68: Andor Season 1 Recap

[00:00:03] A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

[00:00:37] Sickness. I can't see. Your eyesight will return in time. Where am I? Jabba's Palace.

[00:01:00] The Star Wars TV Cast, broadcasting around the world and across the galaxy. This is Episode 68. I'm Jonathan. And I'm James. This week, we're recapping Season 1 of Andor. Join us as we discuss Season 1 and what to look forward to as we expect to be an amazing Season 2. Yes, well, welcome back dear listeners and thank you for joining us for what we hope to be the best Star Wars we've seen in a long, long time. It better be.

[00:01:31] Here's where I think we stand with the state of Disney's Star Wars. Mando's Season 3 was a bit of a joke. Kenobi and Boba Fett were average and a missed opportunity, but they had their moments. Ahsoka was fun and was more Rebels live action. But it was cabin breaking. Not everyone can or needs to use the Force. And yet, of course, Sabine gains full Jedi powers in about a week.

[00:01:55] We've had the Tales of animated series, which have been great. Bad Batch, which I know James loves, is holding its own and had some great Star Wars moment. But then, of course, we had the Acolyte, which had some serious writing issues. We did. Plus a moment where a Sith Lord takes off his underpants while staring directly at the camera. Very uncomfortable. Maybe not for you, but I don't care how jacked he is. There is no sex in Star Wars.

[00:02:24] But there is a bright light that had adventure and fun. And although it was sometimes more Goonies than Star Wars, I really enjoyed Skeleton Crew. And Paken Daphne did a great job covering it. So thank you guys for that. But here we are, finally on the brink of Season 2. It's been a long time in the carbonate, James. What are your thoughts on Season 1 and any predictions for Season 2? Just bear with me. My sight is just returning, Jonathan.

[00:02:53] I'm just stumbling out of the outer rim here. So, ah dear, my thoughts on Season 1. I mean, Season 1, same as you. I mean, let's talk about the highlights of the universe of Star Wars. Since Andor has been, it's easy to sum up as you've just said, but like we had, I don't know, there were bits of Kenobi. I mean, I could get excited about a second season of that and maybe a young Vader sort of spin-off series or something. I agree with what you said about Ahsoka.

[00:03:23] It turned into live action Rebels light, I would say. Yes. Which for me was cool because as we all know, I was lazy and I hadn't watched Rebels. So, for me, that was great. Boba Fett, I shall not mention. The Acolytes. I think I had a DL-44 pointed at my head and that's why I watched it. I can't be sure. It was so traumatic, my brain has blacked out the whole experience. I can't remember any of it. I can't remember half-naked or semi-naked like Jedi's. It just wasn't good, was it?

[00:03:53] But yeah, I agree. The Bad Batch, I love. If they want to turn anything live action, I would love to see that. Yeah. And I know we've got a lot of listeners that agree with you as well. Yeah, that would be phenomenal. And then, of course, we had Space Goonies. Yeah. I'm sorry, Skeletor. I love that. Jude Law I thought was great. I'd love to see Jude Law's character alongside Han Solo at some point because I think they're both in that sort of shady, shifty world. One may or may not be a force user.

[00:04:23] Yeah, but they're both sort of like... I could see them playing cards in a smoky bar somewhere. Yeah, exactly. I think that would be a cool one. But I think we're back on track. My thought... Yeah, sorry to interrupt. My thought was I wish they had released it as a movie. Like they could have cut half an hour out of the however many episodes that were, stitched it all together, released it in the theatres just before Christmas. It would have cleaned up.

[00:04:51] You know, because it was good enough compared to a lot of the stuff that's out in movies. Maybe. I mean, we don't need to get into the logistics of where Disney wants to spend its money with subscriptions and all the rest of it and stuff. So, I don't know. I don't know how many... I know we live in the dreamy world of the 80s where we only got excited to go and see a movie together at the Christmas. Yeah. But now I think people are like, oh, I'll just sit and watch it at home.

[00:05:20] And I guess, you know, it gives them six or eight hours to tell a story rather than two. That's true. So, I mean, I happily watched it. I really enjoyed it. I thought I wouldn't, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. Yeah, so you took a little bit of convincing. Yeah, I did. It was one of those, you know, it's like, I don't have that amount of spare time. And it's like, okay, I'll give this a go. And I really liked it by the end. And I wanted to see more. I want to know the full backstory of Jude Law's character.

[00:05:51] Hopefully that one will survive the cut. We'll see. But yeah, I was just gonna say, look, but now we're back with Andor. And I have to say, praise the Gilroy. And grown up Star Wars returns. It's true. It's serious. It takes itself seriously. The sets, the costume, everything feels real. The cinematography effort has been put into this. Exactly. I mean, that's what I was going to get into is like, what have we missed? What do we love about Andor?

[00:06:20] And it's like the characters, the production design, you said, the writing. And my favorite, the fact that these real worlds. I mean, like the mountains of Scotland and the Barbican in London. So like the whole world is believable because you'd like, I know you can have. There's wind. Well, there's wind, but you can do this stuff on. I mean, I've watched a few documentaries on the volume, you know, the soundstage that they use and stuff. And they talk through how it's great, how they can, they can retake a sunset scene and they can spend eight hours to do this and do that.

[00:06:48] But I don't know about you, but you can now tell. It's like, I can now tell when I watch like Jurassic Park what it is. Yeah. And you can now tell. So, but when you watch characters freezing their asses off on a Scottish Highland. Yeah. Like, it just feels real. That's true. There's temperature, you know, when you're on an ice planet. I doubt they set the temperature in the studio to below zero. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't remember. Yeah, exactly. When they were filming in Norway for Empire.

[00:07:18] It was like, it was realistic because everyone was frozen to shit. But I mean, there's other locations as well. Like they use an abandoned like refinery in Essex, which was the prison. And then there's the quarry in Dorset where it saw Guerrero's like fueling up his X-wings. Yeah, exactly. Because you've got that cold, damp English drizzle. You can't, again, you can't put that in a soundstage because light. Yeah, you're not allowed moisture in your soundstage. So you ruin stuff.

[00:07:47] So, yeah, so I'm excited to get back into it. And I hope that we get more of the same, Jonathan. Oh, exactly. All I want is season two. We don't have new directors. We've got the same people in charge coming back. All the great actors. Luckily, no one has died in the off season. I don't know. Yeah, we'll see. Well, we'll see. Yeah, that's true. Oh, Kino Lloyd, who, you know, maybe he just. He learned to swim.

[00:08:16] Well, no, he didn't, James. He obviously took off his pants, tied up the ankles and turned it into a floatation device. Oh, yes. As we discussed. What was it? Ten years ago. Yeah, exactly. But we all did our, what was it called? Yeah, your safety swimming class at school. Oh, yes. If you're ever drowning in a pair of pyjamas. I'm like, what? I don't understand. Why do you have your pyjamas on? But actually, their prison suits were almost pyjamas. Anyway, we're going to. Well, they were parachute material it looked like. So I think they would be very water resistant.

[00:08:46] They would have turned into a fine floatation device. Which I assume that's eventually what Kino Lloyd did. Because whether he was intended to be in season two, I think Andy Serkis' performances and everyone's reaction to him, they might have written him back into season two. Well, I hope so. I mean, I think like you, I've avoided too much in the way of spoilerage. So I should wait to see.

[00:09:15] So dear listeners, we will obviously be spoiling every Star Wars IP up until today. But we have not. I mean, I actually saw the teaser trailer briefly, one look, and I haven't seen the full trailer. So James and I are both going to go in this kind of sight unseen. There's a couple of things discussed at the end, but pretty much we don't know what's going to happen, which is really good. Yeah.

[00:09:44] I mean, I always try to do that because it's a decent TV show or film coming out that I'm really excited about. I will avoid all trailers or gossip and stuff. It's a sign that I've given up faith in it if like the week before release, I'm like, oh, I'm just going to watch this now. Yeah. Well, as far as I know, James has always been a non-trailer watcher, especially for a film he's looking forward to. I kind of like to get into the excitement of it and the build up of it all.

[00:10:12] But for this one, I just wanted to go in it and see it as it unfolds and James as well. So we don't know what's going to happen. There's one scene that I remember from the teaser trailer, which appears to be the wedding of Mon Mothma's daughter to the gangster's son. That seems to be what's happening.

[00:10:40] But apart from that, I don't know what else is happening. But I only mention that because that brings back a whole lot of storyline threads so they haven't just left hanging, it's actually going into the next season. Well, I think that's the clever thing of, as I will now affectionately call him TG from now on, Mr. Gilderoy, is really well thought out in the storyline. And also the fact that you know that you are lining up for Rogue One. So you know the end play.

[00:11:11] Yeah. So he has to tie all the threads together to make sense. And I don't think he's the kind of person who's just going to go, Oh, that was a dream sequence. Yeah. I think we... Or just let them fizzle out that, you know, there haven't been rewrites for this where, you know, a storyline which was in the original suddenly gets sidelined. You know, as opposed to the sequels, there is a beginning, middle and an end for this.

