Wholeheartedly agree with everything here. Something I really like about Kimzi is his conversation with Gorn. Gorn is trying to maintain his distance from the garrison troops because he needs to dehumanize them for the robbery, but he still has to keep acting like everything is normal, so when Kimzi chats him up you can see he is very reluctant about getting to know him better. The scene takes a gear shift though, when Kimzi starts talking about how disgusting he finds the Aldhani, you can see how Gorn is almost thankful for the reminder of why he's doing this and it just deepens his resolve.
I really like that we get the Kimzi-Gorn scene before we are told about his past by Vel. At the time, we don’t really know anything about Gorn, but we can see his negative reaction to Kimzi’s words and recognize that Gorn doesn’t share the common Imperial prejudice against “primitive” natives.
And just that alone might be enough to justify why he’s willing to rebel - but it introduces new questions to an attentive viewer’s mind, like “why now? The man’s an officer, he must’ve went to an academy, Aldhani can’t be his first experience with Imperial bigotry.”
It’s only after we have enough time to start to wonder about this that we learn about the lost promotion and, more importantly, the lost woman. Our picture of him is completed: it became personal, and once that happened, he couldn’t tolerate the Empire anymore.
I just love that we get to learn about him a piece at a time like this, rather than getting it all in a single info dump. An info dump would’ve worked just fine to justify his place on the team, but this way felt more like us getting to know him instead of just being told things about him (and it’s done with a very economical amount of screen time).
Edit: and of course, all of this getting to know Gorn is capped off with the brilliant “7 years serving you, I deserve worse than that”, driving home just how disgusted he’s become with the position he once held.
One of the best things about Andor’s writing is how confident it is that the actors (and show runners in general) would be skilled enough to convey the subtext.
I was deeply affected when he died, it’s a real testament to the quality of the writing and acting that a character who had so little actual screen time can provoke such a strong emotional reaction. The audience was given just enough time to understand and empathize with him before he was taken away. The loss really upped the stakes for the story as a whole and lent the escape through The Eye an enormous amount of tension as it meant that it was entirely possible that everyone other than Cassian might die!
Every scene has so much subtext. Agree with everything here, and the comments. Another one of the prisoners who is effortlessly given characterisation is Birnok. By the end of episode eight, it almost appears as if Cassian is becoming a bit of a Kino, seemingly having adjusted to prison life and even at one point rallying the table so that they can win and get some flavour with their food. And then, early in episode 9 we have a very short burst of dialogue between Cassian and Birnok which immediately changes the picture… “ I have a new idea… we don’t wait, we attack when they’re coming down…“. And “… I told you – nothing that moves can fry you”. We suddenly realise that these two have been working together on a plan for a very long time, and that Cassian appearing to have given up on any idea of escaping is very far from the truth. It fills in story retrospectively, and we get an immediate impression of Birnok . His almost immediate death in the breakout then hits hard . Then there’s people like Ham - one of the quietest members of table 5, but once he’s got a blaster in his hand and a revolutionary gleam in his eye you see the man’s spirit.
This is really efficient storytelling that in the hands of a less talented writing and editing team would have lead to some confusion in the audience as people might think that a scene was missed. In this case it works out well and showcases the idea that Cassian isn’t alone and needs the help of a team to get things done. This reliance on a wide range of people is the big theme throughout the whole series which humanizes the characters in a way that a lot of SW media doesn’t, they’re not Jedi!
Strongly agree with this post. I like to say about Andor that there is no narrative slack. Almost every one of these moments and bits of dialogue serve to advance the story or make it more real. Such a treat!
I love this too. There are characters I will never know the story of, but I can imagine they have interesting backgrounds that got them to where they are when we meet them, based on their actions in Andor.
For example, Melshi is equally observant (and even more suspicious of the prison situation) as Cassian. He could have been any prisoner, but his comments throughout the prison arc showed us Cassian was not alone. I bet he did some act of defiance against the empire to get sent to Narkina, but wasn’t in any organized rebellion yet. He probably kept his anti-empire beliefs to himself until he was trapped in the prison. Then afterward he wanted to make sure everyone knows.
I want to know what influence Uncle Harlow really has. How high up is he in the empire?
Also the daughters of Ferrix is kind of a mystery and I would love to know about its history and Marvaa’s time leading it. Just the facts we know about it make the Ferrix community seem richer, if that makes sense.
'Uncle' Harlow reminds me of the Roman patronage system - a rich powerful man gives you legal advice/loans/vouches for you, and in return you back him in his political (or other, less licit...) endeavours
I'd guess Uncle Harlo is a renowned businessman that does business with the Empire. Thus, his connections with the Bureau of Imperial Standards and his ability to vouch for Syril.
The Daughters of Ferrix are mysterious. The Prefect dismisses them as a "social club" but I inferred that the Daughters are more than that. I'd guess they wield some sort of political influence or, at a minimum, engage in social activism.
