I finished it!
I finished Andor. I waited for a year for the release and subscribed to Hotstar just to watch the whole series - love it. Although I'm not into sci-fiction that much, I was intrigued by Rogue One from the start (it is the only movie in the Star Wars franchise that I watched more than once). Well, I am probably biased because I love Diego Luna. Finding out that he got his own back story was an excitement that I can't hide, and this whole writing is probably biased towards him playing Andor.
But, hear me out.
Warning - Spoilers ahead **
1. Andor and Rogue One weren't stories about superheroes/superpowers, this is a story of normal flawed people (and I really don't like superheroes' stories). These are normal people that are trying to make a change. This is the story of Andor, a thief, a refugee, an outcast, an accidental murderer (?) - that decides to become a revolutionary and joins the Rebellion.
The Star Wars franchise itself is based on a political theme of resistance and oppression. About fighting the big battle, the rakyat vs the oppressed totalitarianism, about making sacrifices and believing in a cause. At this age, Andor is relatable. A lone survivalist that decides to become an activist. If we scratch the Star Wars layer aside, you can see a normal battle we see in our own country. Also, it shows the consequences of inaction when dealing with a regime. Do you choose not to participate? Do you choose not to pick a side?
Even though it is one of the Star Wars movies, there's hardly any mention of Jedi (which I appreciate). I can't connect well with special people (with superpowers, with connections, with evil money), Andor feels more relatable, just a mere human being. It felt fresh compared to all other Star Wars movies.
There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many.
One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try."
I mean, this is a manifesto for us, for the ordinary people.
Not like the one that Yoda passed to Luke :
Can you see the difference? Luke gets the burden of his responsibility on his shoulder alone, he can't 'try', he is special, and it is expected of him to 'do'. But in Nemik's manifesto, it's for the normal people, for us, the small beings, for each individual that can make a difference, make a change. We need to 'try'. Andor came out right before the 2022 election, and it correlates well. We are still not over the GE 14 political fiasco and I know almost everyone remembers that well. If we want to make a change, try, even how small.
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And how about Luthen's words when asked about sacrifice?
"I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn 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!"
"And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude". Oh my, this is an explosion to the ears. Will never have a mirror because he is too ashamed to look at what he has done, or an audience or light of gratitude, because everything he does, he does it in secret. He is the two-faced spy.
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This is like reading a passage from a book, words by Kleya Marki:
I don't have lately. I have always. I have a constant blur of plates spinning and knives on the floor, and needy, panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many.
A constant blur of plates spinning and knives on the floor, and needy, panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many?
"Constant blur of plates" - like juggling balls, spinning plates needs constant movement and precision to avoid them crashing own, "knives on the floor" - the need to be careful, to constantly watch your step, "panicked faces at the window, of which you are but one of many" - there are many things on her mind to worry about. This is a gem!
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This is Kino Loy's words of strength :
.."There is one way out. Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out! One way out! One way out!"
.."There is a wound that won't heal at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it's here. It's here, and it's not visiting anymore. It wants to stay. The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we sleep. It's easy for the dead to tell you to fight, and maybe it's true, maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it's too late. But I'll tell you this... If I could do it again, I'd wake up early and be fighting these b*stards from the start. Fight the Empire!
This is top-notch scriptwriting.
I'm in awe of the proses mostly because I love how beautiful spoken/written languages can be in conveying a message. In this case, this might relate to my own personal love of words as a reader/listener of a story. If I noticed such things in a movie, that probably means they put extra effort in the script-writing to make someone like me notice this (because I usually do multiple things when I watch something, not 100% commit to only watching it).
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3. Complex and growing characters.
The characters are complex, they have multiple facets of personalities, morally grey, and their development slowly grows with the story.
Cassian Andor starts off the series as a thief and he accidentally murders 2 guards, then becomes a fugitive. He doesn't care about anything bigger than his life and his close circle. As the series progress, we can see his personal development. There was incident upon incident to make him realize the need to step up and be reborn. Even after the robbery in Aldhani takes place, even after he is stuck in the prison in Narkina 5, he then decides to change in the end. After a defeat. A death. A reminder.
Syril Karn is an odd character worth mentioning as well. An ambitious inspector with a strong need to accomplish something, his need to impress, and his obsession with trying to do something right (right in his case doesn't always mean right to everyone else). He takes his duty very seriously, he loves order, discipline, and justice. Remember the one mention about his tailored uniform to fit his body right and added pockets? Who would put such detail into creating a character? I laughed at this scene when I saw it, because we can see how anal he is about everything (an anal-retentive person is a person who pays such attention to detail that it becomes an obsession and may be an annoyance to others). Aside from that, we can see why he is like that after the Ferrix incident when he is fired from his job and returns home. A nice side story to see when he is home with his mother (it all makes sense !).
Almost every character in this series is morally grey characters: Andor, Syril, Dedra, Luthen, Maarva, and Mon Mothma. We can't decide whether they are purely evil or purely good. The heroes that would cross the line for the greater good (even by deciding to sacrifice 50 people in order to send a bigger message), or seemingly villains of the story but with a strong point that they are holding on to (like Syril and Dedra - I think they really believe in being in the right place, just doing their job, a bit too obsessively), are they in the evil side? Andor himself is a thief and fugitive, when he decides to pick a side, does this means he is now on the good side? Luthen sacrifices people for a greater message, does this mean he is on the good side?
These are all moral questions worth debating.
Who decides what is good and what is evil when we are fighting a big battle? Isn't both sides will do something that crosses the line? In Andor, we don't only see the bigger evil power lurking at every side controlling the lives of the universe, we also see the people trapped in the situation - the political side (Mon Mothma), in their job (Dedra and Syril). These people on the seemingly evil side believe they are on the right side. Is Dedra truly evil because of her dedication to her work?
I appreciate them making each character with their own little story to make sense of everything, to humanize them. Nicely progressed character development. What makes good character development good? They have backstories, goals, flaws, personalities, world views, personal traits, values, and beliefs. I think Andor hits that part well.
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It's a bit weird for me to post this on my 36th birthday, but here it is, finally finished this post after 2 weeks of drafting it. A short review of 3 things that I want to mention about Andor: the relatable political wars between the rakyat and the oppressed government, the beautiful script-writing, and the fictional morally grey characters with complex & growing development. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I'm glad I ended 2022 with a great story.
Here is the official trailer :
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And the small downside :
Half of the early part of the series is slow, the characters are slowly developed and it was a bit boring. Nothing much really happens. The next half is good and strong. I didn't know it was separated into 3 chapters (1-3, 4-6, 7-9) when I first watched it, if I'd known from the start, maybe I expect the pace better. I think I was bored for the first 5 episodes.
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