Star Wars Andor S1E5: "The Axe Forgets" (continued)

The episode continues with a Dierdre scene that either reveals her to possess genius intuition, or to be an absolute peak example of the broken clock effect.

She's been fighting an uphill battle against the cutthroat, competitive internal culture of her agency, snooping on other people's offices and desperately doing and calling in favors, to gather information on theft and smuggling of military equipment throughout a large region of the galaxy. What she's finding is that incidents are just too evenly dispersed. Too distanced away from one another, in both space and time. As one of her underlings puts it, "it's too random to be random." Some of the equipment she mentions includes things like proton missiles, that we know the Alliance to Restore the Republic will make extensive use of by the OT era. With that context in mind, it seems like she actually did manage to see the big picture before anyone else noticed it.

On the other hand though...the last straw incident that got her to really see this was that stolen comm relay jumping sectors to show up on Ferrix. Which we know for a fact was not the work of an organized rebel group. An organized rebel group only got involved with the lone wolf perp long after the fact and didn't really leave any footprint at all in terms of the evidence Dierdre is looking at.

Hence, my question. Is she correctly seeing a pattern among these many other incidents, and (ironically) misidentifying Cassa's activities as part of it in a rare misdiagnosis? Or is she a paranoid lunatic who would see patterns regardless of whether or not they exist, and the fact that this one is (at least mostly) real is orthogonal to her finding it?

I truly don't know.

Of course, that question leads me to another, this one regarding the nature of the rebellion at this point in time. Is there actually a pattern to find, yet? This clearly isn't the ARR we saw in the movies, that builds secret military bases and fields small battlefleets. It's not nearly there yet. At this point in time, maybe the nascent "alliance" actually IS mostly just stochastic terrorism and theft, with people like Luthen only opening dialogue with the perps after the fact. Hell, the entire heist in progress on Aldhani might have started out with a purely local dissident group that Luthen and Mon Mothma recently co-opted. That would actually explain why Luthen doesn't want anyone except Val and "Clem" to know about him, if everyone else still thinks that they're just a planetary rebellion.

So. Dierdre. Genius? Madwoman? Both? Neither? At this point it's really up to the viewer to decide which is closest to the mark.

Elsewhere on Coruscant, we see another breakfast shared by Cyril and Momil. I'm not sure how long a Coruscant day is relative to an Aldhani day, but Star Wars doesn't usually trouble itself with that stuff so I assume they're equivalent.

No luck with the job-hunting. But then, I'm not sure that he's even been job-hunting. Mostly just sitting around being depressed, going by the visual cues. Granted, it's been like, what? Less than two weeks? Since his life completely fell apart. Paralyzing depression is still understandable at this juncture.

That uncle of his apparently did end up getting back to his mother. And seems to have a better relationship with her at this point than Cyril thought. He apparently never thought that Cyril had the right disposition for police work, and is glad that he got out of it while he's still pretty young. Sounds like he might have an apprenticeship for him after all.

...huh. Nonspecific objections to his family being a cop, especially a corporate cop. Is someone who can get you apprenticeships in more than one different trades. Cyril's uncle is a union guy, isn't he? I wouldn't have thought the Galactic Empire allowed those, but I could maybe see them letting labor organizations persist within the core (at least for a while) as the corps stamp out any vestiges of such in the peripheries.

And we also know that Coruscant is, at least as this point in time, the nucleus of the nascent rebel alliance just as it is the nucleus of the Empire.

I don't know that this is going the way that I'm very unsubtly implying that I think it might go. But, well, I think it might. Of course, if it does, it remains to be seen if Cyril actually commits himself to the rebellion, or betrays it to get a portion of his old power and prestige back.

Back on Aldhani, the infiltrators have started their multi-day foot journey toward the base, continuing their drills and rehearsals as they go and dashing for cover whenever an aircraft is spotted. As the final night approaches, Gorn pulls some masterful reverse psychology on the base's junior staff.

