Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
Andor - Season 1, Part 2
The rebellion begins not with lightsabers or space battles, but with a stirring speech in a prison manufacturing facility. "Never more than 12" – four words that change everything.
Andor's brilliance lies in showing us the human side of rebellion through the eyes of ordinary people making extraordinary choices. As we explore the second half of Season 1, we witness Cassian's journey from selfish survivor to reluctant revolutionary. The Narkina 5 prison sequence stands as one of Star Wars' greatest achievements – a sterile nightmare where electrical floors and dehumanizing routines break spirits until Andy Serkis' unforgettable "One way out" speech ignites hope and action.
Meanwhile, Marva's death becomes the catalyst for Ferrix's uprising, showing how even in loss, rebellion finds its voice. Her posthumous message, delivered through her faithful droid B2EMO, transforms grief into defiance. We discuss how Star Wars uniquely portrays droids not as machines seeking humanity but as unique life forms with their own emotional landscape. B2EMO's dog-like devotion provides some of the season's most heartbreaking moments.
Throughout our conversation, we return to an intriguing question: Is Cassian guided by something greater? Though the Force is never explicitly mentioned, his uncanny ability to be exactly where the rebellion needs him suggests cosmic significance. Luthen's inexplicable decision to recruit Cassian, despite the security risk, hints at forces beyond rational calculation. Perhaps Andor serves as an instrument of the Force without wielding it himself – a messenger carrying hope across the galaxy.
What makes Andor revolutionary isn't just its gritty portrayal of life under Empire, but its celebration of how ordinary people become the backbone of resistance. Through exceptional writing, nuanced performances, and philosophical depth, it elevates Star Wars storytelling to new heights while remaining true to the hope that has always defined the franchise.
Listen as we break down the masterful storytelling that makes this not just great Star Wars, but simply great television. Your five-star reviews help spread the word about our juicy discussions!
Twitter handles:
Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekology
Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswow
Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9y
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@projectgeekology
Geekritique (Dakota):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA
How ANDOR Just Teased Dawn of the Jedi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjCPBmBClnI
Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow
My name is Dakota. I'm a podcast host on Project Geekology. I'm speaking to you from your favorite podcast application. We are, at this moment, in control of that application. How long we hang on, how far we get, how many of us make it out all of that is now up to us. We have deactivated every other podcast on this site. All pods are cold Wherever you are right now.
Speaker 1:Get up, stop the work, grab your headphones, open up the app and start listening. They don't have enough mods and they know it. If we wait until they figure that out, it'll be too late. We will never have a better chance than this, and I would rather die trying to take them down than giving them what they want. We know they have fried a hundred podcasts on Spotify. We know that they are making up our algorithm as we go along and we know that no one outside here knows what's happening. And now we know that when we say that we are being listened to, we are being buried in the algorithm and the pod dies and that ends today.
Speaker 1:There is one way out. Right now, the site is ours. You need to listen, rate and share. You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost. You get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this podcast to the top. There are three of us. If we can listen half as hard as we've been working, we will be at the top of the algorithm in no time.
Speaker 2:one way out, one way, way out one way out one way out.
Speaker 1:Guys, my name is dakota. We are covering the second half of the first season of andor. Um, as you you may or may not have uh remembered uh, keno loi's uh speech in the Narkeena arc. What a great speech. I don't know if I did justice with that. I hope I did. My cheeks are kind of red because I was very animated in my delivery. But yeah, again, my name is Dakota.
Speaker 2:I'm joined, as always, with Anthony and yes, so Dakota doing this like monologue, it was actually me that like I actually sat down and I kind of doctored it a little bit and I was like yeah, you know, let me throw some podcast stuff into this. So so yeah, I definitely sent that over and we were still kind of like deciding whether or not we were going to do it, but I thought it would have been fun. But, yes, I am Anthony, and joining us as always now, frequently for a while now, is.
Speaker 3:Rich, really excited to talk about this. You know, obviously, with the current season ongoing, uh, it's been. It's been fun and actually really informative. As I think I say every time that we talk about something that I re-watch, I seem to really like the second season of shows so that I can go back and appreciate the first season more, and that's exactly what is happening I'm. I think there was stuff that I wasn't really picking up on, whether it's just for lack of attention you know poor, what poor watching habits uh, you know just having my phone out and stuff like that where I think this show really commands attention and I'm excited to talk about it very well put.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, the the current season of andor is still ongoing as we're recording this. You probably, uh, by the time that this goes out, um, the final three episodes of andor will have either uh, just come out or will be coming out in the next 24 hours. So that's exciting. Um, as of now, we I think we're all caught up on the second season of andor. And, anthony, did you watch the latest episodes?
Speaker 1:no, I still have to watch another two of those episodes okay, those are the the two best episodes of star wars tv like literally ever. I'm just gonna put that out there. Like there has literally never been better star wars tv, and it's probably better than most of the movies as well, if you're actually comparing everything but, um, it's, it's really really good. So I'm I'm excited for you to check that out. We won't spoil anything here, um, but lots of better than solo I would say it's better than solo.
Speaker 1:Uh, personally you know are you a? Solo a fan like I, actually don't know, I, I have no idea, I I um I'm just such a han guy.
Speaker 3:My favorite, my favorite han book, my favorite star wars book was the han solo trilogy. Okay, uh, they just collected, just like his backstory at that time, which is, you know, I think you know it's legend or whatever. I'm not sure if they've accepted that as canon, but I those were. That was one of my favorite, my favorite books, so I just fell in love with the character and liked. I wanted to like the movie. There are a lot of things wrong with it, but do I have the golden dice in my mirror? Yes, I do, the one that they retconned into being there forever when Rey had to hand those over to Leia.
Speaker 1:There you have it.
Speaker 2:I think Dakota and I had briefly mentioned it. We kind of briefly talked about it before. I mean, obviously it came out before the pod came out, but I think we had mentioned that like it wasn't like at least to me it wasn't like the worst of the Star Wars movies and I feel I feel like the actor who portrayed Han. I feel like he put his best foot forward.
Speaker 1:So did we cover Solo on the podcast? I don't even remember or did we skip it and just go straight into Rogue One and all that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we actually did. I think we skipped it. I think we just covered Rogue One.
Speaker 1:It's okay, we will cover Solo a Star Wars story at some point, I'm sure. Okay, cool, good to know. I completely forgot that. We completely forgot that.
Speaker 3:I guess that is kind of our that's.
Speaker 1:That's at least my stance on solo. I just I I often just forget it exists, but uh, yeah, we are not here to talk about solo, but we're. We have a lot to talk about. Star wars wise. Um, of course, the the latest three episodes of andor, um, you know, without going into any particular spoilers, does lead into the. What's really cool about these, these three episodes, actually is it directly leads into the star wars rebels episode called secret cargo and in that episode, um, the ghost crew as well as Gold Squadron, they pick up Mon Mothma as she's being escorted out of Coruscant Because she made a very spicy speech against the Empire, like that. That rebels episode is the episode that they uh that like she and then she gives another speech after her coruscant speech where she basically like starts the rebel alliance. It's so cool watching those three episodes of andor and how they nearly perfectly line up with the events of that, uh, star wars rebels episode.
Speaker 1:I just want Rich, you mentioned it last week and it's like blowing my mind that you know most IP stuff. I think most people would agree writers don't like working within the boundaries of canon and that's why when you get universes like the DCEU with different directions and stuff. Often the films feel very different and they have very wide. You know it's wildly different in certain areas but, like with Star Wars and especially with Andor, you were right in saying that the fact that they're confined within this canon, these parameters that they can't cross, or they they cross very lightly because they do that it makes what they have to, like they just like hold themselves in and write them out, write themselves out, you know, and it's like the coolest way of, you know, expanding the these stories with andor and all the other characters, like mon mothma and stuff so very, very cool stuff, very cool stuff happening in star wars right now.
