immigration officials. All the Emperor wants is slaves.
"Sorry about this, Kellan," Brasso said at the end of the brief. "You've been a saviour."
"Please," Kellan exhaled. "You know Cassian's friend? The big boss?"
Brasso shook his head and tried his best to look ignorant.
"If you do and don't want to say so, that's fine. But someone needs to tell him what's going on here."
Brasso leaned closer to grumble under his breath. "It's going on everywhere."
Kallen sighed desperately. "Why can't they just leave us in peace?"
It's a good question, but you only have to look into the history or today on the other side of the bond to understand that fascist governments don't care about the little guy. They are the least worry, and more people pass away because of the policies the better, because in the long run they'll calculate that they only need so much to live in peace. The rest could as well be in the ashes.
Both Mon and the Bride look super gorgeous. I especially love the platinum belt, brassie jewellery on top of the wedding dress as it reminds me of Mon Mothma's jewellery from the end of New Hope. This time she however wore a bronze pieces, matching the colours with her dress. I can only imagine that you'd have to pay eye watering six figure sums for both dresses, if you were to acquire them in the real life.
It was also understandable that fourteen-year-old bride were nervous on her big day.
"Are they all out there?" Leida asked.
"Don't worry," Mon smiled. "They can wait." Then she added, nervously chuckling, "My mum was drunk when I got married." Mon took a step back, turned around and said, "This room. Right here." She turned back around to her daughter with a smile on her face. "I was so angry, I don't think I ever forgave her. But I could never understand why she'd done it until just now..."
"What are you doing?" Leida asked, nervously.
Mon look her in the eyes, "I need to tell you what my mother never told me. Look at me..." she grabbed Leida's hands and pulled her closer. "Nothing on the other of that door matters. Not the guests, not the gifts, not the... trouble that's gone into it, none of it matters. Money, embarrassment, pressure..."
Feeling the pressure, Leida asked, "Wha... W-What are you saying?"
Mon moved even closer. "We can walk out there right now, tell them all to have a lovely afternoon, but that's it's not yet time for a marriage. We can put it off." Her breath trembling, she added, "And it will be remembered as an act of great bravery, I promise you. You don't have to go through with this."
Leida thought for a little while and then said, "I wish you were drunk."
Man, it broke Mon's heart, but Leida in the other hand was a perfect escape goat in her ignorance. She actually wanted to get married even the boy was still just a boy for a very long time, until he reaches his thirties and gains a first grain of wisdom. But she has to do as her heart says, or she would turn horribly grumpy for the rest of her life.
The wedding ceremony was interesting, especially with the symbolism of circles with circles within circles forever ad nauseam. Luthen's wedding gift however was more magnificient as its roots went all the way back to Ratakan invasion at 25 000 years around the time, when the first Jedi's were formed. Only 9 of 12 000 of them had survived the turmoils of time.
Only problem in the wedding from Mon side was Tay hinting that he was tied to other banker permanently and then hesitating on telling the truth, on what it all meant. We can only expect it to be something that probably finally drives Mon to the hands of Rebels.
"Mother..." Syril said as he brought mother-in-law around the corner. "This is Debra."
"Eedy, please!" Mother waved him away as the Witch cracked a smile and extended her hand. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Finally, indeed," Mother laughed as she shied away from the gesture. Then she looked around and added, "My word! It's a palace."
"Thank you," Debra said. "It's home."
I bet she had no idea of how horrible mother-in-law visits can be. When Syril offered to take her coat, I thought he would have chucked her out along the way. Or when she asked for spiced tea, I thought he wished to take her downstair and forget her outside the door. To me, it's clear that she is the source for Syril's OCD behaviour and if only he could live without her presence, he would be so much happier.
It's just me I was in the wrong, for thinking that the witch didn't care, as she showed her true colours when Syril retired from mother's company.
"You'll toughen him up," Mother-in-law stated.
"I have a different plan in mind," Debra said. "Mmm, but when I say the word 'plan' that makes it sound optional, which is not the impression you should be taking away. This game ends now. You want Syril in your life? You will think before you speak. I'll make sure he visits twice a month. I'll make sure that he call you. I will guarantee a level of engagement, but it will be inversely proportional to the volume of anxiety you generate in our lives."
