There is One Way Out of being Spoiled.
In The Rise of Skywalker, Zorii Bliss talks with Poe Dameron about The First Order. She tells him: “They win by making us think we’re alone. We’re not alone. There are more of us.”
Andor’s Narkina 5 arc is making the same point in typically starker Andor-ian language. Unlike the end of the Skywalker Saga, though, where every spaceship in the galaxy shows up at just the right moment to send the Sith into Dark Retirement, no one is coming to save Cassian and his compatriots. They have to save themselves.
They save themselves, first, by learning the truth about their circumstances. Then accepting and believing the truth about their circumstances. Then deciding to take a risk to change their circumstances.
A big component of this is not only realizing that there are ‘more of us’ but a less obviously inspiring truth: there is one way out. Their captors are not going to grant them freedom. The system is lying about its interest in justice. Once the prisoners see the truth of their circumstances, they can finally do something to save themselves.
The truth, the facts, empower us. This is why so many political actors try to obscure facts, to make believe that the truth is unknowable, to confuse us, or to cast doubt on sources of information. The more we doubt reality, the easier we are control. The less likely we are to rebel.
That all being said, Andor remains so different from the Star Wars I know that my brain (like Artoo accidentally plugging into power socket instead of a computer terminal) spits sparks of confusion. I’m a creature of habit and Andor is about breaking storytelling habits. I have real trouble conjuring the wonder and sentiment I feel for Star Wars when watching the well-crafted Andor.
But Ahch-To Baby isn’t dedicated to my confusion. It’s dedicated to celebrating Star Wars. It’s about how f$%king great Star Wars is and how happy it makes the people who love it.
Which is why, when I got the text above from my friend Tim, and saw the Facebook post from my friend Erica below, I thought maybe the best way to talk about Andor this week is to hand the proverbial mic to friends that I love and respect who are having the very best time watching this show.
Take it away, Tim:
“The first time I saw Star Wars was in the original run in the theaters. I was so scared I asked to leave after the compactor scene. I don’t feel bad sharing this with you as I had just turned 5 a few weeks prior. I just want you to know how long I have been on this particular train. Having established that, I will say that the jail break scene in One Way Out moved me like nothing else I have seen in the Star Wars universe. Watching the intensity this time around, I was riveted to my seat.
Episode 10 took the measured, deliberate, emotionally draining set up of the previous 9 chapters of Andor to a scalding, rolling boil. I was physically shaking as I watched these beaten, unfairly treated prisoners join together and risk their lives to become the ultimate Rebels. Once afraid to even step on the floor out of line, Cassian learns about the leader he can (and, as we know, will) be by inspiring his cellmates to literally rise up through the facility, first by climbing the balcony, and then all the way to the top.
Importantly, he does not do it on his own. Without them all, there would be no way they could pull it off. Once at the top, Cassian knows that Kino is the one who must use his voice to really make the uprising successful, but even as he does, he uses Cassian’s words to do so. This inspires a change deep within Andor. Where previously he was only interested in taking the money and running, now the only thing stopping him from helping Kino to escape is being bodily tackled off the balcony by a fellow inmate in the mad dash to get out.
I watched the escape scene again this morning, and found so many wonderful details that I had missed as I breathlessly looked around the screen the first time. I will likely need to watch it daily until E11 is released just to steady my nerves. In truth, I thought this was the season finale. I had already done the difficult emotional work of figuring out how to wait a year or two to find out what happened to Kino when a friend told me there are two more episodes to go. How on Narkina 5 will they top what happened on level 9??”
Tell us how you feel about it Erica!
“I said that this episode of Andor was thrilling and I couldn't believe it was real. I love Star Wars and the grand battle of good vs. evil in binary. But what is extraordinary in Andor is the exploration of class and privilege against the regular person who must live in the world created by others. As we see and feel the cruelty of fascism with the Empire, we also see the cruelty of the privileged leaders of the resistance. There is a reason why we see and feel Mon Mothma's heartbreaking checkmate of having to see if she will need to sell her daughter into marriage to secure funding for the resistance. It is horrifying, but her daughter will be fine. She may live an unhappy life but it is in no way equivalent to the men trapped in slavery in the prison.
Kino's journey of believing in the nature of justice and that if he follows the rules, it will all be ok. The two-hander at the top of the episode between Kino and Andor is a masterful one-act of a man losing his faith and rediscovering his true self. That self is worth fighting for and inspiring others to be free. He leads all of these people out of the prison knowing that he can't swim. He isn't getting out but he pushes through his own fear ( as seen in the second two-hander on the bridge) to save 5000 people in a thrilling and impossible escape. It is no accident to then have Luthen's speech to the spy button up the thesis of the episode. His fervor is no different than the Empire, looking for control and puppet mastering though for a seemingly positive reason. He sees his sacrifice as greater than a father who wants out as a spy because he has lost his sense of self. But in the greater scheme of things he will be fine. He is someone in privilege and wealth, cushioned from the everyday horror around him. While he and Mon Mothma are making "heroic" sacrifices for the greater good - it is nothing to the thousands being forced to band together just to escape these real and metaphorical prisons being thrust upon them by the wealthy. Andor is saying something quite radical, but is so intensely grounded in the human will - one just needs to watch Andy Serkis's face and feel what it really means to be free.”
Thanks Tim and Erica for sharing your unadorned, total love for Andor and especially this last episode.
We’re in the home stretch of the first season, prison break behind us. Two more episodes to go. When I watch them, I’ll be thinking of the many friends I have, like Tim and Erica, who are absolutely brain-meltingly in love with Andor.