Speaker 1:And you know, this past week was, uh, may, may the fourth, so may the fourth be with you guys yes and also may the fourth be with y'all and revenge of the fifth actually, uh, disney did have like a may the fourth sale on their website and then two days later for revenge of the sixth they had, they had another like flash sale on on like their disney store for star wars. So it wasn't revenge of the fifth, it was revenge of the sixth. But I guess that kind of makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it does. Um, I think most people will say like revenge of the fifth, because they're like it's right after the day after, yeah, yeah but anyway, we also got a new star wars show.
Speaker 1:Um they, they released all the all six episodes of tales from the underworld. I don't know if any of you guys checked that out. I did not give it I actually caught the first.
Speaker 2:I caught the first two episodes in like an interesting way. They actually showed it in fortnight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they had a screen wait, the first night, the first two episodes of the asajj ventress.
Speaker 2:Yes, I didn't know you were a fortnight bro, bro I'm not really a fortnight person, but like when I saw that they were doing they were doing like an early screening. I was like, yeah, let me hop on there. I mean, I I have played Fortnite from time to time and it is like pretty fun, especially since there's like a no-build mode. That's the one like whenever I do play, that's the only one that I'll like really hop onto. But yeah, man, yeah, so yeah, I checked it out that way.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's pretty neat. I don't know if those episodes like that's pretty neat. I don't know if the six episodes are worth a full podcast, but did we ever do anything for Tales of the Jedi or Tales from the Empire?
Speaker 2:Yes, if I remember correctly. I don't know if we did both, but I know we did one of them at least.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to look this up. Hold up Project. I don't even remember We've had so many episodes. At this point I don't even remember what episode this is. Is it 1-8?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we are in episode 119.
Speaker 1:119. I didn't even mention that at the top of the show Tales of the Empire. I'm assuming we did Tales of the Empire.
Speaker 3:I think I remember listening to that episode 80. Yes, we did.
Speaker 2:Tales of the Empire. But we didn't do.
Speaker 1:Tales of the Jedi yeah, so I mean, if we want to, we could keep it Star Wars themed and do Tales of the Tales from the Underworld.
Speaker 2:If you guys are interested, next week break up the Andor fun or we can just continue through Andor and, you know like go through season 2 because it's like fresh in everybody's minds yeah, I I think that that would be good to kind of I mean, tales of the underworld is new, but I do want to kind of give people a little bit more time to, like you know, get and get into and watch andor to uh season two, because I mean, like you know, andor is like one of those shows that like it's really good but like people are slow to get to it. That's true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen a lot of people online who have basically just been told for the past decade that Disney has ruined Star Wars and they haven't given Andor a chance, or they just assume it's boring because it's like a pretentious uh, top, like you know, top shelf kind of show, um, so that they they've written it off just because it's disney star wars. And, yeah, I, I that's the sentiment that I see a lot actually online, um, which is really upsetting because it's actually like legitimately very good.
Speaker 3:But I mean, I'll always say it, I just don't, you know. If you don't like it, don't watch it.
Speaker 3:It's just like I don't um yeah, in my world, star wars is something that happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away. I download it as history from another galaxy. I don't argue it. I don't argue france ferdinand getting shot to start world war one. All right, I, I, I don't. I don't argue that stuff, that that stuff is ancient history. It happened, it occurred. Shays' Rebellion happened, and you know what else happened. The Battle of Yavin, and you know what else happened Obi-Wan for some reason being protected by a line of fire where Vader could have walked around it. Look, them's the breaks, guys. Stuff happens, alright, I'm just I, them's are the breaks.
Speaker 2:I understand where, like, people are coming from, because there are certain things within the IP that have been mishandled and like that kind of landed not in, you know a really good way. I mean like obviously, like I mean Dakota. You remember talking about how you weren a really good way. I mean like obviously, like I mean dakota. You remember talking about how you weren't really 100% bored on obi-wan and even like the ahsoka show, and I actually love both of those characters. So I understand where they're coming from, you know. I mean I get where you're saying rich, but I, you know, it's still a, it's still a fictional world and a fictional IP. So if somebody feels like somebody's kind of coming in and infringing on that and kind of taking something that was special to them and trying to inject, you know, I guess, extra stuff that they feel that's not necessary, then you know I can understand where they're coming from.
Speaker 2:But, with that being said, there is a lot within the disney star wars universe that is really good, you know. And or, being one, you know first couple seasons of the mandalorian being another one. Uh, dude, we got rogue one. Rogue one's amazing, you know, we there would be no. And or, if there was no rug one. So I mean, yeah, there there's a, really there's a lot of great stuff within the, within the, the disney star wars universe. There's a lot of not so great stuff. But then again a lot of people said the same thing about, like the prequels, uh, the prequel trilogy of star wars. And then now that's kind of starting to. You know people are starting to come around on that. You know hayden christ kind of starting to. You know people are starting to come around on that. You know hayden christensen is starting to like receive a lot of love now for it. When he received he was one of those people that received a lot of hate for it also.
Speaker 1:So so I mean you know? I understand both sides honestly I see where you're coming from. Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, I guess uh did anyone do anything. Uh, particularly uh star wars related for may the 4th or you know, like the the this past week outside of andor. Um, that is is worth sharing um, I did kind of.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, with may the 4th kind of like coming around, there's always Star Wars like related video games that go on sale. So there's this game that I remember playing years ago and it's like one of my favorites, like kind of from like that early 2000s era, and it's the what do you call it?
Speaker 2:it's, um, it's called star wars bounty hunter and it takes and it's about jango fett and it and it's, um, it's pretty much like just after phantom menace and I think like 10 years prior to attack of the clones, and you kind of like figure out how he became the template for the clones and it's, it's really cool. I, I. It was one of those games I really enjoyed when I was a kid. So when I saw that it was on sale I was like, dude, I'm on it, like I need to hop on it. So, yeah, no, I have been playing that. I mean I, and then also I can share.
Speaker 2:Uh, if, if you guys notice that my voice is different, I did upgrade my microphone system. I got a Shure SMB7 and some other peripherals. I've got a Focusrite 2i2, third generation and a CL1 Cloudlifter to kind of top it off, along with a boom arm and stuff. So I just kind of wanted to upgrade my mic setup. I know dakota said that. You know he's interested in doing it too. I also actually, when I received the microphone, because I heard that the smb is one of those ones that are so easily spoofed, I actually had to like take it apart to make sure that it was a legit like um smb before I I actually, like you know, rated it on mercari, you know, and when you rate it, it releases the money and, like you know, that's it. Like you, you can't get you. You know, like you, you pretty much like okayed it. So, yeah, no, I took it apart. I checked, like the internals and I was like, okay, yeah, it looks legit. So so, yeah, man, yeah, I'm good, I'm good to go.
Speaker 1:You went on like a whole little journey with this microphone dude.
Speaker 2:I really did man.
Speaker 1:Rich, we got to upgrade.
Speaker 3:Definitely Mine is substandard, but it's got three. I'm going to tell you what I love about it, honestly, and the reason I have my setup. And I did actually, you know, for a while I was doing more podcasts so I had looked into a couple of different headsets that I really liked, and I always want to do a headset. I'll be honest with you, I don't, uh, I I'm not not sure if I'm ready for the, the separate mic setup, but I got this headset because it's got a 3.5 millimeter jack and, uh, I I was messing around with some stuff that had usb connections or whatever, and I did not enjoy the experience. I just like the 3.5 millimeter jack.
Speaker 1:I think it's much clearer and I like the audio quality yeah, nice, anthony you, you sent me, you sent me the uh, the list of everything that you got for your mic setup. So I'm I'm eagerly waiting to get paid so I can start like chipping away at, uh, some of that.