[00:11:38] I'm pretty sure they threshed out the story of season one and two before they even started. So they knew exactly where they're going. There's no fake callbacks where there's something in season one that people liked. They suddenly write a whole storyline around that. I believe that they've just written this story from beginning to end. So they're able to plan it, they're able to make the most of it, and they're able to make it make logical sense. Let's hope so, eh? Yeah.

[00:12:09] All right. So shall we get into the season one recap? So obviously we're assuming that everyone here has made the effort and has watched season one. So don't rely on this to be instead of watching season one, because we are going to briefly skim over it. But I highly recommend anyone who has the time to rewatch it all and maybe wrote one before. Yeah, you're right, James.

[00:12:33] Because I actually, you do have time to do a rewatch because I watched it all in one weekend, basically. And so you watch it in, I think it's 3342 is the lineup of how they line up in movies. Yeah. And it was amazing. And like, I, you know, it was really good to watch.

[00:12:55] And this time when you watch it, when I watched it rather week to week, it didn't feel slow at all. You know, it just felt like the middle act. It wasn't a slow episode. It was just a middle act. And so I think it thought the pacing is actually very, very good. Well, that, yeah, because that's, that was our one quibble, wasn't it? Yeah. That originally was the pacing. Many people's. Yeah. But I think now when you look back over the 12 episodes, it kind of makes sense. And the payoff is well worth it. So, yeah. Absolutely.

[00:13:27] Well, let's get into it. So we're going to do the season one recap and starting with episode one. And thank you to Wikipedia for the summary. Episode one, Kassa. So five years before the Battle of Yabin, Kassian Landor looks for his missing sister on the industrial planet of Morlanawa.

[00:13:53] While investigating, Kassian is antagonized by two officers. An altercation ensues leading to Kassian accidentally killing one officer and murdering the other. And it was this point, James, that you knew you were in, right? And where he just straight up murders them. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, there's no problem shooting first in this series. I bet you have.

[00:14:19] On the planet of Ferax, he attempts to hide his involvement by convincing his adopted mother, Marva, her droid B2 Emo and his friend Barrasso to cover for him. Having a Starpath unit, a valuable piece of Imperial naval technology, Kassian asks his friend Bix to connect him with a black market buyer. Bix reluctantly agrees in context of buyer. Meanwhile, Bix's boyfriend, Tim, another ridiculous Star Wars name, I'm afraid. Two M's.

[00:14:48] You're right, James. There are two M's. So it does make it a space Tim rather than a regular Tim. Space Tim. Is suspicious of Anda. This is, of course, you know, you're always suspicious of the old boyfriend. To improve his report on the, to the Imperial authorities, Molana one's chief inspector of security, elects to cover up the two killings. However, his deputy, the dutiful, surreal Khan is determined to solve the case. Of course, he's one of my favorite characters.

[00:15:18] And I've, since watching this series, have been lightly tailing all my t-shirts. Pockets piping and some light tailing. Yes, I have noticed. He identifies Cassian's ship, traces it to Ferex, and learns that the fugitive is from the planet Qunari. In a flashback, a younger Cassian, known as Kassa, joins a group on Qunari who's set off to locate a crashed ship.

[00:15:48] Kassa rebuffs his younger sister's efforts to join the search, leaving behind in the tribal encampment. Yeah. I mean, good, good summary. Well done Wikipedia. I mean, John. Yeah. No. Beautifully great, I thought. I mean, it's great. Just, but just reading through that, it just sparks so many sort of thoughts and memories. Like you said like, oh, you were in the minute that he shot those two guys. I mean, we talked about this originally, and it's the visual styling of this show, which is great.

[00:16:15] I mean, it felt like Blade Runner for frame one. It's like Ray, he goes, neon, it's dark, he's in like a seedy club. It just set the pace. And just the style of everything, the design of the club, the chairs, the windows, everything is just so thought through, you know? Yeah. Nothing looks cheap or temporary or cardboard, everything like as we spoke about before feels real and solid.

[00:16:45] It's really practical. So, yeah. So, okay. Well, we shall move on or we will be here until the premiere of this. That's right. All right. Episode two. Episode two. That will be me. So, Tim, two Ms. He's still suspicious of Vix's relationship with Cassian and reports Cassian to the Primor security team, which has issued a warrant for his arrest. Cassian is the first time.

[00:17:09] So, is he's at the first time of their arrest? Yes, he's at the same time. He's at the same time. I think he's at the same time. Yes. In the next time, he's at the same time. And the second time to look at Kassian and pergunt from the first time, the second time, It's a very nice, very nice. It's very nice. to obtain the Starpath unit.

[00:17:38] In a flashback, Kassa and his fellow tribal members locate and investigate a crashed ship near a massive abandoned industrial strip mining operation. When one of their own is killed by a crew member of the downed ship, the tribe kills the attacker and quickly leaves the site in fear of retribution, I imagine. Anyway, Kassa returns to the ship to explore it. Yeah, and... Is that how it ends? Yeah, no, it does.

[00:18:04] Do you remember they go to the crashed ship to steal the... No, no, I don't realise that. I thought the thing with Marvel was... No, it's in an upcoming episode. But imagine being killed by blowgun. They just had all those... The kids had the blowguns. They're just like, this is how my life ends. A bunch of kids putting poisonous darts into me. It's great, because again, it's another real-world reference, isn't it? Yeah. It's like they're in jungles, and it's like a South American tribe. Yeah. Basically, it's like an Amazonian tribe of kids,

[00:18:34] and it's great, like the little bits of face paint they have on there and everything, and it's got a real... Well, it's interesting, because without saying anything, all the adults have obviously been killed, because there's no adults, you know, it's just all children. Now, isn't that... Don't we work that out later, that they basically were all conscripted into work at that mine? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly, because it's basically an abandoned imperial mine, isn't it? Yeah.

[00:19:00] But there's a lot of showing and not saying, so, you know, like he walks up to the edge, and you see the massive strip mining, and then you realise that all the tribe are just all kids. And so rather than saying, oh, our parents died, and, you know, you just kind of realise, you work it out, but, you know, it's visual storytelling, which is where Andal thrives. Yeah, and again, it's assuming that the...

[00:19:31] You're trusting that your viewers are intelligent, and you're not having to spell everything out for them. So it's quite nice when it does that. And again, another reference to the Amazon, because it's obviously like they've stripped the forest as well. And of course, we assume that our listeners are, of course, of the highest intelligence, and get all our jokes and think we're hilarious. Yes.

[00:19:55] The other one who I loved is the introduction of Sergeant Mosk, as you spoke earlier. He is such a classic English cop show character. Yeah, he's brilliant. Just the pair of them, when him and Cyril are together, they just become a liability. And you just know something is going to go wrong. Yeah, because there's no breaks between them. Another one is holding the... Just encouraging each other. One's at the end of his career,

[00:20:25] like angry and desperate and half drunk all the time, and the other one is desperate to please and to prove himself regardless. You put them two together, and you might as well just light the fuse there. Yeah, exactly. It's a great sort of build-up. Okay. Episode three, Reckoning. Luthen arrives on Ferex and meets Cassian in an abandoned factory. Khan and Mosk also appear with a dozen security officers.

[00:20:51] I want their dropships for really cool, weren't they? Oh. Yeah. You get some really great spaceships and shots from space, and what I love is how they've worked out, how they'll actually work. So you've got the dropships at the front, and they all come down there. They're kind of controllable. Anyway, so that's another little detail that I enjoyed. Okay. So they confront Marva, who refuses to cooperate,

[00:21:19] and intercepting a transmission from Cassian to B2EMO, Khan pinpoints Cassian's position. Cassian wants to sell the Star Path unit and leave Ferex. However, Luthen tries to persuade him to join his rebel network, citing Cassian's repeated success at stealing from and sabotaging Imperial ships. When Khan's officers raid the factory, the two men escape to a speeder hangar and subdue Khan. After learning of Timmy's betrayal,

[00:21:48] Bix rushes to aid Cassian, only to be stopped by the officers. Timmy is killed when he attempts to intervene. The pod, the security officers arrived in, is sabotaged by Brasso brilliantly, because he just attaches a cable to the back, which is great. And then Luthen and Cassian escape the planet, while Khan and Mosque request evacuation. In a flashback, Marva and her husband Clem scavenge the crashed ship on Canary and find Cassar.

[00:22:16] Marva decides to take him with them, fearing his fate if he is discovered there by the Republic. James, this was... Yeah, go on. Now I'd just like to point here, but much as I love Marva, she drugged and abducted a miner. I'm just saying. For his own good, of course. For his own good, your honour. But yes. I mean, I'm the father of two, and there's no reasoning with children sometimes,

[00:22:45] so sometimes it's the best way. Children's night quilt. Yeah, exactly. There you are. And then the death of Timmy, I did not shed a tear for Tim with two M's. No. Because he'd got everything that was coming to him. Yes. But wasn't that a plan gone wrong? You know, the imaginings of Cyril Kahn and Mosk are going to go sweeping in in a beautifully organised raid and collect their man. Exactly.