"Quite a mouthful," Mother-in-law tried.
"I'm not done," Debra snapped. "You can spare me Uncle Harlo testimonials. I've had a look at his ISB files, and that is not the story you want to be advertising."
<3 My hero.
Finally getting a clear signal, Kleya stated: "Coruscant Forecast 2665, clearing open signal. Please identify and repeat."
"I need a weather report."
"What's your location?"
"I'm in transit," Cassian answered.
"And where's our freighter? We've had no word from the relay pilot."
Shaking his head, Cassian said, "You won't be hearing from him. It's just me. I... I'm calling you from the freighter."
"Let's start over? What's your location?" (Stupid, stupid question.)
"This is not the ship I was trained to fly," Cassian said. "Did you know that?" Then he shouted down the line, "Did anyone know that? I can't fly the ship. The drop is compromised. I've been upside down for two days! Find me someplace safe. And dry."
"Let me work on that. Keep this signal open."
"I need to call home."
"No," Kleya shouted in turn. "Don't do that."
"Come again?"
"It's very crowded out there right now."
"What does that mean?"
Kleya rolled her eyes. "Just give me a few minutes."
I absolutely loved this dialogue, but Kleya should have known better to not say anything about Cassian's family. She should have just worked the job, or rather wished him good luck for knowing that the natural spy wasn't going to stay on the job for any longer. Whatever he'd learned about handling that vessel was going to be applied right away as he jumped straight into the agricultural world to save his family, when the farm was getting raided by the Imps.
It was also predictable that the Imp Officer was going to take Bix by force. He was just a type that would go bonkers with power, thinking and believing that they're allowed to do whatever they can, and nobody can say no ... until Vader comes to say hello.
In writing terms Gilmore is doing wonderfully with increased tension in each episode as the darkness turns shadier by the moment. But he is doing it masterfully because in the same time he's using classical horror techniques by keeping the secrets secret. We can only expect that in the next three episodes the monster and the resistance really start to get the shape.
I give this episode 9.
When, me and other critics said that the first season episodes could be longer, closer to 50 minutes than 20 or 30, we meant to give the story more breathing space. Some of the cuts have felt like fillers, and hence I haven't bothered commenting them, like for example the wedding climb in the last one. It didn't lead anywhere, whereas the rebels in the jungle felt that they needed to explain the back and forth between the rivals, but they couldn't show the true madness. The audience simply was left to make their own conclusions on what the .... is happening in Yavin IV?
And that is taking the audience scores down a few notches. But like everyone have stated, we are here for the long run, even though we know that this is possibly the last season, followed by Andor's death in the Rogue One. I, for one, am not ready to put this down, because Andor isn't a flop. It's aimed and built differently, requiring a bit more patience from the main audience.
Let's see how the darkness rolls in this one...
Star Wars Universe is a beautiful place, a wonderous place, where in places life really florish, and in the others it's completely void. For the Tie pilots, being tied to carrier operations, getting forgotten in space is the biggest fear, because normal TIEs don't have jump-drives. Therefore, if you're lost, you're essentially effed, whereas Advanced TIE Fighters and TIE bombers still can return to safe harbours.
Andor having lost the pilot helmet isn't completely effed, even if the functionality tied to the helmet were lost in the process. Instead, he regained long range radios, which should be standard equipment in the Advanced TIE Fighters, because of the jump capability and Anakin as a designer would have thought about it. But since no manual, what can you do but to use what's familiar to you!
I, in Andor's shoes, would have ignored the radio and instead gone into the pushing buttons trials and figuring out what Vader's machine can do in human hands. I also would have trusted that being an Imperial Machine, it would retain certain mask due to its status. The only problem is that it is so exceedingly rare that it would flag up in the system scans.
Harvest rituals. Man, I just love this shot. Maybe because it's so full of life and love. It is a celebration, even if it is shadowed by the Imperial presence. I especially liked seeing E2EMO in his element, playing with the kids, instead of being an autonomous, armoured storage box. Brasso, for being a big man, also got enough to eat, before he had to run away to deal with their farmer host.
