72: Andor Arc 4 (S2E10,11,12)

[00:00:02] A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I have dreamt of this. Too many versions to remember. And here you were, all that time, hiding in the shelter of imperial peace and quiet.

[00:00:29] And I've known you all along. Hardly seems fair. You disgust me. Do you wanna know why? Everything you stand for. Freedom scares you. Freedom. You don't want freedom. You want chaos. Chaos for everyone but you. Ruin the galaxy and then run back to your ridiculous wig and little workshop. How confident you are. We're done here. Confident and terrified.

[00:00:57] The building is surrounded. You're finished. You're too late. The rebellion isn't here anymore. It's flown away. It's everywhere now. There's a whole galaxy out there waiting to disgust you. And soon you'll be telling us all about it.

[00:01:23] Hello and welcome to the Star Wars TV cast. Broadcasting around the world and across the galaxy. This is episode 72. I'm Jonathan.

[00:01:44] And I'm James. And I'm James. And this week we are covering Andor Season 2 Arc 4. Directed by Alonzo Ruiz Palacius. Yes. Ruiz Palacius. Yes. Ruiz Palacius. Probably butchered that. Sorry Alonzo. Written by Tom Bissell and of course created by the Mr. Tony Gilroy. So join us as we discuss with a tear in our eye the final three episodes of probably the best bloody thing. Anyway. Of Andor Season 2. Sorry.

[00:02:14] Yes dear listeners. Here we are at the final three episodes of what will be remembered as the best Star Wars series ever. I've begun to accept that I've aged out. That it was time to leave childish things behind. That maybe Star Wars was no longer for me. But along came Andor to give us a show that was grounded and serious but also captured the look and feel and excitement of the original trilogy.

[00:02:42] Great characters. Great sets and costumes. And yes a complete and balanced story. And Andor did the one thing that few great series get right. It stuck the landing. James. Oh mate. Well. Well first of all I think we should explain our delay and apologise to our listeners but James has a real job and was travelling internationally taking pictures.

[00:03:08] Yeah. Yeah I'm sorry. I did the last one I did whispering in a small room in LA and I just couldn't face doing the final one from at some stupid hour in Wales in some hotel room. So I'm sorry. But I think it gave everyone time to digest it. I mean I've now watched it four or five times.

[00:03:28] I think as I posted like my flight back was a seven and a half hour flight so I loaded up the last three of this followed by Rogue One and then straight into A New Hope and I banged straight through all of it. Did you really? It was amazing. Yeah I didn't miss it. Guilt free just sat there seven hours. It was amazing. Yeah I 100% fired up Rogue One immediately after.

[00:03:55] I just wanted to go straight in because it felt like I was just not finishing off the story if we didn't. And I'll say it now. I mean my impressions and my thoughts of this one I think I told you at the time I was crying like a baby at the end for like five minutes. And I watched the first time through I'd like it was late. I'd been working all day and I'd been out for dinner and stuff and I was exhausted and stuff but there's no excuse.

[00:04:23] I just couldn't keep it in everybody. It was emotional. Oh I thought I was good. I thought I was good and everything was great and then we start panning over the wheat field and then there's Bix. I'm like oh Bix is happy and then I see the baby and I'm like oh it's Cassie's baby.

[00:04:45] And the tears were flowing. It was hilarious. But that is a sign of a great show when the very last scene can bring you to tears. Yeah especially when it could have been some they could have tried to sort of like create some side quest sort of like spin off situation. But my overall like I mean I'd like to say I have no words to describe it but it's pointless doing a podcast if that's the case isn't it.

[00:05:13] But as I think I will say Jonathan I now hereby officially hang up my blaster and my sabre. I'm done. Star Wars is complete. Andor to Empire. That is my realm and I shall not wander from it. Unless the Gilroy endorses. Yes unless Tony comes back but I was watching an interview with him last night and he's pretty done and he feels pretty. He basically said you know what I'm full. I've had enough to eat.

[00:05:41] And he's right because I think he created a new trilogy. So we've got the last arc that we did the Gorman massacre. Then we go into this arc and then we go into Rogue One and that's a nice little trilogy there. Yeah I mean I think he's done a brilliant job on it and I was just reading up about him as well.

[00:06:07] And he went into the initial writer's room when he sat down and he already had a hundred pages. He had the whole story arc. Yeah. And that's a big difference isn't it? Yeah. There's no this panic, panic knee jerk. We've got to change this. We've got to add this in, add that in. I mean obviously it all got fleshed out but he had start to finish and this whole thing lined up and worked out. Which really showed because it was held together perfectly. Yeah.

[00:06:34] And these three were just I mean pretty much perfection really. And I'm not going to stand for any whining from you this week Jonathan. Oh you should get no whining from me. No nitpicking. Was there something, was there one? I have one actually, I have one. Okay I'm sure we can find one otherwise it's not a podcast is it? Yeah exactly. But I just, it was just so great.

[00:06:59] I was so impressed by it and really enjoyed it and was at the edge of my seat at many times. But it took Star Wars seriously. You know you don't have to be serious but you've got to take it seriously. You know and then it's interesting. It can still have humour like that, the old alien in the wheelchair I thought was hilarious. Brilliant. Brilliant. But that's in universe. You know and it's not gags. It's just.

[00:07:28] It's yeah. And I think that's perfect. I mean I think I thought about this before. I mean there's a difference I think between bringing in someone like Tony Gilroy who clearly understands the IP and is of a certain age that he gets in. It's part of his culture. As opposed to, and this is controversial here Jonathan, don't attack me. As opposed to JJ Abrams who came straight out and was super excited and said he was a fanboy. And I think that's the issue.

[00:07:57] Like Gilroy is not a fanboy. He understands the world. He understands canon. But he takes it and he then develops it in a adult concise way. Yeah, thorough. JJ was just like giving all the toys and fair enough. I did love some of the stuff he did and it's fun and all this of it. But this is so thought out and it's structured and it's, you could play this out in any other IP.

[00:08:25] It just happens to be written for the Star Wars universe. And it's very well done. It was very well done. Well, let's jump into the final three episodes of Andorz season two, shall we James? Oh my God, let's go Jonathan. All right, for one last time, let's hop into our starship and head out into space and break down arc four of Andorz season two.

[00:08:58] All right, we are back and James. Make it stop, Jonathan. Make the end stop. I'm afraid I can't. Yes, I mean, just, God, we start on this and I don't know if it's me or whatever, but you know the message, the beacon, the blinking on the desk in the first scene. Yes. Yes, right. So hear me out. Does, is it me or does it immediately start to ramp up? It's not going at a normal pace.

[00:09:27] It beeps and it's, I feel that they did slightly increase the pace. So immediately we're starting to ramp up the urgency of this from the second. And also the sound. The timer has started. Yeah, the timer has started. But also the sound. And again, this is me going cross IP. It's, it's exactly the same tone as the motion tracker in Aliens. Ah, is it? That's funny, isn't it? And it, and it, and it, especially if you think, cause it gets the, the, the pacing gets tighter and tighter.

[00:09:56] So it's almost like something is approaching, something is approaching. Anyway, um, brilliant start. And, um, yeah. And there's a flashing light and Lonnie's demanding a meeting. It's basically the, um, we need to blow it all up. But it's a panic button, isn't it? Yeah. Get me the hell out of here. He's rummaged through Deirdre's like underpants drawer. And now he's been caught. And it's like, he's off and running.

[00:10:22] No, it's, um, yeah, he's, yeah, he's, he's been burned, as he says, when they finally meet. But, um, yeah, and it's a great, great meeting. Yeah. And it's again, those beautiful, uh, set pieces on, on, on location. And, uh, that's one of the great things of this is, again, we, we talk about the space and the, the distance and, and the, the grandeur of all the, the locations in the set.

[00:10:50] This is not on the, on the, the volume. It's not on the volume. No. Yeah. And it feels so much more cinematic and, uh, enjoyable. And again, it's, it's anchored in the real world. And as we've bored everyone to tears, we can, you can look up exactly where this is. Yeah. And I believe this is, is this still Valencia? I can't remember if this is. I think it's a place. But, um, but yeah, just a, a great, great scene with them, them meeting up and stuff.

[00:11:16] But before we get to their meeting, let's, can I just talk about Claire for a minute? Please. So, I mean, she's one of those characters who's always been there, but she hasn't been center stage and she really gets to shine in this arc, I think. And, uh, and I looked into, uh, Elizabeth Dulao, who like plays Claire. So it's kind of interesting. So, um, Elizabeth graduated from the prestigious RADA, um, the, um, Royal Academy of Dramatic

[00:11:43] Arts in London in 2020, the same year she was cast for this. So if you think about it, her first main role after leaving college was this. Can you imagine? If you walked out of college, you go, oh, you're casting out. It's kind of landing on your feet, isn't it? Yeah. You go, well, they've got this, it's a bit part in this Star Wars thing. It might be good, might not. And then cut to like five years later and she is epic. Yeah.

[00:12:10] Well, there's been a lot of calls for the, uh, you know, the Claire's spinoff. There's been a lot of calls for every, every spinoff. Every spinoff, yeah. It's, um. The wheel. I mean, uh, yeah, it's, uh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could do, I mean. A Gorman, uh, cooking, cooking show. You could have the, uh, the, yeah, the travel guide to Gorman. Can you go around from the, the hotel where the, the bell boy takes you around the streets off. Yeah.

[00:12:39] Now, I mean, it's, yeah. I mean, there's been lots of calls for pretty much basically anybody who's in this. It doesn't have to be anybody who survives because I was reading one thing and the, the, I mean, my dream one, anyway, we're drifting off it, but my dream one is obviously I want to know more about how K2SO and Cassian and Melshi bonded so much. Yeah. Yeah. And as somebody points out, like there's a year gap from last week to this week. So there's a whole year of stories. So it's very convenient. But anyway, we are, we are drifting off into space there.

[00:13:08] So, um, so, um, so basically Lonnie's Luthon's important informant within the ISB has disclosed Can I just stop you again here? Yes. I think you don't have to explain characters to anyone at this point, buddy. If anyone's listening to this, they're fully invested. That's true, true, true. We can just point through the great moments of this, you know, we don't have to. So, uh, Lonnie and Luthon meeting classic spy fashion on the empty bench in the, in the

[00:13:37] park overlooking, not looking at each other, just talking straight. It reminded me of the scene in JFK, of course, where they sit down, but a classic spy thriller. And, um, he, he says that he's been burnt and the, the emperor's energy program was a lie. And he tells him on the super weapon and, uh, Lonnie's panicking because he wants to get out and, and he knows he's been burnt and, and, uh, yeah. And he offers the saving grace of Yavin.

[00:14:07] Yeah. Yeah. I find it, I mean, the minute it is kiss of death. If like you'd mentioned where you're going, can you get me out where you're going? And it's like, well, if he tells you, it's, um, it's that's you're done, isn't it? But, but imagine that, like they'd been digging around or the emperor's up to this and you unearth this and it's like, and you piece it together. I'm like, holy. Yeah. It's like, he's, he's now he's built a planet killing machine and the penny drops.