[00:23:15] One thing after another. They're already dreaming up of the medals they're going to get, the pair of them. And it's like... And it's almost a Looney Tunes moment, like when everything starts to go wrong, it's just like, you see question marks above their heads. It's like, how could we be failing? Yeah. But I think you're right. They're looking to the future rather than what they're doing. Their eye is not on the prize, is it really? They're just... And of course,

[00:23:41] they've severely underestimated their opposition. Mm-hmm. Because we get to see all the planning and thought that Luthan and Cassian put into their meeting to protect themselves that end up protecting themselves in another way. But that was a great little action scene, wasn't it? The good, like, you know, blaster shootout. Yeah, it's great. That set of the abandoned factory with all the engines hanging from the ceiling. Yeah, that's brilliant.

[00:24:11] And the whole of Ferryx is great. I think I watched something on that. Again, the production design, I think they built out some of those streets from bricks and mortar. Like, there's no ply there. Like, they're fully committed to that. And it looked great. And it works really well. A good confrontation in the first meeting between Luthan and Cassian. Yeah. He's desperate to leave. He just wants to get out,

[00:24:38] sell his contraband and get out. And then Luthan's offering so much more. Mm. Yes. Well, it's interesting because, you know, Cassian's just contributing in a very small way to the grand plan that Deirdre picks up on later is that Luthan is very, trying to be very subtly picking up imperial equipment throughout the galaxy in a so-called random way to avoid detection,

[00:25:08] to build, to build to actual hot rebellion rather than kind of, you know, small things and small resistance. So he's building towards an actual violent rebellion. Yeah. And it's also not just pieces of equipment but players that he needs. Yeah. You're right, actually. He's got Saw Gerrera that we meet later on and obviously Clem. Yeah. I mean, Cassian,

[00:25:38] these are all, he's picking out his chess pieces to put on the board as he goes along and it's, I'm really excited for season two to see how. I mean, it's another one of those it's like, I know Rogue One is a great convenient finish because they nuke the planet so therefore your canon is safe because no one, how come no one survives? No one survives. Yeah. How come nobody was in like New Hope and stuff? Yeah. But people like Luthan, I wonder

[00:26:08] why we, I mean, I don't think he's going to survive. Well, who knows? You know, we don't know with Luthan whether he survives or not. I would call at this point he won't. He won't because Mon Mothma obviously is probably the only main character that is consistent throughout the canon storyline. Anyway, digressing. And she's been brilliant, hasn't she? Yes. As a character and as the actor. So Genevieve O'Reilly who plays

[00:26:37] Mon Mothma beautifully. And it's funny because she gets called Mon and I always think of her as her full name but she goes up Mon this and Mon, hey Mon. I'm like, oh yeah, her name's Mon, not Mon Mothma. But she does a brilliant job and it still is so great that they took a character with a few words from A New Hope and now she's a fully fleshed out and believable character. Yeah. I mean,

[00:27:08] she's basically the only chance they have against the Emperor basically. You see her as the opposite sort of party as it were within the Senate and stuff. So excited to see how they develop her and as you mentioned earlier, we're probably going to see her daughter married off into the intergalactic scum somehow. So how we navigate. And again, that's going to be an interesting storyline because she's obviously, that is compromised because she needs the money from the gangster to fund the rebellion. But also interestingly,

[00:27:38] her daughter seems to want to embrace the old ways of marriage and then she has those parties where her friends are all dressed in the traditional way. I imagine the hair twist at the front is a traditional thing. So it's interesting to the surprise of Mon and Vel that the younger girl is embracing the traditions that they both

[00:28:06] have rebelled against. I mean, cyclical, I guess, isn't it? Like you rebel against your parents, your parents rebel against their parents. So he basically goes around in a cycle. All right. Episode four, Aldani. So now we get to Aldani, a.k.a. Scotland. So, okay. So Luthen takes Cassian to the planet of Aldali and asking him to join a robbery mission. Cassian is reluctant but eventually agrees and Luthen asks him to use a pseudonym

[00:28:36] amongst the rebels and Cassian chooses Clem which, as we have learned, is basically his stepfather's name in effect, really. Vel, the rebel group leader, introduces him to the rest of the group and keeps Luthen's involvement secret. Now is that because Vel is the only one who knows about him? Well, I think it's just layers of security. You don't, you know, keep it as many people in the dark about everything, you know, because obviously

[00:29:03] they want to kill Cassian because he's seen Luthen's face so it's probably very nice of them not to introduce him around. Okay. And to move on to episode four, Aldani, a.k.a. Scotland. Anyway, so Luthen takes Cassian to the planet of Aldani asking him to join a robbery mission there. Cassian is reluctant but eventually agrees.

[00:29:34] Luthen asks him to use a pseudonym among the rebels and Cassian chooses Clem for reference to his late stepdad. Vel, the rebel group leader, introduces him to the rest of the group but keeps Luthen's involvement a secret and explains to Cassian that they plan to steal the payroll of an imperial sector from a key imperial supply hub taking advantage of a rare natural phenomenon in the Aldani sky to escape since their getaway vehicle is slow. However, on Coruscant, Luthen,

[00:30:03] posing as an antiques dealer meets with Senator Mon Mothma and they discuss challenges to keep and they discuss challenges in keeping their opposition to the empire hidden. Khan goes to live with his mum. Oh, yes. However, Khan's mum's amazing. She was great. Yes, funnily enough, Khan was fired for the little incident on Ferris.

[00:30:34] Anyway, in the Imperial Security Bureau we're introduced to Lieutenant Deirdre Miro and she seeks access and authority over Ferris and she's obsessed, we find out later, with finding out who Axis is which is, as we already know, is Luthen. Yes, and Deirdre is obviously James' whole pass if you remember from our season dear listeners. I love her. She's great.

[00:31:04] Yeah. But then this episode was this, you know, the whole thing is kind of like a callback to the original movie because, you know, it's a look and feel but this one is definitely a 70s World War II film. Yeah, we talked about this. just from the desaturation and the whole look and feel and it was like a Force 10 from Navarone or one of those. Yeah, exactly. You hardly expect

[00:31:33] to see Clint Eastwood coming over the hill in a Narns uniform. Yeah, exactly. And there's an interesting thing that I've noticed on re-watches and other kind of reviews and Easter egg videos. There's this, you know the scene where he's on the dam and the guy, the communication guy, well no, the spy comes out and talks to the guy and he's leaning over the edge of the dam. He actually has a cigarette

[00:32:03] and he throws away a cigarette. Do you remember that? It's such an odd thing. Again, it's not something you really see in Star Wars. I think we've seen almost... Or in any movie recently, stuff like smoking. Well, I don't know. I've watched some English cop shows at the moment. There's a failure in that. That's true. You're right, but I think you might have seen some almost some hubbly-bubbly sort of weird smoking here and there in Star Wars or some reference to it. But a proper good old cigarette, you know,

[00:32:32] toss it away. Brilliant. Tossing it over the edge. I'm surprised it wasn't dropping of the stub and the grinding of the, you know, of the starboard boot. It was a perfect finish. But yeah, again, a callback to like 70s sort of like gritty war films and stuff. It's very, very good. I mean, again, I was obsessed with the locations and stuff. So I pulled up like it's the Cruchan Dam.

[00:33:02] Is it? Yeah, that's right. Power station is where it's all filmed up in Scotland and stuff. So I found a great website. Maybe I'll put it in the Facebook group but it's got holiday tips to all of these and there's links to rent a cars and it gives you the exact directions to get all of the different locations in England. That's great. It's fascinating. It's kind of good. But yeah, a great set-up episode. Again, I mean, we look back at them now and say they were a great set-up episode.

[00:33:32] At the time when we first watched this it's like, oh my God, it's another slow burner. Well, it's the middle act of the film. Well, it's the opening act, isn't it? And it's the set-up. But it was slow. Usually when you start a film out you have a big splashy intro and then it settles in to begin the story. This is just, this is slow. Well, it's as you said that. It's like three or four films

[00:34:01] rolled into one package so you have to, it rolls slow and then builds. But I don't think the Andor was slow criticism was unfair. I think it did have some pacing issues at times. You know, like if Aldani started out with something a little bit more exciting, for example, then the rest of it was slow. But I think that's a trap you fall into and I think that they might,

[00:34:31] and I'm pleased that they weren't pressured into doing that. It's like, for the sake of, oh, we've got to keep people interested, we have to have, I mean, they could have, I don't know, they could have done some sort of like stupid thing where they come across like an imperial sort of like patrol and they take them down and murder them just to keep it exciting and then it doesn't. But they're like, we don't need to. We hope that our watches are intelligent and we'll sit through this. Yes.