For the look on his face, I expected that he'd sold the group to Imps, but instead he produced an emergency work order for "800 block" and he suggested for them to "circle back when it's safe." But whenever it's really safe? Never, while the Imperials are on the ground. And if you live among them, you have to be aware that they act like certain topical immigration officials. All the Emperor wants is slaves.
"Sorry about this, Kellan," Brasso said at the end of the brief. "You've been a saviour."
"Please," Kellan exhaled. "You know Cassian's friend? The big boss?"
Brasso shook his head and tried his best to look ignorant.
"If you do and don't want to say so, that's fine. But someone needs to tell him what's going on here."
Brasso leaned closer to grumble under his breath. "It's going on everywhere."
Kallen sighed desperately. "Why can't they just leave us in peace?"
It's a good question, but you only have to look into the history or today on the other side of the bond to understand that fascist governments don't care about the little guy. They are the least worry, and more people pass away because of the policies the better, because in the long run they'll calculate that they only need so much to live in peace. The rest could as well be in the ashes.
Both Mon and the Bride look super gorgeous. I especially love the platinum belt, brassie jewellery on top of the wedding dress as it reminds me of Mon Mothma's jewellery from the end of New Hope. This time she however wore a bronze pieces, matching the colours with her dress. I can only imagine that you'd have to pay eye watering six figure sums for both dresses, if you were to acquire them in the real life.
It was also understandable that fourteen-year-old bride were nervous on her big day.
"Are they all out there?" Leida asked.
"Don't worry," Mon smiled. "They can wait." Then she added, nervously chuckling, "My mum was drunk when I got married." Mon took a step back, turned around and said, "This room. Right here." She turned back around to her daughter with a smile on her face. "I was so angry, I don't think I ever forgave her. But I could never understand why she'd done it until just now..."
"What are you doing?" Leida asked, nervously.
Mon look her in the eyes, "I need to tell you what my mother never told me. Look at me..." she grabbed Leida's hands and pulled her closer. "Nothing on the other of that door matters. Not the guests, not the gifts, not the... trouble that's gone into it, none of it matters. Money, embarrassment, pressure..."
Feeling the pressure, Leida asked, "Wha... W-What are you saying?"
Mon moved even closer. "We can walk out there right now, tell them all to have a lovely afternoon, but that's it's not yet time for a marriage. We can put it off." Her breath trembling, she added, "And it will be remembered as an act of great bravery, I promise you. You don't have to go through with this."
Leida thought for a little while and then said, "I wish you were drunk."
Man, it broke Mon's heart, but Leida in the other hand was a perfect escape goat in her ignorance. She actually wanted to get married even the boy was still just a boy for a very long time, until he reaches his thirties and gains a first grain of wisdom. But she has to do as her heart says, or she would turn horribly grumpy for the rest of her life.
The wedding ceremony was interesting, especially with the symbolism of circles with circles within circles forever ad nauseam. Luthen's wedding gift however was more magnificient as its roots went all the way back to Ratakan invasion at 25 000 years around the time, when the first Jedi's were formed. Only 9 of 12 000 of them had survived the turmoils of time.
Only problem in the wedding from Mon side was Tay hinting that he was tied to other banker permanently and then hesitating on telling the truth, on what it all meant. We can only expect it to be something that probably finally drives Mon to the hands of Rebels.
"Mother..." Syril said as he brought mother-in-law around the corner. "This is Debra."
"Eedy, please!" Mother waved him away as the Witch cracked a smile and extended her hand. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Finally, indeed," Mother laughed as she shied away from the gesture. Then she looked around and added, "My word! It's a palace."
"Thank you," Debra said. "It's home."
I bet she had no idea of how horrible mother-in-law visits can be. When Syril offered to take her coat, I thought he would have chucked her out along the way. Or when she asked for spiced tea, I thought he wished to take her downstair and forget her outside the door. To me, it's clear that she is the source for Syril's OCD behaviour and if only he could live without her presence, he would be so much happier.
It's just me I was in the wrong, for thinking that the witch didn't care, as she showed her true colours when Syril retired from mother's company.
