Andor season 1 review: Breaking down its hero by building up his home

It creeps you in, how well do you know Felix by the end Andorfirst season. At first it looks like Tatooine. A harrowing place the protagonist was meant to leave behind, it is swept away by the more exciting things we’ve come to expect from Star Wars. Andor It never leaves Felix completely. The details remain, such as the walls where workers hang their gloves at the end of their shifts, and the bell towers where stout men strike the anvils with ceremonial grace. There are social movements like Felix’s Daughters, a small but active smuggling network, and corporate cops who have developed clever ways of screwing the working class.

None of this is fully explained to the viewer. they are just visiting Andor It’s okay to overlook Ferrix at first. Although maybe not until the end. Ultimately, viewers may feel like they are part of something.

Andor‘s season 1 finale does something remarkable in its climax. It goes smaller, returning most of the various players to Felix, including ISB officer Dedra Milo, the rest of the rebels of the burgeoning movement, saboteur Luthen Rael, and wannabe Empire Cyril Khan. It was Maalva Ando’s funeral, and many people looking for Cassian Ando rightly anticipate that he wouldn’t be able to resist paying homage to his adoptive mother.

of AndorIn his last few visits to Felix, the Empire has effectively taken over the place. The Imperials slowly grow in numbers in the town’s crowded streets, keeping tabs on everything, making an already meager existence almost impossible. They take people and torture them until they can barely stand. They are a devastation of an already desolate horizon. That was before they sent in more troops to hunt down Cassian.

Much of the final episode centers around Marva’s funeral. It is elaborate, beautiful, and solemn, steeped in ritual that honors Felix’s working-class roots and imbues it with grace. are juxtaposed against the presence of a growing empire like two columns of fuel spilling onto a street. Later, when a posthumous message from Maalba speaks of resistance, sparks set the town ablaze about the boot that had been placed around Felix’s neck for too long.

Andorthat’s why The Atlantic’s Adam Sarwer wrote:I’ve been wondering why People in the Star Wars universe choose which side to take.

“The show is populated not just by magical monks, cosmic cowboy smugglers, and ruthless bounty hunters, but ordinary people who become revolutionaries and empire pals,” Thurwar wrote. , Shaw’s factions, whether part of the Rebels or Empire, are not monolithic and are plagued with their own divisions and rivalries. What kind of person Join the Rebellion or go to the Empire, and why.

Ferrix is ​​where this philosophy takes root.of AndorIn the first season of , nearly every character has to decide where they stand, and that inflection point is different for each character. Some, like young radical manifesto writer Nemik, seem to be morally against empire from the start, and are against it simply because it’s a moral thing to do. Others, like Mon Mothma, think they can safely resist from within the system, but still hold onto their qualms…to do her part. She surprises herself and amuses herself with the offer, even if it means marrying her daughter to a criminal heir.

Image: Lucasfilm

But few are as convincing as Cassian Andor. From the start, showrunner Tony Gilroy and the writers he worked with made it clear Cassian was no fool. Regularly arguing against rebels like Bel Salsa makes it pointless to fight the system and just get his own. Going to prison didn’t change his outlook. but only contributed to his determination to run away and disappear.

Cassian is on the run from who we know he is rogue oneHe has people, and those people are on Ferrix—even though, like Maarva, he can’t do anything. Just saying goodbye.

So Cassian Andor returns to Felix. It’s where he got his name from, where he stopped being Kassa of Kenari and became someone else, something more angry. And when B2EMO broadcast a posthumous message from her Maarva, urging her mourners to take action and confront the empire that has been slowly suffocating them for no good reason, he finally It is Ferrix who has seen the limits of his solitary form of anger. In the ensuing rebellion, all Felix participate: the man of the bell tower, the workers and the merchants, Felix’s daughter. They gain something powerful in the rebellion, just as Andor lost everything.

Andor Writing papers on the streets of this forgotten little town — rebellion must be personal, but it’s only the first step. It must also be a community united by simple ideas that transcend diverse socioeconomic boundaries and ideologies. sufficientWhen that connection occurs, a rebellion can become a revolution. It’s Felix’s street that rebels become rebels. This is where Cassian Andor was broken, and after finally reaching his own limit, is ready to rebuild into someone who can help shape this communal outrage.