[00:35:00] And we did. We did. I'm sorry, I feel bad. It was one small gunfight. I'm sorry. But there was that moment when the, when you see the Tai Chi to go past and they're like, oh no, he's coming around and it comes and it looked so real, didn't it? And again, you're placing like, because as kids all we saw was these things in space and now to see them rip through a real world valley and the sound

[00:35:30] engineering and the sound engineering rattles through the canyon and stuff is, yeah. Yeah, because, you know, the sound is intentional of a Tai Chi in the same way the World War II, yeah, those World War II dive bombs that would just scream as they're coming down. I'm sure that the sound design was one of the Tai Chi's bargaining periods in the world

[00:35:59] design to strike fear. Not to pick Folger, George, but in space you wouldn't hear of at all anyway. But anyway. Oh, the Stuka bombers. It was the Stuka bombers, wasn't it? Yeah, that had that. And that was actually, they just attached a siren to the bottom of the plane and so when it picked up speed it kicked Yeah. Interesting fact. All right, episode, yeah,

[00:36:29] so I just threw you the occasional bit of interesting, interesting Johnapedia. A podcast. So episode five, The Axe Forgets, and that was a title I think we can all forget, there was one of those written lines that sounded very deep when writing but maybe not, it was like the axe forgets but the tree remembers. And like, okay, that's fine. Was that quite, because I didn't rewatch. Yeah, it was a line from

[00:36:59] it when they were talking about how the empire has kind of taken everyone out of their homes and everything and they go, like it's a local saying, the axe forgets but the tree remembers. Well, the tree's gone, so I don't know whether the tree remembers, you know. The roots were always there. Anyway, I thought that was a funny little aside

[00:37:28] in the writing. So the axe forgets. On Aldani, Clem hides his past from his fellow rebels and is met with distrust from most of them, particularly scheme. Tamarin trains Cassian and the other rebels for the planned heist. While travelling to the Aldani imperial garrison, Cassian reveals that he is a mercenary. Vel decides to continue with the mission and hold off on dealing with Clem's past until they have achieved their objectives. Imperial

[00:37:58] officer and double agent Lieutenant Gorn covertly aids rebels. On Coruscant, Cyril Khan discusses the new career prospects with his mother. And he had his uncle, didn't he? Yeah. Drinking the blue milk with the cereal. That I thought reminded me of little planets as he picked it up and examined them. Oh, yeah. Perhaps reading a bit too much.

[00:38:28] The axe doesn't forget you, does it? Stay on target. We're too close. Stay on target. Anyway, Vel decides to continue just getting back into the swing of things. That carboner kind of messes with your mind. Mon Mothma establishes a new charitable foundation while managing increasingly intense relationships with her husband and daughter, our dear Perrin. is ISB supervisor Blevins seizes a hotel of the new ISB headquarters

[00:38:58] on Ferex. Meanwhile, his rival Mero and her assistant Heart reach the conclusion that the rebels are conducting a series of coordinated heists of imperial weapons and technology. Luthan anxiously waits for a transmission from Bell and her rebel team. James? yeah I mean the axe forgets and maybe we could forget parts of this episode this was another one of the slower ones but

[00:39:27] as you said there's some great moments in it like Cyril Card with his mum is just brilliant just in that apartment and he's sitting there with his milk and everything that you said that's great I mean again it's building we know something's coming in the next episode or it has to so it's a great build up everyone is wary of Cassian now etc and then we're starting to develop this team the characters like Skeen especially like Evan Moss

[00:39:57] is brilliant as he is in everything bear it mind everyone this is where we saw him you'd shot him hadn't you yeah he lived down the road in Brooklyn as well but everyone now knows Evan from the bear obviously so this is pre the bear of course but yeah just oh is that him okay the lead guy from the bear no not the lead no okay he plays cousin he plays

[00:40:27] oh I see okay yeah I didn't think so I thought oh wow he's really kind of changed but like I said that guy put a lot of muscles in this oh dear no no no you throw me off again here Jonathan you throw me off again I mean I have to be honest it's like I'm scratching my head with this episode because it was another one of those sort of fillers it had a few nice bits and pieces here and there but we're all we're waiting for the payoff of the eye we're waiting for the you know the heist to happen of the heist yeah but remember

[00:40:56] there was the great character do you remember his name he's the one that wrote the manifesto and he's the he was the sensitive one and believed in Cassian and was horrified to find out that he was just a mercenary 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

[00:41:25] 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 yeah what's his name I was just reading it's Nemec yeah the young lad Nemec that's right Nemec he was a great character I thought yeah I mean that's I was we're jumping ahead here obviously

[00:41:54] but no spoiler it doesn't matter he dies everyone knows that come on you know that and I was upset that he did but I mean he died for a good cause because that is that is the spark that sparks Cassian to join the you know to join the rebels and all the rest of it stuff but yeah great well that's also the good thing in this is that people died yeah I mean there was there was I mean there was a running joke on our podcast like I would I would say I like somebody and then next episode they were dead every single time

[00:42:23] James was a kiss of death I think actually I think episode five or whatever I was like oh yeah I love him he's great and then like episode seven he's gone he's gone cool but you remember the detail of his tattoos that were signs that he went to a certain prison or a part of a prison gang and no one else recognised what they were but Cassian knew what they were and they had a little chat where they were feeling each other out

[00:42:53] and he goes oh okay you know you know they come from the same gutter I guess yeah so his guards up so they yeah so exactly they know so they're both aware of each other they know they're not in it well they're in it for the cause but it's not they're not yeah but they're still hard men not to be trusted yeah alright so we move on to the eye yes to the eye episode six

[00:43:22] okay so aided by Gorn their inside man the rebels infiltrate the garrison by posing as an escort squad for Commandant J-Hol B has Gorn's superior oh yes I've forgotten there they take B has his family as hostages that's right a bit brutal wasn't it I mean that's again a great bit of like ballsy writing for Star Wars because we're now into the it's now okay we're into the grey I mean that was what we always discussed this is the grey areas of Star Wars it's like

[00:43:51] you know you have your classic Luke and Leia and the Dern Vague which is black versus white which is evil whereas now it's like whatever it takes to get the job done which is what's great about the writing for this anyway okay so while they're loading the credits onto the freighter they're discovered by the imperial forces and Taramin and Gorn are killed in the ensuing firefighter Cinta Cinta is unable to make it onto the ship so only Cassian Skeen felt Nebic escape from Aldani

[00:44:20] during the takeoff Nebic is crushed by an unsecure stack of credits and suffers a severe injury details people lock things down come on safety second as we always say on set exactly yes I remember the discussion we had about this next bit so they land on the planet of Fresno to get Nebic treated by the four limbed the four armed doctor which was great yeah it was good

[00:44:52] anyway see that's just so Star Wars you know it doesn't it looks a little bit silly but it's still really Star Wars because the aliens are so kind of creative and different yeah and it's also down to the prop designer they're all dressed well anyway with Fale Occupied looking after Nebic we have as we just discussed earlier Skeen and proposes to Cassian that they flee and split the payroll bear in

[00:45:22] mind the pair of have got to measure each other and they know they're both shady so Skeen would never offer he would never offer it up if he thought he was actually going to split the money yeah and then we come back to how we introduced to Cassian in the first episode he likes to shoot first yeah exactly right I'm beginning to notice a bit of a pattern here that

[00:45:58] he took my coffee he's going to get the excuses he's get thinner and thinner aren't those he gets yeah the first one is the toughest as he was saying anyways we kill Skeen that's actually quite he just ends up just killing everyone for no reason he looked at me funny he's like yeah I have the death sentence he's probably in that cantina wasn't he if he didn't know he was dead so well I mean this again

[00:46:28] back to that you can justify this behaviour because you know he's dying from the cause at the end so he can murder people left right it's all coming back to us listeners it's only taken us three hours to get to this point

[00:46:58] in accordance with his dying wishes anyway back on Coruscant the ISB agents are gathering to formulate reprisals to the heist Lutheran also hears of the theft and is quietly celebrating in the back room of his shop as we say well yeah a couple of things here let's talk about Lutheran's shop wasn't that just an absolute pleasure

[00:47:27] basically was it called Lutheran's easter eggs or something yeah the shop of easter eggs cause isn't there cause we had a whole thing where people were pausing isn't there there was a gungan shield there was I think there was the Sith armour with the spikes at the back didn't someone say there was a whip in carbon hanging on the wall and I think there is also was there a chunk

[00:47:57] of amber oh yeah from Jurassic Park but that shop was great and hats off to Stellan Skarsgård for his brilliant portrayal you know remember that scene where he gets on the ship and he puts his wig on and changes his posture and his mannerisms yeah that was

[00:48:31] exactly and so that was great but the other fantastic thing was the ISB meeting room and that is one of the most beautiful sets it's so it's literally the opposite of the it's the white version of the scene where Vader and Tarkin are talking and he chokes at one of the naysayers don't underestimate the force but it's so beautifully polished the casting of all

[00:49:01] the the empire higher up the ISB higher ups they're all a bit ratty you know what I mean they're all they all have a bit of a rat they're a bit thin and they have that rat appearance rather than someone a bit pudgier for example but they're kind of they all have a look a slightly evil look which

[00:49:31] I mean it probably that is amplified quite nicely with the clean white uniforms and the room and everything else so it's kind of like there's a definite evilness to everyone in that room yeah and especially Deirdre like she she's brutal later on as attractive as she is she is a she she is an evil woman

[00:50:02] we're not Colonel Gullarin major partagas as James has reminded me the head of the empire yes yeah and he and he was brilliant and and it's so good to just have a look behind the curtains of how the the empire works and as we're following Deirdre even though they're kind of you know planning to wipe out entire civilizations