Speaker 2:So I'm excited. Yeah, well, I mean that that's what I did, like I got I had. I've had this boom arm for a while and I had the focus right for a while. I also also had the XLR cables and the mic extender that I'm using. I've had that stuff for a while. I literally only needed the Shure SMB and then the Cloudlifter and I literally found somebody selling both for a really good price and the fact that I checked it out and the mic is legit, I'm like, dude, I really got this for a steal.
Speaker 1:Nice yeah, because if you look up all the items that you bought, which I did, it averages out to a little over $800 for stock price of that stuff.
Speaker 2:I got the Focus right, so it's the third generation. I mean I'm pretty sure that there's a fourth generation that's out. Uh, that one, I had gotten that one for sale, so I got that one for a little bit cheaper, uh, and then everything else, I think, was like pretty much on standard price. But yeah, the, the one, the, the one that was always going to be like the. The biggest chunk was going to be the microphone, because even like the cloud lifter, the cloud lifter is 150, but you could find, you, you could probably end up getting it around like the 80 to 100 range. It's just that sure microphone. It. Just even the used ones that are legit, like, maintain their price. So the fact that I was able to get both of these in a bundle for a good price, I was like dude, like you know. Just I was happy about that awesome bro.
Speaker 2:Um you do anything else this week while, while you have the spotlight nah, man, uh, just just gaming on, uh, you know, star Bounty Hunter and getting this microphone set up.
Speaker 1:Awesome man, rich. What about you? Let's see.
Speaker 3:Star Wars Day. I obviously just binge watched a bunch of I think I started with I didn't even put it on Disney to enjoy hitting a good weekend of movies on, like you know, fx or whatever. Uh, before I, before I had on demand everything and it I think that you know they were, I think it was like tnt or maybe it was fx was playing like every single star wars movie with commercials, right, which you would be like. Why would you do that to yourself, rich and I? I love this sounds weird, but I find joy in that two minutes that I'm given to run to the bathroom or to go grab a bag of chips and make it back in time, just for it to start up again, like there's something I don't know about my childhood because I didn't have pause so I had to, like, run upstairs and from the basement and get back there in time.
Speaker 2:And I think it's safe to say that, like all of us, even Dakota and I lived had a childhood where there was no pause.
Speaker 3:All right, so you know, it's that two minute.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's something like it's the respite that I kind of sometimes needed once in a while. So I I did that and my wife made actually a bunch of star wars themed delights that I did not get to have any of because she brought them to church and shared them with church people, uh, so, uh, there was cupcakes with those darn churchgoers. I know there's these galaxy cupcakes that had uh x-wing like. So they were. She got chocolate molds so there were x-wings made of chocolate but but painted gray oh cool all right on top.
Speaker 3:And then there were uh, pretzel rod lightsabers, uh, for the dark and the uh, you know, for the dark side of the forest. Obviously you had the reds, and then you had a blues, and and then she asked me which color m&ms would be the best color buttons on luke's uh hilt and I said, uh, none of those, because it's a slide black button and uh, yellow and red doesn't work. But she went ahead with it anyway and it was delicious, I was told. That's really uh, I think what I was doing in terms of star wars stuff, you know, just still enjoying my, my mets meteoric rise to uh, to dominance yeah, actually dude the mets are doing really well this this season they, uh I'm.
Speaker 3:I look like a genius to my wife right now because I told my wife we're gonna buy a 40 game season ticket plan and there's gonna be a lot of games you don't have to go to all of them and also I will sell some and I will make our money back. Maybe not completely, but enough to take off a large chunk. And the mets playing the yankees over july 4th holiday has been a lucrative deal for my family. My friend, I unloaded two games and I made back a third of essentially what I paid for the season nice, we're still and we're still going to the third game, so nice soon.
Speaker 3:This is, that's very. I told my wife I wanted to start buying just season tickets for franchises all over the country and then just flipping deals and then, uh, she reminded me that that's a terrible idea. I just got really lucky that the mets have become a randomly good team and people want to go see them and it's the yankees and I'm not gonna lie, that's a lot of you know they're the top in the league right now, right oh yeah, this is going to be the yankees versus the mets is going to be quite a clash.
Speaker 2:Uh, because both of them have been on quite a path yeah, they've both been doing really well, dakota and rich are gonna be like in in the stadium, just like across from each other.
Speaker 3:Like you, you've got like binoculars looking across the the stadium like if, if dakota with your rich.
Speaker 1:Has this like fist up, like darn you, you yankees fan if rich is rich is looking out at me from across the stadium with the binoculars. I just grab a hot dog and I rip it in half, just drop both halves.
Speaker 3:Why would you waste a hot dog? I will say this, I think, because I know of your. You know the moment you had with Chohei when you were out in Los Angeles. When you were out in Los Angeles, if you come to Citi Field and you see the Mets versus the Yankees and you see the Mets put on some kind of incredible athletic performance, you might be swayed, my friend.
Speaker 1:That might be the key. I don't know. That might be it Nice.
Speaker 2:So yeah, dakota. How much was that one-piece Yankee shirt? I don't know it was a gift.
Speaker 3:Come on.
Speaker 2:Rich man, you guys got to bring one piece and a fold. Well, I did.
Speaker 3:One of our players has some sort of one-piece adornment on his baseball cleat. I believe Francisco Lindor had a character. I think I sent it to you guys in the group chat right away when, when you challenged me with, uh, with anime being a little bit more specific, snap, I think that that that was when dakota and I were on our uh taco escapade yeah, when he was down in miami, literally just like high on tacos, there's so many tacos um, that was awesome
Speaker 1:yeah, um, all right, so I'll jump into what I've been up to uh, this past week. It's been mostly star wars. Honestly, I I've been watching a lot of andor a lot of re-watching on this season, um, re-watching the latest episodes, because, you know, I've just been uh amazed by the writing quality. It's become like the best show of the year. It's not even just like a good star wars show, it's it's like currently the best show of the year and I don't know how.
Speaker 1:Um it also became like the most relevant show of the year because it's just like the best political and cultural commentary I've ever seen from star wars, but anyway, so so that Andor's good. We'll talk more about Andor later. This happens to be an Andor-themed podcast. We, or I, also watched Tales from the Underworld, which has three episodes about Asajj Ventress and three episodes about Cad Bane. The Asajj Ventress episodes are interesting because they take place post clone wars, um, and the cad bane stuff takes place pre-clone wars, so uh it's right, right, right.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say, like I noticed that and I know we'll talk more about it that the asajj ventress ones take up right after a certain book.
Speaker 1:Dude, I was freaking out about that. I was like no way did they bring the ending of this book to the small screen for a 10-minute episode. No way did they do that?
Speaker 2:That was crazy. Yeah, I was like oh my gosh what?
Speaker 1:I could not believe that. And it's actually like the the lines that they say in the book I was, I was verklempt. I I couldn't believe it. Um, yeah, that was, that was cool. Uh, what else have I been up to? I last night I watched, or I re-watched, uh, howl's moving castle, which is a hayao miyazaki movie. I forgot how beautiful that movie is. It's just like every shot is gorgeous.
Speaker 2:It's been a while since I've seen that one.
Speaker 1:I think while it's not my favorite of his movies, it is probably the height of his craft. Like, if you rank them by visual output, I think that is probably the most striking of of his movies. Working on my timelines you know how it is I'm almost through the era of kurok, about to start kiyoshi. In my timeline script. I'm like 17 000 words into my script. It's gonna be a multi-hour video. At this point I've just kind of resigned myself to that fact. But I'm really excited about my avatar timeline um, and I've like really been like kicking myself in the butt for not like working on it harder. So I I've the past couple, the past week or so, I've written like 2 000 words into it. So I'm, I'm, I am moving, I'm moving. Guys. Did anyone see the new marvel movie?
Speaker 3:oh yeah, I saw thunderbolts.
