#whole season spoilers honestly

[someinstant]

So I had to watch the last two episodes of ANDOR on my phone because first I was taking a bunch of teenagers on a trip to DC, and then I was in a cabin with my family on the edge of a swamp and my sister is only up to episode four and no one else has watched the show. Thus, last night I was able to finally sit down and watch episodes 11 and 12 on a television, and now I have a few Thoughts I would like to share:

Remember how in episode 8 Bix and Brasso are talking about Maarva's decline, and Bix says she fell? Brasso asks how, and Bix says she was trying to see if the drainage grate on Rix Road was open-- because she wanted the Rebellion to be able to go into the hotel and take on the Empire. And she says it with that sad little smile, like, We know all know she's imagining things, she's on her way out, but wouldn't that be nice?

IT'S CASSIAN. CASSIAN USES THE DRAINAGE GATE AND GOES INTO THE HOTEL AND TAKES ON THE EMPIRE TO HELP BIX. HE'S THE FUCKING REBELLION, MAARVA. My whole heart, jesus.

When Cass stops by his adoptive father's funerary stone (and gives that sweet, sad half-smile that Diego Luna can just break me with), his fingers and hand are all bloody, and I couldn't figure out why-- and then I remembered he'd been bare rock climbing with Melshi to escape patrols on Narkina 5 in the previous episode, and I wanted to kiss the continuity supervisors for this show on the mouth, because actions have weight and consequences, and injuries take time to heal, and of COURSE Cassian is marked by Narkina 5. Of course it bit into his body the same way it bit into his soul.

The folks over on the A MORE CIVILIZED AGE podcast are absolutely right: Cassian is a water-type Pokémon. The man is always in association with water: breaking out of a dam-slash-base that holds back a sacred river on Aldhani, hiding his money and weapons in a shower in the hotel and then arrested by the sea when he tries to run away to Niamos, marooned in a prison surrounded by water, caught (like a fish in a net! LIKE MEERO'S 'ARE YOU A FISH' SPEECH WITH BIX!) by fishermen by a lake on Narkina 5, finding out Maarva has died while the waves crash on Niamos, listening to Nemik's manifesto as the rainstorm comes down on Ferrix, wading through the water of the Rix Road drain to get to the hotel to liberate Bix-- the water imagery is just there.

And you know why? DO YOU KNOW WHY? It's because water is fucking impossible to pin down. It flows. It shifts. It can freeze solid, become a vapor, bring life, drown the unwary-- it's necessary to life, and antithetical to it. It takes the shape it's forced into. You want an elemental association for a spy? It's fucking water.

In conclusion, I hate everything, Tony Gilroy et al are monsters, I HAD MY CASSIAN ANDOR OBSESSION UNDER CONTROL YOU BASTARDS WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS SHOW SO GOOD.

The only good news is now I have about eighteen months to write an ABSURD amount of fic to fill the void Wednesdays will now represent.

[spoksstuff]

thank you for your service, Nanamin 🥹

at least they're reunited now ❤️‍🩹

all credits to the original artist @neeeem8 on X

[mobius-m-mobius]

#ep 2 but upgrade every parallel 😳

[kermit-coded]

she meets him where he's at....

[bookshelfdreams]

fr if "this is no longer the queer joy show" for you, idk what to tell you. maybe next time try engaging with the actual story instead of the version of it you made up in your head

[avnasace]

no but the way viserys continues to haunt the story through rhaenyra and alicents conflict, which gets passed down to both of their children, is crazy good content.

the irony in that viserys the peaceful was the one who started this war, and the downfall of the dragons/his family in the first place.

viserys and daemon had their own conflict, but when viserys alienated rhaenyra initially by marrying her best friend, he then ignored his and alicents children, eventually later his actions leading to rhaenyra marrying his brother (who he'd also taken for granted and ignored).

he then kept doting on rhaenyra up until the moment he died, further seperating himself from his own children by alicent.

alicent knows of rhaenyras affairs, grows hateful and takes that resentment out on her own children instead, while her father otto is further poisoning her and them for his own ends to scheme for the throne.

so then alicents children learnt to grow up disliking rhaenyra's. the only time you see them even remotely amicable is when theyre bullying aemond, another bond made through cruelty instead of kindness. this is ironic considering at laenas funeral you can see that aemond actually thinks about trying to offer comfort to i think baela and rhaena (if i remember correctly?)

aegon and helaena couldnt care less, which to me makes it even more sad. if aemond had, he might not have then been so quick to rub his claiming of vhagar in their faces, and he might not have lost an eye.

the taking of the eye plus viserys' incompetence reignites and cements alicents hatred for rhaenyra even more. viserys takes rhaenyras side, not defending his hurt child at all, even going as far as to shout at aegon for even the mention that he might have said something against rhaenyra. this causes alicent to attack her, and later making her then double down on her efforts to pressure aegon into hating rhaenyra, further distancing him from her.