[00:14:35] And then like Lutheran realizes exactly what is now at stake. Um, and as you said, in classic spy movie thing, we, we, uh, we cut to, oh, I have to say actually, sorry, just before we talk about the, uh, Lonnie's body. But I have to say that my favorite shot of this episode is that 90 degree camera tilt down on the stairs and walks away. Yes. Oh my God. I was going to mention that. It's like Inception or something. It's like, yeah.

[00:15:02] So it's, it just revealed that everything is going wrong and, and, and, and, uh, this whole world has been tilted, you know, really great. And it's graphic and, and it's got that Escher kind of vibe to it. And it feels like it should be an Inception or something. And it's like, it's, it's a little bit off balance, as you say, for the rest of the way the camera works done, but it works so well. Um, yeah. And then we have Lonnie's body is discovered, I believe by a Lothcat. Is that right?

[00:15:32] Yes, that's right. For our rebel fans out there. Yeah, you go. So it's one there. Um, but, uh, yes. And so I love, love the, he's got the trench coat on there and there's just the smoldering single holes by the heart where it's been point blank range. It's where one shot by a blaster will kill you, but in, in, in other, a gut shot from a lightsaber will do absolutely nothing. Just some ointment on it. You'll be fine. A little bit of Neosporin on that. Neosporin and a force heat.

[00:16:02] You know, waving a hand near you and you'll be fine. Um, but, um, yeah, no. And, and I just, in, from now on, like we've basically got this chant almost of like memorizing stuff. It's Gorman, Scarif, Kyber, Krennic, Erso. And it's like, just remembering the key points in case, you know, just, you've got to pass this along, pass this along. Um, but great. It's great work. But then we have the moment that we've been longing for all series.

[00:16:30] See, the meeting of, uh, of Luthun and Dedra. Dedra goes shopping. Yeah. Yes, exactly. But we have, uh, Luthun out the back and he's pouring the acid on the comms, which was a nice little shot though. Shot there. And then the doorbell rings and I'm like, finish what you're doing. Exactly right. I mean, it looked great. Like he's mercurial acid going on those beautiful copper, copper wound like valves and holes. Yeah. But you would write, you'd spend an extra five seconds.

[00:17:00] So yeah, just pour the rest of it across it and let it do its work. You just throw your coffee in it, you know, whatever you had. Yeah. You just like, yeah, exactly. Just drilling through hard drives. Whatever you need to do. Just do it all. And it's like, burn it all, burn it all. Um, yes. And then did you expect, uh, was it a surprise that it was Dedra at the door? I don't know. I mean, I was like, I mean, I got a little, I was like, quite honestly, like I reserve judgment. I like, all bets were off with this.

[00:17:28] I mean, I know I want, I had some, a wishlist last week, but I was just from the minute we got that. And we've skimmed over one thing actually, Jonathan, I just have to say. Um, and it sums it up really. Just Luther and Claire before the, he goes to the meeting and she tells him everything must be perfect. Yes. And he says, I think we used up all the perfect. Yes. That was actually my, my title for this section that you're right. We didn't skip that, but we've used up all the perfect. Perfect. And now they're just scrambling.

[00:17:56] I don't think you have, I don't think you have Gilroy. I think it's still pretty perfect. But yeah, now, now we're scrambling. But yeah, so I, I wasn't expecting, uh, Dedra, but I was more than happy to see her smiling. Yes, exactly. As she enters the store with her facade on. Amazing. Like the cat that got the cream. Hmm. Hmm. And she walks in and she's like, and says how wonderfully peaceful it is in here. And they do the fantastic dance.

[00:18:23] Cause he's not quite sure whether this is coincidence or not, but within a few seconds, he does realize it. And, uh, and I mean, yeah, I mean, I think the thing you've, you've been burned and you're, you're nuking your secret back office. And then one of the ISB supervisor turns up, this is no coincidence really. No. So I wonder if they're, they're just doing it for, for the lols, basically.

[00:18:50] Both of them know the jigs up and they're going to just maintain the thing for a little while. But I love how he goes, we have two pieces of questionable providence in here, obviously referring to him and Claire. Oh, I didn't think of that. He goes, oh, we're, we're still not quite sure the tension mounts and, and cause she won't come out and say it and he's not going to, to admit it. And, uh, as they wander through the, through the gallery picks up, um, what, what he refers

[00:19:20] to as a, a Nautiland bleeder, the dagger that he picked up. And, um, I did a little bit of research, dear listeners. And, uh, the Nautilands were a human species, humanoid species from the planet Glee, Anselm. They were amphibious and adapted to survive in harsh environments. The ones with the big dark eyes and the kind of amphibious head with a long, long tentacles hanging down by the side. You recognize them when you see them. Oh yeah. Yeah. I think. Yeah.

[00:19:49] Um, also one thing that threw me there, doesn't he say that it, that knife is 60 centuries old? Yeah. Yes. Again, like, I mean, I wouldn't do my nitpicking. I said I wouldn't, but that's a very human and earth centuries. I suppose. Yeah, I didn't pick up on that. I just thought it was a, um, I think everyone would have a term for, for a hundred years. And what, what, um, struck me was how long ago that was.

[00:20:16] So 60, 6,000 years ago, you know, just goes to show how long. Yeah. The civilizations are. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, so the, you know, the civilizations in the Star Wars universe are all very, very old. So they, they continue with the game and Deidre says, oh, I've got, I've got something. Hopefully it'll be, you know, up to scratch. Oh, and then she exposed, she brings out the vintage Imperial star. I love it.

[00:20:45] Cause she's got it in a polished, pristine Imperial black box. And so you think, well, what is this? Some medals and that, and then it's the, the broken up piece from like, from episode one. Yeah. From art. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. And again, it's not, um, it's not like a dropped in, uh, Easter egg, you know, all of this is written, all of it is planned. They don't think, oh, what can we get here? Oh, let's. Yeah. They, they, all of it is planned. Yeah. Yeah. It's been plotted. Yeah. Yes.

[00:21:14] And she says, I've dreamt of this. I've dreamt of this too many versions to remember. And here you were all that time hiding in the shelter of Imperial peace and quiet. And, uh, then, uh, he said, she says the building is surrounded and, uh, and he goes, well, I've known you all along. It seems such a shame. Yeah. He's so, he still records he's got one over and it's brilliant. Yeah.

[00:21:39] And then she notices the smoke as, uh, as the, the communications are, uh, burning up. And, and at this point, um, now where did you think he, uh, cut or stabbed himself? All right. Well, so, okay. Well, here's, here's the thing. It's like, if you want to finish yourself, you're going to do your throat or your heart, right? Or your heart. Yep. Yeah. But no, he goes for the middle of the abdomen, just below the, below the solar plexus, which is kind of interesting. Yeah. But, um.

[00:22:08] Cause that's like a slow death. Slow bleed out. Yeah. Yeah. Unless he hopes that there was a chance that Claire would save him. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe that was his plan. He got horribly let down. Yeah. He did. What are you talking about? You, I told you my daughter. You killed me. He's like, anyway, jumping ahead. Um, yeah. So, yeah. So he slumps to the floor and we see the bloody dagger drop down.

[00:22:36] And then, obviously, at this point, Deidre loses it. Cause like, she's like, he can't die. He can't die. Yeah. And it's such a Deidre thing to do. And, and who can blame her almost? Is to, is to have that one moment of triumph, uh, and to confront the person that she's been pursuing for, for at least five years now. Um, but it, it, it is her undoing. Well, yeah. Yeah. To quote someone else, the tighter you grip, the tighter you grip, the tighter you grip,

[00:23:06] the tighter you grip through your fingers. That's right. Yeah. Um, but Claire is outside and, uh, and we see, um, Luthen being taken out on, on a fantastic space gurney. Oh, yeah. Yeah. With a mini R2 droid. Like a mini R2. Funny you notice those things. Oh, that little round droid on the end of the wall. He's cool, isn't he? And is this the point where we see the first of his, the flashbacks? I think it is, right?

[00:23:35] Not yet. We, we, we get to the flashback when, uh, Claire is in the safe house. But at this moment where, um, we cut to the ISB and we have Partagas, uh, calling everyone in and he, and, uh, Deidre's old assistant is coming in wondering what's going on. And everyone's like, haven't you heard? And, uh, he's like, oh yes, I only just found out myself, um, that, that Lonnie is dead,

[00:24:06] but it was that, uh, that Deidre had found access and that that's what all the excitement was about. And, and then the look on Partagas's face when he's told that Lonnie is dead. And I think he's starting to realise that there's more to this than, uh, he knows. And the trouble is on its way. Yeah. It's, it, yeah, it's starting to, even for Partagas, it's starting to unravel, isn't it? Like the smugness and the calculated calmness is disappearing.

[00:24:36] And it's, um, yeah, it's, uh, it's all panic in the ISB. Yeah. But we cut back to Claire in the safe house now, which looks to be completely gutted. Doesn't it? Oh, I know. It's like time. It's only been a year. I mean, like, God, like, I mean, even my place, if I don't clean it for years and like that, it's kind of mental, but I mean, great, great feel to it. And then again, we just a sombering moment. And then, and then we get the flashback.

[00:25:03] And how did you think about the de-aging? I didn't mind it. I thought it was all right. I mean, I felt we kind of had to let it go, didn't we? Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, again, with this, I'm at this point, I'm like, it's, this show is so close to perfect that there are certain things you let go. And I don't think it was too bad. I mean, a lot of it was done with the hair and then just smoothing you off a bit. And, and, and I was, it was good. And it was great to, to see.

[00:25:31] And I'd love, you know, we've talked about the references to like war films in the past and stuff. And this one to me felt like a World War I trenches. Yeah. Right. You think about it, it could be like, you know, down to the uniforms and the warm brown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And to me that, that could, that could be an officer slumping back in the trenches in the Somme just after watching hundreds of young lads go to their deaths. But I mean, it's brutal, right? I mean, he's an Imperial Sergeant.

[00:26:01] Yeah. Um, and you know, and he's, he comes in traumatized by clearly what he has just commanded them to do. Yeah. And, and he's, and he's there like, it goes from chanting to screaming, make it stop. Yeah. And he's swigging from his, his whiskey bottle again, just felt like a World War I officer. It's just like the only way to get through this. Well, they're basically just wiping out all the local population, aren't they?