Speaker 1:I forgot to mention that uh, I have not seen it, but no, I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm, I'm, I'm half, I'm half, you know, on the fence. So you know, should I watch it in 40x? No, I'm just kidding, um, I don't know. I'm still like I'm not sure, sure if I may go and see it or I may wait until it streams. I'm not too sure. Rich, tell us your thoughts.
Speaker 3:I thought it was really fun. I thought that, you know, I don't know, I mean I'm not going to say it's exactly like Guardians or anything like that. I mean it does have some similar kind of overtones of, you know, being a team and like that team being a family. But you know, I don't think that's got to be particular just to marvel. I just think that it's something that tends to work really well. I think it's a formula of flawed characters coming together and, in their unity, no longer being flawed, you know, or realizing that they were never flawed to begin with.
Speaker 3:Type of story interesting, okay, you know, that's just the, that's just an easy, that's just a good story to tell, you know in general, I think and it's people will connect.
Speaker 3:Yeah, people connect with it. There's you immediately allow for somebody to be self-deprecating, or many characters to be self-deprecating, you know. So I I actually I think it's I mean like I thought it was funny. I thought there were moments that were uh like emotionally uh gripping. I mean I'm not gonna say it was the most you know emotionally gripping movie I've ever watched in my entire life, but there were some moments where, you know, I I definitely felt for the characters, but top to I mean I really enjoyed it. I I also I mean I've kind of said this before I I tend to go to these things with the intention of enjoying it. Right, like I'm excited, I'm like, yay, I get to see these things on screen.
Speaker 3:Uh, I right yeah I, you know all, I think, all of us really you go in super optimistic. Yeah, I mean, all of us grew up reading this stuff right, and really there was nothing ever around other than like for me I remember at first was watching the superman movies on channel 11 on in new york when they came on and that's all there really was. So I just love seeing it on the big screen, I just love seeing it at all, and I like when marvel takes a shot and or just gives us some of the characters that are not the, you know, not the, not the ones that we always see because someone's someone's. The ones that we always see because someone's, the ones that are off the beaten path.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard that this is basically like Breakfast Club, but for superheroes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, that's actually really apropos. I think that's perfect and it's funny. Breakfast Club is I mean I don't even know, I feel like it's almost like cliche to say it, but it's in my top five, like if you're taking out any kind of science fiction or superhero stuff, right, you're just like name your top three favorite movies. Breakfast Club is there Very cool, good to know I love this movie.
Speaker 1:I feel like we unlock new rich lore every week, and I think that that's important.
Speaker 2:You know rich lore every week and I think that that's important. You know rich, rich lore is. You know a lot of the, the listeners. They know about our lore. You know, and our lore goes back you know many years, but you know that they're trying to, they have to catch up on the rich lore hey man, yeah I.
Speaker 1:I don't even know some of my lore sometimes. I didn't even know that I made a podcast about Tales of the Empire until like 20 minutes ago. I listened to that.
Speaker 3:I remember where I was in my backyard while I was doing yard work this summer when I listened to that episode.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, I mean. It is actually kind of cool though, like when, when you listen to something, or you you know experience something, your brain, um, you know kind of marks where you were in your life with that media, and a lot of times like I'll re-listen to audiobooks that I've listened to like years ago and I'll be like, oh man, I remember being like on this job site doing this electrical task that you know I would have never thought of again.
Speaker 2:But yeah, dude, isn't that insane. I've had, yeah, there's. There's some like episodes of uh, of like certain podcasts that like when I like I'll scroll over it and be like, oh man, yeah, I remember when I used to work at Publix. I would like listen to the, to these episodes like episodes like when I was closing in like the nighttime and Rich. For you who may not know what Publix is oh, I know, publix, you know Publix.
Speaker 3:Oh man, our family vacations. We'd land in Miami Beach, we'd go to 65th and Collins, check into the Bel Air Hotel, and then the first thing was we had to go to publix, we had to go get our food for, uh, for the two weeks they were staying there.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, do you get any of the you know pub subs? We got the pub subs.
Speaker 3:I mean, my grandfather's favorite thing was that there's cuban, fresh cuban bread, like actually in the bakery.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that you know we would get that.
Speaker 3:I grew up on that win dixie lifestyle oh, win dixie, that was a little bit, uh, a little bit out of the miami beach environs yeah, it was yeah no, I, I'm I I lie.
Speaker 2:I uh, I lived right next to public, so I don't know what I was gonna say I think like the closest, like when you were living down here, I think think the closest Winn-Dixie would have been In Homestead, yeah it would have been. No, there was one in Cutler Bay, but like it would have taken you like extra time to get there, Like you might as well, have just gone to that Publix.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right guys, let's talk about Andor Season 2, because we got a lot to talk about and we're like almost 40 minutes into this.
Speaker 2:But you know, I'm gonna I.
Speaker 1:I forgot to crack open this beer, so I'm gonna I'm gonna do that I thought you were cracking open like a slim jim or something no, but this does happen to be a juicy ipa oh, it's the sam adams new england juicy ipa um, and I saw it in the store and I was just like I gotta grab it and it's actually pretty high alcohol content, considering it's just like a Sam Adams like can of beer. It's seven, seven percent so and it is actually juicy. It says it's tropical and refreshing and I have to admit I'm not the biggest ipa fan. I like them there, I like the occasional ipa. This is like a really refreshing one.
Speaker 1:I'm not sponsored at all, I just we love the word juicy here on this podcast. And the reason we love the word juicy is because when you guys review our podcast with five stars, those are five juicy stars and uh, yeah. So wherever you're listening to this, if you haven't already list or, you know, rated our podcast and you want to get more people involved in, uh, listening to the show so that we can grow as a podcast, please be sure to leave us a review, specifically a juicy review, a five-star review and yeah on with the show and yeah on with the show.
Speaker 3:Dude, Don't forget to pick up a pack of Juicy Fruit. Also the official gum sponsor of this podcast.
Speaker 2:I was going to say was this episode being sponsored and I didn't know. Like you know, dakota's got this juicy IPA. That just, I guess, goes well with our plea for your guys to rate our podcast.
Speaker 1:I cracked this open and it's all over my computer screen.
Speaker 2:Alrighty, yes, let's hop into this second half of Andor season. I almost said Andor season two. I mean Andor season one.
Speaker 1:Alright, so we have our boyian and or he's in hiding. Basically he's gone to, uh, what's the planet called niamos? Yeah, the planet's called niamos. It's basically like miami, but like a whole planet of miami. Um, it's very laid-back, except for those pesky Imperials that just they just happen to be there and he happens to be there at the wrong time and they catch him for something he is not even involved with and they make up fake charges for him and he's sentenced to six years in jail. You know, I mean, he did deserve let's put it clear he did break the law several times. You know he killed two of the uh preox morlana people. He killed a couple more on pharix when they attacked there and uh, then he, you know, stole, like you know, 80 million credits or something from aldani and he helped. He helped that that theft. So there was definitely stuff to catch this guy, you know, on and like send up to jail. But the charges they made up were were made up, it was.
Speaker 2:It was just so crazy that, yeah, I was gonna say that, like out of out of like everything that they could have charged him for, they like made up charges to throw him into jail. Had they got him for like the actual stuff he did, he would have been in jail for like life. Oh yeah, no, actually they know they would have executed him actually they would have executed him, maybe not so much for what happened on pharynx, but definitely what happened on um aldani they would have just like killed him for that or, or isb would have had that like him interrogated with, like that, uh, that stuff that they were interrogating vix with, which is like the such a.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about that later it's like what is it like?
Speaker 1:just creepy vr yeah, so it's actually really interesting. I guess the empire had to like kill a population of sentient creatures that were supposedly rebelling and their death cries are almost melodic, but in a way that it's just like heartbreaking and like soul rending. Yeah, that, the idea that like it's like children die, like listening to the deaths of children, like while they're singing, is such a creepy torture tactic.