[00:50:31] I'm kind of like rooting for because it's so efficiently done and you know he's such a good leader he gives them enough leash and everything and I'm kind

[00:51:03] hearing Deirdre's rise to power which is the inevitable thing is to kill our heroes yes in episode seven announcement on Coruscant Khan starts a new job at the Bureau of Standards and wasn't that that rube is yes amazing it was incredible that wide shot establishing shot it's so

[00:51:33] much thought it's the imperial version of cubicles yeah but that's what I find interesting about the whole aesthetic of Star Wars and here's my head canon folks they have some in in that galaxy at that time they have some incredible 3D printing because there is so much space and they prefab everything because that desk is got it's not a little cubicle it's this grand

[00:52:02] thing designed with you know with a lot of space between each one and so my head canon is this they've got some very efficient 3D printers so they can do construction very quickly and very

[00:53:35] costuming it and again interestingly enough very few aliens one or two yeah but I think that's a it's a very humanist society at the upper echelons we're going to this point the senate was run by humanoid planets yes rather than budget prosthetics

[00:54:04] Cassian returns to Ferex to settle old debts and learns that people blame him for the imperial security crackdown I don't know why he just had a shootout with corporate security and got someone killed and then it turned into an imperial and the imperial is taking over I don't know why they were blamed for that the presence of storm troopers and Ferex reminds Cassian of how his adopted father Clem was murdered by

[00:54:34] imperial clone troopers during a protest on Rick's Road Cassian attempts to get Marva to leave Ferex with him but she decides to stay and impose the increased imperial presence Cassian travels to the tropical tourist paradise of Nyamos adopting the name Keith Gergo sometime later while walking towards a local store he is unjustly arrested by a shore trooper and sentenced to six

[00:55:03] years imprisonment anyone interested the planet that he goes to the beachside planet is actually just near Blackpool off the north coast of England you take the train to Blackpool north state sorry I'm reading my face here it's hardly a tropical paradise is a Blackpool kind of a windswept

[00:55:33] rainy here's the fascinating thing remember how cool that looked right it yeah it's I'm looking at a location scout picture of it and it's pretty much that they just they just set dressed it with it it has the same blue tar bit of CGI for the backgrounds right yeah but not yeah maybe bits and pieces but it's they added the space pelicans though if you remember when the establishing shot a couple of Space pelicans

[00:56:03] quite diverse quite diverse the pelicans are covered in grease just seagulls in it anyways sorry yes I mean yeah that was great the sentencing six years yeah whatever and and of course he's grabbed by what we think is K2SO at the time don't we yeah that's right and it's just a murder droid or whatever they call yeah and one you know

[00:56:33] I don't know much about it but I know that K2SO is coming back which I can't wait for he's one of the best droids that we've seen in in in modern Star Wars and I hope he is introduced in the first episode within the first five minutes well I mean that's that was one of my hopes and you who doesn't love Alan Tudyk like as a voice actor he's brilliant so I'm hoping yeah hoping that we get an awful lot of him in season two um the most pleasing part about this recap Jonathan

[00:57:03] is the way you took control but screwed up because now I get to do episode eight Narkini five before we move on and it's relevant to Narkina five is um is that he wasn't accidentally he was unjustly arrested but it wasn't by accident you know the the empire had you know after the the raid on Narkina um

[00:57:32] sorry on on Aldani they they just said okay we're doubling all the sentences for everyone where uh you know just to round up people so he was just rounded up you know he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time it wasn't you know a mistake by those shore troopers which is an interesting way of terming them he they're purposely rounding people up and as we we find out eventually it's to build they need labor

[00:58:01] to build the the death stuff and uh so they're just you know and as we find out they are cheaper than droids okay yes so james i did mess up so you get to do Narkina 5 episode 8 Narkina 5 okay so Cassidy is brought to an island prison of Narkina 5 uh discovering there's a hard labor camp with thousands of other prisoners i'm just going to stop there for a minute remember that shot they're just floating platforms in what we we think is like an

[00:58:31] ocean planet initially right it's just basically these almost like oil rig platforms out there yes so they're just yeah i think they're more like oil rigs and but but to go to the world world building which i loved when i first saw it you just see these massive um drains basically like there's all this water flowing into an unseen drain but the thing and so the thought

[00:59:01] of design on how this these prisons are powered it just reflects on on the depth of thought and planning that's gone in this not only they design it in a certain way they figure out how they should be powered you know which are nice rather than wrongfully imprison them just because they need the labor so we see these labor camps now with thousands

[00:59:31] of other prisoners um okay so cassian ends up meeting with another prisoner the floor manager kino loi who's obviously on program yes and the great anti-circus playing a real human and he runs through the rules of the prison and we see this initially as a very strict team leader as it were so

[01:00:01] anyway he works with the fellow prisoners to build the machinery meanwhile Valen seemed to travel to Ferex to try and search for him and this is where they learn that Marva has fallen ill and Bix attempts to contact Luthun about Cassian's whereabouts but Luthun worried about being exposed to any monitoring communications doesn't answer and he then leaves Coruscant to go and visit Saw Guerrera so we'll get to Saw in a bit Luthun attempts to hire Guerrera's rebel cell to act as air

[01:00:30] support for a raid on an imperial power station at Spellhouse organised by Anto Kriegler but he's turned away give me some help here so I remember the conversation so well remember when Saw is like going well we've got all the other factions you know he's listing all the different factions of the rebellion and basically

[01:01:02] Saw's cell has all the air support has all the X-Wings yeah so that's kind of his specialty so Lutheran is trying to bring everyone together into a coherent rebellion but as with all these everyone has their own motivations and their own objectives you know there might be different things that they have but so he's kind of turned

[01:01:31] down because Saw is one of the more direct action of the rebellion but wants to be in charge you see obviously a desire that he doesn't want to take orders from anyone else no matter if the outcome is like it is so Anton Krieger is going to do a raid on an imperial power station at this planet spellhouse and so he's trying to recruit him but

[01:02:01] Saw says new yeah I remember yes Saw has a very strong opinion on where to use his resources should be used and what is the best thing for the rebellion and as you said he's more proactive and he sees it almost as a risk and a waste to be flying air support on this one mission so yeah I probably need a rewatch as well just listen

[01:02:31] to the podcast card about his experiences on ferries but he declines to offer his offer for help I mean you would turn him down really but his track record isn't so good at this point is it yeah of course I don't care how light tailored you are he's still not yeah no matter how well your uniform fits yes you're not getting a white one that's it she heads down

[01:03:01] to ferrix to start the brutal torture of Bix yes remember yeah that was wild it was the sound of dying alien children suffering yeah that was so so horrific when they first heard it they found that three imperial officers under a you know under a unit huddled together crying their minds never to be

[01:03:31] the same but I wanted to go back to how brilliantly the prison is designed just the way it's seven levels you know seven teams of seven and just the design of the tables was brilliant yes they didn't rush through it you sat with them for a couple of minutes as you watch them assemble everything and you watch the routine the monotonous routine and the

[01:04:00] fact they're barefoot and they explain it's great because they give you so much information that you go away from it trying to work out how this is me sadly how I would escape and I think you and I had many discussions before episode 10 how would you do it would you try and steal the boots would you try and knock out the power first what would you do and weren't we silly that the boots were never part of the plan

[01:04:30] and we're like oh look at those boots I keep focusing on the boots because you and I had a whole discussion about counting the number of boots because there was one shot getting hold of the boots but in the end it was he just noticed the boots to count how many guards are on on each floor while they were sitting with them while they were building the the testar we can spoil that now

[01:05:00] you're watching as Cassian's is watching everything taking everything in watching when the guards go by he's not in any hurry to escape because he knows he'll have one chance and so as much as it's nice just to see the effort they're put into design of how things are built it had its purpose because they showed him kind of planning his escape at the same time and it wasn't the way we thought we'd do it so

[01:05:29] no we've got it wrong by everything all right although you got Narkina 5 I get to do no one's listening yeah but then I get one way out yeah you bastard you really are the most devious bastard in new york city this was obviously our both of our favorite movie shall we say from the from season one the prison escape

[01:05:59] was that your is it fair to say that was your favorite part of the most memorable scenes ever it just yeah because it was so new wasn't it it was it's so unseen and and all the world building costuming was all kind of new and the idea of the electrified floors you know it's just one of those things as well as evil as you think the empire is and from watching all the films you just assumed that they had factories full of robots to build all their

[01:06:29] evil things it's the fact that they were like just they were scooping up planet full of like people to make their equipment and it's just again another another way of anchoring Star Wars into the real world all right so episode nine nobody's listening Deirdre Deirdre Miro an imperial scientist Dr. Ghorst was very pleasant I thought torture her pics for information and then

[01:06:58] realized that Kasim may have been involved in the Aldani heist they failed to learn anything about Bix's caller Luthan the ISB capture a rebel pilot from Krieger's group who reveals that a power station on Spellhouse is set to be raided Mon Mothma reunites with that was a bit of a surprise revealed that they were cousins and they both have magnificent hair though and encourages her to keep a low

