Andor: Nobody’s Listening-Recap

credit: Andor

One big advantage to so many writers from so many different sites covering the same subjects is that there are many voices covering the TV episodes, movies, and news of the week that might only be given by a couple of people otherwise. But looking at this and applying it to Andor would no doubt allow many people to draw a lot of the same conclusions, if only from a slew of viewpoints that they might agree with or not.

This week, however, the corrupt nature of the Empire continues to be exposed as the whole idea that loyalists and those on the payroll are still pushed, but the underlying rot that allows the Empire to operate as it does is on full display. Whether it’s Dedra and Dr. Gorst torturing Bix for information in one of the most diabolical ways possible, or Cassian realizing that escape is the only way that anyone is ever going to leave Narkina-5, the fact is that the Empire is a construct that is evil no matter who believes it or who turns their head and collects their pay.

The acts that are committed by those who work for the Empire are still abhorrent, as masking the fact that prisoners sent to Narkina-5 are being sent to work until their last breath is just one of the many ploys that have been enacted to keep the rest of the galaxy quiet and complacent. 

credit: Andor

Mon Mothma is finding that the status quo wants nothing to do with her protest against the Empire’s special orders.

One can almost feel sorry for Mon Mothma since she does have good intentions when it comes to speaking out against the special powers that the Empire has when it comes to sentencing people for arbitrary lengths of time. But it’s not difficult at all to think that her voice is going to fall on deaf ears when she tries to convince anyone that speaking out against the Empire and Palpatine is a wise decision.

So long as people are left alone to do what they want and are allowed their privileges, it’s bound to happen that they’ll fight for the status quo before they rebel against those who are granting them such a life. Mon is fighting a losing battle in the Senate at the moment, and she knows it, but her determination and tenacity still remain the qualities that carry her so far in the story.  

Kino has probably known there’s no such thing as a release from Narkina-5.

The surly attitude that Kino walks around with is a little imposing, but it does feel as though it hides something else that the older man doesn’t want anyone to see since he doesn’t appear to be one that subscribes to hope. His words to Cassian, the few that he gives, sound like those spoken by someone that has been broken at least once or twice and has come to realize that the promise of a goal is better than the promise of a consequence His gruff demeanor is enough to make one think that he’s been on Narkina-5 long enough to think about escape, and to remember what happened when someone tried to do such a thing.

The problem with this is that Kino is obviously not the guy who thinks that the Empire can be escaped, and he’s given into his role as the guy in charge. Of course, that changes a bit when Ulaf, the elderly man in Cassian’s work group, suffers a stroke. It’s then that Kino realizes that Cassian could be right, that the Empire cares nothing about them. 

credit: Andor

The Empire has appeared completely evil before, but this episode sinks deeper into the reason behind that depiction. 

Many still claim that the Empire might be evil and that their ideas might be diabolical, but not everyone that belongs to the Empire thinks the same way. That much is true since there are plenty of people who believe that the Empire is worth working for but don’t think much of its practices. But this episode kind of drives home the point that this ignorance is just as much of a problem as the actual neglect that the Empire heaps upon people on a regular basis. 

Seeing Vel as a ‘spoiled rich girl’ is kind of a tense moment. 

This is the same Vel that was seen scratching and scraping with the rest of the rebels, and there’s no doubt that a lot of folks have something to say about it. In one way, it’s uplifting since it means that she’ll get down and dirty in the name of freedom and won’t blink at what needs to be done for the Rebellion. On the other hand, it’s a spoiled rich girl playing at war, which is hard for some folks to accept.