#maarva is such a complicated character

[maidenvault]

I feel like it kind of comes out of nowhere how Andor, after Luthen’s death, suddenly wants to prop him up as the guy who supposedly did more and gave more than anyone else for the rebellion, and a lot of discussion of the show accepts this and kind of whitewashes his moral ambiguity that is what makes him a really fascinating character, the standout one of the series imo. Luthen was never the only person building and running a spy network or the only one funding and supplying the rebellion.

And what has he sacrificed that’s supposedly so much more than anyone else’s sacrifices? Compared to all his agents who were more regularly on the ground risking themselves. Or victims of genocides like the one on Ghorman he was happy to have some responsibility for if it made the galaxy wake up more. Or Vel who lost Cinta, Cassian who’s lost everyone like family to him, and Mon who lived with her every move being watched for so many years and left behind her family without even getting a goodbye. If you give up all human connection, you don’t have much to lose, really. (And yet he didn’t even actually do that considering what we learn about Kleya, and his methods would have ultimately been self-defeating if it weren’t for her, the only person he didn’t alienate over the years.)

But even Cassian, of course, clearly doesn’t think everything he did was justifiable. He defends Luthen despite having complicated feelings about him. The series has constantly made a point of juxtaposing his perspective and his methods with those of other characters and he’s not always proven right. So why does the fandom seemingly take Luthen’s rationale at face value?

His defense of the move he made with the Aldhani robbery is to unapologetically tell Mon that the point is to hurt people and escalate things. To him it’s more about that than the money. As Tony Gilroy’s said himself, he’s an accelerationist. And yeah, Cassian being used for slave labor as an indirect result does begin to radicalize him (but the messages Maarva leaves behind are also surely a big motivator in getting him all in). But because of the legislation passed after Aldhani there are probably millions of people still in those hellish prisons for a very long time with the public having no idea how they’re being treated. Luthen doesn’t know about the Death Star project and the gargantuan labor force needed for it. The Empire was surely going to find a way to use slave labor to build it regardless and he quite possibly just gave them an easy excuse to ramp up arrests and extend sentences.

Then he basically plays into the Empire’s hands by aiding the rebellion on Ghorman because he doesn’t know what the endgame is and that the Empire wants the Ghor to fight back. Isn’t it crazy how we’ve been shown from the beginning Dedra is good at her job because she can think like Luthen, and she’s the one who comes up with the idea to stoke resistance among the Ghor and make them look dangerous? But he never considers that using the enemy’s weapons against them can just end up handing the Empire more weapons because chaos and fear are easy to take advantage of. Using those has always been Sidious’s playbook. I mean it’s no wonder nobody at Yavin likes Luthen when he’s still on his accelerationist bullshit two years before the Battle of Yavin, when the rebellion is starting to gather forces there and is already getting stronger every day without the additional push of another genocide.

Cassian’s instincts are right when he doesn’t get involved with the Ghorman resistance, and I think it’s kind of meaningful that Cinta dies so senselessly following Vel on their mission there. Vel’s a very capable rebel but has sometimes served as a kind of foil showing how much more of a natural leader Cassian is, and she doesn’t make the same call when arguably none of them should be there that night.

Ultimately what we see is that the Empire never needed any help from Luthen to hurt people enough that they inevitably fight back. They’ll do that completely unprovoked and with no reason but needing a resource in the ground under people’s feet. Ghorman was going to be destroyed no matter what, which is Dedra’s terrible excuse for her participation and no consolation to Syril, but nonetheless surely true. The Ghor fighting back with help from Luthen only makes it easier for them to control the narrative. A narrative Mon has to risk her life to tear apart on the Senate floor in a move that’s perhaps more powerful in encouraging resistance than the deaths of millions of people who couldn’t choose to sacrifice themselves.

Luthen is human and he makes mistakes. He isn’t a Jedi, he has normal weaknesses and limitations, so he has to make compromises. But after he’s been doing this so long, he clearly has stopped weighing the cost every time and become a little too comfortable with those compromises, like he’s just got to be in for a penny in for a pound to keep justifying to himself what he’s already done.