Speaker 1:It's, it's super like Nazi-esque, you know, like you think of all the crazy experiments that they were, you know doing to people in some of the concentration camps and a lot of times in Star star wars the empire is visualized as the nazis, you know, like they have that. Look the, the uniform, the, the marches and stuff.
Speaker 2:Right. Right, they were definitely. The empire was definitely inspired. I mean, you got stormtroopers which were like literal, they literally existed within the, the ranks of the nazi yes, the, the literal term uh is stormtrooper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it comes from, uh, the nazi party, but um, yeah, so he gets sent to narkina 5, which is a crazy concept for a prison yeah, maybe think of like the raft, but instead of in the water, they're above the water yeah, what did you think of the the raft? But instead of in the water, they're above the water. Yeah, what did you think of the prison Rich?
Speaker 3:I like the prison a lot.
Speaker 3:I won't lie the way he gets caught, I'm a tourist, I just it's just, it was so. I guess, tropey, I don't know, maybe it's because it wasn't enough time, like it was just so quick, like he was, you know, and it was obviously because, I mean, he, it's just so fast. They might as well just done in a montage, just made like an 80s style movie montage, where like bix is like basically like well, you know, like no, we can't do that, you can't, that, just that just won't work, you know. And then he, he runs off and starts to be wanton and then, you know, some crazy party music's playing and then he gets taken down because it was just a little too quick for me and, and obviously, you know, just so rife with, you know, the. The world is such a bad place or the universe is such a bad place, the galaxy is such a bad place that you know, know, you do real crimes and you don't get caught for it, but it's so corrupt that you can get swept up by the law for no reason.
Speaker 1:And, uh, that part was just a little, it was heavy-handed because it was quick and okay yeah, I do like the idea that the empire doesn't know that they have cassian andor in custody. They're looking for this guy. Oh yeah, no, and he's in prison but, like I would have liked, what?
Speaker 3:if he's there, why isn't he there for? Look, he's there for a week. He's not just like hooking up with some lady friend and like possibly getting like high or drunk or whatever right you're asking me.
Speaker 2:I don't know well, well, I mean, the thing is, is that they're not. They're not gonna add, add unnecessary scenes to the show. Obviously, this show is not the show that. If you want a show that has some sort of filler in it, this is not that show. This is just not going to be that show. Like um, you know the way that they like span time, you know I mean you could make that same argument for what? What was going down on aldani. You know, the man got there and then, like you know, just instantly, like now, he's just like storming, you know, storming that dam well, I mean more like the idea that I guess.
Speaker 3:I guess what I didn't like about it was the association that he was because he wasn't staying and he was kind of running away Right, that he kind of got punished for running away and you know, like trying to kind of live his best life.
Speaker 2:But that that was the point though. That that's, that was the point, that literally the the point of the whole show. It's all the culmination of stuff like that, and it shows at the end of the season and the end of the season, so so in that very moment, it's showing how corrupt the empire is and they're just like trying, like they're trying to grab like anybody that looks like I mean to be, to be, I mean, if you want to be candid, like he was looking a little suspicious. He was looking over his shoulder. I mean, he wasn't doing anything wrong. Looking suspicious, you know, might not be bad, but he was kind of looking over his shoulder. You know, especially with those guys kind of like running around. So I mean, you, you could make that argument like, okay, maybe he was a part of them because he's looking kind of you know these guys are running.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm looking like. I think I left that part.
Speaker 2:Okay, that so so, yeah, like you know, and even even like the stormtrooper was like you know, like what are you doing? Like why? Why are you looking like over your shoulder, like that? Why are you looking so suspicious like are you running with them and so like? But yeah, so like it was that instance, like the fact that he got caught and then he got just thrown into prison for six years for something that he didn't do, that is just showing the corruption of the empire. All of what happens, like especially you, especially from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, it's just showing, it's like peeling off layers of what the Empire really is and it's showing how bad they really are. And this is just one facet of that.
Speaker 1:I really like this prison arc.
Speaker 2:I do too.
Speaker 1:this is just one facet of that. I really like this prison art. I do too, I as an electrician. I really like the concept of just using electricity as your motivating factor, you know, to, you know, for for the prisoners to like stay on top of things. It's a very clean aesthetic throughout the, the entire prison arc, like it's a very, almost sterile you know it arc. Like it's a very, um, almost sterile, you know it's. It's obviously cruel, like everything that they're doing is very cruel, especially the fact that, like the, the team that performs worst gets, you know, gets zapped, while the other teams get to eat. That's that's crazy, you know that's that's uh, it's actually like extremely cruel and, like the best table, gets flavor in their food oh, and they're in their slop.
Speaker 2:It's not even food, it's literally slop a little bit of salt, please, please um, just bland slop it's that.
Speaker 3:It's the blue milk from octu it's the oof the blue milk that's like three months old.
Speaker 1:What do you guys think about how this arc progresses from beginning to end? So we have Cassian taken in to this prison. We have him start to like the moment he gets in. Actually, he's like looking and he's counting the guards's, seeing what he's up against. He's he's actually a very like tactical person.
Speaker 1:Um, and I don't think he was like maybe he was formally trained by marva and uh, his, his father, his adoptive father, but we don't really know what his training is. He just happens to have that mentality of like I got to get out of this, you know, and he's going to find a way.
Speaker 1:And he takes that knowledge and as they learn more about what's happening in other sections of the prison, they start to form a plan of like escape and it's, it's such a exhilarating arc, you know, like the by the the end you're so pumped up with adrenaline because you have seen like these people you know beaten and oppressed, and a lot of them, it seems, aren't even in there for reasons that they are deserving to be in prison for you know like, and yeah, they made up charges for him, you know like. So I'm assuming the other people aren't. I mean, maybe maybe some of them were criminals or whatever, but to be treated in that way is inhumane, even if it looked really clean and sterile, you know.
Speaker 2:And and like the fact that, like, I guess, like one of the things that like really like started that off was the fact that a guy that was supposed to be like transferred to that prison just got transferred to another floor oh man yeah, that's poor.
Speaker 1:I actually feel bad for keno because he's a believer. You know, like he's a believer in the system. Whether he actually did anything wrong in his past life to get him into prison or not, he realizes or he believes through and through. Keno lois, um, the character played by andy circus fantastic job by him, by the way um, but yeah, he, he believes wholeheartedly that if he does the right thing, if he leads his team to producing the most uh, whatever the item is we find out later in the season in like an after the credits thing, like what those items that they're building are, but we, he believes that by doing so, he will, you know, get out uh and just be, be out in the real world. Finally, he's got like 200 something days left. That all comes crashing down when he finds out that, because of some new mandate by the empire, they're not letting anyone out, they're just sending them right back to other floors so that they can just keep this machine churning. It's really psychologically crazy and that's his breaking point. Prior to this point, we have Andor asking him how many guards per floor and he doesn't say anything. You know he's he's very like no, we, we're not doing this, we're not doing this and then, as soon as he finds out that they're not planning on releasing anyone and he's so close to being released he's got less than a year left that's his breaking point, you know.
Speaker 1:He's that that up the the way that one episode ends where he's just like never more than 12. I remember watching that live. Uh, like the the day that that and or episode came out and that was like the big thing on twitter that week is like never more than 12. It's just such a powerful, succinct line that just like it's like a calling card, like yeah, we're, we're all watching and or we all know what this means it's, it's epic that and then, like the following week, you got one way out dude, it doesn't get better, yeah, yeah seriously, man, that that, that monologue was just, it was just, it was so strong and dude which one?
Speaker 2:I don't remember oh, you're talking about. Yeah, you know the know the monologue about. You know just.
Speaker 1:About the podcast.
Speaker 2:How the algorithm is, you know, trying to oppress us and you know push us down.
