#ferrix is to andor what jedha is to rogue one

[jeronandor]

Ferrixians and Jedhans

[e-the-village-cryptid]

What did you think of Rogue One?

Ah boy. Ok. First, a disclaimer that this is just my opinion, not me declaring some objective truth about the movie. Just because I felt one way about something doesn't mean I think everyone has to feel that way. If people really liked the movie, I am honestly happy for them! And if you really liked the movie to the point where someone disliking it will upset you, you may want to stop reading now. That said, here's my review.

Overall, I'd give the movie 2.5 stars on a scale of 1-5. Maybe 3 if we're being generous, because it was fun to watch in a casual way at some points, and some things were done well— Jyn's character and Galen's moral quandary were the high points for me. Everything else, though— storytelling, sense of place & visual feel, dialogue, characterization, most of the action sequences, overall plot— was disappointing to me. There was very little originality to be had in any of it, and although of course things don't have to be wildly original and never-been-done to be good, it felt like I'd already seen this movie a hundred times, except done better. Most of all, the majority of it felt flat and lifeless. It would have been extremely forgettable to me if not for Andor having already made me care about some of its characters.

Things I liked:

Jyn as a character. She has an interesting backstory, was well-acted, and has a depth and dimension that I feel the other characters were missing. I am very curious why, upon seeing that movie, the decision was made to dive into Cassian's backstory instead of Jyn's (although of course I'm glad we got Andor!). I think Jyn's time growing up being trained by Saw Gerrera would make quite an interesting story. (Watching her singlehandedly wreck like 12 people while Cassian watched in awe was definitely fun, haha.)

Galen's choice. I think this posed a truly interesting question. Was it true that the Death Star would have just been built without him? Would the destruction of Alderaan have happened without him? Did building in the flaw make up for the fact that he still in fact built it? Did his choice save lives or destroy them? Did he do it because he truly believed he could save lives that way, or because he was just trying to stay alive himself? Was it bravery or cowardice, or both in some strange combination?

K2. He was fun to watch, good comic relief, and I empathized with him a lot.

The death scene on the Scarif beach. Beautifully shot, acted, and directed. No notes.

The music. Lovely, orchestral, classic Star Wars scoring.

Things I didn't like:

My main issue with the movie is how flat everything felt. The characters, the setting— everything felt lifeless. It was hard to get emotionally invested because nothing felt like there was a true spark of life behind it. I'll go by points here.

The settings. The visual effects fell flat to me, but even beyond that, there was no humanity behind places like Jedha. It felt like the extras were told to mill back-and-forth aimlessly in front of the camera, rather than being given something to do that would give us a background glimpse into the culture of a place, as on Ferrix in Andor. The lack of depth to the setting made the locations feel like sets, not planets, and made it hard to feel a real sense of place and emotional connection.

Pretty much every character except Jyn was completely one-dimensional. None of them felt like real people at all, just devices to move the plot along. They each had their character archetype and were not allowed to deviate from it at all, and their choices came not from their characterization or their motivations, but from whatever the story needed in that moment. Their decisions felt contrived, making the characters not believable as people.

Many parts of it felt afraid of genuine emotion. It would pull back on the sincerity right as people died, refusing to actually let the emotional impact hit. Maybe this is a function of being directed at a younger audience, I don't know, but to me it felt like a refusal to take the world and people seriously in a way that affected my emotional investment.

The plot felt like a straight highway where you can see right through to the end and there's nothing by the wayside but endless fields of corn. I'm not even asking for twists, it's just... there was just not much there at all. No real arcs aside from the main one of getting the death star plans, no interesting or unexpected wrenches in the main plan, just... bland.

The action sequences were almost comically cliched. Nothing wrong with some well-used tropes, but after the second time Jyn wound up hanging off some ledge by one hand and had to dramatically haul herself back up, I could no longer keep from rolling my eyes.

Much of the dialogue was stiff and not believable. It didn't feel like people talking, it felt like the writers trying to deliver information.

The blocking was often very contrived and awkward to the point of feeling goofy.

Wow, they really managed to pull the "magical Asian" trope AND the "blind but can ~sense~ everything around them so don't worry they're not actually disabled" trope in one character. Really being efficient here.