And in the end, all his work pays off in such a huge way with his Death Star intel only because he got really lucky - or perhaps because he was meant to be there at the right time. It also pays off because he didn’t do the ruthless thing he usually would at the end of season one, never getting an opening to kill Cassian without talking to him first. He breaks his own rules sometimes, he cares about Kleya, and that also pays off. His humanity and fallibility is exactly what makes him a hero - he had to start so small and with absolutely every disadvantage and he still did what he did. He still got a kind of redemption in the end when he wasn’t even looking for it. He could always see the endgame in his designs and that there’d be hope in that he couldn’t share in himself, but ultimately he is part of a destiny that’s even more important than anything he could have expected his efforts would bring about. The hope was always there and maybe he wouldn’t have done some things the same way if he could see it.

[colleybri]

Bix verbally smacks Cassian. “You need to get as far away from here as you can”. Obviously, it’s unsafe for him to stay on Ferrix but it’s pretty clear she also wants him to get away from her. To stop climbing her wall uninvited. To stop coming back all the time with no thought for her.

Fantastic acting from Diego Luna as Cassian goes from the shock of the verbal slap to looking wounded. He’s realised exactly what she really means. Love the little “oh” that escapes his lips and the way he moves back as if in disbelief.

Then he recovers, his face hardens, and he verbally slaps Bix right back. “ I will. I am. You won’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Poor Bix. And there’s the physical wound on her face too. From “ running into a wall, like I do.” She actually had her head slammed into a wall by the PreMor corpo who arrested her… while she was running to warn Cassian. Adria Arjona sells this moment so beautifully. Looking tortured even before Dedra and Gorst get hold of her. 

There’s incredibly good writing throughout episode 7 - and so much subtext here. Cassian can be such a dick, trying to avoid all blame in this scene, but Bix is not blameless either. What she has not told Cassian is about her own part in everything that happened. That she told Timm about his true birthplace. She’s so tired of it all. Emotionally drained. Fatalistic. Fed up with Cassian’s evasions. “If this, if that. If you, if me, if Timm.” Even the rhythm of her words sounds like a tired heartbeat. She doesn’t seem to know what she really wants or who she really is. She’s obviously in mourning about Timm but she’s probably realised that it was a very shallow love that she had for him, if it was ever love at all. Timm betrayed her trust as she effectively betrayed Cassian’s.

Bix and Cassian’s friendship runs extremely deep (they have known each other for 17 years ) … as do all the wounds and bruises from their repeated attempts to be together. Bix will go out of her way to help Cassian, at considerable risk and cost to herself, despite knowing that there will likely be pain involved. Cassian’s first unofficial mission as a changed man will be to try to rescue her. But for now – they know exactly how to hurt each other. What a terrible way to say goodbye. He doesn’t even use his trademark “I’m coming back!” phrase this time, knowing it’s the last thing she wants to hear. All adding eventually to his “ fear of being somebody who leaves people behind” as Gilroy puts it. “We can’t just leave her there,” he tells Brasso in Ep 12.

“You won’t have to worry about me anymore” is immediately picked up in the next scene with Maarva: “ I’ll be worried about you all the time.”

“That’s just love. Nothing you can do about that.”

It’s an exquisitely painful scene. I love these incredibly complicated, messy, realistic characters and this fascinatingly difficult relationship.

[moonmothmama]

watching Andor slow-ish; on the second to last current episode (the one with Saw and Wilmon and that whole speech about rhydonium)

thoughts thus far (bearing in mind i have not seen episode six of season two);

Bix... girl...

still cycling through all five stages of grief over Brasso in no particular order

what about Bee??

like i had a feeling Brasso was going to die, way back in season one, at the BEGINNING of season one, and then in season two he's still around, and THEN... fuck my whole LIFE i hATE BEING RIGHT

also not super surprised about Dedra/Syril but i still made a disgusted face when treated to their domestic life. blah blah fascists are regular people i fucking know. ugh. they're so uncomfortable. every scene of their domestic shit is so deeply uncomfortable. idk man i guess i'm in the minority on this one?? i peeked into the andor tags here and i saw a lot of shipping type stuff?? but the both of them unsettle me so fucking deeply on their own and then multiply that by two. eugh. i cannot separate out that they are fascists from everything else. they're terrible people with terrible ideals doing terrible things and that fact does not change when they're at home being Regular People. they're awful. i am disgusted with them at every moment. are they complex? yeah sure. but they're still fucking terrible.