Speaker 1:Oh, they're keeping our podcast down that there's only one way out, you know. And there's three of us.
Speaker 2:But yeah, definitely, you know, hearing that, that monologue and like it it got you pumped up, man, like you know, as the viewer you're like, yeah, man, like you know, I kind of want to break out with them, you know, but it was, it was crazy and like at the end it really did show that like andy circus did like care about these people because he literally did this whole breakout thing and like he got stuck, he couldn't swim oh, it's the worst.
Speaker 3:It's like it's it, had it. It gave me flashback to titanic, though, where I'm like jack. Jack could have probably stayed on that, that piece of wood with you, and I just feel like enough guys care about him that you know they could have formed like a swim I was thinking that too.
Speaker 3:I don't understand why, like there was no attempt, like I don't, he's not, it's not, it's not lava, like like he's not going to die the minute he hits the water right, and and he had men who cared about him, and now he he inspired the entire group out. Uh, I mean, they're there.
Speaker 1:It's, you know it's it's. It's an interesting thing you bring that up because in the next episode, after they break out, we have Cassian and one of the prisoners, melchi, you know, trying to make it out alive before you know like the empire's like finds them basically um. So we don't actually know how many people realistically a made it to shore, b um, got got to where they needed to be safely and and c escaped the planet um, and I think the, the consensus or what we're supposed to take from that is it was extremely difficult after getting out of the prison to also stay alive, because it's not like they all grouped up together, they all separated.
Speaker 1:I guess, for the sake of remaining undercover while the Empire was looking for everybody, the strength in numbers would only go so far there. I don't know, I, I don't know, I, I don't know how, um, you know, we're really supposed to take that like. Would he have made it even if he did, joe?
Speaker 2:yeah, that, that's food for thought bland bland food for slot I won't, I won't, I won't lie like I.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure if this is direct, but I get a little bit of Luke, not complete Luke vibes right, but just like If R2 doesn't leave the Lars homestead, luke is dead right. It's like these small moments of happenstance that continually happen to him and I wonder if we're learning that and or his I don't know like does he have like like like extra like? It's almost like he's like domino with like extra luck, you know like what? Did he have to be where he had to be so that like this, would you know, happen that way?
Speaker 1:I it's very interesting, uh, that you mentioned that after this week's episodes, um, the, the episodes that came out this week that anthony has not watched yet. Without spoiling anything, it does, like the episodes do touch on the fact that Andor is always where he needs to be and we don't know why. He, in a cosmic sense, is always where he needs to be and always relaying messages to people who need to hear them. But you know, in the case of this episode, you know, like, uh, the, the case of them in in Narcino five's prison, we know that he was a catalyst, he was the voice that needed to relay the message, basically, not only to, um, you know, get Kino on board, to, like, you know, be the catalyst that gets the, that gets the, the guy who speaks for everybody, on board. But after the fact, you know, like when, when they're back on niamos in the next episode with, uh, you know, him and melchi.
Speaker 1:Melchi says um, you need to tell people about this. We need to tell people about this. You know like they're he's. He's cassian's a messenger. We don't really, um, and I guess even throughout, like rogue one, he is a messenger. He needs to get the, the message of the death star plans to the rebel alliance. You know, like that's something that's in his future, um, so it's interesting that they're writing him this way and it's an interesting question, like, like, does he like? Is there a greater purpose to?
Speaker 3:him, and I don't mean that I think he's, by any stretch of the imagination, a jedi right. No, yeah in a world where it does seem that the force has its will, right, is he almost an instrument of that will who's not a user himself?
Speaker 1:you know well I'm gonna forego this question for now, because I have strong thoughts on it and it's very spoilery okay, so um yes, let's talk about the. It is a really good question.
Speaker 3:Rich um I just because I almost think he's almost like a han figure right in that. Like han was never for sensitive, right, he's not he. He couldn't control the force in any way, but it seemed like the force had a plan for han and he played pivotal roles in the lives of people who were force users, almost maybe grounding them, but also being in the right place at the right time.
Speaker 1:Well, it is interesting that the show is called Andor and so much of the show is focused on other people and other people's plights, and he always just happens to be there. He always happens to be there at the right time. So I do think you're onto something with, uh, the force fading him to be where he's needed yeah, definitely, yeah, no, I agree.
Speaker 2:I also like it's showing how he's definitely like a part of that spearhead for the at least the initial rise of the rebellion. What I mean we also briefly spoke about him showing up, but I mean that in this second half we all we get, uh, saw guerrera again and like it's cool that we get force whittaker reprising that role also yeah, uh what a fantastic actor.
Speaker 1:He with saw guerrera. It's nothing like the character from clone wars. You know like we know that saw, guerrera is a clone wars character. So, uh, forrest whitaker, he just made that character his own and he, he did his own thing with him and, um, I love every second of him on screen because he's just nuts. He's just absolutely insane. Like what do you call it? Nose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, it's so cool because I liked him a lot in Rogue One. So the fact that like he's in this show, it really is fitting, because you know he had like a I mean, he wasn't in the entirety of Rogue One, but he was a really strong character in that so like getting him in this, in like his initial I guess like rebellion sect day days it's it's really cool and I think, uh, if I remember correctly, forrest whitaker was the first academy award-winning actor to ever be in star wars like, specifically, academy award-winning actor for best actor, um to to ever be in star wars.
Speaker 1:And yeah, uh, the guy acts his heart out and you could tell he's having fun, like you could tell like he loves that character, he loves reprising that role, and he just eats the heck out of those, those like few scripts that he's given yeah, no, he does, he's when.
Speaker 2:When he's shown on screen, it's like really strong and yeah, that moment between him and luthan is really cool all right, let's jump over to the second uh half of this second half of andor season one.
Speaker 1:We have, uh, the death of marva marva, and sorry, I, I love b2emo so much yes, me too, he is he is like the most uh dog-like droid in the entire uh star wars canon. I think like I can't think of another droid that is more of a dog, like, like a literal like pet dog, you know, like, but everything that he does is so pet like and I love it. I love it so much he's just like an old dog.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's such a great addition to the show and, and I do like that there's such like, such care for him, like even you know, like when Marva Marva passes away, it's like the people that that that cared about Marva knew that like they would want them, they knew that that she would want them to to take care of of B and you know, and he's just like you could tell he's so sad.
Speaker 1:Also it's.
Speaker 2:It's so interesting and and you've said it before, dakota that star Wars has a way of giving something like a uh, of something that's not like real, like feelings. You know, you, you get it with a c-3po. You you even get it a little bit with I mean, you get it with r2d2 and you don't even know what r2d2 is saying. But like you know the, you know that he's given off some, like you know, attitude and little zest and and so, uh, b is you know you could tell that b is mourning and it's really, it's really really cool, like you know, just that kind of like last thing that he does for Marva.
Speaker 1:I like and yeah, I forgot that I had mentioned that on the podcast at some point but that's something that I've always like, really found quite wonderful about Star Wars is, in any other science fiction property whether it be Star Trek or Terminator, battlestar Galactica, any anything that has robots or whatever, or androids there's a divide between sentient life, which is humans, and the robots. There's, there's a distinct lack of a soul given to them in the writing and a lot of the times, you know a good portion of their arc is finding, finding that soul. You know, like I think of star trek, the next generation data. He's on a constant quest to be a real boy. You know he's. He's a pinocchio character. He's constantly trying to, you know, make himself feel real.
Speaker 1:But in star wars you never have that question. These are sentient beings of another life form. It's another form of life, just mechanical. These are just as pertinent characters as the flesh and blood ones. They have their own emotions. A lot of times they are treated lesser. We don't serve their kind here, but there is something to be said about, like the emotions that the droids share, like you can tell if R2-D2 is sad or if he's scared by the way that he intonates, you know.