[00:26:27] And they said at one point, uh, um, you know, they, they found, cleared out their basement, their basement. There must've been 50 of them in there. Yeah. And, uh, And he says, I heard. Yeah. Yeah. Because you hear them all screaming. Yeah. And then the guy comes in and says, have you got any flame units? Like the, the, the commander wants the whole street on fire. Yeah. And it's like, Jesus. Yeah. Um, and then obviously we, then this, this is, you know, this is enough to make Luthan realize

[00:26:56] that he may have made a bad career choice at this point. Yeah. And he's, uh, uh, known as Sergeant Lear at that time. And it's perhaps a reference to King Lear, the Shakespeare play where, where he has a descent into madness and we can see him just losing it and losing it and losing it. And then he finds a young Claire hidden in a, in a storage area or hidden in a secret,

[00:27:22] in a compartment and, uh, and that just breaks him and, uh, realize, he realizes he now has an out and has some, if he can just say one person that will mean something. So he basically gives him an opportunity and a reason to go AWOL. Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, I believe, well, first of all, before we go into some back facts, I just, this just clicked just now, Jonathan.

[00:27:51] And I mentioned aliens earlier, but that was newt. Yeah, that's right. Even the same dirt and hairstyle. That was little newt. Um, but yeah, so I've, according to, uh, the wonderful internet machine, uh, this was, uh, 18 years before Yavin that he defects, uh, defects. He, he goes AWOL and decides to change and to make a difference to try and stop the, the empire. So, I mean, it's, it's interesting.

[00:28:18] I mean, we, if we look at the timeline of Andor, the, the storyline, this is only really five years before. Um, so like Luthien's been at this for like sort of 12, 13 years before anyone else gets involved. Yeah. Um, so he basically started the rebellion, didn't he? Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't really going to delve into that cause I believe like in the last episode, we can have a good old rant about that and go at, um, a certain Senator or two about that. Yeah. But, um, yeah, let's save that up.

[00:28:48] But, um, yes. So obviously, so he's, he finds the orphan player and realizes that he can make a difference. He can save, as you said, he can save one person and then from there just see what happens. So, yeah. Yeah. And we see some, uh, interesting relationship building as they go to, to kind of sell their belongings to get some money for food. And we have that bartering scene, which is kind of cool. It's great.

[00:29:16] Going into these small little towns and, and, uh, and, uh, after they sell whatever it was, I think some sort of statue or something and, and he pretends to be her father and she asks her, am I your daughter now? And he replies when it's useful. When it's useful. Yeah. Very good. And he carries on, you know, we'll be whoever we have to. You know, I'm Luther now, you're Claire. Yeah. Well, they're on the run. Everything else is up for grabs. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:43] And, but what I think is interesting that he does actually care because he says, oh, did I upset you? Yeah. And she says, no, she just, she just, you know, had a thought there. Um, but yeah, great, great backstory building. I mean, just, I mean like who, who would have expected this? Like in the final, you know, you, you're in the last two and a half hours of this, like this rampage across like the galaxy, like the building of the rebellion and you eloquently take the time to build this backstory. Yeah.

[00:30:12] Which is just sublime really. Um, very, very impressed with that. So good. But again, it opens up for a whole side quest, a whole, whole separate, uh, show here if needed. If you can, if you can stand like Luther de-aged for like four seasons, we'll see. So it's clearly Jonathan can't, but anyway, whatever. Well, then we find, and we'll continue with the flashback. We find them, uh, in Naboo, which is very interesting. Yes.

[00:30:41] And how, yeah, yeah. This is, this is the thing is that a lot of writers of the other series find, uh, the previous shows in the world of Star Wars as a bit of a shackle, but Tony seems to embrace it and, and like the opportunities to, to go. So the, the opening salvo of Lutheran's rebellion is on Naboo, which was really interesting to see. Yeah. I think it's, it's good.

[00:31:10] He doesn't sort of shy away, but he, he, he picks very carefully little pieces from it. He doesn't, you know, it's, it's, it's. Yeah. They're not, they're not member berries. They're just part of the world. And of course you go to Naboo to start one, you know, one because it's one of the main places. Yeah, exactly. Like one of the richest, most opulent places and it's, it's where it all began. Um, yeah. Um, anyway, let's come back to modern day, shall we?

[00:31:38] Well, let's just finish off, um, before, cause there's an important little exchange between young Claire and, and Lutheran. And he, he wants her to make the choice of the life. He's like, tells her to look around and say, this is everything that you're going to give up. And I need you to make the choice rather than me just forcing you, you into it. And, uh, he tempted her to, to actually hit the trigger to blow up. And she has no problem with it. Yeah.

[00:32:09] But he. Which upsets him. I think he wants her to think. And then he also doesn't want to put the guilt on her. Yeah. I think at this point, cause she's too young. Yeah. So he saves her from that. And, uh, we of course see the, the, uh, stormtroopers being blown up. I, I love the delay on it. Like he presses a button. There's literally a two second delay. So it's almost like if somebody was to watch them, it's not an instant like action thing, but then just the way he trains her, like, you know, yeah.

[00:32:37] And look, you know, cause if you don't look, you know, you know, you know, you don't look before it's happened. But when it happens, you have to look, you have to react like everyone else. And, uh, but, um, yeah, some great spy espionage training. Very good. Or any spy novel reader will obviously be, you know, all over this and know, know these, this trade craft very well. But James, yes, go on. No.

[00:33:05] And I think, yes, but I mean that you rightly so, like we bring up that and that, that is one example clearly that through the years where Luthen has taught her, um, a massive set of skills that will be needed for what is coming. Yeah. And then the infiltration of the hospital, she uses them all. I mean, I just, dude, I mean, like let's just, I mean, let's just talk this, this first of all, like everything else, the art direction, the set design, the pacing, the music is perfect.

[00:33:34] And this is like Star Wars Mission Impossible meets Peter Bond infiltration. Age of the scene. Yeah. Yeah. I love the tiptoeing up the stairs and, yeah. It's. That was an interesting shot though, wasn't it? But I wasn't quite sure whether they were showing her to be being careful or the space nurse shoes that she had on. Well, I don't know if she even had shoes on, right? She'd taken them. Um, I thought she'd taken them off and she was like in socks. In a space sock. Super silent.

[00:34:04] Space socks. Um, but I love the way that she carries her clipboard, like at such an angle that shields a blaster so she can instantly fire. And again, one shot kills. Yeah. But you did skip over another very, another great scene was the space locker room. Oh, yes. And that's what I love again, like even like the locker room they redesigned that someone's thought about it and come up with a really cool design of how everything works with the rotating spheres.

[00:34:33] The rotating, the rotating spheres and they remind me of those, you know, you get those, um, those self-cleaning cat litter, which is like a ball. But what I loved about this as well is like, it's, it was so well done in the fact that the first one she opens doesn't have what she needs. So she goes again. It's like, any other TV show would be going there. Oh, they pick the lock on one locker, grab everything they need and then move on. Whereas it adds to the tension. It's like, oh shit, I've got to go again. Just like hack another one.

[00:35:04] So to go with the costume and set design, I thought the scrubs were the scrubs that she was wearing a very nice yellow, I thought, uh, which looked great. And, but I must say throughout the entire series, they have really done an excellent job with all the elevators. And we see another really cool elevator going up on the outside of the building. But that's one thing I've really noticed as, as a feature of like, they put a lot of effort into elevated design.

[00:35:34] Yeah. There's been, yeah. And, uh, yeah. Again, we'll get to that as well, but even the one in the apartment building that, uh, that where Clay holds up and the safe house is different as well. And, uh, yeah, another, another good one. Um, Elevators from Star Wars, the new spin-off series. Is that the architecture of elevators in a galaxy far, far away? Okay. Um, can we, can we talk about the, uh, the, the grandma alien? Yeah, she was funny, wasn't she? Oh, again, brilliant.

[00:36:05] I mean, perfect. Was it an E of the ET species? I couldn't find. Similar, really. But I just, I just love her when, when she like, she uses her obviously to, to gain access to that floor and then she leaves her. Do you see the shot? She pulls away and the grandma's just happily there, just humming to herself, kicking her little feet. La, la, la, la, la, la. Yeah. It's like, like it happens every day that just, she gets randomly taken to the wrong floor and just left somewhere. She's like, yeah, I'm on my meds. What's it matter? I just, great, great view.

[00:36:34] So, um, but I, I just love like the slap, the slap charges put on. Slap charges, yeah. And where have we seen those? Um. Rogue One, they're the same slap charges. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All the, um, when they blow on Scarif and stuff. So it was kind of nice actually to, to see those in action. So that was, that was great. But like, again, just, uh, just the, just the distraction, like the way they go off and the sound design and the, um, brilliant, brilliant work there.

[00:37:03] All establishing shots, all the wide shots have been done so well on this show. So, and, and you, you, you know, you could even, you're, you're always tempted to pause on those big wide scenes and have a look around. And, uh, that was, you know, again, the great thing with this series is the, the time and care they took in. And the, the storytelling within those wide as well. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:37:29] And if you, the, the first time you see that wide shot where Claire's there and she looks out across there, you, she looks across at the elevators actually on the far side and she sees dead or going up. So she knows what floor she has to get to. But if you watch the camera refocuses on all of the, the transports on the right hand side on the decks. So it's obviously draws your eye to that. And that's obviously where she goes.

[00:37:55] And, and again, a cheaper show would show her tiptoeing around and putting charges on it. They don't need to, they just show that there. Yeah. And, and it's implied and, and we get the result. So very good. Very good. 10 out of 10. But she works away, works away in and as soon as they, the, she blows the transports, it's on and she comes in and she's taking guards out one by one with the, a well-placed headshot

[00:38:22] and the other time the whole squad runs past them and she, she, she kind of minimizes herself and makes herself look worried and frail and hides in plain sight as that squad runs by. And then she takes out the final guard and then we walk in and we, and we see Luthon lying there. Yeah. And I mean, did you think, oh, she's going to save him? She can, cause she's dressed as a nurse, right? There's a chance. But we've already had that, the moment where the, the main nurse has told Deirdre that this

[00:38:51] room is keeping him alive. No, I thought she was going in to, to basically kill him. To finish the job. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and what, I mean, yeah, we've already done all the flashbacks, but obviously there's one just before this, but then. Well, the one flashback we didn't mention was that Claire insists on seeing the execution. Oh. Yeah. Which I think was really important. Yeah, with the young boy. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:39:16] And she, she watches it and, and so we, we do get a lot of depth of character to Claire and her motivations are real and, you know, terrible basically. But this is the world and this is, this is why it's so important and this is why people are willing to sacrifice because at that moment she kind of says, well, the rest of my life will be dedicated to stopping any more of this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[00:39:44] From an early, I mean, it, I mean like clearly she was an orphan at the start, so she probably saw her own parents like die at the hand of the stormtroopers as well or at the hand of the empire. One would assume, yeah. But yeah, you're right. Just watching that firing squad. Yeah. Pretty brutal. It's like, I don't know if anywhere, I mean, I know we've had like Order 66 and we've had like in the, uh, in the further episodes, like we have Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren.

