Andor: Announcement

 "Watch your back..."

And so we have the aftermath. Luthen got what he wanted: the Empire has been rattled. On the one hand, some are inspired to resistance, such as Maarva. She refuses to leave with Kassian, inspired to work with the Resistance against the Empire.On the other hand, we have a crackdown. Hence Andor returns home briefly home to find Stormtroopers everywhere. And then, as an anonymous rich tourist, he is arrestedand sentenced to six years on trumped up charges.

Such is totalitarianism. And that's the side of the Empire that Andor shows so well. No Jedis. No magical thinking, just the hard moral choices one must face while living under tyranny. Some, like Mon Mothma, try and undermine it from within, but take enormous risks. The stakes are high. 

I see many parallels with Iran today- death to the dictator. Women, life, freedom! And with Russia- may Putin die horribly. Living under tyranny, it iseasy to conform, as Maarva kindly admits to Kassian; she makes no mora judgement. Why rebel if it means your kids will suffer? Such is the harsh reality. Yet brutality begets resistance. And glorious revolution.

I love the secret service intrigue on Coruscant, too, with Dedra this time getting the upper hand. But this is all very much Gestapo on Trantor. And I'm loving this very political approach to the Star Wars universe.

Andor: Aldhani

 "To put a real stick into the eye of the empire... and get paid for it."

And all has changed. The preamble is over. Sybil Kane- who will be back- and his gang of pathetic corporate toy soldiers are all sacked, while Kassian and Luthen are off into lightspeed. There's a nice early ideological exchange between them- the grizzled idealist versus the bitter, burned cynic- but Andor agrees to take on this desperate mission, a heist, with Vel and her gang of deserate desperados, whom we will no doubt get to know over the coming episodes.

We also get a good look at Coruscant, presented here as a kind of cross between Trantor and Nazi Berlin. We see Anton Lesser, charismatic as ever, as a kind of cynical yet efficient Gestapo chief, with two underlings jostling for power under him. We shall see more of them.

We also meet our old friend Mon Mothma, a young senator involved with rebel circles... and her politically cynical husband. It's like a Guardian reader having to be married to bloody Suella Braverman. A woman far more evil than the Emperor himself.

Tbhis is bloody good. Andor's slow start was the foundation. Right now this is pretty much perfect.