i hope that Leida Mothma reconciles with her mother one day. her father is an asshole and Mon is trying so damn hard to accomplish something meaningful while watching everything slide downhill all around her. she's a dumbass spoilt teenager now and i hope that when she's a little more mature and realizing that she's been sold some bullshit that she and her mother can reconnect somehow. like don't get me wrong i remember what it's like to be a teenager and i'm not saying her feelings are unjustified. i'm giving her a pass for being a mean little shit. obviously some parenting duties have fallen by the wayside with her mother's commitment to politics. but jeez at least her mother is trying while her father is giving a toast at her teenage wedding being like "gamble and have affairs, chase pleasure because marriage sux" in not so many words, good advice dad cool cool, perpetuate the suffering. idk i just feel like whatever Mon is doing/has done wrong, Perrin is probably not doing much right other than coasting on the fact that he's not mom, because his daughter is mad at mom, and he's a petty dick who is definitely enjoying having that up on his wife. that's my read on it idk.

i miss Brasso

and Maarva

i am afraid for Bix. what the fuck is gonna happen to her. what is she heading for.

Forest Whitaker is, once again, so good as Saw. Saw is such a complicated, compelling character, and that man kills every goddamn scene.

Saw is fucking unhinged and he 1000% knows it and does not care at all and this isn't even news

Luthen is losing his shit. everyone is losing their shit. no one is okay. shit just keeps getting worse, and everyone is just barely holding it together. it feels like real life lmfao [sob]

there was this punk song from my Youth by a Local Punk Band called the Arrogant Sons of Bitches and the lyrics were [screaming] "EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS FALLING APART," and that just really sums it up tbh

[armitagehuxsleepschedule]

WARNING: AHSOKA SPOILERS

My thoughts on Sabine being Force-sensitive are...complicated.

So it seems like the implication is indeed that anybody could train themselves to use the Force, regardless of innate ability, through sheer discipline and willpower. I don't like that, but I might have been willing to begrudgingly accept it if they committed to it.

Sabine is badass, I loved her in Rebels and I love her in Ahsoka, but is she really so determined as to be able to use the Force without being born Force-sensitive? They haven't really shown her being that dedicated. They've shown her trying a couple times, for a few seconds. If you're going to tell me that Sabine, by sheer force of will alone, is able to do this, then show me. Show Sabine staying awake for days on end training until she collapses from exhaustion, show her being really, truly, maybe a little insanely, dedicated.

Because what we've got now is an implication that somehow other characters aren't Force-sensitive because they just don't have the self-discipline and willpower, and, well...is Chewbacca undisciplined? Is Han? Jyn? Cassian? Maarva? Mon? And of course, you knew I was gonna bring him up, Hux? If all it takes to make yourself Force-sensitive is sheer dedication and willpower, then...well, now, no character has an "excuse" for not being Force-sensitive.

Yes, I know that it's always been canon that every living thing is connected with the Force, but being able to consciously wield it has always been something that select people are innately able to do and everyone else isn't. Making it simply a matter of discipline, making it so that even someone whose innate Force-sensitivity "falls short of every Jedi padawan ever" can train herself to wield the Force effectively, makes lack of Force-sensitivity a personal failing and opens a ton of plot holes.

Not to mention, there are many Force users who are...not exactly "disciplined." Kylo Ren is one of the most powerful Force users in the current canon, and he is the exact opposite of disciplined. A big part of Anakin's whole problem that led to his downfall was lack of self-control. Ventress isn't one of the more powerful Force users, but she definitely is not disciplined. So, if mastery of the force is now a matter of self-discipline rather than innate ability, that raises some serious character questions.

We already had an explanation for why some people can use the Force and others can't. I know not everyone was fond of the midichlorians as a plot device, but they were canon, and they did offer a real explanation that didn't turn Force-sensitivity into a personal victory. It allowed for bad people to be able to use the Force and good people to be unable to do so.

Being able to use the Force should have stayed an innate ability you're born with or born without.

[ireallyamabear]

whoops sorry, sent this as a message by mistake (not used to send asks) so again, for the ask game, 12 and 25 for Maarva! Again have a nice day, sorry for being a bit stupid lol

all is good my friend, you did everything right :D but oh man, Maarva is a complicated and controversial character ...