[01:07:27] profile maintaining the facade of a rich and apolitical young woman Mon Mothma and Te Colmer continue working to convertly gather funds for rebel activities and that was kind of another one of the trade disputes in the prequels it's something so kind of uninteresting but so important here we have Mothma trying to move funds as the

[01:07:58] empire is tightening their grip and looking into everyone's daily lives and what they do and where they spend their money so you can't even spend your own money without the empire something as mundane as money is actually filled with tension well I really enjoyed the trade disputes in the prequels but it might not have been for everyone's cup of tea when 900 years old you reach look as good

[01:08:27] you are not meanwhile an elderly member of Cassian's prison work crew named Olaf is euthanized by the prison medic named Dr Rasiv where he suffers a massive stroke daze from his release and this is after that scene where there's a bit of a disruption on the walkway where one team is going in and one team is going out

[01:08:56] and everything went off and on all the power blinged off and on and they were trying to figure out what was going on and Dr Rasiv confirms to Cassian a disturbing rumour a prisoner who has completed his sentence was sent to work on a different level instead of being released forcing the prison to kill all the prisoners on that level and a cover because what they're doing now with the new order instead of releasing people they were sending them to other prisons

[01:09:26] and there was a mix up rather than going to a different prison he was just returned to the same place and yes when you've got nothing left to lose I guess there's a bit of an uprising and that's how Cassian and Keno realise that the prison will never let them go and this convinces Keno to join Cassian's scheme to escape that's great I remember that they're walking out from that one shift

[01:09:54] and he finally starts to listen to her and Cassian say how many people on each floor you just see Keno say like seven or whatever it is and you know he's in yeah his jaw was set he has a determined look he's ready to go now you just see the full realisation as it dawns on him because he's so protective of his I think it was 244 days before he's released so he's not going to let

[01:10:25] anyone make a mistake that might mess up his chance to leave because it's only 250 to go but as soon as he realises he's never getting out he's like right you know it's do or die which takes us to one way out amazing episode probably one of my favourites so we were wrong with the stealing of the boots and whatever else hair raised we had so

[01:10:54] basically Cassian goes to the which obviously short circuits the floors security system so they can no longer be shocked so they managed to overpower a few of the guards and escape yeah Kino you let's jump into how they did it there as it's my episode yes but we're allowed to jump in I want you to talk on it as well on how they

[01:11:42] to them yeah they have to climb up don't they remember they can up to the stuff so yeah but as soon as

[01:12:12] Anyway, Keno uses the prison's intercom system to encourage all other floors to escape, and the rebellion sweeps through the entire prison with his rising speech of one way out. And despite his role in this game, Keno reveals, oh, yeah, that's the other thing. It's like, because they all get to the top, and it's like, yeah, we can get out. Yeah. And then, yeah. And all this time, Keno knew, I guess he knew that the plan was they're going to have to jump and swim. Yeah.

[01:12:42] And he only reveals at that moment that he can't swim. And I was like, no. Anyway, at this point, Cassian swims with the other escapees and reaches land. I've just got a couple of quibbles about this. You talked about the clever design of the hydroelectric. Basically, we have, like, I want to know how many people manage to swim the God knows how many miles to find where. Which ones went the wrong direction and went down the plug hole?

[01:13:12] And end up back to the hydroelectric. Unless the plan was to sabotage the hydroelectric power plant by half of them going into the grinder to stop it, I don't know. And the other thing, and dear listeners, I hope you enjoy this part of the podcast where we find inconsistencies in the production's logic. By the way, because this is an amazing show. But we will continue to point them out. Because they're all pushing each other off the edge. And it's at such a height. Yeah.

[01:13:41] They're not waiting for someone to land and move off. There are like 10 of them are piling up. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know how many people died in the actual jumping. And also, bear in mind some of those prisoners are not young. There's going to be a few heart attacks on the way down, I can tell you. But, yeah. I mean, look, it was a great shot, though. The top-down shot of them all swimming off in the right direction, hopefully. Yeah, exactly. Sorry.

[01:14:11] And then, anyway, back to meanwhile, while all this is happening, Mom Mothma meets with, ah, here we are, Davo Skuldin, the shady businessman, who offers his finance in exchange for his son, basically. Yeah. Well, reviews is after Davo requests that Mom arrange a meeting between her daughter and the son, the initial setup towards marriage in the Chandraland, is it yes? Yeah, Chandraland.

[01:14:39] Yeah, an initial step towards marriage in the Chandraland culture. The ISB, meanwhile, ISB supervisor Lolly Young, secretly a rebel informant, meets with Luthen on Jonathan's favourite part. I will let you talk them. The favourite part. Well, we'll discuss that later, because we have a new section at the end, which will be called our Star Wars moment of the week,

[01:15:06] where we pick our favourite moment that feels very, very Star Wars-y. And we'll get back, we'll get to it later. But I wanted to talk about the ISB supervisor, Lonnie Young, who was the red-haired guy with the pencil moustache and possibly the most rat-like looking of them all. He, I think, will be a big part in the upcoming seasons, because they're both stuck where they are.

[01:15:35] As it says, you know, the two men reflect on how they're both trapped in their roles. And Luthen gives the rousing speech, you know, one of the best soliloquies of the show, I thought, about, you know, what has he sacrificed? You know, I've sacrificed everything. But Lonnie Young, he's the plant within the ISB, and Luthen decides to sacrifice everyone on that raid. Oh, Mr. Spellhouse, yes.

[01:16:05] Yeah, on the Spellhouse raid to keep his... Yes, basically to keep Lonnie undercover, basically. So you heard it here first, kids. Jonathan predicts Lonnie Young will be a big part of Season 2. I, therefore, feel Lonnie Young will die in Scene 1, Episode 1, Season 2. Absolutely. I'm not a betting man. No, he'll just... Yeah, Cassie will just shoot him for no reason. He drank my coffee.

[01:16:44] All right, so let's go on to Episode 11, Daughter of Ferex. So Marva dies, prompting a funeral ceremony on Ferex, which Dedramir encourages in the hopes that Andor will attend. Del informs Clare about Marva's death and learns of Mon Mothma's reluctant plan to marry off a daughter to secure funding through Davo's scolding. Mon's daughter, Leda...

[01:17:09] And it's interesting, like, the whole Leda storyline, which I thought was kind of minor as we're watching Season 1, I think it's going to be a big part of Season 2. Begins taking part in a group of gatherings focused on Chandralan culture and traditions, much to the distress of Mon and Veld. Cyril Kahn also learns about the funeral from Linus Mosque and, of course, wants to be involved.

[01:17:40] And I was just cheering when... There he is! He's back! We've got those two back together. Saw Gerrera decides at the last moment to assist Krieger's attack on Spellhouse, but Luthen advises him against him, revealing that the ISB know about the impending assault. And, you know, as we said before, they decide to leave them hanging. While returning to Coruscant, Luthen escapes from an Imperial patrol, destroying several TIE fighters and a tractor beam.

[01:18:10] Yeah, remember that scene? That was awesome, wasn't it? Yeah, laser... Lightsabers out at the end of your ship. Yeah. He's like, to his ship, you know, countermeasures, employ countermeasures, and then all these, you know, metal darts come out of the back of the ship and shred the dish. Was that a shred of the dish? James Bond of Star Wars. It really was, wasn't it? Yeah. It really was. So that was... And in a beautiful blue sky scene,

[01:18:38] another in-atmosphere thing where it made all the spaceships look fucking awesome. With the help from Caridians, Dewey and Freedy, Cassian and fellow prisoner, Rue Scott and Melshi, are able to escape from the Arkeen V. Remember those guys? I totally forgot. The Freedy Freedy. Amazing. Star Wars. Yeah. And then remember, the other guy goes,

[01:19:08] let's go! And they sprint towards it, and then they get taken out by this goo trap that basically traps them in all this goo and leaves them riding on the floor, and they're going, ha, ha, ha. Kill thou water then, hear ya? Oh! What? Not much squiggly now, not much left. They come over and they think they're going to be killed, and they're just like, where do you want to go? We'll take you. Oh, exactly. And then they have the quad jumper. Yeah, the enemy of my enemies, my friend, basically. Yeah.

[01:19:37] Everyone hates the Empire. So, yeah. Yeah. And then they had that great ship that had the four massive engines out the back of the quad jumper. Flashback to pod racing. Yeah, it's true, actually, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. So, and there's Dewey and Freedy. And travel to Niyamas to recover Cassian's belongings. And he goes sneaking into his old hotel room where there's a couple of aliens asleep. And it's hilarious

[01:20:06] because there's this big box on top of, perfectly visible by everyone that comes into the room that no one's thought to take down. After Cassian discovers that Marva has died, Cassian and Melshi part ways intending to publicly expose the Empire's unjust prison system. Yeah, I'm wondering... Yeah, I'm wondering what happens to Melshi, if he actually... Yeah, I reckon we'll see him again. I reckon he'll pop up unexpectedly in a later episode. Hopefully.