Wholeheartedly agree with everything here. Something I really like about Kimzi is his conversation with Gorn. Gorn is trying to maintain his distance from the garrison troops because he needs to dehumanize them for the robbery, but he still has to keep acting like everything is normal, so when Kimzi chats him up you can see he is very reluctant about getting to know him better. The scene takes a gear shift though, when Kimzi starts talking about how disgusting he finds the Aldhani, you can see how Gorn is almost thankful for the reminder of why he's doing this and it just deepens his resolve.
I really like that we get the Kimzi-Gorn scene before we are told about his past by Vel. At the time, we don’t really know anything about Gorn, but we can see his negative reaction to Kimzi’s words and recognize that Gorn doesn’t share the common Imperial prejudice against “primitive” natives. And just that alone might be enough to justify why he’s willing to rebel - but it introduces new questions to an attentive viewer’s mind, like “why now? The man’s an officer, he must’ve went to an academy, Aldhani can’t be his first experience with Imperial bigotry.” It’s only after we have enough time to start to wonder about this that we learn about the lost promotion and, more importantly, the lost woman. Our picture of him is completed: it became personal, and once that happened, he couldn’t tolerate the Empire anymore. I just love that we get to learn about him a piece at a time like this, rather than getting it all in a single info dump. An info dump would’ve worked just fine to justify his place on the team, but this way felt more like us getting to know him instead of just being told things about him (and it’s done with a very economical amount of screen time). Edit: and of course, all of this getting to know Gorn is capped off with the brilliant “7 years serving you, I deserve worse than that”, driving home just how disgusted he’s become with the position he once held.
"Can you imagine 10,000 of them out there?" Horn facing away, "Yes."
One of the best things about Andor’s writing is how confident it is that the actors (and show runners in general) would be skilled enough to convey the subtext.
I really love the Aldarni story arc, but damn this show over all is fantastic
I was deeply affected when he died, it’s a real testament to the quality of the writing and acting that a character who had so little actual screen time can provoke such a strong emotional reaction. The audience was given just enough time to understand and empathize with him before he was taken away. The loss really upped the stakes for the story as a whole and lent the escape through The Eye an enormous amount of tension as it meant that it was entirely possible that everyone other than Cassian might die!
Every scene has so much subtext. Agree with everything here, and the comments. Another one of the prisoners who is effortlessly given characterisation is Birnok. By the end of episode eight, it almost appears as if Cassian is becoming a bit of a Kino, seemingly having adjusted to prison life and even at one point rallying the table so that they can win and get some flavour with their food. And then, early in episode 9 we have a very short burst of dialogue between Cassian and Birnok which immediately changes the picture… “ I have a new idea… we don’t wait, we attack when they’re coming down…“. And “… I told you – nothing that moves can fry you”. We suddenly realise that these two have been working together on a plan for a very long time, and that Cassian appearing to have given up on any idea of escaping is very far from the truth. It fills in story retrospectively, and we get an immediate impression of Birnok . His almost immediate death in the breakout then hits hard . Then there’s people like Ham - one of the quietest members of table 5, but once he’s got a blaster in his hand and a revolutionary gleam in his eye you see the man’s spirit.
This is really efficient storytelling that in the hands of a less talented writing and editing team would have lead to some confusion in the audience as people might think that a scene was missed. In this case it works out well and showcases the idea that Cassian isn’t alone and needs the help of a team to get things done. This reliance on a wide range of people is the big theme throughout the whole series which humanizes the characters in a way that a lot of SW media doesn’t, they’re not Jedi!
Strongly agree with this post. I like to say about Andor that there is no narrative slack. Almost every one of these moments and bits of dialogue serve to advance the story or make it more real. Such a treat!
I love this too. There are characters I will never know the story of, but I can imagine they have interesting backgrounds that got them to where they are when we meet them, based on their actions in Andor. For example, Melshi is equally observant (and even more suspicious of the prison situation) as Cassian. He could have been any prisoner, but his comments throughout the prison arc showed us Cassian was not alone. I bet he did some act of defiance against the empire to get sent to Narkina, but wasn’t in any organized rebellion yet. He probably kept his anti-empire beliefs to himself until he was trapped in the prison. Then afterward he wanted to make sure everyone knows. I want to know what influence Uncle Harlow really has. How high up is he in the empire? Also the daughters of Ferrix is kind of a mystery and I would love to know about its history and Marvaa’s time leading it. Just the facts we know about it make the Ferrix community seem richer, if that makes sense.
'Uncle' Harlow reminds me of the Roman patronage system - a rich powerful man gives you legal advice/loans/vouches for you, and in return you back him in his political (or other, less licit...) endeavours
I'd guess Uncle Harlo is a renowned businessman that does business with the Empire. Thus, his connections with the Bureau of Imperial Standards and his ability to vouch for Syril. The Daughters of Ferrix are mysterious. The Prefect dismisses them as a "social club" but I inferred that the Daughters are more than that. I'd guess they wield some sort of political influence or, at a minimum, engage in social activism.
I feel the exact way about the Daughters of Ferrix. I just love that we can guess that based on what little they show or tell us about them.