He tells the grunts that they're way behind on maintaining the equipment down here, and he wants them pulling double shifts for the next couple of days until it's all sparkling clean and freshly repainted. After looking back and forth at one another to pluck up courage, the grunts tell Gorn that - with all due respect - being able to see this once-every-three-years atmospheric explosionfest is the one highlight of this assignment that they've all been looking forward to. Gorn's been here for seven years, he's seen it twice already. Some of these cannon fodder guys have been here for a year and a half, two years, and have been looking forward. Obviously they need to have some guys on duty down below, but the whole maintenance crew? Really? Pwetty pleashe?

Gorn sighs. Rolls his eyes. And finally relents, giving them an extra day to get the work done so that they can make time to watch the pseudo-meteor shower. Exciting them enough that the word will now spread throughout the lower decks and ensure that the turnout for the lightshow will be even bigger than it would have been if he hadn't made an issue of it.

The camera pans away to reveal that the money they're planning to steal is being stored literally right next to the machinery. There will now be next to no one in the room with it on the night of the theft.

This way, Gorn is the guy whose orders would have prevented (or at least complicated) the theft if only he'd have been listened to, and whose only error was in letting himself be worn down by his lazy underlings and relenting despite his better judgement.

Nobody in this garrison is going to look good after the heist. But, Gorn has arranged things so that of all the people who end up looking bad, he's likely to come out with the most dignity still intact. Meaning that he'll be more likely to remain an officer in good standing (even if he gets a demotion or something), and thus still be in position to cause more damage in the future.

He's clever, especially when it comes to manipulating people. I could see Gorn being the absolute worst person to have to work for even if he wasn't secretly a traitor lol. As is, he's also the best possible recruit for a dissident group, for the same reasons.

It's also meaningful that he's weaponizing the allure of that atmospheric event. It was established earlier that, back before they were pushed off this land, the local tribes had a major cultural event where they'd gather near this mountain to watch the lights. Gorn's native sympathies make this poetic justice, from his perspective.

We learn more about those sympathies of his in a conversation between Val and Cassa, when the latter pushes her enough. Apparently, Gorn had a thing with a local woman before her people were displaced. No more detail than that, for now. Maybe we'll learn more later. Maybe we won't. Much as I'm curious about Gorn, I almost kinda hope he don't. Builds up the idea that everyone has their own story, the tragedies inflicted by the galactic government are uncountable, and there just isn't enough time in existence to go into all of it.

Also, I kinda don't want to know who Gorn was planning to implant his lady friend's eggs in. I accept that it's part of the lore now, but I still dislike that retcon and would prefer not being reminded of it.

On a less friendly-team-building-exercise note, Skeen finally snaps and cuts the amulet off of Cassa's neck (making everyone think he's about to slit Clem's throat in the process, and running the risk of actually slitting his throat by accident if he happens to struggle). Normally this would be social and/or literal suicide for Skeen, but he turns things around by holding up the crystal and asking why "Clem" would be carrying a multiple-hundreds-of-thousands-of-credits value gem into an operation like this one. And where he might have gotten it from. And what he's providing in exchange.

For want of a better story, Cassa resorts to the truth. He's a mercenary. The kyber amulet is collateral for his expected cash payment.

And this revelation ruins everything for everyone.

The possibility of getting paid for this - let alone of getting paid a LOT for it - is something the others didn't think existed. But now that they know someone is, it's only natural for them all to be asking why they themselves aren't.

Namek in particular is absolutely flabbergasted. He thought he liked Clem, and now he's not sure if he even knows the first thing about him. All that conversation (in which Namek did all the talking, but that's beside the point) about revolutionary theory, and this entire time, Clem was in it for money like some kind of...some kind of...he can't even bring himself to say it.

"S..." Clem starts to prompt him.

"S...syndicalist." Namek can just barely choke out the word, visibly disgusted by its taste.

Clem just makes eye contact with him, and sadly shakes his head. Namek's eyes go saucer-wide in barely comprehending horror.

"I'm a socdem," Clem whispers.

Namek has a heart attack and dies.