later we see with aegon that his mothers pressure leads him to find affection in other very unhealthy and harmful ways, assaulting his maids, excessive drinking, brothel going, and assumably fathering many bastards, leading him tho the child fighting rings as well. aemond too starts going to the brothel and avoiding alicent, but for platonic affection instead of anything more.

helaena is the one who received the most of her mothers love and the least of her cruelty, however their relationship is similarly screwed up because shes the only child that doesnt actually want affection from her...

meanwhile rhaenyra is a very loving and fiercely protective mother to her children, fighting for them above all else, especially when their parentage is concerned. she does anything for them, and it shows in their natures that their upbringing, other than the scrutiny from other nobles about their father, that they were raised kindly and wisely.

whats also completely different is that rhaenyras children have not one but three father figures, all of which love them in different ways, which is three more than alicents children have. you could make an argument for cole being a prominent male figure in their lives but he is also quite cruel and hateful.

we see team greens children grow up to be anxious, affection starved control freaks, with mummy and daddy issues, with not one of them knowing how to be a leader even though they are all in some way forced to be one.

aegon is an incompetent drunkard of a king who knows nothing of court or war or politics, not even high valyrian. he is only a figurehead, but is strangely empathetic towards his subjects and loves his children.

aemond is cruel and objective, a fierce fighter and being the most studied and educated of them all, but with no care to his subjects and far too willing to disregard or maim his own blood for his own ambitions.

helaena is the gentlest but she herself has no ambition to rule, she is kind but also an outcast of their society because of her prophecies. she also does not particularly care for her subjects, even being scared of them and their willingness to get to know her.

meanwhile in complete contrast jacaerys and lucerys are kind, more than willing to learn, theyre fluent in high valyrian, they are very interested in their histories and heritage and they learn sword fighting from harwin and assumably laenor? later probably daemon too.

they stand in the war council room with their mother and learn, and even baela and rhaena are involved by rhaenyra to both take part and learn.

the generational trauma goes crazy in this show, but all these characters are so compelling. i dont think there is a single main character that doesnt interest me. yes most of them are bad people and have done awful things, but its also so interesting to see how they got that way and see how one fathers actions, or lack thereof, caused so much destruction.

[softiedingo]

"hey what are you watching- "

me:

[feral-sylki]

Okay but Loki and Sylvie working together against X-5 like they were in a horror movie was so chilling. Deliciously chilling, mind you: seeing them working together, two halves of a whole, working in tandem, with Loki waiting for him in the dark, his voice, the taunt; the angler fish’s bright light, the distraction. Sylvie pouncing, her fingers like claws. The green light. I love it when they play with genre like that and I love it when the protagonists get to be scary

[stupidsexygrizzop]

"Why are we like this"

[mariathechosen1]

I love the idea of River crushing on Louisa next season actually.

First things first: Louisa is pulling away from the kiss. Like- I feel like that, combined with the fact that she rejected River earlier this season, is a sign that she’s probably not interested in anything beyond platonic with River ? I don’t know why people are freaking out so much over this scene ??

Despite this, I do think that River liking her has some genuine potential:

Maybe he’s just such a hot mess after going through, let’s be honest, the world’s longest fucking trauma conga line that he confuses his own feelings of trust and appreciation as romantic attraction, leading to the most awkward kiss of all time. This could be a really nice way to explore the value of their relationship as well as solidify their friendship

Ooooor alternatively: River is actually down bad. Like- c’mon! Louisa is literally the person he trusts the most (judging by the fact that he called her when he was with Harkness). They’ve been through tons of shit together, she saved his life and she’s Louisa fucking Guy!! (And frankly out of his league imo). I wouldn’t blame the guy if he actually fell for her.

I get it! I’m also tired of romance being ‘forced’ on male-female friendships, but romantic attraction can be interesting! It can bring out new sides of characters, it can make friendships more complex, it can lead to new and interesting plot lines, etc

I think no matter what happens (and I honestly think it’s just a spoof and not a real kiss), I trust that the writers know what they’re doing and that it’ll be done in a way that does both the characters justice.

(…but also it’s weird how many people are ‘grossed out’ at the idea that River might kiss Louisa idk)

[imminent-danger-came]

Callum and Rayla are NOT beating the "growing up weird" allegations

[user-without-a-cool-acronym]

wtf is this guy on about now?

[topperscumslut]

genuine question, if luther had decided in the time since s3 to give up on looking for sloane and accept he’d never find her somewhere out there again and went on to find love with someone else, would y’all be as mad at him as y’all are at five and lila rn? just curious

[epickiya722]

I'm sorry, but she is just the cutest!!

[kradogsrats]

hmmmm

[yuridotcom]

the wednesday show??? oh mein gott??? it was so good??? the plot twist was amazing and I can almost forgive the shitty love triangle between wednesday and the 2 boys because of it

ALSO THAT WENCLAIR HUG?? WOAH?? SHIT WAS MORE ROMANTIC THEN ANY KISS/ALMOST KISS