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? Here's actually a crazy thought i always had: When Bix says to Cassian in the finale "I saw Maarva", i thought she didn't mean the maarva hologram, but that maarva actually visited her through the tunnels. It doesn't really make sense with what we see of the guards and soldiers in the Hotel, and Maarva's very frail state, but the way Bix says it. Always makes me think ... that she had seen Maarva in person one last time. There's something there.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

this is a hard one. I did like Maarva when we met her, and I do still like her character - not necessarily what she does. Like so many other characters in Andor, she gets peeled over the course of the season, and I think you need to see all of it and then go back and evaluate the whole character from the start. I like that we have this flawed old woman as a character in star wars, that has a really strained relationship with her adopted child and thinks of herself as totally different to what she is. The line about how she hated how her mother was a whiner! How ironic. I think they absolutely nailed the portrayal of her and Cassian's relationship, and how they struggle with their affection which is always overshadowed by the sin at the start of their relationship, the kidnapping. I love that they show this relationship between two adults that try to move around the hole in their life (Clem) and dont know how to talk to each other, and I love that they show how easily you miss the point in life that is actually the last chance to say something to your parent and then they just die, and you're an adult and should have expected that, but you didnt. and then when you get the miraculous gift of one last message from them it's just another reminder how they failed you while they were alive ("I love him more than anything he could ever do wrong?" Really Maarva, really?). And you still miss them, mostly because now it will forever be too late and the dead parent will never apologize to you now. You thought you had more time.

[e-the-village-cryptid]

Yes he’s so expressive!! I love the little whirrrrrr he does with so many different tones. Also his theme song is freaking adorable.

My feelings about Maarva are augh so complicated. On the one hand, I love the character arc she’s going through in present day as she gradually realizes that she can no longer just step back and hope the Empire doesn’t mess too much with her daily life. On the other hand, she did like... drug and kidnap Cassian from his home based on some very dubious assumptions that she was saving him and this was literally never addressed???

Aughhh I second everything you said about the Aldhani crew!!! What a fitting but terrible death for Nemik, literally crushed by the weight of capital. I also constantly want to know more about Cinta.

I was so shocked when Cassian shot Skeen, my mouth just hung open. Did not see it coming at all. But in retrospect, it made complete sense. Skeen made it pretty clear that he was only looking out for himself, and the only reason he wasn’t screwing Cassian over with the rest of him was because he needed Cassian to pilot. Pretty sure that once Cassian had outlived his usefulness, Skeen would have killed him and taken all the money for himself. And of course, there wasn’t really any way to just walk away from that conversation. Cassian felt cornered, and the man kinda acts like a rabid animal when cornered lol. He is full of surprises I love watching him and finding out more about him. And of course Diego Luna’s acting is incredible

Yes!!!! Andor is about people and community and culture and close-ups of humanity it is just so utterly human it cares so so much about people. I love it. I love it so goddamn much. Ferrix. Ferrix my beloved. Ferrix my heart. The wall with all the gloves on it. The Time Grappler. The plethora of third spaces where people can just hang out in the streets or in squares or shops and just be in community with each other. The way that even in this huge winding city Bix greets people with a smile as she passes by because they have formed these communities and neighborly relationships. The way they band together, the clanging warning system that everyone joins in on together. Hhhhhhh Ferrix I love you

some thoughts on episode 1: i really like that it's quite different from other star wars stuff i've seen recently (the main movies, clone wars, the kenobi series). it's still obviously star wars, especially with the setting (the opening reminded me of both corellia in solo a star wars story and kamino in the prequels) but there's something different about the story and the characters, as far as i can tell already. i like the droid cassian was talking to and it's interesting that it needs enough power reserves to be able to lie. the inside of the ship cassian slept in kind of reminded me of the millenium falcon at first. and i'm excited to find out more about the characters. what was going through cassian's head when he killed those officers? he says he's looking for his sister, why does he ask about her name? what happened to him as a kid? how do the other characters on ferrix fit in there? what's the deal with those two security inspectors (the one investigating the case and the one telling him to stop)? going in all i knew about andor was that it's set before rogue one (which i haven't seen yet) and a new hope and now i have a million questions and 11 more episodes to watch

yes!! I've only seen the originals, and that was years ago, so I can't compare too much to other star wars media but it is cool to hear that perspective from a star wars fan!

I love B2EMO so much he's amazing, I also love that he needs more power to lie because— yeah! to tell the truth, you just need to remember the truth, but to lie, you have to remember both the truth and the lie. it would take more power reserves!