(Also, not a critique but I am so genuinely confused on why they were all so dismissive of Chirrut. They treated him like just a wannabe, but... The man can literally dodge bullets and read minds, why the fuck is that not impressive or even like... useful to any of you?? Truly baffling, I do not understand it at all. "He's not actually a Jedi, so his ability to do crazy levels of Force magic that none of us can do doesn't really count" huh????)

(Also not a critique, just another thing I'm confused about now after watching— Why has Saw been so vilified, in canon and by fandom? "He's an extremist" everyone here is literally involved in a violent rebellion, he's doing the same thing "He's uncooperative with the other rebels" Rogue One also went rogue, because the other rebels were wishy washy and unwilling to commit "using Bor Gullet to read people's minds is so unethical" no more unethical than shooting your own source in the back of the head. What happened to enjoying grey morality? Anyway I stan Saw forever.)

[authoreeknight]

I keep thinking about what we actually know about Andor. I've spent way too much time speculating about Kenari and I've decided Gilroy purposely left it vague. Even the "industrial accident" story is suspect. That was the official Imperial storyline for Jedha in Rogue One and authoritarian regimes aren't usually imaginative in their lies so I'm betting it's "Atrocity Coverup Story #1". Interesting that the prohibition on travel to Kenari seems strong enough that Maarva didn't want any hint of it in Cassian's paperwork.

We don't even know exactly how old he was when Maarva, Clem, and B2 took him off in their hauler. He looked to me like he was either in or on the edge of his tween years.

The first hard data comes at age 13, when in the aftermath of Clem's hanging he goes after some Stormtroopers. He's subdued, charged with insurrection, destruction of Imperial property, and assault on an Imperial soldier, and sentenced to 3 years in Sipo Youth Center, getting out when he's 16.

He goes "straight into the mud" on Mimban as a cook, according to Luthen, and within six months figures out he's playing Popular Front Battle Simulator on Hard Mode, where your fellow factions can betray you and there are no respawns. Who was he fighting for? No data, though he does call the Separatists "Sep" and he doesn't use abbreviations for any of the other factions, which means to me either he was used to fighting with them or against them, you tend to use verbal shorthand for words you use a lot. Anyway, he decamps in the manner of Pistol in Henry V, stealing home to Ferrix to steal, using the old wreck of a hauler to stash stuff.

At some point he ends up with Clem's Bryar-model blaster. Maarva was smart enough to hide it from him in the aftermath of Clem's death.

Now we don't know when he started up with Bix, either romantically or in the scheme to sell stolen equipment. But we know the stolen equipment bit only goes back two years at most, because that's when Salman Paak got his transmitter. The romantic element has even less for us to go on beyond that fact that it existed. One possibility is before Clem's death and Sipo, but at 12 or 13 it seems more like he'd be sneaking over that wall into her place so he could use her good game controller. I think it's a lot more likely that it was when he was back from Mimban. Say he's 16-19, a toughened teen more or less and pushing all Bix's "bad boy with a heart of gold" buttons and probably adding a few she didn't know she had. Rebel newly without a cause. Whatever it was the evidence is it was pretty intense for both of them. She gets emotional in Ep 7 when she tells him to leave Ferrix ("for good" is implied but I don't remember it being spoken, though "forget about me" sounds pretty damn permanent). At Bix's very lowest point in the hotel after being tortured her brain went to him showing up to rescue her.

*Sniff*

For Cassian's part, when he crept over her wall in Announcement, he was more than a little intrigued at the idea that Timm had suspicions. Then upon his return to Ferrix he's back over that wall straight away and as soon as he learns she's in Imperial hands his only priority is getting Bix out of there, to the point where he'll mostly ignore Maarva's funeral as that distraction gives him his best shot. Brasso has to go spelunking in that tunnel under the hotel to give him Maarva's final message. Once again, we're short on facts, but I think it's safe to say that Bix is the most important romantic relationship in his life up to this point in S1. He sure didn't look up Peezos 'n Green Revnog on Niamos.

To me, Cassian's still enough of a mensch to risk it all to rescue Bix even if there wasn't so much as a romantic ember still glowing.

We also still don't know who told Luthen about him. Bix said it wasn't her and I believe her. That leaves Salman Paak as the only Ferrix person we know for sure met Luthen (according to information from his interrogation). Maybe he gave Luthen a rundown on potentials and Luthen settled on Bix as the most valuable for his current needs while he did his own research into Cassian. But now we're in the speculation weeds again.

I think that's enough for one Saturday night. I'm going to try to cut down my obsessing to an hour or so a week from now on.