[00:40:14] Yeah. Butchering people and we have, you know, the stormtroopers there. But like to, to cold blood, like line up like people of all ages and execute them. And I think there was chatter, wasn't there? As they're taking them through that basically, wasn't there a sniper? And these, these people were innocent. Yeah. So it was teaching them a lesson. The reprisals basically. Yeah. Very World War II again to just, uh, you know, get them up against a wall, pull out your MP40

[00:40:41] and, and just kill some random, um, villages in reprisal for, for any rebellion. Very, very French resistance. Yeah. The situations that happened in France, I imagine. So, um, but we do see, uh, uh, Claire escape, uh, and, uh, a beautiful, uh, wide shot of

[00:41:10] Luthun's body, but she removed his life support and he dies. And it's a rather anonymous end to Luthun's life. Oh. But then that's the point, isn't it? You know, it's. He's not going out. Yeah, exactly. He was in the shadows for the whole thing. Yeah. And as we, as you've said before, a lesser show would have, uh, would have insisted on, on that. You'll never take me alive. Yeah. C4 blowing up a building. Yeah.

[00:41:36] But again, just, just very like touching. Like she kissed, you know. Yeah. Tear rolls down and she kisses him on the forehead and we have that slow pullback and that has to be the slowest fade to black I've seen in a hell of a long time and I ain't complaining, but it was great. That beautifully composed room and it just softly lights out on Luthun. Yeah. I'm tearing it up now, Jonathan. Yeah, I know. He really was, he's a favourite character, isn't he?

[00:42:06] He, he just, well, is a great Star Wars character. One of the classics now and, and, uh. I always remember him. What a fucking amazing actor as well. I mean, like the casting in this was phenomenal. The gravitas. So farewell to Luthun. Um, I, um, I, I hope his wig survived somewhere to be reworn by somebody. Do you remember we go back to that original scene where, where we see him putting on his wig and,

[00:42:35] and his, his rings and he adjusts his, his stance and. Posture and his persona changes. And he practices the laugh and, uh, he was such a, such a brilliant character and a brilliant acting as well. Yeah. It's, um, time for a spinoff. So far I've counted four spinoffs. Yeah, exactly. We've greenlit Jonathan. We're doing quite well. But then we have, uh, Heert coming in. That's, uh, Dedred's old assistant.

[00:43:04] And he, he, as he's doing his walk and talk, he says, this is Miro's security package. I want that recorded. It's all on Miro. It's all hers. And then he has it out with the medical director. And I always find it funny when these, like in these, at this time he still thinks that he's got some power or that they're interested in the other. It's the ISB. It's the, yeah, exactly. It's the empire. Like what do you. But he folds quite quickly, doesn't he? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:33] When he's, yeah, when he's going to be done for, basically. Well, you've made your point. It's only to arrest and torture anybody. Yeah. Uh, so he shuts down the, um, the hospital and they, and they're obviously going to try and find out where they are. But we swap to, uh, now we have a great scene where we have the Krennic coming to see. Well, no. Can I just. We'll go back because, uh, because Dedred gets arrested, doesn't she?

[00:44:02] Mm. So, I mean, I'm going to go back even further than that. Like, just as when, uh, when Heath arrives, like the opening shot of this episode is that low, wide frame of a dead stormtrooper. Oh, yeah. With a bullet hole in his head. Yeah. And it's a blaster hole in the head. And like, it's a really mature, like play for Disney, Star Wars, because usually, right, what, what happens is in Star Wars, somebody is shot. Yeah. They fall down, usually no blood. And then we cut away, end on, you don't see him again, that's it.

[00:44:31] That holds for a good five, ten seconds on a dead stormtrooper. And then we literally have them step over him. Mm. And then we, and then we have the conversation with the, the hospital director. But yes, sorry. And then, uh, yes, then, uh, Dedred gets arrested. Yes. And she's like, oh, we'll sort it out. Like, um. Oh, yeah. Like she hasn't done anything wrong. But the next time we see her, she's being held at the ISB in the basement and, and cranny

[00:44:58] turns the, uh, uh, turns the, the cameras off and then confronts her and asks her about the, you know, tells her to say it, say it. And she goes, the death star. Yes. It's, um, yeah, that's, that's amazing. Can I just say that? Because she's obviously, go on. No, I was, I mean, I was just going to go out of like how great Ben Mendelsohn is and how, how intimidating and terrifying. Right.

[00:45:25] The funny thing is, cause I've obviously watched this a fair few times and I watched, and I watched Rogue One in between. So the only thing I have to say is like, it's interesting. Like you fear Krennic at this point and Dedred is petrified. But then like, there is a scene in Rogue One where he goes to see Vader and he literally shits his pants when he sees Vader. So like the, the fear level goes up and up and up.

[00:45:51] Um, but one, one thing I was just going to mention about this again while I'm just ranting about Ben Mendelsohn. Uh, I mean, this, this scene is brilliant, but the part where he walks around the back and does the finger on the head and her shock. And I read this, that he improv'd that, that wasn't in the script. And that's why like, that's where like Denise Goff looks so freaked out because she didn't know the pressing finger on the top red was coming. She's like, brilliant though. I mean.

[00:46:21] Yeah, that was a great scene. And who, who would know? But when you think about it, that finger on the head has so much power because it's, it actually quite hurts. It does. I just tested it again now. Yeah. Hands laid on her. Yes. Yes. She suddenly realized that she is in deep shit. Oh, her eyes almost pop out of her head and it's great. Um, just, you mentioned about how he turns the cameras off. Right. Don't if you, I mean, again, I've had some time.

[00:46:48] That's the one joy of us being so late doing this, but I don't know, uh, if anyone else knows this, but the monitor shot of her when they're watching her on the camera before he gets turned off is a direct homage to THX 1138. Oh, is it? George Lucas is, there's a, is exactly the same framing of some security footage of the prisoners in that. Yeah. Wow. White as well. Yeah. Uh, and the, the graphics, uh, pretty much identical. Oh, that's cool. Very nice homage back to, uh, to the, the maker.

[00:47:19] Praise the maker. Thank the maker. This oil bath is going to feel so good. Uh, and I also loved actually how the Empire's retro future equipment is all shiny and new because all, you know, all the other retro equipment is all a bit battered and a bit worn and used, but the Empire's one was just perfectly. They've polished their CRTs and their dials. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[00:47:45] And so she, she says that she knows about the Death Star and how, how she found out about it. She said she was accidentally, someone replied to her. And said several Intel bundles were forwarded by mistake. And she said she should have mentioned it. And he's heard to the group chat. And that was it. She was off and running. Um, but I, I love, I mean, I think there's some great, um, comparisons to, um, to her dear dead lover at this point.

[00:48:13] Cause both, both of them are just, they are, they're obsessed with like impressing people and moving up and they'll take risks and stuff. And the fact that she squirreled away two years worth of case files and literally admits to being a hoarder. Yeah. A scavenger. Yeah. She's a scavenger or hoarder. And it's like, but, and he's now like, what's the difference between a scavenger and a rebel spy? I mean, yeah.

[00:48:42] So she's like, she's overcooked it a little bit. Yeah. And Cyril. She was trying to defend herself. And she said, there's a partisan, partisan spy mentioned in the Jeddah readouts, a valet for the local moth. And when he was questioned. And when he was questioned, he said he'd been recruited by a man with a fondle hall craft full of antiquities. And that was the clue of the men. And that was the clue of how she knew it was him. And in classic fashion, your team tortured him to death. Yeah.

[00:49:09] And, but then he turns to her and he yells, why did you confront Luton on your own? Because she wanted all the glory. Yeah. And in the same way, like when Hirt was like, was given her job a few episodes back, he points out that he, he basically has no ego. Yeah. And whereas like, and that's why part of gas removed her from it because she, she was desperate to take glory for taking down access. And that's not how the empire works.

[00:49:39] Yeah. And then she tells him about Claire basically. And, and then she starts giving, we've got to lock down everything. And, and, and Krennic turns to her, we'll do our best to carry on without you. Oh, but the way he grabs her by the head. He's like, it's delicious. Oh, God. And the shock on her face. She plays it so well. Cause she's just like, you know. Well, I wonder if that was even new. If she knew that was coming.

[00:50:05] I feel that this whole scene, I feel they may have just put her in the room and just told her her basic lines and she had to react to it. Cause it's so well done. Cause there's always a threat of violence with the, the empire, you know, in these meetings that there's attention, not the actual. Yeah. Especially when cameras are off. Yeah. Exactly. But then we see him walk out and I think that's when he gets the news that Lutheran had actually died. He doesn't even bother to go to confront her anymore. He just walks off.

[00:50:34] Yeah. Just, just, yeah. Disgusting. I just love, sorry, just to jump back to it. Like when he says, say the words. Yeah. She says, death star. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Oh, brilliant. So, uh, but then we get to go to Yavin 4. Yes. And it's a bit, it's a heavy night on the Revnog. I just love that scene of them like playing cards and gambling. Oh, the boys being boys. Oh. Playing tiles. Yeah. Playing tiles.

[00:51:04] I mean, I just, K2 is so good. Taking the piss out of K2. Yeah. Oh, he's, bless him. He's, um. Well, I've been, that's the one thing I would say is like, we didn't get enough of K2 in these, in this, uh, final series. Um, but, uh, I'm glad he was there and he is very funny and one, oh, and a great, a great character. See, again. He's like a cool C-3PO, isn't he? Yeah. A very cool C-3PO.

[00:51:31] I mean, but that's another, um, great thing about the way this show is put together. Like so many fanboys would have like knee-jerked and brought K2SO in on episode one in season two. And we wanted that. Everyone wanted that. But now, now in hindsight, when you're watching it, oh yeah, it would not have made sense because you think about it, like casting could be saved from any situation by him.

[00:51:56] He just comes in and just knocks people off, knocks people off of bridges with very, very small railings. Yeah. Well, at least they had railings. Which I was going, oh, look, railings. But, um, but the lads get the message. Uh, but what I thought was funny was, uh, uh, uh, old, uh, Willman comes back to his apartment and he gets confronted by the girlfriend and he's like, who's calling you? Who's, uh, there's a phone going off. He's got a burner phone somewhere.

[00:52:25] He's got a burner phone under the bed somewhere. Oh no, no, no. So yeah. He's like somebody from another planet that hasn't died yet that I've been having an affair with. So one of his many missions. Um, but I love that, that whole tech and it's like Morse code. So intergalactic Morse code. Um, brilliant. Very good. Very good. Um, yes. Anyway, yeah. And they get the call and once again, they bugger off. Yeah. They like, they get the message and they gear up for the rescue.

[00:52:52] Um, and, uh, but I always find it funny is like, I'm, I'm like, uh, Diego, have you not ever seen a world war two film or something? Cause every time he gets into the, the pilot seat of, of the U wing, he presses the buttons on top of the, on top of the wheel, which are obviously for lasers. You know, he gets, so he keeps pressing the buttons as if he's doing the hand. He should be hand, he should be flipping stuff at the top. Yeah, exactly.