Idk if those are rhetorical questions or not but the reason he asks for the name when he's looking for his sister is because he heard there was a Kenari woman working at that bar/brothel, and he's trying to figure out if it was his sister or just some other random woman from Kenari. the other questions I'm excited for you to find out the answers to as you go!!

what do you know about the plot/events of rogue one, if anything?

excited to hear more thoughts as you watch more!!!

[shiredwarf]

"I won't have peace. I'll be worried about you all the time."

"That's just love. Nothing you can do about that. I've never loved anything the way I love you and I've never fretted on anything more, but this time you can't stay and I can't go."

[eachlittlebird]

I’m sure people are upset about Luthen responding “that’s the plan” to Mon Mothma’s statement about people suffering after the Aldhani heist, but of course what he meant by that was the same thing Meero meant when she said that the Empire was reacting just as the Rebels would want. As we see in our own world, people will tolerate oppression without doing a damn thing about it until the suffering reaches a certain point, at which time the risk of rising up is less dangerous then tolerating the status quo.

Luthen’s counting on the Imperial crackdown to rouse people into action, and the fact that the mission succeeded is the positive example people need: just look at Maarva’s reaction.

Yes, a Rebellion is going to cause suffering, it’s going to cost lives. But what’s the alternative? The Rebels may not know the Empire is developing a planet-killing weapon, but we do. As Jyn says in Rogue One, it’s not what chance you have going up against so evil an opponent. It’s what choice.

I love that Andor is showing the ugly side of the Rebellion. It isn’t nice, it isn’t perfect, it isn’t clean. Because nothing is. But it’s necessary.

[buckybarnesss]

while i deeply loved the show and appreciated a lot of what it did there were some things that disappointed me about andor:

pretty much every black character of note died. tamaryn, gorn, clem, nurchi, and birnok off the top of my head. like, that’s a choice and not a good one. i think jazzi and blevin are the ones with speaking roles that make it. 

bix’s storyline revolves around her being tortured and than rescued. it’s just that i thought she’d become more radicalized after what happened during the first arc and timm being murdered in front of her, i guess. i would’ve liked seeing her more active. 

i would’ve liked kenari to be fleshed out more. it’s just kind of there floating in the background unaddressed. 

maarva andor kidnapped a child and i did not find it satisfactorily addressed. she’s a complicated character and not morally pure which is fine it’s just hey that’s a thing that happened and should be at least talked about a little bit, maybe. 

[someinstant]

One of the things I love best about ANDOR is how deftly everyone involved is keeping the characters from sliding into broad types.

Like, yes, Karn is pathetic and a wannabe fascist, and we know that type. He's also obsessive and is starting to feel personally dangerous in a very real way.

And sure, Cassian is this low-level thief and scammer when we meet him, but he's also smart as hell, angry all the time, cynical as they come, and somehow also still has this naive sweetness to him, sometimes. And he's scared, and you can SEE it.

All the characters are so real, man. Bix is tired and trying to deal with grief and guilt and anger, Maarva is confused and righteous and protective and dismissive, Major Partagaz reminds me of no one so much as this prof who I HATED in my PhD program who delighted in pitting grad students against each other in seminar meetings, Mothma is terrified and trying and stretched to the breaking point and so lonely, Meero is sadistic and far to competent and also clearly unnerved by Karn--

God, they all just live and breathe and are allowed to be more than an archetype, and they change and grow and learn and get more and more complicated.

And the show trusts us to pay attention, and understand.

What a damn privilege to watch.

[ao3feed-rebelcaptain2]

Hold Me Like A Grudge

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Cv3uMK4

by k2cassian

They say you should never hold a grudge within your heart and mind. It will only destroy you.

Jyn has been through enough in the last few months that she just can't say no when Bodhi offers her a trip away from the reminders London gives her of a man in white, even if it means leaving her business in the capable hands of others.

Cassian is called back home to Ferrix after a health scare leaves Maarva unable to run her beloved bookstore - Rebel Books.

In London they do their best to avoid each other completely - but in a small village? There's not a lot of places to hide.

Words: 4344, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, Bodhi Rook, Bix Caleen, K-2SO (Star Wars), Maarva Andor, Brasso the Ferrixian (Star Wars), Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa

Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Injury Recovery, Complicated Relationships, Rating May Change

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Cv3uMK4

[naivara]

I love that some headcanons for Andor are:

Brasso gives great hugs, and is the best friend. ( And this growing ship with Bix? I love it)

Vel and Cinta are a badass couple, and love to take care of Cassian/Jyn daughter.