[01:20:36] Well, we'll see. Yeah. And now we hit our finale. James. Oh, yes. Oh, thank you. Rick's Road. I mean, yeah. I mean, again, the set of amazing old Ferris, isn't it? Anyway, let's run through this. And then you're right, before you go on, that was a real road that was built. It wasn't, you know... There was a long road that was built in on location in one of the studios. So that's why... And that's the thing that I always find when you're not on the volume

[01:21:06] is that there's distance and depth because, you know, they run for a long time or they can walk for a long time. But on the volume, you can only film the beginning or the end of a run because there's nothing to do it. But no, that was the... Ferris was like a bus in a scrapyard and it was basically built in Black Park, which is an area just near Pinewood. And they just built it out. They built it, didn't they?

[01:21:36] They built the town. Yeah. They built the streets and stuff and everything. So it's realistic for a reason because it's real. Yeah. So, yeah. So, anyway. Cassian returns to Black Park and... No, sorry. Returns to Ferris for the funeral and learns of Vixx's imprisonment. Deirdre Miro and the local Imperial garrison prepare to use the funeral to capture and offer questioning regarding access. So using the Imperial ambush as cover,

[01:22:06] Luthun plans with Vale and Sinta's assistant to kill Cassian. Poor everyone's after Cassian at this point. It's like... It's like... You kill one guard in episode one and look what happens. Exactly. Yeah. Everyone wants you dead. Anyway. Obviously, everyone has the different reasons for him. Like the Empire would sort of capture him, take him down so they can let him Luthun is whereas like Vale and Luthun and everyone just need to shut him up now because they can't trust him. Yeah.

[01:22:34] So the ISB succeed in stopping the Krieger's attack but leave no prisoners which angers Miro. She wanted prisoners so she could learn more. Anyway. Then we cut to Mom Mothma's 30-year-old daughter later being introduced to Skaldin's 14-year-old son. So that lines us up as we talked about what we think is going to be a very big sort of plot part for the second season. But during the funeral, oh yes, B2 Emo, the lovely little droid. We forgot about talking about

[01:23:03] how he has to recharge and he gets all upset and he has to go on his little recharge. Lovely little droid. Anyway, in the middle of the street he stops and they play a hollow recording of Marva and she rallies the whole of the town to fight the Empire to create a riot. I mean, she talks about it. She wished she'd stood up and risen years ago and she would never have stopped fighting and it's a huge rally cry. And I remember this scene and then you have

[01:23:32] one of the troopers kicks over B2 Emo which sparks the riot. And that's like kicking a dog. You cannot kick over a cute little robot. Because everything was fine until they kicked it, tipped over B2 Emo and then it was on. Okay, and then during this we have Cyril, oh yes, it all goes off, doesn't it? And Deirdre gets knocked to the floor and it looks like she's going to get beaten to death

[01:24:00] by the Farrick's people. And then Cyril Khan rescues her and almost gets murdered by her but she realises who he is. Yeah, and then I was watching it again and then there's this awkward scene which I think is kind of deliberate going forward where they will have some sort of relationship because she looks like she's about to make out with him when he realises that she's been rescued. I know you're not allowed to rescue women anymore

[01:24:30] but when she's rescued there was this kind of intimate moment where she was so overwhelmed that he was there that maybe when you're that guy if you just keep when you're in the friend's zone if you keep trying and keep trying and keep trying if you eventually get to save the life of a woman whose heart's your desire it may turn her in your favour. It might do but this is Star Wars so they'll find out they're brother and sister. Yeah.

[01:25:00] They've got to do it again that'd be brilliant. Oh, you throw me off there with the romance of Miro and Khan which is my biggest hope for season two I have to say. The wedding would be amazing. Yeah. With some light tailoring. Yeah. Oh, sorry, I'll stop on that. Anyway. Yes, your bridal dress could use a bit of adjustment, dear. Cassian managed to rescue Bix during all the confusion and he meets up

[01:25:30] with Beta Emo and Brasso and several others in the shipyard and Cassian convinces them to take Bix somewhere safe and away from Ferex. Moved by the rebellion of Ferex, Luthor returns to his ship where Cassian is waiting. Oh, it's a great scene. Cassian basically hands him his gun, doesn't it? Yeah. And he tells Luther, either kill me or take me in. Yeah. And we have the wry smile of Luther. The wry smile. Yeah. And we're on. And we're on.

[01:26:00] And then, of course, the post-credits scene which blew all of our minds where we see the small pieces of machinery that were being made on Arkina 5 are being put into place in orbit by little drones and they are part of the dish of the Death Star. Bum, bum, bum. And that was it. And we now apologize to everyone who just listened to us for an hour and 20 minutes going through all that.

[01:26:30] Why? I think everyone, like, I hope everyone's as enthusiastic as we are. I mean, I have to say, you did a full re-watch. I've done a couple of recaps and I've read through bits and pieces and just by talking through each episode it just triggers memories from every single episode which says something about this. I can't remember an amazing moment from each episode of Boba Fett or even Kenobi to a point. I can remember certain parts.

[01:27:00] There was that one scene where they had the lightsaber jewel and his mask gets split, you know, broken open. That was a memorable scene. I can't remember anything else. The only other thing I remember from Kenobi was when they were escaping with Leia under his cloak in plain sight. I remember that. Yeah. Where they're hitting Leia and he goes, I'll never see you. Excuse me, sir. What's that small child? This is not a small child you're looking for. Yeah.

[01:27:30] Anyway, but back to, yeah. Well, maybe that's what happened. He was, he was a mass, doing a mass, force tricking everyone's mind in the whole place. Or bad writing, one or the other. Yeah. But that wasn't the case with Andor. It's like there was memorable moments throughout and we hope that that will continue. Well, I'm sure it will and what you will really enjoy seeing

[01:27:59] again is the way this is shot. You know, there's an old saying where every frame is a painting and so everything is, you know, in this, the old Star Wars way was to have everything on sticks which means to have the camera to be always on a tripod with the framing made and the characters move within that frame. And there are some trapping shots but there's no slow motion, there's no zoom, everything's a single camera.

[01:28:31] No steadicam, no handheld. I mean, there are definitely trapping shots but, and they've replicated that here. So just look out when you're watching for it, watching season two how beautifully framed and composed each shot is because I think that will, the way, the cinematography is one of the characters of this. Yeah, and again, like the framing of it, I think the choice of the locations is part of that as well because they,

[01:29:01] speaking of, sorry, I just, it just came to me, I just found it. Again, talking about real world situations, so the, your room you love so much, the ISB Bureau building. Yeah. It exists in the real world. Oh, it does. It's the McLaren, it's the McLaren Formula One technology centre. Is it really? Isn't that interesting? It's, that's great. Yes, so they build very fast cars and Imperial, yeah.

[01:29:32] Anyway, and if you need to get there, kids, by train, you can get to working station and get the McLaren shuttle service on pre-arranged visits from car, you've got the M2, anyway, I'll stop now, but yeah, it's, it's real, people. Well, look, that's, season one is great and we're both looking forward to season two as I hope you, as I hope it comes through and I hope you are too. Let's just have a little break and we will come back with your feedback.

[01:30:12] All right, and welcome back. Let's hop in our starship, head out into space and get into your feedback for and or season one. Okay, James. First one up is Karen, Shmilk Cone, hope I said that right, sorry, Shmilk Cone. Also doing a rewatch, focusing on Marva's story a bit more

[01:30:41] and how her faith, I think, that Catherine will buy into the ideology of the rebellion. Yeah, I think she always, she always hoped that it would, yeah. I think that the whole first season centres around finding hope and what you're willing to do when you have it. hope is more than just survival and he's learning that. And if you have time, I'm going to look for Clone Wars and Rebels episodes with Saw and Mon Mothma. Well, that's a level of dedication, Karen, that I must say

[01:31:11] I admire going back to the Clone Wars to see the episodes with Mon and Saw, I think, and I remember them. It was always great to see them when they popped up in those. But yeah, Marva's story, she was a big part of Cassian's life and in the end he does come around with it because he's just mercenary in everything but I think you're right that he had faith that he is a good person deep down

[01:31:40] and that he will buy into the ideology of the rebellion. But what do you think, James? and even when we get to Rogue One, I guess he buys into it as he's kind of about to die. I think it takes till then. I think he's still a mercenary all the way up until the end, don't you think? Yeah, I think so. I think that's possibly one of the things they're going to have to tackle with this. It's obviously like Rogue One

[01:32:10] was done, they never realised they were going to do this whole build-up of his story. So obviously part of the plotline of Rogue One is him realising accepting his fate and for the greater cause that he will die for the rebellion and stuff. But I guess in the beginning we meet him, he is brought in, like he is brought into the rebellion and he shoots that guy because he's got a sore arm and he can't climb. If you really think about it, Marv has always been that way inclined and he was brought

[01:32:39] into this way of life from a very early age and then his stepdad dies on Rick's road. Yeah, that's true. So it's always been there. If anything, it's a little baffling really that it takes so long. It's almost like, it's back to the joke about rebelling against your parents. He's rebelling against the rebellion because it's really in his blood but it just seems to take forever. Because it all seems a bit sincere for Cassian, doesn't it? He's kind of definitely

[01:33:08] a little bit more of a cynical kind of character. You know, but I think in the end he does come around to it and Nemec would be proud. Yeah, I think that the Nemec manifesto helps do that. Also, remember the whole point of the start of episode one, he's looking for his sister. For his sister? So we never... Sister. There is another... Pause for the...