[00:53:22] So I just keep picturing. K2's done it all. Yeah. K2's done it all for him. It's fine. Um, it's like he's, he's driving a Tesla. It's all done for him. Um, but I did, I did again, K2SO just like counting the amount of orders disobeyed. And then when they take up, it goes 18. Yes. And they arrive, um, they arrive at Coruscant and he goes, and he also says, oh, no, she's never been to Coruscant.

[00:53:51] And he's looking out the window and imagine seeing Coruscant from space. So just an entire city planet. City planet. Yeah. I mean, all right. This is my one gripe I have with, with, uh, this arc, Jonathan. Right. Okay. So remember the security last arc everywhere was stepped up, you know, the, like in Coruscant, you had now have metal detectors when they went to like meetings and parties and they fly that Ewing through the streets. I know.

[00:54:19] I, I, I, I mean, I try, I have to figure it out in universe and how would it, you know, there are no customs. Do they have a stolen code? Do they have, they have, maybe they have a stolen imperial code. You know, I would. It must be stolen imperial code. Like they do. Yeah, exactly. That'll do it. Stolen imperial code. That's what it is. Yeah. That's, that's where we go. Yeah. We fixed that. All right. I'll stop my griping. I'll shut up now. Sorry. The best piece of financial advice I've ever received is to pay yourself first.

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[00:55:43] But Castamels should go in alone and as they're heading in, the Imperials turn up and they've actually got a transport full of rather lethal looking stormtroopers. Yeah. And they can actually shoot straight as well. I worked it out though because they've got helmets on. That's why, isn't it? Yeah. Because they can see. It might be true. Yeah. I mean, I don't have you. If you put one of those helmets on and see. Sadly, I've got one here.

[00:56:13] I can demonstrate. They're terrible to see through. Visibility's not that great. Visibility issues, yes. Maybe you've actually worked it out, James. Yeah. But that was, he was classic, wasn't he? The bald guy with the moustache. Brilliant. Yeah. I just love them the way they, when they're walking through the building. Nothing to see here. Keep moving. Routine inspection. Back inside. It's like London sort of like police sort of like raid. Move along. Move along. Move along. Nothing to see here. Yeah. It was great there.

[00:56:42] But yeah, you're right there. They were actually professional. Like they didn't, you know, they didn't stand in the middle of nowhere. You know, he called it out. They had someone in rear guard. They like, they told, they told the commander to tuck in at the right moment. Yeah. It was good. It was a good assault. It was a genuine assault. I thought that was quite good. Yeah. And there was going to be no escape, basically. We cut to Cassian and Melshi turn up. And Clea doesn't seem to be happy to see him.

[00:57:11] See Cassian. And I feel like a lot has changed in the year. Well, I think so. Yeah. I think there's animosity and frustration between Clea and Luthon and the rebellion. Yeah. And I also think, and we'll touch on this, obviously, in the final episode. But I think… But it kind of felt for me that it wasn't fleshed out enough and it kind of came from nowhere.

[00:57:38] And as a viewer, you pick up on it and you go, oh, okay, there's something here. But it really couldn't work out why. Well, I mean, yeah. But again, I guess they're hoping that you're intelligent enough and you realise there's something that is there. And they have… Like I suppose it can't continue as it was as the rebellion becomes more serious and structured.

[00:58:03] Well, it becomes serious and it becomes more organised in the same way that we see them shouting at Saw Gerrera for being a maniac in the next episode. But I think that's it. I think it's the frustration because Luthon and Clea have done so much to get the rebellion to where it is. And I think now they don't… They clearly do not like the set up on Yavin 4. Right. And I think that feeling is mutual. Yeah.

[00:58:32] I think they… Yeah. True. Yeah. Very true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the actual rebellion. And so that's why there's some resentment for Clea. But… And I suppose it's understandable. But in this situation where someone has died, I thought she'd be glad to see anyone at the door because otherwise there's basically no way out. Well, yeah, exactly.

[00:59:00] To quote another great episode, John. Yeah. One way out. Yeah. One way out. I apologise. Losing my touch there. But I also thought they didn't seem to be in much of a hurry. I thought it was like a grab and go. Yeah, right. They could… They might as well sat and had a cup of coffee. Yeah. They could have… A cup of caf or whatever they call it. Sorry, don't they? But they… Well, I don't know. Well, they're going door to door with…

[00:59:26] And did you notice the ISB's scanner for the radio signal was very much like the Ghostbusters. That's what's the reference. Yes. Yeah. It looked like they… To check for the… Not the… The Ecto scanner or whatever it is. I was waiting to see Slimer coming down the hallway at one point. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't good. But yeah, I mean, you would have thought they could have… Like, they had time because they were on a different floor. They could have used the back stairs. They could have…

[00:59:55] Gone up. Up. Yeah. Yes. But they didn't need to, did they? Because they had somebody coming. Yeah. And what a moment that was. I mean, they could have escaped, right? I mean, they had enough time to do it, but they don't. Anyway, they're chatting and they've got their issues. They're chatting. Next thing we know, the squad has found the correct floor after using their Ghostbuster scanning device. They realised they were like… I mean, if I was them, right? Yeah. They were in the floor below and they knew they're directly above. Yeah.

[01:00:25] Now, if it was me, I'd be firing a very heavy load up into the ceiling. Yeah, some chargers on the ceiling. Charging on the ceiling. There's some slap charges there. Anyway, they don't. So, they get to the right… Well, they've got to take her alive, remember? Oh, this is true. They need all the information, yes. Because, yes, very, very smart, Jonathan. Very good. Anyway, they realise they get to the correct floor and then they charge up. They're like… So, we have that great, great scene where they basically cock the guns. Yeah. You hear them charging up. The lights come on.

[01:00:55] And then I think it's great. They turn it. Then Melshi sticks his head out and he can see them. And then we bring it into the next episode. Well, he comes out and he's holding his hands up and he's like… Oh, yeah. And they're like, no sudden movements. And he goes… Yook! And just kind of sideships. What do you mean like… It wasn't exactly sudden. No. No sudden movements or something like this? Maybe this one. Look over there. And they didn't even follow. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:01:25] Well, I think it's tricky because they know they've got to take at least one of them alive at this point, right? I guess. But I thought that tuck-in, sir, comment was… Oh, yeah. It was so… A little condescending as well, wasn't it? Well, no, I don't… We've got this from there. Tuck-in, sir. Well, yeah, I think that's proper, isn't it, really? Yeah. Protect your commanding officer. Yeah, that's good. And how good is that concussion charge? Oh, yeah. I love that. The stunner is a beast, isn't it? Yeah. It was just that tiny little thing. It's…

[01:01:52] Well, it's a thermal detonator, but luckily they didn't use a thermal detonator version. Yeah. But then we have K2 rampaging, taking everyone out. Everyone's a bit confused by like, are you with us? No, you're about to kill me. No. And he just sideswats him, which brings me back to the Rogue One where he slaps Cassian. That would have broken his jaw. And that's another one that was not in the script. Yeah, that was an improv moment. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:02:21] Alan Tudyk just did that, didn't he? Yeah. It was great. Anyway. But yes, and K2 comes to the rescue. And in one of the most horrific moments in all of Star Wars was when K2… Human shield. Yeah. It wasn't body armour, it was using body as armour, you know. And he was just there, dead, limp, and it was horrifying, I thought.

[01:02:49] I mean, but a valid death of such a slimy and devious little man, I thought. Sure. No love for the empire. He took my dead, was John. It's like, ah, you see? So, but, yeah, it's, it was great, like, finish. And then, like, Cassian and Melchie and everyone's, like, just cowering in the room at this point. Like, we have to remember, Clay has been, like, knocked out and cracked her head from the thing. And then we just, the gunshots, and then we just see the big, big guy thrown at the wall.

[01:03:18] Yeah, launched as if he was nothing, you know. So, Cassian, I've cleared a path. Yeah. Brilliant. Brilliant. And so they, they escaped the building and they're in the U-wing and K2 says, I assume any doubts about my value have been erased. So good. Can I just say it at this point, right? It's crazy how much emotion and character is expressed with the slightest body postures that Alan Tudyk does. It's brilliant.

[01:03:45] I mean, it's just, there is so much human-ness to that robot. But not too much as well. No, yes. It's not like the one in Solo, which was... I haven't seen Solo. You haven't. But that was the worst droid in Star Wars. Sorry, Kristen. I have erased it from my mind. Yes. But I mean, but him and Andy Serkis are like just leagues above anyone else in that kind of role. Just the way they can, just the gestures and the mannerisms.

[01:04:14] And it's just when K2 sat at the controls there and Cassian doesn't say thank you. And he basically says thank you himself to imply it. And you see K2 almost shrug or just, there's just the tiniest of movements. Yeah. Very funny. Anyway. And off we escape to Yavin. And we get the call in for Admiral Raddus here, which is... I wanted to yell out, it's a trap. It's a trap! It's a trap!

[01:04:44] It's not... No. That's Akbar, isn't it? It's not Admiral Akbar. We're back on Yavin and they think it's a... They're not sure whether they're coming in, whether it's Cassian or whether they're catching ships. So they're greeted by a war of rebel soldiers with a cumbers drawn. Yeah. Well, even before that, don't we have... Is that where we bring up the... That was a nice shot, wasn't it? When the X-Wings came in and they... Yeah, they come out of the clouds. Proper classic, yeah. Put their S-foils into attack position. Yeah.

[01:05:14] Like S-foils in attack position. Exactly. We have targets due. Yeah. That was very good. Yeah. We get to see Mon now in a familiar robe and haircut. Yeah, that's true. She's got a haircut. She's... But I was wondering... I guess it's just... That's just the way it is. But, you know, after Mothma, she's just another spy. She no longer has any power in Chandrila or anything, you know, so...

[01:05:43] But she just automatically gets put in charge of the Rebel Alliance, even though she's just been organising funds for her. Well, I don't know if she is completely in charge of her. She's on the board at this point. And you've got... So Bale... Bale Organa seems to be in charge, doesn't he? And he seems a little bit passive-aggressive for my liking. Oh, it's just... He's not happy, is he? No. He's just... Again, he really isn't happy with Luthor.

[01:06:13] No. So we have to assume that Luthor, you know, as everything's got worse and worse and worse and they say he's stayed too long, but he obviously was not the one thing. He doesn't know how to collaborate, which is a very kind of corpo-speak thing. Yeah. Which I think the Rebellion's getting a bit like that, aren't they? Yeah. Because we have the same thing with Saw Gerrera, because we opened that scene where, like,

[01:06:41] on the hologram and Mon's talking to Saw and he's super angry and paranoid now. And he's... And they're like... You know, they're basically... Which helps explain, you know, the involvement of Jedha in Rogue One, I suppose. But he has caused so much, like, trouble that that's why there is now a Star Destroyer floating over Jedha. And it's like they can't operate now under a microscope because Saw is getting angry.