Maarva can die.

B2 its the best boy in the galaxy and deserves everything.

Syril looks and acts as a toxic ex (but the relationship was on his head, creepy guy).

Melshi will be a great and loyal friend til death.

But not sure about Luthen, Kleya, Dedra...?

*

For me, Clem and Cassian went to Kenari at some point, but no people around, so thats why when Cassian had the chance to pilot a ship, dindt return there.

Clem and Cassian relationship was less complicated, and Cassian loved him so much.

I still believe that B2 its K2 .

No matter what happens in tomorrow episode or by the end of the season, My beloved characters are alive, like RO crew too.

[starpeace]

hi harker sorry youre going uni mode. thoughts on maarva and/or luthen? i think its interesting how cassian keeps being in situations where he effectively has no choice but to put his life in the hands of more privileged characters

i think its so interesting...

i’m fascinated and horrified by luthen’s collection. (btw take note, the rest of star wars—that’s how easter eggs should be done! things for people to notice in the background! adding a little context for new characters! not Hey Do You Remember Liking This Guy.) i think it’s easy to react strongly to his ownership of beskar or a kalikori and forget that he’s doing this on purpose so he can stay undercover on imperial coruscant. to ultimately help take down the empire that is destroying those cultures. this is a mask he’s putting on. but it’s equally ghastly that this happens and that he can do it and that it’s a complete non issue for someone like mon mothma to buy from someone like that. i’m glad they’re confronting the idea of different levels of privilege within the rebellion bc it can’t be ignored between mon mothma’s pristine dining room and perfect hair and clean hands and cassian doing the ugly work on the ground

it’s hard to say more abt maarva bc i feel like we haven’t seen much of her yet. i think her relationship with cassian is so interesting, especially that he isn’t telling her he’s looking for his sister. i loved the bit where they’re listing people who know that cassian’s from kenari, and cassian mentions a couple names and she says, shocked, “that’s family” and he says “if we’re making a list we’re making a list”. she obviously has a much broader idea of family than he does and i wonder how that applies to their relationship. it’s fun to see a more complicated take on the usual star wars found family trope bc i’m getting a bit tired of them just pouring that stuff in readymade

[jyndor2]

Andor episode 1 review:

it’s good guys. notes and heavy spoilers behind the cut so don’t read until you’ve watched.

opening scene is beautiful and moody.

cassian’s walking in the rain while he goes to a brothel in search of his sister, who doesn’t work there anymore. it’s atmospheric.

cassian shows off his natural talent for fitting into places.

some fucking bully mall cops are at the bar too - the sex worker shows a clear anxiety about the mall cops. cassian literally chuckles once at them being subtly mocked by the sex worker. there’s a bit of a commentary on exotification i think? it’s subtle but she assumes he’s looking for a sex worker from kenari because he wants someone who has “dark brown eyes” iirc, also clearly she was far more interested in him than the mall cops lol ofc

those idiot mall cops pick a fight that they aren’t ready for - cassian accidentally kills the first in the fight, and when the second is like begging for his life/being a coward, cassian kills him too. he clearly hasn’t ever killed someone before and is not prepared for that.

commentary on police brutality obviously, cassian puts his hands up and says he’s not moving while trying to bribe the mall cops, tells them to check his coat pockets. and i think they were saying xenophobic shit in the background but i can’t really hear it soooo??? anyway they had it coming

mall cops work for basically a corporation that runs the system for the empire? its a good example of how fascism works - oppressive governmental structures work hand-in-hand with corporations.

lol not bee getting pissed on by a hog XDDD

great way to show the setting omg

also he sounds like alan tudyk???? hes not but cassian keeps having types lmfao

and omg we see cassian dreaming of his childhood when the separatists??? or the republic??? idk i think the separatists but when they crash and burn, and his sister ugh my heart shes so cute

i really like how it is all from his people’s pov, how they don’t have subtitles when they speak, how you can see their confusion and also these are all kids???

huiwahduhasudh LOLLL “maarva said you were out ruining your health and reputation with friends of low character”

“thats two lies” cassian and his droids i stg, but he cares obviously - the detail of cassian pulling the wire out of bee’s whatever

love the world building - love the bricks and the yellow colors, love the focus on workers and labor. the gloves! even though we don’t really see them working, we don’t experience the toils of working because cassian is busy scheming lolll jk he’s busy annoying the shit out of his friends in order to create an alibi and also to sell something.

