Andor: "Kassa", "That Would Be Me", "Reckoning"
He became a Rebel. That becoming is one of the things Andor is about. Not just how Cassian joined the Rebellion, but how a bunch of disorganized, squabbling groups and individuals who annoy each other became the Rebellion against the Empire.
As promised, I finally start writing about Andor. Let's ignore how late I am and celebrate that I showed up at all.
Okay, so originally this was going to be one newsletter post about the entirety of the show, but I was well over 1500 words when I got done with the first three episodes, and well, it just makes more sense to break these up into one newsletter for each story arc. So for the next eight weeks, expect a new newsletter every Thursday about Andor. Hooray!!!
“They have no idea we’re coming. They have no reason to expect us. If we can make it to the ground, we’ll take the next chance. And the next. On and on until we win…or the chances are spent.”
- Jyn Erso, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
What makes a revolution? Dramatic set pieces? Great speeches? Ideas enshrined in historic documents passed down to posterity?
As exciting or important as all of those are, there is one thing and one thing alone that every revolution requires: people!
“Now Amy, you mean important people, right?” I mean yes, there are famous revolutionaries, such as Washington, Robespierre, Louverture, Lenin, and so on and so on. But as much as some like to tout that history is made only by the “Great Men”, they are just one part of the story. Most revolutionaries are common people. They are the ones who think and speak and protest and petition and fight and die. At most they may find their name recorded on memorials on far off battlefields, or etched into boards in their hometown. Some aren’t even remembered at all, never getting to see the fruits of their labor. It’s thankless work, being one of the thousands, even millions who effect change. Nevertheless, its important, because without those who work without guarantee of fame and fortune, no revolution has any hope of success.
It’s these, the unremarkable yet essential revolutionaries, that Andor and its creator Tony Gilroy are (mostly) concerned about. Which may seem weird, given that the show is named after a person: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). He’s important to us because he’s a main character in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and he’s the titular character of Andor.
But Cassian being important to us the audience is not the same thing as being important within the fictional universe. He works with people who are remembered in the history books, sure, but the odds of his name showing up there are small. He became a Rebel, did the work, and gave the last full measure of his devotion while standing on that beach on Scarif. So it goes.
Rewind a bit, and let’s look at that sentence. He became a Rebel. Becoming is one of the things Andor is about. Not just how Cassian joined the Rebellion, but how a bunch of disorganized, squabbling groups and individuals who annoy each other became the Rebellion against the Empire. It’s also a story about a man, and the young woman he adopted in the middle of an atrocity, who do the thankless and dangerous work of intelligence and coordination. And, for all I’ve said about the nameless Rebels, it is also about one of the greatest figures of the Rebellion. How she eventually put her life on the line for her cause, and the costs and compromises she made to do so.
But Andor isn’t just a story about the Rebels. There are Imperials at the center of the narrative as well. Characters who are humanized and given their own stories and motivations that we are made privy to, without sympathizing with or excusing their foul cause. They can grow, sure, but they can’t escape the consequences of their actions. In their failures, lessons can be learned. Most importantly, that evil isn’t just the domain of the cackling old wizard throwing lightning, or his terrifying dark knight. It’s within us all, if we aren’t careful.
And that lies at the center of Andor. Because who commits great atrocities and works towards the aims of tyranny? We do. But also, who can stand up to that tyranny and the atrocities? We do.
Who makes a revolution? We do.
A While Ago, A Distance Away, there was a man named Cassian….
As mentioned above, Cassian did not start as a Rebel. He was a rebellious young man with no love for the Empire, sure. But he was not engaged in open and organized rebellion. We start with him searching a forgotten industrial city on some nowhere planet looking for a hope of a chance of finding his sister. Had two private security goons in that random brothel not seen as an easy mark to shake down, he would have gone home to live another day as a thief. Probably would have ended up in an Imperial prison, or the wrong side of a blaster, and that would be that. No matter what, a different kind of anonymous death would have probably awaited him.
But those goons did what goons do and picked the wrong man to threaten. There was an accident, and one of the goons died. Which meant someone else had to die at that point. And it was not Cassian.