[01:07:10] And you know what made me click as well, right? Obviously, because, again, I watch Rogue One again straight over this. So I always thought before, like, Saw with the ventilator was because of his injuries. They're like, no, he's puffing on the rider. Yeah, exactly. He's just puffing on the... There's clearly a side effect to the old... Yeah. His love, love the rider. It was paranoia, right? Yeah. I mean, that's right, kids. Drugs are bad. But it's so funny. It's like, oh, my God. Because I always used to think it was like Vader.

[01:07:40] He was using that to breathe. But no, he's literally got a bong on his back and he's just taking a hit. He's just huffing gas all the time. And they're like, oh, God, Saw, can you just calm down the gas huffing? Because, you know, he's just going a bit bonkers. And Cassian comes in to try to tell them about the Death Star and no one believes him. There's no small moon. There's no moon. It's a space station. Why should we believe Luthen? And then Cassian pleads his case.

[01:08:10] And he says, when I say I know him, I know his good and his bad. You know, but again, it falls on death ears. Except Mon, because she knows Luthen as well, personally. So she knows for all his trouble that he is dedicated and he does pursue the truth. And I thought that was a really nice moment when, as he leaves and he requests permission to visit the infirmary,

[01:08:38] Mon just has permission granted before anyone else has a chance to say anything. Yes. I mean, you're right. Mon still respects Luthen even though she doesn't agree with his tactics and stuff. Whereas, like, Organa, I think, is, like, a little bit more rigid. Yeah. But, I mean, it's great. Which doesn't feel... Well, like... But what you forget in this scene is, like, the reason that Mon gets to speak is when...

[01:09:07] Remember, like, Organa says, when was the last time you saw Luthen? Yeah. And it's like... When I went and saved Mon Mothma because your team was compromised. Yeah. You fucking dumbass. Yes. I saved the leader of the rebellion. And then he's like, oh, yeah, all right. Well, I suppose we'll take that into account, yes. Yeah. It's just like she would have been dead if you... Yeah. If he hadn't gone. It's like... That's what's so annoying.

[01:09:36] There's so many... As we know, because we've followed the story from Luthen, but there are so many points and showing his backstory earlier in this arc. Like, he has been, like, key in setting up the rebellion for, like, the last 18 years. Yeah. And for, like, for some of these stuck-up senators to go, oh, I don't believe... It's like... But, I mean, it's great. They're all professional politicians, aren't they? Exactly. And it's a good... It's a good mirror to the real world.

[01:10:05] ...into maintaining your power rather than doing what's right. But he does come around. He does come around. I'll give him that. There we see Vel and Cass, and they're having a nice little reunion, and they toast the Fallen. Ooh, just before that, though, just before that,

[01:10:31] there is a holding shot of an X-Wing helmet in the rain outside. Is that symbolic of anything or not? Ah, I didn't notice that one. Yeah, it's just outside the... Obviously, because it's raining on... Yeah. ...and before we go to see them having their drink, it, like, just has this beautiful shot of, like, a... It looks like an X-Wing helmet. It's probably just another pilot helmet, and it's just pouring... Anyway, I just thought it was really nice, and I thought maybe somebody out there might go and say,

[01:10:59] oh, that's so-and-so's helmet or something like that. Well, they tend not to hold on things that are not important, do they? They, if there's a shot that focuses on something. So, I don't know if anyone saw that. Oh, we won't be back next week, so we... Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, we're in season three. Oh, my God. So, as we then cut back to the ISB, and we... Well, we start to hear Nemec's speech, yes. Yes, sorry, yeah.

[01:11:28] I mean, yeah, exactly, that's great. So, Vel and Cass share a drink and toast the Fallen Heroes, and it's a long list. It is a long list. We won't do it now, everyone, sorry. But then we hear, yeah, the voiceover from Nemec, and his... Manifesto. Manifesto comes in, and it's great, and it's like, all right, here we go, this is it. And then you're right, and then we cut to the ISB, and yeah. And we hear, and we see, it's Particus listening to it, and he's obviously been...

[01:11:58] This is now, we now know that this, his, Nemec's manifesto did get out, and it is famous, and they are listening, and it is making a difference. Yeah, well, so we have Particus listening to the manifesto, and his assistant comes in, and they basically says, they're waiting for you upstairs. Yeah. And he turns and says, may have a moment to collect my thoughts, which is a classic request. Classic Nazi bunker style. Yeah. Yes. And he pulls, open the drawer,

[01:12:28] and he may as well have pulled a Luger out. Yeah. Yeah. But it was a factory fresh DL-44. I knew you. Yes. But what I love is outside the room, like, you hear the single blastifier, just the gesture from the other officer. I forget his name, sorry. And there's the troopers twitch, and he's like, no, hold. Yeah. Moments. Nothing to worry about. Yes. Another great character.

[01:12:57] He had some brilliant lines, didn't it? And I must say, bad luck Particus. Bad luck Particus. I have to say, right, everybody in this is brilliant. The only casting letdown there's been was the LA Bro Boys. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't that weird? Which really stands out. Because they never came back, did they? No, no. And that was such a, they must have shot it afterwards, or something, that whole scene. I don't know.

[01:13:27] It was very weird, right? Yeah. It just didn't fit. Anyway. Didn't fit at all. We won't dwell on that. No. This is perfect. We'll keep moving on. Yes. We'll keep moving on. And so the pace is now building, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, my God. And then, so after that, we suddenly have this scene with Cass' sister. Yeah. And I'm like, what? And for a second, right, I thought it was going to be a cheap trick in some sneaky way to show her fighting on another world, and we're suddenly going to have a spin-off series or something. But it's not. It's just Cass dreaming. It's just a dream.

[01:13:57] Just about why it all started. And there was... And K2 wakes him up, and I love how he's confused by humans sleeping, you know? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It always freaks him out waking them up. Yeah. It's kind of funny. Yeah, it's brilliant. He's like, they've thrown us out, and he's like, the man that doesn't like you. Oh, no. The man you don't like, or something. Yeah. Which is really funny. Is he? So Bale's there,

[01:14:26] and he tries to make friends with Cass, and gives a rather odd may the force be with you to him, which I... Yeah, a little bit awkward, which is funny, because it's not like at any point either of them have acknowledged that they love the force or anything. Yeah, and he's been so kind of passive-aggressive with everyone. I don't feel he was really the character that should have said that line, but he does,

[01:14:55] because now we're basically on the run to Rogue One, aren't we? Well, now, they said now, in the classic sort of spy way, Cass waters his plants like any good rebel spy does before he goes on a mission. I thought it was brilliant. And now begins the montage of all montages, Jonathan. There we go. Five minutes. Oh, my God. Yeah, and the Andor theme swells up, doesn't it? I mean, I...

[01:15:25] Go on. No, I was just going to say, as I was typing my notes for this, it was the fifth time watching this, and I was still getting goosebumps at the minute this starts rolling and rolling, and rising orchestral chords, but I'll let you talk us through it. Go. Well, we... And let's stop on anyone you want to chat about. We have Matt Melshi training the troops, and then we cut to Wilman with another blonde, and he seems to be... It's the same one. Oh, it's another one. It's the same one. Leave him alone.

[01:15:55] So he seems to be enjoying... He's going to repopulate the rebellion on his own. And we have Mon and Vel chatting in the mess hall, and then the great one was Pippin with Davos Scaldin's wife, looking a little forlorn. So, yeah, I'm trying to work out what's going on there, and that opens up a bunch of questions. It's like, so we never got to see what happened with the young couple, like the kids,

[01:16:24] and like that whole thing, and I was kind of hoping that we would keep that dodgy gangster guy in, because I wanted a small interaction between him and the huts at some point was kind of nice. It would have been pretty good. But, yeah, but that was thrown in there, like, you know, just sitting there forlorn, like, just sipping on his whiskey after a night of partying. Yeah. And they must have got their speeder back, actually, because that was the one... Oh, it was the Cadillac speeder.

[01:16:53] Yeah, I could only imagine them getting a call from the chorus onto, you know... The pound. Oh, you've found your car, there's a little bit of damage, but you can pick it up here. be all right. And then, I'm sorry, I'm taking over here for now. Go on. And then, bloody hell, how amazing is the end of Pedro? That one took me by surprise. Oh, yeah, I mean, just, so she's now a Narcina 5. Well, I'd say it's Narcina 2. Oh, do you think?

[01:17:23] Why? Well, the five, well, there's got to be a women's prison, doesn't there? I don't know. You don't know? Oh, anyway. I think this was an all-female Narcina. Oh, was it? Okay. But, even so, I mean, just, just, bittersweet, just to put her in there was just amazing. Yeah, I love that little, that little thing to see her in there. Just, just the way she's just almost sobbing in herself. Yeah, she's now on program. Yes, yes.

[01:17:54] And, and such a, such a delightful callback, you know, you know, a real completion of a circle, you know. I just wish, wish Andy Serkis had been in the next bunk. Yeah. Because he couldn't swim, so he was still there. Yeah. Or he came in and he just said, told her to get on program. One way out. yeah. I wonder what happened to, to him in the, in the world. I wonder if he was executed

[01:18:24] or just re-present. There's probably an animated series coming adventures of, I can't remember his character's name now. And Cassian's walking towards his ship and he gets a meaningful look from the, the force healer lady. Yeah. I can't, I even liked that. I didn't mind that. Yeah. But, anyway. And then, Jonathan, oh, there we go. Yeah, well, Saul, Saul stares out the window in his Rogue One skin and, and what, and as we said before, for,

[01:18:54] I thought, what I thought was life support is just, he's just huffing, guys. We see, uh, Krennic staring at the Death Star as it's finishing, finishing up and, uh, then we're off, uh, to Kaffreen. And as Cassian takes off, we see the Rebel base, which we now know so well, don't we? Yeah. You know, and from, we know the Rebel base on, on Yavin now, which, which leads us into Rogue One,

[01:19:23] which leads us into Star Wars. And, um, it's, it's actually really nice to, to know Yavin, I think. Yeah, I mean, again, it's perfect, it's perfectly fleshed out. And then it's just spot on. Uh, and yeah, and it's almost jarring. Cause again, I went straight from Rogue One into New Hope. And, and you can just see the production problems. Well, not problems, but like hurdles they had in, you know,

[01:19:52] in 1976 when they were making it. Cause it's clearly the base is a lot smaller. Yeah. Very cleverly done. I have to admit, very cleverly done. You have the exterior shot of them coming in over the jungle and then you're clearly in a sound stage and they've got three mocked up X-wings on the floor. There's, there's none of that beautiful runway area outside and all that. But even so, but they've, they've, they've plenty of steam around. Very good. Oh, yeah. That's the other thing. I don't think Andor has had any steam, right?