That exchange isn't actually onscreen, to be clear, but it happens spiritually.

The others ask Val if she knew. She confirms that she did, in fact, know. Left unspoken is that this is exactly the reason why she didn't want anyone else to know. Which means that the others now feel betrayed by her personally, as well as mistrustful of "Clem."

The tragedy here is that...nobody is actually in the wrong? Sure, Skeen did a deranged act in cutting the amulet off of Cassa's neck, but his motivations for doing it were completely understandable. He saw something absurdly valuable on the man with mysterious motives, when all the rest of them are dirt poor. He was being totally rational in fearing the worst. Val was doing the best she could with what she was given. Luthen was desperate to make this mission happen and provide funding for a proper rebellion, and hiring a mercenary on the down-low was such a small moral compromise for the greater good from his perspective. Cassa was all but shanghaid into this operation, and you can't blame him for wanting cash in lieu of the mere promise that he's fighting for a good cause (seriously, from Cassa's perspective it's still entirely possible that Luthen is just a self-interested criminal who's recruited some idealistic dupes).

Everyone is right. But it doesn't matter. Because the world sucks and they need to eat shit to have even the smallest chance of making things better. That's what resistance is.

Granted, I'll also be disappointed in Cassian if he doesn't distribute his payment among the surviving heist crew afterward. Unless Luthen was just yanking his chain the whole time and that crystal is a fake, but I kinda doubt that lol.

For now, all Cassa can say is that he'd rather they know he's here as a mercenary than have them all suspect he's here as a plant. If that makes them too mistrustful of him to continue the mission, or disillusions them too much with the cause for not paying them too, he'll understand. They can leave. Or he can leave. Honesty is all he has left to give them, and he hopes it'll be enough.

The following evening, as they camp within a stone's throw of the base, Skeen apologizes to Clem (on Val's advice).

And also tells him a little more of his own backstory. Apparently, Skeen's much more upstanding and law-abiding brother who'd helped him out a ton throughout his life ended up killing himself when an imperial prefect confiscated his land for a private developer. So, Skeen having basically a suicide bomber mentality at this point is only logical. So, telling him that story is a nice show of trust, and the closest thing to an apology he'll give him, which Cassa supposes he'll accept.

...

That said, "Clem" also low-key interrogates him a little bit about the type of farm his brother used to own. In a way that makes me wonder if something in the story is triggering Cassa's bullshit detector.

Not sure why Skeen would lie about this, though. If he was a plant himself, he wouldn't be rocking the boat this early with the kyber crystal drama I don't think. Hmm.

Yeah, maybe it's nothing.

...

They're at the doorstep of the base now. Gorn gives the signal. The team moves in.

Final cluster of scenes on Coruscant end out the episode. One of them shows the rift between Mon Mothma and her husband growing wider by the day (memorable exchange is when he asks him why she assumed her current project wouldn't interest him, and she deadpan retorts "because it's charitable," and he's silent). Another has Cyril, even as he starts coming to life again and make motions toward starting a humble blue-collar career for himself, staring at that old mugshot of Cassa's that he launched his fatal mission over.

Coincidentally, this holo-mugshot of a younger Cassian looks more like his current, clean-shaven self than it does like the version of him Cyril hunted on Ferrix).​

What is he thinking, as he stares at that grim (albeit dreamy~) visage? Thinking about how he could have caught him if he'd just played things a bit differently? Wondering idly who the man who led to his downfall was and why he killed the men that he killed? Projecting all his frustration and resentment onto him and making him an object of totemic hatred? Thinking that maybe, now that he too is seeing the machine from the outside again, he might have been wrong to see this man as a resource for himself to exploit, his freedom as a cost for Cyril's career advancement?

Perhaps he's just trying to decide which of the above he should be feeling.

Finally, Luthen, tucked away in the back room of his ghoulish antique dealership. Staying up long into the night, checking his bootleg hyperspace radio over and over again for updates that he rationally knows won't be coming until tomorrow. His underling lady (who might not actually be an underling at all, going by how they talk to each other away from any other eyes) comes in and tells him to get some sleep.