Speaker 1:With B2-Emo. By the way, way, I love that name b, because he's he's always being too emo, um, I I that has to be intentional, but anyway, uh, yeah, with with him. They wrote him like a dog that can talk. I almost think it sounds like doug from up. You know, like my, my name is Doug and I love you. That's the vibe that I get from B.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, I've always wanted to make a video or like an essay of some kind about comparing droids in Star Wars to androids and robots in other franchises, because there's something to be said about, like how we don't even question that these are characters with, like their own initiative in Star Wars, but we have to question it in other franchises. You know, like, are they programmed? What are they? Why? You know, why is this android and alien doing the bidding of Weyland-Yutani, like what? What is going on with this android, an alien, doing the bidding of Weyland-Yutani? What is going on with this android? What is his programming telling him to do? You don't really have that question in Star Wars, because it's just a different type of being.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I'm rambling like crazy, but yeah, so Marva died, not very good, but she literally made the most of her death, um, and it was a wonderfully written cry and plea to her people to continue fighting against the empire and it's it totally backfired on the empire for allowing that to have that funeral so good yeah, seriously, uh, yeah, and it's so wild, like, how much like, and it kind of harkens back to you talking about the, the culture in pharynx, and it's very obvious that a lot like most of the people carry, they cared about marva and they cared about, you know, cassian.
Speaker 2:Even if cassian owed half of the money or something like that, you know, I think it was because of because of marva and his, you know. You know she, he was her adoptive son, so that care kind of carried on over to that. And you know, just, you could tell that that cassian was just breaking on the inside when he found out that that she had passed away. And you know how everybody, you know, was just like, you know, man, I'm, I'm so sorry, and he, he even tried to be like you know, I tried to take her with me, you know I. You know the last thing we, the last thing that happened when we talked, was we were arguing and you know that and brasso is like you know, don't do that to yourself. And so you know this, this is kind of like where you're talking about, like how you really like brasso, like it really shows why, even more so, why he's such a great character, you know yeah, I, I love um how he starts beating people with the brick.
Speaker 1:Of marva's remains like that's that's how marva would want to go out, you know just like that was awesome the.
Speaker 2:The funniest thing is is that like if she was there to witness that she would be like yeah, like she, she would be like yeah use me to to bash him in and and when, and and when that happens, like obvious.
Speaker 2:When, when they were doing that whole like procession, I was just like, yeah, like you know, I mean especially not that first time that I had seen it um, you know, like you just know, something's happening. There's just like this tension that's building up and it's not just grief, there's some anger that's happening there. And, yeah, that call to fight from marva was just was really just a straw that broke the camel's back, something that was already building up and and so, yeah, like, and then you saw, like the, the Empire just like lighting them up. You know they started shooting at them and and so it's like, yeah, this is, you know, farrakh's, going to be one of those, one of those things that people talk about. Like, you know, this is, this is how the Empire is. You know they were shooting into a crowd of mourning people, you know, even though, like I know that they like kind of started to attack them. But a lot of people are going to be like, yeah, but they started shooting at people who weren't shooting at them. They were unarmed, you know.
Speaker 1:Totally, and I love that this was all orchestrated by the Empire as a trap for Andor and they never come close to catching this guy, even though he just shows up. He's, he's on the streets of this, this planet somehow, like they. They're not, like there's no perimeter around this, this site, like I love. I love the fact that, like andor's coming increased security everywhere and he's just walking the streets like yeah, that's and, and I'm and like the sewers or something you know.
Speaker 2:Like they didn't even think that like he would, he would be trying to go down in like that area, like he had this like whole little, like little, like hideout down there with brasso and um, was it palenka? I?
Speaker 1:don't remember the guys, oh, I think it is palenka, yeah, yeah, what are you saying? Rich, rich, what are you?
Speaker 3:saying yeah, yeah, I mean this, what you guys talking about just kind of really just keeps feeding into my idea that just this guy's fated to be where he has to be, damned the odds. Because it's just a little, uh, you know, and look, the truth is, in any type of any type of story, where the good guy is is one, you know, that is vastly outnumbered, you know, unless it's a a george rr martin uh story, because then, uh, then the guy will get his just desserts for for trying to fight for justice. But, uh, in in these types of stories that you know, there is a little bit of a conceit, I think, uh, but I still, I still feel like it leads a little bit to to this guy just, you know, being a tool of the force yeah, it almost has that.
Speaker 1:Um, I am one with the force and the forces with me yep, oh yeah, kind of energy but I see what you're saying. Yeah, it is an interesting way to look at it and I think going back to this first season after watching the most recent episodes is a really interesting thought process because it changes the way that you perceive the character of Andor. Again, anthony, you got to catch up. I'm excited to hear your thoughts on the Gorman Massacre.
Speaker 2:Excited to hear your thoughts on, yeah, the gorman massacre. Um, there there's, um there's also like you guys are kind of talking about, like you know how, how he's just like kind of navigating stuff without getting caught. You know he also like goes into that hotel that they're holed up in. Oh yeah, to save bix, and he only had like one guy that he had to take down dude they're so.
Speaker 1:They're so stupid in in all of that big trap that they set out for them, they were so preoccupied with, like, looking for this guy. They they were not paying attention to what was actually being done. On you know like the outrage that was like building up in the crowd until it was way too late. You know like they, they let that build to a boiling point and then they tried to shut it down way too late. And that's obviously you know like when, when uh brasso started bricking people dude, he, he was just like thrown down on them.
Speaker 2:I love love, I love that scream of triumph.
Speaker 1:Like he, like raises his hands and like one of the hands has a brick and he's just like, ah, it's just the, the, the war cry for the Ferrix. People Love this, I love that moment, and also like Marva's. Marva's speech, too, is another. There's no shortage of good speeches in this show. Like we, we in this show, like we we haven't even touched upon. Like luthan's speech to that isb agent lani, um, where he talks about like how he, how much he sacrificed. Like you know how um, every waking moment for the past 15 years, based on, like a calculation that he made, like after the empire came into effect, um has like led him down this path and there's no going back.
Speaker 2:And dude stalin skarsgård, such a just, such a phenomenal actor right, like he already was in his own right in other things, but like he really brought that. He brought that energy to this show. And you know it's, it's crazy because like, yeah, you know he should, he shows up, we, we get him a lot more than we get. Say, like um saw guerrera, but like, even then, like forrest whitaker, an amazing actor in his own right, bringing that energy to this show, diego luna, um, really, you know, really just like killing this character, like you, you can tell that, like he enjoys like being this character of casting and or because I feel like he brings us all to it yeah rich.
Speaker 1:What did you think of marva's uh speech inciting uh the people around her in her death?
Speaker 3:I thought it was great. I mean, I actually kind of like luthens a little bit more, just because, not that there's more truth to his, but just it felt more real, uh, and it felt I could really feel like his sacrifice where, uh, you know, marva's kind of like this is her last fiery stand and this is how she wanted to go out, so in many ways it was like beautiful and, you know, inspiring and all together, uh, where luthens is just so, so dark, you know, and it makes me think of when he, when he puts on the, uh, the, the wig right and just kind of like how that that, that creepy, that fake the, the smile that we know to be hollow and fake, just overtakes him, like he just becomes that guy, you know, and he it's like that speech kind of proves to us like who, that he is nobody anymore. Right, he there's.
Speaker 3:There's no defining luthan characteristic, because at every turn he will do what is necessary, and that takes him further and further away from the person he once was.