Had Cassian had better luck, even then he might have just gone back to the usual thievery while hiding out on Ferrix. There he would have kept up his life as usual, with his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw), potential love interest Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), close friend Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), and trusty droid B2EMO. Enter Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), an overzealous officer in the backwater corporate security force of the planet. Despite the recommendation of his boss to just let the murder of two security personnel drop due to the likelihood they were being corrupt little goons, he did no such thing. Instead he takes advantage of his boss being away to get the office to work doggedly to figure out who may have killed the goons. With a tip from a "concerned citizen", they find a name and a planet: Cassian Andor, Ferrix.
Okay, let’s step back and look at this as a TV show for a bit. Andor has a pretty reliable structure in its first season, with four story arcs that usually take up about three episodes. Cassian being a wanted man, who tries (and fails) to hide out on Ferrix, and then has to make alternate plans is the first of these arcs. It’s the weakest of the four, but that doesn’t mean it’s weak. It’s just the beginning of something bigger. So the stakes are lower, and there is less going on both for characterization and plot. Necessary things are happening, even if it isn’t as great as those yet to come.
In the third episode of season one, “Reckoning”, Syril looks to catch his man, which will somehow translate to making a name for himself in the Empire somehow. Maybe he thinks he’ll get an invitation to the Imperial Security Bureau (think the SS of the Empire, more on this group later), or an audience with Mas Amedda? Ambition is at the heart of Syril’s motivations, but it isn’t just that. It’s pretty clear that he thinks he is doing the right thing by tracking down and capturing Cassian. And, like the law is on his side. Cassian did murder one of those goons, and he played a role in the death of the other. Cyril isn’t a cynic, he’s a true believer in the promise of order that the Empire claims to represent. And that makes him dangerous, as ridiculous as he sometimes seems.
At this point Cassian realizes he has to get off of Ferrix, if he is going to keep Bix and Maarva safe. He tries to do it on his own, but that doesn’t work out. Little did he know that there was someone else who arrived on Ferrix besides Syril and his corporate security SWAT team: Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård).We don’t know much about Luthen, just that he is a Rebel contact of Bix who is looking to buy some stolen Imperial equipment. But as Luthen talks with Cassian, it becomes clear that he sits at the center of what is informally Rebel intelligence. Cassian is up shit creek, but Luthen’s willing to give him a paddle. Do a job for him and the Rebels, and he’ll get him off the planet and pay him for his trouble. Cassian is reluctant. Not because he loves the Empire, the entity that effectively killed his home planet. But because he has no intention of joining up with any cause, particularly one that’s as big of a long shot as the Rebellion. It’s clear this is not the Cassian of Rogue One. He’s a cynic, not a true believer.
At some point Syril and his security shock troops show up and get in a fire fight. Bix get’s stopped by Syril’s troops, and in the process the troops kill Timm (James McArdle), Bix’ boyfriend. So, earlier, Timm had betrayed Cassian due to jealousy over Bix’ affection for Cassian. But now he’s a martyr for the people of Ferrix, who have a history of poor relations with the Empire and its “Corpo” agents. Brasso sabotages one of Syril’s ships, and Syril’s troops are killed in the ensuing fight. Nevertheless, it looks like they are going to get their man. But then Luthen saves Cassian, and off they go. Syril is left with a bunch of dead men in an operation of questionable legality that will give the corporate security entity, and thus, by extension, the Empire, a black eye. There are also dead people on Ferrix. It’s a grade A mess, and it’s going to leave Syril out of a job, eating Imperi-Os in his mom’s kitchen back on Coruscant. But I get ahead of myself.
As for Cassian and Luthen, they escape into the relative safety of hyperspace. Cassian reluctantly agrees to take Luthen’s job. On Ferrix, the guy bangs on the anvil to end the day, then the next morning he bangs on the anvil to begin the day, as always. But Syril’s no-good horrible, very bad day will bring the real honest to god Empire to town, and things won’t be the same for the sleepy planet of Ferrix. Timm may have been the first of a new crop of Ferrixian martyrs, but he won’t be the last. We will be back to this planet for sure. Things are just getting started….
Next Week: There’s a heist to be pulled by a group of rebels in the midst of SPACE SHEEP. We also travel to Coruscant and meet a familiar face. That’s right, I’ll be talking about Episodes Four-Six of Season One of Andor.
Amy Wren Says What? is a newsletter that (ideally) comes out at least once a week. In it I talk about television shows, books, video games, and other topics. Right now I'm running a series of posts about the Star Wars Television show Andor, which will go live every Thursday for eight editions.
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-Amy