[01:20:21] Which was my running joke. There was one, I think there was one, I can't remember. Probably in the dance bit with Mon when she's bouncing around. Cassian takes off and we're basically heading into Rogue One. Into Caprine and into Rogue One. exactly. And then we get what none of us expected. Yeah. And then, and this, and I, B2 has a girlfriend. B2 has a girlfriend. I like,

[01:20:50] and then we see Vicks out in the field. And, and even just seeing that, I started to well up. But the minute you see over her shoulder and you, I'm welling up now, Jonathan, I may have to stop. I may have to stop the podcast at this point. And you see her holding baby Andor. Baby Andor. Yeah. Can I just say, I'm sure you're going to get this and like this reference. In a cornfield, she may as well be running her fingers through the corn. That's right.

[01:21:18] It was bloody Russell Crowe at the end of Gladiator. Exactly. As his dead body goes to see his family. Yeah. Oh my God. It was amazing. But the context that Neil gives to everything is, is like he never knew about the baby, but also even though he's died, he lives on, you know, there were so many things. And I thought, I thought I was done. And I'm just sitting there kind of really satisfied and going, oh, what a great job they've done. And then I see that and my eyes just up. Well,

[01:21:48] it's just an uppercut, right? You're already on the canvas and then just somebody just, but I just started applauding. I'm just like, bravo. Well done. What a, what a finish it. And it really stuck the landing, didn't it? You think of game of Thrones, you think of lost, you think of all these series where like, I haven't had a series where I felt total satisfaction at the end of it for a long time. Yeah. I mean, I mean, all credit to everyone who wrote it and,

[01:22:18] and everything else. But as I've read on this, obviously they knew it's kind of good where you have an end plate, you know where you're getting to. And the fact that Gilroy, you know, wrote a hundred pages to plan the whole thing, you know, just, just loosely plan it out. So it was, was like spot on. Well, you know, the hardest breather as a photographer is when they say, you can do whatever you like, you know, rather than give you some sort of guidance, you know, and, and this one,

[01:22:47] because of the big, uh, because of the, uh, the structure that they had to go into rogue one and certain people lived in, certain people died really made this feel like a complete and real story without loose ends. And, and, and, uh, you know, it all made sense. Yeah, no, it, it did. And like, you, you could still like, you could still epically fail this end. Like if, but it was paced and done perfectly. I have to say though,

[01:23:17] thinking about this and I've read a couple of reviews cause we had a little bit of time on this and the, and everyone's end piece in the montage is great. The only, some people just whining that Cassian's isn't that great. And I'm like, we don't, he doesn't need an end cap cause. No, it was rogue one was his rogue one. I mean, him sitting on that beach. Yeah. The nuke. You know, well, I just loved him putting on, you know, they, they got the jacket that hopefully someone actually saved the jacket,

[01:23:45] but they replicated really well. Um, and just how smoothly it runs into rogue one, you know, it's basically just the next episode is rogue one. Yeah. So now I thought it was all very well straight after I highly recommend doing it. And then James, I watched the, I know you watched the full, uh, of episode. Uh, you went straight into a new hope. I watched a little bit of it. Um, but wasn't that seamless as well?

[01:24:15] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Cause you, you get the escape and they get away. And just, uh, just that says, we've always talked about this before, like Vader coming down that hallway, just like, Oh my God. But I have to say like, right. There's the, the rebels who've got the data disc in their hand. No, help me, save me, save me. I'd have thrown that through instantly. Yeah. Take this. Everyone wants to preserve their own life. In the end, he's like, take it, take it, take it. Knowing he's going to die. So yeah,

[01:24:45] I'll give them that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, I can nitpick into that because like we've seen Vader force hold ships. That's true. And he could have ripped that airlock door off. We won't go there. Yeah. But, um, yeah, but it rolls perfectly in and then, and then into new hope as well. So yeah, it's really, really nicely done. Um, yes, not really got any complaints at all. No. Well, that's it folks.

[01:25:15] And, uh, what an amazing series it's been. And, uh, I'm just so glad we have some good star Wars and everyone's like, Oh, this is a masterpiece. This is a genius. And, and it is, but it should also be, you know, just the bare minimum. This should be the, this should be the bar that everything else comes after it is set to, but it won't be. Yeah. And that's why, as I said at the beginning, it's like, I am, as you said, it's like, we,

[01:25:44] we are aging out of this. It's not, and Disney now owns this and they make stuff for kids. And I, fair enough. So we are lucky to have given, been given this. So we have a handle through to the empire strikes back. I would say, and we should be content and really happy with that. It's like, I don't know. It's like having Godfather one or two. He didn't need three. So you just have one. So, and, and I have been coming around to that thought of like, we're lucky to have what we have. And, uh,

[01:26:13] if they could come close, then great. But, uh, you know, it has renewed my, my love for star Wars. And, and I thought I could, you know, I was, I really had kind of accepted that it was time to put it up on the shelf and to move on because now in other people's hands and, and what I loved about star Wars is maybe not what, uh, the modern audience, uh, likes about it. And, uh,

[01:26:42] and you have to realize that, that the torch must be passed one day. And, and as we all get older and I was saying, was saying that it was 40 years ago or now, no, actually 47 years ago when, uh, when star Wars came out. So maybe it is time to pass it to the next generation. But then they come up with this and, and, and it just shows you how,

[01:27:07] how good the originals were because this style is still very, very good. And it works really well. Can I, I know I, I said at the beginning, I've hung up my blaster and saber, but I have to say that there's, the theory is already like spinning up online. So, okay. So like, and or his kid would be in his early forties when Sean Levy's film star Wars starfighter comes out. Oh, right. Oh, that's interesting. Yes.

[01:27:37] Well, that would be good. I'd be down for a, yeah, for, for that little Easter egg. Son of Cass. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, I mean, I don't, I don't know how good that's going to be. It's probably not, but that's the one thing that's in all of the shows that they announced and all the rest of it. That's the only one that I have some interest in. Look, I think the Mando and Grogu movie will be what it will be. I hope they,

[01:28:07] I hope it's season one and one or two. You know it's going to tank, right? Do you know what, do you know what week it comes out? Do you know what week it comes out? It comes out within two weeks of Grand Theft Auto 6. Oh, God. God. They might want to push it back a month. Yeah. They might be, or six months. Yeah, exactly. You might have a severe amount of your fan base is just sat in a room smoking weed, playing that for like six months. Yeah, that's true. That's funny. But yeah, everyone's trying to avoid that,

[01:28:36] that window or they'll just use it as an excuse, like when it tanks. But yeah, I mean, I don't hold up much hope for that quite honestly. Mando's just like. But you never know because Jon Favreau might be back and more involved in the film because from what I knew he wasn't really involved in season three. But because, you know, the first two seasons of that were great. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah.

[01:29:02] But so there is more Star Wars to come and we will be back when those things come out. So, so keep an eye on your Star Wars theme. Well, I intend to drag you back on. Well, when the movies come out, for sure. You know, unless Jason wants to do it. Yeah. Well, maybe Jason might want to do it. Yeah. All right. So let's take a break and we'll be right back with the Star Wars moment of the week.

[01:29:34] All right. Here we are. And here we are with the Star Wars moment of the week. And James, did you have a moment that hit you? All of it. I don't, I, I, I can't think of one. Uh, yeah, I don't know.

[01:30:01] I would say I want it to be about Claire. I'm trying to think, think of a moment, but I mean, I just enjoyed just pretty much, pretty much all of it. Just. So it wasn't one moment where you felt very Star Wars-y and you got that kind of, I don't think so because I think with this, as we talked about, it was more of a wrap up. It wasn't. Yeah. It was a very grown up,

[01:30:30] like mature way. And there was, there wasn't any sort of like silly nod back to like we had before. We're like storm troopers, like terribly, like, you know, shooting badly or anything like this. Well, I have one. I have one. Good. Good. My, the moment when I was watching it where I kind of sat up in my seat and, and had a, you know, felt that childlike excitement again was when we knew our heroes are in trouble. And we just cut to a scene of K2SO just walking towards the thing.

[01:31:00] And he's just like, no, fuck it. I'm going to be the hero. Time to rescue my friends. Yeah. And. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I'll give you that. It was such a Star Wars-y thing of, of rescuing your friends and being, you know, being a hero and, and coming to the rescue. I think that was, that was a real kind of, I really felt we were in full gallop at that point. And, you know, I was saying before that it's just been cantor, but when we saw that, cause I knew the, you know, for the next couple of minutes,

[01:31:29] there was going to be some great Star Wars-y moments as, as K2SO comes in and, and takes control. All right. I'll give that to you. I mean, I personally, that's a great K2SO moment. I wouldn't say it's classic Star Wars, but you, you can have it. Well, it was my Star Wars moment of the week. And on the Star Wars meter, I'm giving this another five out of five, James. Hmm. Mine's still broken from last week. So I think, I think it has to be five still.

[01:32:04] All right. We are back with your feedback now. And, uh, we have a voicemail from Anwen. Thank you so much. Hi, Jonathan and James. It's Anwen. Wow. We made it to the end of Andor. It was amazing. These last three episodes were so incredible. That first episode with the backstory of Luthen and Claire was so moving. Um, and it was so incredible to see how she taught him how to bargain.

[01:32:34] And he taught her how to be brutal. And so heartbreaking when she had to go and end everything for him. Awesome scene in the hospital where she snuck in and did the work of three all by herself. And then just the build up to the end, everything leading to the story that we know so well. And I just love how they did that visually with the control room, um, on Yavin.

[01:33:01] And everything just pointing towards the story that we know. And now I just have to run away straight away and watch Rogue One. And of course we get to see Mon Mothma, um, merging into her Star Wars self. And I was wondering how they were going to make the transition with her hair, but it's very clear that she does not have the same access to, um, hairspray and jowl as she did on Coruscant.

[01:33:26] So she's got the kind of floppy 70s bowl cut that we've seen in Star Wars before. Very, very cool. Loved all of it. The montage at the end with everything showing the impact that all of these events have had on every single character was incredible. And getting to see Deidre in the prison, just like we saw in season one, was pretty satisfying, to be honest. Thanks so much for your coverage.

[01:33:56] I have really enjoyed listening to you both all the way through. And I really hope that you cover Rogue One again. It'll be really nice to hear your thoughts on that after having seen all of Andor. Anyway, take care and may the force be with you. Ah, thank you. And when the may the force be with you. Um, we actually did do Rogue One. It might be interesting to revisit it. Uh,

[01:34:25] but we did, that was our first podcast together, James, wasn't it? Yeah. And we covered Rogue One as a bit of a warm up to the, the, uh, to the Andor series. And I had a listen to it the other day. And, uh, my opening was a little less enthusiastic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. listening. So now we're just obnoxious. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, exactly. But, uh, that is a good idea.

[01:34:55] And thank you so much for your voicemail. And when, and thank you everyone for all your feedback, it really is such a great part of the, of the show. And, uh, we have a little extra message from Andor. And she says, uh, so good. I sent a voicemail, but wanted to add what an amazing group of women there were in this series. I loved Mon, Vel, and especially Claire and yay for the final. scene with Bix.