love the mall cops! most of them, including karn’s boss who literally is like lol the guys cassian killed had it coming, are like... dude this is doing too much lol we’re mall cops, but karn is such a bootlicker and such a fascist in the making. he is interesting because he is interested in justice not because justice is important but because he is loyal to the mall cop company, and he cares about order. none of these people are good, they’re all enforcing a system that is no doubt exploitative even if they’re not actively bullying people (and being xenophobic) like the guys cassian killed. but karn is clearly an ideologue.

next on cassian’s bothering people at work tour is bix. bix is a delight and i love her. she has a friend who buys some stuff sometimes and cassian has something that he’s been holding on to for a day when he needed an exit. btw the thing is a macguffin it doesn’t matter. cassian is the thing, as is foreshadowed when cassian is trying to convince bix to contact her friend - who apparently has been interested in meeting him.

their dynamic is... complicated is the only thing I can think of. they’re clearly former lovers who still deeply care for each other, first loves, but cassian is so caught up in his own problems and bix seems to be trying to move on - to some success. in fact, if there is a moment that she seems to have some hope for their relationship, cassian squashes it by saying he’s not looking for a partner in his little scheme to get offworld.

its at this moment that timm, bix’s new boyfriend and a clown, mentions the ‘wobani run’ and they break apart. wobani, where prisoners work on death star parts, and where jyn erso will be in several years.

put a pin in that for now.

the flashbacks kill me. cassa’s sister is too cute, cassa is too cute, they’re all kids and also im curious about who their leader is - like she has to be too young to be cassa and his sister’s mom, but like... idk she seems to look after him a lot. it’s beautiful world building even if i miss fest and the cassian who grew up there in the snow. i really don’t understand why they made that change but it’s great anyway.

lol im sorry everyone keeps saying cassian looks like shit and it’s so rude because he’s just being played by an old man like ??? also not cassian gaslighting everyone he’s conned XD

timm is a weirdo and doesn’t deserve bix but i can understand why he’d be suspicious - i mean the chemistry between bix and cassian is wild. but idk dude just ask her???

i LOVE them having a secret comm system hidden from the corporate goons. bix is too great my god cassian doesn’t deserve her lol

lol cassian sabotaging the imps with his little chip or whatever fake science thing <333

oh god his sister the last time he sees her im so sad im so weak shes adorable what the fuck

final thoughts on the first episode: I mean it really is the first of three parts, it’s not a standalone episode. but I don’t think it’s necessarily slow, it feels like a simmering pot and I mean for the love of god, spending time with characters to let them develop is a GOOD thing. the writing, the acting, the everything is great.

diego is fantastic. every expression is purposeful. he really embodies this character in a way that is rare to see. I also can see his fingerprints on things - knowing a bit about his politics I imagine he had a bit to do with some of that - but oh my god he’s great.

I think bix is a total standout, as is the karn as the mall cop with delusions of grandeur but like in a totally gross, i hope he dies horribly way.

I love the choice to get really ground level with average people, I mean we see them at work and just living their lives and it’s greatness. the bricks and the industrial laborer’s town feeling makes me think of places near me, like philly and pittsburgh and the du pont mills in delaware. it feels familiar and I wonder if that’s just me.

I have some reservations about cassian being maybe 10 (according to fiona shaw) in the flashbacks but I will reserve judgement on how much they retconned the eadu fight (if at all) until we know his backstory in full. frankly I think you could easily say that he has been resisting the empire since he was a kid but I am gonna need to see more before I can say that he’s not just being a hypocrite when yelling at jyn about how she, a former child soldier who was abandoned and didn’t choose to leave the rebellion, has had the luxury of anything.

i’ll write up the second episode in a bit and then the third <3

[mugglenet]

Fiona Shaw Interview on Playing Maarva in "Star Wars: Andor"

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Fiona Shaw Interview on Playing Maarva in "Star Wars: Andor"

Fiona Shaw, who played Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter films, has spoken to starwars.com about her role in Star Wars: Andor, the fourth live-action series in the Star Wars franchise.

The series follows the journey Cassian Andor takes in the five years leading up to the events of Rogue One, and Shaw plays Cassian’s adoptive mother Maarva. Read on to discover what Shaw had to say about her character in her interview with Star Wars.