Speaker 1:So, and I think, sorry, I think that is actually like why he likes lani so much you know, like he's not willing to get rid of that uh contact within the isp, because not only has he been like grooming lani to like be the perfect uh plants for the past six years, but I think he sees a lot of himself in lani in the in the sense that, like this is another person who is uh constantly acting, constantly putting on a front to eventually bring down the empire. You know, it's a really it's a a very nuanced show like in in pretty much every instance it's so nuanced um with with marva one one thing that I liked that she said was she. She had previously felt uplifted by uh the speeches made from other dead people, basically. So now it was her turn and she was like so willing to um make that a reality and it's it's interesting the part where she says like she's looking at the crowd and obviously to her she's not actually looking at the crowd, she's looking at the droid that she's recording this on and she says it's funny, I can see. It's almost as if I can see you there. You know, like it's so real to her Like this is going to happen. This is what's going to incite this. You know like it's so real to her Like this is going to happen, this is what's going to incite this, you know, brief insurrection against the Empire, you know. And it's just so beautifully done.
Speaker 1:And so there's so much of this show that I find builds upon itself in meaningful ways and almost like once an episode, at least once, once or twice every arc, there's a crescendo moment where something builds up to a boiling point and it just all goes down and it's so. It never disappoints, even like the, the lesser, I would say the lesser arcs within the the two seasons. They're still written extremely strongly. You know like they're. They're still strong episodes and you know powerful additions to the star wars canon and um, while I don't personally think this ferrix arc is the strongest of the show or the season in general, that the moment where the marching band starts up and b2emo is like leading the people down rick's road toward the plaza and dude, it's.
Speaker 2:It's just like you get chills that it's, it's just so powerful, yeah right, yeah it like it's a season finale that ends at least strong enough, you know 100, 100 yeah, what did you think about luthan trying to uh like for a good portion of this season, the latter half especially?
Speaker 1:he wants to kill andor and he's he's sent uh vel to do so. Vel and senta, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:rich. I mean, I don't blame him, he's covered, he's. You know these are the decisions he has to make. You know, it's not I don't. There's no part of me that disagrees with what he intended to do. You know it sucked, but he loses contact and there's a guy who knows who he is and knows his face and knows his motivations in some way. Right, I mean, I'm going to use a word that you know I'm not so sure you're supposed to use anymore. Um, he's, he seems like he's grooming and or for bigger things, right in the non you could say.
Speaker 1:You could say grooming when it's in all right, when it's in some. Well, I'm a t?
Speaker 3:I can't say it at school anymore. You know I'm saying like you can't say it in that context, right like it's, it's. It's a little bit too taboo, uh. But yeah, in the traditional sense of a mentor, mentee type relationship, it's almost like he was tough, loving, kind of and or and now he's almost a little bit hurt and also needs to protect himself. So you know, had to kind of go at him but I almost felt like so it wasn't half-hearted, I don't know. It feels like everything else he does works. So is it just?
Speaker 1:so it's interesting his relationship to andor and this harkens back to what we've been saying, or like hinting at, because we don't ultimately, we don't know what what andor's you know role. I mean we know what andor's role in the universe is ultimately, but, um, we don't know what Andor's role. I mean. We know what Andor's role in the universe is ultimately, but we don't understand if there is any force involvement truly with Andor. But it's interesting that in the beginning of this season, luthen breaks his own protocol that he has adopted for the past 15 years to take this one dude, put him on a job that he wouldn't have, he would have never thought to do. And he does the, the job and like, when he finally comes back to coruscant, he's reprimanded by claya, his secretary, because whoa, whoa, what are we doing? How? Why did you make this really random decision? And he doesn't know, he doesn't have an answer for that, like, why did he do that? And so, you know, later on he's just like, oh well, yeah, I guess we'll, we'll have to kill this guy because he, he knows my, my face, but in the moment he's 100, you know, like pro and or like this is the guy we need for some reason he knows that this is the guy we need.
Speaker 1:And then later, like once andor shows up in his ship, um the fondor, at the end of the season, he's almost given that same opportunity of like, do I take this guy in or do I kill him? And he ends up, you know, choosing to to take him in and it's it's almost against his better judgment and he starts to like smile and laugh a little bit about it and it's just like there's something about this andor guy that is important and it's it's almost like on a cosmic level he has something guiding him and protecting him, you know, and it's it's a really interesting thought, dynamic and it's it's definitely worth studying, almost like, because this show is is worth studying like it's, it's a, it's a master class in not only star wars but, you know, writing in general no I agree, like they don't really ever use the term force until sorry, anthony, they they only use the term the force until, like the ninth episode of season two, like that's the first time the force is ever mentioned, I think, in this show.
Speaker 1:So it is like interesting, like almost how you can read between the lines in this show and experience it through the the lens of there being some level of spirituality guiding our characters actions. You know, like it's, it's a really interesting thought process and I'm just, I'm rambling at this point because I, I just I'm so enthralled by the idea of like there being something more to andor than we know, um, or we will ever know, really, because I, I almost like the idea of it being a mystery, you know, but, um, yeah, what are your thoughts, guys, anthony? What, yeah, what are your thoughts, guys, anthony? What are your thoughts on Luthen going back and forth on killing Andor?
Speaker 2:You know, like you said, or like Rich kind of said, I do understand why he initially went for that idea. I mean, andor at that point was kind of like a loose cannon and it looked like he was swinging into a direction that that could have brought down a lot of what luthan was building up, when in reality andor didn't really like care to. You know, just rat on anybody, he just wanted to get his money and go. But you know the fact that, like you know, andor is like you know, I know I saw you and I know that you're here to kill me. Well, look, you know, here I am, here's an opportunity. So so in a way it's, it's kind of shown him that, like you know, look, I'm, I'm giving you this, this easy way to to take me out, but it's also inviting him, like you know, I have more to offer and so you know, obviously that's why you know we, we have uh and or season two we have and or season two.
Speaker 1:Um, all right guys, what is your, what are your last thoughts on the, not only these uh six episodes, but the the first season of andor in general.
Speaker 3:Uh, rich I I like, like you touched on earlier, like I kind of started the show with I, I appreciated this so much more after watching the second one. And it's not. This isn't a flashback kind of scenario, this isn't a. I remember I said that with the rings of power where I thought that the pacing was just, it's just, it was just such an expansive story that you know they they didn't fit it into the season the right way. I don't have that criticism of andor. I don't believe that anything from season two needed to be in season one for me to enjoy season one more. I just think that season two is so good and makes you ask so many questions that when you go back and watch season one, it just makes it a much more fulfilling experience.
Speaker 1:It's well said.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's well said.
Speaker 1:Anthony, go ahead well said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's well said, anthony, go ahead, dude. This this is. You know, I kind of said it in the in the first part of the of these two episodes. But yeah, man, like, like I said, this show it's like it has no right to be as good as it is, but you know it is, and just hopping on and watching it is, it's always, it's such a treat. It was a treat the first time and it was a treat the second time around. And yeah, man, you know season two has been shaping up to be really good and you know that one's about to. You know that series finale is about to drop soon. So you know, let's enjoy it now while we're in the moment I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, this first episode, or this first season of andor. I remember and I've said it many times on the show like I cannot believe that they made a prestige star wars show and it actually works. You know it's, it's as good as anything on hbo and anything on Apple TV or Amazon Prime. It's that level of television. And rewatching season one while season two is airing has been a really, I think, eye-opening experience. Like Rich said, it just contextualizes everything that happened in the past. So much more. Yeah, I, I'm really enjoying it and I really did enjoy re-watching this first season of andor.
Speaker 1:Uh, but, guys, we're gonna bring this podcast to a close and ultimately there's only one way out and the the only way out is to click the stop button on our record. So we we're going to have to wind this down. I'm sorry to say we're going to have to wind this down, but again, if you want to give this a juicy five star review, please, you're more than welcome to anytime, anytime at all. Juicy five star reviews are welcome, and if you'd like to check out any of our socials, you can click down into the show notes to find what we're rambling about on our respective socials. So thanks guys, have a good one.
Speaker 2:Peace out y'all.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 3:Wolverine.
Speaker 1:Stay juicy, my friends.