[01:33:38] Pause for the... Sister. Sister. Soul. You have a twin sister. You'll never find... Here we go. Here we go. We did so well, everyone. We got so... I was wondering when it was coming out. It's my fault for trying to... trying to do a Palpatine and I won't do that. But yeah, no, that was a thread that just went nowhere. I wonder if it will... If it pops up and if that is...

[01:34:08] I wonder if it will. We find out that Deirdre is his sister. Sister. Yeah. All right. So, from Jack Shandle, it took me a while to get into season one but was not disappointed. Great cast and top shelf production quality. I'm definitely going to stay up on season two. Cheers. Cheers. P.S. Watch The Pit. Have you watched The Pit? My missus does. Oh, okay. I mean,

[01:34:38] it's pretty good. But yes, Jack, we'd love to have you along for season two and keep the comments coming. Faye Hodge, so excited to listen to season two with you guys. Season one was gifted to me in downloadable form and it was a precious treasure I could go back to every few years or so. You two have the best co-host chemistry. Oh, thanks. I hate it really. I think it works very well with us

[01:35:07] because we live on opposite sides of the planet which is very Star Wars, isn't it? Well, no, it's not actually, Jonathan, because Star Wars planets only have one location. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah, there's only one town on every planet. on any one planet. But then I go back to my quick construction techniques that these were originally kind of uninhabited planets and they just plopped down with prefabricated

[01:35:36] and 3D printable buildings and that's why they all look the same. This is madness. No, I think it's just... That was production cost in the 70s. I think now it's moved on a bit. And from Steve Brown, he was wondering whether... I posted on the Facebook group and if you haven't already, check out the Podcastica Facebook group. We're always on that and during this season

[01:36:05] that will be my first stop off to get the comments. But Steve was like, I haven't seen this yet and I'm like, God, you'd love this. I'm like, if you love Rogue One... How is he not? Well, he just, you know, obviously you ignored our podcast but I'm like, if you love Rogue One, well, yeah. Now, I told him to come on board because I love his lives, Steve, so I hope we'll get one of those. But hopefully he'll come back, he'll be on board for this season. But as he says,

[01:36:35] as soon as I'm back in the country, I'll binge season one and then check out season two. I envy you. It will be a great first watch. Yeah. Jeff Holthoff says, really looking forward to hearing you both. You were the first Star Wars podcast that I listened to. Oh, thanks, Jeff. Probably the last as well. Sorry about that. Well, I'm glad that we broke your Star Wars podcast virginity, Jeff. Yes.

[01:37:03] And from Chris Lebeau, we get the yes gift from Napoleon Dynamite. And all I can say to that is sweet. All right. And we have one more piece of feedback from Matt King, a late arrival, but your feedback is very important to us. I wanted to make sure we got this one in and we'd love to have you along for the season, Matt. So Matt says, just hope that season two

[01:37:33] can live up to the brilliance of season one. After a slow start, it was the best Star Wars TV series by a distance. The last six episodes in particular were fantastic. Episode 10, One Way Out, might be the single best Star Wars TV episode. You might have some agreement from James and I. Very brave to move away completely from the Star Wars bread and butter of Jedi and lightsabers, but it worked so much better without them, seeing how the rest of the universe was living under the Galactic Empire,

[01:38:02] the equivalent of the Marvel universe without the superheroes. Yeah, that's a really good way of looking at it. And I agree, it's so good to just see behind the curtains and just see how the background of the Star Wars universe works. And thank you. So Matt, hope you're along for the season. We look forward to hearing from you again. Perhaps a voicemail. All right. Let's go on to thank you for your feedback, guys,

[01:38:31] and get your feedback in for next week. We would love, if we have enough of it, we might even do a separate episode, but we always love your voicemails and you can send to them, send them via the email talk at podcastica dot com. And now I'd like to introduce a section that we're going to do at the end of each show, which is the Star Wars moment of the week,

[01:39:02] where we pick out a small moment that has the essence of Star Wars to it. And for me, this week, it was Luthen's speech. Not only was it a great speech, but he was standing on a rail-less walkway with his cape flying. And nothing could be more Star Wars than that. Health and safety does not exist in Star Wars. No, exactly. Exactly. James, what was your

[01:39:31] Star Wars moment of the week? Well, I think, I mean, there's so, I mean, this is cheating because obviously it could be anything from the first of the whole season and stuff. But I mean, I'll just start with probably the TIE fighters ripping through the valley. Because that's more the sound than the vision of it. sound of them, that noise. If you're hiding

[01:40:01] or running and you hear that coming, you know what's coming over the mountains. But I mean, that... And you know, dear listeners, this is one of my favourite sound effects to add. There may be a few. There may be a few of those in there. I mean, there are so many moments. I love the blue milk, the forearms doctor. I mean, this is going to be fun to pick out

[01:40:29] a moment each week. So that'd be good. Yeah. A little sous-son at the end of the podcast. podcast. And just on other things that Podcaster is covering, and Jason's going to join us for one of the episodes that we're doing. They're covering on the Marvel TV cast, Daredevil Born Again. Have you watched it? Yeah, I love it.

[01:40:59] Yeah. Excellent. Yes, I have thoughts on that. You should be contributing. I know. And then The Last of Us comes out very soon, season two, and they'll be podcasting about that on the cast of us, the original podcast channel. I'm curious to see how that goes because I'm hearing mixed reviews at the moment. No spoilers, no spoilers, but it shall be

[01:41:30] interesting to see people's reaction. James and I have obviously played the original video game. plus. the reissue, the, you know, how many reissues did they do on the first one? I've played it through three different, I've given them so much money, it's embarrassing at this point. And season, and then of course The Last of Us two were played through as well. But we shall not spoil it,

[01:41:59] but I loved the coverage last season and I thought season one they did a fantastic job of it. I'm just worried whether Pedro Pascal will be able to film the Mandalorian movie with all his obligations in every single Hollywood production that has ever existed. Well he doesn't need to, does he? Because he's only doing the voice for Mando. That's the rumour. That's the rumour. Alright, so let's wrap it up. Any other thoughts

[01:42:29] James before we go? No, I'm just excited to get into season two. I'm really sort of fired up now. I have high hopes for it. I just, I'm going to have to sort of calm it down a bit because the first season was so amazing I don't want to be disappointed by this. I love the idea that they're going to release them in effect in movie blocks. We'll get like three episodes a hit which is some great viewing so I think it's,

[01:42:59] I mean it's a real treat. We're going to get like an in effect high quality Star Wars movie. Movie of the week every week for a month and there's just going to be a new Star Wars movie every week and good ones. It's going to be good. I have a hundred percent belief in the people making this and the writing, the actors, everything that they are going to, not only is it going to be as good as season one but it will be

[01:43:28] on a bigger scale and the closer we get to the end of the timeline the more original trilogy Star Wars-y I think it's going to feel. That's one thing we haven't mentioned about this, the whole, I mean I presume everyone who's waiting for season two has read up and has realised that there is a time jump of one year between each of these and the final, I believe the final scene of the final one rolls straight into the very start of Rogue One I think

[01:43:57] I may be slightly wrong on that but yeah so you were right so like as we it's almost as we align the two worlds of Rogue One and the original with this hopefully we'll start to I mean obviously they're going to have to fudge some of it with CG like with de-aging people but I'm hoping we see a few people I still hope that Mad Mickelson does appear somewhere there is there are rumours but nothing has been confirmed obviously we get Ben Mendelsohn again which is great which is going to be amazing

[01:44:27] and that's I mean again I haven't done too much digging because I want to be surprised because all we're going off is a poster basically for me and a very quick viewing of the teaser trailer where I just realised it must be the wedding you know and you do see K2 but also in the poster with Bix she's quite prominent in the poster so hopefully she obviously hopefully covers her mind torture otherwise

[01:44:57] we might not be such a great character just staring and blubbering incoherently that would be one of the slow burn episodes Bix in the cell a day in the life of Bix eating porridge drooling in the padded cell meanwhile I'm really excited for it and I'm excited to do the podcast with you again it's been a while and I did have to shake off some cobwebs

[01:45:26] yes exactly glad we knocked off the rust today but I'm excited to do it and well thanks everyone again for listening it's great to think of you all out there in podcast land so whether you're on your morning run driving to work up late and listening in bed wherever you are I'm glad you joined us yeah thanks everybody and we'll see you next time in a galaxy far far away until then I am James

[01:45:56] and I'm Jonathan and may the force be with you

[01:46:01] and what do

[01:46:41] you sacrifice my nurse kinship I've given up all chance at inner peace I made my mind a sunless space I share my dreams with ghosts

[01:47:13] I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago for which there's only one conclusion I'm damned for what I do anger my ego my unwillingness to yield my eagerness to fight has set me on a path from which there's no escape I yearn to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I look down there's no longer any ground I use the tools

[01:47:42] 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 now the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or all the light of gratitude so what do I sacrifice everything

[01:48:07] still stay with me Lonnie I need all the heroes I can get to be