[01:35:20] At least now she has a baby and she won't have any time or energy to dwell on his torturous past. Lovely to see her looking happy with a choice to give up Cassian so he could save the galaxy. Yes, that was very generous, generous of her, I thought. Um, but there, yeah, no, they were, um, really good, uh, female characters in this, uh, which, which was, which was just part of the story, which again, I really loved. And, and, and funnily enough, most of the,

[01:35:50] the ladies survived. Um, I think we only lost Sinta, but, uh, the, the boys didn't fare so well. Yeah. Well, Deirdre ended up in prison. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah. Probably wish. Thank you so much for the, uh, the, uh, uh, voice spells as well. I'm on here. You've been great. James. Lisa Edmondson Walker. What an incredible series. They always kept us on the edge of our seats, even the characters that we knew would survive to Rogue One or another movie.

[01:36:19] While we wanted to go into Rogue One from there, it was nearly midnight on the work day. So we'd have to wait a bit. Massive kudos to everyone involved in Andor. They brought us such a rich world full of characters. We grew to love or hate or at least watch. Yeah, it's true. I mean, we, we, we hated, uh, Cyril, but he was one of my favorite characters for this. Yeah, we, yeah, he was. I mean,

[01:36:45] I can't think of anyone that you hated because they were a rubbish character. Yeah. Everyone was, was good. Apart from the, the weird, the weird LA boys. That's true. Anybody can't. We won't go on. Yeah. All right. Karen Schmilk Cone. They did a great job with this finale. Nice to see Claire's backstory and the sea of being a place where she has friends. People she can trust that she can actually maybe relax. Cassian and K2 snarky friendship is set up. Well,

[01:37:15] really love the touches of humanity from the rebellion, the community they've built, the cute houses, but still a military overlay. Meanwhile, Partagaz is left to do Seppuku and Dedra is on program, both in sterile environments, with no support. That's true. Nice, nice pickup there. Got to get up early to go to Suns College graduation. Hopefully can watch Rogue One Friday or Saturday night. Yeah, that highly recommended.

[01:37:43] And actually listen to our podcast. It's quite funny. No, please don't. But it's true. The Empire did all, were left on their own with no friends and the, all the rebellion, even though they suffered greatly. Krennic obviously survived because he goes on to go for damage. Krennic survived, yes. Yeah. Yeah. But the main characters that we followed.

[01:38:09] I have to say that there was no explanation of his like dark troopers that we get in Rogue One. But anyway, whatever. Anyway, I'm sorry. Anyway, that's for another podcast. Matt King. I called it on here last week that we would see Bix with Baby Hunter. There you go. Did he? Did he? I can't remember that. Well done, Matt, if you did. So, I mean, I haven't called anything right on this show, anything I say. If I had mentioned that, there'd been horrific scenes. Yeah. Yeah. If, if James had said that,

[01:38:38] there would have been a TIE fighter come screaming out of the sky. Bitty mushroom cloud. She's gone. That'd been it. Episode, episode 10 was as good as any across the two series. Yeah. Again, Luther and Claire's history as he finally left the show. Poor Lonnie though. Yeah. He risked everything to pass on the news of the, new super weapon, but ends up dead on a bench courtesy of Lutheran and without his family safety being guaranteed. Yeah. That's true.

[01:39:06] Great to see K2SO kicking ass to save Melshi and or Claire and find Deidre locked up and accused of being a rebel spy was hilarious. Yeah. It was pretty, pretty perfect really ending for her. They did really well with the ending. It must have been difficult to line up with Rogue One, but they did a good job. I watched the first 25 minutes of Rogue One after and felt it fitted well.

[01:39:28] With Andor ruthlessly killing Tivik after he basically gave Andor identical information about a killer weapon to be provided by Claire. Yeah. And who he had just set off to Kaferin to meet in the final scenes of Andor. So, Deidre, Bix, Fel, Claire, Will all survive to fight another day. We even see Perrin driving with another woman in Coruscant. Yeah. As we discussed, that's the wife of the gangster. Yeah.

[01:39:56] Nice touch to the future with the music towards the end of the credits too. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. I heard there was some Star Wars, John Williams music in the end credits. In the final bits. But will we see a Perrin spin-off series, James? Oh God, let's listen. I don't know. I mean, I don't mind that if it brings the huts into it. That's all I'm saying. But, sorry, just, I mean, I know we're trying to wrap this up, but just like Matt brings up a very good point here. And I wanted to say this, like,

[01:40:25] we now like, remember when you first watched Andor? I mean, sorry, when we first watched Rogue One and that scene with Tivik and Cassian just like bang, just shoots him. And we're like, what the hell? It was quite shocking, wasn't it? Yeah, it was quite shocking. Now we know that that's his MO, that's his technique. It's like, well, you clearly have to die because you have shared information and this has to stop here. So, yeah, so that's again, another really good reason to roll straight into Rogue One. So. Ho, ho, Puthia.

[01:40:55] I'm wrecked to see Bix with their baby, knowing he, she will never know. And I think it was a he actually, if, if, if the blue blankets make a difference, we'll never know who his papa was, is heart wrenching. The Luthen backstory was amazing. Makes me glad I live in a relatively peaceful times. The series added so much to the Star Wars saga, Chef's Kiss. Yes, it's true. And,

[01:41:24] thank you for being patient. I know you've been waiting for the podcast. Um, but, well, it also, I mean, it's a lot to ask. Yeah, but it's also, it gives everyone a chance to watch it once or twice. sent a message to us today, demanding where the podcast was. I've had a couple myself as well. So, I was like, just, it's coming, just shut up. Yeah. Um, I have to, um, just, sorry, I know we're trying to wrap this up, but like, just talking, talking about the baby, um,

[01:41:54] and never knowing who his papa was. Cause I obviously rolled straight into New Hope. And so I have the classic conversation where, where, where Obi-Wan is talking about Luke's father. Yeah. It just makes me laugh these days. Oh, he never knew your father. Yeah. It's like, it's crispy bacon. That wasn't me. That's right. It's just, yeah, exactly. Um, yeah, so be careful what you wish for knowing who your father was, everybody. Anyway, uh,

[01:42:21] Ben Stone still haven't had time to rewatch this arc to comment sufficiently. I've been giving you like a week, Ben. Come on, man. Oh no, he dropped an early comment. Yeah. Well, I should have held back. Should have held back. Anyway, I think for me, I can judge a story on how much I care about characters in and, or I've come to care about all these characters a lot, not just Cassian, Mon, sore, but Luthan, Bix, Cyril, the serial killer, clever, clever use of the word serial there as in breakfast cereal, uh,

[01:42:51] who actually turn out to be just a confused, fucked up person. Aren't we all really? Aren't we all Ben? Dedra and Claire, what a backstory and a hope for the future, more depth on Val, Particas, who I liked, to call Party Gas because he's a hoot at Imperial parties. It's tough reading this one, but I'll tell you, um, I could go on. My point is whether they're horrendous heroes just fucked up and everything in between. I want to know more about these individual stories.

[01:43:20] And that indicates me to this being a well-crafted show. So thank you, Tony Gilroy hats off to LF to give him the leeway to do his thing. Yes, very true, Ben. I mean, as we talked about the casting, the writing, the actors in this, everyone, you want, you want, you want a, you want a spin-off series of everybody. It's, um, so good. Yeah, exactly. All right. Chris Lebeau. Thanks, James, for shooting in Wales.

[01:43:49] I thought I was the only one slacking on watching Handle. Oh, shut up, Chris. Slacking off. He's working very hard and the time differences made it a little bit difficult. Oh, yeah. It's tricky. Um, but I'd also, folks, I hope I haven't been sounding great. I've had a terrible cold. So forgive me if I'm not sounding my best. And I'm going to tell everyone, Jonathan, what you tell me, Jonathan threw up half an hour before doing this. So like, um, yeah, he's like, we're lucky to have him.

[01:44:19] I did some force, I did some force healing and he's okay now. he'll heal me. I force healed him and he's okay. Well, I, I said, ah, I'm feeling a bit sick and, uh, and James just goes, oh yeah, sure. And I'm like, it's not a man flu. This is proper flu. And yet, and yes, I was hunched over the, the, uh, the toilet throwing up about half an hour before we started. It's too much, too much information.

[01:44:48] Anyway. So, wow. What a great last three episodes. These three had that old gritty serious feel of season one. So much to say, but I wanted to focus on all the great performances of the actresses from Claire to Cyril's mum. Oh, Cyril's mum. Great characters. Or the ending was like being stabbed in the heart from with two lightsabers and all the child. He will never know. And the look of hope on Bix face. Yes. Great listening to your podcast. Until next time,

[01:45:17] may the force be with you. May the force be with you as well, Chris. Thanks, Chris. Very good. Yes. Faye Hodge. Final part of Gaze scene. Utter class. And I think that sums up Andor. Utter class. I agree with you, Faye. Lady of very few words, but very succinct. And I've one more from Jeff Holthorff. I stayed up until 1230 AM. I was shook and it was emotional.

[01:45:46] I'll have to give it another viewing before adding anything worthwhile, but I loved the entire series, especially this final season. Well, thanks, Jeff. He's been with us the whole way. And thank you to everyone. It's been really great to have you all part of the show. And I hope you've enjoyed with us. The feedback really is a great part of the podcast, the podcasts. And so thanks for everyone for listening and coming along with us.

[01:46:14] And I'm afraid that's our show. Thanks for having us. James and I will be back one day soon, and at least for the holiday special. If you missed our previous ones, they're on the feed. We do a quiz. It's really funny. Oh, yes. Yeah. So check out some of our... I want to do a Revnog, like, Christmas special. Yeah, exactly. So check out some of our back catalogue if you're feeling some Star Wars fun. We get all the other hosts on there as well,

[01:46:43] which is really funny. Yeah. And yeah, hopefully we'll see you at some point, but we'll see. But don't forget to rate and review the show and tell all your friends. And if enough of you watch it, then Jason might make us do something else. Yes, exactly. And thank you all for joining us on the Andor journey. My love for Star Wars has been renewed and rewarded, and it's great to think of all of you out there in podcast land, whether you're going for a run, cleaning the house,

[01:47:13] or relaxing by the pool. Wherever you are, I'm glad you joined us. Yeah. Thank you everyone for joining us. And we will see you sometime in a galaxy far, far away. Sometime. Until then, I'm James. And I'm Jonathan. May the force be with you always. And one last thing, Jonathan, I need to say. Yeah, go on. Everybody,

[01:47:42] that is the first episode we've got through without an Obi-Wan impression. Yes, we did it. Yes. And you can't add it now, Jonathan. You can't add it now. I would not dream of it at all, dear listeners. I'm hanging up my headphones. See you everybody. See you. Yeah.

[01:49:02] Times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously, and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly. Constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions, that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause.

[01:49:29] Remember that the frontier of the rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it's so unnatural. Tyrannine requires constant effort. It breaks. It leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. I know this.

[01:49:59] The day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance, will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority, and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.