  Maarva is beginning to lose her patience with the Empire

Shaw explained that playing an older character is “interesting”; because of the long life Maarva has already lived, her values are more refined, meaning she focuses more on the things that matter to her.

Maarva is beginning to view the world [differently], including the oppression that she’s absorbed, because the Empire does keep them all down and they’re not proud of that. People get ashamed of being kept down and Maarva’s husband has been killed by the very same Empire and hanged in the town square. So she’s had to swallow a lot of pride over the years. And we meet her at a point where maybe that’s becoming really untenable.

  Fiona Shaw as Maarva in “Star Wars: Andor”

  A sense of community is important in Andor 

Maarva lives on a planet called Ferrix, which Shaw describes as “a bit like an old industrial town.” Being a big-hearted and practical person, Maarva fits right in with the other people who live there; they are hardworking and together create a sense of community, which is important for Maarva as the series develops. The community of people who live on Ferrix look after each other, and Shaw believes that they do this because “it’s really about the sharing of what little wealth exists in the community” rather than “showing off” what they have. 

  The family drama between the characters appealed to Shaw

Describing the story as being “full of all the complexity of family life,” the relationship Maarva has with her son is very complicated yet “a really good relationship.”

Shaw’s on-screen son Cassian is played by Diego Luna, and Shaw explained that when she first met him, COVID-19 rules were still in place, meaning their rehearsals involved wearing masks. However, Shaw soon discovered Luna was compassionate and very easy to trust, which made their very first scene together (a “difficult” scene that involved a family disagreement) much easier to film. 

Maarva’s relationship with Cassian has a big influence over the person Cassian becomes. Her decision to remain on Ferrix and continue to fight influences the decisions he makes and actions he takes in the series and later in Rogue One. 

      Maarva treats her droid like a human would a dog

When the discussion turned to droids, Shaw said that she imagined droids have similar relationships with their masters to those who have pet dogs. Maarva has kept the same droid, which is old and called B2. B2 and Maarva have grown old alongside each other and Shaw believes there is a lot of affection between droids and their masters.  

They should be just computers, but actually they’re not. And they develop or disintegrate in the same way as humans and that’s what makes it charming, I think.

  Andor is available to watch on Disney+.

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[e-the-village-cryptid]

the thing that’s fascinating to me about bix is that usually you when you have the character who is genuinely a good person through and through, who is always trying to do the right thing, it can make the character sort of flat or lacking depth. they become just “the good one”, you can always predict what they’ll do, maybe it even gets a bit unrealistic. but bix, by being the one who is always trying to protect her people and do what’s right, actually opens an entirely new window through which to see the story.

when we’re empathizing with or seeing the story through the eyes of morally grey characters like cassian or cinta, it’s easy to see the story from a sense of self-preservation or “ends justify the means” reasoning, and understand or even support it. but it’s only when we see the world through the eyes of someone like bix that I think we realize the complicated moral choices aren’t just things like “the moral choice vs. the sacrifices it takes to do the right thing”, it’s that even if we were perceiving every choice through a selfless lens, we genuinely do not know what the right thing to do for others is. from the very beginning, should bix protect cassian by putting him in contact with luthen, or should she protect paak and everyone else involved by not contacting luthen more often than necessary? is it right to try to contact cassian when maarva is dying, or is it wrong to risk bringing imperial wrath down on ferrix if they intercept the communication? what do you risk when you trust the people you love? what do you risk when you don’t trust them? timm couldn’t have betrayed cassian if he hadn’t had the info that cassian was from kenari, but maybe he also wouldn’t have betrayed him if he knew about luthen and knew that by betraying cassian, he was risking bix’s safety as well.

many other characters show us how hard it is to make the right choice in terms of the sacrifices it will demand or what it will cost. bix shows us how hard it is to make the right choice because usually, we don’t even know what the right choice is.

(bix is also absolutely not the only character who does this; the show is packed with difficult moral choices throughout and many characters face this crisis of how to know what the right thing to do is. but something about bix just feels so much realer— she lives a life that is closest to most of ours in that her problems (at least in episodes 1-8) cannot be solved with blasters and battles and rebel hideouts but with interaction with her community and difficult but more mundane choices about what she can do for the people in her life. her goodness is also so focused on protecting her home and her people, which is a much more personal scale than trying to win a fight for the entire galaxy.)