They both know there's nothing more he can do from here. Either the team will succeed, or they won't. By tomorrow afternoon, he and her will either be using their new funds to build a shadowy empire of rebellion, or they'll be clutching their GTFO bags and fleeing Coruscant as penniless fugitives under humble aliases. Nothing either of them can do, from now until then, will have any effect on the likelihood of either outcome, and Luthen needs to accept that.

Luthen fears that he was too careless with the new recruit, Cassian Andor. Letting him learn too much about himself. It was bad enough that Val knew his face, let alone this new thief of uncertain loyalties. But, his colleague reminds him, it really was the best he could do.

No good options for anyone. Sometimes you just have to eat shit and pray for the small chance it will result in things getting better.


Around a third of the way into the episode, during their morning conversation, Skeen tells Cassa that "the axe forgets, but the tree remembers." An idiom that fits the episode well, from many angles.

The arrogance of the corporations and military government alike as they goose-step across the faces of the galaxy's weak and helpless, remembering only the power and plunder and forgetting the bruised visages and hateful glares left in their wake. That's been called attention to in as many words from back in episode 3 onward. Now there are also the personal anecdotes of Gorn, Skeen, and others. Not to mention the intraparty wounds left by Luthen's subterfuge; he sees only the utility he gained by recruiting Cassian, and fears only the consequences of betrayal or failure. He doesn't see the envy and resentment of the rest of the crew glaring through the shadows behind him.

And then, of course, there's Cyril. He and Cassian ruined each other's lives, and neither of them knows the first thing about each other. Not why they did what they did. Not what they gained (or hoped to gain) from doing so. The closest they've come to personal interaction was Cyril seeing the back of Cassa's head as he and Luthen sped away on their hoverbike. The prizes forgotten by the victors. The damage remembered, and brewing revenge among the losers. It cuts in all directions, no matter which side you're on.

In terms of swift events with lingering impacts...if I'm interpreting this arc correctly, this heist on Aldhani might be one of the most important events in Star Wars' backstory.

The rebel alliance, as it seems to currently exist, is just a loose network of saboteurs, spies, and smugglers, centered on a couple of highly vulnerable lynchpin figures like Luthen and Mothma. What could possibly have happened to turn it into a large, well-equipped paramilitary force by the time of A New Hope just a few years later? "A freighter full of stolen government money" is a perfect answer to that question. And it also would explain why Luthen is treating this as a ride-or-die operation; because that's exactly what it is. This emptied payroll vault might not have built the bases on Yavin IV or Hoth, or purchased the fleets of starfighters and light cruisers. But it absolutely DID build the diplomatic channels and woo the interested parties who in turn provided all that hardware. The robbing of this nowhere base is a critical domino along the chain that leads to two destroyed death stars. Mon Mothma's name will be remembered going forward. Will Luthen's? I really don't know. This man was basically the grandfather of the revolution, but does anyone know it afterward?

...

The double nature of Luthen also, in an odd way, makes me think of one of Star Wars' original inspirations. Opposite ends of the galaxy. One hidden on the planet-city capital of the dying empire. The other, out on the unwatched fringes.

There are aspects of "Andor" that feel like they're pointing back at George Lucas' own Asimovian influences. Not sure if the creators intended this, but it jumps out at me regardless.

...

Again, if I'm interpreting this correctly, than that also makes Cassa an incredibly important figure in the Star Wars timeline. He was part of the heist crew that started the rebellion in these episodes. He was part of the heist crew that escalated it into a full-on revolutionary war in Rogue One. He died just days before Luke Skywaker had his Campbellian call to adventure. Before the rebellion was about magic space knights learning Daoism from frogs, it was about the blood, sweat, and tears of the decidedly nonmagical and nonchivalrous Cassian Andor.

The fact that I feel this makes Star Wars so much better than it was before might say more about me than it does about Star Wars. I don't know. But I do know that I'm not the only one who feels this way.