"You'll toughen him up," Mother-in-law stated.
"I have a different plan in mind," Debra said. "Mmm, but when I say the word 'plan' that makes it sound optional, which is not the impression you should be taking away. This game ends now. You want Syril in your life? You will think before you speak. I'll make sure he visits twice a month. I'll make sure that he call you. I will guarantee a level of engagement, but it will be inversely proportional to the volume of anxiety you generate in our lives."
"Quite a mouthful," Mother-in-law tried.
"I'm not done," Debra snapped. "You can spare me Uncle Harlo testimonials. I've had a look at his ISB files, and that is not the story you want to be advertising."
<3 My hero.
Finally getting a clear signal, Kleya stated: "Coruscant Forecast 2665, clearing open signal. Please identify and repeat."
"I need a weather report."
"What's your location?"
"I'm in transit," Cassian answered.
"And where's our freighter? We've had no word from the relay pilot."
Shaking his head, Cassian said, "You won't be hearing from him. It's just me. I... I'm calling you from the freighter."
"Let's start over? What's your location?" (Stupid, stupid question.)
"This is not the ship I was trained to fly," Cassian said. "Did you know that?" Then he shouted down the line, "Did anyone know that? I can't fly the ship. The drop is compromised. I've been upside down for two days! Find me someplace safe. And dry."
"Let me work on that. Keep this signal open."
"I need to call home."
"No," Kleya shouted in turn. "Don't do that."
"Come again?"
"It's very crowded out there right now."
"What does that mean?"
Kleya rolled her eyes. "Just give me a few minutes."
I absolutely loved this dialogue, but Kleya should have known better to not say anything about Cassian's family. She should have just worked the job, or rather wished him good luck for knowing that the natural spy wasn't going to stay on the job for any longer. Whatever he'd learned about handling that vessel was going to be applied right away as he jumped straight into the agricultural world to save his family, when the farm was getting raided by the Imps.
It was also predictable that the Imp Officer was going to take Bix by force. He was just a type that would go bonkers with power, thinking and believing that they're allowed to do whatever they can, and nobody can say no ... until Vader comes to say hello.
In writing terms Gilmore is doing wonderfully with increased tension in each episode as the darkness turns shadier by the moment. But he is doing it masterfully because in the same time he's using classical horror techniques by keeping the secrets secret. We can only expect that in the next three episodes the monster and the resistance really start to get the shape.
I give this episode 9.
Lady of Winterfell
Foxy Lady
We love watching the Screen Crush recap videos, they're great for a lot of series.
I thought the third episode was the best yet as far as pacing and tension. I was very sad at the death of Brasso, and I can't believe they all just left the droid Bee behind.
While so far I don't think this season is as good as last season, I am still loving it.
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,884
I did too, but I'm hesitant to say it's the best so far, because we haven't seen all of them.
People did have problems on first season too. So, it's not an uncommon thing with these series. Like I said in my brief, some fans have problems because there are no space wizards in the play, while others love it as it takes them away from the fantasy, and clasp it more firmly to the science fiction.
That same thing has happened in the SW games as well. There are two recent SW games, one is Jedi Survivor with a major force user, who goes down the path like Ezra (no school, no masters). The other one is Star Wars Outlaws, which has force users, like Vader, but the major character is just a rogue girl Kay Vess, who happens to best for example Lando Calrissian in sabbacc a couple of times. Some people hated her because she wasn't Force User, while others have stated that she's the best character since Knights of the Old Republic.
Thing, you watched first three episodes, and you still want to keep watching, which is exactly the thing we've recommended over the years, and it also included this series in the first season. The fame over it came after it had broadcasted the final episode. Therefore, for this series, I recommend people to keep watching, if you made it to the third episode and would still like to know more. The reason for that is that the first season too only got better towards the end. So it's very likely this one does it too.
Lady of Winterfell
Foxy Lady
Andor is my favorite Star Wars show, and I actually like that it doesn't focus on 'the force'. It gives a different view of the Star Wars universe, and I find it very interesting and compelling.
I am very much enjoying this season and will definitely watch until the end.
I am very much enjoying this season and will definitely watch until the end.
