[Andor actually shows why the Empire is terrifying. We see the
Empire’s strategy over and over again: Extract resources. Displace
indigenous populations. Partner with corporations for profit. And when
all else fails, suppress dissent — increasingly, as the show
progresses, by any means necessary.]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

STAR WARS’ EVIL EMPIRE CAN FEEL A LITTLE CORNY — BUT THEN CAME
ANDOR  
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Sonia Saraiya
December 15, 2022
Vox
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_ Andor actually shows why the Empire is terrifying. We see the
Empire’s strategy over and over again: Extract resources. Displace
indigenous populations. Partner with corporations for profit. And when
all else fails, suppress dissent — increasingly, as the show
progresses, by any means necessary. _

Cassian Andor makes his way through the world under the Empire. ,
Lucasfilm Ltd./Lucasfilm Ltd

 

The Empire is evil. This is the basic premise of _Star Wars_, which
by now sprawls over dozens of stories in feature films, television
shows, and video games. The moment we meet the Empire in _A New
Hope, _the 1977 film that spawned one of the biggest and most
profitable content franchises of all time, its members imprison and
torture a young woman — and then blow up her entire home planet,
sending untold millions to their death.

But it’s notable that we don’t _see _the gory details as a whole
civilization is obliterated by the Death Star, or even hear the extent
of Leia’s screams as the interrogator droid tries to force the
location of the rebel base out of her. The Empire’s atrocities are
spoken about more than witnessed. In a way, that is itself haunting
— paranoia is its own form of hell. But as the _Star Wars _mythos
has mushroomed into a lifestyle and a theme park, the evil qualities
of the Empire sometimes are less literal than merely aesthetic: Their
helmets are scary. Their light swords are red. Their music is spooky.
By this point, though, stormtroopers, which are modeled after literal
Nazis, are so inept that their presence is more comical than chilling.

BY THIS POINT, THOUGH, STORMTROOPERS ARE SO INEPT THAT THEIR PRESENCE
IS MORE COMICAL THAN CHILLING

_Andor, _the 12-episode Disney+ drama set in the _Star
Wars _universe, has for me single-handedly restored bone-chilling
terror to the Empire. Starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, who will
go on to die spectacularly in the prequel film _Rogue One_, the show
takes place years before the Empire falls in _Return of the
Jedi. _From the first moment, when Cassian gets into a fight with two
cops and then has to flee investigation, _Andor _is about policing
— corporate cops, local cops, intelligence agents, occupying
squadrons — and the dilemma of trying to live alongside a law
enforcement presence that favors profit over life, and order over
freedom.

Because the show is a drama, it works in a different mode than the
films. Most of the heroes of _Star Wars _films are teenagers; much
of the plot is family drama writ large. _Andor _works in a
diametrically opposed way: The characters are weary adults, often
forced to face moral dilemmas in the midst of what is otherwise their
professional life. Each character offers the audience a window into
the many systems and institutions that create and sustain the Empire.

And through this collage, which unfolds superbly thanks to some
excellent pacing, _Andor_ shows us what the Empire values, how the
Empire suppresses dissent, and who becomes collateral damage in the
process. (The Nicholas Britell score is fantastic, too.) As we travel
the galaxy with Cassian and the far-flung cast of characters, we see
the Empire’s strategy over and over again: Extract resources.
Displace indigenous populations. Partner with corporations for profit.
And when all else fails, suppress dissent — increasingly, as the
show progresses, by any means necessary.

The story is broken into four parts. Each arc is roughly three
episodes long — about the length of a feature film. Different staff
writers and directors appear to have ownership over the separate arcs,
which gives each section a surprisingly distinctive feel. The first
arc introduces us to Cassian and presents us with his dilemma; the
second takes him through a harrowing garrison heist with a small
contingent of rebels. Then, in the third quarter of the show, the plot
— and literally Cassian, too — takes a sharp, unexpected turn: Our
hero is imprisoned in a random sweep. Being in the wrong place at the
wrong time sends him to an Imperial prison for six years. We’re with
Cassian as he’s swept into a nightmare.

The episodes in penal colony Narkina 5 are credited to Beau Willimon,
best known for his work on Netflix’s _House of Cards_, and they are
an exceptional run of story, building on the foundations of the early
season to expose _Andor_’s core: the essential struggle of liberty,
against those who would restrict it for profit. (The prisoners, many
of whom were shuttled into the system after a farce of a trial, are
conscripted factory workers for the Imperial defense effort.) Andy
Serkis does a terrific turn as Cassian’s tough unit leader, an
inmate named Kino Loy. As Cassian follows Kino through this carceral
labyrinth, he — and we — have no choice but to be radicalized, to
match overwhelming oppression with incandescent indignation.

Two of the most compelling characters in _Andor _are bad guys: Dedra
Meero (Denise Gough) and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller). Dedra is a
high-ranking intelligence official in what seems to be the Empire’s
own KGB, while Syril is a low-level corporate cop. Both of their
stories are primarily about their professional advancement: Dedra
finds new intelligence-gathering strategies to impress her boss, while
Syril fails to impress his own and is embarrassingly demoted. Both are
full of emotion, but neither can express it in any way except through
the machinery of the Empire — where they might seek the validation
of advancement by furthering resource extraction or population
control. Dedra might be a ruthless oppressor obsessed with
surveillance, or she might be reveling in climbing the corporate
ladder, but it makes no difference to the rebels she relentlessly
pursues. Similarly, Syril might be a bitter mama’s boy, or he might
be a rotten, trigger-happy shill, but either way, innocents die.
Evil, _Andor_ observes, is hidden inside the hearts of everyday
lackeys.

_ANDOR _OFFERS RANGE AND NUANCE AMID A BLACK-AND-WHITE CONFLICT

But if that is where evil resides, it is also where good resides,
as _Andor_ finds in its characters like Mon Mothma (Genevieve
O’Reilly), the future leader of the rebellion, who here is a
beleaguered mid-career politician in a loveless marriage, trying to
move money to rebel forces when her husband isn’t paying attention.
It’s in Nemik (Alex Lawther), a wispy boy writing a “manifesto”
who takes on a suicide mission out of a sense of duty. It’s in
Maarva (Fiona Shaw), Cassian’s (adoptive) mother, who prefers to
stay close to her community even when offered the chance to escape
Empire control. As these characters interact, _Andor _reveals the
breadth and depth of diversity within the category of “rebellion”
— there are idealists and mercenaries, paupers and princes, and many
differences of opinion between them on how to best combat oppression.
The discourse is bracing in its passion and attention to
detail; _Andor _offers range and nuance amidst a black-and-white
conflict.

By the time _Andor _concludes its first season (the show has been
greenlit for a second), we know exactly how the Empire is evil.
Resistance is less a choice than it is the only available affirmation
of survival. As Kino shouts to his fellow inmates, there is only
“one way out” of this struggle. Rather than relegate _Star
Wars’ _universe to mythos about prophecy and
ancestry, _Andor _offers a _Star Wars _chronicle of incremental
resistance and gritty compromise, against the familiar foe of
repressive rule.

* Andor
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* Star Wars
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* imperialism
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* police state
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* carceral state
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* Rebellion
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* antifascism
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